Blood Donors by Steve Tasane

Author:Steve Tasane [Tasane, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781406350067
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2013-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Rubbish

Sis don’t have nothin’ to say to me on the way up to hers.

Then, once we all sat down, comfy on cushions on her rug, cup of tea in our hands, she says You out of control, Marshall.

This is what my mum would say. I don’t answer.

Compo could have had you charged, threatenin’ him like that. You be locked up for a long time. That what you want?

Exactly like my mum.

Take us down with you, the way you was behavin’.

I’m ticklin’ my dog, space between his ears. He like that.

Muskrat look like he listenin’ intently. Hard to tell.

She goes on. Thought we was plannin’ on how to take down these bugs? Get folk to start believin’ us?

Sabes got his muzzle restin’ on my legs, chillin’. I shrug. She shrug back. She is well mad at me.

It’s your temper, innit? she say. Well out of order.

I ain’t risin’ to that. Come I say to my dog, standin’ up, let’s go.

Muskrat comes right out of his trance. Where you goin’?

Like you care.

From where she is lyin’, Sis hooks her foot around the back of my ankle. She ain’t meanin’ to trip me, but if I want to take a step I gotta lift my foot over hers. I can feel her toes through her socks, brushin’ against the back of my ankle, soft.

Marsh?

I’m not goin’ to cry. Need to turn my face.

Sis shifts her gaze down to the rug, breathes for a few seconds. I don’t know what to do. She starts talkin’. All of us got issues, ain’t we? She rubbin’ her toes against my heel, like it’s a hand restin’ on my shoulder. Like me, I didn’t believe you about the giant bugs. I’m sorry, I shoulda believed you. You’re my friend. Act like a cage wrestler half the time, but it ain’t jus’ temper, Marsh. You know that. ’Cos even though nobody believed you, you still carried on, try and do somethin’ about the bugs.

I believed him says Mustaph.

She ignores him. That’s courage, boy. We got dead folk bein’ carried out from all up The Finger. Anybody get saved, they goin’ to be saved because of you. You guarded Connor, yeah? I can feel my knuckle-dust rage tricklin’ down towards my feet. If the rest of us goin’ to keep livin’, we need you too. So don’ go gettin’ all mad and stormin’ out. She splays her fingers out, across the fluffiness of the rug. You’re bigger than that.

I don’ know what to do. Can’t think. My mind feel like the empty space on the wall, where my dad’s picture used to be.

She smile up at me. Chill, boy. Sit.

Sabreboy think she givin’ him an instruction, settles back down. I copy my dog.

So we sit in silence for a while, drinkin’ our tea, thinkin’ about how things are. No sound ’cept Mustaph blowin’ on his tea once in a while, tryin’ to cool it down.

Finally Sis says OK, we all seen the giant bugs, we convinced. Now, we got to convince others, Big Auntie and your mum espesh.

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