dragged along under the car. She was stuck, couldn’t move, all she could do was scream.” He paused again but this time just for a moment and then continued.
“Lorna was dragged for quite some distance until the crowd … and I was one of them … broke the windscreen and dragged the driver out.”
“What did you do to him?”
“You know we talked last night about what happened at your school and how you weren’t like other boys, you were dangerous?”
I nodded.
“Well, all I can say is that I’m the same. I know about anger and I know about violence.”
It was hard to believe that my uncle could hurt anybody … but then again people couldn’t understand why I attacked Liam either.
“What happened to Aunty Lorna?”
“By this stage she was really badly injured. She had been dragged and scraped along under that car and she was in a terrible state. I was sure she was going to die. And she nearly did. You father never mentioned this?”
I shook my head again. Uncle Frank frowned, I guess he realised that he didn’t know Dad that well either.
“She was taken to the Royal North Shore hospital and she stayed there for nearly a year getting fixed up. There were about twenty operations and each one had its own problems and recovery period. It was pretty touch and go for a lot of that time. The best doctors had to basically re-assemble her. Bits of metal were screwed into her bones – skin was taken off some places and put on somewhere else. She survived, but she was covered in scars. She still is. Medical technology is amazing but after a year she said she could not stand being in hospital any longer. Lorna was really active and sporty when she was younger so it was particularly hard on her being unable to move, to go to the toilet by herself, to get out into the fresh air for such a long time. All that stuff that seems so basic.”
I looked out towards the coast. There was a mountain of dark clouds further up north and a line of light glittering on the sea. Somewhere there were bird noises.
“Is that why she wears the head scarf?”
“Mm. And the long sleeves. She doesn’t want people to feel sorry for her. She’s very proud…”
Neither of us spoke for a while then Uncle Frank asked, “And your father never mentioned the money?”
“What money?”
“The money he sent me. The money I lived on that year as I waited for Lorna to get better.”
I had never heard anything about it. Uncle Frank smiled.
“You mustn’t worry about your father, Sandy, he’s quality. He’s true blue. It’s just that he’s at the stage I was, after Lorna was taken away. A lost soul in a world that has no meaning.”
I didn’t say anything. I neither agreed nor disagreed. As far as good reports about Dad were concerned, I didn’t want to go there.
“You know, Sandy, everything that happens to us in this life, has a meaning, a purpose, and it sometimes takes a long time to connect with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, horrible though it was, there were still some good things that came out of what happened to Lorna.”
I couldn’t believe this. And I didn’t like where it was heading either.
“Like?”
“Well we had lived the wild life in Sydney up to that point. We were gorging on sensation. And we had the money to do it. The accident, it was like a message. A message that told us that it was time to change our ways.”
“You mean that you shouldn’t have been out having fun at the Mardi Gras and it wouldn’t have happened?”
He smiled. “You’re quick aren’t you? No. I don’t mean that. Not as specifically as that, more general. It happened like this. I can remember everything about that afternoon as clearly as if it were yesterday. I can remember the smells inthe room, the soft distant noises, the angle of the light pouring in through the window.”
We both stared out at the pattern of farms stretching off into the distance.
“There was the soft, steady sound of Lorna’s
“Lorna was dragged for quite some distance until the crowd … and I was one of them … broke the windscreen and dragged the driver out.”
“What did you do to him?”
“You know we talked last night about what happened at your school and how you weren’t like other boys, you were dangerous?”
I nodded.
“Well, all I can say is that I’m the same. I know about anger and I know about violence.”
It was hard to believe that my uncle could hurt anybody … but then again people couldn’t understand why I attacked Liam either.
“What happened to Aunty Lorna?”
“By this stage she was really badly injured. She had been dragged and scraped along under that car and she was in a terrible state. I was sure she was going to die. And she nearly did. You father never mentioned this?”
I shook my head again. Uncle Frank frowned, I guess he realised that he didn’t know Dad that well either.
“She was taken to the Royal North Shore hospital and she stayed there for nearly a year getting fixed up. There were about twenty operations and each one had its own problems and recovery period. It was pretty touch and go for a lot of that time. The best doctors had to basically re-assemble her. Bits of metal were screwed into her bones – skin was taken off some places and put on somewhere else. She survived, but she was covered in scars. She still is. Medical technology is amazing but after a year she said she could not stand being in hospital any longer. Lorna was really active and sporty when she was younger so it was particularly hard on her being unable to move, to go to the toilet by herself, to get out into the fresh air for such a long time. All that stuff that seems so basic.”
I looked out towards the coast. There was a mountain of dark clouds further up north and a line of light glittering on the sea. Somewhere there were bird noises.
“Is that why she wears the head scarf?”
“Mm. And the long sleeves. She doesn’t want people to feel sorry for her. She’s very proud…”
Neither of us spoke for a while then Uncle Frank asked, “And your father never mentioned the money?”
“What money?”
“The money he sent me. The money I lived on that year as I waited for Lorna to get better.”
I had never heard anything about it. Uncle Frank smiled.
“You mustn’t worry about your father, Sandy, he’s quality. He’s true blue. It’s just that he’s at the stage I was, after Lorna was taken away. A lost soul in a world that has no meaning.”
I didn’t say anything. I neither agreed nor disagreed. As far as good reports about Dad were concerned, I didn’t want to go there.
“You know, Sandy, everything that happens to us in this life, has a meaning, a purpose, and it sometimes takes a long time to connect with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, horrible though it was, there were still some good things that came out of what happened to Lorna.”
I couldn’t believe this. And I didn’t like where it was heading either.
“Like?”
“Well we had lived the wild life in Sydney up to that point. We were gorging on sensation. And we had the money to do it. The accident, it was like a message. A message that told us that it was time to change our ways.”
“You mean that you shouldn’t have been out having fun at the Mardi Gras and it wouldn’t have happened?”
He smiled. “You’re quick aren’t you? No. I don’t mean that. Not as specifically as that, more general. It happened like this. I can remember everything about that afternoon as clearly as if it were yesterday. I can remember the smells inthe room, the soft distant noises, the angle of the light pouring in through the window.”
We both stared out at the pattern of farms stretching off into the distance.
“There was the soft, steady sound of Lorna’s
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