New Guinea Moon

New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable

Book: New Guinea Moon by Kate Constable Read Free Book Online
Authors: Kate Constable
Tags: JUV000000, book
shouldn’t be feeling so rotten.

    â€˜Oh, dear, no,’ says Barbara. ‘That was the worst thing you could have done. She’ll be back, tomorrow or the next day, with her hand out. You’ll see.’
    â€˜But I had to give her something,’ says Julie. ‘I promised.’
    â€˜I’m sure you didn’t promise ,’ says Barbara. ‘And it’s not as if you had anything in writing.’
    â€˜Well, no, but —’ Julie stops, because Barbara is clearly not interested in continuing the discussion, and she’s learned from arguments with Caroline that there’s no point in trying. She wonders how, when Barbara and Caroline’s ideas about the world are so different, she can manage to disagree with both of them . . .
    â€˜Come on,’ says Ryan, and he, Julie and Nadine drift out through the kitchen to the sunny patch of concrete outside the back door. Koki is already there, sitting on the ground, shelling peas into a tin basin between her knees. Ryan steals a handful and she smacks his knuckles. Julie picks up some pea pods and starts to slit them open with her thumbnail.
    â€˜Tenkyu ,’ says Koki, and adds something in Pidgin about ungrateful, lazy children, which Julie can understand without knowing a word. She and Koki grin peacefully at each other.
    Nadine stretches her legs into the sun. ‘Last year the Williamses were still here,’ she says mournfully. ‘And the Spitellis. We’d hang out with them every day . . . Now it’s just us.’
    Silently Julie splits the pods, and thumbs the peas into the basin, aware of herself as a poor substitute for the missing Williams and Spitelli clans.
    Nadine sighs. ‘What about Monopoly?’
    Ryan ignores her. He nudges Julie’s foot with his own. ‘Want to go for a bike ride?’
    â€˜But we’ve only got two bikes,’ says Nadine.
    â€˜Julie can ride yours. No one said you were invited, squirt. This excursion is for Julie and I.’
    Julie and me , thinks Julie automatically. She says, ‘We could go for a walk. That way Nads can come too.’ Secretly she is quite happy to have Nadine along as a chaperone. She knows if they were alone, Ryan would try to kiss her again, even on bicycles, and while it’s pleasant to think that he wants to, she’s not completely sure that she wants to. Julie shifts uncomfortably on her bottom. It’s never like this in books . . .
    â€˜Yeah, let’s go for a walk. We can bring Roxy!’ says Nadine, brightening.
    Ryan shrugs. ‘All right. But if you bring the dog, you look after her, okay? If she gets off the lead, I’m not chasing after her. If she ends up in someone’s cooking pot, it’s your problem.’
    â€˜You’re a pig, Ryan,’ says Nadine. ‘No, you’re not. Pigs are lovely. You’re a — a warthog.’
    Julie looks at Ryan. ‘They don’t really eat dogs?’
    Ryan frowns and motions her to shush. From inside the house, through an open window, comes a muffled noise of banging drawers and slammed doors. ‘What’s Mum up to? Rearranging the furniture again?’
    Nadine sits up, suddenly alert, like a rabbit who senses a hawk overhead.
    The rapid clack-clack of Barbara’s heels crosses the parquetry. Inside the kitchen, she calls, ‘Koki! Yu kam hariap! Can I speak to you for a minute, please?’
    Koki rolls her eyes, climbs laboriously to her feet, and shuffles inside. The screen door bangs behind her. Julie pulls the basin closer and continues shelling the peas. From inside the kitchen comes the sound of Barbara’s raised, querulous voice, and a low, protesting murmur from Koki. Julie sees Nadine and Ryan exchange a worried glance.
    Nadine scrambles to her feet. ‘I’m going to find out what’s going on —’
    Ryan lays a restraining hand on her arm. ‘Hang on —’
    They all sit tensed, as if

Similar Books

Sour Apples

Sheila Connolly

The Alchemist

Paolo Bacigalupi

Wyne and Song

Donna Michaels

A Dangerous Madness

Michelle Diener

Zauran

Poppet

Divine Temptation

Nicki Elson

Shadow's Light

Nicola Claire

Fear the Night

John Lutz

Distant Thunders

Taylor Anderson