All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

Author:Vikki Wakefield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: JUV039020, JUV000000
ISBN: 9781921834387
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2011-06-26T22:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

The night sounds in our street are mostly familiar.

Burnouts, the slow rumble of a drive-by, far-off sirens. A night bird that screams like a woman. Shouts, crying, laughter and quiet murmurs through thin walls. Cats raiding bins. You can tell when someone is passing on the pavement by the barking dog relay. Always four houses ahead. You can tell who’s watching the same program by matching the flickering lights through front windows.

Mum’s asleep on the couch, exhausted after today’s cleaning blitz. She hasn’t moved since I got home and when I asked her about the government woman, she just shut me down. Told me to mind my own business. The horizontal weight of her drags the lines away from her face. She looks smooth and relaxed. When she’s still, like this, I want to touch her skin to see if it feels the same, to see if it’s soft and warm like I remember it.

I turn the volume on the telly way down and lie on my bed. I find a tattered National Geographic under the bookshelf and try to read it, but I can’t get past the first page. I eat for the sake of it, sweet things in crunchy packets that smell like bliss and taste like guilt.

I check my phone. Tahnee still hasn’t called.

I imagine I hear Jordan’s car, but by the time I get to the window all I can see is the faint red glow of taillights.

Then the power pops and cuts out. There have been warnings on the news about planned outages, but it could be a fuse. The thought of putting my hand into the spider-infested fuse box makes me shudder. I look through the window again. The whole street’s out. Gradually, dim lights appear behind curtains as torches and candles are found. People start coming outside because there’s nothing to watch. It’s so still when everything stops. For weeks the hum and drip of air-conditioners has been the soundtrack to summer.

Mum sleeps hard, and the sudden quiet doesn’t wake her. I grab a can of Coke and go out to the porch. It’s cooler, but not much. I sit with my bare feet up on the railing, the vinyl seat sticking to my legs. Across the street, Benny’s cigarette glows when he inhales.

This time, when the car passes, I know it’s not him. The engine sounds the same, but this car crouches low on fat tyres and its tail-lights look like slanted eyes. It slows past our place, but doesn’t stop. It could be Welles or somebody else who has heard that the boys are in remand. I press back into my seat and breathe out to make myself smaller. I can’t see Benny, only his cigarette, so maybe they can’t see me.

Power cuts always make me nervous—the dark leaves gaps for things to creep out of. If I’m ever home alone and I hear a strange noise, I turn the sound up, not down. People can go crazy in this heat.

I go inside, kick off my thongs and curl into the corner next to Mum.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.