Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein

Author:Gillian Rubinstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ligature Pty Limited
Published: 2012-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

62.

Brenton fetches hay and pellets for the goats and Victoria mixes up mash for the chickens. Cal ambles around the yard watching them, and admiring the garden and the flowers. The goats give her a wide berth and roll their slanted yellow eyes in alarm if she approaches them. Brenton is observing this in silence when they hear the noise of a car approaching, and the Commodore comes tearing up the drive, skidding to a halt outside the shed. Michael jumps from the front seat, hair wet, face sunburnt. He catches sight of Cal, does an exaggerated double take and saunters across.

‘Did you bring back my radio?’ He speaks very slowly and clearly as though to a half-wit.

‘I brought it back,’ Vicky tells him. ‘It’s on the kitchen table.’

‘Hello, Micky,’ Cal says carefully, and then to Geoff, who has come across to join them, ‘Are you their father?’

There is something wrong with the way she says it. Everyone notices it. It sounds too adult, too confident, too superior. Geoff raises his eyebrows mildly, but doesn’t say anything. He looks past Cal at the goats in the paddock. ‘That nanny’s enormous,’ he comments. ‘She must be about to pod.’

They all look at the distended flanks and swollen teats of the nanny goat. Cal gives a shudder, and looks again at Geoff. Next to him she looks small and insubstantial, but she is not daunted by his size. She enquires again, ‘You are obviously Michael’s father. There is a likeness. But what about these two?’

‘Both the boys are mine.’ Geoff is about to make a joke of it, but he can’t resist adding a sting too. ‘Though I sometimes wonder about Brenton. We just borrowed the girl for a bit.’

‘Borrowed?’ Cal frowns. She says to Vicky, ‘Is that a local custom?’

‘He means I’m just staying with them,’ Vicky explains. ‘My parents live a long way away and I have to go to school.’

It doesn’t seem to her like a very good explanation, but it satisfies Cal for the time being; she returns to the vexing question of the two dissimilar brothers. ‘They had the same mother?’ she asks their father.

‘Bloody hell!’ Geoff swears impatiently. ‘Ease off a bit, will you, kid? Not so many questions.’

‘I am sorry,’ she answers. ‘I apologise.’ But it’s not said the way a kid would say it; it’s said like an adult, equal to equal. Geoff gives her a hard look to see if she’s being cheeky, but before he can decide if she is or not, there’s the noise of another car approaching, and the 4WD from the shack pulls up.

‘How are you, Geoff?’ Pam calls to him from the driving seat.

‘Going good, thanks, Pam. How about you?’

‘Not too bad. Getting there, I suppose. I just came up to tell you we’ll be putting the net out for the next few evenings. You kids, stay away from it if you’re swimming down there. You never know with sharks coming after the fish...’

‘Right,’ Geoff agrees a little too heartily.

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