‘It is a big deal,’ Loretta concurred.

  ‘Dad doesn’t get out much,’ said Fin.

  ‘At the Daffodil Festival, the Great Green Thumb is the master of ceremonies,’ explained the mayor. ‘He or she opens the festival and judges all the daffodil competitions.’

  ‘There are competitions?’ asked Fin. ‘How can you have a competitive daffodil?’

  The mayor looked like she wanted to snap at Fin, but she put on a false smile and said. ‘There are many competitions. Tallest, biggest bloom, yellowest, most blooms in a six-inch pot, daffodil arrangements, ikebana-style daffodil arrangements … We always get visitors from Japan who travel all the way here just for that category.’

  ‘But why would you pick me?’ interrupted Dad.

  ‘You are a world-leading horticulturalist,’ said the mayor. ‘Who could be better? From the magnificent daffodil blooms outside your own home, you clearly know a thing or two about it.’

  ‘Yeah, but aren’t these local festivals usually hosted by whichever B-grade celebrity you can drag up from the city?’ asked Fin.

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Loretta. ‘It’s usually some obscure soap opera actor who had the misfortune of spending a small portion of their youth growing up in the local area.’

  The mayor definitely scowled now. ‘The bass guitarist from Acid Reflux was supposed to do it,’ she admitted. ‘He went to Currawong Public School for four years. But yesterday he got food poisoning and ended up in hospital on a rehydration drip, so he says he can’t come now.’

  ‘That’s ironic,’ said Fin. ‘The band’s called Acid Reflux and he’s got acid reflux.’

  ‘Just because it’s funny does not mean I appreciate hearing about it,’ said the mayor sourly.

  Suddenly, the front door banged shut and Pumpkin’s hysterical yapping could be heard as he scampered through the house.

  ‘Quick!’ said Joe. ‘Up on the bench.’

  ‘Huh?’ said the mayor.

  Pumpkin’s scrambling footfall could be heard getting closer.

  ‘There’s no time,’ said Joe, grabbing the mayor by the waist.

  ‘Unhand me!’ cried Mayor Albright, whacking Joe on the head.

  ‘It’s for your own g-g-good,’ stammered Joe.

  Pumpkin swung around the doorframe and barked even louder when he saw the mayor. The tiny dog launched at her shins, but Joe heaved the mayor up onto the bench just in time.

  ‘Oh, I see. Thank you,’ said the mayor, realising how close her pants had come to being savaged.

  Joe nodded.

  ‘So heroic,’ said Loretta admiringly to Joe.

  Fin made a gagging gesture.

  Then April strode in. She was so shocked to see the mayor in their kitchen, it took her brain a few seconds to process the fact.

  ‘Is that Mayor Albright sitting on the kitchen bench?’ asked April, pointing. ‘Or have I really started seeing large unpleasant animals.’

  ‘The mayor has dropped by to ask Dad to be a Giant Green Thumb,’ said Fin as he shoved another scone in his mouth.

  ‘The Great Green Thumb,’ corrected the mayor.

  ‘Doesn’t sound any less silly,’ observed Fin as he chewed.

  ‘Is this all part of the vast conspiracy you’ve got operating against me?’ asked April.

  ‘Hah!’ said Fin. ‘You think anyone in this town is organised enough to run a small conspiracy, let alone a vast one?’

  ‘Yes! I do,’ said April. ‘Although given the shallow gene pool, it’s probably being masterminded by an outside organisation. How else do you explain why they’re all working against me to cover up the truth about the bear in the woods?’

  ‘Because there is no bear in the woods,’ said Mayor Albright. ‘And it will be terrible for the local tourist economy if anyone hears you make those wild accusations.’

  ‘Stuff the economy,’ said April. ‘What about the health and wellbeing of that poor bear?’

  ‘I thought she was going to say the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Currawong for a moment there,’ said Fin. ‘But it’s nice to know April’s values haven’t changed with the blows to her head.’

  ‘You’d probably have more credibility if you brushed your hair,’ said Loretta.

  ‘What?’ said April. She glanced at her reflection in the oven door. Sure her hair was a big tangled mess, sticking out at all angles, but it always did that. It was her style.

  ‘It’s just a fact,’ said Loretta. ‘People take well-groomed people more seriously. Look at the mayor. If she was in jeans and a T-shirt, you’d never believe her capable of holding down public office. Fifty per cent of the respect she has is because she’s the only woman in Currawong who wears a pants suit.’

