Millie and the Night Heron by Catherine Bateson Read Free Book Online Page A

watched Ms O’Grady walking away with Helen. She was looking serious and shaking her head, but I didn’t think we had stressed her.
    â€˜I’m not doing any more of this,’ Tayla said. ‘I feel sick. I’ve got a headache right here.’ She pressed her temples with her pink sparkly fingernails.
    â€˜Yeah, right.’
    â€˜Millie, where do you get off being such a b-word. I get headaches. I get migraines. Sometimes I have to stay in bed for two days. The pain is so great that I faint if I have to get up. That’s what I think I’m getting now. You don’t care about anyone other than yourself, do you? You don’t care if Ms O’Grady loses another baby. You don’t care if I get a migraine. You’re just so selfish.’
    I watched her saunter off. I couldn’t believe what she had just said. I did care about people. I turned to Dion, but she was busy tying up her shoelaces.
    â€˜I care about people,’ I said to her anyway. ‘I didn’t know about Ms O’Grady. How was I to know?’
    â€˜Everybody knows about Ms O’Grady,’ Dion said in a flat voice, ‘and everyone knows Tayla gets bad migraines. She fainted during a tennis match once. She’d gone on with a migraine so she didn’t let her doubles partner down. She’s a state champion.’
    â€˜How does everyone know?’
    â€˜Everyone knows about Ms O’Grady because ithappened last year when Tayla’s brother was in her class. And everyone knows about Tayla because she was the under-12 champion for two years in a row. Everyone in Stockie Primary knew that.’
    â€˜Well, I didn’t go to Stockie.’
    â€˜Tayla’s right. You don’t know much.’
    We had fruit and biscuits for afternoon tea. You were allowed one piece of fruit and two biscuits. Then it was free time. Some kids played table tennis in the recreation room. Others went for walks, kicked a soccer ball around or practised netball. I went to the dorm, lay down on my bed and read for a while.
    Helen interrupted me.
    â€˜Ms O’Grady wants to see you,’ she said, poking her head in without even knocking. ‘She’s in the dining room.’
    I clutched the book to my chest. Why would she want to see me?
    As if reading my mind, Helen said, ‘I bet Tayla’s been telling her stuff. But don’t worry, Millie, I’ll be a witness if you need one. Ms O’Grady’s cool. She listens. You’re probably just going to get the poor Tayla talk.’
    â€˜The what?’
    â€˜You’ll see.’ And with that Helen disappeared.
    I walked as slowly as I could over to the diningroom. Kookaburras nearby laughed at me. Normally I love kookaburras. They are one of my favourite birds. I love the shape of them and the flash of blue in their wings and I love their laughter. It sounds as though they are inviting the world to share their wonderful, wild joke. But this afternoon it sounded as though I was the joke.
    Ms O’Grady was sitting at the edge of one of the tables, a cup of tea in front of her.
    â€˜Sit down, Millie,’ she said, indicating a chair that was pulled out a little, so I would be facing her. ‘Do you want a drink of something? I could rustle you up a tea, if you drink it?’
    â€˜No, thank you,’ I said. ‘I had some cordial with my fruit.’
    â€˜How are you getting on, Millie, at school? Are you enjoying it?’
    â€˜It’s okay.’
    â€˜You’ve come from a different town, haven’t you?’
    â€˜Yes.’ Why everyone thought if you didn’t live in this town you were an alien was beyond me.
    â€˜That’s hard, isn’t it? I remember when I first came here. I knew everyone thought I was some kind of weird hippy chick from the big city. I didn’t think I’d ever fit in. I cried practically every night for about a month. My husband thought I’d gone mad. Then