Read Online The Mary Smokes Boys by Patrick Holland - Free Book Online
Authors: Patrick Holland
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official whose job it was to glove the local fighters, but Eccleston’s gloves were tied in a corner of the tent by Matt Thiebaud. Thiebaud pulled the gloves tight and got Eccleston to squeeze and open his hand while Raughrie Norman stood by to no purpose. Grey caught his sister peeking back through the bodies of the crowd at the broad-shouldered boy she knew well but who seemed strange to her now, slamming his gloved fists together and looking fiercely ring-ward.
The Italian-looking boy that Mahony called Kid Valentine limbered up in the human ring, eyes gleaming with hollow confidence. But Eccleston would not be rushed. When his gloves were tied the fight began.
Eccleston pushed hard and close into Kid Valentine’s body so the boy could not get a decent punch off and was forced to wheel back to regain his reach. With the boy unsteady on his back foot, Eccleston threw a short left hook into his mouth then hit him with his favoured right and blood flew into the air and onto the dirt and the troupe fighter fell into the crowd on his back. Grey felt a pull on his shirt and Irene looked up at him with confused and teary eyes.
“All right,” he said.
THEY WENT TO the town’s café and shared a toasted cheese sandwich and an iced coffee. In awhile Grey saw Eccleston come onto the street with the boys slapping him on the back and smiling. Twenty dollars a minute and three three-minute rounds. He had earned a decent purse for the night. Grey knew the boys would go to one or other of the bigger district towns now to squander the better part of the money between them. Eccleston looked around on the street for him. Grey did not call out. Eccleston had seen Irene was with him and would understand.
HE PARKED THE truck by the back fence and they walked to Lake Wivenhoe.
He did not expect to find the boys at the lake. He thought they would already be gone. By the time he was aware of them it was too late to turn back.
“Where were you this afternoon?’ Thiebaud called.
“I was there. I left early. Where’s Ook?”
“He’s comin later. He had somethin or other to do with Pos. The whisky run, probably.”
“Easy win?”
“Not so easy in the end. He had some fight in him, that bastard.”
Grey sat down on a hessian sack and Irene sat beside him. Wisps of red cloud drifted under a frayed grey blanket like loosed flares. Drowned eucalypts stood in the shallows of the lake and the rippling water slapped against them. Then the red clouds turned white and were shredded by the wind and the boys sat in a deep blue dusk.
“She go with you everywhere?’ said Hart Bates, leaning back with a bottle of beer.
Grey glanced at his sister. She tried not to look embarrassed. He glared at Bates and the boy turned away and hurled a stone into the lake. Bates said something under his breath to Raughrie Norman. It was not a great insult–only that there was no point carting around girls who were not good for the one thing girls
were good for. Still, Raughrie Norman shook his head and refused to answer.
Thiebaud threw an empty beer bottle that struck Bates on the shoulder. He talked through his cigarette.
“Hart, if you weren’t so clever as you are, you’d be an idiot.”
“Lucky for me.”
“Real lucky.”
Grey smiled reassurance at his sister. He asked the boys where they were going.
“Toogoolawah, Crows Nest, Villeneuve,” Thiebaud said. “We’ll see when Ook gets here. You comin?”
“I think I’ll stay home.”
He knew Irene would not go back to the restaurant now, even if Amy was working.
Grey stood and said that they had things to do. Thiebaud reached up to loosely shake Grey’s hand and said he would see him tomorrow.
They walked back toward the house.
A bulky figure with a bushel cornsack rolled up on his shoulder appeared out of the blue dark. Another body came behind, scrawny and black like one of the scrub trees in the flat country to the west.
Eccleston said he had been at Grey’s house.
The Italian-looking boy that Mahony called Kid Valentine limbered up in the human ring, eyes gleaming with hollow confidence. But Eccleston would not be rushed. When his gloves were tied the fight began.
Eccleston pushed hard and close into Kid Valentine’s body so the boy could not get a decent punch off and was forced to wheel back to regain his reach. With the boy unsteady on his back foot, Eccleston threw a short left hook into his mouth then hit him with his favoured right and blood flew into the air and onto the dirt and the troupe fighter fell into the crowd on his back. Grey felt a pull on his shirt and Irene looked up at him with confused and teary eyes.
“All right,” he said.
THEY WENT TO the town’s café and shared a toasted cheese sandwich and an iced coffee. In awhile Grey saw Eccleston come onto the street with the boys slapping him on the back and smiling. Twenty dollars a minute and three three-minute rounds. He had earned a decent purse for the night. Grey knew the boys would go to one or other of the bigger district towns now to squander the better part of the money between them. Eccleston looked around on the street for him. Grey did not call out. Eccleston had seen Irene was with him and would understand.
HE PARKED THE truck by the back fence and they walked to Lake Wivenhoe.
He did not expect to find the boys at the lake. He thought they would already be gone. By the time he was aware of them it was too late to turn back.
“Where were you this afternoon?’ Thiebaud called.
“I was there. I left early. Where’s Ook?”
“He’s comin later. He had somethin or other to do with Pos. The whisky run, probably.”
“Easy win?”
“Not so easy in the end. He had some fight in him, that bastard.”
Grey sat down on a hessian sack and Irene sat beside him. Wisps of red cloud drifted under a frayed grey blanket like loosed flares. Drowned eucalypts stood in the shallows of the lake and the rippling water slapped against them. Then the red clouds turned white and were shredded by the wind and the boys sat in a deep blue dusk.
“She go with you everywhere?’ said Hart Bates, leaning back with a bottle of beer.
Grey glanced at his sister. She tried not to look embarrassed. He glared at Bates and the boy turned away and hurled a stone into the lake. Bates said something under his breath to Raughrie Norman. It was not a great insult–only that there was no point carting around girls who were not good for the one thing girls
were good for. Still, Raughrie Norman shook his head and refused to answer.
Thiebaud threw an empty beer bottle that struck Bates on the shoulder. He talked through his cigarette.
“Hart, if you weren’t so clever as you are, you’d be an idiot.”
“Lucky for me.”
“Real lucky.”
Grey smiled reassurance at his sister. He asked the boys where they were going.
“Toogoolawah, Crows Nest, Villeneuve,” Thiebaud said. “We’ll see when Ook gets here. You comin?”
“I think I’ll stay home.”
He knew Irene would not go back to the restaurant now, even if Amy was working.
Grey stood and said that they had things to do. Thiebaud reached up to loosely shake Grey’s hand and said he would see him tomorrow.
They walked back toward the house.
A bulky figure with a bushel cornsack rolled up on his shoulder appeared out of the blue dark. Another body came behind, scrawny and black like one of the scrub trees in the flat country to the west.
Eccleston said he had been at Grey’s house.
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