Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

Author:Liz Nugent
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844885763
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Published: 2022-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

32

Peter, 1982

The neighbour boy’s name was Rangi. I heard the old lady call him by that name. He never paid any attention to me until, one day, he kicked the ball awkwardly and it landed on my side of the fence. I ran from our porch to pick it up but, instead of throwing it back, I held on to it, standing by the fence, waiting for him to approach. After a minute of glaring at me, he did.

‘What’s wrong with you? Why didn’t you just kick the ball back?’

‘I’m Steve,’ I said.

‘Rangi.’

‘I know.’

‘Give me the ball, eh?’

I threw it towards him and, even though I fumbled the throw, he caught it deftly with one hand under his leg.

He didn’t thank me and began to walk away. I had to stop him.

‘Do you go to school? Is that where you go every morning?’

‘Yeah?’ He said it as if my question had been an accusation.

‘You’re lucky,’ I said. ‘I have a medical condition which means I can’t mix with other kids. If they touch me, I could die.’

‘Yeah? How did you get that? I’d love not to have to go to school.’

‘It’s bad,’ I said, self-pity taking over. ‘I have no friends.’

‘You got a television?’ he said.

‘Yes. You can come and watch it if you like, before my dad gets home?’

‘Where’s your accent from?’ he said.

I didn’t think I had an accent. ‘I’m Irish,’ I said before correcting myself in line with our story. ‘Well, I was born here, but I lived in Ireland since I was a baby. I came home two years ago.’

‘Yeah? It’s got a rugby team, right? That place where the war is on. You ever get bombed?’

He seemed disappointed when I admitted that I’d never seen a bomb or a gun and that the war was confined to one small part of Ireland that was under British rule. I could see he was losing interest so I changed tack.

‘What age are you?’ I asked.

‘Fifteen. You?’

‘Fourteen. Are you allowed to drive that truck?’

‘Sort of. Cops don’t ask. Why, is your dad the police?’

Rangi was suspicious.

‘No, he’s a dentist. Is that your mum that you live with?’

‘Nah, she’s me Auntie Georgia. Where’s your mum?’

‘She’s dead.’ There was a pause. I expected him to express his condolences but he said nothing. I said, ‘Do you want to come in and watch television? You can’t touch me.’

‘No, you freaking weirdo. Why would I want to touch you?’

This was going all wrong. He was walking away.

‘See you later, maybe?’ I called, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice.

He didn’t look back.

Over dinner that evening, I nervously told Dad that I’d been talking to our neighbour.

‘The brown boy?’ he said, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

‘Yes, well, his aunt is white, so I think he’s mixed. He was unfriendly.’

‘You shouldn’t mix with them. I almost didn’t buy this house when I saw who was next door. I’m guessing that’s why it was so cheap.’

‘I would like to have a friend, though, someone my own age?’

He put down his knife and fork.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.