Read Online The Lost Child by Suzanne McCourt - Free Book Online

has a mad frightened look in its eyes and froth falls from its mouth. Then it stops. Dad hangs on. The horse whinnies, lowers its head and kicks up its hind legs. Dad leans back and waves his arm in a circle to balance; the horse rears and paws at the air and then lowers his head and snorts at the dirt, and still Dad stays on.
    Everyone goes crazy, whistling and cheering. My heart is giddy with hope for Dad to win. I shout into the rodeo ring, which is really a square but I don’t care because my Dad can win, I know he can. Again he gallops past and dust full of sheep poo and cow dung flies up in my face. Right in front, the horse twists and thuds into the fence, making the railings shake, making us jump to the ground just in case. And as I climb back, I see Dad on the ground.
    â€˜That’s the winning ride or I’m a monkey’s uncle,’ says Denver Boland into the loudspeaker. ‘Good on ya, Mick. Bring on the next rider.’
    Dad finds his hat in the dirt and walks to the gate, waving and doing little bows. Then I see he’s bowing to the fence where Aunt Cele and Pardie’s mum are sitting. Although Aunt Cele has her camera, she’s not taking photos. She is laughing with that Lewis woman as if they are best friends, and that Lewis woman is making loud whistles with her fingers stuck in her mouth. The sun shines on her shorts and long legs; it shines on her waving hand and turns her hair into a ginger frizz as if she is a rowdy angel without wings. As if she is the rodeo queen. And Dad is waving to her.
    Her. It is her.
    Straightaway I jump down from the railing and follow Lizzie through the goods shed where the trains stop to unload. Aunt Cele comes up behind.
    â€˜Long time no see. How are you, Sylvie?’ She reaches out with long arms and lifts me right off my feet, pulls me around and cuddles me close. ‘See your Dad win?’
    I snap open her hands and break free of her tricks. ‘No,’ I say, as I scramble onto the platform. ‘I didn’t.’
    â€˜We did,’ says Lizzie, climbing after me.
    I push her. It feels good and I push her some more. ‘We didn’t.’
    â€˜Not the best place to play in here,’ says Aunt Cele.
    On the platform, I am taller than her. ‘We always play here.’
    She shrugs and smiles but I don’t smile back. We watch her lope through the cutting and out the other end of the shed.
    â€˜Don’t push me,’ says Lizzie, pushing me back. ‘You were rude to her. Isn’t she your auntie?’
    â€˜She’s not even a cousin. She’s nothing to me.’
    *
    Once there was a girl Phantom. She was the twin sister of the seventeenth Phantom and her name was Julie Walker. When the Phantom was injured, she took his place. She had her own costume and mask and gun. She could do everything the Phantom could do. The female of the species is more deadly than the male, she told bandits before she shot them dead.
    â€˜Don’t tell her that!’ says Dunc.
    â€˜I’ve already told her,’ says Pardie.

6
    The invitation is hot and important in my hand. I run on the road. Left. Right. Jump on the grass. Jump off again. I pass Mrs Scott’s house next door and wave the invitation but she doesn’t see. She is talking to Mrs Winkie. ‘You give them your blood and they want more.’ Mrs Scott has no blood in her face. She looks like Faye Daley’s albino rabbit with blue eyes instead of pink.
    Mum is polishing the floor again. ‘I’ve been invited to Colleen Mulligan’s party,’ I tell her but she’s waltzing around the bedroom on her polishing cloths. ‘Colleen’s having a party,’ I tell her again. ‘I have to take a present.’ But she’s off in a cleaning dream and tells me to wait outside till she’s finished.
    I sit on the back step and show the invitation to Georgie. It has balloons and laughing clown faces that make him