Barry and the Fairies of Miller Street by B. Dickins

Author:B. Dickins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
Published: 2012-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

He propped his bike on its stand in the yard, then opened the door. ‘Come on in. The weather’s fine!’

Once he’d closed the door behind us, he took the copper pipes from me and put them on a rack on the wall.

His sunroom was like a tidy version of Pop’s shed, with tools hanging from the walls and lined up on racks and shelves. Nailed under the shelves were rows of neatly labelled jars full of washers, split pins, screws and goodness knows what else. I could tell it was the sort of place where you could find anything if you only knew where to look. Next to the door hung two clipboards labelled ‘JOBS TO DO’ and ‘JOBS DONE’.

It was a step up into the kitchen, where something was sizzling in the oven. An ancient man with an enormous tin hearing aid was sitting at the table sorting a pile of nails and washers and screws into Vegemite jars.

‘I’m back, Dad,’ Old Ed said loudly. ‘Have you met Len and his boy Barry? Len, meet my father, Ed.’

Even Older Ed cupped his ear in his hand and looked up at Dad through his glasses. In a high, crackly voice, he said, ‘You’re Arthur’s boy, aren’t you? You were about yea high last time I saw you.’ His hand shot out just below my shoulder.

Old Ed said, ‘Len came to tell us that Arthur passed away, Dad.’

Even Older Ed shook his head slowly. ‘That’s just awful. When did that happen?’

‘Yesterday, about midday,’ Dad said. ‘It wasn’t unexpected, but in a way you can never expect it. He just ran out of air. The funeral’s been set for the day after tomorrow.’

The old man repeated, ‘That’s awful. We’ll be there, won’t we, Son?’

‘Of course. Now, there’s some stuff Len and I need to sort out. Can you excuse us for a little while?’

‘Sure as eggs. Oh, while you were out, Mrs Lane came over to say she’d lost the hot water.’

‘Not another one!’ Old Ed said grimly. ‘Lucky I found some more good pipe.’

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