Pip and Houdini Read online

  With that, the surfer flicked back a mane of wet brown hair as he bent down to scratch Houdini underneath his chin, and Pip spotted the tattoo of a wickedly grinning, top-hatted octopus, its many tentacles twisted around his neck.

  THE BIG QUESTION

  Lots of people had tattoos, of course. Probably several had octopus tattoos. But not all of them surfed, had big tanned feet and a bird’s nest of brown hair.

  Houdini’s wagging tail indicated that, whoever the surfer was, he liked the look of him.

  Pip took a breath. ‘Are you…?’ she squeaked, and then couldn’t finish.

  He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘Am I crazy? Sometimes. Am I lucky? Right this minute, yes! Am I hungry? Sure. I could eat a horse after surfing. How about you?’

  Pip laughed. It was impossible not to. ‘That’s not what I was going to ask.’

  He flopped down on the sand. ‘Hold fire for another minute or two. I need to let someone know that Old Toothless is hanging around again. Some of the surfers at the big beach aren’t very experienced and might freak out.’ Picking up a phone from a towel on the sand, the surfer rang a number. Pip waited while he told someone about the shark.

  ‘They’re clearing the beach,’ he said after he finished his call.

  Pip sat down on the sand beside him. ‘If he’s toothless, he couldn’t eat anyone, could he?’

  He laughed. ‘He might be an oldie, but he still has a few teeth in his head. Believe me! I just got a close-up of some of them.’

  Pip’s eyes rounded. ‘Weren’t you frightened to death?’

  ‘Gave me a start, that’s for sure.’ He towelled off his hair and turned to face Pip. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘If not for your warning, I might finally have been Old Toothless’s dinner.’ He stuck out a hand and shook Pip’s. ‘Good work.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Houdini glared at Pip for taking the man’s attention, and nuzzled close to the surfer.

  ‘Who’s this?’ he asked.

  ‘My dog.’

  ‘And what’s your name, old fella?’ The surfer scratched behind Houdini’s ears, his favourite spot. Houdini moaned in delight.

  Flicking a look Pip’s way, the surfer cocked an eyebrow when she didn’t answer. ‘No name?’

  Pip shrugged, awkwardly.

  ‘Ah, a secret name? And what about you? Or are you undercover too?’

  Pip nodded, trying not to smile. He made it sound okay not to say her name, as though she was a spy doing important and dangerous work.

  ‘Well, my name’s no secret. Anyone around here’ll tell you I’m—’

  ‘Yo! Grommet!’ A man’s voice boomed from across the beach, interrupting the surfer.

  He and Pip turned around in the direction of the voice, and Pip froze as she saw a uniformed policeman picking his way across the sand towards them.

  ‘Heard you just gave old Toothless a scare,’ the policeman said as he reached them. He was short and dumpy with sandy hair and pale blue eyes. ‘Can’t have you frightening the wildlife that way, mate.’

  Grommet chuckled as he got to his feet and clapped the policeman on the back. ‘Funny, very funny.’

  ‘No damage, then?’

  ‘Just my pride. I think I squealed like a two-year-old when I saw him coming. Fortunately, I got a second’s warning, thanks to this young lady.’ He jabbed a thumb at Pip, who stood beside him, looking at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with the cop.

  Houdini gave a low growl.

  ‘It was the dog,’ Pip muttered. ‘I didn’t see the shark until he started carrying on.’ She could feel the cop’s curious eyes on her and her ears began to turn red.

  ‘Haven’t seen you around before, love.’

  Pip shrugged, and there was a second of uneasy silence.

  ‘My cousin,’ Grommet said quickly. ‘Lilah.’

  ‘Righto,’ the policeman said. ‘Well, so long as no one’s hurt.’

  ‘We’re good,’ Grommet replied. ‘And the guys are getting everyone out of the water over on the main beach. They’ll put out signs and keep an eye out for the next few days.’

  ‘Righto. I’ll leave you to it, then. You should steer clear of the water too, even though the old boy would probably spit you out at first taste,’ the cop said and began retreating up the beach, pausing a couple of times to shake his legs.

