‘Wow.’
We glare at each other and then Clem sighs and scoots closer to me. He’s very still and I know what an effort that must be for him.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Forget it.’ I stand up. ‘I’ll show you where I’m living.’
We walk silently to the cabin and I see Clem wince at the annex and the jungle wallpaper and the stained wicker furniture. This space has started to feel like home, but with Clem pulling faces and then trying not to, I feel the same despair I’d felt the day we moved in.
We watch a movie we’ve seen a million times before. ‘Zin would love it here,’ he says.
‘Don’t you dare tell her.’
‘I won’t. I’m just saying, she’d love all the flowers and fairies and stuff. She’d probably come over and help. You know her mum’s banned her from working in the garden anymore? She’s run out of room, so she’s started digging things up to put new things in. It’s driving her mum nuts.’
‘Don’t tell her.’
He sighs. ‘I already said that I won’t.’
I make chocolate milk. We don’t talk while we drink it. I’m not sulking or anything. I’m just reflecting on things. The cabin’s empty and it’s the first time I’ve wished for it to be full and noisy. Clem looks at his watch. ‘I’ve gotta go drop something at my mum’s office. You wanna come?’
‘No. Thanks.’
He just stares at me with this helpless look on his face. Then the door bursts open and Richard’s in the living room. ‘It’s Jube! He’s been bitten by a snake!’
‘Who’s Jube?’ Clem asks.
‘The Fairyland dog,’ says Richard. He grabs my hand. ‘Ginny and Matt have taken him to the vet – we need to try to get money to cover the bills. The vet does his best to keep things down, but it’s going to be a lot. Thousands, Matt reckons.’
I rub my head. I feel panicked and force myself to take a deep breath. Panic. Dismay. Shock. As I label each feeling, I feel calmer. I wish people listened to me about this stuff. It works.
‘I’ve gotta go,’ Clem says, looking oddly stressed. ‘I can come back? After I drop the stuff off?’
I don’t reply. I’m busy pulling on my shoes. ‘How much do we have so far?’ I ask Richard.
‘About a hundred dollars.’ Richard shakes the tin he’s carrying and I can hear the jingle of loose change.
I nod. ‘Well, I’ve got some. Jube can have it.’
Richard smiles. ‘Awesome!’
Across the room, Clem moves his arm as though he wants to pat my head, but he stops himself and walks out of the cabin, and I turn so that I don’t see him walking away down the road.
***
I feel weird after Clem goes. I thought I’d feel relieved, but I don’t. I just feel sad. Frustrated. I don’t really get why I’m so angry with him. I just am. He doesn’t understand and can’t help me, and I wish he’d stop trying. I don’t even have words for the tangle of feelings, so I compartmentalise. I focus on Jube.
As we walk towards the front of the property, Richard’s tin clanking between us, I stop to tie my shoelace. ‘Where’d he get bitten?’
‘On his leg.’
‘No, I mean, where in Fairyland?’
‘Oh – out the back of the pavilion, where the grass is super long. Matt’s kicking himself – he’d been meaning to mow it but hadn’t got around to it yet.’
‘It’s not his fault.’
‘Try telling him that.’ Richard sighs. ‘Okay – I’ve pretty much done Muriel, Trisha and you. How about we start at lot one and work our way up?’
‘Lot one?’
Richard shrugs and pushes his wet hair out of his face. ‘Worst thing they can do is say no.’
The man in lot one has long hair and not very many teeth, and Richard stands as far back from the door as he can. ‘Jube’s been bitten by a snake. We’re collecting money for the vet bill.’
‘Ain’t got no money,’ the man says, shutting the door. A moment later, he opens it. ‘Hope the critter’s okay.’ And slams it shut again.
‘Knew that’d happen,’ Richard says, completely unruffled. ‘C’mon.’
We work our way slowly along the row. Lot two is a woman who speaks to us through the window, and lot three is a man who smells so strongly that Richard holds his breath as he counts some change into the tin with shaking fingers.
‘I hate that bloody dog,’ says Ron from lot four. ‘He digs up my potatoes.’
Richard raises his eyebrows. ‘You grow potatoes?’
‘I grow potatoes,’ Ron says gravely, handing Richard ten dollars and shutting the door crisply in our faces.
Lot five is empty and lot six is a tired-looking woman, who doesn’t look much older than me, with a baby on her hip and a toddler pulling on the hemline of her top. She listens gravely and then nods and gives Richard a handful of change. I peer into the home behind her as much as I can, trying to picture Matt and his dad there. It’s dark, though, with the curtains drawn over the windows. All I can see is a sagging roof and the bright glow of a kid’s show on an old television set.
‘You know, when Bryony busted her leg open, Jube came in and sat with her for two days. Just sat and kept her company. Made the world of difference. Keep me posted, yeah?’
‘Oh, I will. Thanks, Cora.’
According to Richard, lot seven is where Esther and June are living, the two sisters who are only staying a week and keep pretty much to themselves. A tall, elegant-looking woman answers the door and listens intently as Richard explains about Jube.
Behind her, I can see a slightly younger woman curled up on a mattress in front of a portable fan. She doesn’t look up at us, even as her sister opens her wallet and gives us a twenty.
‘I hope he’s okay,’ she says.
‘Thanks, June.’
She nods and shuts the door.
Lots eight, nine and ten are empty, but Richard scribbles notes and leaves them wedged in people’s flywire doors. He leaves notes on windscreens and poking out from under worn-out welcome mats.
‘Richard!’ Muriel yells across Fairyland. ‘It’s Matt calling!’
Richard and I jog to Muriel’s cabin, where Richard takes the phone. ‘How is he? Yeah. Yeah. Alright.’ He glances at the tin. ‘Nah. I dunno how much . . .’
I count it quickly. ‘Nearly two hundred.’
‘Nearly two hundred,’ Richard says into the phone. ‘About half of Fairyland. A lot of people are out, so I reckon we’ll get a rush in at dusk. Alright. Bye.’
‘How is he?’ Muriel asks, handing us both a glass of lemonade.
‘They reckon he’ll be okay.’ Richard drains his glass and wipes his mouth with his hand. ‘How good is that?’
‘So lucky your dad found him, Stell,’ says Muriel.
I choke on a mouthful of lemonade and Richard thumps me on the back. ‘My dad found him?’
‘Sure – he went with Matt and Ginny to the vet.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ Richard says.
Muriel nods. ‘He was in the pavilion and heard Jube yelp.’