‘I’ve never been to one of these before,’ I mused, craning my neck up to see the Ferris wheel.
‘An abandoned field in the middle of nowhere?’ Jeanie raised an eyebrow at me.
‘A fair!’ I giggled, poking her in the ribs. ‘It’s my first time.’
‘They all look the same after a while,’ Nadia shrugged.
‘The group spoilsport, right on cue,’ Jeanie laughed. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’
‘I went with my sister to visit a disability service provider near Adelaide last week,’ Nadia mumbled in her monotone. ‘That was pretty fun.’
‘Why did you go there?’ I asked, surprised. My interest quickly vanished as soon as I saw somebody going past with cotton candy, but Nadia didn’t seem to notice.
‘My niece needs help, apparently.’
‘Is she alright?’ Jeanie asked, concern in her voice. Not for the first time, I noticed how much mothering she’d been doing lately.
‘Oh yeah, she’s fine,’ Nadia shrugged again. ‘They just need to enrol her in some sort of positive behaviour support program. Adelaide has quite a few that they found.’
‘Positive behaviour support?’ I frowned. ‘What does that even mean?’
This time she lost my attention to a rollercoaster full of screaming teenagers.
‘She’s just challenging, I guess,’ Nadia barely elaborated. ‘I just went along for moral support.’
‘How did she go?’ Jeanie asked.
‘Really well actually,’ Nadia said, slightly more animated than usual.
Slightly.
‘That’s so good to her,’ Jeanie smiled at her. ‘I always liked your sister, she was nice to us when we started high school.’
‘Didn’t she shove you in a locker?’ I asked.
‘Oh yeah,’ Jeanie frowned. ‘Who am I thinking of?’
‘One of the nice Year 12’s,’ Nadia rolled her eyes. ‘The rarest species of them all.’
‘Hey, we were nice!’ I protested.
‘I’m not sure we were,’ Jeanine said, still frowning. ‘Although I did help that one kid find his bike.’