Taking the Chequered Flag Read Free Page B

Can’t I come and visit you when I want to?’
    E.D. blushed. ‘Sorry, Gab. But I don’t think you ever have before; without the others, I mean.’
    ‘Emilio!’ said a sing-song voice from behind them. ‘Don’t keep Gabby out there in the dirty shed! She’ll get filthy!’
    E.D. smiled. ‘It’s okay, Mum. Gabby doesn’t mind.’
    Mrs De Lugio came bearing down on Gabby and gave her a hug. ‘I haven’t seen you for so long! Are you coming to see my clever Emilio at his work? He is brilliant, a brilliant mechanic.’
    ‘Mum…’
    ‘I know he’s clever, Mrs D. We’ve been watching him with his motorbike.’
    ‘Motorbikes, cars, lawn mowers; he can do anything! He is brillante .’
    ‘Mum’s favourite!’ Mario stepped up behind his mother. He was grinning. ‘We always knew it, didn’t we, Tony?’
    Tony emerged from the shadows. He laughed at his mother who was shaking her finger at Mario. ‘Mario,’ she sighed, ‘always teasing. You know my boys are all my favourites.’
    Gabby couldn’t help smiling. Mrs De Lugio was a slim woman with lustrous dark hair that fell around her shoulders. She looked tiny standing amongst her three sons, even more so when Mario and Tony draped their arms around her. The boys were tall and strong, and looked very much the same. But Tony is the gorgeous one, Gabby thought.
    ‘So did you fix it?’ Mario said to E.D.
    ‘Yeah, I took that plug off the old Yamaha…’
    Mrs D turned to Gabby again. ‘You don’t want to stand here in this shed for boys. You come and have a cup of tea with me.’
    ‘Thanks, Mrs D, but I have to go home. I just came to ask E.D.—I mean, Emilio—if he wanted to go to a party with me on Saturday.’ Gabby looked at E.D. ‘A friend of Mum and Dad’s is celebrating his fiftieth birthday. I thought you might like to go. It’s not far from here.’
    ‘A party? Saturday night? With you?’
    Gabby frowned. ‘Is that a problem?’
    ‘Ah.’ E.D. wiped a grubby hand across his face. ‘No. Yes. I mean, I don’t mind going with you. But a grown-ups’ birthday party? I don’t know. Can I think about it?’
    Mario leaned forward and whacked E.D. on the shoulder. ‘Think about it? How could you turn down a date with a beautiful girl like Gabby?’
    There was an awkward silence as E.D. glared at his brother.
    ‘Come on, Gabriella. Tea.’ Mrs D was scowling at all of them.
    ‘Thanks, Mrs D. But I’ve really got to go. I’ll catch you tomorrow, Emilio.’ Gabby quickly hurried out of the garage, but was still close enough to hear Mrs D berating E.D. in loud Italian and his brothers joining in with hoots and laughs.
    Gabby got on her pushbike and pedalled down the street. Her house was on the other side of town…and it was hot. I shouldn’t have bothered, she thought angrily. I should have known that he wouldn’t come with me. That’s the first and last time I ask him to anything.
    She came to the top of a hill and stopped pedalling to glide down. The wind cooled her face and she felt better. By the time she reached the bottom of the hill, she was even smiling, thinking of the way E.D.’s mum had been telling him off and the ribbing he was sure to get from his brothers. Whenever Gabby had been to E.D.’s, his brothers had usually been there, mucking around with cars or helping their father in his vegetable patch or just lazing around the kitchen while their mother baked. It was a warm and happy place. Gabby couldn’t help but compare it to her large, neat house containing just her and her parents. Her house was always quiet and if you stood at one end you wouldn’t hear a thing from the other. It was completely opposite to how E.D. lived. Gabby shook her head—part of her would have liked to have a brother or a sister; the rest of her liked being an only child.
    After another ten minutes, Gabby had cycled past the last lot of houses that constituted the town and reached the grassy paddocks that led to her house, and to Angus’. Angus