A Place Like This by Steven Herrick

Author:Steven Herrick [Herrick, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780702229848
Amazon: 0702229849
Publisher: Univ of Queensland Pr
Published: 1998-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Different

You two are different.

Different from my school friends.

They want to know about the baby, sure,

but only because they’re not pregnant

and only because they’ve got nothing else to say,

not since Jenny’s party anyway.

They don’t want to know about me

and how it feels

to be carrying this great weight,

to be a mother without a boyfriend,

to be missing school and parties

and all of my friends.

I’m glad you’re here.

I’m glad you’re coming with me to my classes.

I couldn’t go alone

and I need to know stuff

about the birth.

Truth is, I’m scared.

I’m sure Dad’s truck won’t start.

Or the ambulance won’t come.

Or the midwife.

Or I’ll be home alone

with everyone in the orchard.

And the pain,

and how long it’ll take.

It’s kind of funny really.

Jenny, Peter, Rick Harvey,

even Adam bloody Barlow,

are hard at it studying

for their exams,

and I’m here

about to study

for something much bigger.

I hope I pass …

Saturday night

The drunk night.

George in town.

The farmhouse asleep.

Annabel and me on the hay bales,

stacked high.

We can almost touch the roof.

A bottle of wine,

a dozen beers

and all night

drinking and telling stories,

like

your first embarrassing moment,

the day you learnt Santa wasn’t real,

the first time you vomited,

the day you learnt your parents

did more than just sleep together

and the first time you got drunk.

Hours of stories,

here, above the farm

on our hay bales.

At midnight

Annabel took off all her clothes

without saying a word,

then asked for another glass of beer, please.

So beautiful and so well-mannered.

What could I do?

I took a long drink

and undressed.

Annabel cheered

as we stood,

straining to touch the roof,

from our naked hay-bale world.

The snake

It was two metres long,

brown and mean,

and coming after the chickens.

I nearly stepped on the thing,

and, yes, it was probably as scared as me,

but I jumped higher.

And I picked up the shovel leaning against the shed

and hit it hard,

once, right in the middle,

and again on its head,

and again and again

until I was sure,

and again because I’d never be sure.

And then I felt sick

and I ran behind the shed to vomit.

Nothing but green bile came up,

green bile and tears.

I walked back

and George was inspecting it.

A king brown.

Annabel came out and saw it too.

And Craig. And Beck.

The farm dogs still barked at it,

too late now to be of any use.

Everyone standing out in the sun

looking at the snake,

except Annabel,

who’s looking at me.

Annabel’s snake

All night, in the shed,

I held Jack.

He was sweating in the chill air,

waking every hour, jerking his legs

as if running.

I held his arms tight.

I could feel the muscles tense,

wanting to move,

wanting to flex,

so I held him.

I didn’t sleep much, maybe an hour.

Most of the night,

I watched Jack

strike that snake

a thousand times over

and not once, in his sleep,

did that snake die.

Beck’s snake

After it was all over

I picked it up,

took it down to the garden

and I buried it

deep in the ground

where it’s quiet,

where it’s safe,

where the dogs can’t get it.

Naming rights

I’m going to call him Joseph,

or Josephine if it’s a girl.

Why?

Because it’s a strong name,

Joe, Joseph.

You give a kid a name like Cameron

or Alfred or something like that,

and they end up wearing glasses

and looking at computers for the rest of their life.

And Matthew and Nathan

enter school with another

fifteen Matthews and Nathans beside them.

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