Squishy Taylor and the Mess-Makers by Ailsa Wild Read Free Book Online Page B

telescope looks up at the stars. Which is perfect because she’s also an astronomy-head .
    ‘How good is that tree?’ Vee says. It’s the tree the puppy hid behind. I’ve never noticed the tree properly, but it’s enormous, with wide, spreading branches, reaching to the hotel wall. I shift the telescope to check out the rest of the tree. It would be a solid tree to climb.
    When the telescope reaches the bottom of the trunk, I notice the puppy is back. The telescope is so good, I can see his beautiful eyes and the rib bones under his fur. He looks so trembly and sad.
    I wonder if Carmeline Clancy will come out again soon. I wonder if the puppy will stay still this time.
    I have an idea. ‘Let’s go play hopscotch,’ I say.
    We haven’t played hopscotch since we used it as a cover to stake out a diamond smuggler.
    Vee grins. ‘ Brilliant. ’
    Jessie agrees to come too. I guess practising your violin and tidying your room get boring after a while – even if you’re Jessie. She finds the chalk in a drawer, lined up beside pencils and textas. Vee tells Alice what we’re doing, and we pile out the door.

    The puppy is gone again, but maybe it will come back. And maybe we’ll see Carmeline Clancy. We dawdle up the street and draw our hopscotch court as near as we can to the hotel, in the shade of the big tree. One of the Fancy Men out the front glares at us, but we stay far enough away that he can’t say anything.
    We play three and a quarter games before Carmeline Clancy steps out of the hotel. It is her. At our hotel. She’s even wearing that rock-climbing sports top from the overhang video! I grab Vee’s arm and we just stare at her. She’s real. Right there on our footpath. My skin feels tingly and my ears buzz.
    She’s walking with a woman who’s not her mum. I’ve seen her mum on YouTube. This woman is really tall, with a stiff back and zero smiles. One of the Fancy Men waves down a taxi for them.

    I’m all ready to run up and say hello to Carmeline – except my heart is going really fast and for the first time in my whole life, I’m worried about what to say. I push back my shoulders. It doesn’t matter, I’m going over anyway.
    The Fancy Man is opening the taxi door. If I’m not quick, Carmeline will be gone and I will have missed my chance. As I walk towards them, the woman turns around and meets my eye.
    She gives me a death look . It says: ‘Don’t even think about coming one step closer. You are nothing. We don’t want to think about you.’
    I stumble to a halt. She turns around and follows Carmeline Clancy into the taxi, which drives away.
    I stare after it as it disappears up the street. The Fancy Man looks at me a bit strangely, but I don’t care. It’s my street too.
    ‘Who do you reckon the lady is?’ Vee asks, coming up beside me.
    ‘I don’t know,’ I say, ‘but she is scary .’

I lie on the lounge-room floor to skype my mum before bedtime.
    ‘Hey there, Squish,’ Mum says. ‘How was rock-climbing?’ Mum remembers everything about my schedule, even though she’s too busy to talk for long.
    ‘Good. Hey, can a security guard be a lady who’s not in uniform?’
    Mum knows things about security people because she works for the UN. Her new job in Geneva has the word ‘security’ in it.
    Mum laughs. ‘Absolutely. Got a new career plan, Squisho?’
    I shake my head. ‘No. I just figured out who the lady with Carmeline Clancy is.’
    ‘I should have known this would be about Carmeline Clancy,’ Mum says.
    ‘She’s staying in the hotel next door,’ I tell her.
    It’s not exactly next door, but Mum’s used to me exaggerating. She already knows all about the new film from me skyping her every night.
    She gets her cheekiest grin and says, ‘Are you gonna figure out a way to meet her?’ Mum never really got over being a rebel when she was a kid. She raises her eyebrows. ‘Maybe you can bust into that hotel or something.’
    Alice comes over with Baby on her hip.