allowing my hands to fall to my knees.
The dogâs still with me and I look over as if to say,
If thereâs more of this on the way home, I like it.
9
âO I ,â R UBE SAID TO ME WHEN I MADE IT IN THAT NIGHT. âWhat the hell happened to you? Youâre a bit late arenât yâ?â
âI know,â I nodded.
âThereâs soup in the pot,â Mrs Wolfe cut in.
I lifted the lid off it, which is usually the worst thing you can ever do. It clears the kitchen though, which was pretty useful that night, considering. I wasnât really in the mood to be answering questions, especially from Rube. What was I going to tell him? âAh, you know mate. I was just out with your old girlfriend. You donât mind do yâ?â No way.
The soup took a few minutes and I sat and ate it alone.
As I ate, I started coming to terms with what had happened. I mean, itâs not every day something like
that
happens to you, and when it does, you canât help but struggle to believe it.
Her voice kept arriving in me.
âCameron?â
âCameron?â
After hearing it a few times, I turned around to find Sarah talking to me as well.
âYou okay?â she asked.
I smiled at her. âOf course,â and we washed up.
Later, Rube and I went over and collected Miffy, walking him till he started wheezing again.
âHe sounds bloody terrible. Maybe heâs got the flu or somethinâ,â Rube suggested. âOr the clap.â
âWhatâs the clap?â
âIâm not sure. I think itâs some kind of sex disease.â
âWell I donât think heâs got that.â
When we took him back over to Keith he said Miffy got fur balls a lot, which made sense, since that dog seemed to be made up of ninety per cent fur; a couple per cent flesh; a few per cent bones; and one or two per cent barking, whingeing and carrying on. Mostly fur, though. Worse than a cat.
We gave him a last pat and left.
On our front porch I asked Rube how this Julia girl was going.
âScrubber,â I imagined him announcing, but knew he wouldnât.
âAh, not bad, yâ know,â he replied. âSheâs not the best but sheâs not the worst either. No complaints really.â It didnât take long for a girl to go from brilliant to run-of-the-mill with Rube.
âFair enough.â
For a moment, I almost asked how Octavia rated, but I wasnât interested in her the way Rube was, so there was no point. It wasnât important. For me, it was the way that thoughts of her could reach deeper inside me that was important. I just couldnât stop thinking about her, as I convinced myself about everything that had happened.
Her appearance on the street in Glebe.
Her question.
The train.
All of it.
We sat there a while on the worn-out couch Dad put out there a few summers ago and watched the traffic amble by.
âWhat are youse starinâ at?â a scrubberish sort of girl snapped at us as she idled past on the footpath.
âNothinâ,â Rube answered, and we could only laugh a while as she swore at us for no reason and continued walking.
My thoughts turned inward.
In each passing moment, Octavia found a way further inside me. Even when Rube started talking again, I was back on the train, pushing my way through the humans, the sweat and the suits.
âAre we workinâ with Dad this Saturday?â Rube stamped out my thoughts.
âIâm pretty sure we are,â I said, and Rube got up and went inside. I stayed on the porch a fair while longer. I thought about the next night, and standing outside Octaviaâs house.
I didnât sleep that night.
The sheets stuck to me and I turned and got tangled in them. At one point, I even got up and just sat in the kitchen. It was past two in the morning then, and when Mrs Wolfe got up to go to the toilet, she came to see who was there.
âHey,â I
The dogâs still with me and I look over as if to say,
If thereâs more of this on the way home, I like it.
9
âO I ,â R UBE SAID TO ME WHEN I MADE IT IN THAT NIGHT. âWhat the hell happened to you? Youâre a bit late arenât yâ?â
âI know,â I nodded.
âThereâs soup in the pot,â Mrs Wolfe cut in.
I lifted the lid off it, which is usually the worst thing you can ever do. It clears the kitchen though, which was pretty useful that night, considering. I wasnât really in the mood to be answering questions, especially from Rube. What was I going to tell him? âAh, you know mate. I was just out with your old girlfriend. You donât mind do yâ?â No way.
The soup took a few minutes and I sat and ate it alone.
As I ate, I started coming to terms with what had happened. I mean, itâs not every day something like
that
happens to you, and when it does, you canât help but struggle to believe it.
Her voice kept arriving in me.
âCameron?â
âCameron?â
After hearing it a few times, I turned around to find Sarah talking to me as well.
âYou okay?â she asked.
I smiled at her. âOf course,â and we washed up.
Later, Rube and I went over and collected Miffy, walking him till he started wheezing again.
âHe sounds bloody terrible. Maybe heâs got the flu or somethinâ,â Rube suggested. âOr the clap.â
âWhatâs the clap?â
âIâm not sure. I think itâs some kind of sex disease.â
âWell I donât think heâs got that.â
When we took him back over to Keith he said Miffy got fur balls a lot, which made sense, since that dog seemed to be made up of ninety per cent fur; a couple per cent flesh; a few per cent bones; and one or two per cent barking, whingeing and carrying on. Mostly fur, though. Worse than a cat.
We gave him a last pat and left.
On our front porch I asked Rube how this Julia girl was going.
âScrubber,â I imagined him announcing, but knew he wouldnât.
âAh, not bad, yâ know,â he replied. âSheâs not the best but sheâs not the worst either. No complaints really.â It didnât take long for a girl to go from brilliant to run-of-the-mill with Rube.
âFair enough.â
For a moment, I almost asked how Octavia rated, but I wasnât interested in her the way Rube was, so there was no point. It wasnât important. For me, it was the way that thoughts of her could reach deeper inside me that was important. I just couldnât stop thinking about her, as I convinced myself about everything that had happened.
Her appearance on the street in Glebe.
Her question.
The train.
All of it.
We sat there a while on the worn-out couch Dad put out there a few summers ago and watched the traffic amble by.
âWhat are youse starinâ at?â a scrubberish sort of girl snapped at us as she idled past on the footpath.
âNothinâ,â Rube answered, and we could only laugh a while as she swore at us for no reason and continued walking.
My thoughts turned inward.
In each passing moment, Octavia found a way further inside me. Even when Rube started talking again, I was back on the train, pushing my way through the humans, the sweat and the suits.
âAre we workinâ with Dad this Saturday?â Rube stamped out my thoughts.
âIâm pretty sure we are,â I said, and Rube got up and went inside. I stayed on the porch a fair while longer. I thought about the next night, and standing outside Octaviaâs house.
I didnât sleep that night.
The sheets stuck to me and I turned and got tangled in them. At one point, I even got up and just sat in the kitchen. It was past two in the morning then, and when Mrs Wolfe got up to go to the toilet, she came to see who was there.
âHey,â I
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