From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle by Kate de Goldi

Author:Kate de Goldi [Kate De Goldi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775535775
Publisher: Random House New Zealand
Published: 2015-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Friday, very early

At 00.26 Barney stood up.

‘C’mon.’

They crept from the lavender courtyard and stood close in to the lean trunk of the olive tree, scouting the length of the Street. It was empty and more or less silent, just distant noises from the Saturn Bar. The apartments were all in darkness – except for Suit and Mireille’s, above Forget-me-Knot, where a light glowed behind the paper blind. Suit was in his small office, reading perhaps. The rest of the Street, including the starlings, slept.

Barney had been out on the Street at this time of night before, but always with adults, returning home after parties or dinners, or from holiday. It was very different now. Emptied of people and movement and noise, the Street revealed its secret self. It was a shadowy, breathing entity, a great body with many parts, feeling and thinking, wide-awake and attentive.

Something soft banged against Barney’s bare legs and his heart turned over in fright.

‘Brown Betty!’ whispered Ren. The tabby mewed hello, pushed and slid between their legs. She trotted away, ahead of them, angling towards the alley.

‘She knows where we’re going.’

‘Impossible,’ said Barney. His heart thumped alarmingly. He held a clump of Ren’s T-shirt to keep her close. He was experiencing a sudden and acute longing for things well known to him: his bed, the living room sofa, his desk at the back of the classroom with the view out to the playground and the distant Port Hills.

The alley smelled familiar – dank and mushroomy, a hint of urine – but it was an altogether different experience after midnight, despite the moonlight. The dark had a smell, too, though it was impossible to describe.

They heard their own ginger steps, the raucous crunch underfoot.

Ren reached for Barney’s hand and he held it gratefully. Why had he wished for the day to go so speedily? He would honestly, truly, like very much to be doing integers right now with Nick Etherington.

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.