Tall Story - Candy Gourlay [30]
Jabby had a new basketball with him but I cried off a game at recess because I wanted to work on Amandolina’s necklace. When the bell rang, I rushed out to the frangipani tree in the back playground where I knew I would not be disturbed.
But I had not reckoned on Gabriela and her gang. By some unlucky twist, they had decided to sit under the frangipani tree instead of on their usual bench.
I knew Gabriela by then. I no longer needed Jabby to warn me away from her. I could see what she and her gang of girl thugs did to the other children.
By the time I realized that they were there, it was too late.
They did not give me a chance to run away. Three of the girl thugs grabbed me and manhandled me to the spot behind the tree where Gabriela was waiting. She looked pleased, like a cat that had just been dangled a juicy mouse.
‘You’re that little boy with the giant’s name!’ Gabriela reached out and stroked my hair. I struggled to get away but Gabriela’s girlfriends were stronger and bigger than me. Then I thought, Why not just co-operate, get it over with? What could Gabriela do to me? I had no money. I was worth nothing to her.
‘What giant’s name?’ one of her thugs asked.
‘Bernardo.’ Gabriela’s eyes glittered like the dew on the frangipani’s broad leaves. ‘His name is Bernardo. Like Bernardo Carpio.’
The girls laughed and shook me hard like they were shaking fruit from a tree.
‘So. Bernardo. What have you got?’ one said. But instead of waiting for me to reply, they swung me up and over like a floppy rag doll, dangling me upside down so that the few coins I had left fell out of my pockets. And then, to my dismay, the small brown paper package with shells for Amandolina’s necklace tumbled out.
‘Jackpot!’ Gabriela laughed as she snatched up the package.
A helpless fury suddenly filled me. ‘NO!’ I shouted. ‘That’s for my sister! Leave it alone!’
But shouting was pointless. I knew that nobody in the playground was going to come to my rescue. Not the children. Not the teachers. Gabriela’s thugs pushed me down on the ground, hard. I fell awkwardly, banging my head and shoulder on the hard earth.
‘Ah, puka shells!’ Gabriela smirked at me. ‘What a lovely brother. Were you making a necklace for your sister?’
I didn’t answer, watching with disbelief as she examined the shells.
‘I like necklaces. Remember this?’ She pulled the wishing stone from her collar. ‘My mama made this for me.’
I leaped up, throwing myself on her. She flinched as my fingernails grazed her arm. ‘Stupid boy!’ She slapped me hard on the face with her other hand.
Her thugs peeled me off and shoved me down on the ground, kicking and punching until I could only curl up in a ball, my arms over my head.
‘Don’t you know the rules of Sacred Heart Academy, Bernardo?’ Gabriela nudged me with the toe of her foot. ‘Rule One: Gabriela is always right. And what is Rule Two, girls?’
Her thugs replied in chorus: ‘Rule Two: Refer to Rule One!’
They laughed as they walked away, my precious package clutched in Gabriela’s hand.
I uncurled and lay flat on my back staring up at the spreading branches of the frangipani tree, the tears streaming down my face. I had no money left to get Amandolina anything else. She was going to be so disappointed. I grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled as hard as I could but the pain could not distract me from my failure.
I wished I had not chosen to sit under the frangipani tree.
I wished I had waited until after school to buy the shells.
I wished that my immigration papers had not come through so that this would never have happened.
And then, of course, it turned out that the immigration papers weren’t coming after all.
Ma wrote to say sorry, the Home Office wanted more paperwork, whatever that meant.
11
Andi
Truth to tell, I had always regarded Bernardo as a partner waiting to happen. He’s a boy, isn’t he? He