Dear Mum, you should have seen Clara this morning. She was so bossy and important, and the whole thing worked brilliantly. We’re going round some of the farms after school tomorrow and the next day to hand out more badges to the roosters.
I know that sounds crazy, and I know it won’t work. But it keeps Clara happy, and I can’t think of anything else we can do that might help Dad.
Back to this morning. I was wheeling my bike around to the front of the school, with Clara perched on the handlebars, when I heard two other bikes coming up behind me.
You guessed it. Tracy and Jubilee. Ugh.
They rode up beside me. ‘Ooh, look,’ said Tracy. ‘Olive Hennessey’s brought a chook to school. Ha ha, what a loser.’
‘Don’t be mean, Tracy,’ said Jubilee. ‘Poor Olive can’t help it if she hasn’t got any friends.’
‘She thinks she’s so clever,’ said Tracy, ‘because her dad’s a cop. But he’s a loser too. And a liar!’
‘He is?’ said Jubilee, pretending to be shocked. ‘Why, if there’s one thing I hate, it’s dishonest policemen. We’d better go, Tracy, before we catch some awful disease.’
And they stood up on their pedals and sped away laughing.
I shouted after them, ‘At least my chook has a kind heart!’
School wasn’t too bad today. I actually answered a couple of questions, which made Mrs Savage nod approvingly at me.
I really like her, Mum. She’s never once looked at me in that awful pitying way that some people do when they hear about you. She treats me as if I’m still a normal person, not some sad little freak who has to be wrapped up in cotton wool in case I break.
And she gives me poems, slips them into my hand when no one else is watching. I don’t always understand them, but I read them anyway.
Do you think she gives anyone else poems? Maybe she does. Maybe she gives poems to everyone in the class, and everyone thinks they’re the only one.
I wonder what sort of poem she’d give to Jubilee.
‘Dear Jubilee, don’t be so evil
or I will turn you into a weevil.’
Ha ha. If only.
Anyway, today the secret poem handover happened just before recess. And right in the middle of it, I saw Jubilee sneaking into the locker room. Tracy was watching me, so I pretended I hadn’t seen a thing. But I knew I’d better get in there before anyone else to see what she’d done. And undo it if I could.
Except Fate took a hand.
I’m not sure if I really heard the snapping sound, or if I made it up later. But let’s say I heard it. Like this:
Snap! And Jubilee screamed.
I definitely heard that. We all did. Every single person in the class jumped to their feet and ran towards the locker room. Tracy was shouting, ‘Jubilee! Jubilee!’
Mrs Savage was trying to push past us without actually trampling on any of us in the process (because teachers trampling on children is frowned on in Little Dismal). ‘What is it?’ she demanded. ‘Who screamed? Jubilee, was that you? What happened?’
By then, Jubilee was standing in the middle of the locker room wailing and holding out her hand. ‘She hurt me! Olive Hennessey hurt me!’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’ said Mrs Savage. ‘Olive wasn’t anywhere near you. She was with me.’
Jubilee wailed louder. ‘She put a mouse trap in her schoolbag. She did it on purpose!’
Everyone stared at the mouse trap, which was lying on the floor next to Jubilee’s feet.
Mrs Savage said, ‘Olive? Do you know anything about this?’
I shook my head. ‘No, Mrs Savage,’ I said. Because I didn’t know anything, not for sure. But I had my suspicions.
Fact #1. There wasn’t a mouse trap in my bag when I left it in the locker room.
Fact #2. The locker room window was wide open, so a magpie or a kookaburra or – just guessing wildly here – maybe even a chook could fly in from outside.
Fact #3. Mrs Savage sometimes puts mouse traps up on top of the lockers where that same magpie or kookaburra (or chook) might find them.
‘She’s lying,’ cried Jubilee. Her fingers looked red and sore, where the mouse trap had caught her. ‘Look what she did!’
Tracy put her arm around Jubilee’s shoulders and glared at me. ‘That was mean, Olive Hennessey.’
There was a buzz of agreement from a few of the other kids. But Digby said, ‘Jubilee, if the mouse trap was in Olive’s bag, how did it end up on your fingers?
‘I was just—’ Jubilee stopped.
‘She was trying to help,’ Tracy said quickly. ‘She was worried Olive might have stolen something else, weren’t you, Jubilee? You were going to put it back, so she wouldn’t get into trouble.’
Mrs Savage narrowed her eyes. ‘That’s an interesting excuse, Jubilee and Tracy. Perhaps you and I should have a little talk at lunchtime. Meanwhile, I assume there are no more mouse traps? Good. Let’s have an early recess. And just a reminder, children, to keep your hands out of other people’s property.’
Everyone went to their bags. There was a little empty space around Jubilee and Tracy, as if no one wanted to go near them.
Hear that sound, Mum? That’s me singing under my breath.
‘Dear Jubilee, don’t be so evil …’
Love, Olive
PS. Clara and I watched Amelia X. It’s really good!