Breakers by Doug Johnstone

Author:Doug Johnstone [Doug Johnstone]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912374687
Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: 2019-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

24

Tyler checked on Bean, who had slid halfway out of bed onto a pile of clothes. For some reason she was also wearing an old scarf of Tyler’s like a bandana. He wondered what went through her mind sometimes. He picked her up and scooped her back onto the mattress, and she snuffled into the crook of his arm. He waited a moment to make sure she’d settled and spotted a pile of Polaroid pictures next to her pillow. He picked them up and flicked through. They were mostly of her school friends, some with her included in them too. One of Miss Kelvin, one of Panda. She had used up over half the film already.

He checked on Angela next. She was lying on top of her covers, mouth open. He couldn’t hear her breathing so he went over to check and her eyes fluttered open. It took her a moment to focus.

‘My beautiful boy,’ she said.

‘Hey, Mum.’ He was already heading towards the door.

‘Wait.’ She pushed herself up on her elbows, sat up on the bed. She shook the sleep from her head, blinking heavily. ‘What time is it?’

‘It’s late, go back to sleep.’

Angela patted the bed next to her. ‘Come and sit with your old mum for a minute.’

He hesitated at the door.

‘Please.’

He sat at the bottom of the bed near her bare feet. She sometimes did this, drunken or high moments of affection, bittersweet because they never lasted.

‘You’re such a good boy,’ she said, sniffing. There was a bottle of schnapps and some smack gear on the table next to the bed, and she kept glancing at it. ‘What am I saying, you’re a young man now.’

‘Mum, I need to get some sleep.’

‘Wait.’ She reached for his hand and took it. The sores, the dry patches, were rough against his skin. ‘Just listen.’

He sighed. She cricked her neck. ‘I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, Tyler, really.’

‘Don’t.’

She squeezed his hand. ‘I mean it. Bean too.’

Tyler just sat there.

‘When Barry and Kelly’s dad left,’ Angela said, ‘I thought I would die.’

This was her sob story. Angela had Barry and Kelly when she was still a teenager, knocked up by an on-and-off boyfriend called Jay. He was a real ballbuster, in and out of young offenders’ then proper prison for a series of violent crimes. In between spells inside he used Angela as a punching bag, but she put up with it. She started drinking heavily to take the pain away, then graduated to smack, which Jay was pushing on the side anyway, so there was plenty around.

Then along came Tyler. Problem was, he wasn’t Jay’s kid, couldn’t be because Jay had been in jail, the dates didn’t match. Angela didn’t even know who the dad was, could’ve been any one of half a dozen candidates, because she went through a phase of screwing for a fix when Jay wasn’t around, anything to keep the darkness away. When Jay got out and saw Tyler he gave Angela a final ferocious beating, breaking four ribs, and left her to deal with all three kids.

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