Minimalist Gossip Magazine Cover (49).pdf (23) - Flipbook - Page 63
GREEN GRASS
by Leila Wright
It’s a sticky night and my bedroom window is all the way open. My room’s next to
the front door so I’ll know how bad he is, even if I can’t see him. Mum turns off the
outside light and says it’s his own bloody fault. If she leaves it on for him, it’ll shine
through my window and keep me awake. She doesn’t know I stay awake anyway,
waiting for him.
I hear Dad’s truck swing into the driveway and then the headlights flash across
my curtains. He drops his keys as he gets out of the truck and whispers a bad
word. At the door, I hear him say, ‘whoa’ and giggle a little. Then it sounds like he’s
stabbing at the lock. Finally, he turns the key.
Now that he’s safe, I close my eyes. The zappy sound of the light comes on in the
kitchen, and then I hear him gulping water from the tap. The light goes off and he
stops outside my bedroom door. I hope he doesn’t come in. When he does, I
pretend to sleep while he pets my hair like I’m a cat.
School’s out and Mum’s working. Dad says we’ll have fun, the two of us. Maybe
go to the beach or see a movie. But we don’t. We go to Judy’s house, and I play
with Judy’s idiot son Aaron while Dad and Judy drink wine on her glassed-in
veranda. The first time I was at Judy’s I didn’t know the glass was there and I flew
into it like that kookaburra at Gran’s place that died under the kitchen window. I
didn’t die, but I felt stupid. Aaron, who really is stupid, laughed at me for ages.
Judy’s house is clean. That’s why I ran into the glass. Judy’s always wiping away
smudges. If you put a cup down on her table, she’ll wipe away the water ring and
stick a coaster under your cup. Like she’s been waiting for you to muck up her
table. Waiting with a cloth and a coaster.
Judy is pretty and she smells nice. She has little porcelain dolls in a cabinet,
green grass in her garden, and flowers growing everywhere. Judy and Dad match.
They’re both little and they move fast. They like to talk and drink wine and laugh.
Mum’s taller than Dad and way bigger. Mum’s always tired and grumpy and just
wants to watch TV. One time, Mum and Dad were fighting late at night and then it
went quiet real quick. I snuck out of bed and peeked into the lounge room. Mum
was sitting in her TV chair with Dad on her lap, rocking him like a baby. I think he
was crying. I don’t know why.
The next day, we don’t go to the beach again. Aaron’s at his dad’s house, so Judy
puts me in the guest room with a box of books, a plate with three Tim Tams on it, a
glass of milk and a thick pile of serviettes to wipe my chocolatey fingers on. She
says don’t get chocolate on the books. They are classic books, she says. Some
have beautiful pictures in them. They used to be her books when she was a girl.
Now I can have them. She tells me to relax and read and maybe have a nap while
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