(New Year’s Eve 2015)
There was no big party this year. No balloons and no ice-cream bar and no dancing, at least none she was allowed to go to. Kirra put on a pretty dress anyway, but it was only for her family. They were spending New Year’s Eve with Auntie Tan and Gigi, just in their house, but at least she was going to be allowed to stay up all the way to midnight this time. She’d missed it last year, because of the scary ladies, with their funny clothes and ribbons and glow stickers, and having to evacuate the party and everything. It had been so scary but kind of exciting. She still wondered what had happened to the nice scary lady after she’d left her and Briar. Kirra hoped she’d found her friend.
They’d already finished dinner, and her parents and aunt were watching the pre-countdown on TV. Kirra thought it was boring. Her mum said there would be fireworks, but not for hours and hours. In Australia, she wouldn’t have had to wait for the fireworks. In Australia it was already yesterday, and the New Year and everything. All her old friends were already a whole year ahead of her. But her grandparents had sent them a big box with Timtams and Caramello Koalas, and her mum let her eat like four of them already, so even if she was homesick, at least she was also chocolate-sick, totally full to bursting, so it wasn’t all bad.
When her cousin offered to get out some card games to play with her, she bounced in her chair and quickly slid down to sit cross-legged on the floor in readiness. Even though her cousin was old, she had a lot of games. It turned out Gigi had Pokemon. It turned out she had a *lot* of Pokemon.
“Did you catch them all?” she asked in wonder, pulling a handful from their box and flipping through. Pikachu, Pikachu, Wartortle, Cyndaquil… Her cousin had *card protectors*. Kirra was offended. She wasn’t going to bend them. She was nine years old now. She knew how to play this game – or, at least she’d played it on computer. She accepted the deck she was handed, shuffling slowly and carefully – the protectors made the cards too large in her hands. She dropped a few, so of course she had to turn them over to see what they were and if they were pretty.
Gigi laid out her own cards neatly in their places, and started explaining the rules. Kirra nodded along, but it wasn’t really the same as on DS. And it was kind of complicated. And it was late, and she was tired waiting for the promised fireworks, and feeling silly and giggly. She looked down at the card Gigi had played, and frowned at her own hand. She didn’t want to play by the real rules, she decided, she just wanted to look at all the cards. Gigi had enough doubles to play Memory or Go Fish – “got any Magikarp?” “Go fi- wait, actually my whole hand is Magikarps!”
“Rock beats scissors,” she said, slapping her Geodude card down right on top of Gigi’s.
“Scyther is not scissors!” her cousin complained. “And Rock does not beat Grass.”
“Rock squashes Grass,” Kirra pointed out, unperturbed. “Look, he rolls right over it! It’s Super-Effective! Anyway, who says scissors isn’t a Pokemon type? Why is flying a type and scissors isn’t?”
“It has to be an element. Fire, water-”
“Bug,” said Kirra.
Gigi sighed and put down her cards. For a moment Kirra thought she was going to be mad, but then she said “wanna see the Fairy-type cards?”
Of course Kirra did. Cute was the best Pokemon element anyway. They played Pokemon-Type Snap until the countdown started.
(629 words)
