Thursday's Child by Sonya Hartnett

Author:Sonya Hartnett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742281551
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
Published: 2009-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

MAM WAS BOILING THE laundry, that’s why she wanted us to take Caffy. He was a nuggetty, friendly and talkative little boy, but he had a splash of Old Nick in him. If he wasn’t allowed to do a thing, he’d go frantic needing to do it. If the clothes-washing water was so hot that Mam had to use a stick to stir it, Caffy’s sole purpose in living became the dipping of his fingers into it. If there was something breakable sitting on the table, Caffy would find the means to crack it over his head. Already that morning he had caught his curls in the wringer and scalped bald a patch the size of a penny. ‘He’s doing my head in with his pestering, take him off with yourself and Audrey,’ said Mam, and it was me who heaved a sigh. I knew that, as soon as we were clear of the house, Audrey would send me packing with the baby under tow.

It happened as I predicted, so I was ready to refuse. Caffy was swinging from the crook of Audrey’s elbow and I said, ‘He wants to stay with you.’

‘Harper!’ she whined. Izzy was mooching in the distance, inspecting some lump in the ground – he didn’t like to get involved in these wranglings. ‘Harper, please, just do as I say!

‘You’ll go away and leave me dragging him around all day.’

‘We won’t go away, I promise. When Izzy and I finish talking, I’ll call you and you can come back. Then I’ll watch Caffy for the rest of the day.’

I didn’t believe her, and shook my head stubbornly. Audrey gave a strangled cry. She bent, and wrenched my ear close to her. ‘Harper,’ she breathed, ‘this will be the last time. If you go away today, I’ll never ask you to go away again. I mean it, I promise. But it’s important you go away today.’

‘Why?’

‘Because Izzy might ask me to marry him today. I think he’s going to.’

I narrowed my eyes. She had been saying something similar for almost a year and I was beginning to suspect that either Izzy had never heard of the idea of marriage or that he didn’t like Audrey as much as she supposed. I was hardened to her fancy now, and could be, in the face of it, as obstinate as a mule. And yet, I had never abandoned all hope, just as Audrey herself had not. I had a conviction that, if there ever were a wedding, there would be something in it for me.

Regardless, my bribery price was high. ‘Will you give me your hairclip?’

‘But I only have one!’

‘I only want one.’

She showed her teeth and hesitated. I waited. ‘All right,’ she hissed.

I took Caffy’s hand and pulled him away from her; he squawked and shouted but couldn’t wrestle himself free. I dragged him thrashing through the grass while smugly contemplating my new prize. I had long coveted the hairclip but if things went on like this much longer, Audrey would own nothing more to give me.

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.