The Golden Book by Kate Ryan

Author:Kate Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000, FIC019000, FIC044000, FIC071000, FIC045000
Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Published: 2021-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

21

It was 8.45 and Ed was gone, the long-awaited jam session, a day off school that he had planned for months.

Ali wandered into the living room. There was no sign of Patti except for her bedding, hurriedly shoved into a corner, and her clothes spilling all over the living room. Tam was lying on the couch in her pyjamas, watching TV.

In the first few years of school, she would have liked a quiet day just as much as Ali — maybe a walk in the park, baking a cake. A lazy, meandering day. But not now. Ali leant in to kiss her, and she submitted to it like a queen, disinterested, blank. ‘You know Patti shouldn’t have left you here by yourself. And you know that wine is really bad for children, don’t you?’

‘Mmm,’ said Tam vaguely. She wanted Ali to go away, leave her to watch her show. But there was no lingering anger. Loved children were like cats, Ali thought. They accepted attention as if it were merely their due. ‘Had breakfast?’

‘What?’ Tam said. Ali looked at the bright cartoon figures, heard their chirpy upward inflections, and walked into the kitchen.

At exactly nine-fifteen, she was sitting with the dregs of her coffee when the doorbell rang. In seconds Tam was jumping off the couch and rushing to the front door. Ali groaned inwardly. It was the curriculum day, but she had completely forgotten about Bettany.

‘I’ll come for her after school,’ Megan was saying as Ali reached the front door. She was obviously unconcerned about being late. Ali imagined her with her teachers, her barely disguised insolence.

‘Okay.’

‘See ya then.’ Tossing her hair over one shoulder and pulling her backpack higher, she turned to go.

The girls ran off to Tam’s room, and Ali left the front door open to let in the sun and air. She turned off the TV and walked past the girls, hearing Tam say, ‘Okay, you can be Emily and I’ll be Edward.’

In the kitchen Ali heated up more coffee. She was tempted to read over her piece — but it felt too much with Tam and Bettany there, and a whole day to fill, and so she read the news on her phone instead. There was a story about teacher strikes impending, a long-term battle over pay. The premier was quoted as saying that they were ‘holding young people to ransom’. If Ed were around, Ali would say the government is holding teachers to ransom by not paying them properly for helping young people have futures. It made her want him there.

After five minutes she couldn’t concentrate; the news was universally grim. There was a new sink full of breakfast dishes. She filled the sink, pulled out the plug lodged under a greasy porridge saucepan, and put in the detergent. Somehow, doing them by hand seemed easier than emptying the dishwasher. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and wondered what she should wear to the funeral.

She was taking off the washing-up gloves when Tam and Bettany emerged from Tam’s bedroom.

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