Our Australian Girl Read online

  Contents

  1 A Real Job

  2 All Work and No Play

  3 Yousra

  4 Family Embarrassments

  5 Yousra’s Job

  6 Marly’s Market

  7 Lost!

  8 The New Neighbourhood

  9 The Ride

  10 Marly Returns

  11 Marly and Yousra’s Great Adventure

  Marly has felt lonely ever since she started at Sunshine Primary School. Being a refugee from Vietnam hasn’t made it easy for her to fit in. For a start, her parents don’t have enough money to be able to buy her all the cool new toys that her classmates have, and the other kids still make fun of her sometimes, just for being different. It was easier when her cousins, Rosie and Jackie, were at the same school. But now they’ve moved to a school closer to their new home, and so Marly is alone once more. What can Marly do to change things?

  ‘ROSIE!’ Marly called to her cousin as she stuck her head into the garage. ‘Jackie and I are pirates, and we need you to be the lady with treasures that we rob. We’ve made a boat out of the old cardboard fridge box Dad was going to chuck out. Come see!’

  ‘I can’t, Marly,’ said Rosie, picking up a shirt from the big pile next to her. ‘I’m working.’

  ‘What do you mean, you’re working? You’re twelve! You don’t have to work.’ Marly walked inside, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The garage was not used for their car, but for Marly’s mum’s sewing business. Her mum and aunty sat at their sewing machines on trestle tables, sewing shirt after shirt under the dim strip light. Rosie stood by the door, busily ironing.

  ‘She’s helping us iron the shirts,’ said Marly’s mum from the far corner. ‘Unlike you, always mucking about all the time. And she’s earning money.’

  Marly swung round to face her mum. ‘What?’ Earning her own money was something Marly was definitely interested in.

  ‘That’s right. For every shirt she irons, she gets paid fifty cents,’ Marly’s mum continued.

  ‘Ten shirts, five dollars,’ smiled Rosie.

  Marly watched Rosie run the iron across a shirt sleeve. It doesn’t look that difficult, Marly thought. I could do that!

  ‘I want to iron shirts, too!’ Marly said. ‘How come you never let me do stuff like that?’

  ‘Because you’re too easily distracted, that’s why,’ her mum scolded. ‘Do you think we’d let you hold a hot iron to a shirt that your aunty and I have spent three hours making?’

  ‘No fair!’ protested Marly. ‘You never let me do anything.’

  Marly slouched against the wall. She felt so annoyed! Annoyed at her mum for letting Rosie do something and not her. And annoyed at Rosie for being so smug and grown-up. Her slouch seemed to work, as Aunty Tam suggested that they let her iron the interfacing onto the shirt collars.

  ‘Those are pretty easy to do,’ said Aunty Tam.

  Marly stood up straight, willing her mum to say yes so she could earn some money of her own. But Marly’s mother was still sceptical. ‘What if she burns one?’

  ‘Far better than sewing a whole new shirt,’ said Aunty Tam. ‘It’s just a collar.’

  ‘So, how much do I get paid for each collar?’ Marly asked quickly, before they could change their minds.

  ‘Aiyoh,’ her mum yelled. ‘Consider yourself lucky we’re giving you this experience! Will you listen to her – talking about making a buck already, and not even grown up yet!’

  Aunty Tam just laughed. ‘Come on, if we’re going to pay Rosie, we’d better pay Marly as well. I like this enterprising girl. And besides, we need all the help we can get, with you feeling so tired all the time now.’

  Marly looked at her mum. It was true, she realised. Her mother did seem to be tired – and grumpy – these days. Sometimes, she would even take a little nap in the middle of work, which wasn’t like her at all.

  ‘Fine then,’ sighed Marly’s mother. ‘We’ll pay you ten cents a collar. And don’t you dare complain! Your cousin’s ironing is much more difficult than yours. All you have to do is run a hot iron on this strip of interfacing so that it sticks to the inside of the shirt collar.’

  ‘Hooray!’ shouted Marly. She picked up a shirt collar from a cardboard box on the floor. She couldn’t wait to begin.

  ‘Just have some patience, will you?’ scolded her mum, ‘At least wait until Rosie’s finished with the iron!’

