Stacey’s mum dropped her in it, when the physio arrived.
“Stace got knocked out of her chair, today,” she said, and the man stared at her, before turning to Stacey.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and Stacey nodded.
“I’m fine,” she said. “It didn’t hurt much. I was more embarrassed than anything.”
“Hmmm. I bet you were,” he said. “How’s the chair?”
Stacey shrugged.
“Chair’s okay,” she said. “Was working fine on the way back.
“All right, but if it gives you any trouble, you let me know. Do you know who did it?”
“It’s not like they stopped to give their names.”
“Stacey!” Her mother was annoyed.
“Sorry,” Stacey said. “It’s just there’s been a bit of fuss…”
And the physio laughed.
“Right, then. Well. Let’s go fuss some more. I’ve got a bit of a workout planned, but I didn’t count on you falling out of your chair, so you need to tell me if it hurts more than usual, so I can adjust it back, okay?
Seeing Dan, Wade and Jelly standing in the lounge room, Stacey’s mum sent them out to play.
“Let’s give Stacey a bit of privacy while she gets this done,” she said, and the other three disappeared.
Stacey hoped they’d remember to go out to the lagoon, and check on Veleia, and she really hoped they’d remember to come back and tell her what they found. She didn’t know if she wanted the mermaid to have found her own way out to sea, or not.
While she knew that would be best, she also wanted to see the mermaid, again. It was selfish, but Stacey wanted to say goodbye. After all, she’d been the one to say hello, and she’d been the one to save her from the men in the boat. It just didn’t seem fair that Veleia should disappear from her life without saying goodbye.
Stacey worked her way through the physio’s exercises. She was hurting by the end of it, but she was happy. While she had worked, she had told him about the surfing, and his face had lit up.
“I was hoping you’d find out about that,” he said.
“You were?” Stacey stopped in surprise, and then felt a little bit angry. “You knew about it?”
He glanced towards the door, as though worried that Stacey’s mum might hear them. Stacey’s mum tried to let Stacey work with the physio on her own. Something about giving Stacey some privacy.
Stacey liked that. It had been hard for her to do the physio with her mum or dad watching. She’d found that, if she didn’t have to worry about them, she could focus better on what she was supposed to be doing. Now, she really hoped, her mum didn’t think she was upset and come rushing in to see what was wrong. She settled for glaring at the physio, instead.
When he was sure Stacey’s mum wasn’t going to come in and tell him off for talking about surfing, the physio continued.
“I saw the stuff Garran sent, the day your mum and dad threw it out.”
Stacey opened her mouth, but he ignored her.
“I thought it was something you could try for, but they were scared of getting your hopes up, and then you not being able to do it. They didn’t want to disappoint you, again.”
Stacey closed her mouth. Since when had her parents ever disappointed her? Really disappointed her, like when it mattered? She wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but the physio started her on the next set of exercises, and he was talking again.
“They told me not to mention it, but, seeing as you brought it up…” He looked at her, and then at the door, and then back again, and kept talking, “…and seeing as you’ll probably try it anyway, we need to talk about it.”
“Yes!” Stacey said it, as she made the final effort to finish the set of exercises, and it came out louder than she meant.
This time, they both glanced towards the door. When it didn’t open, they kept going. This time, the physio talked about what she needed to do to be ready to try surfing, and the time sped by. It was only when they stopped, that Stacey realised how tired she felt.
“I’ll talk to your mum,” the physio said, as he got ready to leave. “You take it easy, this afternoon, okay? No gallivanting off down the beach.”
Stacey stared at him, and he laughed.
“I saw your brother dragging you back up to the path,” he said. “Is the chair really going to be okay?”
“I think so,” Stacey told him, just as the door opened. “My cousin will look at it.”
“Look at what?” her mum asked, coming into the room.
“The surfboard,” Stacey said. “I told the club president I’d let them auction it for the club.”
“You what?” her mum cried. “But what if your dad and I wanted to sell it to help for your next board?”
Stacey blushed red to the roots of her hair.
“I’m sorry, mum. When I said it, I didn’t even know there was a way I could surf again.”
This time, it was her mum who blushed.
“I’m sorry, Stace,” she said. “We really should have talked that one through with you.”
Stacey wanted to say that yes, they really, really should have, but she didn’t. What she said, instead, was, “It’s okay, mum. I understand.”
Her mum looked at her for a long minute, and then turned to the physio.
“Well, at least you’re nice enough not to say ‘I told you so,’” she said, and the physio grinned.
“Would it help if I did?” he said, and Stacey watched as the smile went away, but he continued, “No, it wouldn’t. So, how about I ask you what you want to know?”
Stacey followed them out into the kitchen, where her mum made coffee and tea, and her dad found some biscuits in the pantry. The physio stayed for another hour talking about what Stacey needed to do in order to be able to surf again.
“Let me know when she starts,” he said, “and I’ll be there to see how it goes. I’ll also have a word with the person that coordinates the program at the club, and see if they’re set up to have someone long-term, instead of the short bursts they do in summer.”
After that, he finished his coffee and left. Stacey, and her mum and dad, watched as he went down the drive, and then they turned back to the house.
“So, what do you want to do now?” Stacey’s mum asked.
Stacey yawned. She felt suddenly very tired.
“I think I’ll go lie down,” she said.
She knew her mum wouldn’t let her go looking for her brother and cousins, so she had to hope that they came back in time for the four of them to plan what they were going to do next. And if they were going to do anything later on, then she had to be awake enough to do it. Stacey went inside and had a shower, washing away the sweat and the sand of the morning’s adventure and her afternoon workout, and then she went to bed.
“I’m too young for nana naps,” she muttered, as she closed her eyes.
It was the last thing she said for quite some time.