In the quiet the younger one turned to Sidney and smiled. ‘You look real banged up.’

‘I feel it.’

‘Can you move the arm?’

Sidney shook his head.

‘And a roo did all that?’

‘Kicked me in the chest a few times.’

‘And was he an old bloke?’

Sidney looked at his father. ‘He was old. Not sure how old.’

The man sat down on the end of the couch, near Sidney’s feet. He looked up at Ernie. ‘So what’s the plan?’

‘We’ve just been through all this,’ Ernie said. ‘We don’t have a plan. Our plan right now is to get my boy a doctor and after that I’ve got some people we can call. If it’s local, we’ll sort it. Your product will turn up.’

‘I know a few people, too,’ Sharon added.

‘And we’re not looking into this Moore bloke?’

Sharon said, ‘I’ll have a look.’

The younger man said, ‘I don’t think I need to tell you how important that produce is to us. We run a pretty tight ship in Melbourne. I don’t know what it’s like out here, but in the city, when we say we’re going to do something, we do it. So when we tell our customers we’ll have something for them, and we don’t have it, well, we lose our integrity. I don’t have to tell you all this, right? You know all this.’

Ernie nodded. ‘Yeah. I get it.’

‘As long as you do.’

‘I said I bloody get it.’

That smirk again. ‘You get riled up quickly, don’t you? Man like you should have more patience.’

‘You’re in my house talking to me like I’m thick in the head. And my son’s there next to you, bleeding all over the place because he was out doing something for you lot. You need to show some damn respect!’

His father rarely raised his voice. Easy to see he was rattled. The younger man did not seem put off. He smiled as their father’s red face breathed in front of him. He stood and walked slowly over to the door.

‘Sharon, you alright if we leave you here?’

‘I’ll find my way home, sure.’

With his back to them he said, ‘A person who commands respect doesn’t have to throw a tantrum about it. They just have it. And clearly, you don’t. I’m not having a go. Just addressing the problem.’ He turned to face them and fiddled with the wedding band on his finger. ‘I understand things happen, make no mistake, but if you’d been doing things the right way, nobody’d dare cross you. If this town truly feared you, we wouldn’t be here. You don’t command their respect. Which is, I’m sure, something you’d love me to keep from the higher ups. And you—’ he looked at Sharon—‘need to be of more help. How did something like this happen without you knowing about it?’ He looked around at all of them. ‘Get it fixed. You have two days. You hear me?’