Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears: Keri Series, #3
    Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears: Keri Series, #3
    Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears: Keri Series, #3
    Ebook128 pages1 hour

    Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears: Keri Series, #3

    By Jenni Francis

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Jordan is deaf. He's been deaf all his life. It doesn't stop him doing anything he wants to do, and he's really good at doing a lot of things. It's just who he is.

    But Sando, his older brother, is very conflicted. It seems to Sando that everything revolves around Jordan.

    Keri and her friend Mereana are holidaying at the same beach town as Jordan and Sando. They make friends with the brothers and meeting Jordan is a revelation for the girls.

    There have been a spate of burglaries in the town, and Sando's bike is taken making him even more upset. One evening, they stumble upon suspicious activity. Over the next few days, as they are drawn deeper into danger, Sando is forced to revise his attitude towards his younger brother.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJenni Francis
    Release dateOct 25, 2015
    ISBN9780473324964
    Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears: Keri Series, #3
    Author

    Jenni Francis

    Jenni Francis lives in New Zealand. She lives on five acres, with an orchard, sheep and a river. She has a cat named Tui, who is very greedy, and who doesn't love children. Which is a shame, as she has twelve grandchildren.Jenni has been writing for about 20 years, and loves to write children's stories. She has six books of the 'Keri' series published so far, and is writing book seven. The main character, Keri, finds herself in difficult situations. Her friends don't always agree with what she does, but they are always there for her in the end.She also has a book of short stories for boys. Not girls.

    Read more from Jenni Francis

    Related to Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears

    Titles in the series (6)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    YA Action & Adventure For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Water Under The Bridge

      Nov 10, 2022

      The sound of water coursing over rocks filled my ears. The creek banks reached out with lush green vegetation as if to grab and hold me, and the warm June air was sweet with the smell of honeysuckle. The creek was small. Four good jumps and I could g

      26 min read

    • Article

      How to Buy a Used Car During a Wildfire

      Jan 14, 2019

      I do not laugh but the children do. “I hate these fucking places,” I think again, turning the radio back on. The post How to Buy a Used Car During a Wildfire appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Karina By The Lake

      Sep 16, 2019

      Karina By The Lake
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Man With No Name

      Oct 1, 2021

      The Man With No Name
      4 min read

    • Article

      Moving OUT

      Jul 27, 2022

      Moving OUT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Jul 1, 2019

      Ray spit in my hand. Motor oilleafed on still water and he spoke over mesaying I waver when I issue commands.He kicked the drowned cat to shower mewith its pocket of brown lake.Said I wasn’t worth the fuss I madeshowing the boys their loneliness in t

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Day At The Beach For Aphrodite

      Jul 1, 2023

      A Day At The Beach For Aphrodite
      14 min read

    • Article

      On Weller Pond

      Jun 27, 2019

      On Weller Pond
      6 min read

    • Article

      White Tears

      Mar 27, 2018

      White Tears
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Wigwam

      Sep 21, 2023

      The Wigwam
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Lilac House

      Sep 1, 2020

      The Lilac House
      6 min read

    • Article

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty

      Sep 8, 2021

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty
      7 min read

    • Article

      Strange Season

      Jun 4, 2020

      Strange Season
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble With Technology

      Nov 16, 2022

      I DON’T have, want or need Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok or LinkedIn. I will never think pumped toothpaste is progress. But there are times, such as this morning, when I’m driving along, listening to a William Boyd novel as a screen guides me

      2 min read

    • Article

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty

      Sep 8, 2021

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty
      7 min read

    • Article

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty

      Sep 8, 2021

      MUM IS MISSING Liane Moriarty
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tumblong Tavern

      Oct 20, 2023

      Tumblong Tavern
      8 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Whale Of A Tale

      May 20, 2019

      A Whale Of A Tale
      5 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      FotoQuick

