Echo Point by Virginia Hale

Author:Virginia Hale [Hale, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594935770
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2017-07-24T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

“What’s that man here for?”

Bron looked up from the fridge. Annie stood by the back screen door in her unwashed uniform, retrieved from the tub just twenty minutes before. Outside, the WIRES volunteer stood by his truck talking to Daniel.

“He was looking at the washing machine,” she said casually.

Annie reached for the bowl of cereal Bron had prepared for her. “Why’s he here so early?”

Worriedly, Jackie looked over the top of the newspaper.

“He’s a repairman. We need a new part for it,” Bron lied.

“Oh,” Annie said. “Did we need wires?”

“What do you mean?” Bron asked. How does she know?

“His van says wires on the side. Did he bring us wire?”

She looked out the window, catching on. Phew. “No, no, he was fixing wires in the washing machine,” she said, relieved that Annie had no idea just what the ‘Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service’ did. “Why don’t you go eat your cornflakes while you watch cartoons?”

Annie looked up. “Serious? I can take my breakfast into the lounge room?”

“Don’t spill.”

“Promise,” Annie muttered, her attention completely focused on not splashing the milk over the rim of the bowl as she made her way out of the room.

“Hey, baby,” Ally muttered as she passed Annie in the doorway.

“Watch out, Al,” Annie said, her tongue poking out between her lips in concentration. “Can’t spill…”

When Annie was gone, Ally turned to Bron and Jackie. “Is it taken care of?”

Bron nodded. “It stayed in there all night, thank God. Kept the uniform company.”

Jackie shook her head. “Sending the poor little girl to school in an unwashed uniform. You should make her wear that other one hanging in her cupboard. Or better yet, you should have let me wash it when I offered on Friday night.”

“Well, Mother, if I’d remembered that I’d tossed the uniform in with the snake before I woke up this morning, I would have had time to adjust the spare uniform, wouldn’t I? I had worse things, like, I don’t know, vengeful brown snakes to lose sleep over last night. The uniform was the least of my problems. Besides, it’s not even dirty. Wearing an unwashed uniform for one day won’t kill her.”

“I don’t know, Bron. It was pretty crushed,” Ally stirred. “She’s really going to look like little orphan Annie.”

Bron raised an eyebrow. Not funny.

“It’s a joke,” Ally drawled, chuckling as she dunked a tea bag into her mug. “Relax.”

Jackie piped up. “Speaking of clothes.” She looked at Bron. “You need to go through Libby’s stuff and see what Annie would like to keep. I can call the Salvos to pick up the rest.”

Bron shook her head, shuddering at the idea of Libby’s clothes hanging on a rack in some cluttered Salvation Army store. “I’m not ready, Mum. I’ll do it when I come back from Boston.”

Jackie sighed. “Bron—”

“Mum. Not yet, okay? When I come home.”

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