The Week at Mon Repose (2 page)

 

 

Dinner that night was a choice between steak and kidney pudding or tripe and onions. The tables were filled with the other guests of Mon Repose, mainly elderly people or couples with young children.

“Gross!” Marilyn said with a shudder.

“Good wholesome food that I'm paying for, so eat up every mouthful,” Marilyn's stepfather ordered.

Allie and Jenny stared. So this was Marilyn's detested family who was staying with her at Mon Repose. One stepfather, one mother, and three little half brothers. The stepfather had a loud voice.

Marilyn's mother became busy feeding the youngest stepbrother in the high chair beside her. Allie and Jenny, who were at the same table as Marilyn's mother, stepfather, and the three little half brothers, decided on the steak and kidney and tried to finish it as quickly as possible.

The dessert was something called blancmange. It was large and dark pink, and when you stuck a spoon in, it quivered like a sentient alien amoeba.

“Looks as if it comes from outer space,” Marilyn said, as she poked her spoon into it and it quivered back at her.

Allie and Jenny looked at each other. Marilyn was so right! Allie decided it was only because they were still hungry that she and Jenny had forced down a spoonful. The dessert had a rubbery feel with a strong strawberry flavour and had to be chewed for ages before it could be swallowed.

“If it's not good enough for Madam Marilyn's sophisticated taste buds, she has our permission to leave the table,” her stepfather snapped.

Marilyn looked at her mother, but she was cutting the dessert into quivering squares for one of the stepbrothers. Marilyn pushed her chair back and ran from the room. Allie and Jenny politely asked permission to be excused and left.

“Pity your daughter hasn't the manners of those two little girls,” Allie heard Marilyn's stepfather say, and a murmur of agreement came from Marilyn's mother.

“Poor Marilyn didn't have a chance to finish eating,” Allie whispered.

“And I'm still hungry as well,” Jenny whispered back.

“So we get some more food to share with her,” Allie decided.

They edged into the big kitchen. Mr. Marybone and a pimply young boy were doing piles of dishes. Mrs. Marybone and a harassed old lady were pouring hot water into the teapots and coffee pots on the waiting trays.

Allie spotted the rows of iced buns under the glassed-in shelves at one side of the kitchen and edged towards them.

“Mrs. Marybone,” Jenny said in her most polite tone.

Mrs. Marybone looked at Jenny. “We're a bit busy right now, Jenny. What is it?”

“I didn't want to bother you, Mrs. Marybone, but we loved that walk you told us about today and wondered if there was another nice walk you could suggest for tomorrow.”

“There's Jeliat Falls. Very scenic.” Mrs. Marybone glanced down at one of the trays. “Table five is short of two cups and saucers.”

Allie had four buns under her jumper. She decided that they should be enough to satisfy the hunger of Jenny and Marilyn. She had to move the rest of the buns around on the tray so there wasn't a gap. She nodded to Jenny who realized exactly what she was doing and why.

“Sorry to have bothered you, Mrs. Marybone,” Jenny said politely, and she and Allie drifted out of the kitchen.

“Do you know which is Marilyn's room?” Jenny asked.

“She shares it with her little brothers, and they could be heard all over Mon Repose just before dinner,' Allie explained. “They are in one of the rooms opening onto the veranda.”

Allie headed towards the veranda. She paused. There were three doors opening on to the veranda. Which room was Marilyn sharing with her little brothers? The little boys had made so much racket that they could have been in any of the rooms. She decided to knock on the second door.

“Get lost,” Marilyn's called.

Allie opened the door. It was a small room with two double bunks in it. It looked even more cluttered with clothes and toys strewn all over it.

Marilyn sat cross-legged on one of the top bunks. Allie pretended not to notice the way her black eye makeup had rayed out with tears. She produced the buns from under her jumper. “Coming back to our room to finish dinner?”

“I'm starving,” Marilyn admitted as she swung down from the top bunk. “Why Mum had to ruin our lives with such a gross idiot, I'll never work out.”

“What you have to remember,” Jenny said, surprising Allie with her bitter tone. “Is that adults like to do their own thing without inconveniencing themselves by remembering that they have kids, and all you can do is try to live your life without being inconvenienced.”

“True,” Marilyn said. “Never thought of it from that viewpoint. Where is your room?”

Allie was quiet as she thought that odd outburst over. Aunt Gwen seemed so nice she hadn't realised that maybe her cousin Jenny wasn't that happy.

Marilyn followed the girls down the passage, up the steps to the first landing, through the unobtrusive door, and then along the winding stairs to the little room.

“This is something else! How did you manage to get tucked away here?” Marilyn asked looking at the steep drop from the window to the back vegetable garden.

