Lapse by Sarah Thornton

Author:Sarah Thornton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2019-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Clementine sat at the dining table, the white chipboard shelves with the photos of Clancy’s wedding day to her left. Clancy sat opposite, arms crossed, jaw set like concrete. It was just after ten am. Clem had slipped and skidded the Commodore down the slushy dirt of Makepeace Road as fast as she could, hoping to catch him at home alone. Melissa was at her mother’s place.

‘She was gunna report me,’ said Clancy. ‘Safety breach.’

‘The singlet?’

He nodded. ‘I already had two breaches and a written warning. They had me all lined up.’

‘But why would they target you?’

‘There’s plenty of blokes don’t like seeing a blackfella get on. Like to make it a bit harder for us,’ he said through clenched teeth, ‘especially an upstart like me.’

He hesitated, as if he’d been through all this in his head so many times, and what was the point? Or maybe it was just who she was. Another white woman.

‘You mean payback for testifying in court?’ she prompted.

‘Yep.’ He stood up abruptly and started pacing. ‘I slipped up on a safety thing once, sure,’ he said bitterly, ‘but it was nothin’ I hadn’t seen others get away with. Some mongrel reported me. Next thing I know, they’ve dobbed me in for a second one I didn’t do. That got me the written warning.’

Clementine grimaced. Safety contraventions were grounds for dismissal. Clancy must have been on the edge of being sacked. ‘And so where does Bernadette Holt come in?’

He swung round to face Clementine, eyes blazing. ‘After I got the warning, that bitch said she’d help me—said she knew what was going on, was gunna make sure it stopped. I told her I didn’t need any help. Well, that wasn’t the right answer, was it?’ Smack! His hand slammed down onto the table. ‘She said without her help I wouldn’t last five minutes—she’d make sure I got another warning, and I’d be out the door.’ He stormed over to the chair again, sat down heavily. ‘If I knew I could get another job here I would’ve told her then and there to shove it. But there’s nothin’ in Katinga.’

Clem thought back to the clipboard in the video footage, Bernadette had waved it at him. ‘She was threatening you with another breach?’

He nodded, dropped his head. ‘Oh fuck, fuck, fuck…why did I believe her?’ He pushed his chair back, sending the legs squealing over the lino, started pacing again.

‘She said it was just a bit of fun, nothing would happen, promised to sort things out’—his words were spitting like oil out of a hot pan—‘and now I’ve ruined everything. I’m gunna lose my Mel. My family won’t want to know me. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.’ He cupped his face in his hand, squeezing his eyes shut.

‘Hey, hey, hey,’ Clem said, ‘don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Clance. Let’s talk it through.’

He slumped down in the chair again, staring at the table.

‘The way I see it,’ said Clem, ‘the Holts don’t want Melissa to know. They don’t want anyone to know.

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.