BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

‘Like I said before, Carl was very kind to us when we were kids. Little kids, I mean. Hard to believe it now I guess, but he always made sure Mum had what she needed, for me, so the school wouldn’t know what was going on with Dad. The police neither. After Dad left I acted up quite a bit. I’d run off to town on my own. Got picked up for shoplifting a few times. This was all in primary school. They were useless, just ruffled my hair and told me not to do it again. And Carl was always there, would straighten things out, turn on the charm when the police brought me home. I think they thought he was my brother. Or step-dad. And he’s still doing it – covering our tracks.’

‘Covering his own tracks, too.’

‘Yeah. So Mum never reports it if I don’t come home for a few nights, and she phones in every day to say I’m ill when Carl tells her to. It’s like she’s working for him. And everyone at school judges me as some kind of slut. All they saw was the jewellery and clothes and stuff that he was giving me, back before… That’s why I don’t really have friends anymore.’

‘What about Miss Amber?’

Dana looks for a second like she’s ready to spill blood. ‘Even Miss Amber. Especially Miss Amber. I kind of told her about him once, even though she’s hated me from the start. I said I had an older boyfriend. She said she’d heard and asked if everything was OK, if there was anything I wanted to tell her. I said no. Maybe she thought I was bragging or something, like my friends did. Maybe she thought it was inevitable. That that’s what girls like me do. And now every time I try to talk to her I just get so angry, and all I can do is swear at her, which just makes things worse. So I can’t tell her. I can’t tell any of them. They’re all against me.’

‘What about Mr Walters? He’s alright, isn’t he?’ I don’t know why I say this. I regret it instantly.

‘No. Him neither.’ Dana seems to shiver.

‘The police?’

‘What are they going to do about it? They never did anything when Dad was still around. Or after he left. Maybe they’d care now, about Carl and what he’s doing, but why would they bother with someone like me, who….’

I stop turning soil, lean on the fork.