River School was surrounded by a forest of prickly plants. The founder, Mr Archie River, had brought the seedlings all the way from his home country of South Africa, in a box marked Euphorbia ingens. Some of the cacti had grown taller than the classrooms.
Jax and Mai walked past the administration building where an empty flagpole stood. There used to be a flag attached to it, with the proud face of Mr River embroidered on its surface. But just last week, during a violent storm, the wind blew a gaping hole straight through the founder’s mouth, then grabbed the flag and ripped it off the pole. The children watched it sail across the schoolyard with the open-mouthed Archie looking as if he was crying out for help. They couldn’t stop laughing all week.
Ma said River School was a lucky school. Eight is a lucky number for Chinese people. And River School’s address was 88 Fortuna Avenue. Jax told Mai he thought ‘8’ was lucky because it was an infinity sign standing on its head. ‘The infinity sign and Yin Yang circle are the most beautiful symbols in the world,’ he told her.
Whenever Jax felt nervous standing in front of the class, he would first concentrate on these two symbols, tracing them over and over in his mind. Then he would be calm and ready to face the fifty-eyed monster.
‘Have fun at the aquarium, Mai.’ Jax watched as Mai’s friends greeted her excitedly. He was just thinking how lucky she was to be so popular when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was his friend, Buzzy Alvarez. Buzzy was one of the most admired boys at school and so good at sport that he had already been signed up as a recruit for the Goannas, the top footy team in the league. Jax and Buzzy were as different as night and day, but it was their love of animals that kept their friendship alive.
They had met while Jax was walking home from school. A car had swerved, its tyres barely missing a small black and white dog that had darted out into the middle of the road. The dog was terrified and sat cowering on the hot bitumen. Jax watched helplessly as two more cars came up over the hill. He wanted to do something, but he had never touched a dog before, let alone picked one up. His mind was alive with thoughts. Would the animal bite him? Would it run in the wrong direction, towards the cars? Would the cars be able to see him? He might be run over, too.
At that moment, Jax saw a boy step onto the road. He was tall, with brown unruly hair. He recognised him from school. The boy put up his hands and the cars came to a halt. Then he gently lifted the little dog into his arms and walked calmly back to the footpath. Jax thought it was the bravest thing he had ever seen. The boy stroked the little dog’s head, murmuring soothing words in its ear. He then looked up at Jax and smiled.
‘Doesn’t have a collar. Must be lost,’ he said. ‘I can’t keep her, I already have two rats, an axolotl and a cat. Mum said I have too many pets. Do you like dogs?’
Jax had only been in Australia for two months so he didn’t understand what the boy had said. But Jax nodded anyway. Sometimes it was easier to pretend you understood even when you didn’t.
‘Do you like dogs?’ the boy repeated.
This time Jax caught the words ‘like’ and ‘dog’. He was about to say something back, but stopped. English words were so hard to pronounce. And if he made a mistake, the boy might laugh at him like some of the kids had on Jax’s first day of school. Instead he nodded again. He looked at the little dog. Her eyes were warm, the colour of chestnuts. Jax put out his hand and stroked her head.
‘She’s cute, isn’t she?’ the boy said. ‘Want to keep her?’
While Jax was trying to figure out the English words, the boy thrust the dog into his arms. The animal immediately snuggled in, burying her head under his armpit.
‘Do you think your mum and dad would let you keep her?’ the boy said, this time more slowly. He also used his eyes in a way that helped Jax understand.
If only I could keep her, Jax thought. Ma doesn’t like dogs, she says they are dirty. But then, she’s only small, not really like a dog at all. Maybe… ‘Yes, I keep,’ Jax said, smiling at the boy.
‘Good. What’s your name? Mine’s Buzzy.’
‘My name is Jax,’ he said proudly. This was the one sentence Jax had practised over and over again.
Buzzy tickled the little dog under the chin. ‘And what will you call her?’
‘Call her…’ Jax repeated.
‘I know, how about Ruby? It’s a kind of precious stone.’
Jax looked at Buzzy questioningly.
‘Ruby… you know… my name’s Buzzy… your name’s Jax. Her name’s… ?’
‘Ruby,’ Jax finished, feeling very pleased with himself.
‘Yes, exactly,’ Buzzy grinned.
Jax lifted the little dog up to his face. ‘Ruby, Ruby,’ he whispered. She smelt like she had been down a sewer, but he didn’t care. Ruby was his dog now. She snuggled in under his chin. Jax thanked Buzzy and said goodbye.
When he got home, Ma cried, ‘Aiya! Lao shu!’ and covered her mouth with her hand.
‘It’s not a rat, Ma,’ Jax protested. ‘Here, put on your glasses and look properly.’
‘Shi gou ma? Is it a dog?’ said Ma, peering at it more closely. ‘Will it bite? Where did you get it from? I think you should take it back. Why is it shaking, Mingzi? Is it sick?’
‘She’s just scared, Ma. A nice boy at school gave her to me. Can we keep her?’
Ma screwed her lips to one side and frowned, shaking her head slowly.
‘She’s small, Ma, so she won’t eat much. And she won’t get sick. I’ll look after her. Hey, she can be our watchdog. She’s cute, don’t you think?’ Jax held Ruby up to Ma’s face.
‘Aiya, so smelly!’ she said, wrinkling up her face and waving her hand in front of her nose. She stood back, crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, ‘Ai… haole haole… qu qu… All right… all right… go, go. Better give the poor thing a bath before your father gets home. And you can feed her the leftover meat from the refrigerator.’
Jax hugged Ruby and put his arm around Ma. He had never known a happier day.
From then on, Buzzy would often ask how Ruby was doing and what new tricks she had learnt. He would then tell Jax all about his rats and the rat babies. But today Jax was worried about his friend. Buzzy looked tired and his eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn’t slept all week.
‘Do you want my rats? I’m giving them away.’ Buzzy’s voice was flat and weak.
‘But, Buzz, you love your rats.’ Jax couldn’t believe it. ‘What’s wrong?’
Buzzy looked down at the ground and brushed his toe through the dirt. ‘I’m just sick of them, that’s all.’ Then he looked up and frowned. ‘Do you want them or not?’
Jax was shocked and didn’t know what to say. His friend had never snapped at him like that before.
‘Well, think about it, okay? If you want them, they’re yours. I’m goin’ to play footy before class. Seeya, Jax.’
Jax stared after Buzzy as he walked away. There was definitely something wrong, but what could be wrong in Buzz’s perfect life? He had everything – he was smart at school, good at sport, popular. Even the teachers liked him.
In class that day, Jax couldn’t concentrate and his palm itched incessantly. The day seemed to drag on forever. Each subject melted into the other, becoming one long boring blur. Most of the time he spent staring out of the window at the forest of cactus plants. The spiny leaves had become home to a number of small birds and Jax had been watching them every day. He could hear the tiny cheep cheep of their song. He often wished he, too, could fly off whenever he wanted, instead of being locked up inside a classroom.
Bing bing bing. Finally the bell sounded.
As Jax stood up to go, lightning flashed around the room. Another big storm was on its way.