Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta Read Free Book Online Page B

writingis amazingly neat and precise. Mr. Palmer sees the look of doubt on my face and takes the letter out of the envelope and I recognise the handwriting instantly. Hannah’s.
    I stand up, nodding again. “I’m sorry.”
    “What’s there to be sorry about Taylor? That you miss a friend?”
    There’s been too much sentimentality for me already, so I walk to the door. “If you hear from her…”
    “You have my promise.”
     
    When I get back to the House the juniors are doing their homework.
    “If Hannah rings,” I say from the door, “you make sure you call me.”
    Jessa McKenzie looks up and, like every single time she looks at me, I get a sense of familiarity. She holds up her hand and gives a small wave. Unexpectedly, a fierce sense of protectiveness comes over me. Except I fight it back because I can hardly look after myself these days.
    I lie in bed and words silently tumble out of my mouth. Some people say their prayers at night. Idon’t. What I say is always the same. My name is Taylor Markham. I live on the Jellicoe Road .
     
    In the tree hanging over the ridge, Webb made his plans to build a house. He’d make it out of gopherwood, like Noah’s ark, two storeys high, with a view he could look out on every day with wonder. His father had built their home on the farm. It was one of the things Webb had loved about him and the times he missed him most were when he remembered the sounds of hammering and the humming of a saw and his father’s voice joining in the harmony of some song that seemed to play in all their minds. Webb remembered how he and Narnie would hold nails between their teeth just to be like him, tapping away with their hammers, knowing they were part of something big.
    He told Narnie and Tate his plan. Sitting in that tree, he told them he was going to build a house and that he needed their help. For a long time Narnie didn’t say anything. She just curled up around the branch, staring into the valley below. She told him that from this angle the treetops looked like cauliflower and she had once heard them beckon herto jump, promising her that if she did, they’d bounce her back in the air again. Some days, like today, he was petrified she’d listen to them.
    So he made them both stand on the branch, tightly holding their hands.
    “Don’t worry. I’ll never let go.”
    “What can you see?” Narnie asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “Know what I can see?” Tate said. “From this distance everything is so bloody perfect.”

Chapter 7
    The next afternoon I walk to Clarence House to find Ben. With hands shaking, I knock on the door and wait. The kid who answers looks at me nervously and I wonder why, until I remember how often I’d come across the UC leader in the past. Rarely. They didn’t do house calls. Even within their own Houses they became deified. The kid doesn’t move, still staring at me, and thankfully Ben appears and puts his hand on the kid’s shoulder.
    “Go back to study,” he tells him. “I’ll be in soon.”
    Ben doesn’t say anything to me, but his look says, And?
    “So what did you tell your House co-ordinator,” I ask, pointing to his face, “about that.”
    “That I’ve taken up football.”
    I nod. “Naturally. You look like a footballer.”
    “He was very grateful for the lie. Means he doesn’t have to investigate.”
    We look at each other for a moment and for once I feel awkward. It’s not that I’m not into humility; I’ve just never had to practise it.
    “You want me to come out there with you?”
    “Yes I do,” I say honestly, realising there is no point beating around the bush.
    “Year eight have assignments due tomorrow,” he says, pointing behind him. “It’s not really a good time.”
    “You do homework with them?”
    “I’m their House leader.”
    “My House leaders never did homework with us. Hannah did.”
    “And my House leaders used to flush our heads down the toilet. Consequently I’m going for a more pastoral