  ‘My policies are very popular,’ said the mayor defensively.

  ‘You’ve been re-elected three times because seven years ago you sacked the town’s one and only parking inspector,’ said Loretta. ‘You’ve been riding that wave of popularity ever since.’

  ‘Politics is all about judging the public mood,’ said the mayor.

  ‘Well, I’m in a bad mood,’ said April, glowering.

  ‘Yes, about that,’ said the mayor. ‘That brings me to the second reason for inviting myself to breakfast.’ The mayor rifled through her handbag and found an envelope, which she held out to April. ‘The Municipal Council of Currawong is delighted to offer you a unique learning opportunity. We will pay all your travel expenses to go to the city for the day to take part in an archery workshop.’

  April took the envelope and looked at it. ‘But I’m not interested in archery.’

  ‘We can swap it for something else,’ said the mayor. ‘Computer coding, gymnastics, dog training perhaps?’ She eyed Pumpkin on the floor. He was still drooling as he stared at the mayor’s shins.

  ‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’ asked April.

  ‘No, we can tell you have an exuberant spirit,’ said the mayor. ‘So we want to help you harness that energy productively.’

  Fin looked over April’s shoulder and read the letter.

  ‘It’s for tomorrow, the exact same day as the Daffodil Festival,’ observed Fin.

  ‘The fact that it gets you out of town when it’s crowded and bustling is just a bonus,’ said the mayor. ‘Those noisy crowds won’t be easy for you to deal with having suffered two serious head injuries.’

  ‘So you’re sending me to the city for some peace and quiet?’ asked April.

  ‘Yes,’ said the mayor.

  ‘No,’ said Dad. Everyone turned to look at him. The Peski kids were surprised to hear him speak, and with such uncharacteristic firmness. ‘April is not going anywhere. I won’t allow it. That’s not negotiable. She cannot leave Currawong.’

  The Peski kids realised what Dad was getting at. Professor Maynard wanted them to stay in the small town where they would be safe from the Kolektiv’s prying eyes.

  April shoved the envelope back into the mayor’s handbag. ‘Sorry, not sorry,’ she smirked.

  ‘How rude,’ said the mayor, standing up. This was an instinctive move to dominate the body language of the exchange, but it was an immediate mistake. Pumpkin had been watching the mayor’s shins dangling out of his reach. As soon as her feet touched the ground, he leapt.

  Joe dived forward but didn’t intercept Pumpkin in time. The dog’s teeth were already deeply imbedded in the cuff of the mayor’s trouser leg as Joe used his considerable body weight to yank Pumpkin away. The entire leg of the mayor’s trousers from the knee down tore off.

  The mayor gasped. Everyone else fell silent.

  Loretta was the first to speak. ‘You really should consider getting a wool suit next time. Polyester is strong as a cloth, but the shoddy sweatshop sewing isn’t very hard-wearing.

  ‘I’m leaving,’ announced the mayor, in a huff.

  ‘Good,’ muttered April.

  The mayor spun back. ‘Mr Peski, I have offered you the role of Great Green Thumb, and despite your daughter’s rudeness I won’t retract my offer. I’ll see you in the gardens tomorrow.’ Then she stormed out.

  ‘But I never said yes,’ said Dad in alarm.

  ‘You need to be quick off the mark when you refuse to do something,’ said Loretta. ‘When Daddy sees the mayor coming he just starts yelling “no no no no no no …” until she goes away.’

  ‘So what now?’ asked Fin.

  ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ asked Loretta.

  The others looked at her.

  ‘No,’ said April.

  ‘If your father is going to be the Great Green Thumb,’ said Loretta, ‘which actually is a great honour in this town. You get to wear a special pin. And you get to write GGT after your name, just like people who get proper awards. Well, then he can’t go dressed like this.’ Loretta waved to indicate their father the same way the models on game shows wave at prizes. ‘He’s going to need a makeover!’

  Fin laughed.

  Joe felt pity for his dad.

  April just felt confused.

  ‘Make what over?’ asked Dad.

  ‘You silly,’ said Loretta, looping her arm through his. ‘Come with me. Nigel and I will drive you down to the salon. Then I’ll see if we can get you into the day spa. You’re going to need a lot of exfoliating.’

