The Byron Journals by Daniel Ducrou

Author:Daniel Ducrou
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781921799433
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2010-08-16T16:00:00+00:00

seventeen

Andrew and Heidi woke foggy-headed the following morning and made a pot of coffee for breakfast. Heidi called in sick for work and sat down to roll a joint.

‘Maybe we could take some liquid acid to round off the morning?’ he said.

‘What?’ Surprise flickered through her eyes. ‘Who told you about that? Tim?’

He shook his head and watched the coffee plunger sink beneath his hand.

‘Jade?’ she asked.

He didn’t reply.

‘Bitch,’ she muttered, scowling as she continued with her joint.

‘Can you really make much money selling it?’

‘Enough.’

‘How much?’

‘None of your business.’

‘Who are you selling it to?’

‘Do I have to explain every part of my life to you now?’

‘No, but—’

She picked up her joint and shoved her chair back. ‘So stop asking dumb questions.’

‘Where are you going?’

She slammed the bedroom door, flicked the lock and turned on The Ramones, full volume. Andrew knocked and waited, but she didn’t open. He practised keyboard for ten minutes or so, tried knocking again, practised some drum patterns Tim had shown him, then knocked again. Eventually, he grew hungry and walked to town to buy a pie.

He bought Heidi a salad roll and left it on the kitchen table when he arrived back. The door was still locked and the music just as loud. As he bit into his pie, the music cut out amid a series of violent crashes. This time, instead of knocking, he shouldered the door with all his weight. The lock broke and the door swung open. The room was a disaster. She’d swept everything off her dressing table onto the floor and smashed the stereo against the wall. He spotted the bottle of vodka they’d bought on the Gold Coast, almost empty on the floor.

She looked at him, unclenched her teeth and drew her hair back off her face. ‘What?’

He stepped forward. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Of course I’m okay. I’m fine!’

They looked at each other. Andrew’s hands hung loose at his side. ‘I bought you a salad roll.’

‘Oh! A salad roll will fix everything, won’t it?’

He gestured towards the kitchen. ‘It’s on the table if you want it.’

She stood there, arms crossed. He turned and walked out. And, to his surprise, she followed. He picked up the salad roll and held it out to her, but she didn’t look at it. He placed it back on the table, picked up his pie and headed outside. She followed and the screen door slapped closed behind her.

‘It’s so easy just to walk away, isn’t it, Andy?’

‘I came outside so I wouldn’t annoy you.’

‘It doesn’t solve the problem, though, does it?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I want you to stop tiptoeing around me. I want you to stop walking on fucking egg shells. I want you to give me something real, something that I can be angry at.’

‘Maybe I could buy you a punching bag?’

She slapped him. ‘You arsehole! Do you realise how shit my luck is?’

He hesitated. ‘Yes.’

‘No, you don’t. You don’t know anything. Look at you, eating your pie in the sun la-di-dah like everything’s fine and fucking dandy.

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