New Kid In The Neighbourhood
"You’re going to get sunstroke
sitting in that old car," Lucy told Bill who was tilted back in the seat
of an abandoned Volkswagen in the empty lot by the railway track.
"I’m not in the sun," Bill said
lazily. "Besides, I like the heat."
The rest of the gang, except Sam who was
at the dentist and Piya who was helping her mother make pickle, were lying in
the long grass around the car.
The car had no doors or windows and grass
grew tall into it through holes in the floor boards so Bill was sitting sort of
outside even though he was inside the car. Because of the sun on the metal roof it got hot inside and this was why
Lucy was concerned.
"You should wear a hat in
there," Ingrid offered.
Joshua made an explosive sound with his
mouth. "His head would cook in a hat in there," he said. "Hats are to shade you from the
sun."
"Well, gee whiz," said Ingrid
whose feelings were hurt by Joshua’s critical laughter.
"Oh, bother," he said, when he
realized he had upset her. "Don’t
be silly. I didn’t mean it like
that."
John raised a finger and in the dust on
the side of the car he did a drawing of a head with a hat on it but the head
under the hat was melting like wax on a hot candle. It looked horrible so he quickly wiped it out. But not before Ellen had seen and made a
face that turned her mouth upside down.
Joshua was saying, "I hate hats and
my Mom is always trying to get me to wear one so that’s why I
snorted." He HAD had sunstroke a
week or so back from not wearing a hat and this was not a pleasant memory.
"Oh," Ingrid was calmed.
"Oh!" shouted Lucy and everyone
jumped. "I forgot to tell
you. Guess what?"
"What?" most of them asked,
startled to attention.
Lucy paused, liking such a rapt audience
and wanting to prolong being the center of interest. "Guess what I was going to say," she said, to stall her
news.
The gang stared at her, some in curiosity,
some in puzzlement.
John, who was on the opposite side of the
car had to turn right around and look at her through where the doors would have
been.
"I read in Reader’s Digest about
people being able to read minds and now I have really important news to tell
you and I want to see if you can know what I am thinking." she explained.
No one said anything. Piya showed up just then. John put his fingers to his lips at her so
she sat down quietly on the running board of the car.
"You smell like vinegar," Bill
told her but she shushed him although she did not know why.
"Mom said we could use the freezer to
make orange juice popsicles," Ellen guessed and hoped she was right
because this was a great treat when they were allowed to do so.
"No," said Lucy, "but let’s
ask later on if we can."
"Yeah," said John, who loved
orange juice popsicles but his mother did not have the little plastic
containers with sticks that fit into them so he couldn’t make any.
"You’re having visitors?"
guessed Joshua.
"Nope, but sort of close."
"What’s close to visitors but isn’t
visitors?" Bill wondered out loud.
"Relatives," shrieked Piya and
everyone jumped again. "You’re having relatives."
"Relatives are visitors," Lucy
said. "And no, that’s not it."
"What are we guessing?" Piya
wanted to know and Bill explained it to her.
"You’re getting a new game,"
John guessed.
"Someone phoned," said Bill.
"Are we getting close?" asked
Ingrid.
"Aunt Evelyn said we could visit her
farm?" Ellen said.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope."
chanted Lucy.
"New people are moving into the
McGregor’s house," Sam shouted as he raced up to the gang, sounding funny.
"YES!" yelled Lucy.
"New people in the McGregor house was
your news?" asked Joshua and Lucy nodded yes but she didn’t know if she
should be happy or mad because Sam didn’t pick up her thought – he had likely
seen the moving truck on Orchard Street the same as she had.
"Why are you talking like that?"
John asked Sam.
"I got a tooth filled and my face is
all frozen." said Sam in his normally loud voice but the words sort of got
caught in his numb cheek and came out a bit twisty.
"Watch you don’t bite your
tongue," said Piya.
"You smell like fish and chips,"
Sam told her.
"It’s vinegar. My Mom is cooking pickle."
"Who’s moving into the
McGregor’s?" Ingrid wondered. She
had untied one of her braids and was winding it up again with long grasses into
it.
"I don’t know," said Sam,
"But they got a lot of stuff in a big truck. Let’s go see."
The gang unraveled themselves from around
and in the car – Bill said he was stuck so Joshua took his hand and pulled him
out – and then they all trooped across the empty lot along the railway tracks,
up Union Street, down two lanes and over to Orchard.
