Take My Word for It by John Marsden Read Free Book Online Page A

year—she’d been getting quite a lot of work catering and cooking and she was saving to go overseas. She didn’t realise that the reason they’d stopped fighting is that they’d pretty much stopped talking. Actually that only struck me afterwards, and I was living at home fulltime. Boy, was I ever dumb.
    I asked her if she missed ‘Connewarre’ and she said she did. But . . . well, I know that’s the truth, that she misses it, but I don’t think she misses it the way I do. For me, it wasn’t just land, it was the ground under my feet. The only thing I can compare it to is this: when I was about eight, Chloe, and whichever boy she was with at the time, took me to the Show. Now, they’ve got this thing there that I suppose everyone would have known about except me. It’s called the Gravitron or something—it’s a barrel that spins, and the floor drops away, and you’re stuck to the wall by centrifugal force. But I didn’t know any of that. Chloe and this boy told me they had a big surprise for me, and they made me shut my eyes while they took me in there and got me to stand against the wall, making sure I didn’t get any clues about what was going to happen. Well, the thing started up, slowly at first, then faster and faster. That was OK, then suddenly I felt that I was a few centimetres off the floor. I couldn’t understand how that could happen, as I hadn’t realised that I’d moved, and I looked down so that I could get myself back on the floor. Then I saw that the floor had dropped away, and I had this absolute panic that the thing had malfunctioned and it was all falling apart—that it would fly to pieces around me. It took a few moments to realise that it was doing what it was meant to do. When I saw Chloe laughing, I started to understand. Then it just became a matter of surviving the ride, all the time wishing for death.
    I didn’t show a thing on my face though. I’m proud of that—not one flicker of fear. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction. At the end, when Chloe asked me what I’d thought of it, I just said that it was OK. I hope she was disappointed.
    So, that’s the best I can do to describe how I feel about losing my beautiful ‘Connewarre’—the ground under my feet.
    I’m pleased Chloe and I talked a bit though. This might sound big-headed but I think she does resent me a bit. She didn’t do well at schoolwork or sport, then she got expelled from here in Year 11, so when I get good marks in tests, and get promoted in rowing, I imagine her thinking, ‘I don’t want to be outdone by my little sister.’
    The thing I resent about her though, is the way she takes advantage of Mum and Dad living apart. She sees it as a good chance to get everything she can. The way she spends Dad’s money is sickening. But I’d never dare say it to her face. I’m just little Lisa.
    A PRIL 20
    Ran so many laps today. I’d normally do a crossie but there’s been the odd car-load of drop-kicks around again and Dr Whiteley has banned crossies unless you’re in a group of three and tell a teacher you’re going. I like to run alone.
    I hope we do well on Saturday, at the CMC. We’re up against University again, and Muirfield, who beat the Thirds by half a canvas a few weeks ago.
    And this time the Fourths are in the same race, which’ll be interesting.
    A PRIL 21
    Mr L, supposing you did something bad, something really bad, do you think your grandparents would see it from Heaven and be upset and angry at you for doing it? I used to worry about that a lot, but then one day I thought that if they were in Heaven they’d be happy all the time (otherwise it wouldn’t be Heaven). So that must mean they wouldn’t know about it.
    Maybe a screen drops into place whenever you do something bad, so they can’t see? But then they’d wonder what you