North Star (9 page)

Kate had been spending her days outside, enjoying the physical labour of digging the earth and preparing it for a veggie garden. The exercise was good for her; it helped release her pent-up anxiety and frustration. It wasn't doing her body any harm either: her muscles had become toned and her skin had a healthy glow.

Kate had just walked into the house and was pulling off her gardening gloves when the phone rang. She glanced at her watch; it was almost time to head up to the front gate to pick up the kids from the school bus. She just had time to answer the call.

‘Ms Thurston,' said a deep voice, ‘it's Terry Kirkpatrick, the deputy principal up at the high school. I've been asked by your children's bus driver to pass on a message. For some reason Georgia wasn't at the bus stop this afternoon, and your son was certain that she should have been. The driver waited as long as he could, but he couldn't hold up the rest of the bus to wait for one child.'

‘No, of course not. Where's Liam?'

‘Your son remained on the bus, but the driver assured him I'd call you and explain the situation. I've asked Georgia's teachers when they last saw her, but it looks like she hasn't been here most of the afternoon.'

Kate shut her eyes in frustration. ‘I'm sorry that Georgia has caused so much trouble. Thank you for calling me. I'll head up to the bus stop now and collect Liam, then go into town and look for her.'

‘I feel partly responsible for this,' Terry Kirkpatrick said, clearing his throat. ‘Against my better judgement I agreed to handle a recent incident without informing you. Over the last week I've had to speak to Georgia a number of times and I apologise for not bringing you up to speed a lot sooner.'

‘I take it she's not settling into school very well?'

‘Ms Thurston, I've worked with teenagers for over twenty years and there's not much I haven't seen during that time. Georgia is rebelling. It's normal and not completely unexpected when a child has gone through an upheaval like her parents' divorce. She's just seeing how far she can push us all. I'll tell you now, though, I don't accept failure, and I intend to see this through. She has potential, she's a smart kid. While she's here at school, I fully intend to ensure she starts behaving the way we expect all our students to behave. She won't like it, but it might just take someone not directly connected to her to give her that kick she needs to jolt her out of this little phase.'

Kate thought over the deputy's words as she drove along the long dusty driveway to the front gate. As disappointed as she was over Georgia's behaviour, she held a glimmer of hope that between them, she and Mr Kirkpatrick might just be able to get through to her. He certainly didn't seem the type of man to give up, and as gruff as he was on the exterior, Kate sensed a genuine love of his job and of kids. Old-school the man might be, but maybe old-school was exactly what Georgia needed.

Liam ran from the bus, his face flushed and his eyes red from crying. ‘Georgia wasn't on the bus,' he said breathlessly as he pulled open the door and threw his bag inside, then climbed in after it.

Kate reached over and hugged him. ‘I know, mate. It's okay. Mr Kirkpatrick called and told me.'

‘I tried to make the bus wait.'

‘You did the right thing, darling, but it's all right, she must have just gotten things mixed up and forgotten she had to come home on the bus today.'

Liam didn't look convinced, but he seemed calmer now he knew he wasn't in trouble.

‘Was Amy on the bus?' asked Kate, thinking that Georgia was likely to have confided in her friend if she had any secret plans.

‘No, she wasn't,' said Liam. ‘Maybe her mum picked her up early or something.'

‘Let's go check, shall we,' said Kate.

As she pulled up outside the homestead, she saw Jenny heading towards the car, concern written on her face.

Kate wound down the window as her friend approached. ‘Let me guess—Amy wasn't on the bus either?' Kate said.

‘I was just trying to call you at the house. Any idea where they might be?'

Kate shook her head. ‘I was coming over to ask Amy if she knew.'

‘I've asked Matt but he says he doesn't know anything. I guess we just go into town and start with the café.'

Kate felt a sudden pang of regret at what she had put her gran through in her own brushes with truancy.
Oh Gran, I'm so sorry
, she thought, ashamed that she'd been so self-absorbed as a teenager.

‘You go on inside and find Matt,' Jenny told Liam. ‘There's afternoon tea on the bench. Help yourself. Wait here for Nathan to come back—he shouldn't be too much longer.'

Jenny jumped into Kate's car and the two women headed back into Widgerry. ‘Amy's just lucky her father's working the back paddocks today and doesn't know she's not home yet.'

‘I'm so sorry, Jen, this is Georgia's doing.'

‘Rubbish. Amy has a tongue in her head. She could have said no and got on the bus.'

‘Yeah, but you know what Georgia's like—Amy probably thought she should go along just to keep Georgia out of trouble.'

‘Well, she should have known better. Don't go making excuses for her, Kate. I raised my daughter not to give in to peer pressure . . . at least I thought I had.'

Kate bit back an urge to give her friend a lecture on modern teenage girls. Jenny had been lucky that out in Widgerry things moved more slowly. It was harder to get away with things like wagging school in a small town where everyone knew everyone else, but Georgia had become practised at slipping into the crowds in the city. There it was so easy to get into trouble, so easy to disappear. Kate knew this from her own experience. She had run away from Widgerry herself when she was not much older than Georgia, disappearing into the anonymity of the city.

