‘Why so many toilet, Blue? Too much wooork! Our place in Philippines other way round. Nineteen people, one toilet … ha ha ha ha!’ they would say, snorting with laughter as they slid along the white floors side-by-side with rags on their feet.
Blue went upstairs to look for Luz and Tracee. She found them in bathroom eleven.
‘Ah, thank goodness you home, Blue. We have big exam tomorrow. Tracee got Immunology. I got eCommerce.’
Blue had been helping Luz and Tracee prepare for their university exams. Tracee was studying medicine so she could become a doctor. Luz was in her first year of a business degree. She had big plans to open a restaurant empire – ‘A sleeping shrimp is carried away by the current, Blue! I’m going to be Queen of Pork, bigger than the Colonel!’ Luz had an old Filipino saying for pretty much everything.
Blue opened the bathroom cabinet. Hidden behind the soaps and her mother’s mountain of mud masks and beauty products was a pile of textbooks. While Luz and Tracee polished the marble tiles inlaid with pearl and Hawaiian abalone shell, Blue quizzed them on ‘epigenetic modifications’ and ‘digital strategies for revenue growth’. She had no idea what any of it meant. Blue simply loved helping others. It was just the way she was.
When Blue was sure Luz and Tracee were well enough prepared for their exams, she headed back downstairs to get herself some afternoon tea. Waiting for her on the kitchen bench was a very large parcel. Blue knew straight away who it would be from – her father. He was overseas on business and he always sent her presents. The longer he was away, the more extravagant the presents became. Which meant whatever was inside the box was bound to be pretty extravagant, considering he left on a two-week business trip two years ago.
Blue missed her father. Especially when he was in a different time zone. At least when their time zones were in sync, she could Skype him to say goodnight and he could blow her a virtual kiss. Last time they’d Skyped, he was in Botswana buying a diamond mine. As a gift, he’d sent Blue a pair of high heels covered in rare pink diamonds. They even had diamonds on the soles. Blue wasn’t too sure why anyone would want diamonds on the soles of their shoes. And, for the life of her, she couldn’t walk in them.
‘They are gorgeous!’ Blue’s mother had said. ‘What a perfect gift! People will be drawn to looking at your fabulous feet, rather than your miserable face! Such a thoughtful man, your father.’
Blue’s mother believed every girl should know how to walk in high heels, and so she’d arranged for Blue to practise daily with an instructor and a pair of ski poles for balance. To tell you the truth, Blue preferred to wear sneakers. And even after a month of lessons, she could hardly take a single step without poles.
Blue looked at the stamps on the parcel. They were from Namibia and pictured two dusky sunbirds on a branch. Blue carefully peeled off the stamps. She planned to add them to her collection of favourite bird pictures she kept in a beautifully bound book. Blue sliced open the box, and a mountain of white feathers erupted onto the table. She fished them out as best she could; the feathers just seemed to keep on coming. Holding them every which way, she decided the fluffy feather shagpile must be some sort of avant-garde coat.
Blue was right. She found two holes and put her arms through them. The coat swallowed Blue up completely. It was far too big. Her hands, lost inside the sleeves, were nowhere to be seen. Blue shuffled to the mirror in the hall. She blew away the feathers engulfing her face so that she could see. She looked like Snuffleupagus without the trunk.
Blue shuffled back to the box and pulled out the card inside.
To my little ray of sunshine,
I thought you’d look smashing in this coat. I shot the ostrich myself while on safari in Namibia. Look – here’s a picture of me and big bird! Maybe next school holidays you could come with me on a hunting safari. Send my love to your mama for me.
There’s no internet out here, so hopefully we can Skype from the next town … maybe …
Lots of love,
Daddy
In the photo, her father was kneeling behind a magnificent ostrich. In one hand he held a rifle. His other hand held up the bird’s head as if he were some evil puppeteer or ventriloquist, its long neck stretched straight up. Spread out either side like a ballerina’s tutu were the flightless bird’s majestic wings.
Blue ripped the coat off as fast as she could and stuffed it back inside the box. She felt ill. She loved animals. All animals! Even mosquitoes! But especially birds. Blue found many things about her parents difficult to understand, but her father’s love of hunting was one of the hardest. How could anyone shoot such a beautiful creature? How could anyone enjoy shooting such a beautiful creature?
At moments like this, Blue felt as though she’d been born into the wrong family.
She looked at the box. Her heart thudded inside her chest. It reminded her of the time she’d begged her parents for a pet and instead they’d bought her a polar-bear rug. A real one! Its legs outstretched like a four-pointed star, its mouth open as if about to catch a fish; a puddle of white fur, the bear inside somehow melted into the floor. ‘Oh, it’s so soft and chic!’ her mother had declared gleefully while rolling about on the rug. ‘And all the fun of a pet without having to pick
