When Granddad answers his front door, he is bleeding heavily from his head. Only he’s not. It’s ketchup.
Granddad groans, “Don’t ask! Your aunty is practicing bandages. The sauce is there for authenticity, apparently.”
Teresa jumps up and down when she sees me. “Millie! How fantastic are me and you as a TEAM! We are VIRAL! I was so pleased to see it go big. Can I bandage you, by the way?”
Everyone is very excited about me going viral, but now it just seems like something I have to do. It doesn’t feel like something to celebrate—just my job. I think I have lost the “fun” of it. The real fun. Not the fun that people force on you.
I sit on the couch and let Teresa practice putting my arm in a sling. She’s not very good at it. She nearly dislocates my shoulder. It’s at this point that my phone decides to ring. I can see it’s Lydia Portancia, but I can only use my left arm to pick up my phone. I drop it at first and Teresa has to hold it up to my ear. This sight makes Granddad cry with laughter.
“Millie!” Lydia yells. “I have some incredible news! Tourism Toronto is very interested in giving you and your mum a trip to Canada to see Danny! It’ll be a weekend package. In a few weeks. You go there, you see Danny, you see some sights. Young love! Fantastic places! You take some footage. Send it back. We will edit it and put it together for you for vlog! How does that sound?!”
It sounds so incredible I can’t believe it’s my life. I am being flown to see my boyfriend in a foreign city!
“Are you there?!” Lydia shouts.
“Sorry!” I reply. “Yes! I’ll obviously have to ask my mum, but I think it will be a yes. YES!”
Lydia whoops with excitement. “Also, we’re going to start putting ads in your vlogs. That means money. Things have gotten BIG, Millie, and it’s down to you. You have made this happen. Well, you and Dave! I’ll give your mum a call just to check everything is okay with her!”
When I hang up from Lydia, Teresa starts jumping up and down and hollering. Granddad hugs me and tells me how proud he is of me. “You’ll be wanting to get home, Millie, to tell your mum. She’ll be thrilled! You know, when you started all this nonsense, I thought, ‘that’ll go nowhere,’ but you’ve proved me wrong!”
Teresa suddenly pulls a face of horror.
“Who will look after Dave? I volunteer! I can practice some basic tourniquets on her!”
“She’s a cat, Teresa!” Granddad yells.
“There are many similarities between us and felines, Dad!” Teresa says with a sniff.
“Like what?” I giggle.
Teresa thinks for a time.
“Legs!”
The evil part of my brain says if I leave Dave with Rod, she’ll forget me by the time I get back and may not ever love me again. I tell Teresa she can look after her, and I fully express this insecurity by eating a very large sandwich that Granddad made me.
Just as I’m about to polish it off, Mum calls me.
“Milllliiiiiieee!!” she screams. “We are going to Canada! You clever, clever girl! I am SO proud of you, we are going to have such a good time! I can’t wait! I bet you can’t, either!”
“No, I can’t,” I tell her.
Everyone is so excited. Why do I feel so sick?
And how can I tell Danny that we are coming to visit him when he’s living in a tree?