at the silliest, smallest things.
And if the feather was there, snug and lovely inside her jewellery box, it would help keep her strong. Surely it would help?
The front door opened again. The smell of floor wax and bathroom bleach spread over the dead lawn. Out came her parents, along with Mr and Mrs Jacobs carrying their final boxes. Behind them was Delwyn, clutching his skateboard.
Lindi opened up her hand. ‘Look, Mom. Look, Dad. Look what I found. Isn’t it lovely?’
Dad put his hand beneath hers and lifted it for a closer look. ‘This is pretty, Lindi,’ he said. ‘Do you know this bird, Mr Jacobs?’ Dad called across to the man whose job he was taking over.
But Mr Jacobs didn’t answer. He seemed to be too busy laughing to do more than shake his head.
‘Oh dear, oh dear,’ giggled his house-proud wife. She was shaking her head too.
What was their problem?
Finally it was Delwyn who cleared up the mystery. He put down his skateboard and ran across to the car yelling. ‘Hey, that’s no bird feather! You guys wait a minute! I’ll show you exactly where it comes from.’
He popped the boot open and disappeared for a few minutes while he rummaged among his family’s belongings. Then he re-appeared, laughing the way only a thirteen-year-old boy could laugh. In his hand, he brandished a large multi-coloured feather-duster.
‘There you go! That’s where your famous feather comes from!’
Lindi stared in dismay at the feather duster with its rainbow of variously dyed feathers: all chicken feathers probably! Mock shocking pink ones layered between garish pretend-yellow and unnaturally sharp, shrieking green. And right at the top, crowning it all: shiny, iridescent fake-turquoise.
She let the feather fall from her hand.
‘So much for that,’ she thought. ‘So much for my symbol. So much for trying to soar above this ugliness!’ She felt despair rising up in her chest now, as dry and rough and splintered as the grass.
The Jacobs family climbed into their car, shouting final goodbyes. As they sped off, the car tyres threw up clouds of choking orange dust.
And then Lindi noticed something: Mom and Dad were standing side by side, with their arms around each other. And they were laughing still about the silly feather that had tricked Dad as much as it had tricked Lindi.
Lindi noticed something else too: the stress and the worry had disappeared from her dad’s eyes. Now his eyes seemed full of hope. And the smile on her mom’s face was definitely not a fake one.
Dad put his free arm around Lindi and drew her close. ‘So, my girlie? Are you ready for your new life? Do you think maybe you can be happy here?’
Lindi nodded slowly.
‘Maybe, Dad. I’ll try my best,’ she said as their removal truck rumbled up the dusty road and came to the end of its long journey. With a final shudder, it stopped outside their new home.
brandish – wave something in the air triumphantly
| Post-reading | ||
| 4. | Was life in KwaZulu-Natal as perfect as Lindi remembers it to be? Explain what had happened to the family over the past year and what she hated most about it. | |
| 5. | Lindi stands outside their new house, surrounded by dusty, brown grass and scrubby trees with vicious thorns poking through their dead leaves. | |
| a) | In what ways does this description of their environment help you feel her misery? | |
| b) | When she sees a wonderful turquoise feather in the midst of the ugliness, she imagines a beautiful bird. Explain how she uses the “bird” as a symbol of her own problems and perhaps the solution to them too. | |
| c) | Her beautiful idea is destroyed when Delwyn has everyone else laughing in a friendly way at where the feather really comes from and at how she and her father have been tricked. Quote words and phrases from the story to show how she feels at this point. | |
| 6. | But that is not the end of the story. Despite her disappointment over the feather, Lindi’s attitude changes, perhaps even to her own surprise. | |
| a) | What does she notice about her parents? | |
| b) | When you think of what has happened to her over the past year, why does what has happened to her parents make such a difference to her? | |
| c) | Do you think that she will settle down and find ways of enjoying life where she is now? Why? | |
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