There was a large moving van in front of
the McGregor’s house and three men were carrying in a gigantic wardrobe.
"I could sit in that," whispered
Bill.
"I could LIVE in that," giggled
Piya and everyone laughed.
They stood in a group on the other side of
the street and watched the men disappear inside the house.
Soon two of them came out and got a
chesterfield. The third man reappeared
and then carried in three boxes, one on top of the other.
"Idiot numbskull," said Sam in
his new funny voice while the rest of the gang just stared because the man was
carrying a big box stacked on a small box stacked on a big box and not the
usual way of small to big from top to bottom. The boxes were very shaky looking but he made it inside without dropping
one. The gang could see a man in the
hallway directing the moving men where to go.
"Take it easy," they heard him
call to the man with the boxes. But
what he actually said was, "Tyke it aisy," and the moving man said,
"Roight, mate."
"They must be from the States,"
said Bill.
"No, that’s an English accent,"
said Piya. She knew a lot of
things.
John walked around so he could see the
back of the truck. "The license
plates are Canadian," he said and Ingrid laughed and raised her eyebrows
at Lucy, who shrugged.
"And," added John, "There’s
a boy sitting in the car in the driveway."
"Doing what?" asked Ellen.
The gang moved curiously around so they
could see. He was sitting in the back
seat tossing a large soft ball back and forth from hand to hand. He looked about their age.
Joshua took the lead and walked casually
across the street, behind the van and past the car at the end of the
driveway. He stopped and waited for the
gang to join him. The boy hadn’t looked
up but when all eight kids gathered they could not help but make noise and he
turned around. The windows in the car
were open.
Ingrid thought to herself, "Well, I
won’t tell him he should wear a hat or Joshua will bite my head off
again."
"Hi," said Joshua to the boy in
the car.
He looked at each one of the gang in turn
before he looked back at Joshua and said, "Oh, hi."
The gang slowly walked up to the car.
"You moving in?" Bill asked.
"My parents are," the boy
said. He had an accent too. The gang didn’t know what to say to this.
"Do you plan to live in the
car?" Piya asked and the boy looked at her and Ellen was afraid he would
be mad at the question and think they were trying to make fun of him. But finally the boy laughed and said,
"I guess I’d like to."
What he actually said was, "Oy guess
Oy’d loike to." And it took a
moment or two for all the gang to understand what he had said.
"Where are you from?" shouted
Sam in his funny twisty voice and it was the boy’s turn to look startled and
then take a minute to understand.
"Oh – B.C." he answered.
"I thought BC was in Canada,"
Lucy said and Ellen said, "It is." and Ingrid said, "British
Columbia," and Bill asked, "Do they speak British in British
Columbia?" and John said, "They speak English in England," and
Sam shouted, "I speak English," and suddenly the boy began to laugh
and they were all silenced.
"What a funny bunch you all
are," the boy said but he said it nicely and once the gang had translated,
"Wot a fonny boonch yoo awll aire," they all felt like friends.
"What’s your name?" Ellen asked.
"Hugh. Hugh Walters."
And he climbed out of the car and stood
leaning against it surrounded by the gang.
"Who are all of you – and take it
slowly and I’ll try to remember. First
names only for now, please."
Once they figured out what he had said
Piya started, "I’m Piya," and she giggled.
"Uh, Bill."
"Joshua, Josh for short."
"Nobody calls you Josh," said
Ingrid.
"They might now," Joshua
grinned.
"Ingrid." Hugh stared at her and smiled and she felt
her face go red.
"John."
"Sam" shouted Sam and sounded
more like himself so the freezing must have been coming out of his mouth.
"She’s Lucy," said Ellen,
suddenly, pointing at her sister. "She’s Ellen." Lucy then had to say although she would have
liked to tell her own name.
"Right, what a lot of you there
are. Are you a group of some
sort?"
It took a minute for them to all finally
understand what he asked.
"We’re just friends," John
explained.
"But we’re a gang," Piya
said. And Hugh stuck out his chin and
said, "In England I belonged to a gang."
"You did?" shouted Sam, his eyes
wide.
"I thought you were from BC,"
accused Lucy.
"I am, both. From England but we
lived for a short time in BC."
"So why do you want to live in the
car?" asked Ingrid.
Hugh’s face suddenly lost all its
expression. He looked like he might be
trying not to cry. The gang was a bit
shocked and confused.
"I didn’t want to move here," he
said at last and ran off toward the house.
The gang stood by the car and watched him
in amazement.