Free Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Storms by Marion Roberts

spin) whenthe front door opened and Mum appeared on the porch, seeing one of her clients out.
    ‘Oh, Sunday, you’re home,’ Mum said. ‘You look just like a whirling dervish.’ And both she and the client had a little giggle at my expense.
    I gave Mum
the eyebrow
. Nothing brings the Washing Machine to a clunking halt quite like discovering your mum and some possibly lactose-intolerant client are looking on. Even Willow looked embarrassed and pretended she had suddenly found something fascinating to sniff in the garden.
    Afterwards in the kitchen, Mum handed me a letter while I was gulping down a glass of water. ‘Lovely envelope,’ she said.
    It was from Finn. I could tell by the Steiner rainbow on the back.
    ‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ she asked. ‘Might be an invitation.’
    ‘I’ll check it out later,’ I said, remembering my lesson in nonchalance from Reverse Psychology. Let’s face it, the last person you want to have around when opening a letter from an official pre-crush, maybe actual crush, is your mum. I put the letter in the back pocket of my jeans.
    ‘How’s it going with Steph and the baby?’ Mum asked.
    ‘Flora is sooo cute,’ I said. ‘But Steph’s a bit weirded out.’
    ‘Well I hope you’re being helpful when you’re around there,’ she said. ‘And not leaving all your things all over the house.’
    ‘Oh don’t worry, Mum,’ I said. I couldn’t wait any longer to open Finn’s letter. ‘I’m a
big
help,’ I called over my shoulder as I ran upstairs to the turret.
    ‘Sunny, come back here!’ shouted Mum. ‘I need you to run an errand for me.’
    ‘I’ll be down in a minute!’ I yelled back, knowing I only had a small window before the precookeds got home. I closed the turret door behind me, took the envelope out of my pocket, carefully unstuck the pointy part and unfolded the letter. Finn had drawn colours over the whole page and then written really neatly over the top. So I was super-impressed, even before I’d read what he had to say:
    Dear Sunny Hathaway,
    See, I told you I’d write.
    I was hoping you could help me with my homing pigeon training. You see, it’s time for their first expedition, and if they find their way home I plan to bring back the pigeon post. If it works, I’m going to call it Pmail. Maybe I could bring them over to your place and set them free? Any day is fine. You can write back and tell me when is good
    Your new friend,
    Finn Fletcher Lomax (NFFFL)
    Weird!
I thought to myself. But kind of cool. Could he be serious about the pigeon post though?
    ‘Sunday!’ Mum called from downstairs. I put the letter in my bedside drawer and went back down to the kitchen. Mum was looking through a Thai recipe book, which I must say worried me slightly. Last time Mum made a Thai curry she used so much chilli that even Carl couldn’t stomach it. It was around the time when Mum was still acting all girly and Carl was still doing a lot of fake enthusiasm about her cooking.
    ‘I’d like you to run an errand for Settimio. He needs a few things at the chemist.’
    ‘Do I get paid?’ I asked, looking over her shoulder. ‘And why do I have to do it? What about Lyall and Saskia?’
    ‘They can do it next time. Besides, they’re not home yet.’
    ‘So, do I?’ I repeated.
    ‘Do you what?’ asked Mum.
    ‘Get paid?’
    ‘No, Sunny. It’s called
helping,
and maybe one day, when you’re an old lady, and unfortunate enough to have a broken leg and a broken nose, there might be people around to help you too.’
    ‘What’s for dinner?’ I asked.
    ‘Thai fish cakes,’ Mum said, and she gave me a fifty-dollar note and a list of things to pick up for Settimio. ‘And no junk food, Sunny.’

    I took a deep breath as I approached Settimio’s door. Surely he wouldn’t close it in my face when he knew I had a parcel for him. I could hear him clunking about and there was a warm waft of garlic in the air and the sound of a radio. I knocked gently on the