Chapter 12: Bonnie Chancelor, Sunday

Estelle was in the kitchen making pancakes for breakfast. I went and helped because that’s what sisters do. When I said that to Estelle she smiled at me and leaned down to kiss my cheek. As we worked together I saw that the benches and the kitchen table had all been wiped down. The benches had been tidied, too. I think she’d been up for a while and she’d been cleaning things. I think she was in a really good mood because she was humming to herself as she cooked.

As each pancake was cooked we added it to a small pile that was in the oven to keep warm. I had fun making pancakes with Estelle.

Eventually Jen and Dad came and joined us. Jen had a big smile on her face and she seemed like she was in a really good mood too. Dad was relaxed and calm like he always is. We sat down and ate our pancakes. I had mine with strawberry jam. I love pancakes with strawberry jam. Pancakes with Nutella is awesome too. Dad likes to have lemon and sugar on his. Jen and Estelle both like them with maple syrup. I’ve tried all those things and some other things as well but I like strawberry jam the best. Pancakes with peanut butter was bad. I’m never doing that again. Let’s not even talk about pancakes with tomato sauce.

After breakfast I went out into the living room with a book and curled up on the couch. I didn’t really have any plans for the day apart from reading. Maybe I would go for a swim in the pool later or something. Or maybe I would hook up the Playstation and play a game.

Dad went down to look after the Holden and then he had to make some calls because he’s booked to drive for a wedding next Saturday afternoon.

I was reading quietly when Jen came and sat beside me. She looked like she wanted to talk so I put the book down.

Jen said, “Estelle and I are going on an adventure drive. Would you like to come with us?”

I said, “What’s an adventure drive?”

Jen said, “To start with, it’s a good way for me to practise my driving. I’m upgrading my licence tomorrow afternoon, so I want to be as ready as I can be. But really, we drive around randomly and see what happens. If we see something that looks cool to do, we stop and do it.”

I said, “How long would we go for?”

Jen shrugged and then she said, “Sometimes it’s for an hour or so, sometimes it’s for longer. I expect that today we’ll drive around and do stuff in the morning and then have lunch somewhere and then come home soon after lunch.”

I said, “But what sort of stuff do you do?”

Jen said, “We don’t know until we do it. That’s why we call it an adventure drive.”

I said, “It sounds a bit like what Mum did with me on Saturdays. It was awful.”

Jen said, “I think she was trying to do adventure drives with you, but she didn’t explain it to you first, so you didn’t know what was happening. She should have explained it to you. Now that you know what’s going to happen, do you think you would like to give it a try?”

I said, “But how do I know what to wear?”

Jen grinned and reached out to take my hand. She said, “Come on, let’s pack a little adventure bag.”

So Jen and I went to my room and we took out a sports bag. We packed a towel and swimmers in case we went swimming and my horse-jeans and a long-sleeved top and riding boots in case we went horse-riding or did anything else that would get mucky and we packed a spare set of underwear and shorts and a shirt in case I got wet and we packed my book in case Jen and Estelle ended up doing something that I found boring. Jen told me to wear shorts and a t-shirt since it was a sunny day and to put sunscreen on my face and arms and legs in case we were outdoors.

Then Jen picked up a similar bag for herself and she got Estelle who was also carrying a bag and we said goodbye to Dad and we left.

Jen was driving and Estelle sat next to her and I sat in the back. Estelle seemed to be excited about our adventure drive. I still wasn’t sure but I was prepared to give it a go. I guess I was kind of trusting Jen to look after me.

Jen turned around to me and she said, “You can be our navigator.”

Then she handed me a Magic 8 Ball.

I said, “What’s this?”

Jen said, “It’s a Magic 8 Ball.”

I said, “I know that. What’s it for?”

Jen said, “As we drive, I’ll ask questions about which way to go and you ask the Magic 8 Ball.”

I said, “Huh?”

Jen said, “Do your seat belt up and I’ll show you.”

So we did our seatbelts up and Jen started the car and carefully steered the car out of the garage and down the drive.

