Corner Park Clubhouse_The Secret Life of Lola by Davina Bell

Author:Davina Bell [Bell, Davina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: friendship, ebook, Social Themes, Emotions & Feelings, Girls & Women, Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781743586334
Google: ue6lDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 47790338
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Published: 2019-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

I have to stop myself from eating the almond croissants about seven times on the walk home. They smell like heaven. You know what smells like the opposite of heaven? Powell HQ. The moment I walk in to our house, I gag. It smells terrible. And it’s not one of Pop’s rank farts.

In the kitchen, Mum’s cutting up octopus legs, which means she’s making octopus vindaye. That’s a dish from Mauritius, which is where my parents were born, and it’s Nana Marjorie’s favourite. Between you and me, it tastes like the fake spew Rishi got in a showbag once. I know because I’ve tried both.

‘Did you actually eat this stuff when you were kids?’ I ask Mum. ‘Or did you feed it to Hutch under the table?’

‘You’re insulting your heritage,’ Mum tells me. ‘But for the record, I agree – it’s disgusting.’

‘Couldn’t we make her rougaille instead?’ I ask her. That’s a delicious spicy tomato dish, sort of like a Mauritian stew, which Mum makes when someone needs cheering up. My friends are mad for it. ‘Surely she had that in her childhood?’

‘But sweetie,’ says Mum. ‘The octopus –’

‘Reminds her of going to the fish markets at Port Louis with her grandma,’ I finish. ‘Before she came to Australia. And she came here and then she never went back to Mauritius. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it a zillion times.’ But have I ever actually paid attention to any of this stuff? I’ve definitely never asked Nana Marjorie. I usually spend most of my visits finding excuses to leave.

‘You were the same age as Pop when you came here, right?’ I ask Mum as she shoves the octopus into a jar, where it pickles while I measure out the spices. ‘So do you remember how to speak French? Or, what’s that other language – Clingon?’

Mum frowns. ‘Creole,’ she says. ‘I knew them both back home, but after we arrived here, Nana Marjorie made us speak English only. She was strict about it.’

‘I’ll bet,’ I say, washing turmeric off my fingers.

‘But when she wasn’t around, your grandpa spoke to me in French.’

‘That’s Grandpa Teddy, right? What was he like?’ I ask. ‘It couldn’t have been fun being married to Nana Marjorie.’

‘She wasn’t always as cranky as she is now. In Mauritius, she was a dancing champion. Did you know that? She was famous for her sega.’

Sega is a Mauritian dance that Tally taught herself off YouTube. She’s great at it.

‘So what happened?’ I ask Mum.

She hands me the jar. ‘You should take this to her and ask her yourself.’

I pick up the bag of almond croissants. ‘Yeah. Maybe I will.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.