The idea of boarding school in Switzerland horrified Blue. Although her mum and dad weren’t exactly the most loving parents a girl could wish for, they were the only family she had. Blue couldn’t imagine being more alone in the world than she already was.
She tiptoed up to bathroom four, where Luz and Tracee were polishing the elephant-tusk toilet-roll holders.
‘Hey Blue, Tracee got ninety-eight per cent in Immunology exam, I got one hundred per cent. Watch out, Colonel, here come Luz’s Kwek-Kwek Bar!’
‘That’s great, Luz,’ said Blue, trying her best to sound excited.
‘What’s wrong, Blue? You usually so happy when we get good mark.’
‘Sorry, Luz, I am, I am. It’s just my mum won’t let me finish my treatment at the Boogaloos. She doesn’t understand.’
‘Yeah, well, you can’t pull hair from bald head, Blue,’ said Luz.
‘I guess you’re right. That’s why I need to ask a favour.’
‘You like little sister, Blue. You name it, we do it,’ said Tracee.
Blue had never disobeyed her mother before. Not properly.
Not ever.
Propelled by the rocket fuel of desperation, the words shot out of Blue’s mouth. ‘I’m going to sneak out and I need you to cover for me.’
It was only when she said the words out loud that she realised herself what she was actually planning to do. Blue looked almost as shocked as Luz looked excited.
‘Oooh, like secret agent? Like Jane Bond?’ said Luz, with an attempt at a sexy shoulder roll and pout. ‘Tell me plan!’
‘Well, you know how my mum looks at you but never really sees you?’
‘Yeah! She call me Tracee half the time,’ said Luz, ‘and I so much better-looking, it stupid.’
‘Depend if you like old-style pork or fresh chicken,’ said Tracee.
Tracee and Luz were always teasing each other.
‘Well, you’re exactly the same height as me, Luz. If you dressed up in my clothes and wore my Princess Anna dress-up wig, I don’t think my mother would notice the difference.’
‘Yeah, you even look like Blue,’ said Tracee, ‘just with extra twenty kilo.’ She poked Luz in the behind with the elephant-tusk toilet-roll holder.
So Blue helped Luz squeeze into one of the white frocks her father had sent from Paris.
‘Ooh! My mabungo look so cute in this!’ said Luz, admiring her bottom in the bedroom mirror. ‘Now you go, Blue. We got your mummy covered.’
‘Thank you, Luz, thank you, Tracee,’ said Blue, hugging them tight. ‘I’ll be back before five.’
‘Don’t rush,’ said Luz. ‘Tracee can handle nineteen bathroom herself, no problem. I think I might get a little something from the fridge.’
CHAPTER 15
A Hole in the Family Drum
For the rest of the week, Luz dressed up as Blue and ate her way through half the fridge, Tracee cleaned all nineteen bathrooms on her own, Blue went to the Boogaloos and her mother never noticed a thing.
By week’s end, the leaves on Bessie’s tupelo tree were a bright red. Dr Boogaloo had exhausted nearly every instrument in his collection, every tape in the Reel-to-Reel room and every animal in the garden. He’d added water drummers from Vanuatu and a Zulu men’s choir from the small town of Ladysmith in South Africa to Blue’s swims with Leonard. He’d taught Blue to sing in tune and even yodel, but apart from the humming, Blue’s No Laughing Syndrome showed no sign of improvement. It looked as if Blue’s mother had been right, after all.
At the end of the very last day of treatment, Bessie, Dr Boogaloo and the dogs walked Blue to the bottom of the driveway, where Melvin was waiting for her. Fats and Dizzie felt everyone’s sadness. Their wind-screen-wiping tails sat motionless, their saggy baggy jowls hung low.
Blue felt like such a failure.
‘Thank you both for everything,’ she said, always mindful of her manners. ‘I’ll never forget my time here, ever.’ Blue refused to cry. She didn’t want the Boogaloos to feel any worse than they clearly did already. ‘Oh, I forgot to give you these back.’
Blue pulled out the old wooden castanets from the pocket of her white dress and handed them to Bessie.
‘No. You keep them. They belong to you.’ Bessie took Blue’s hands in hers and folded them around the castanets. ‘Promise me you’ll practise every day.’
‘I promise, Bessie.’ Blue battled her tears harder than she ever had before.
‘Remember,’ Bessie instructed, ‘left hand heartbeat, right hand tapping in a rolling motion from pinky to pointer. Make them talk to each other, now … like two people in love.’ Bessie’s eyes filled with tears. She hugged Blue so tightly she nearly crushed Dolly and Makeba, who squealed in protest.
As the car drove off, Blue stared out the back window. Dr Boogaloo and Bessie stood holding hands. They waved goodbye till Blue was out of sight.
Blue went back to her old life. She was beyond miserable. While she’d tried not to get her hopes up, hopes have a life of their own and Blue’s had taken flight. She had been so sure the Boogaloos were going to fix her laughter. After all, their cures had never failed. Why had their musical medicine not worked for her? What was so very wrong with her?
Strangely, Blue had almost got used to suffering from No Laughing Syndrome. But she didn’t know how she was going to get used to not seeing the Boogaloos. Being at the clinic had been the best two weeks of her life. How she missed the music, Bessie’s pygmy possums, her rides on the iBike and swimming with Leonard. But more than anything, she missed Dr Boogaloo and she missed Bessie.
All day, everyday, Blue sat against the fence and tried to soothe herself, listening to the Taylor house mayhem. But even that didn’t work anymore. It seemed the only thing that could distract her from her misery were her castanets.
Blue practised the way Bessie had taught her.
Clack-clickety-clickety clickety clack-clickety-clickety clickety clack.
‘That’s it! she could hear Bessie say. ‘They’re talking to each other … like two people in love.’
