Read Online Through the Cracks by Honey Brown - Free Book Online Page B

his face were gone. His lips were large and soft. A curly lock of hair cupped his earlobe.
    ‘Kid, you’re staring.’
    Adam looked away.
    Scotty was standing in the hallway. He jerked his thumb towards the lounge room. ‘A word?’
    Billy winked at Adam.
    Although they spoke in lowered voices Adam could hear them from the kitchen.
    ‘That kid’s not normal,’ Scotty said.
    ‘He’s all right.’
    ‘No, he’s not. What’s the story with him?’
    ‘He was hanging around.’
    ‘Something’s not right. He’s not a street kid. He’s not a runaway.’ Scotty’s voice dropped further. Adam strained to hear. ‘You can see he’s not right.’
    ‘That’s not very nice.’
    ‘Don’t be a dickhead.’
    ‘We need to hang out here until tomorrow.’
    ‘No way.’
    ‘You won’t even know we’re here. We’ll watch TV, we won’t eat.’
    ‘Stop fucking around.’
    ‘I need a pair of shoes then.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘You reckon you feel sorry for him, give him a pair of shoes.’
    ‘Why are you turning into such an arse?’
    ‘I walked him all the way here, right? I could have left him where I found him, and, let me tell you, where I found him wasn’t great.’
    ‘I’ll give you a pair of shoes if you swear you’ll take him somewhere. Take him to that joint down near the old pool. Do that and then come back here.’
    ‘Yeah, all right.’
    ‘Come on, Billy, that kid needs help, don’t fuck around.’
    ‘I said all right.’
    ‘All right then.’
    As well as Scotty’s sneakers, Adam got a pair of socks, a pair of tracksuit pants and a faded black T-shirt. The sneakers fitted okay. The clothes were baggy. Billy crouched and pushed Adam’s fingers away when he saw that he couldn’t tie the laces.
    Billy and Adam walked out through the front gates of the caravan park. Adam realised how close they were to bushland. Streets and roads, shops and houses extended all the way up to the base of a tree-filled hill. They began down the sloping pavement, away from the bush. Billy lit a smoke.
    ‘It’s all around that Joe died of a heart attack. Cops can spread something like that, though, so everyone relaxes and starts to talk. It’s gotta be like we weren’t there, that’s the best way. Yeah?’
    ‘Will someone move in there?’
    ‘Hey?’
    ‘Will someone move into the house?’
    ‘I dunno. What sort of question is that? Some relo will get it, I guess. Whoever moves in isn’t going to be your long-lost aunt or uncle, if that’s what you’re getting at.’
    ‘Will they bury him?’
    ‘Of course they’ll bury him. Are you upset he’s dead or something? Don’t give them nothing, kid, not even when they’re dead. Every word out of their mouths is shit. They lie so you don’t know up from down. Whatever bullshit he told you, you’ve gotta forget it. Do you want a smoke?’
    Adam shook his head.

B illy stole a car. It was parked in a quiet street. They hung back a moment before walking up to it. It was old and yellow. The seats were covered in grey fabric. He reached in through a small side window to unlock it, fiddled under the dash to start it.
    ‘Zippy little thing,’ he said as they drove off.
    Adam wound his window down and looked at the houses and the shops. He looked at the yards. They went past a school. The buildings were narrow and low. It had a cricket ground and a playground. Children were outside. It was a hot day. Above the sound of the traffic were the sounds of the children’s squeals and shouts. Billy was talking, names and places, words, explanations, things Adam didn’t understand, said too fast to try to grasp. As Billy spoke he kept glancing across, frowning at Adam the same way Scotty had. He knew. Anyone who really looked could spot it, couldn’t they? The way Adam didn’t belong. But what could Adam say to change that? He doubted his lips would make the shapes or that his tongue could form the words; if his head could barely think of the things his father had done, how