“Mrs. Marybone is looking after us for the week, so I suppose she wanted to keep an eye on us,” Allie explained.

“As a favour to our parents, whom she's known forever,” Jenny continued.

“Except they probably haven't kept in touch for the last twenty years,” Allie grumbled, remembering the rotting stables.

Jenny produced a can of soft drink for them to share with the buns. “As soon as Mum decided I was coming up here with you, I thought about supplies,” she explained. “Mum dumped me up here for a weekend last year.”

They finished eating the buns. Jenny donated a bag of mixed chocolates. They ate all the chocolates. It slowly got dark. Allie drew the floral drapes and turned on the light.

“Time for our séance, fellow conspirators.” Marilyn was looking more cheerful with the contributions supplied by Allie and Jennie.

Allie took out the Ouija board from where she had hidden it in her case. She placed it down on the small table between the two beds. They studied it. There was an outside circle composed of the alphabet, with numbers and odd signs around it.

“How does it work?” Jenny asked.

“You use a pointer or a glass to ask questions, and the spirit spells out the answers.” Marilyn became businesslike. “We need a glass and pencil and paper, and we'll have to turn out the light. The spirits need darkness.”

“We won't be able to see,” Allie pointed out.

“We should have candlelight,” Marilyn grumbled.

“No candles around,” Jenny said.

Jenny had a pad and pencil, and Allie handed over the clean glass. They sneaked disbelieving looks at each other. Marilyn was nice but definitely a weirdo! They left the light on, put the glass upside down on the board, and rested a finger on it as instructed. Twice, Jenny accused Marilyn of moving the glass.

“It's just warming up, and I'm not moving it. See,” Marilyn said lifting her finger. “It's still moving with just you two touching it.” She put her finger back on it. “What's going to be our first question?”

The fingers came off the glass as the three girls looked at each other.

“Can it grant wishes?” Jenny asked.

“I think it can only give information,” Marilyn said. “Never heard of Ouija boards granting wishes.”

“Like the winner of the next race or which shares will boom?” Jenny asked.

“Or where we can find treasure?” Allie asked.

“Never heard of anyone getting that sort of information,” Marilyn admitted. “Just tells you about people on the other side.”

“The other side of what?” Jenny demanded.

“What about how to meet guys who are real cool instead of the local nerds?” Allie demanded.

This led to a discussion of all the nerds in their three schools who they had irresistibly attracted and all the hunks who never looked their way.

“I've got it!” Marilyn said. “We ask the spirit for the name of someone we can use as a channel to get us what we really want.”

“Will that work?” Allie asked doubtfully.

“Why shouldn't it?” Marilyn retorted. “We're not asking for anything except a name, and if there is such a name to fit that description, it will give it to us.”

“Makes sense,” Jenny said after a pause. “How do we do it?”

“We touch the glass and ask the question,” Marilyn said. “The answer then gets spelled out.”

It took a long time of solid argument and discussion before they had worked out the proper words. At last they were agreed.

They touched the glass and chorused slowly. “Whoever is listening, spell out the name of the channel that can get us what we all want.”

The glass stayed unmoving. They chanted it again, this time with the light off. Nothing happened! They turned the light back on again and called their request twice more. Still the glass stayed unmoving.

Allie and Jenny sneaked a look at each other. This was becoming a more and more stupid way of filling the evening. Marilyn was going red and looking uncomfortable.

“What if we spell out the question on the board?” Jenny asked nicely.

“Good thinking,” Marilyn said, looking relieved.

The glass moved almost effortlessly under their fingers to spell out the question and then kept moving.

“Don't put any pressure on it,” Marilyn ordered.

“I'm not,” Allie retorted. “Thought you were.”

Whether or not Marilyn really was controlling it, the glass kept moving around the board.

“Notretsambob,” Jenny said. “That isn't a name.”

“Bob's a name,” Allie argued. “Maybe it's ‘not rets am Bob'.”

“Maybe the spirit can't spell, and it's something like ‘“not Russ I'm Bob'”,” Marilyn pondered.

“Let's ask it again,” Jenny suggested. “Just to be on the safe side.”

They spelled out the question again on the board, and the glass slid smoother and faster around the same combination of letters. It paused and again slid around the same combination of letters, ‘notretsambob'.

“You sure you're not pushing it, Marilyn?” Allie asked.

“Well, I'm not.” Marilyn looked scared enough to be telling the truth.

“Doesn't make sense,” Jenny grumbled. She wrote the letters out carefully on the paper. “Unless it's in code or back to front.”

“Back to front,” Allie repeated.

They stared at the paper.

“Bob Masterton,” Jenny said in an awed voice. “It's Bob Masterton who's our channel to get us what we all want.”

