Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [38]
When Shelby's great-aunt opened the door she looked at the expressions on their faces and said, 'Oh! You both look like you could use a cup of tea.'
'Yeah, a cup of tea will fix it,' Shelby said.
'Shelby, you're not too old to go over my knee!' her father warned.
She put her hands on her hips. 'You've never hit me in my whole life.'
'There could always be a first time!'
'I'll put the kettle on, shall I?' Aunty Jenny said.
21 Tongue-tied
Aunty Jenny pulled her kettle out of an open box in the kitchen. She had three cups waiting on the bench. Shelby wandered through the empty house.
Her great-aunt had left some pieces of furniture out – her upright piano was still in the corner of the lounge room and there was an old-fashioned bureau in the hall near the front door. The house seemed much bigger now. She'd never noticed how high the ceilings were, or the lovely woollen rug that had been under the dining table. It seemed fresher and more open too, since all the curtains were gone.
Her footsteps echoed as she walked down the hallway to the bedrooms. She glanced into the first one. It had been her great-aunt's. She supposed it would be her parents' now.
There were another two smaller ones on the left-hand side of the hallway that looked out to the side wall of the house next door. She guessed her brothers would have one each. Connor would be pleased. Although Blake would probably miss having his older brother around, he would probably enjoy the extra space too.
At the end of the hall at the back corner of the house was the spare room. Normally Aunty Jenny kept the curtains closed because the larger windows in the room faced west. It received a lot of the afternoon light, but with no curtains Shelby could see into the back garden.
Her great-aunt was very proud of her garden. She had different beds of native trees and grasses. Shelby recognised some of them from her rides in the gully, and winding between the beds there were paths made from different coloured stones. A hammock was strung up on the back veranda, in speckled shade, surrounded by plants spilling from their pots. To the right was a large garage. The doors were closed, so Shelby couldn't see in.
There was a huge mulberry tree in the neighbour's yard that hung over the fence. There was a tree house in it – more of a platform with a ladder to it. There was a small girl about Connor's age. She was holding a stick, fencing against an imaginary adversary. She stopped, brushed back the tendrils of curly hair from her forehead, and then began again with a flurry of blows. Shelby opened the window and the girl's voice floated in. 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' she called out. 'Now climb the midden mast, you scurvy rat!'
She would get along with Connor very well! Shelby thought. The adventures of Jack Sparrow and Spiderman.
It was a pleasant view from this window, and at the back of the house it was quite private too. She would put her desk against this window, and then the bed along the back wall. Her smaller bookcase would fit under the window on the north side. There was even enough room in here for an armchair.
Perhaps she could have the boys' bunk beds now that they had their own rooms. That way Erin could stay over some weekends. It really wasn't that far away and Erin had said that she wanted to go to the beach sometimes. There was room for an airbed too. She could have a slumber party with Lindsey and Hayley as well.
She heard footsteps up the hall and her dad stood in the doorway.
'What do you think?' He handed her a cup of tea.
'Can I paint it?' she asked.
'Of course.'
'Maybe it could be all right,' she grunted, and then headed back to the front of the house.
Since there was no furniture they drank their tea sitting on the front step.
Her great-aunt told Shelby's father how she had sent the curtains and blinds to be cleaned and they would be delivered the following week. She explained about the post box she had rented at the post office, and how the two-stroke fuel for the whipper snipper was in the red metal can and the unleaded