Jen said, “Should we turn left?”

I said, “I dunno.”

Jen said, “Ask the Magic 8 Ball.”

So I shook the Magic 8 Ball and read out the message. It said, “Outlook Good.”

Jen said, “That sounds like a yes to me.”

So she put her indicator on and we turned left out of the drive and started driving down the road.

After a little way, there was branch off to the right, and Estelle called out, “Should we turn right?”

I shook the ball and it said, “Ask again later.”

So Jen said, “Okay then. Straight ahead it is.”

So we kept doing this for a while and ended up on a little road that led out of town and went straight through to the nearby town of Gunderoi. All there was to see was boring fields of wheat or cotton or whatever. Around Emmerton it’s all flat and mostly they grow wheat and cotton and sometimes they have cows. In a few places they grow olives and nuts and stuff like that. We talk about it in class at school and it sounds interesting but when you go out there it’s just boring fields that go on and on and on.

Estelle laughed and said, “This is a straight road with no turn offs. This should take about 40 minutes. We should have some music.”

Then she pressed the button on the car CD player and some ABBA songs started playing so we sang along to ABBA while we drove along the road. That was fun. It distracted me from watching the boring fields go by.

Once we got to Gunderoi we turned into some back streets because the Magic 8 Ball told us to and we ended up in a court. There were some boys and girls about my age playing a game of cricket in the open part of the road at the end of the court. So Jen pulled the car over before we got to them so that we didn’t stop the game.

Jen looked at me and said, “Do you want to ask them if you can join in for a little while?”

I shrugged and I said, “Okay.”

So I got out of the car and I went up to the kids and I said, “Hi,” and they said, “Hi” and I said, “Can I play?” and they said, “Okay.” And I said, “My name’s Bonnie.” And they said, “Hi Bonnie.” And they said, “Start over there and field. You can bat next if you want.” So I said, “Okay.”

So I joined in the game. In the meantime, Jen and Estelle had their arms linked together and were strolling around the outside of the court and admiring the different gardens in the different houses and trying to identify the plants or talking about how nice the house was painted or whatever.

Then it was my turn to bat. I play cricket at school so I knew what to do. I’m not like a genius cricket player or anything but the kids weren’t playing hard. They were playing for fun and the boy who was bowling bowled the ball at me nice and slow so it was easy to hit. One time I missed and it hit me in the leg but it was only a tennis ball so it didn’t hurt or anything. I scored a few runs and Jen and Estelle clapped and cheered from the sideline. Then I did a bad hit and one of the girls caught the ball so I was out.

I looked at Jen and Estelle and Jen waved at me to come. So I said, “I think I have to go. Thanks for letting me play,” and the kids said, “Bye,” and I said “Seeyalater,” and then I got back in the car and we drove off.

So we drove for a bit and we went where the 8ball told us to go and then we drove past Gunderoi South Primary School. They were having a fete so we stopped and got out and went in to walk around that. They had stalls full of arts and crafts that were interesting to look at. They had a man doing face painting. At the start I didn’t want to do that. Estelle lined up and got a little flower drawn on her cheek so when we saw that Jen and I did it too. So now all three of us had a little flower drawn on our cheeks.

They had a climbing wall set up that you could put on a harness and climb up the side with little hand-holds and foot-holds to hang onto. We each had a go at that. It was hard but I could do it. The trick was to stay close to the wall and not hang your bum out. It didn’t look that high but when I climbed all the way up to the top and I looked down and I saw that it was pretty high. Estelle and Jen had a go too and they both got all the way to the top as well but I reckon it was easier for them ‘cause they’re taller so they had less far to climb. And they could reach further for handholds that I couldn’t reach. Then I had another go on a different bit of wall so the holds were in different places but it was fun the second time too.

There was also a ride where three of us could sit in a bucket thing and then it went around and around but it went kind of slow so that was a bit lame. I guess it was more for the little kids.

They also had a stall where you could throw balls and try to knock down as many cups as you could. Jen was best at that and she knocked down all the cups so she won a bag of lollies.