Hello,
We like this game, please play with us. The engine is great. This is fun. What is your name? From Mia.
Looking for a convenient, dry place to leave the note they considered the entrance lamp behind the wall and along the path. The lamp turned out to be full of cobwebs, and there didn’t seem to be another spot for the note, so Mia and her mother decided the note was safest tucked between the rocks of the rubble engine.
The next day Rex was still missing.
‘Still think Rex went to the vet, Mum?’
‘Maybe not,’ Mum sighed, ‘maybe someone else fed him today?’
‘But he’s always here. Can you remember a single day he wasn’t?’
‘I’m sure he’s not far, darling,’ Mum reasoned. She tried to ignore the strange feeling that Mia was right, Rex should be here.
Mia looked in the bushes and up the trees. She peered down the side of the apartment hoping Rex would appear.
‘He’ll be back, darling, maybe he’s at home in the warm. Why don’t you build something else?’
Mia shrugged her shoulders, ‘Will you help me?’
‘Of course,’ Mum agreed.
Mrs Glasson helped pull the train apart then watched Mia fiddle with the scraps trying to decide what to build. Once Mia knew what to do, Mrs Glasson passed pieces of brick and rubble in the order Mia asked. When the structure wobbled, she offered her hands for support. She smiled to see Mia bite her lip in concentration the way she did, and was happy that, for the moment, Mia had forgotten Rex.
Days later there was still no sign of the cat. Mia and her mum searched Meeks Mountain and the laneways and side streets that ran off it. On the weekend they asked at the café across the road if anyone had seen a big white cat with black and reddish markings.
‘I haven’t,’ said the man behind the coffee machine, ‘and I’m here most mornings to open up. Why don’t you ask my sister while I serve this man, she closes the shop. Oi, Christi.’
Christi was clearing a table and looked up, ‘What, Roma?’
‘This young lady has something to ask,’ Roma said turning to take an order.
Mia showed the pretty lady Mum’s phone, ‘We’re looking for this cat. Have you seen him?’
Christi studied the photo, ‘He’s a beauty, big too. I’d know him if I saw him. Sorry, haven’t seen a cat like him round here. We’ll be sure to keep an eye out. Why don’t you put up missing cat posters?’
‘Been doing that,’ Mrs Glasson said, handing her a brochure.
‘Good. Can I keep this one?’
‘Please,’ Mrs Glasson said.
A rush of people came in. ‘We’ll call you if anything,’ Christi said.
‘Thank you,’ Mia called as she followed her mum out to post the missing cat notice on poles and trees in their neighbourhood.
By Monday morning there was still no sign of Rex and there had been no phone calls in response to the missing cat ad either. There was however a reply on Builders Wall. Mia pulled the folded sheet of paper out of the rocks, toppling the space ship. On it were two lines written in large scrawling hand:
Dear Mia,
My name is Joseph. I like to build models.
Mia was amazed, ‘Who do you think he is, Mum?’
With a twinkle in her eye Mrs Glasson shook her head. ‘I don’t know, love.’
‘He couldn’t be an adult though, could he?’ Before her mum could answer Mia pointed out the writing. ‘See, the handwriting is too big, look. And only kids build models.’
‘Is that so?’ smiled Mrs Glasson.‘It’s not really a game for adults is it?’
Mia talked about Joseph all the way home that day. Mum had been excited too and couldn’t stop thinking about it. She was glad the note had been on Mia’s mind as it had been on hers too.
The next day Mia raced up Meeks Mountain, to see what new creation had been left for her. Her mum had a hard time keeping up but was grateful she no longer needed to coax her daughter up the mountainside. She reassembled the rubble into something different, a boat. The next time a table, something, and anything that would match Joseph’s clever creations. The weeks flew by, the posters of Rex began to fade and Mia soon abandoned her search for the cat who started the game. All at once it was the end of first term at school.
Mia wrote a note to Joseph:
Happy Easter, Joseph.
I can’t come for a couple of weeks. I’m going to visit my Nanny and Grandad.
From Mia
She tucked the note in the rock basket she had made along with a card, three chocolate eggs and a photo of the eggshell she had decorated for her school competition. I won first place! she had written on the back.
‘Do you think he’ll like the card and chocolate, Mum?’
‘The card is thoughtful and kind, Mia, and almost everyone loves chocolate,’ Mum reasoned.
During the fun and excitement of the school holidays the game Mia played with Joseph was almost forgotten. Mia and her mum traveled up the coast to stay with Mum’s parents. Long days were spent at the beach and evenings curled up on the sofa watching movies. On days they stayed home Mum helped tend the gardens with Grandad while Mia helped Nanny in the kitchen. The slow pace of coast life was a good break but by the end of two weeks Mia was itching to get back to her new life. On the first day of term two, Mia raced up Meeks Mountain to find Joseph had created a square tower, and inside he’d placed a gift, a toy, a pocket pet. It was a tiny yellow cat with big eyes and a large head that wobbled back and forth. There was also a note:
Hello Mia,
I saw this when I went to get some bread, do you like it? How were your holidays? Joseph
Up went Mia’s eyebrow, ‘Joseph went to buy bread? How can a kid just go buy bread?’
‘Maybe his mum asked him to?’
Mia frowned, not in the least convinced. She felt cheated, as though she had been tricked. ‘Was it you all along?’ she asked her mum. ‘Are you Joseph?’
‘Of course not, darling,’ Mum promised.
Mia was worried – the friend she thought she had was not who she thought he was. Mrs Glasson, seeing the change in her daughter, suggested Joseph’s mother had bought it with him. Though Mia didn’t one hundred percent feel it was the case, she was satisfied with this explanation and the game continued like before. Winter school holidays approached and Mia decorated her models with paper snowflakes for Christmas in July. Joseph joined in and adorned a model of a Christmas tree with tinsel. In the last week of semester one, Mia wrote to Joseph to say they would have to start again next semester:
Hi Joseph,
Guess what, Dad surprised me and Mum with tickets to Singapore! We leave tomorrow. Merry Christmas in July!
From Mia
p.s. Mum says we should meet when we get back.
On the first day of term three Mia pulled on a dress and stared at her reflection, her uniform was already at her knees. She scribbled a quick note for Joseph:
Hello Joseph,
Are you still there? I had a great holiday in Singapore! I missed our games.
Mum