  ‘Okay.’ Marly dropped the collar and moonwalked backwards out of the garage. Moonwalking was a new dance move Marly had been practising, from watching Michael Jackson perform on Countdown. Marly loved Michael Jackson. She loved how he wore only one glove with sequins on it, glitter socks and a black hat – the sort of person who didn’t care what anyone thought. And she loved that he didn’t seem able to stop moving. Just like her.

  ‘Look at her,’ Marly heard her mum mutter to her aunt. ‘Always dancing about like a monkey, and acting like a boy. She’s not like your Rosie. My Marly can’t even sit still for half an hour.’

  ‘She just has a lot of energy, that’s all,’ said Aunty Tam.

  Marly sighed. Her mum was always telling her off for fidgeting and not sitting still. I’ll show them, she decided. I’ll show them that I can do just as good a job as Rosie, if not better!

  I’ve got a job,’ Marly told her classmates the next day at school as they hung their backpacks on the bag hooks before class.

  ‘Oh yeah?’ said Kane. ‘Doing what?’ Kane was the class busybody. He liked getting involved in other people’s business.

  ‘I iron collars for my mum.’

  ‘That’s just housework for your mum,’ said Kane in a mean voice. ‘That’s not a real job.’

  Marly felt proud that she was earning her own cash, rather than being given pocket money like the other kids were. She felt cross with that idiot Kane for trying to ruin it for her.

  ‘No, Kane, you der-brain. The sort of shirts you buy in the shops. My mum makes them. And I get ten cents for every collar I iron.’ She noticed that everyone had stopped what they were doing to listen to them.

  ‘Then you’re stupid. That’s not even worth it,’ said Kane.

  ‘Do the maths, Kane, you moron. I can iron one hundred collars over the weekend, easy.’ Marly watched as her classmates worked it out.

  ‘Woah,’ breathed Kane. ‘That’s ten dollars. What are you going to do with that much money?’

  Marly knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to get as many packs of Donkey Kong cards as her money could buy. These were no ordinary cards, like those lame swap cards of puppies and fluffy kittens that girls would trade in the playground. No, these cards were like a miniature version of the Donkey Kong video game.

  Marly had never actually played Donkey Kong, but she’d seen the older kids crowded around the amusement arcades playing it. Her classmates were obsessed with the cards, which had a maze of ladders and ramps printed on them, with silver scratch-off dots. Scratch off the wrong dots, and it was Game Over. But scratch off the right dots, and you would help Mario climb through the maze to rescue his girlfriend from the love-struck gorilla, Donkey Kong.

  At recess and lunchtime, Marly’s classmates challenged each other to Donkey Kong duels, scratching away at their cards with their fingernails. The winner won the stick of pink bubblegum that came in the card pack. Once a card was played, it was no use anymore, and the scratched cards were dropped all over the schoolyard. That’s when the sticker cards would come out for trading. There were three in each pack, and Marly couldn’t wait to have her own set to swap.

  Ever since her cousins had left the school last term, Marly had felt very lonely. What Marly wanted, more than anything, was to be included in something that the other kids were into. And
right now, that was helping Mario rescue his girlfriend from a crazed gorilla.

  ‘I’m going to get the whole set of Donkey Kong sticker cards,’ Marly announced. She wanted to make sure at least some of the kids brought their cards to school on Monday, so she could swap with them if she got doubles, and duel with them if they still had new scratch cards.

  Marly knew her parents would never get her the cards. Her mum said they were a waste of money. ‘Ask your cousin to make you the monkey business cards,’ Marly’s mother had suggested. ‘She’s good at drawing.’ Her mum would not let Marly buy anything that they could make, and cousin Rosie was great at making everything.

  Marly scowled, remembering how annoying her parents could be – they just didn’t get it! But the thought of having her own money to spend on anything she liked was exciting – more exciting even than playing pirates with Jackie.

  THIS is a breeze, thought Marly as she started ironing collar number three in the cramped garage. She was missing Saturday morning TV, but it would be worth it on Monday when she went to school with her packs of Donkey Kong cards. She had a stack of exactly ninety seven more collars to her left, next to a big box of interfacing – a thin material made of plastic. When it was heated up by the iron, the interfacing stuck to the insides of the collars. It was what made them stiff.

