Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson

Author:Sean Wilson [Wilson, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Affirm Press
Published: 2022-09-27T07:00:00+00:00

22

Aunt Beth says there’s less money for help these days, even with the price of help so low. She does other people’s laundry for a few coins or trade, has her hands in suds most days, her fingers dry and cracked. It’s less than amusing the way Lottie goes missing when there’s talk of help on the farm. I wonder why Father lets her out alone in a town where a young woman was murdered. But he’s working the case, his mind locked on Catherine Fletcher. Lottie has nothing holding her back. No commitments. Nothing except five feet and ten inches topped by slicked-back hair.

Me and Flo run wheelbarrows up and down the paddocks, shovel stones into ditches. We pull bugs from plants in the vegetable garden. Endless hours under the sun, the skin on my face and neck turning pink then settling to an almond brown. Flo’s voice is always next to my ear, running over what we know and what’s still a mystery. Her mind wraps around the same subjects, smothering them in words. Out here, baking in the full sun, she finds a new thought to fix on.

‘Where’s Sam been hiding? We haven’t seen him for ages,’ she says. ‘Why’s he keeping clear of us?’

‘We’ve been here on the farm most days,’ I say. ‘We’ve not been around.’

Flo spits on a fence post, darkening the wood. ‘That boy used to come knocking every other day. I couldn’t get rid of him. Now he’s nowhere to be found. Strange, isn’t it?’

‘I guess. I don’t know him well.’

‘I’m telling you it’s strange,’ Flo says. ‘We’ve got to find out where he’s been.’

When Uncle Jimmy heads out of town to talk to an animal doctor, me and Flo slip away from the farm. We cut through the bottom paddock. Jagged, dry grass pushes through our socks. We hop a fence on the other side and Flo leads me to a track that cuts through the bush. When we come out of the bush, out into the bright world, we’re not far from the main street. We follow the river along the far bank until we get to a little footbridge and cross to the street. Flo marches toward Sam’s house.

‘Hello, Missus Napier. Is Sam about?’

From my place at the front gate, I see confusion written on Mrs Napier’s face. Lines appear between her eyes, her lips are thin slits. ‘He said he was meeting up with you,’ she says.

Flo slaps her thigh. ‘You’re right,’ she says. ‘I just couldn’t remember if we said we’d meet here or not. My mistake.’

Mrs Napier’s head tilts to one side. ‘He is meeting with you?’

‘Of course,’ Flo says. She waves a thumb over her shoulder. ‘Me and Morris been out in the sun too long. My head’s a fried egg. Sam’s probably wondering where we are. We best get going.’

She turns and marches down the path, pulling on my shirt as she passes, making me stumble after her. I look back at Mrs Napier, standing there on the doorstep, one hand on her hip, watching us go.

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