When Storm Clouds Hover

21: Izzy - Family time

Izzy loved the Christmas holidays. It was a time when all the family came together. Both Mia and her Dad, Michael, didn't have to work, and there was no pressure from her school to do any homework. Her mum was feeling and looking so much better. She'd started on a new treatment regime, which meant her hair was thicker, and she didn't get so nauseous. Some days Izzy almost forgot she had cancer.

'That looks good,' Izzy said to Mia. It was a beautiful evening and a soft light filtered through the tilted blinds into the lounge room where they were putting the tree up. She stood back to admire their work. The white lights twinkled, reflected in the vast glass baubles that her dad had brought back from Abu Dhabi one year.

Two red Santa boots bursting with presents hung from the mantle. 'Are we not perhaps a little old for Christmas stockings?' Izzy's Gran said, smiling. She was in Sydney from the UK to help look after their mum and was spending Christmas with them.

'Never!' Dana responded. 'My girls have been so good this year. There's no way Santa wouldn't pop by.'

'Any excuse to binge-buy at Smiggle,' said Mia. 'Mum loves that place.'

Their Mum laughed. Nothing filled her heart more than picking out pressies for her girls. Izzy and Mian both knew that the Christmas stocking was a chance for their Mum spoil them while still buying things they needed like underwear and stationery. Dana picked them out throughout the year and hid them in the bottom of her wardrobe. This was not a secret hiding spot. The girls had known about it for years, but now they were older, they didn't peek and ruin the surprise.

'Look at the time! Anyone for a cold one?' their Dad said suddenly. He always offered drinks loudly when he wanted something himself but made no move to get them. Izzy knew this to be her cue. As the youngest in the family, it was her role to serve the liquor of an evening. Whiskey soda for her mum, gin and tonic for gran, and brandy and ginger ale for her dad.

'I'll have a cider,' Mia announced. This was unusual. Though she was nineteen, Mia never usually drank at home. It was the end of the year, and she'd been through a stressful first year of Uni via correspondence while working a full-time job and wanted to let her hair down.

'Me too,' Izzy said daringly.

'Go on,' her Mum said, laughing. She always said she'd prefer the girls to drink at home with them, where they could get familiar with the effects of alcohol in a safe environment.

When Izzy returned to the living room with the tray of drinks, Gran started the first probing. 'Who exactly are these boys you say you're staying with over New Year?'

'I told you all already, they're just boys I know from school.'

Taking her glass from Izzy's outstretched hand, her Mum said: 'I've spoken to Mrs. Hunter, and she's on the same page about this as me. You girls are to stick to a twelve o'clock curfew, and she won't tolerate anyone breaking that. New Year being the one agreed exception.'

Izzy sat down, folding her knees beneath her on the carpet next to Atilla and tried to ignore the lecture.

'Okay, Iz?' Her mum prompted a response. 'Please, she seems like a very nice lady. I want you to be on your best behaviour. Don't embarrass us.'

'When have I ever embarrassed you?' Izzy said indignantly.

'Well, there was that time you vomited at the Bruckard's wedding,' her dad piped up from his seat on the far end of the lounge.

'Hey, that was Mia!' Izzy said, laughing. It wasn't very often their father spoke in these family gatherings but when he did, he came up with some real curlers. And this mistake was a bit out there, even for him. For one thing, it was nearly impossible to confuse the two of them, despite being sisters. They looked nothing alike. Mia was way shorter than Izzy, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Their dad just laughed at Izzy's objections. Izzy couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

'That's outrageous...' Izzy complained. I'm tarred with the same brush.'

'In any case,' their gran said, trying to steer the conversation back to the piece of information she wanted to know. 'Are you going around with any of these boys?'

Izzy and Mia looked at each other and burst into giggles. 'No, Gran. I'm not "going around" with these boys. We're friends. Dom, the guy I'm staying with, is Em's boyfriend.'

'Em?' Gran asked.

'Amelia. You know her, Gran. My best friend. She was here three weeks ago,' Izzy explained.

'Oh Em, yes. Will she be going up the coast too?'

'No, she's in Japan.'

'Well, why are you staying with her boyfriend then?'

'Oh my God!' Izzy said, rolling her eyes and laughing.

'You must admit. It does seem a bit sus,' piped up Mia.

Izzy gave her sister a death stare. 'There's nothing "sus" about it. 'Dom invited us, so Tal and I are going. That's all there is to it. There'll be no "going around," as you call it because Dom's not my boyfriend, he's Ems!'

Izzy's Mum leaned forward in her chair. She was starting to look a little tired. 'I'm less worried about the funny business than I am about Attila going with you,' she said. 'Darling, I am not sure that's a good idea. You'll be staying at someone else's home. It's very unusual to take a dog. You must see that.'

Atilla had snuck into Izzy's lap. She placed her hands over his ears as if to protect him from her mum's words. 'Mum, we've been over this. Attila needs a holiday and Mrs. Hunter is fine with it apparently. We'll have so much fun with him at the beach. You know how he loves the surf.'

Her mum sighed deeply. 'That's not what I'm worried about, darling. He's a right royal pain in the backside. I'm worried he's going to destroy something. The car, for instance. Imagine him all wet and filthy from the beach climbing into the back seat of your friend's car.'

Izzy stroked Atilla's ears. 'Mum, I told you already. Dom drives an old Ute. He told me it's always full of sand anyway, from his surfing. He wasn't worried at all about Attila coming along and nor was his mum.'

'I think you're just going to miss him, love,' their dad, said, smiling at his wife.' When it was necessary, he would always find his voice to stick up for his girls.

Izzy glanced at her dad and mouthed her thanks. She stood up from her place on the floor and lifted Atilla into her mum's lap. 'I promise, I will look after him,' she said to her Mum. 'It's only five days. He will be one hundred percent safe with us.'

Dana stretched to receive Attila, but she wasn't letting the issue go. 'I am anxious about him, Iz. You're still young, and I know you're responsible, but still, it's a concern.'

'Are you going back on your word?' Izzy sulked.

'No, I'm not. I'm just saying. You'll need to be super careful.'

'You know I will, Mum. I'm doing this for him, so he can have a good time. He's had a tough year. We all have. He deserves some fun.'

Dana didn't argue with that. Izzy suspected her mum thought she was right. The family had been through a lot, and they couldn't expect Atilla to sit around in bed all day. After all, he was a jack russell, who needed lots of exercise. It would be good for him to get away with Izzy and her friends and have an actual holiday. Izzy rose from her seat and squeezed her mum's shoulder.

'Love you mum' she said, as she plonked on the sofa next to Dana.