Shock Waves by Fleur McDonald

Author:Fleur McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2024-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

George pushed back the bedcovers and got slowly out of bed. At seventy-four, he was still in pretty good shape, but there were mornings when his whole body ached and he found it hard to move.

Today was one of those days.

‘Not surprising, Jinx,’ he told the black cat who was sitting upright on the chair in the corner of the bedroom. Jinx always seemed to take a dim view of him, glaring as George shrugged into the dressing gown. ‘I don’t suppose there’s many my age who will get into the race with a mob of lambs and needle and drench them. They love to put up a fight, those little buggers.’

Jinx answered with a flick of his tail, and George wasn’t sure if she was critical of the person who was put on this earth to feed her, his antics in the sheep yards, or just disapproving in general. Cats never seemed happy about anything, in his opinion.

Despite Jinx’s constant disapproval, George was glad for the cat’s company. He’d never married and was an only child. From the day his mother had died, he’d been on his own.

Some days he was sad his family name wouldn’t live on; other days, usually when the ABC had nothing good to report on the news, he was glad he didn’t have any children or grandchildren on this earth.

Slippers now encasing his feet, George went through his morning ritual, as he’d done every day since his mother had died and he’d had to live by himself.

First, he lit the gas stove and put the kettle on. Then he found the cat food and poured a little into Jinx’s food tray, before hitting the on button of the remote and bringing up the early morning news on a commercial channel.

The news anchor was dressed far too well for early morning news, he thought. Hair and makeup too perfect, clothes too upmarket. Not that he knew what upmarket was, only that the blouse and jacket looked like they’d be more at home in a boardroom than in his kitchen at five am.

He picked up his coffee mug from the dish drainer and put a heaped spoon of coffee and two sugars in the cup, while he stood at the bench, watching the news.

‘And now to our reporter, who is in the township of Kallygarn, with the latest details on the explosion at the shire offices. Tania, what a catastrophic thing to happen to a small country town. Do you have any updates?’

George’s head whipped up at the sound of the town’s name and he tightened his grip on the spoon. The young reporter was dressed in a heavy coat and gloved hands, which were wrapped around a microphone. She was staring straight down the barrel of the camera, right at George.

‘Thanks, Monica. Yes, dawn is yet to break here in Kallygarn, yet the site is very active with more police and a fresh forensic team.’

The camera panned around to show floodlights lighting up the rubble and many people still combing through the debris.

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