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CHAPTER 5

  It was mid-afternoon Monday when Tess, Alison and Mia turned into Beach Road, Clowder Bay’s picturesque main street. The town was set against a hill. The only structures to their right were a large surf club, a sprawling caravan park and a playground that separated the road from the kilometres of golden sand that swept northwards in a long, lazy curve. Blue, clear water stretched out to the horizon. To their left were apartment blocks, shops and cafes. The hill was dotted with houses each maximising its views with verandas and large glass windows. Tess slowed to allow a family to cross to the beach. Parents struggled with towels, buckets and spades while children trailed behind, intent faces buried in cones, melted ice-cream running through fingers and dripping off elbows.

  “This place is bigger than I thought it would be,” remarked Alison.

  “There it is!” Mia pointed to a two-level building just ahead on the left. “Cool, in the middle of everything and right opposite the main beach. Great spot!”

  “A lot of this wasn’t here when I was a child,” Tess reminisced. “I would have known all the people in town once.”

  “And if you didn’t know them, Nan. I bet they knew you.”

  Tess chuckled. “We lived further on a little, above the Post Office.

  Tess and Mia started to unload their luggage while Alison went inside the Seaview Apartments and rang the bell on the desk to summon the manager.

  “Mrs Turner, good to see you. How was your trip?” asked Mr Foley entering the office from a back door. They exchanged pleasantries and Mr Foley handed Alison three keys. “Adjoining apartments with a connecting door,” he beamed, “just like you asked, and both with ocean views. Actually,” he lowered his voice, “it will be good to have nice folks like you in that apartment after the last lot. Couple of druggies, they were. Played music all night and got up to some silly stuff. One of them came downstairs in his underpants saying how he’d just seen a giraffe walk past the window. He wanted to know how much for a ride? I called the police. They found some pills in the room and took the boys away.

  “Anyway, I’ve had the cleaners give it a good going-over. I hope you enjoy your stay.”

  The trio spent the afternoon walking around the shops and strolling on the beach. While most beach-goers played, lay on the sand or splashed in the shallows, a few brave souls swam farther out under the watchful eye of the lone lifeguard.

  “It’s easy to pick the ones from Melbourne,” joked Alison. “Now, who’s for a drink and a piece of cake?”

  Alison had asked Mr Foley if he could recommend a good coffee shop. “That depends,” he had replied thoughtfully. “Do you know good coffee from bad?”

  “I certainly do.”

  “Well, in that case you’re out of luck. There’s not a decent coffee in town. That’s one thing Clowder Bay can’t boast, good coffee. That should be our council slogan,” he went on, “Clowder Bay – Golden Beaches, Great Restaurants, Lousy Coffee!”

  “What about tea?” Tess asked hopefully.

  “Well, Rufus jiggles a pretty good teabag. He’s about four doors up.”

  So it was without great confidence that they took their seats at a small table on the footpath outside Rufus’ Café. They had low expectations and Rufus easily achieved them.

  “Do you have any mouthwash back in your room?” Tess asked of Alison as they walked towards their hotel.

  “It was pretty terrible, wasn’t it? You had the right idea, Mia. We should have had a milkshake as well. I’m pretty sure my cappuccino was a made from a premixed sachet. Some of the powder was still floating on top.”

  “You two can have your nanna-naps,” announced Mia. “I think I’ll go back to the beach.”

  “Okay. Be careful, and don’t go too far,” advised her mother. “We’ll see you back at the hotel.”

  Mia walked ankle deep in the cold water watching from a distance as a group of kids, three boys and two girls about her own age, set up a game of beach volleyball. They marked the court boundaries with orange nylon cord and anchored the posts with sandbags.

  “Me and Mitch against Ruby and Toby,” called the tall girl who clearly saw herself as the leader.

  “But what about me, Savannah?” objected the odd-boy-out.

  “Oh, Jimmy, even if you do make contact, you always hit the ball out. Besides, you need two players to make a team. I have Mitch, Ruby has Toby, and you have… oh, nobody. You can keep score and fetch the ball if it takes off.”

  “But I helped set up the court.”

  “Yes, thanks for that. We appreciate it. Okay, we’ll serve first.”

  “No, I want to play,” insisted Jimmy taking up a position in the centre of the court directly under the net. “Who made you the boss anyway, Savannah?”

  Savannah glared at Jimmy, clearly not pleased with this unexpected challenge to her authority. “Boss? I never said I was the boss. Go ahead and ask the others if they want you to play.”

  Jimmy knew that would be a useless waste of time. They always did whatever Savannah wanted.

  “Oh, what’s the point,” Jimmy shrugged. He walked off kicking sand into the air.

  “See ya, Jimmy,” laughed Savannah. “Give me the ball, Toby. I’m serving.”

  The scene reminded Mia of the bullies at her school. They’re everywhere, she thought. Mia had experienced her share of teasing. It usually came in the form of being excluded from games or whispered comments as she walked past a group of kids who tried to make themselves feel big by making others feel small. It wasn’t her fault that she was good at just about everything. She never boasted about getting a top mark in an assignment. If she won a race, which was just about every time she ran, she always congratulated the other competitors. “Thanks,” she would say. “I wouldn’t have won if you didn’t push me so hard. You’re really good.” Mia did have a small group of friends that supported each other but since Peter’s disappearance she had retreated from them a little and, although they were still close, she often preferred to be by herself at playtimes. Fortunately she loved reading and the library was always open during lunch breaks.

  “Hi. You here on a holiday?” Mia didn’t realise that she had been so lost in her thoughts. Jimmy was standing beside her.

  “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “Are you here on a holiday?” asked Jimmy again.

  “Yes, we just arrived today. We’re staying across the road.”

