Chapter 14: The Day After the Very Important Announcement

 The day after the Very Important Announcement, Dovic sat with Hibiscus while she zoomed with her class and read them more of his adventures. They recognised themselves in the story and smiled and laughed. A couple of them grabbed their teddy bears as they listened, some invited their little brother and sister in to listen and two or three students patted their own pets as they listened on the zoom session. All too quickly, reading time was over and it was back to learning. Dovic loved Maths the best, but he also loved Science and he learned that everything is Matter and can be divided into either a liquid, a solid or a gas. He was so glad he had been chosen to be part of the Hibiscus clan and be a part of the class of 2020.

Meanwhile, Gazza was not faring quite so well. Dovic had gone off to school and as all of Gazza’s other friends were in different parts of the house due to the restrictions, he couldn’t play with them either. Milly and Hibiscus’ husband had gone for a walk and left Gazza behind. He wandered into the loungeroom and noticed that Hibiscus had thoughtfully left the Lego out for Gazza to play with. He picked up a piece, turned it over and put it back down again. He shuffled the pieces of Lego with his trunk and picked up a red piece of Lego before he put it down again. “Oh boy, oh boy” he muttered, “This is no fun, no fun at all.” He picked up 2 green bricks and put them together and added another brick and then another. He shuffled through the pieces again and then gave up. He could not think of anything to make and decided he did not want to think of anything.

He picked up a Little Treehouse book to read but his trunk kept getting in the way and he couldn’t see past it to figure out what the squirly, black marks meant. He wandered over and picked up Dovic’s gratefulness journal, put it down again, and went and watched Dovic and Hibiscus talking to the class. “Oh boy, oh boy,” he sighed loudly, but they were busy with the class and didn’t pay any attention to him. He slipped out the back door and saw the tug-of-war ball that Milly had left behind. He looked at the box he had climbed into when they played Hide and Seek and he thought about climbing the wagon wheel. “Oh boy, oh boy. I’m bored” and he went back inside, sat on the couch and fell asleep.

“Wake up Gazza! Wake up!! We’re going for a walk.” Dovic shook him and he sat up groggily. “Wha..? Oh boy.. what, where, walk? Oh boy, oh boy.” Dovic pulled him forward and they caught up with Hibiscus who was getting her backpack ready to go. It was a warm day but it was also very windy and Dovic suddenly remembered the stories he’d been hearing on the news about trees falling, strong winds, no power and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go walking after all. Hibiscus picked them up and got them ready. As they stepped outside she exclaimed, “Wow, it’s windy out here!” and her husband agreed.

As they walked, Dovic looked from side to side furtively and cried out, “What was that?” and complained, “The wind is so loud!” until Gazza turned to him and said, “Oh boy, oh boy. Come on Dovic. We’re safe! Let’s enjoy the walk.” Dovic looked chagrined and to cheer him up, Gazza pointed out the pretty flowers growing, now that it was Spring. The walk was mostly uneventful although sometimes when the wind blew, they would be pushed back. The trees creaked, bending towards the ground and the path was littered with leaves and branches.  A few smaller trees had been uprooted and were lying down across the path. Dovic tried not to look and tried not to feel so scared but he wasn’t fooling Gazza who had also gone quiet.

They walked past a playground with a slide, climbing ropes and a swing and Dovic gazed wistfully at it, wishing he and Gazza could go and play on them right now. It seemed so sad that children were not allowed to play there. Hibiscus handed Dovic and Gazza to her husband as she wanted to take photos of springtime plants and trees. Suddenly, it got dark and the wind blew loud. Dovic trembled a little and Gazza whispered, “Oh boy, oh boy.” They began walking over a fallen tree, weaving their way through the branches and Dovic admitted he was scared. They were both glad when they arrived home safely.

As she said goodnight to Dovic and Gazza, Hibiscus smiled, “Hey Gazza, I know it was hard being on your own today so tomorrow, you can come to school with Dovic and I.” “Oh boy, oh boy!” replied Gazza joyfully, “I can’t wait! Yipee!”