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Back Man at the Window Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the author

‘Would you give it to me?’ The boy looked at Carmody who said it was up to him. The boy opened his palm and held it out for the big man, who now didn’t seem to want it. He just looked at it and the boy’s arm was getting sore, but no one said anything. Finally the big man sighed like a bull again and reached for it but paused, holding his fingers over the boy’s palm without touching the bullet. The boy turned to Carmody and then Mohr, both were looking intently at the big man’s fingers. The boy shifted his other hand to hold up his outstretched arm at the elbow. He wondered if they had poured his ginger beer out because he was taking so long. The big man sat back and said.

‘I hear you had a fight this afternoon?’

‘Yes,’ the boy said looking at his outstretched arm.

‘Why do you think I want the bullet?’

The boy shook his head.

‘What if I told you I was a policeman?’

The boy pulled his hand back and put it on his lap in alarm, he imagined a policeman was asking for his father’s bullet.

The big man stood up and walked to the doorway then turned around and faced Carmody. Carmody and Mohr stood up. The boy stood up. The big man was shaking his head again. Finally, he stepped forward with an outstretched hand. Carmody and then Mohr stepped forward and shook it. The big man held his hand out to the boy. The boy dropped the frozen splash in his pocket and reached his hand out and watched it disappear as the big man shook it and let it go so the boy saw it again. He felt the big man’s big flat hand on his head and heard, ‘You’re a good man, Harper.’

The boy looked up into the lost streetlights, small lines gathered at the side of them, the lines knew each other, maybe they can help the eyes. The boy thought they would.

The big man walked to the passageway and called, ‘Paul.’

Mr Leggett and Mrs Leggett shook hands with the big man and then the young man. The big man said to the boy. ‘This young fella is Harper. Harper, this is my son, Paul.’ Harper smiled and shook hands with Paul. Paul smiled back. Paul was a big open doorway shining out into the night like Carmody.

‘You listen to Carmody. You promise me that,’ the big man said. The big man had eyes now that could stop a train.

‘Yes, sir.’

The boy had to say yes, but he wanted to.

Fifty-Four

FIFTY-FOUR

Day 20

To Kilkenny Road

10.10 p.m. Friday, 13th November 1965

The car lights picked out the edges of the over-hanging branches. It appeared as if Cardilini and Paul were driving through a tunnel of foliage. Neither had spoken.

‘I don’t quite understand what happened, Dad.’