  Her mum and aunty were both working on their sewing machines, and every so often Marly’s mum would shoot her head up to check on Marly. This got on Marly’s nerves, because she knew they didn’t watch Rosie so carefully.

  There was only one iron in the garage, so while Marly ironed, Rosie had to go back inside the house and clean. Marly felt a little bad about that, but she wanted to prove she could do just as good a job as Rosie, and she wanted to earn her ten dollars as quickly as possible.

  When she was happy the interfacing was properly stuck, Marly put the ironed collars in a cardboard box to her right, ready for her mum and aunty to sew on the shirts. She hummed Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ as the pile built up. Before she knew it, she was almost finished. Marly started to rush through the last collars, but stopped herself and finished them as carefully as she’d done the rest. It would be terrible if she burned one so close to the end.

  As she placed her last collar in the box, Marly jumped and punched the hot air of the garage. ‘Woohoo!’ she hollered. ‘They’re done! Done I tell you! Done!’

  ‘Stop that right now!’ shouted Marly’s mum. ‘And turn off the iron first!’

  Marly scowled, pulling the iron’s plug from the wall. But she knew she had done a good job. She had not burned a single collar. Even Aunty Tam had commented, ‘Oh my. You see, Diep, your daughter can work. See how fast she is?’

  Marly flashed a grin at her aunt before turning to her mum. ‘Can we go to the milk bar now? Can we? Can we?’ she begged. She was already imagining leaving the milk bar with arms full of Donkey Kong cards.

  Marly’s mum sighed. ‘I’m almost done,’ she said. ‘Can’t you wait half an hour more?’

  ‘Half an hour?’ Marly already felt like she’d been waiting forever to get her cards. And what if the shop was closed by then? She’d have to wait until Monday for it to open again.

  ‘Don’t worry, it’ll still be open,’ Marly’s mum promised, as if reading her mind. ‘I’m a lot slower these days,’ she grumbled. ‘I just don’t have the energy I used to.’

  ‘Are you sick, Mum?’ Marly asked, suddenly worried. She looked at her mum carefully. She did look more tired than usual, and her hands were a little shaky.

  ‘Oh, no! No, nothing to fret over,’ her mum insisted.

  Marly smiled, relieved that her mum wasn’t sick, and hoping to get her out the garage and to the shop quick!

  ‘Look, see, if you can wait half an hour, I’ll even take you to Kmart,’ her mum promised.

  ‘But Mu-um, the cards are at the milk bar,’ whined Marly. ‘Why would I want to go to Kmart?’

  ‘It’s a big store. You might find more types of cards there, and they will probably be cheaper than at the milk bar, too.’

  Marly hadn’t thought about this before. Now, going to Kmart seemed like an even better idea. And it made the wait a little easier.

  Aunty Tam soon left with Rosie, but Marly stood guard over her mum in the garage.

  ‘What are you doing just standing there in this stuffy room?’ Marly’s mum asked her. ‘Go outside where it’s cooler.’ But Marly made sure to stay where she was, to make sure her mum didn’t start working on some cuffs after the buttonholes.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Marly’s mum got up from her sewing machine and slowly walked inside the house. Marly followed her as she picked up the car keys and made her way to the car. Marly jumped into the front passenger seat. At last! she thought.

  When they finally reached the store, her mother led her away from the stationery section, where Marly thought the cards might be, and took her to the accessories department instead.

  ‘But Mum,’ Marly complained. ‘This is the wrong area.’

  Her mother pointed to the umbrellas. ‘Pick one,’ she said. ‘You need one for the wet weather ahead.’ Hoping to hurry her mum up so that she could go find the cards, Marly just pointed to the first one she saw – a black umbrella with small white Snoopy dogs printed all over it.

  ‘No,’ said Marly’s mum. ‘That one’s flimsy and not big enough. What about this one?’ She held out a yellow umbrella.

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Marly, trying to peer around the shelves. ‘Now can we go and find the cards?’

