Chase and I catch a train and bus to Tapley Grammar. Walking towards school, I see the honey-coloured stone buildings rising from the ovals and the horses of the Tapley equestrian and polo teams gazing over the white wooden fences.
‘I’ll miss this place,’ Chase says. ‘I liked it here.’
‘So did I.’ I feel like a stranger now. This school isn’t our school anymore. ‘But that’s how the cookie crumbles.’
Chase laughs. ‘It is, Parkie. Anyway, let’s go see the headmaster. I’m sure he’ll be impressed with your current hairstyle.’
My Mohawk is really no longer a true Mohawk. It looks like a line of pale shrubbery growing over a partially grassed hill in the middle of summer.
‘I was thinking,’ I say, ‘of going into town to see Maddylynne at Klassicke Kutz. To say goodbye and get a more George-appropriate hairstyle.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Chase and I head on up the stairs to the Tapley Administration Centre, Stock Market, and Satellite Monitoring Facility. ‘We’ll check out, get our stuff, then we’ll walk into town. And then we’ll make a break for the big city.’
I go up to my room, thinking about the scholarship that the headmaster offered me, but I won’t accept it. What fun would this place be without Chase? So even as I am on my way into my room, I’m on my way out. Nothing in the little wooden space has changed, I see, except perhaps me.
‘Ha,’ I murmur. ‘Well, well, well.’
I pack my books and things, moving around the dusty room that has been like a close and protective friend. And when I’m done, I look down on the beautiful Sir Roger Blackheart Buccaneer Oval and although I am sad, maybe I’m a little relieved, too. Yes, I suppose I do love this place but that doesn’t mean I won’t love other places. Picking up my bag, I see on the floor the 1930 penny I found at the old coffee house all those weeks ago.
‘Hmmm,’ I say, looking at it. ‘So what to do with you, my valuable little round friend?’
I put the penny in my safest pocket then leave, quietly closing the door. At the top of the stairs, I consider sliding down the banister – which would be utter madness, as that has resulted in the deaths of fifteen Tapley boys, some of whom supposedly still wander the corridors at night, moaning about bank accounts they can no longer access. So slowly and sensibly, I head down the stairs to meet Chase.
We walk through the Tapley grounds then along the beach into town. I look around for that girl Charlotte, but she’s nowhere to be seen. So all I can do is hope she writes her book and has a lovely life.
‘No sign of Charlotte,’ I say as we pass the empty jetty.
‘Not this time,’ Chase replies. ‘Pity. She’s a great kid. And she likes you.’
We make it into town, me realising with sadness that I’m about to go in to Klassicke Kutz to see Maddylynne for the last time.
‘Meet you at the jetty, Chase,’ I suggest. ‘Say, in an hour?’
‘Got it, dude.’ Chase gives me the thumbs-up. ‘Make sure Maddylynne gives you something truly radical, bro.’
‘Yes,’ I call back. ‘I won’t!’
And I don’t.
I simply ask Maddylynne to basically cut all my hair to the one short length, which she does. Then I give her flowers, because she’s always been very nice to me, and I get out of there quickly, before I cry, because it seems a lot of wonderful things are coming to an end.
‘See you, George!’ She calls out from the front step, wearing her yellow apron, holding her clippers. ‘You’re a good person!’
‘So are you, Maddylynne,’ I call back. ‘Thank you for everything!’
I walk along the beach, the Tapley buildings looking like something from a dream that I am walking towards but also away from, which is an appealing concept, if not a little paradoxical, but then that’s life.
‘Hi, George!’
I look towards the sand dunes and I see a girl walk out onto the beach. It’s Charlotte and she has on jeans, a loose white shirt, and a bag slung over her shoulder.
‘Charlotte!’ I say, and feel something bump in my chest as we meet by the water. ‘How are you?’
She smiles. ‘I’m good, George. I saw you and Chase walk past so I rushed down to see how you are. So where have you been?’
‘Where have I been?’ I make a circle in the air with an index finger. ‘I’ve been to quite a few places. One day I’ll tell you, Charlotte. One day I will. How’s your book going?’
She reaches into her shoulder bag and takes out five writing pads held together with rubber bands.
‘I’ve written two hundred and seventy-seven pages.’ She shows me. ‘All by hand. But I need a computer to write it out properly. And we can’t afford one. So I’m not sure what to do.’
‘Well, I’m sure,’ I say, as I reach into my safest pocket and take out my King George 1930 penny, ‘that if you take this coin to a coin expert, Charlotte, he will give you a lot of money. And then you can buy a computer.’
Charlotte shakes her head, her coppery hair shimmering. ‘I couldn’t take it, George. It’s yours.’
‘It’s not mine, not really,’ I reply. ‘It was just lying on a floor in an old building waiting for someone to come along. Take it, Charlotte.’
And that’s what happens. Well, actually there’s a bit more to it than that – she takes the coin, we give each other our home telephone numbers and we smile at each other.
Yes, that’s what happens.
And I’m quite pleased that it does!
Chase and I leave Tapley for the last time, catch the bus under the old oak tree, and arrive at the railway station. There we sit in the waiting room and not much seems to be happening, but, as my dad says, nothing is never happening, meaning something is happening all the time. And my dad is right, because the headline on the front page of the Melbourne Financial Times states:
Amazing Algae Will Save the World!
The picture below shows a river of green algae flowing out the front gate of Number Twelve Poorly Street, which is my house, and continues on down the road out of sight!
‘Oh my goodness, Chase,’ I say. ‘That’s my place and that’s my algae! Wow. It seems to have had something of a growth spurt while we’ve been away.’
‘And not only that, Georgie,’ says Chase, turning his phone around. ‘Look.’ He shows me a picture of a person in a laboratory holding a test tube that looks like an algae fountain! ‘Read this, dude.’
‘I can’t, Chase,’ I say. ‘I don’t have my glasses.’
‘Oh, okay.’ Chase takes a deep breath. ‘It says: “Parker Algae 2000 creates mega-million bio-fuel bonanza for creator”.’ He looks at me. ‘You know what that means, don’t you?’
‘No,’ I answer. ‘Not really.’
‘It means,’ Chase jumps up, ‘you’re a bio-fuel billionaire, George! You’re possibly the richest kid in the world! What are you gonna do with all that money?’
I have to think about that as I’ve never, ever, been rich before. Then the ideas start to flow.
‘I’m going to save the Tasmanian devil,’ I say. ‘I’m going to send Isobel to art school. I’m going to buy a coffee machine. I’m going to give my parents their own lab! I’m going to buy a thousand copies of Charlotte’s book! And you and I, Chase, will find the Solange, visit the kids in Africa, the tiger in India, and the orang-utans in Borneo! And,’ I smile at my best friend ‘that’s just the beginning, Chase. That is just the beginning!’
