I swiveled around from my desk and put down the book I was reading for school. I still felt heavy and tired after today, the same as Luca looked, but for a little while at least, the story was taking my mind off everything.

It was Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park and I liked it a lot. It was about this girl who lives in Sydney and time-travels back to the olden days, before the Harbour Bridge was even built. The girl was so far from home yet she was still right there, even though nothing looked the same and everything was changed. I thought I knew how she felt, having her world turned upside down and inside out like that. And I was thinking of asking Mr. Khouri if I could show a map of the two Sydneys that Abigail sees, from long ago and during her time, as part of my report instead of doing another boring plot summary.

Luca sighed as he turned himself right side up and arranged my pillows behind his back. “I’ve been very lucky to have your pop around all these years, Freddo. I didn’t realize how much until today.” He gave me a weary smile. “Your taking Sam to see Anika was a really big help, though. Have I thanked you for that already?”

I rolled my eyes but smiled anyway. “About a million times.”

“Well, I mean it. You think you’ll be okay to keep taking him, even over the holidays?”

I nodded, and then spun a full circle in the swivel chair. When I came back to face Luca I said, “She’s sharing a room with one of the refugees. A woman from the safe haven.”

“Ah, I wondered if she’d mention that.”

“I didn’t think about it,” I said. Luca raised a questioning eyebrow and I explained. “That people would still have babies and things, even when there’s a war on. I didn’t think any of the refugees would be in the hospital because of that.”

Luca nodded. “The world doesn’t really stop just because there’s tragedy happening in one part of it.”

“Do you know who she is?” Luca shook his head, so I said, “She was crying when we went there today, and Anika said she was last night too.”

“Anika told me the same thing.”

I sighed. “I wonder if she’s all alone, or if it’s just her and the baby. . . .”

Then Luca was pushing himself off my bed and running his hands over his face, like he could wipe the tiredness away. He came over to me and bent down to kiss my forehead. When he straightened, he said, “You and Anika have a lot in common, you know that?”

“How?”

“She wondered the same thing and asked me to see what I could find out.”

“Did you?”