Chapter 1

The year Marcie Gill turned ten, three mysterious things happened:

1. Her dad moved out of the family home into a caravan.
2. Her gran gave her a very unusual, early Christ­mas present.
3. The third mysterious thing is a secret for now. But to give you a hint, it involves a cat called George.

Marcie’s family ran a (small) caravan park in the (little) seaside town of Snorkel Bay in (big) South Australia. It was on a (curving) bay, just a short walk through sand dunes to the white beach and glisten­ing sea. The Snorkel Bay Caravan Park was known for its (beautiful) gardens too: tall, shady trees, lush green shrubs and brightly coloured rose bushes, all planted years ago by Marcie’s grandfather.

Marcie was the middle child of the Gill family. She was short and sturdy, with sticky-out black hair. In her most recent school report, her teacher had described her in one sentence: Marcie is extremely interested in everything.

It was true. Aside from her family (her mum, dad, fourteen-year-old sister Jemima, seven-year-old brother Fred, Gran and Gran’s cat George) Marcie’s favourite thing in the world was asking questions.

It was a joke in the Gill family just how much Marcie loved questions. She called it her hobby. They called it her obsession. (Obsessions ran in the Gill family. Jemima was obsessed with tennis. Fred was obsessed with fish.)

This story begins on a hot December morning in Snorkel Bay, two weeks before Christmas. School was finished for the year.

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