      Mar 1, 2023

      FotoQuick
      12 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Say

      Oct 7, 2022

      I magine a sticky, early August morning, around three o’clock. It is dark, the moon blocked by clouds, no streetlights, a siren in the distance, medics running to a heart attack. Imagine a man out on a bike or walking a sick dog, or maybe a woman who

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Red KIMONO

      Jul 5, 2023

      The Red KIMONO
      6 min read

    • Article

      First Steps

      Sep 14, 2021

      First Steps
      6 min read

    • Article

      Second CHANCES

      Aug 24, 2022

      Second CHANCES
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dirtnap

      Dec 15, 2019

      I was staying at Jean’s apartment in LA for two months to escape an especially dire Oregon winter and to test how much weight our relationship could bear. We had been conducting a long-distance romance for nearly a year then, back-and-forth visits an

      24 min read

    • Article

      When The News Runs Out

      Jan 6, 2021

      TOWARDS the tail end of last year, I had two fairly Grinch-y telephone conversations. Both began with the usual topics: testing kits, old people, young people and the ramifications of these mixing. Then I ask the friend for her postcode, as I had res

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Amazing Ranchero Slide

      Aug 26, 2019

      The Amazing Ranchero Slide
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Danger Signs - Falling on Deaf Ears - Jenni Francis

      CHAPTER 1

      SANDO

      The door slammed shut behind him, shaking the house. Even Jordan could hear that, he thought with small satisfaction.

      Muttering, cursing, swearing, but not loud enough for Dad to hear, he heaved up his bike and flung himself over the bar. The rain sleeted onto his face. He squinted to see ahead along the road.

      At the corner shop he threw his bike to the ground, shook his jacket to get rid of the worst of the rainwater, and pushed into the shop. A sign at the door for the local paper said ‘Thieves Strike Again’.

      Can I have a packet of batteries like this please? Sando handed over an empty packet to the shopkeeper.

      Oh, so sorry, we don’t have that here. You go to the chemist for that.

      More cursing as he slammed out of the door. The rain was falling harder and his trainers were completely soaked. The chemist was another kilometre away and as it was Sunday, may not even be open.

      Bloody hell! Sando picked up his bike again and turned towards the town. No one was around, no cars on the road. Why? he raged. Why me? Why do I have to be responsible for damned hearing aid batteries. I’m not the deaf one! Stupid sign language, stupid speech therapy, stupid speak clearly, stupid, stupid, STUPID!!!

      By the time he reached the chemist he was completely soaked. And completely wild.

      The pharmacist was at the door, closing up.

      No wait, please! Sando yelled as he leapt off his bike.

      Sorry son, we’re all closed down.

      No! I’ve got to get these batteries. They’re for my brother’s hearing aid. He can’t hear a thing without them.

      Oh, young Jordan? Sure. The pharmacist unlocked the door. Wait there, he said. I have to unset the alarm, and anyway, I don’t want you tracking rainwater all over the floor.

      He pressed a few buttons on the key pad. A shrill sound emanated from it briefly.

      Okay, the pharmacist said as he bustled around the shop. Let me see, which one does he use? Good boy, your brother. Wish more kids were like him. Very well mannered and polite.

      Yeah, Sando muttered. This is the kind he uses. He held up the empty packet.

      Yes, that’s right. Now, how did he come to run out? That isn’t like him.

      Sando shuffled from foot to foot. Ah, someone used them in a computer game thingy.

      Oh! And that someone is now dripping all over my floor, right? That’s $13.00 thanks.

      Sando choked. That was going to leave him $2.00 until pay day, which was four days away. He handed over $15.00 and took the miserly $2.00 change.

      Here, the pharmacist said. I’ll put them in a zip lock bag so they don’t get wet.

      He shuffled around in a drawer, pulled out a crumpled bag and put the batteries inside. Zipping it closed, he passed it over to Sando.

      As Sando turned to go, the pharmacist said, Oi, how about saying ‘thanks’!

      Yeah, thanks. Sando stomped out the shop and dragged his bike off the footpath. He gunned his bike across the road. Knacker! Arbuckle! Pissant! he yelled at no one in particular. Flick-nicker! Shoebun! Toe-rag!