  “I’m Jimmy. My friends are over there.”

  “I’m Mia. How come you’re not playing with them? Don’t you like volleyball?” Mia wondered what Jimmy would say.

  “No. It’s not my game really. You get your mouth and pants full of sand, still lose the point and spend most of the time chasing the ball down the beach. It’s stupid!”

  Mia smiled. “So they won’t let you play, hey.”

  Jimmy gave Mia a quizzical look. “You heard?”

  Mia picked up a shell and threw it into the surf.

  Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “Hey, what say you and I make a team and join in?”

  Mia felt a shiver go through her body. “Oh … I don’t think. Sorry.” She had withdrawn so much from her friends that she hadn’t really played with other kids for a long time. That’s why she loved her running so much; it was just her. “From what I heard, I don’t think that girl would agree.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. She is sort of in charge. Or so she thinks.”

  “She’s only in charge if you let her be.” Mia surprised herself. Who am I, the girl who hides away in the library, to be giving advice on bullies?

  Jimmy looked thoughtful. Then, emboldened by this brave-talking newcomer, agreed. “You know, you’re right. So let’s do it. She won’t let us play but I’d like to see the look on her face when you ask.”

  Mia realised this exchange was not going the way she had intended and all of a sudden it looked like she was going to have to interact with a group of kids she hadn’t ever met.

  “Me? I’m not goin
g to ask.”

  “Oh,” Jimmy was suddenly feeling less brave.

  Then Mia looked over to see Savannah deliberately slam the ball out of bounds and order one of the boys to fetch it. “If you ask, then I’ll come with you.”

  Jimmy thought for a second. “Let’s go.”

  Well, thought Mia, for better or worse I’m about to meet some of the locals. I won’t be MIA – they’ll know exactly where I am… buried up to my neck in a sand dune with seagulls picking my nose.

  “Who’s your new friend?” asked Toby when Mia and Jimmy walked over to the game.

  “This is Mia. We’re a team. We’d like to play.”

  “Play? You?” Savannah was clearly annoyed. “I said you’re not playing.”

  “Umm…” Jimmy hesitated. Mia jabbed him gently with her elbow. “No you didn’t,” he continued. “You said it takes two to make a team. Well, here we are. One, two.”

  “I can count,” Savannah’s face was growing red, “but we already have two teams. See, one, two.”

  “How about we play the winner?” They all stared at Mia who, while calm on the outside, could feel her heart beating hard in her chest. There must be a library around here somewhere.

  The four players huddled together in the centre of the court. Mia could hear Savannah whispering while the others listened.

  “Can you even play?” Jimmy asked Mia.

  “Well, I’ve seen it on TV. It looks easy enough. Anyway, the idea was just to play, wasn’t it? Who cares whether or not we win?”

  “She does,” Jimmy pointed to Savannah who was now standing glaring at the challengers.

  Mia lowered her voice. “Actually, while we were talking before I was watching her. She’s mostly noise and bluff. I think she just scares people into losing. My coach calls it mind games. Just don’t let her into your head.”

  As Jimmy thought about it he realised it was fairly true. It actually did worry him, and the others he suspected, what Savannah would do or say if someone looked like beating her at something, or didn’t follow her orders. She seemed to know just what to say about other kids that could cause maximum embarrassment. One boy even had to leave the school after Savannah had spread it around that he still wet the bed. Nobody even cared if it was true or not. Nobody even questioned how Savannah might know such a thing. They just loved his reaction whenever it was mentioned. And even though Savannah was the one who started the cruel rumour, she was clever enough to make sure she never said it to him directly. She left that to her minions. Unfortunately for kids like Jimmy, there weren’t many their age in Clowder Bay so you had to take whatever friends you could. And it was hard enough having Asian heritage and looking so different. He had never been teased for his cultural background, and he aimed to keep it like that. But he always felt that it wouldn’t take much to set them off, especially Savannah. So he ‘toed the line’ and tried not to give anyone an excuse to target him. And it certainly didn’t help that Savannah’s mother owned the building that Jimmy and his parents worked and lived in. Be nice to Savannah, Jimmy’s parents often warned him. Her mother can make things difficult for us. Be nice to that girl. Lately, however, he was finding it harder and harder to accept Savannah’s domination of their group. The alleged bed-wetter had been Jimmy’s friend and standing his ground in the middle of the court was risky, he knew, but he’d had just about enough.

  Don’t let her into my head. Okay. Jimmy clenched his fists determinedly. Not sure what it means, but okay.

  “Alright, let the games begin,” announced Savannah picking up the ball and walking to the serve line.

  “What’s the score in your game?” asked Mia.

  “Well, I’m sorry to say,” replied Savannah, “…but Ruby seems to have hurt her wrist so the twins have forfeited. We win and now it’s you two against us. First to Eleven.”

  Mia looked over to Ruby who suddenly wore a pained expression started nursing her right forearm in her left hand.

  “Oh, bad luck,” Mia sympathised.

  “Yeah, I might need x-rays.”

  “Start the game,” called Toby.

  Mia was suddenly worried. She had hoped for a little more time to examine Savannah’s tactics, if she had any. “Okay, Jimmy, you take the left side and cover the net. I’ll hang back.” As Mia turned to walk to the back of the court she felt something whack her between the shoulder blades.

  “Point!” bellowed Savannah.

  “Good serve,” grinned Mitch.

  "Oh, look!" said Alison as the two sat on the balcony of their second level apartment, "I can see Mia from here. She's made some friends already. How lovely. Mum? I said I can see…” She looked across to Tess who had that familiar faraway look in her eyes. Alison had no wish to come between her mother and whatever ghost or memory had just found her on this beautiful afternoon. It is a big thing to come back to this place after so long. She has to deal with it in her own way.