Free Stay Well Soon by Penny Tangey

umbrella to symbolise Mary Poppins. After I’ve finished shading it I have to sharpen the black pencil again. The black pencil is going to be used up ages before all the other pencils.
    Morgan’s dad comes in to tell us that lunch is ready.
    â€˜That is great work, girls!’ he says, looking at our poster. ‘Your presentation is going to rock!’
    On the way to the kitchen we go through the lounge room. The room is basically a building site with bits of wood everywhere and a ladder. Morgan tells me it is slow progress on the renovations and her mum is getting sick of it.
    There are cheese and tomato rolls for lunch. Morgan’s dad cuts us up some pear and we eat that too. Morgan and I talk about how fruit tastes better cut up, except for plums.
    After lunch, Morgan suggests we dress up as suffragettes to help us understand what it was like.
    We go into Morgan’s parents’ room. It is a very big room with no furniture except for a bed, which has no legs. It is very tidy and empty. There are no clothes on the floor or anything.
    One wall of the room has mirrors from the floor to the ceiling. Morgan slides across one of the mirrors and behind it there is a long row of dresses, skirts and coats hanging up.
    â€˜Are you sure your mum won’t mind?’ I ask.
    â€˜No. She thinks it’s funny when I try on her clothes.’
    We both put on long dresses and cardigans, like in the olden days. We go back to Morgan’s room and make signs by sticking pieces of paper onto rulers. Morgan’s says, ‘ equal rights for women ’ and mine says, ‘ votes for women’ .
    â€˜We should do a protest now,’ says Morgan.
    â€˜Okay,’ I say.
    We march out into the lounge room. Morgan shouts, ‘What do we want?’
    She looks at me, but I don’t know what to say.
    Morgan explains, ‘I say, “What do we want?” and you say, “Votes for women”.’
    â€˜How do you know that?’
    â€˜Dad took me to a protest for the refugees once. That’s how you do it.’ She tries again. ‘What do we want?’
    â€˜Votes for women!’
    â€˜When do we want it?’
    Morgan mouths, ‘Now’, at me.
    â€˜Now!’
    â€˜What do we want?’
    â€˜Votes for women.’
    â€˜When do we want it?’
    â€˜Now!’
    Morgan’s dog Tasha starts barking as a car pulls into the driveway. Tasha is small, black and yappy. If Angel ever met Tasha she would try to eat her.
    â€˜It’s Mum!’ says Morgan.
    Morgan’s mum has long black hair like Morgan. She’s wearing a skirt and stripy red and white socks that go all the way up to her knees. I have seen them for sale at the Captains Hill market.
    We do the protest for Morgan’s mum and dad and they both say it is really good.
    Then Morgan and I go on the internet and find a video of Emily Davison being trampled by a horse at the Epsom Derby. She did it to protest for women’s rights; it wasn’t the horse’s fault.
    Morgan goes funny and starts staring at the wall. She says she’s just realised how Indigo and Jade died. They were trampled by a spirited thoroughbred. It wasn’t the horse’s fault, he was just sad because his mother died when he was a colt. We go outside and hold our bracelets up to the light to remember Indigo and Jade.
    Mum lets me stay home on my own on Sunday. She has bent the rules just for today because there is so much washing to do because we are never home. We are all running out of clean socks.
    This is the first time I have ever been allowed to stay home by myself. I can watch whatever I want on television.
    The house is very quiet. The only sound is the washing machine.
    I turn on the television.
    The washing machine beeps, which means it is finished. I turn off the television and go into the laundry. I put the wet washing in a basket and put in another load. I lean against the machine until the water