  Marly’s mum seemed to ignore her question. She started opening and closing the stupid umbrella, inspecting the hinges and pulling on the waterproof fabric. ‘These Melbourne autumns can be very rainy,’ she said. ‘If you come home wet, you’ll get sick.’

  Marly rolled her eyes. She didn’t care about rain. ‘Come on, Mum, we have to look for the cards!’

  A woman’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker: ‘This store will be closing in fifteen minutes. We hope you have enjoyed shopping at Kmart.’

  This was driving Marly crazy! They only had fifteen minutes, and her mum was walking so slowly! Marly led her mum to the toy section, but the cards weren’t there. Next they tried the stationery section, but had no luck there either. Another announcement sounded over the loudspeaker for all customers to go to the cash registers.

  ‘Come on, Mum. We have to try the lolly section,’ Marly said, but her mum just sighed.

  ‘Stop being so impatient. The store is closing. We can come back another time.’

  That was a lie, Marly knew. ‘No we can’t!’ she protested.

  ‘I’ve had enough of you, Marly!’ her mother said. ‘You’re obsessed with those cards! Besides, they’re for boys, aren’t they? Why can’t you act like a proper young lady for once? Here!’ Marly’s mum thrust the latest Kmart catalogue at her, which was just by the cash register. ‘Make your own cards. Cut out pictures from this and stick them on cardboard.”

  Lame! thought Marly angrily. So lame.

  Marly bit her tongue and glared at her mum while she paid for the umbrella and some face washers that were on special. Marly followed her mum out of the shop, and dragged her feet across the car park. She needed those cards so that the kids at school would talk to her. Her mum just didn’t get it.

  When they were close to home, Marly asked, ‘Now can you drop me off at the milk bar with my ten dollars, so I can get the cards?’

  ‘What ten dollars?’ asked her mother. ‘You spent it on the umbrella.’

  ‘What?’ Marly exclaimed in horror.

  ‘That was what you picked from Kmart.’

  Marly stared at her mum. ‘No I didn’t!’ How could her mother have tricked her like that? It was so unfair! Marly ground her teeth together and sat in a furious silence the rest of the way home. She had spent all weekend working, missing both the Friday-night movie (The Muppet Movie) and the Saturday-morning cartoons, only to come home with a crappy umbrella!
r />   Her mum parked their old Datsun car in the driveway, and Marly stormed into the house. She found her dad reading the paper in the lounge. He must have finished his shift at the factory early.

  ‘Did you have fun on your little outing?’ he asked.

  ‘Look what Mum made me buy!’ Marly exploded, shoving the horrible object forward, hoping he’d talk some sense into her mum and let her have her earnings back.

  ‘Oh! An umbrella. Very useful,’ replied her father. ‘A nice big one, too. Money well spent, I’d say.’

  Then Marly noticed something that made her even angrier – her dad was winking at her mum! How dare they gang up on her like this?

  She felt cheated. She felt robbed. She was never, ever, ever going to work for her parents again.

  Lame, thought Marly as she sprawled across the sofa on Monday morning, watching an Astro Boy cartoon before school.

  ‘Come on, Marly, get a move on,’ her mum yelled from the kitchen. Through the doorway, Marly watched her mum unzip her schoolbag and shove in her sandwich and Prima. But Marly didn’t move. She hadn’t forgiven her mum for the trick she’d pulled with the umbrella, which she saw was now sticking out the top of her schoolbag.

  Marly’s mum walked in front of the television and switched it off. ‘Marly! School!’ she snapped.

  Marly lurched from the sofa and followed her mum out of the house. ‘I’m so tired from working all weekend,’ Marly complained as they walked up the road to school. ‘I ironed a hundred collars and didn’t even get paid.’

  ‘Of course you got paid,’ said Marly’s mother, losing her patience. ‘You got paid very well. Also, I worked all weekend. You only worked Saturday morning. From what I remember, yesterday you were mucking about in the backyard, digging up insects.’

  Marly just heaved a big sigh and continued walking. They reached the school gate just as it started to rain. Marly could see a bunch of kids already there, waiting to see the kid who had made ten bucks over the weekend, and find out how many packets of Donkey Kong cards ten bucks could buy. If only, thought Marly.