“
I shut my eyes and let myself drift back to Australia, the warm sun, the tropical nights, and the huge fruit bats flying across star-studded skies.
Once again, the jangle of the phone jolted me upright. Not again! Now what did she want? Reluctantly I picked up the receiver.
“G’day, mate,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “It’s Stevo calling from Australia. How you going?”
Well, for starters, I was going without breathing for a few moments. “Good,” I stammered. Luckily, I didn’t have to talk, because Steve started right in on what was going on with the zoo.
“The weather is heating up and the crocs will be laying soon,” he said, and I could barely hear him over the pounding of my heart.
“I’ve got a chance to take a little time before summer hits,” he added.
I waited for what seemed like a long beat, still breathless.
“I’m coming to Oregon in ten days,” he said. “I’d really love to see you.”
Yes! I was floored. Ten days. That would be…Thanksgiving.
“Steve,” I said, “do you know about the American holiday of Thanksgiving?”
“Too right,” he said cheerfully, but it was obvious that he didn’t.
“We all get together as a family,” I explained. “We eat our brains out and take walks and watch a lot of football--American football, you know, gridiron, not your rugby league football.”
I was babbling. “Do you want to come and share Thanksgiving with my family?”
Steve didn’t seem to notice my fumbling tongue. “I’d be happy to,” he answered. “That’d be brilliant.”
“Great,” I said.
“Great,” he said.
“Send me all the details, your flight and everything,” I said.
“I will,” he promised. Then he hung up. As suddenly as he was there, he was gone.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a long time that night, trying to convince myself that it hadn’t been a dream. Steve had called, and now he was coming to see me.
This was going to be fabulous.
”
”