      He raced across the intersection in the middle of town, narrowly missing the back of the only car around. Water spray from the car’s back wheels replaced what he’d left on the floor of the shop. The fury grew.

      Recklessly, he turned his bike towards the wharf. Down the short road, past the Clubhouse, onto the wharf. Juddering along the uneven planks. Past the large bollards. He aimed at a space between the small bollards at the edge and sailed off the wharf into the sea.

      He and the bike landed separately. The tide was at its lowest. Sando lay back in the water, stunned. Then he started to laugh. He laughed and laughed until he was weak. Small waves washed seawater into his mouth and he choked. Then he felt around for his bike, dragged it out and flopped onto the grassy bank.

      A while later, as his emotions calmed, Sando stood and pushed his bike up the bank to the edge of the wharf.

      The rain was heavy and the wind had come up by the time Sando turned into his street. Along the road, past his house, a man was unloading the contents of a car onto the footpath as two children ran from the car to the house with bags and boxes. Sando slowed to bump over the curb and then noticed the two girls who ran shrieking from the house to the car to collect more luggage. They looked to be about his age.

      Stupid, screaming girls. That was all he needed.

      CHAPTER 2

      KERI

      It was raining heavily by the time we arrived at the beach house. We peered through the foggy car windows at a small, ordinary looking place.

      Not too flash, is it? said Dad.

      Humph. Beth was unimpressed.

      Well, let’s leave the gear in the car for now, and check out the house first. Keri and Mereana, can you get the boys out of the back? Don’t let them dawdle in puddles before we get them inside.

      You get William and I’ll get Nicky, I said to Mereana.

      Thanks a lot! She scowled at me. William had been kicking the back of her seat most of the way down, and she was ready to throttle him. Right you, come on, run, she said to William as she set him on the path. They raced off to the front porch to wait while dad found the keys.

      Okay Nicky? I asked.

      He nodded, unsure. Since William had gone missing last year, Nicky had become even more quiet and reserved than he usually was. William, being so much younger, had returned to his normal cheeky self, but Nicky, at seven years old, was a lot more cautious in new situations.

      Come on, I said. We’ll have fun here. Promise.

      He climbed out and we ran through the drenching rain to wait with Mereana and William.

      The house had that sad, neglected look of an infrequently used holiday home. It had bare wooden floors with a couple of carpet squares, some mismatched lounge furniture, and an old Formica table in the dining area. Beth sighed.

      Look! William shouted. Here’s our bedroom. It’s got rabbits on the curtains. Rabbits were currently William’s favourite animal.

      Well, that’s one of us happy, Dad said.

      Mereana and I chose the other bedroom with two single beds. The beds were sunken in the middle, and the pillows smelled musty.

      Lucky we brought our own pillows, I said.

      I’ve stayed in worse, Mereana said cheerfully. At least it’s got a nice view out over the estuary. Well, it will when it stops raining.

      We helped bring in the rest of the gear, running from the house to the car, getting wet and laughing at each other as we splashed deliberately in the puddles. By the time we’d finished, Beth had lunch prepared. The rain still poured down.

      About an hour later the weather began to improve.

      Dad and Beth decided to go for ‘a lie down’ and they put on a kids’ video for William and Nicky. We decided that ‘Rugrats’ was definitely not our scene.

      Is it okay if we go for a ride and see the town, Dad? I asked.

      Sure. Just keep an eye out for hooligans in souped up cars. And if you ride along the beach, remember you’ll need to wash your bike after, to get the salt off.

      Our bikes were under the deck. It wasn’t a great storage area, as the rain had seeped through, and the bikes were soaked. We wiped them down with a rag from the kitchen, jumped on and took off down the road.

      It was a neat place, the beach town. We rode away from the estuary towards the town. The road went along beside the beach, and then towards the harbour at the far end. Boats were tied up to buoys and a few people were out in dinghies, while on the wharf some children and their parents fished for sprats.

      As we turned back from the wharf, we could see the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1