“Except, who is Bob Masterton?” Allie asked. “I've never heard of anyone by that name.”

“Well, he must be somewhere, or his name wouldn't have been thrown up on the board,” Marilyn said. “I vote we spend this week searching for him.”

“Vote taken,” Jenny agreed.

“Vote taken,” Allie echoed. She yawned. “Do you realise it's after midnight? Time sure passes when you're having fun.”

“See you at breakfast,” Marilyn said before sneaking quietly from the room.

Allie and Jennie were undressed and in bed with the light off in record time. Allie was just dozing when Jenny whispered from the other bed. “Allie.”

“What?”

“Do you realise it was exactly midnight before the glass actually spelled out the name?”

“Coincidence,” Allie retorted. “Remember we spent hours eating and yacking before we got down to serious business.”

“Of course,” Jenny agreed sleepily. “Night, Allie.”

“Night, Jenny.” Allie was relieved Jenny didn't want to argue.

Of course it was coincidence that the name came through right at midnight. Marilyn was interesting but sort of freaky. It didn't do to take her funny ideas too seriously.

Allie yawned.
There is probably no such individual as Bob Masterton
, she told herself as she fell into dreamless sleep.

 

 

The next morning it was raining a fine, wet drizzle that looked as if it would never clear up.

A nothing sort of day
, Allie thought gloomily. However, while serving up steaming plates of sausages, tomatoes, bacon, and eggs, Mrs. Marybone predicted it would be fine by the afternoon.

“So what are we supposed to do until then?” Allie demanded as she, Jenny, and Marilyn sauntered out to the veranda.

“Spend the morning searching for someone named Bob Masterton,” Marilyn said.

Today her nails were green to match the block of green eye shadow around her eyes, and she wore ragged jeans with a torn army jacket over a sleeveless checked shirt.

Allie felt envious as she inspected her outfit. Her mother never let her even bring gear like that into the house. Maybe having a mother and stepfather who didn't care about you had its advantages.

“The office has got stores of directories and phone books,” Jenny said thoughtfully. “Best place to start.”

The verandas were being used as running track and playground for squealing toddlers and small children. The television blared away to an audience of bored watchers. In another room older people were playing cards.

The office was a small room off the veranda near the front steps. Mrs. Marybone assured them they were quite welcome to use it.

“You're such good girls to concentrate on studying during your holidays,” she said. “Plenty of spare paper and pencils under the desk if you want it.”

Allie sneaked an admiring glance at the quick-witted Marilyn, and Jenny grinned. Marilyn was definitely improving on closer acquaintance.

They settled to checking the directories. There were no R. or B. Mastertons in any of the local books or even the centralised city ones. Jenny pulled out several dusty interstate directories.

“Try these.”

There were still no R. or B. Mastertons.

“No Mastertons anywhere,” Allie grumbled.

“The spirits must be off-kilter this time,” Jenny said.

“We can try again tonight,” Marilyn suggested.

They put the directories and phone books back and drifted out of the office. Nothing had changed. Small children still screamed and jumped around the verandas, the television still blared, and the olds still played cards.

They were imprisoned in a landscape of wet, muddy paddocks and grey skies. Boredom hung over Mon Repose like a visible evil cloud.

“We'll help the Marybone's take around the morning teas,” Jenny suggested. “I heard her helper doesn't start until lunchtime.”

“Help!” gasped Allie. “Why?”

“Take around the morning teas,” Marilyn echoed in shock.

“Got anything more important to do?” challenged Jenny.

There were two heavy sighs. Allie wondered if Jenny was always into do-gooding. She didn't know her cousin at all. Maybe there was a clue in Jenny's ‘save the whales' tee-shirt. Still there wasn't anything more important or interesting to do. They followed Jenny into the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Marybone were very thrilled with the offer of help, and the girls carried morning tea and iced buns around to the guests.

“You'll need coffee for the end card table, Jenny,” Mrs. Marybone ordered, on one of their trips back to the kitchen. “Mr. Masterton doesn't drink tea. Allie can take the tea tray, and Marilyn the coffee scrolls.”

“You have a Mr. Masterton staying here?” Marilyn asked.

“Mr. Bob Masterton. Comes here every year for a break. He is a math teacher for one of them boys' schools.”

Bob Masterton really existed! The spooky séance had actually thrown up the name of a real person!

Mr. Bob Masterton, who sat at the end card table, was very dark and sleekly plump. Mrs. Marybone introduced the three girls as “my little helpers, Marilyn, Jenny and Allie.”

Mr. Masterton's eyes lit up. “Such lovely young helpers,” he said as he shook each of their hands. “I do hope we can become real friends.” He leered at them. “I suppose you young ladies are much too pretty not to have steady boyfriends? These co-ed schools are a great pity.”

