RAW BLUE by Kirsty Eagar

Author:Kirsty Eagar
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781742286402
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-09-15T17:00:00+00:00

That afternoon, I join the traffic streaming over the bridge into Narrabeen and look up at the pelicans hunkered down on top of the street lights there. There are three of them. I wonder why they like to sit there in particular, on top of a thing made of metal with the angry buzz of traffic rising up around them. The lagoon looks still and glossy today, the colour of liquorice. I flick my indicator and get over in the right lane, then turn off into Mactier Street. I drive down towards the lagoon and pull into a courtyard surrounded by a grey three-storey unit block. A series of garage doors lines the bottom level, grinning at me like teeth.

When I buzz number seven, Danny’s tinny voice asks me if I can come up.

‘Why? Aren’t you ready?’

‘Yeah, I just – just come up.’

There is an electronic whirring noise and the door unlocks. On the third floor, the top level, I come out on the landing and see Danny waiting, holding his front door open. I hang back for a second, worried he’s going to start wincing and carrying on, telling me that I’m evil.

He looks worried, but not by me. ‘I don’t have a white shirt. I thought I did but when I looked I couldn’t find one.’

‘How come you’re telling me this now?’

‘Shh, Mum’s in the kitchen, she’ll go nuts. I didn’t look until ten minutes ago.’

I frown at him. He’s got the black trousers and he’s wearing what I presume are his black school shoes, so he’s fine in both those departments, but the blue Billabong T-shirt won’t meet franchise dress regulations.

‘Mum’s going to go psycho. I told her I’d checked.’

A woman’s voice floats up the hallway, drawing closer. ‘Is that you, Carly, love?’

‘What’s your mum’s name again?’ I hiss at Danny. I’ve drawn a complete blank, which is bad because I spent a good forty minutes talking to her on the phone last weekend after I saw Danny in the surf. She asked me a few questions about the café, which took maybe three minutes, and then she just talked at me about Danny, her job as a regional trainer for the Education Department and petrol prices. Not that it was bad, but she’s one of those women who download everything in their head when they’ve got someone to talk to.

‘Liz,’ Danny mouths.

She’s not what I expected: a petite Chinese woman who’d whisk me in the door and feed me dumplings and spring rolls. Liz is tall, on the plump side of fat and a redhead. So it’s Danny’s dad who must be Asian. She told me about him. He lives in Melbourne and Danny only sees him three times a year.

‘Hi Liz. How are you?’

‘Oh, can’t complain. Thanks for taking him, Carly, it’s appreciated. What time will you be home do you think?’ Liz sounds slightly out of breath. She sounded like that on the phone, too.

‘Ah, we’ll finish at twelve. So I should be back here at about twelve-thirty at the latest.

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