had gotten into him? This couldn’t be real. Surely I wasn’t hearing this? No one was even listening! Dad had gone nuts and everyone else thought it was wonderful. What had happened to my family? How had normal Eastern Suburbs people suddenly been transformed into a bunch of crazy, mud-loving tree-huggers?
My happy face dissolved into a pout. I stood up, wobbling slightly on my legs which felt like jelly, opened my mouth and screamed like a baby.
Waaaaaaah.
Then I ran out of the room, still screaming, thundered up the stairs and slammed my door—again—behind me.
If they were going to go crazy, I could too.
Chapter 8
When Mum and Dad finally came up to my room to try to cheer me up (ha!) I was face down again on the bed. This time I didn’t care about the mascara streaks on the pillows. Black marks on purple satin are tiny problems when the rest of your life is ruined.
They tapped on the door and pushed it open tentatively.
“Coco?” said Mum. “Can we come in?”
I stayed with my face down and didn’t even answer. There didn’t seem to be much point. They were going to do what they were going to do anyway, and nothing I said was going to make any difference.
Mum took silence to be agreement and tiptoed in like she was trying to save my feelings or my dignity or something. Dad followed her, looking around in surprise. I didn’t think he’d been up here since I was about eight. He sat awkwardly on my beanbag with his knees up to his ears and fingered a velvet cushion as though he had never seen one before.
I flipped over onto my back, but I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the ceiling.
“Coco, sweetie,” said Mum, sitting down on my bed beside me and trying to put her arm around me. “I know this is all a big shock, but why aren’t you at least trying to see the positives?”
I shrugged off her hand and moved my eyes to the corner of the room.
“Oh come on honey,” she said. “You have to at least talk about it. Look, we’re here together. We want to talk about it with you.”
I steeled my face and sat up, turning my back to Dad and completely ignoring him.
“Did you know about this?” I asked her accusingly. “How can you just sit there and let Dad pull a huge life change onto us all with no warning at all? And then just agree to it. I mean, who knew any of this?”
“Well, it’s not quite true that there was no warning at all,” said Mum. She shifted back and looked at me oddly. “I mean, Dad’s been talking about being unhappy in his job for at least a year now and the bank has been cutting staff for a year and a half. Surely you knew that? And we went for that holiday down the coast and we were looking in real estate windows... you remember that, right?”
All I remembered was a boring trip away last year staying in a daggy cabin on a smelly farm, with no shopping malls worth visiting, patchy mobile service, bad cafe food and Josh being mean to me. Oh, and the world’s best pies. Yeah, right.
“This whole thing came from that? ” I said. “But that was like, months ago. And you always look in real estate windows all the time, wherever we go. I thought that was just one of the weird things parents do.”
Mum looked at me, slightly confused. “Yes, but normally when people look in real estate windows it means they just might be looking for real estate, right? Anyway, you knew that lots of people from Dad’s firm were being offered redundancies starting about six weeks ago, didn’t you? If Dad didn’t lose his job now, he almost certainly would have in the future. He took the redundancy this week.” Now she looked frustrated. “Surely we told you this? I know we told you this. Weren’t you listening?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess. I don’t really pay much attention to that stuff. But anyway, this is different. I didn’t think you’d do anything like this. It’s another whole step to go and buy a farm and move to the
My happy face dissolved into a pout. I stood up, wobbling slightly on my legs which felt like jelly, opened my mouth and screamed like a baby.
Waaaaaaah.
Then I ran out of the room, still screaming, thundered up the stairs and slammed my door—again—behind me.
If they were going to go crazy, I could too.
Chapter 8
When Mum and Dad finally came up to my room to try to cheer me up (ha!) I was face down again on the bed. This time I didn’t care about the mascara streaks on the pillows. Black marks on purple satin are tiny problems when the rest of your life is ruined.
They tapped on the door and pushed it open tentatively.
“Coco?” said Mum. “Can we come in?”
I stayed with my face down and didn’t even answer. There didn’t seem to be much point. They were going to do what they were going to do anyway, and nothing I said was going to make any difference.
Mum took silence to be agreement and tiptoed in like she was trying to save my feelings or my dignity or something. Dad followed her, looking around in surprise. I didn’t think he’d been up here since I was about eight. He sat awkwardly on my beanbag with his knees up to his ears and fingered a velvet cushion as though he had never seen one before.
I flipped over onto my back, but I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the ceiling.
“Coco, sweetie,” said Mum, sitting down on my bed beside me and trying to put her arm around me. “I know this is all a big shock, but why aren’t you at least trying to see the positives?”
I shrugged off her hand and moved my eyes to the corner of the room.
“Oh come on honey,” she said. “You have to at least talk about it. Look, we’re here together. We want to talk about it with you.”
I steeled my face and sat up, turning my back to Dad and completely ignoring him.
“Did you know about this?” I asked her accusingly. “How can you just sit there and let Dad pull a huge life change onto us all with no warning at all? And then just agree to it. I mean, who knew any of this?”
“Well, it’s not quite true that there was no warning at all,” said Mum. She shifted back and looked at me oddly. “I mean, Dad’s been talking about being unhappy in his job for at least a year now and the bank has been cutting staff for a year and a half. Surely you knew that? And we went for that holiday down the coast and we were looking in real estate windows... you remember that, right?”
All I remembered was a boring trip away last year staying in a daggy cabin on a smelly farm, with no shopping malls worth visiting, patchy mobile service, bad cafe food and Josh being mean to me. Oh, and the world’s best pies. Yeah, right.
“This whole thing came from that? ” I said. “But that was like, months ago. And you always look in real estate windows all the time, wherever we go. I thought that was just one of the weird things parents do.”
Mum looked at me, slightly confused. “Yes, but normally when people look in real estate windows it means they just might be looking for real estate, right? Anyway, you knew that lots of people from Dad’s firm were being offered redundancies starting about six weeks ago, didn’t you? If Dad didn’t lose his job now, he almost certainly would have in the future. He took the redundancy this week.” Now she looked frustrated. “Surely we told you this? I know we told you this. Weren’t you listening?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess. I don’t really pay much attention to that stuff. But anyway, this is different. I didn’t think you’d do anything like this. It’s another whole step to go and buy a farm and move to the
Similar Books