“Quite,” Marilyn said, very obviously wiping her hand clean on her jeans.

“Indeed,” Jenny said with an almost adult coldness, also wiping her hand clean on her jeans.

“Really,” said Allie, also following the behaviour of her two friends.

What Marilyn had done after shaking hands was maybe not polite but felt so right. He really was an objectionable person. Mrs. Marybone looked bewildered as the girls headed back to the kitchen.

“What a yuk sleaze,” Jenny said when they were out of Mrs. Marybone's hearing in the kitchen.

“Yet his name is Bob Masterton, so he must be the channel for us to get what we want,” Marilyn said.

“I don't believe in Ouija boards,” Jenny said. “And I don't believe he could possibly be the channel to get us what we want.”

“So what do we do now?” Allie asked.

“We watch him until something interesting happens,” Marilyn ordered.

They returned to the big room with their own morning tea and settled into a corner in the shadows of the old Pianola. Someone had turned the television off. One of the olds was rambling on about the local cemetery as they had an ancestor buried there. Someone mentioned one of the local houses was haunted. This seemed to get the listeners in. The room quietened as everyone listened more carefully.

Mr. Masterton started telling ghost stories. The long, slow morning passed. All of the older people seemed to have a stock of scary tales as well. Mr. Masterton started talking again. He spoke of mediums, séances, and spiritualists. He told tales of conjuring demons and mythical treasures with ghostly guardians. The older people listening seemed enthralled. The younger women followed their noisy bored children out to the veranda.

The three girls became more attentive. This was starting to sound like what they'd been looking for.

“I tell you true,” he insisted, staring around the room with his dark bulging eyes. “I was taught this incantation, which was passed on by my grandfather who was supposed to be a bit of a sorcerer in the old country. A very wealthy old gent he was, too.”

The girls returned to their room to discuss the odd Bob Masteron.

“A grandfather who was a bit of a sorcerer,” jeered Marilyn. “How stupid does he think we all are?”

“Definitely a sleeze,” Allie said.

“I don't know about Ouija boards,” Jenny said. “I still can't see him producing us our hearts' desires.”

“We should keep an eye on him all the same,” Marilyn said.

“Both eyes,” Allie agreed.

After lunch of corned beef, cabbage, and boiled carrots, the sun came out and the sky cleared to blue. The three girls trudged off along the still muddy track towards Jeliat Falls. The distance passed unnoticed as they argued all the way along the track that led to the lookout.

Was Bob Masterton really their channel to what they wanted, or was it just a coincidence, him talking about mythical treasures?

“He's such a sleaze,” Jenny complained. “He tried to get me alone after lunch to ask if I had any boyfriends.”

“He caught me before lunch,” Allie said with a shudder. “Same questions.”

Marilyn giggled. “I got in first and told him I was ready and available if he had anyone interesting among his students, but that he was too old for me.”

“The question is,” Allie said, “are we going to ask him about being our channel, or do we wait for him to ask us something?”

“We'll look like idiots if it is all just a coincidence,” Jenny said.

They climbed the high tower of the lookout. Below them the endless paddocks stretched across to hazy and boring distance.

“No falls,” Allie said.

“It's pretty steep. Maybe people just kept falling down,” Marilyn suggested.

Allie thought that was witty, but Jenny wasn't listening. She was looking down at the car park. A shabby, fawn-coloured car had arrived, and a dark, sleekly plump figure was getting out.

“Coincidence?” Jenny questioned.

Allie was nervous. There were the three of them after all, but it was a very lonely spot. They watched as the man climbed the sets of ladders that led to the top lookout.

“Ah! My three lovely young ladies,” Mr. Masterton said. He was puffing from the climb up the last ladder.

“Are you following us, Mr. Masterton?” Marilyn asked.

“We were just leaving,” Jenny said. She nudged Allie to move closer to the steps leading down on the other side. “Enjoy the view, Mr. Masterton.”

“Just a minute, girls,” he said. “You beautiful young ladies deserve to have the very best of everything.” He flourished a white handkerchief and dabbed at his brow. “I have a proposition to put to you.”

“I knew as soon as we met that you are the right sort of kind-hearted young ladies to assist me.”

Allie was relieved that she was so close to the first step and their escape. She had never heard such garbage. Was this the sort of sinister stranger her mother was always warning her about?

“Explain your proposition, or we're on our way,” Marilyn said in a voice that sounded tough and grown-up.

“If you young ladies do a little chore for me tonight, I will make you all rich beyond your wildest dreams,” he said.

Allie stared at him in awe. The séance had actually worked! Maybe this sleaze really was their channel for gaining what they wanted.

“What's the chore?” Marilyn asked.