Agatha looked at it, turning it over and over in her hands and undoing the small silver clasp.
‘Inside is my phone number,’ Katherine continued, ‘which I think you know already, but just in case, and directions on how to get from your house to here. I checked the fare and there’s a travel card, you just have to swipe it, like we did that day on the train to the city, and some money, just in case. You will need to take a bus and two trains. You can call me from the station. I’ll come and get you. It’s all written down here.’
Agatha took the purse being held before her. She looked up to Katherine who wiped away the last tear with one gentle touch of her finger.
‘Let’s keep this between you and me, Agatha. You’re nearly fourteen. You’re old enough to travel here on your own if you have to. You know what I mean, don’t you?’
Agatha nodded.
Just before Nell was due to arrive, Agatha and Katherine said their goodbyes in the privacy of the sitting room. Chief circled around their feet, making a small whining noise, as if he knew what was happening.
With that done, Agatha went outside and sat on the front step with her left hand resting on top of her bright orange suitcase that sat beside her. Katherine stood at the front window, with Chief sitting at attention beside her, as arranged, as Agatha had insisted.
It was time to leave, again, Agatha thought, and to return to where she belonged but didn’t want to be.
A car pulled into the driveway. From the step Agatha could see the friendly face of Nell, with the same I’m sorry expression as last time.
Agatha stood and picked up the suitcase. It wasn’t heavy.
Nell stood in the open door of the car, one leg out the other resting in the doorframe. With her hand, holding on the top of the car door, she gave a small wave. ‘Hey,’ she said. ‘All ready?’
Agatha replied with a slow shrug, her favourite word. She reluctantly walked towards the car. Leaving the car door open, Nell walked to the back and opened the boot, and watched Agatha’s every move. She placed the suitcase perfectly in the middle, straightening it with a slight adjustment and running her hands over the top of it, as if to smooth out the already smooth surface. ‘Here we are again. Are you hungry?’ Nell said. Agatha looked at her. While her voice sounded cheery, her face told Agatha a different story.
‘Is it better? At the house I mean,’ asked Agatha.
Nell let out a sigh, ‘A little bit.’
Agatha nodded. ‘So, nothing’s changed. You’re taking me back again and nothing’s changed.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Agatha shrugged. She tried to show Nell that she didn’t care that nothing had changed. But this time she did care. She cared a lot.
As Nell’s car pulled away, Agatha took one last look at her temporary home. She could see Katherine standing in the front window waving, Chief sitting at attention beside her. Katherine gave a small wave. It looked like she wiped a tear from her eye too.
Agatha breathed in deeply. This time she was leaving with a secret, tucked into the pocket of a pair of jeans inside her suitcase. The floral purse would bring her back.
Things may not have changed at home, but Agatha had changed.
2
Nell turned on the car radio, breaking the silence that had settled between them. If she was hoping for some music, Nell was going to be disappointed, as the irritating sound of a carpet commercial blared out, causing Nell to instantly hit the off button.
‘That’s so annoying, that commercial. I’ll have it going around and round in my head all day now,’ she said in her usual light and friendly voice.
Agatha gave her a quick glance and returned to staring out the window.
Nell tried again. ‘We don’t have to go straight there. Do you want to do anything, you know, on the way?’
‘No.’
The silence returned.
Nearly an hour later, Agatha knew they were getting closer. She had always lived in Greensward, a suburb that once, long before Agatha was born, had been developed on the green fringe of the city. It had been built so that city families could live as if they were in the country. They could pretend. There had been large open spaces dotted with trees, a man-made creek forced to flow, with paths and tracks built alongside it for families to walk together, maybe on an evening stroll.
Regular sized houses were built on larger blocks so that children could have pets, room in their own yards to play, or have a veggie garden. An illusion had been created and sold. People who wanted to work in the city but live in the country saw Greensward as the perfect solution.
Over the years the original Greensward had melted away, the illusion had faded, changing from its original design as more housing was needed. The larger blocks were divided for more houses so families to move in, which was when Agatha’s parents arrived. Apartment blocks began to spring up and the streets became busier, crowded. The Greensward Agatha has grown up in has fewer open spaces, and no sign of the original creek. Her primary school, that she stopped going to, had to have more buildings added as more children arrived. Gradually its green spaces disappeared too.
Greensward wasn’t special anymore. It was as cramped and bland.
As Nell steered the car along its narrow streets, Agatha could feel herself needing to take in deeper and deeper breaths as her chest tightened. When they got to her street, she felt her fists clench. There was no turning back, but she already knew that.
17 Pendula Place looked similar to 15 and 19 Pendula Place. The houses were almost the same. The front yards had the same fencing, although the gardens were different. In fact, the whole street looked
