Magic or Madness (6 page)

“Can I join you?” he asked, even though he didn’t need her permission. He was allowed to climb Filomena whenever he wanted.

“Sure,” she said, and then looked uncertain, like maybe it was a bad idea. Too late. Tom was already standing on the same branch as her.

He grinned and she grinned in return. She was even prettier up close, with shortish wavy light brown hair and dark brown eyes that had gold and reddish flecks in them. Her eyelashes were black and about a metre long. Tom tried to think of something to say to her, but he was lost imagining what she’d look like in a Schiaparelli ball gown. Emerald green.
Mustn’t stare,
he reminded himself, though
she
was staring back at him.

“I’m Tom,” he said at last, extending his hand.

“Reason,” she said as they shook hands. It made the branch under them shake, and they both wobbled. They giggled and sat down, scooting closer to the trunk of the tree.

“Your name is Reason?” asked Tom. He wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.

“Uh-huh. People call me Ree.”

“Weird name.”

“Yeah. My mother’s mad.”

“Yeah? Mine too.”

“No,” said Reason. “I mean
really
mad.”

“Yeah,” said Tom. “Mine too. She kept trying to kill herself. Then one time when I was little, she tried to kill me and Cathy too. So she’s in Kalder Park now.”

“Wow. My mother’s in Kalder Park! Sarafina tried to kill herself too.” The girl seemed amazed by the coincidence, which struck Tom as weird. If she was Mere’s granddaughter, she should know it wasn’t a coincidence.

“Mum would never take her meds,” said Tom. “She thinks they put devils in her head.”

The girl nodded, then said softly, “I miss her.”

“Yeah,” said Tom. “Me too.”

They sat quietly for a while. When the silence started to make Tom uncomfortable, he asked, “How come you call your mum by her first name?”

“Huh?”

“You called her ‘Sarafina,’ not ‘mum.’”

“She doesn’t like it, I guess.” Reason shrugged. “I’ve always called her Sarafina.”

“Weird.”

The girl just shrugged again. Clearly, she didn’t think so.

“Are you going to be living with Mere now?”

She hesitated, then said, “Uh-huh.”

“Cool. Great house, eh?”

“Yeah. It’s huge.”

“Biggest one in Newtown. I mean, take a look at my backyard.”

They shifted out along the branch until it started to bow under their weight. Tom’s backyard was less than a quarter the size of Mere’s. He wondered if Reason knew that Mere owned it too, as well as the house on the other side of hers.

“Are you from Sydney?” he asked, though he didn’t think so. Her accent sounded more bush than city.

“Nah. I’m from . . . well, we moved around a lot. Never stayed anywhere very long. We were in a settlement not far from Coonabarabran for five months. That was the longest.”

“The bush. Huh. You been in a city before?”

“Been to Dubbo. And here once before. There was a big custody case when I was little, but we weren’t here long.”

“Do you like Sydney?” Tom asked, though he couldn’t imagine anyone
not
liking it. Especially compared to Dubbo.

“Well,” said Reason, “it seems really big. Crowded. The houses are so close together. Really narrow streets.”

Tom waved her words away. “But what do you think of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and the Tannie Gardens?”

“The what Gardens?”

“Botanical Gardens.”

“Haven’t seen them.”

“You’re kidding? Well, we gotta climb higher,” he said, shifting closer to the trunk. “You can see the bridge from the top.” He pulled himself up to the next branch. “Ugh.” Tom flicked it away and wiped his hand on his shorts. “Bat shit. Be careful.”

“Flying foxes!” Reason said, sounding excited. “I thought I recognised that smell.”

The view from the top of Filomena was spectacular. They were a
long
way up. Higher than the top of Mere’s house. Up here the wind moved the tree and they had to stay close and hold on. Tom assured Reason it was safe.

Several times he accidentally touched her arm. Reason’s hair blew into his eyes. He wished the flying fox smell wasn’t so intense. He wondered what her hair smelled like.

He pointed out the city skyline, showed her the tops of the Harbour and Anzac bridges. It was a perfect day. The sunlight glittered on the harbour and the tall glass buildings. It was amazing. Tom could tell she was impressed.

They turned around slowly, admiring the view that stretched forever in all directions. Tom pointed out all the parkland, all the trees.

“Huh,” Reason said. “I thought cities were all concrete and glass, not parks and flying foxes.”

“Haven’t you seen the bats at night? Or at least heard them squeaking?”

“I haven’t been here very long.”

“When’d you get here?”

“Last night. Afternoon, I mean.”

“This a surprise visit? Did Mere know you were coming? Can’t believe she didn’t tell me. It’s going to be cool having you around,” he said, barely taking a breath. “Right now the neighbourhood’s mostly littlies or uni students. Most of my friends live ages away.”

Reason smiled. Tom hoped it was because she liked the idea of hanging out with him.

“Do you go visit her?” she asked.

“Visit who?”

“Your mum. In Kalder Park.”

“Yeah,” said Tom, his voice a bit quieter. “Not as often as I should. I don’t like it. She’s all . . . you know.”

Reason nodded as though she knew exactly what he meant. “Is it far from here? Could we walk?”

“It’s not that far. But easier to get Mere to drive you or take the bus.”

“Have you got a map? Could you show me?”