  Dad started to panic as Loretta led him towards the door. ‘Where is she taking me? What’s going on?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Dad,’ said Joe. ‘She won’t h-h-hurt you.’ He whispered to Loretta. ‘You w-won’t, will you?’

  ‘No, no,’ said Loretta. ‘If they want to use the hot stones, I’ll make sure they aren’t heavy ones.’

  The door slammed behind them.

  ‘Should we have let her take him?’ asked Fin.

  ‘It’ll take his mind off things,’ said Joe.

  ‘What, by traumatising him further?’ said April.

  ‘Dad does need to g-g-get out more,’ said Joe.

  ‘I can go with them if you think Dad needs someone to keep an eye on him,’ suggested Fin.

  ‘Don’t you have to report to the Cat Lady?’ asked April.

  Fin looked at his watch. ‘Yes, I’ve got to be there in twenty minutes.’

  ‘Well, I’m going back to the forest to look for the bear,’ announced April.

  ‘You really need to rest,’ said Joe.

  ‘He’s right,’ said Fin. ‘You look even worse than you did yesterday. The bruises under your eyes have evolved. It’s not just purple and black anymore. There’s yellow, blue and a bit of green in there. You look like a tie-dye experiment gone horribly wrong.’

  ‘But what about that poor bear?’ said April. ‘It must be frightened out there in the woods on its own.’

  Fin rolled his eyes. ‘Next you’ll be worrying about the poor lions out there in the middle of the African savannah with nothing to eat but busloads of tourists.’

  ‘Why d-d-don’t we go with Fin to see the C-Cat Lady?’ suggested Joe.

  ‘Because I hate cats,’ said April, sneering at the thought.

  ‘Ironically, she doesn’t actually own any cats,’ said Fin. ‘She’s got a Noah’s ark-load of weird creatures, but I didn’t see a cat.’

  ‘Yes, but she’s supposed to b-b-be an animal wrangling expert, isn’t she?’ said Joe.

  ‘True,’ agreed Fin. ‘She’s got all sorts of animals out there. She’s got some weird way of understanding them. She’s horrible with humans, but a regular social butterfly with the animal kingdom.’

  ‘Sounds a bit like y-you,’ said Joe, nudging April.

  ‘I am not horrible with humans,’ said April, stomping on Joe’s foot.

  Joe doubled over in pain, clutching his toes.

  ‘No, horrible is too nice a word for it,’ muttered Fin.

  ‘I heard that!’ said April. ‘Pumpkin, get him.’

  Pumpkin leapt forward, delighted to do his mistress’s bidding.

  The Peski kids were dusty and dirty by the time they arrived at the Cat Lady’s farm. It might have been cool at that hour of the day, but cycling eight kilometres is sweaty work.

  Fin had his first feelings of trepidation as they cycled up the dirt driveway. It was bad enough that he was coming back himself to do whatever awful chores the Cat Lady could think up, but bringing April and Joe was only going to make it worse. April always made everything worse.

  If his legs had been long enough, he would have cycled ahead so he could have gone in first and let the Cat Lady know that his brother and sister were coming. But Fin’s legs were not long, and he was not powered by a burning inner rage the way April was. So she was fifty metres ahead of him, throwing her bike in a bush and bounding up the front steps before he could call out to stop her.

  ‘Knock, knock,’ called April. She didn’t actually knock because the screen door looked so rickety, she thought she might knock it out of its frame with her knuckles. ‘Anyone home?’

  ‘Just a sec,’ called a voice from inside. There was a scuffling, and a second later the door was opened by Neil. As soon as he saw April, his jaw dropped and his face drained of all colour.

  ‘Is your gran home?’ asked April, pushing past Neil.

  Neil didn’t respond, not even to nod. He just stepped back and watched April striding into his living room.

  ‘April,’ called Fin, hurrying up on the verandah. ‘It’s not polite to go barging in.’

  ‘I didn’t barge,’ said April. ‘Norman let me in.’

  ‘Neil,’ said Fin.

  ‘What?’ said April. ‘I’m not kneeling for anybody.’

  ‘No, his name,’ said Fin. ‘It’s not Norman, it’s Neil.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ asked April. ‘Is that right?’ She turned to Neil, but he didn’t respond, except to stare hard at April.

  ‘Is he deaf?’ asked April.