  ‘Doesn’t like sand in his shoes, Constable Payne,’ Grommet said, peeling off the top half of his wetsuit. ‘Me, I don’t like shoes at all.’

  Pip was staring after the cop and didn’t say anything.

  ‘Everything all right, cuz?’

  ‘What if he finds out you don’t have a cousin Lilah?’ Pip asked.

  ‘Ah, but I do. Except she’s ninety-six and blind as a bat. She wouldn’t have spotted that shark if it was doing a tap dance half a metre in front of her, let alone from the top of the cliff.’

  Pip couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled out, even though she hadn’t shaken her concern that Constable Payne might recognise her. Grommet didn’t seem to be able to open his mouth without something outrageous coming out of it. And now she couldn’t get the image of Old Toothless in tap shoes out of her head.

  ‘In Byron for the holidays?’ Grommet asked casually as he tossed his towel over his shoulder and picked up his board. He began to make his way over the sand in his bare feet, Pip and Houdini following.

  ‘Yes, I suppose so.’

  ‘I didn’t realise school had finished already.’

  Pip didn’t know what to say without telling the truth or a fib, so she just shrugged.

  ‘Well, as I said, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse, and I reckon I owe you a burger and a shake, and this hound of yours some doggie treats. If your folks won’t mind, that is. I’d better speak to them first,’ he said as they reached a battered and rusty old ute parked behind the beach. ‘Where are they?’

  ‘Um, not here.’

  He chucked the board and towel in the back, and held out his mobile phone. ‘Better call them.’

  Pip shrugged. ‘They won’t mind.’ The thought of a burger made her stomach growl.

  Grommet hesitated before dropping the hand that held his phone. He opened the passenger door, and bowed low towards her. ‘Your chariot awaits, my lady. Your faithful hound will have to go in the back, though.’

  When he got into the driver’s seat beside her, Grommet said, ‘My guess is you’d prefer to stay away from Byron, and avoid Constable Payne’s eagle eye.’

  Pip nodded.

  ‘Okay, I know just the place.’

  He started the car and drove for little more than five minutes along the coast, pulling up in a sleepy parade of shops opposite a park that led to a rocky shore. The sunset cast a mellow glow across the rocks, but under the shop awnings, it was cool and shady.

  Grommet let Houdini out the back of the ute and they made their way past a scatter of café chairs and tables into the milk bar on the corner.

  ‘Burger with everything?’ he asked Pip.

  ‘Yes, please.’

  After he’d ordered their burgers, chips, a mango smoothie for Pip and a Coke for himself, he found some dog biscuits and treats for Houdini in the pet food aisle, and asked the shopkeeper for a bowl of water.

  They sat outside and Grommet opened the bag of dog biscuits. Houdini immediately stuck his nose inside, and with a snuffle and a wag of his tail, began to eat.

  ‘Hungry,’ Grommet said, with a glance at Houdini, whose head had all but disappeared into the biscuit bag.

  ‘He hasn’t had much to eat in the last few days.’

  The shop lady brought out their drinks and Houdini’s water with a smile. ‘Food’ll be a few minutes.’

  Pip and Grommet thanked her, and Houdini took his head from the biscuits and plunged it into the water bowl, sending drops everywhere.

  Pip drank most of her smoothie in one long slurp. It was so cold it made her teeth hurt. It was thick, creamy and delicious – the closest thing to
heaven Pip had ever tasted.

  Realising Grommet was watching, she put the big glass down, hunched her shoulders and stared at the table. Mr and Mrs Browning insisted on good manners at the dinner table, which meant elbows off, no talking while chewing and definitely no slurping. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘What for?’

  Pip shrugged.

  ‘I guess you were as thirsty as the dog with no name,’ Grommet added.

  Pip nodded.

  ‘Did you have anything to eat today?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not really.’ She was used to eating when she could, and not thinking too much about it when she couldn’t. Fortunately, she was saved from having to give him any more details by the rustle of plastic strips in the doorway as the lady brought out knives and forks.

  Grommet immediately struck up a conversation. He seemed to know just about everyone around here, but maybe that was how it was in Byron Bay. In Sydney, there were so many people it would be impossible.

