Two weeks later, I sat in my usual spot at the back of the class next to Thomo and Chook. Everyone, other than me and Arabella, who was telling us about winning a horse-jumping competition, had given their TRUE or FALSE story. No one had a story half as exciting as mine. The strange thing was that at the end of every story, everyone else in the class had correctly guessed whether the story was true or false. I think that was because we all knew each other so well.
Chook had told the class that he went to North Queensland in the holidays and he cut his foot on coral and he had to go hospital to make sure it wouldn't get infected. Big deal. If you're going to tell a false story, I reckon you should come up with something better than that. No one believed him, even though it could've happened. Why? Because everyone has known Chook since our first year of school and when he tells a lie, his mouth twists up on one side. It always has. The truth was that his older sister cut her foot on coral and had to go to hospital.
I was worried. Would the class be able to tell if I was telling the truth or not, just because they'd known me for so long?
When Arabella finished, the whole class agreed she was telling the truth. Most weekends she went in horse competitions and she was good at winning. She owned three horses and there was a special room in her house for all her blue ribbons and trophies. And, of course, we were right, she'd won another competition.
Then Mrs. Kingston, my teacher, looked straight at me. "Max, your turn."
I stood and made my way to the front of the class with the large yellow envelope in my hand. The envelope contained the evidence. I smiled at everyone before I began. "You all know that I went to Italy in the holidays, so my mom could meet her relatives again. Her cousin lives in Venice and she's married to a policeman. His name is Santo. Charlie and me got to hang out with him while he was on duty."
A couple of my classmates groaned. They already reckoned this story was going to be one of my made up 'Max stories'.
"Well this story is about that Venetian job. Do you sometimes know that something bad is about to happen? Like when you kick the football and it's heading straight for the window of the library. Or when you've left your project on the dining-room table and the next time you see it it's in your dog's mouth." I didn't tell them that I'd been praying the whole time I was in Venice that I'd get a bad feeling.
I told my class about being on the police boat, about the big art theft that'd happened at a New Year's Eve party in a palace on the Grand Canal, about The Cursed Mansion, about the movie being filmed in The Cursed Mansion, about Charlie and me meeting the film director and about my bad feeling when I met the first bad guy. Then I told them the details that didn't make sense, like how the guy with the Save the Whales T-shirt had pressed down the corner of a painting and about the strange silver tubes that had been kept hidden.
The whole class seemed to be holding their breath. When I got to the bit about hiding in the storeroom, I noticed looks of disbelief. Then by the time I got to the boat chase, Thomo and Chook were sniggering up the back of the classroom. They reckoned this was one of my 'Max stories'. By the time I'd got to the bit about the reporter and the cameraman, even Mrs. Kingston laughed at me.
When I finished, she said to me, "Great story, Max." Then she turned to the class and asked, "Hands up who thinks that is a TRUE story?"
Not one person put up their hand, not even Mrs. Kingston. Just as I'd hoped.
I picked up the yellow envelope that everyone had probably thought was one of my tricks, and pulled out the newspaper article and the photos showing the handcuffed bad guys, me, Charlie and Santo with a bunch of Carabiniere. I handed the newspaper article to a girl in the class who could read Italian. She read the whole article aloud, while the photos were passed round the class.
Kids squealed, gasped and carried on like pork chops.
Mrs. Kingston came over to me. "Max, are you serious? Is your story really true?"
I couldn't stop grinning. "Yep! Shows that it's always important to take notice of your bad feelings."