When Storm Clouds Hover

18: Izzy - Summer rules

It was the last week of school before the Christmas holidays. The girls were hanging out with Dom in the common room in a free period.

'Great!' Em said, staring at her screen morosely.

Dom lifted his head from her lap.

'It's official. Our tickets are booked!'

Em had been anxious about the holidays for weeks now. Her parents wanted to take the family to Japan for Christmas, but she'd begged them to stay in Sydney.

'I don't know what you're so bleak about,' said Dom. 'I've always wanted to go to Japan. It's a dream holiday. You don't even know how lucky you are.'

Izzy looked up from where she was reading her book, crossed-legged on the study room floor. That was maybe the third time Dom had uttered such a sacrilege. She'd better intervene before there was blood on the floor.

'How long are you gone for?' Izzy asked Em.

'A month,' Em said. 'Four whole painful weeks spent with my parents in a foreign land.'

'At least you'll have a white Christmas,' said Izzy, trying to be positive. 'That'll be fun. Christmas is heaps cooler when it's cold.'

'No pun intended,' quipped Dom.

Izzy threw Em a sympathetic look.

'Yep,' Em said miserably. 'Maybe it'll snow. Heaps to look forward to.'

'Are you going to Tokyo?' asked Dom cheerily.

'We fly into Tokyo,' Em responded. 'We'll stay there for a couple of days, but then we're going to see an evacuated town near where they had the Fukushima nuclear disaster.'

'Is it safe to go there now?' asked Izzy. She'd read about what happened in Japan, and it seemed like there was still a lot of radiation around the area where the plant exploded.

'I guess so. It's my dad's idea,' said Em. 'He's taken to giving us "experiences" in place of Christmas presents lately. He's bought a radiation detector, so we can know if we're breathing clean air.'

'That's cool,' said Dom.

'Yeah, super cool,' said Em, 'Merry Christmas, family, have a dose of radiation. Only 2.44 degrees on the Richter scale!'

Dom laughed. 'The Richter scale is for earthquakes.'

'Pfftt!' Em huffed. 'If I had one wish, I'd make you a dumb ass so you can't know stuff like that.'

Izzy chuckled. 'You'd be wasting your one wish on a done deal.'

'Touche!' Dom said glancing at Izzy. 'I wonder if anyone lives there though?' he said. 'Wouldn't it be weird to be in a completely deserted town? Weird in a good way.'

Izzy didn't think it was wise to dwell on the subject of Japan. She knew that Em feeling blue about the holiday had more to do with the fact she would be leaving Dom behind than anything else.

'We'll miss you, Em...' Izzy said.

Dom sat up: 'Maybe you can bring me back a robot? One that can service all my needs?'

'They have blow-up dolls for that,' said Izzy.

Dom grinned.

Em looked over at Izzy. 'I'm gonna miss you too!' Her face crumpled in mock despair. 'You guys are going to have so much fun without me. I can't believe it; we're flying out the day after tomorrow. I can't even come out with you in Sydney before I go.'

The girls had planned for Em and Izzy's friend, Kath, to stay over at Izzy's place on Friday. However, it looked like that plan was out the window now. Izzy was disappointed. She wasn't going anywhere for the holidays because of her Mum's chemo, so she'd planned to make the most of Sydney with her friends instead.