  The woman went back into the shop and when she emerged again with a big tray piled with food, Pip’s eyes widened. She’d never seen burgers quite as big as this. They took up the entire plates, so the hot chips had to go in separate bowls.

  ‘Go on, tuck in,’ Grommet said, his big hands already around his burger. He took a huge bite.

  As he didn’t seem to worry about the not-scoffing rule, Pip did the same. It was nearly as heavenly as the smoothie, meaty and saucy, with plenty of beetroot. The chips were thick and salty and squirted with plenty of tomato sauce. She felt the juice from the meat run down her chin and didn’t care. She didn’t stop even when Grommet tucked a serviette into the neck of her T-shirt. She just ate and ate and ate until the pinch in her stomach had completely disappeared. Then she sat back and stared at the leftovers on her plate, which looked as though it had been attacked by a pack of untidy wolves.

  ‘Mate, they do a good burger here,’ Grommet mumbled around a mouthful of burger.

  ‘But no horse.’

  He laughed at her reference to him being hungry enough to eat a horse. ‘That’s for dessert! Or you could have ice-cream if you prefer.’

  Pip shook her head. ‘I don’t know if I can even finish this.’ She looked in dismay at the remaining food. When she didn’t know where her next meal was coming from, it seemed terribly wrong to leave anything on her plate.

  ‘No rush.’

  Grommet took another chip and sat back in his chair, munching slowly, looking out to the rocks and sea where the end-of-day shadows lengthened.

  It was so nice sitting here in the quiet, with only the faint sound of the shopkeeper moving around inside, and the occasional snort and slurp from Houdini, Pip wanted it to go on forever. She didn’t want to destroy the peace with difficult questions about a time long since passed.

  ‘Is Grommet your real name?’ she asked in the end, to break the silence.

  He shook his head. ‘That’s just what I’ve been called since I started surfing as an ankle-biter. I think most people don’t even remember my real name. Apart from my mum.’

  Pip waited for him to tell her.

  ‘Uh-uh!’ He waved another chip at her. ‘I’m not telling you mine unless you tell me yours.’

  She thought about that for a moment or two. ‘Okay, but you mustn’t tell anyone.’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘Promise.’

  ‘I promise.’

  ‘Okay.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I’m Pip, and my dog is Houdini.’

  ‘Pip and Houdini, I’m delighted to make your acquaintance. I’m Ignatius, although I only answer to Grommet.’

  ‘Grommet, can I ask you a question?’

  ‘You just did.’

  ‘Another one,’ Pip said. ‘A long time ago, did you know someone called Cass or Cassandra?’

  Grommet dropped the chip he’d been about to eat back into the bowl and stared at her as though she was a ghost.

  ‘About nine years ago,’ Pip prompted.

  Grommet didn’t say anything but Pip could see from the shock on his face that she’d found the surfer Cassandra’s old neighbour had spoken of.

  ‘You did know her, didn’t you? You knew Cass. You were her friend.’

  THE PAST UNRAVELS

  When he still didn’t say anything, Pip reached into the pocket of her pack and plucked out the photo. ‘This is Cass. I’m trying to find her.’

  Grommet’s hand shook a little as he took it from her, and gave it a very brief glance. ‘I knew there was something about you. You have the same eyes,’ was all he said.

  A shadow passed over his open face, and his lashes dropped over his eyes. Pip waited patiently for a few seconds. When he said nothing more, she took a chip and ate it just for something to do.

  After another minute of waiting, she said, ‘I went to Cass’s old house. The lady next door to said she used to be friends with a surfer who had messy brown hair and an octopus tattoo.’

  Grommet looked at her then, and in his eyes she could see the turbulence that she sometimes felt when she thought about things that made her scared or unhappy.

  ‘How old are you?’ His voice shook, just as his hands had.

  ‘Ten.’ The extra bit didn’t seem so important right now. ‘I ran away from Sydney to find Cass,’ she continued as Grommet still seemed to be struggling for words. ‘I’m in big trouble, that’s why you can’t say anything.’

  ‘You ran away?’

  She nodded. ‘Cass was my mother a long time ago, but I never knew her, and I wanted to know what had happened to her.’

  Grommet seemed to shake himself out of his trance. ‘She never came back. I hoped she would but she didn’t.’