  ‘No,’ said Fin, grabbing hold of his new friend and pushing him over to the couch. ‘He’s just going through a difficult emotional time at the moment.’

  ‘Because his p-p-parents are away?’ guessed Joe. ‘We can understand that.’ Joe smiled at Neil kindly.

  Neil just kept staring at April.

  ‘You’re late,’ snapped the Cat Lady as she appeared on her crutches.

  Fin flinched. ‘How do you move so silently on crutches?’

  ‘Better question is, why do all you young people insist on banging about everywhere?’ said the Cat Lady, deftly swinging herself over to the kitchen to put the kettle on. ‘The sheep in the top paddock need crutching.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound g-g-good,’ said Joe.

  ‘How do you crutch a sheep?’ asked Fin.

  ‘You just give it a haircut,’ said the Cat Lady.

  ‘I guess that’s not too bad,’ said Fin.

  Neil snorted a laugh.

  ‘A haircut around its bottom,’ said the Cat Lady. ‘So it doesn’t get fly strike.’

  ‘What?!’ exclaimed Fin.

  ‘Sheep don’t have toilet paper,’ said the Cat Lady. ‘You’ve got to give them a haircut there or they get daggy. You know, mucky around the bum.’

  ‘How does that train me for handling cats?’ asked Fin.

  ‘Before you can crutch the sheep, you’ve got to catch them,’ said the Cat Lady. ‘Herding sheep is easy compared to herding cats. It’s like starting you off with training wheels.’

  ‘But why the crutching?’ asked Fin.

  ‘If you’re put off by a bit of muck, you’ve got no business working with animals,’ said the Cat Lady.

  ‘I like her,’ said April, helping herself to a biscuit from the jar. ‘She should be mayor.’

  ‘Pfft,’ said the Cat Lady. ‘I’m not qualified. I don’t have my head stuck up my own butt.’

  April laughed. ‘Good one.’

  Fin looked from April to the Cat Lady. He couldn’t believe that the two most prickly people he had ever met were getting along.

  ‘Why have you got that daft look on your face?’ the Cat Lady demanded, glaring at Neil.

  To Fin, Neil’s face looked exactly the same as normal, blank and impassive. But as his grandmother, the Cat Lady was obviously capable of noticing a subtle difference.

  ‘We’ve actually c-c-come to ask your advice,’ said Joe, deciding he needed to change the subject if they were ever going to deal with the reason they came. ‘My sister was b-b-by the creek the other day.’

  ‘Not by the creek,’ corrected Fin. ‘She was in the creek.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Joe. ‘But she saw an animal. And since you’re an expert, we thought you might know w-w-what it was.’

  ‘I know what it was,’ said April. ‘Anyone who’s ever read Paddington knows what it was. It was a bear. I saw a bear!’

  ‘Get out!’ snapped the Cat Lady. ‘Go on, get out of here.’

  ‘What?’ said Joe.

  ‘I said, get out!’ yelled the Cat Lady. ‘I don’t like kids. It’s bad enough having my own grandson underfoot. I never should have agreed to this extra one, and I certainly didn’t sign on for two more.’

  ‘But we just wanted some a-a-advice,’ said Joe.

  ‘I don’t care,’ said the Cat Lady. ‘I want you gone, now!’ April was closest to her, so she lifted up crutch and prodded April in the back to get her moving.

  ‘Hey!’ cried April.

  Pumpkin leapt forward, barking. He raced across the room to defend April.

  ‘No!’ cried Fin. The Cat Lady might be grumpy and rude, but she was an old lady. He didn’t want to see her with a dog bite on her leg.

  Pumpkin launched forward, teeth bared. But the Cat Lady just stopped what she was doing and faced the little dog with complete calm. Pumpkin skidded to a stop. His claws slipping on the linoleum. The Cat Lady held up one finger and said with calm but absolute authority, ‘Ah-ah.’

  Pumpkin looked up at her. The Cat Lady looked back. Their eyes were locked, there was a battle of wills for one second, then apparently the Cat Lady won because Pumpkin sat on his rear like an obedient dog.

  ‘Good boy,’ said the Cat Lady, scratching the little dog behind the ear.

  Joe thought the tension from moments before had been broken, but when the Cat Lady looked up she still had a steely glint in her eye. ‘Why are you all still here?’ she asked. ‘I told you to leave.’