Kate parked in front of the café, noticing the small group of children on the footpath, some on bikes, others with skateboards or on foot. The Paragon had been a teenage hangout for as long as Kate could remember. She and Jenny had always felt left out, envying the town kids who could stop by the café on their way home after school. Farm kids had to take the long bus ride home instead.

Nothing much inside the little café seemed to have changed, from what Kate could tell. The jukebox was still there and was playing something loud and grating, so at least the playlist must have been updated since her time. There were five booths along one wall and three up the middle of the room, and it was surprising how many kids could squeeze into the available seating.

Kate spotted her daughter at the rear of the café with two older boys. She had her back to the door, but Amy, who was sitting opposite, was staring pale-faced at her furious mother heading her way.

Georgia must have noticed the look of horror on her friend's face, because she turned to glance over her shoulder and immediately her smile was replaced by a scowl.

‘Mum,' Amy began, standing up as her mother approached.

‘Not one word, young lady. Get out to the car now,' Jenny said in a tone that sounded remarkably calm. ‘You too, miss,' she said, turning her glare onto Georgia, who for once wisely kept her mouth shut and stood up.

Kate watched the two girls walk past her, Amy in tears, Georgia with a glare that could melt the Antarctic. The two boys were scruffy-looking and obviously much older than the girls. Jenny stood in front of the table and stared down at them. ‘I'd go and find someone else's daughters to sniff around if I were you.'

‘We was just talkin', no need to get ya knickers in a knot,' one of the boys smirked.

‘Make sure it doesn't happen again,' Jenny said fiercely.

Kate hid a small smile as she followed her friend out to the car. Jenny the brave. Some things never changed.

As Kate had guessed, Amy had been roped into Georgia's scheme to skip school because she'd been worried about what her friend might do. Kate hoped Jenny and Nathan wouldn't be too hard on her; she was her mother all over—loyal to a fault and protective of her friend. But in the Beaumont household discipline was swift and firm. It made Kate feel very inadequate. She knew she was losing the upper hand with her daughter. With every stunt Georgia pulled, every smart-mouthed comeback, she was pushing the boundaries further and further. Kate knew that it wouldn't be long until Georgia stopped listening to her altogether. With no partner to back her up, what on earth would she do then?

Georgia was grounded and had her iPod and phone privileges suspended. She sulked in her bedroom for the rest of the week, and there was no remorse or noticeable change in her attitude.

Tired of being given the cold shoulder, Kate knocked on Georgia's bedroom door early on Saturday morning and threw open the curtains to allow the bright morning sun to stream through the windows.

‘I'm sleeping!'

‘Well, not any more. Now that you're awake, hurry up and get up. I need your help.'

‘Help with what?' Georgia's reply was muffled by the pillow she'd thrown over her face.

‘You want to get out of here?'

Georgia looked out from underneath the pillow. ‘Yeah,' she said warily.

‘Well, I need to get this place up and running, so if you want to get out of here faster, you can help me do it.'

‘Do what?'

‘Today we need to finish pulling up the carpet in the back part of the house.'

‘You've got to be kidding.'

‘Fine.' Kate shrugged, turning to leave. ‘I'll have to do it alone or wait until I can save up enough money to hire professionals. Better not get your hopes up of making it back to the city before next year—at the earliest.'

Kate smiled to herself as she heard Georgia's growl of frustration followed by the sound of her getting out of bed.

Over the next few days they began to make significant headway with the rest of the clean-up.

As a child Kate had spent a lot of time roaming the big house and the old section had always fascinated her. Long ago, before her grandparents were married, the house had been full of Campbells, and Kate could almost hear Henry and his brothers racketing around the place.

Once she walked through the doorway at the end of the hall, the very
air
felt different. It should have been spooky to a child—the empty rooms, the musty smell of a closed-up house—but instead it was her sanctuary. Henry was a superstitious man and no matter how much he'd had to drink or how violent his temper, he never, ever set foot through the door at the end of the hallway.

She'd once asked Gran why, but all she'd said was that he didn't like to face his ghosts. Kate was grateful for that because it gave her a place where she could let down her guard and feel safe.

Now, sorting through the house, Kate occasionally came across things she remembered, or that seemed interesting, and she had placed these items back here to deal with once the front of the house had been cleaned up. She hadn't realised how many had accumulated. With the kids at school and Jenny catching up on bookwork, put off while she'd helped restore and redecorate the house, Kate finally had time to go through them.

Inside the first box were various papers and documents, records for the property that Kate put aside to look at in more detail later. In a tattered shoebox she found old sepia photos that showed women in long dresses and fancy bonnets and men in stiff suits. In some, horses stood docile in the background, carts and buggies harnessed behind them.

Very few of the photos had writing on the back or names of the people in the pictures, which left Kate feeling sad that a part of her family history was lost to her. She was the last of her family; there were no relatives left to tell her about these pictures, to reminisce about people long dead.

Kate pulled out another album—this one a little more modern than the last, judging from the fashion in the pictures. There were some rather dashing-looking young men in army uniforms from World War I. The names underneath were vaguely familiar and, after a few minutes, Kate realised that they must have been her grandfather's brothers.