chapter 3
Big mess SAMPLE
Aunty Yanyi is standing at the back door waving a wooden spoon. “I’ve been calling you, Denny. It’s way past lunchtime. And it’s too hot to be working outdoors.”
“Sorry, Aunty. I was checking out your sundial,” I explain.
“Oh, you uncovered that old thing again. Well done, bub. Tom will be happy. Now go and wash your hands, and then come and eat.”
I have to share the bathroom with a massive, hairy-legged spider. All of its eight eyes look pretty interested in how well I clean the dirt from under my nails. I try my best under pressure.
“Aunty, there’s a huge spider in your bath-tub,” I say when I get back.
SAMPLE
“I know. Her name is Hoggy Huntsman. She lives in there.”
“How do you have a bath?” I ask.
“Well, Hoggy usually doesn’t hog the bath. She usually hogs the walls. Maybe she needs to cool down today.”
family
“I’m boiling hot too, Aunty. Wait a minute—the air cooler has stopped.” I test a couple of light switches. “And the lights aren’t working. I think the power is out!”
“We’ll ask your mum to check when she gets here later,” says Aunty. She doesn’t sound surprised at all.
Arggghhh! I think. I just want to see my friends.
“I wish this day would end,” I mutter.
SAMPLE
Oops. I didn’t mean to say that bit out loud.
“Don’t get upset, Denny. You know, when I was a girl, we lived in an old shed in bush scrub and didn’t even have electricity. We got along just fine. We washed our clothes by hand, and we used a fire pit to cook our food and water to keep us cool.”
I’ve never heard Aunty tell this story before. I’m listening real careful when all of a sudden— Boom! Crash! Weeeee! —something powerful flies past my nose.
“What was that ?” I scream—not because I’m scared, but because I want to make sure Aunty hears me over all the noise.
“Settle down, bub. It’s a magpie. He flew in through the chimney. He’s probably just trying to escape the heat too,” says Aunty.
Phoosshhhhh! Smash! The magpie is flying around the lounge room in a panic. Very quickly most of Aunty’s treasured ornaments are, well, not treasures anymore.
“Oh dear, I spent so long tidying up yesterday,” she cries. “All my hard work was for nothing.”
“Yeah, for nothing. I’ve had the same feeling all morning, Aunty.”
I run around opening windows. Then I grab the broom and try to shoo the magpie outside. But the bird wants to stay indoors. It starts diving at Aunty Yanyi’s head.
“I’ll get it, Aunty!” I shout.
“Not with that broom. You nearly donged me on the nose,” she says.
family
I run up the dusty staircase, grab a woollen blanket from one of the spare beds and race back down. Then I wave the blanket in the air, trying to scoop the bird into it. The frightened magpie keeps flying around at top speed. Finally, he stops still, up high on a curtain rail.
Dust is floating everywhere and Aunty Yanyi doesn’t look happy.
“I’m sorry, Aunty. I thought I swept all the dust off this blanket,” I say.
“You swept the beds?” she asks. I nod and Aunty bursts into a big cackle. “He-he-he, Denny. Love ya work!”
“But Aunty, everything is going wrong and I’m making it worse.”
SAMPLE
“Well, bub, I’m just so glad you came. I was feeling bad for weeks, while I was resting my sore back. You’ve given me a good laugh, true. He-he-he.”
Aunty keeps on cackling. I dance around having a boogie-laugh-blast. Even the
magpie sounds as though he’s singing. Then Aunty tells me to stop.
“We need to eat and have a good rest,” she says.
I sit down, but the magpie doesn’t want to rest. Plop. Splat. Right down my back.