Read Online Captain Mack by James Roy - Free Book Online Page B

It’s terrible, lad. Don’t ever treat your da like that, ye understand? It’s not right.”
    â€œI won’t,” Danny said in a voice almost too quiet to hear.
    â€œWhat’s up?” Ellie asked as soon as she saw Danny’s face.
    â€œIt’s Captain Mack,” he said. “He’s really upset.”
    â€œOh, the move.” She felt in her purse for the car keys.
    â€œYou knew about it?”
    â€œI found out today. He’s going to Redgrange.”
    â€œWhere’s that?”
    â€œA few k’s from here. I know some people who work there.”
    â€œWhat’s it like?” Danny asked, hoping she’d say that it was really good, top notch, the best.
    â€œIt’s a hole,” she said, buckling her seatbelt and starting the car. “They’re cost-cutting all over the place. It’s a lot cheaper than here, though, and I guess that’s the main reason.” She shrugged. “This place is pretty pricey, you know. To move him into the hospital wing would’ve cost them a lot of money. I guess they’re doing what they have to do.”
    â€œBut it’s not fair,” Danny protested. “He’s got friends here. He knows all the nurses. He’s got me. He’s happy here.”
    Ellie reached over and squeezed his knee. “I know, Danny. I’m disappointed too. But there’s nothing you or I can do about it. I’m sorry, but there really isn’t.”
    A week later Captain Mack was gone. Ellie told Danny across the fence between their front gardens as he arrived home after school. He dropped his bag and sat on the doorstep, resting his chin in his hands. He felt a strange emptiness in his chest.
    â€œIt’s not all that bad, is it?” she asked, pulling off her gardening gloves.
    â€œI guess not. I just feel bad for Captain Mack, that’s all. He’s going to be so unhappy.”
    â€œHe might surprise you.”
    â€œWhat’s the name of the new place he’s at?” Danny asked. “Red-something.”
    â€œRedgrange. It’s not that far. Are you planning to visit him?”
    â€œSure, why not?”
    Ellie smiled. “He’d love that.”
    The Redgrange receptionist with the heavy eyeshadow didn’t know who Danny meant when he asked for the tall Scottish man with the eye-patch.
    â€œDoes he have a name?” she asked, chewing her gum loudly. “Because if you’ve got a name to give me …”
    â€œUm … I’ve always called him Captain Mack. McAlly or McAully or something like that.” He felt his face going red. Some visitor, he thought — doesn’t even know who he’s come to see.
    â€œHang on,” the receptionist said, flipping through a green folder on her desk. “McAuliffe? Is that him?”
    â€œYeah, I think so,” Danny said.
    Her phone was ringing. “Room 5,” she said as she reached to pick it up.
    Danny didn’t know where to start looking for the room, so he waited until the girl had finished dealing with the call. She looked at him curiously. “What’s up now?” she asked.
    â€œWhere’s Room 5?” he asked.
    She rolled her eyes, just a tiny bit, enough to make Danny feel like a pain, like a pesky kid. “Down that hall and take a left. It’s about halfway along on the right.”
    Danny stopped in front of Room 5, in a corridor smelling of too-sweet citrus and air-freshener. He peeked cautiously in.
    There were six beds in the room, four of which were empty, their sheets and blankets rumpled. Over by the window an old man in a dressing gown and slippers was lying on top of his covers with his back to the doorway, a small black transistor radio murmuring thinly on his locker. Captain Mack was sitting on the edge of the bed opposite. He too was facing in the other direction, staring through the barred-up window at a brown brick wall a couple of metres