Children of the Moon. Evadeen Brickwood

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СКАЧАТЬ she was smiling! Why couldn’t they all just be friends? But Chryséis stuck to her guns.

      “Listen here, don’t try and make her feel bad, Benson. How about some small talk, before showing off your fabulous IQ score? Oh, I forgot... that’s not your style.” Chryséis’s voice took on a silly breathless quality.

      “What’s wrong with talking about one’s IQ? Pah!”

      Holly knew from past experience that she couldn’t possibly win this argument with Chryséis Cromwell. What a bore. Must be genetic, she thought hotly, just look at that odd mother of hers.

      Others began to stare at them. Many of the kids thought that Holly was a terrible snob, but Holly knew better. Her superior intelligence went hand in hand with a little bit of arrogance, which was quite normal. Her Dad always said so.

      They all continued to eat in silence until Dr. Broadbent announced an excursion to Carter Valley, planned for Saturday in two weeks time. Next weekend was reserved for the school’s annual Sports Day. All-round cheering and some grumbling ensued.

      Sport’s Day, already! Katherine and Chryséis looked at each other. They had only just arrived back at school! The sporty students were, of course, delighted.

      “Mens sana in corpore sano, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing like a breath of fresh air and aching muscles to tickle stale thoughts out of your grey cells,” Dr. Broadbent boomed over the noise and launched into a brief speech praising the virtues of team sports.

      Trevor didn’t listen. His thoughts were far away. He was a good tennis player, but Sports Day was a nuisance right now. The time portal finder needed to be tested again. He no longer had to sweep the back veranda and the garden path, but cycle tests had been scheduled for every day of next week. And then there was Holly to consider. The project was due in less than 3 weeks.

      Then he had an idea. The excursion to Carter Valley - it would be ideal!

      On Saturday, it rained cats and dogs and the Sports Day had to be canceled. All competitions and fun games were postponed to a weekend in April.

      Students were milling about in their sports gear, not knowing what to do with themselves. Many lounged around in little groups on the back veranda and watched the downpour. Others watched TV in the common rooms.

      Chryséis, Katherine and Trevor had visited the ‘Paraguayan Coffee Shop’, corner Church and Bailey Streets. Dr. Naidoo. Their English teacher had agreed to let them wait in the coffee shop next to the movie theater. All the other students and teachers went to watch the new movie ‘The Caterpillar Club’.

      The three aspiring time travellers had decided immediately to try out the virtual invisibility cape.

      A bit risky perhaps, but they needed to observe the effect under different conditions. And the coffee shop wasn’t too busy.

      The girls had put on the alicebands in the dark foyer of the movie theater and slipped through the door of the coffee shop right behind Trevor. They had left mysterious footprints on the floor, but it was impossible to tell them from all the other wet footprints.

      Trevor settled himself at a bistro table by the window and ordered a hot chocolate and a piece of carrot cake. Two lonely daypacks sat on the other two chairs at the table.

      “My two friends are on their way,” he had told the waitress.

      Trevor was supposed to wait for Chryséis and Katherine, but they almost regretted their daring plan. Somebody walked into Katherine, as the two girls made their way invisibly to the restrooms at the back.

      A young woman stormed through the swing door dividing the coffee shop from the passage. Her hand brushed against Katherine, giving the girl a mighty fright. Katherine clung to Chryséis, who nearly dropped the muffin she had impishly picked up on the counter.

      The woman looked up for a second. “Oh!” She looked in their direction, but could she see them?

      Katherine’s heart missed a beat and she was incredibly relieved when the woman just sat down at her table. They felt their way along the wall and squeezed through the open gap of the restroom door. Then they pressed themselves against the wall next to the hand dryers. They waited for two ladies to finish powdering their noses. Then the girls quickly de-activated the VICs.

      “Phew, that was close!” Katherine’s eyes were as round as saucers.

      “Do you think that woman noticed something?!” she asked. Chryséis didn’t answer straight away. She looked pale under her freckles as she started washing her hands, in case somebody came in.

      “I don’t think so.”

      “But what if she comes back to check?”

      “Why should she do that?”

      A girl, who needed the toilet desperately, walked in just as Katherine started to say something. The girls left. They could talk later.

      In was in any case time to get back to Trevor. Katherine began to giggle as she sat down next to him and could stop.

      “How did it go?” Trevor whispered and looked bewildered at Katherine.

      “Just nerves,” Chryséis sighed. “Somebody bumped into her by the swing door.”

      “Oh that’s great, did he notice anything?”

      “No, I don’t think so. It was the lady over there...” Chryséis pointed slightly with her chin. The woman looked up at the waiter, who brought her the bill. Looked all normal.

      “She seems okay,” Trevor decided.

      Katherine giggled some more as their order of hot chocolate was served. Bradley Benson walked past the window and Katherine stopped at once. He waved at them in an unusually friendly manner. They waved back half-heartedly.

      “Don’t tell me Holly sent him to spy on us.” Chryséis creased her forehead.

      “Who knows. But there was nothing to see.” At least Trevor hoped so.

      By the time they arrived back at Pemberton, Katherine had completely recovered from her giggling spell. They went straight to the back veranda, where a table was just being cleared.

      Katherine snuggled into the comfortable cushions of the broad bamboo chair. There were jugs with iced tea and glasses on the tables that had been prepared for the Sports Day. ‘Too good to waste,’ cook Hadley had said in the morning. The students agreed. Cook’s ice tea was even better than her famous lemonade. Katherine watched the relentless rain.

      “Imagine all this water coming down in one great gush. Instead of slowly drizzling down,” she said.

      “It would be like a tidal wave. Sweeping away our beloved school and us in the process, girlfriend.” Chryséis rolled her eyes. Katherine sometimes came up with these ideas out of the blue.

      “Sometimes I am glad that nature just takes care of things.”

      “So am I!” Trevor agreed.

      “Yes, like thanks to the rain I don’t have to play tennis against all those champs today. Thank you, thank you nature—” Chryséis bowed mockingly СКАЧАТЬ