“Sure. We could go together if you want. Might be better to have someone to talk to afterwards. Dad never really wants to talk about it. Visiting mum’s about the only thing that shuts him up.” Tom shook his head. “Hey, where’s your dad?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Did he bugger off?”

“Nah. Mum got pregnant, but she never found the bloke to tell him. So I’ve got no dad. She says they only slept together the one time. Wasn’t like she really knew him or anything, so why track him down and tell him? She couldn’t see the point.”

“I guess,” said Tom. He couldn’t really imagine it. “Was he an Aborigine?”

Reason laughed. “What do you reckon?”

Tom blushed again. He could be such an idiot. “Should we go find you a map? My dad’s got a mini
Gregory’s.
”

The route to Tom’s place didn’t involve them stepping foot on the ground once. He pointed this out to Reason, who nodded as if to say, Well, of course, and Tom instantly felt like a total dag.

From the fig tree, they crept along the top of the fence between Mere’s and Tom’s. They had to push their way through bushes and trees. Reason giggled and Tom lost the dag feeling.

“You can go for blocks and blocks using only trees, fences, and roofs. I can show you if you want.”

“That’d be great,” Reason said with what sounded to Tom like genuine enthusiasm.

From the fence they swung up onto Tom’s balcony. He was suddenly aware of how small his house was compared to Mere’s. His room must seem tiny to Reason. He watched her staring at the samples, fabrics, and sketches strewn about his room. It must look really messy. To Tom it was his workroom. As far as he was concerned, everything was where it was supposed to be. Every random-looking piece of cloth had found its place in the chaos, a spot where its texture and color balanced all the others. He could find any of them with his eyes shut.

“You have a sewing machine?”

“Yup,” said Tom, grinning. “I can make any kind of clothing you can name.”

He pointed to one of the drawings pinned to his notice board. “See that?” Tom was proud of his sketches. He looked at it, admiring the way he’d caught the flow of the fabric. The ruching on the sleeves was more complicated than he’d’ve liked, but you had to please the client. At least he’d managed to talk Jessica out of the bow on the back. He grinned to himself. He’d told her it’d make her arse look fat.

Reason peered at Tom’s work of art. She didn’t seem very impressed.

“Check this out, then.” Tom went to his wardrobe and pulled out the dress. This would impress her. It was the same one as the drawing, though the colours differed. Jessica had said scarlet and then gone and picked a silk that was more maroon. Very annoying.

“Designed it. Made it,” he announced.

“And you
wear
it?” Reason laughed.

“Nah,” said Tom. “Jessica Chan gave me a hundred bucks to make it. She paid for all the material and stuff too. Final fitting’s today.”

“A hundred bucks?” asked Reason with an odd expression on her face. Tom winced. He should’ve realised a hundred dollars wouldn’t seem much to her.

“When I finish high school, I’m going to study fashion and then I’m going to become a world-famous designer and make clothes for movie stars. I’ll get a
lot
more than a hundred dollars a dress then.”
Now I sound like a total wanker,
he thought.

“Can you make normal clothes?”

“Like what?”

“You know, like jeans or shorts or T-shirts. Normal stuff.”

“Sure. But why would I? Do you want me to make you something?”

“Could you make me pants with lots of pockets? All the way down both sides. Really big pockets, you know? Like army pants. Not for decoration.”

“Sure,” Tom said. “I can make anything.” He didn’t care that it sounded boastful. It was true.

Reason’s stomach rumbled very loudly. They both laughed. “Are you hungry?”

Tom led them downstairs to the kitchen, conscious with every step of how crap his house was compared to Mere’s. There were only two rooms and a bathroom upstairs. Downstairs there was a lounge room, a kitchen, a tiny laundry, and a toilet. He felt stupid worrying about it, especially as Mere owned this house too.

Tom poured them glasses of orange juice and made cheese-and-tomato sandwiches. They took their sandwiches and juice up to his room, Tom with the
Gregory’s
under his arm. They pushed fabric aside and sat on the floor. Reason wriggled a bit as if she was uncomfortable.

“Are you sitting on something? There might be pins, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” She settled and took a bite of her sandwich. “Good sambo. Actually tastes like tomato.”

“Yeah. Dad grows them in the backyard.”

“Best kind.”

They got stuck into them. Reason ate as fast as he did and the sandwiches disappeared in no time.

“How’d you get that?” Tom asked, pointing at the big graze on Reason’s shin.

“Tripped on the stairs in the cellar.”

“Yeah, those stairs are treacherous. Do you like living with Mere?” Tom washed the last bite of sandwich down with the rest of his orange juice.

Reason shifted again. “I’ve only been there one night.”

“Yeah, but you’ve known her your whole life and—”

“We’re not close. I only really met her once before and I was little. Don’t really remember.”

“You never met your grandfather?” Tom wondered what kind of a man Esmeralda would choose to have a baby with. Had she been married? He couldn’t picture it. Tom had never seen her go out with a man.

Reason shook her head. “So where’s Kalder Park?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tom said, grabbing the directory and turning to the map of all Sydney. Reason’s eyes widened.

“Pretty big, eh?”

She nodded.

“So that’s Kalder Park,” he said, pointing, “and that’s where we are.”

“Not so far.”

“Well, I reckon it’d take an hour and a half to walk. Lot quicker if you had a bike. I bet Mere would get you one.”

Reason grunted. “I like walking.”

The doorbell rang.