Ned Kelly Awards
One day my publisher e-mailed to let me know that Bindy Mackenzie had been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly First Crime Novel awards.
We walked up the road to celebrate.
We walked past the three bus shelters. A wisp of white light caught the corner of my eye. I turned back and there was Charlie’s hat on the ground.
“Charlie,” I said, “the hat goes on your head.”
We walked past the local primary school.
“Enrol now for Kindergarten 2008!” said the sign.
Why not? I thought, recklessly. I felt excited. Kindergarten was a blast! But then, who would take care of Charlie?
I bought strawberries, bananas, and chocolate-coated apricots, to celebrate the Ned Kelly awards.
We walked back down the hill, past the local primary school. I stopped outside the kindergarten classrooms to consider. Look at Our Lovely Lions! said a poster, alongside a series of lovely lion paintings.
At the first bus shelter I noticed a sign.
Bar Fridge with Freezer Compartment, said the sign. $750 O.N.O.
“Seven hundred and fifty dollars!” I said to Charlie. “For a bar fridge? Are they mad? Even if it does have a freezer compartment!!!”
All the way down the hill I explained to Charlie how excessive that was. I said, what you don’t realise, Charlie, is that you can get a whole new full-size fridge for that amount!
There was nobody around. This was a hot day.
At the second bus shelter I noticed a purple octopus. It was looped to a pin on the noticeboard.
“That’s just like your purple octopus!” I began. “How about that! Who’d – ”
Then I said, “Hm”, and checked Charlie’s pram. His purple octopus was missing.
“Charlie,” I said, “the purple octopus goes in your pram.”
At the third bus shelter there was another copy of the earlier ad.
Bar Fridge with Freezer Compartment, said the sign, $75 O.N.O.
“Oh,” I said, “Seventy five dollars.”
I had misread it.
“You see,” I told Charlie, “it was the O.N.O. It confused me by looking like zeros, I guess. But seventy-five dollars, now that’s more – ”
We were almost home.
I stopped.
It had occurred to me that Charlie had not said a single word the whole journey.
I checked inside the pram. He was quietly taking his sock off, and slipping it over the side.
We walked up the road to celebrate.
We walked past the three bus shelters. A wisp of white light caught the corner of my eye. I turned back and there was Charlie’s hat on the ground.
“Charlie,” I said, “the hat goes on your head.”
We walked past the local primary school.
“Enrol now for Kindergarten 2008!” said the sign.
Why not? I thought, recklessly. I felt excited. Kindergarten was a blast! But then, who would take care of Charlie?
I bought strawberries, bananas, and chocolate-coated apricots, to celebrate the Ned Kelly awards.
We walked back down the hill, past the local primary school. I stopped outside the kindergarten classrooms to consider. Look at Our Lovely Lions! said a poster, alongside a series of lovely lion paintings.
At the first bus shelter I noticed a sign.
Bar Fridge with Freezer Compartment, said the sign. $750 O.N.O.
“Seven hundred and fifty dollars!” I said to Charlie. “For a bar fridge? Are they mad? Even if it does have a freezer compartment!!!”
All the way down the hill I explained to Charlie how excessive that was. I said, what you don’t realise, Charlie, is that you can get a whole new full-size fridge for that amount!
There was nobody around. This was a hot day.
At the second bus shelter I noticed a purple octopus. It was looped to a pin on the noticeboard.
“That’s just like your purple octopus!” I began. “How about that! Who’d – ”
Then I said, “Hm”, and checked Charlie’s pram. His purple octopus was missing.
“Charlie,” I said, “the purple octopus goes in your pram.”
At the third bus shelter there was another copy of the earlier ad.
Bar Fridge with Freezer Compartment, said the sign, $75 O.N.O.
“Oh,” I said, “Seventy five dollars.”
I had misread it.
“You see,” I told Charlie, “it was the O.N.O. It confused me by looking like zeros, I guess. But seventy-five dollars, now that’s more – ”
We were almost home.
I stopped.
It had occurred to me that Charlie had not said a single word the whole journey.
I checked inside the pram. He was quietly taking his sock off, and slipping it over the side.
3 Comments:
That sounds just like my own life. Only without the shortlisting, for which congratulations!
From a fan.
(this is my second try at posting a comment so I apologise if it did actually work the first time)
I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you.
Elizabeth, you are funny. Mum'stheword, thanks so much for commenting. I followed the link to your blog and had fun reading it. I especially liked the story of the people at the dinner party who thought they might try writing children's books. I once had a friend who had six weeks to make some cash and decided the easiest way to do it would be to write a young adult novel. He was quite serious. He asked me for the contact details of my publishers so he could get the details sorted out. best wishes, Jaclyn
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