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Contents ( 73)
  1. Contents
  2. ONE
  3. VERNON MOORE
  4. TWO
  5. CALEB MOORE
  6. THREE
  7. SIDNEY CAHILL
  8. FOUR
  9. SHARON WORNKIN
  10. FIVE
  11. SIDNEY CAHILL
  12. SIX
  13. VERNON MOORE
  14. SEVEN
  15. SIDNEY CAHILL
  16. EIGHT
  17. VERNON MOORE
  18. NINE
  19. SHARON WORNKIN
  20. TEN
  21. SIDNEY CAHILL
  22. ELEVEN
  23. VERNON MOORE
  24. TWELVE
  25. SHARON WORNKIN
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. SIDNEY CAHILL
  28. FOURTEEN
  29. VERNON MOORE
  30. FIFTEEN
  31. SHARON WORNKIN
  32. SIXTEEN
  33. VERNON MOORE
  34. SEVENTEEN
  35. SHARON WORNKIN
  36. EIGHTEEN
  37. PENELOPE MOORE
  38. NINETEEN
  39. SIDNEY CAHILL
  40. TWENTY
  41. VERNON MOORE
  42. TWENTY-ONE
  43. BRENDAN CAHILL
  44. TWENTY-TWO
  45. PENELOPE MOORE
  46. TWENTY-THREE
  47. VERNON MOORE
  48. TWENTY-FOUR
  49. SIDNEY CAHILL
  50. TWENTY-FIVE
  51. VERNON MOORE
  52. TWENTY-SIX
  53. CALEB MOORE
  54. TWENTY-SEVEN
  55. SHARON WORNKIN
  56. TWENTY-EIGHT
  57. CALEB MOORE
  58. TWENTY-NINE
  59. BRENDAN CAHILL
  60. THIRTY
  61. VERNON MOORE
  62. THIRTY-ONE
  63. SHARON WORNKIN
  64. THIRTY-TWO
  65. SIDNEY CAHILL
  66. THIRTY-THREE
  67. CALEB MOORE
  68. THIRTY-FOUR
  69. VERNON MOORE
  70. THIRTY-FIVE
  71. SHARON WORNKIN
  72. THIRTY-SIX
  73. VERNON MOORE

THIRTEEN

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SIDNEY CAHILL

They had him resting on the couch. His left arm was cradled to his chest and there was blood coating his forearms. He couldn’t make a proper fist with the hand. He kept trying.

His daughter hadn’t woken up, despite the noise. She’d somehow slept through it. He hoped. Hard to hear her over the sound of his own breathing.

His wife sat beside him cross-legged on the floor, her chin in her hands, staring at the carpet. One hand left her chin to pick at a thread in the couch. She didn’t speak or look at him.

‘Who’s with Amy?’

She breathed out. ‘She’s fine. I can hear her if she calls out.’

Brendan came in from the kitchen. His father soon followed. There was a darkness in his father’s eyes that bespoke his fury. His mother had not been called and so wasn’t present. Sidney found himself longing for her to hold him, to tell him he would be alright.

Brendan knelt down beside his brother and said, ‘Doctor’s on his way.’

‘At this time of the night? We should just go to emergency.’

‘I convinced him.’

Sidney was in too much pain to delve into what his brother may have said.

His father sat in the chair opposite him. Sidney moved, suddenly finding the fabric against the bare skin on the back of his arm scratchy. His father looked at Brendan, who sat down as though he’d been commanded, on the carpet. His father’s eyes roamed up and found his own.

‘Melbourne didn’t show?’

Sidney shook his head. His father sighed.

‘So tell me about this situation, Brendan.’

‘The old man?’

‘The old man.’

‘Caleb’s his son. I told you about him.’

‘You haven’t said a word to me about it, mate. Don’t you bloody lie now.’

Brendan looked aside. ‘I ran into Melissa. You remember her? She came out here once, for my sixteenth, when we had that?’ His father didn’t nod, just sat staring. ‘I ran into her down the street and saw her face. She still had scars, her nose didn’t sit right. I knew he’d been arrested and all that, but she’d moved away, you know? I didn’t know what he’d really done to her . . .’ He trailed off, which was unlike him. Then, ‘So I asked Sharon and she said he was out at Boodyarn serving his time for it. And I had to send a message, Dad. Like you say. Had to let him know he wasn’t to hit her again.’

There was a silence after Brendan stopped speaking. All eyes rested on Sidney, who felt uncomfortable beneath them. Cassie soon emerged from the kitchen. She had made toast, buttered and hon-eyed as he liked. She propped it on his chest and smiled at him and sat down next to Sarah, extending a sympathetic hand. Sarah took it briefly, gave it a squeeze.

‘You fancy this girl? Mel?’ their father asked.