Read Online Two Wolves by Tristan Bancks - Free Book Online

two were dead.’
    â€˜No. Still alive,’ Ben said.
    The table was filled with food. The sight and smell of it filled his mouth with saliva. Olive sat on a wooden crate. The only thing left for Ben to sit on was the old green metal trunk. He dragged it over and sat, grabbing at the food, filling his paper plate and stuffing crackers and cheese into his mouth.
    â€˜Slow down,’ Mum said. But she soon forgot and they ate like a pack of wolves, swallowing food in great chunks, desperate to fill the empty space. They didn’t speak until the tide of hunger had gone out and the sugar had reached their brains.
    â€˜Ooohhhhhhhh,’ Ben groaned.
    â€˜Good, is it?’ Mum asked.
    â€˜So goooood,’ he said in a funny, croaky voice and they all laughed. Even Dad.
    Afternoon sun fell in through the window. The cabin felt brighter than it had that morning. Dad reached into his pocket and banged a small box down on the table in front of Ben.
    Ben looked at it and then up to his father.
    â€˜Open it.’
    Ben was suspicious. Dad wasn’t known for buying presents. He left that to Mum. She even bought her own birthday presents. Ben picked up the box. It was small and plain and grey. Ben wondered if there was some kind of punishment or prank inside. He carefully opened a cardboard flap at one end and let the contents slide out onto his palm. A smile washed over his face. He clutched his fingers around it.
    â€˜Ray!’ Mum said.
    â€˜What?’ Dad asked, wiping mayonnaise from the corner of his mouth.
    Mum clicked her tongue and shook her head.
    It was a knife. Swiss Army. Red with a white cross. A serious one. Chunky, with metal sides that felt cold on his fingers. Ben flipped out a large blade, then another smaller one.
    Mum stood to clear the plates.
    â€˜You think you can take care of it?’ Dad asked.
    Ben nodded. He flipped out a saw, a tiny pair of pliers, a corkscrew, scissors, a screwdriver and some small, mysterious, pointy tools. He picked a tiny pair of tweezers and a toothpick out of the side of the knife.
    â€˜I want one!’ Olive said, sticking her bottom lip out.
    â€˜Ah, for you . . .’ Dad said, taking a large box out of one of the tall paper shopping bags sitting on the floor behind him. He gave it to Olive and she did a dance, pretending to play electric guitar with the box. This was the first interaction between Dad and Olive in over a week.
    Ben was mesmerised by his knife. When every arm had been folded out he sat and looked at his dazzling red, white and silver spider. It was the best thing he had ever owned.
    â€˜What do you say to Dad?’ Mum asked, closing up containers, clearing plates, throwing them into a plastic bag.
    â€˜Thanks,’ Ben said without looking up. He was already thinking about the raft and how he could cut and screw and saw it with his knife and make it sturdier and take off downstream. He almost started talking about it but something stopped him. He needed to keep his secret world by the creek for himself.
    â€˜Awesome!’ Olive said. She was holding a skateboard with a blue plastic deck and red wheels. She had been asking for one since she was four. Ben wondered where she would ride it out here.
    Dad reached into his pocket and placed another small container on the table. ‘My love,’ he said. Ben looked up. He had only heard his father call Mum ‘my love’ once or twice. It sounded weird and uncomfortable.
    Mum turned from where she was crouched packing food into the esky. She stood, eyes wide, looking like a little girl. Dad snapped open the top of the box and Mum’s eyes kindled. She took what was inside and slipped it onto her finger. It was a ring with a diamond in it.
    Mum flung her arms around Dad, kissing him all over his face a thousand times. Ben didn’t really like watching his parents kiss.
    â€˜Do you realise that this is the first real present you’ve bought me in