Read Online Diamonds in the Mud and Other Stories by Joy Dettman - Free Book Online

leaving Dad and the house to sink or swim alone.
    We loved Nanny’s house with its lawns and its white picket fence, and my small brother and I learned to say as tartly as she, ‘We told him so.’
    Again the water went down. Again Mum returned. Again she scrubbed, and once again Dad assured her, ‘It will never happen again.’
    The following year, he was proven right, but the year after?
    â€˜We told him so, didn’t we, Nanny?’

Scattered Cinders
    He worked alone, and he liked it that way. He was twenty-seven; had he claimed to be forty, few would have questioned his word. Not many in town looked him in the eye; they preferred to converse with his shirt buttons. He knew what they said about him. Money coming out of his ears, why doesn’t he rebuild the house and do something about that face?
    He was planning to rebuild. Just couldn’t decide where to do it. The charred ruins of the old place had long been cleared away, and it was the only logical site on which to rebuild, but he couldn’t do it, couldn’t cover that piece of earth. Maybe one day. Maybe one day he’d think about covering up some of his scars too, though he’d had enough of hospitals to last him a lifetime.
    â€˜Not much else we can do today bar sit, Fred,’ he said to the black kelpie. The rain had come yesterday. He was hoping it would stick around for a week.
    Marlene Marshall would be wishing it to hell. She was getting married today at four. He’d received an invitation, as had half the town, and if only to shut Uncle Norm and Aunt Beth up, he’d sent an acceptance. He wouldn’t be going, though. Marlene wouldn’t miss his presence – as long as he dropped off a present.
    â€˜Maybe we ought to drive into town this morning, Fred, restock the freezers and buy her something.’
    Fred grinned his assent and began the long process of getting his arthritic hips into a standing position. He still enjoyed a good sniff around town, but Ben remained seated, his gaze roaming the shed, his and Fred’s living quarters since he’d come home from the hospital and Fred, still a young larrikin, had come home from Uncle Norm’s place.
    His gaze settled a moment on a photograph of his parents. It wasn’t much of a shot, taken by the local newspaper when they’d won their last ballroom dancing championship. He glanced at an enlarged snapshot of his sister Katie. Young Danni Marshall had been her best mate at school. She’d taken that shot at a school camp, Katie the tomboy in hiking gear. Katie laughing – the way he needed to remember her. The house had gone up like matchwood. He’d dragged his parents out, but too late for his father. He hadn’t been able to get to Katie. He’d tried. Christ, how he’d tried.
    No maudlin thoughts today, mate, old Fred panted, prodding his knee. On your feet, mate.
    Ben stood, clicked his fingers, picked up his keys and wallet and they walked through the rain to his red ute. Bought second hand for his eighteenth birthday, it had seen better days, but it still got him to town when he was forced to go there.
    Â 
    He drove past the football ground – in its heyday, his old ute had spent a lot of time parked out there. Anglican church on the corner. It didn’t remind him of Jesus and the resurrection, only resurrected memories of the funerals he hadn’t attended. They’d buried Katie and his father while he was in that city hospital. Two years later, when his mother gave up the fight, he’d become the scar – Ben Beastly, as he knew a few of the town kids whispered. His hand rose to rub at his left eyebrow, then down the ridged flesh to his jaw.
    The bride’s mother had enclosed a gift list with the invitation. Toaster was on it, but she’d underlined Set of copper based stainless steel saucepans . The Kmart sold copper based saucepans – for a hundred and eighty dollars. He’d