The bus dropped them at Tina's house and they spent a couple of hours snuggling on the sofa watching television. Then John went to his home, next door. The routines of family dinner, homework and bed finished off their day.
That night, John and Tina dreamt of each other and of a blissful eternity in Suburbia. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.
The following morning, John and Tina waited out on their street for the bus. Patches of grey cloud drifted across the sky, occasionally obscuring the sun.
‘It's a little chilly this morning,’ said Tina, shivering slightly.
‘I'll keep you warm,’ said John, wrapping his arms around her.
‘And the bus is late,’ said Tina. ‘It's never late.’
Beep, beep!
With a screeching of tyres, the bus came hurtling around the corner. It looked as if it was about to speed right by them, but the driver braked at the last moment and the bus ground to a noisy halt. They climbed on and with the sound of grinding gears the vehicle lurched on its way to school.
The late noisy bus heralded a day that was just a little odd. None of their teachers was as interesting or as friendly as they had been the previous day. In particular, Ms Waverly seemed distracted and a little dazed. When Tina asked if she was okay, she responded by giving the entire class extra homework. During recess, the canteen ran out of ice-cream. As the bell sounded an end to the school day, John and Tina were called to the headmaster's office over the PA system. It was unusual, they thought. They had never been called there before. They had never even seen inside it.
They entered the dark and dingy office to find the headmaster seated behind a large, imposing desk. His attention was on the sheets of paper spread out before him.
‘Sit, sit,’ he said impatiently, waving a hand without looking up.
John and Tina sat in the uncomfortable wooden chairs that were positioned directly in front of the headmaster's desk, and waited. The man continued to read the papers, umming and ahhing every now and then, until he finally looked up. He did not look at all amiable and friendly, as he had the previous day.
‘Well now,’ he said. ‘We appear to have a little bit of a problem.’ He glanced back down at the paperwork. ‘It seems that your grades are slipping well below an acceptable level.’
‘What?’ said John, surprised.
‘But we're good at school,’ said Tina. ‘We're always good at school!’
‘We
‘That may very well be,’ said the headmaster. ‘But you're hardly ever
He returned his gaze to the paperwork, lifted his arm and gave it a little wave. ‘Dismissed!’
‘But,’ started John. ‘Yesterday you said — ’
‘Dismissed!’ he repeated more firmly.
John and Tina left the office in confusion.
‘What was that all about?’ asked John.
‘I don't know,’ said Tina. ‘He's never behaved like that before. He's always been nice to us. He's always telling us how good we are.’
They walked across the school grounds, reaching the main gates just as their school bus pulled away.
‘Hey, wait!’ called John, waving his arms and running after the bus.
But the bus kept on going, down the street and around the corner.
‘The bus is supposed to wait for us,’ complained Tina.
‘Supposed to,’ said John. ‘Come on.’ He took her hand. ‘Let's walk home.’
Ten minutes into the walk, dark clouds began rolling across the sky. The wind picked up and raised goose bumps on their skin. It wasn't long before it started to rain.
By the time they got to their street, Tina and John were soaked.
‘Something's wrong,’ said Tina, as she and John stood on her front porch, finally out of the rain.
‘Maybe,’ agreed John, reluctantly. ‘But we'll work it out.’
He took her hand, held it for a moment, and then leaned in to kiss her.
‘Just what the hell do you think you're playing at?’
John and Tina whirled around.
Tina's father stood framed in the doorway, hands on hips. ‘I've just been on the phone to your headmaster,’ he said, taking a step towards John. ‘What have you been doing with my daughter? Leading her astray?’
‘Nothing, sir, we've just — ’
‘Stay away from her,’ he bellowed, poking John in the chest with his finger.
John staggered back off the porch and into the rain.
‘But Dad,’ Tina protested.
‘Shut up and get inside.’
John remained standing in the rain for several minutes after the door had slammed, before finally heading next door to his own house. Inside he found a note on the refrigerator door, telling him that his mother and father were out for the evening and that he would have to fend for himself for dinner.
He dried off and made himself a sandwich. He tried watching some television, but the storm was interfering with the reception. All he could get was static. Blurry, indistinct images ghosted through the static, as if desperately trying to be seen. Finally he gave up and went to bed early. He tossed and turned restlessly for hours before finally plummeting headlong into frantic dreams in which he was being pursued by large people, or things, which he couldn't quite make out.
15: New Players
The following morning everything seemed normal again. The storm was over, the sun was shining, and John's mother had cooked pancakes for breakfast.
Tina was waiting outside when he ran out to catch the bus.
‘Hi,’ she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek as if everything was okay.
The bus arrived quietly, and on time, and they talked about ordinary, happy things, as if ignoring all the stuff that had happened the day before would make things better today. And it seemed to work.
The first few classes of the day went well, and none of their teachers said anything about make-up classes. And the canteen had plenty of ice-cream at recess. But then came lunchtime.
John and Tina were sitting on a patch of grass, under a large jacaranda tree, eating their lunch, when Tina looked up to see a strange shape in the sky. It shimmered and glowed and seemed somewhat insubstantial. She squinted into the sunlight. Was it? Was it the Fat Man's starfighter?
She quickly looked away, breathing hard.
‘What is it?’ asked John. ‘What's the matter?’
Tina looked back up to the sky. A passenger aeroplane was flying across the blue, cloudless expanse.
‘Nothing,’ she said, shaking her head.
It was at that moment that John glanced across the crowded school grounds and caught a glimpse of someone familiar.
‘Look!’ he snapped, pointing.
‘What?’
‘That guy over there,’ said John, still pointing. ‘Isn't that …’
‘No,’ said Tina, looking down and returning to her lunch.
‘I think it is.’