  ‘Was she your girlfriend?’

  ‘No!’ He laughed, then abruptly stopped. ‘She was…well, we were mates, I suppose. She worked in a surf shop in town. I would talk to her about the waves and the fish and birds. About the other surfers and the crazy things we did. About how my dad nagged me to get a proper job and not waste all my time out on the water.’

  ‘Did she talk to you about stuff?’

  He sighed and nodded. ‘A bit. She said her dad died when she was young, and when her mum got sick she had to live with other people and she got into trouble a bit.’

  ‘She stayed with my friend Sully and his Em in Sydney for a while,’ Pip told Grommet.

  Grommet sighed again. ‘I remember her saying they were really nice people. I think she regretted leaving them, but she was a bit of a wild child and she said she had been pulled from pillar to post a bit by then. I think she’d forgotten how to stay in one place, how to be in a normal home.’

  ‘What was she like?’ Pip wanted to know.

  He laughed. ‘Cass was like sunshine some days, and a storm cloud over the water on others. She liked to dance and laugh and talk about how she would change the world, but sometimes she got very sad. She thought she brought trouble. Whenever something went wrong, she ran away to escape it. That’s what I think, anyway.’

  He was so easy to talk to, Pip found herself explaining the whole story. ‘She left me in an apple crate on Sully’s doorstep when I was a few days old because she thought Sully and his Em could look after me better than she could,’ she told him. ‘She didn’t know that Em had already died, and that Sully was all on his own.’

  ‘When I knew her, she sometimes talked about going back to them,’ Grommet nodded. ‘She said they were the best thing that ever happened to her, and if only they’d had her from the start, things might have been different.’

  ‘She did come back later, to get me, but Sully lied to her. He told her that he’d given me away. I think it was because he didn’t want her to take me and leave him all alone. Or maybe he just thought I’d be better off with him. It was a wrong thing to do, but I kind of understand.’

  ‘It’s not always easy doing the right thing.’

  Pip nodded. Sully had once said that it wasn’t the black and white you had to look out for; it was all the shades of g
rey that tripped you up. At the time it hadn’t made much sense, but now it did.

  She asked, ‘Did you ever do a really wrong thing, Grommet?’

  ‘Only about a million times! The worse thing was something that I didn’t do rather than something I did do, but I’ve always regretted not doing it.’

  ‘How did you make it right again?’

  ‘I didn’t get the chance.’ He frowned. ‘No, that’s an excuse. I didn’t get the chance because I didn’t make the chance.’

  ‘Do you think things can be right and wrong at the same time?’ Pip asked. ‘When I ran away from the Brownings, I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought they’d be happier without me, but the newspapers are saying how upset they are, and now I’m not sure.’

  Realisation dawned in his eyes. ‘You’re the kid everyone’s been talking about, aren’t you? The one who escaped from the cops and the welfare workers a few weeks ago?’

  ‘Yes, because I didn’t want to stay with people who are nutters,’ Pip tried to explain. ‘Except I didn’t know that some people who look after kids are kind, like the Brownings who I’ve been staying with. They’re very nice, but too nice for me.’

  Grommet laughed. ‘I know exactly what you mean. They expect you to brush your hair, not talk with your mouth full and never swear.’

  ‘Or never to give another kid a thump on the nose.’ Pip sighed.

  ‘Did you?’ He seemed delighted rather than angry, but then he wasn’t responsible for her behaviour, and he wasn’t nearly as old or as serious as Mr and Mrs Browning. ‘I’m sure the other kid deserved it.’

  ‘Yes, he did. Maybe. Mr and Mrs Browning weren’t exactly happy about it. Then I did something even more stupid and upset them so much they didn’t want me to stay anymore. Or that’s what I thought.’

  ‘But now you’re not so sure about that?’

  ‘Yes. No. I don’t know.’

  As it started to get a bit dark, the lady came out to clear their plates. ‘I’m shutting up now,’ she said. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Pip said. ‘It was very good. I really wanted to finish it but I couldn’t.’

  ‘I’ll get you a doggie bag, just a minute.’ She disappeared inside and came out with the remains of Pip’s meal in a takeaway bag.