Red by Libby Gleeson Read Free Book Online

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    â€˜Ginger!’ Red heard Jazz before she saw her. Then she was there. Tight black curls, arms waving, Jazz ducked and weaved her way through the crowd. She stopped. Red stared. Then suddenly they had arms around each other, cheeks pressed together, Jazz was laughing and Red was struck dumb. She did remember. She knew this person. She really knew her. Red drew back and looked at her. Jazz too.
    Then Jazz turned to Peri. ‘I’m Jazz.’ She held out her hand.
    â€˜Peri. And I’m not her brother but it’s a long story.’ ‘Tell me later. Mum’s got the car up the street.’ She linked her arms through theirs and almost dragged them over the grass to the road.
    The woman leaning against the black four-wheeldrive was a stranger. She put her arms around Red. ‘So lovely to see you again after so much.’ Red’s nose pressed against the gold chains around her neck and breathed in a sickly perfume.
    â€˜Mmmm,’ was all Red could say.
    â€˜And who is this young man?’
    â€˜This is Peri.’ Red pulled back and watched as Jazz’s mum held her hand out.
    â€˜Hop in the car,’ she said. ‘I thought I’d just take you back to our place where you can tell us what happened and you can have some lunch. We can work it out from there.’
    They headed west, leaving the Centre and the coast behind them. Tree branches were down and pushed to the edge of the road. They saw a car crushed by a whole tree trunk and every now and then a house with flapping roof iron and builders working to restore it.
    They drove slowly through the heavy traffic.
    â€˜The trains are all out,’ said Jazz’s mum. ‘The underground is flooded and the electricity in these suburbs is gone. Lots of the city network is down.’
    â€˜Where are we actually going?’ said Red.
    â€˜We’re living in Burwood now,’ said Jazz. ‘It’s OK there. We moved so I could go to high school. Remember how we were always going to do that together?’
    Red nodded. She didn’t remember that, but now wasn’t the moment to say so. They drove on. Red turned her face to the window. Now there were streets full of whole houses almost untouched by the winds and the water. Pedestrians streamed along footpaths and ducked in and out of crowded shops. Cyclists in canary-coloured jackets darted between the cars. It was suddenly a different world.
    â€¢ • • • •
    They sat eating lunch on the wide verandah. Jazz’s mum fussed around them, bringing bowls of pasta and salad and jugs of iced water. She took a camera from the bookcase inside and Red and Jazz sat together, arms around each other, posing, laughing and smiling. Then Red sucked spirally pasta into her mouth with tomato sauce, garlic, herbs and olives. It felt familiar. Was this what she was used to eating?
    Peri slurped on his second helping. Red’s eyes danced from the neatly mown lawn and the dense herb garden of basil and mint to the sprawling grevillea.Wattle birds balanced on the thin branches, their beaks pressed into golden flowers. Had she lived in a place like this? Did she sit eating lunch on a verandah looking out at a garden and birds? A tiny skink slid over the sandstone wall of a flowerbed.
    â€˜OK.’ Jazz pushed her plate to the side and leant back from the table. ‘OK. How come your photo was up on the wall? And where’s your dad?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ said Red. ‘And how come you went to the Centre? Were you caught up in all the storm too?’
    â€˜No way. You know how Mum was a teacher. Well now she works for the Department of Education and they sent her over there with some others to work out what to do with all the kids. Schools have been wrecked, but the kids have to go somewhere. I just went with her to have a look. But I don’t get it. How come you two got together?’
    â€˜Peri found