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Back The Orchardist's Daughter
Chapters (57)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. PRAISE
  3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  4. DEDICATION
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. PART I SEEDS
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. PART II GERMINATION
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. PART III GROWTH
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. 26
  35. 27
  36. 28
  37. 29
  38. 30
  39. 31
  40. 32
  41. PART IV UNDERSTOREY
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. EPILOGUE
  57. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

‘Family history. We go way back. My grandpa was a logger on Bruny Island, and his father before him, and so on. Dad worked at the mill till he nearly cut off his hand.’

‘Shame.’

‘Yeah. It’s been hard on him. Hard on Mum too. Dad hates being on a pension. He’d rather be earning a proper wage.’ Leon couldn’t believe he was telling Wendy all this. And why was he defending his father? ‘Anyway,’ he added, ‘I’ll be cleaning loos and emptying bins.’

Wendy dodged his eyes and passed a hand over her daughter’s head. ‘I’d better get the kids in for some lunch. And you have to clean up your room, Max.’

As she herded the kids away, Leon spotted Max’s phone, still sitting on the fence post. ‘Max,’ he called. ‘You’ve left your phone. Better grab it in case it rains.’

Wendy clipped Max on the arm. ‘If you don’t look after that phone, I’m taking it back.’

The boy slouched to the fence and scooped the phone from the post. ‘It’s not going to rain today anyway,’ he grumbled.

Leon felt sorry for him. ‘Bring a footy over sometime and we’ll have a kick.’

The kid nodded.

Wendy was watching from the front porch, and Leon thought perhaps there was a glimmer of surprise on her face. She slung an arm around Max’s shoulders and guided him inside. Leon heard her say, ‘How about that, Max? We can get Dad to pump up your footy.’

When they closed the door, Leon was alone again—except for the dog, which looked at him and wagged its tail.

He didn’t trust it. He didn’t know much about dogs, but he knew one thing: they could look like friends and then bite your hand off.

2

2

Max didn’t want to tidy his room, because that was boring. He couldn’t see the point when he was just going to mess it up again. Mum kept going on as if it was important, but the rest of the house wasn’t tidy. Not like Robbo’s house down the street. His wife, Trudi, kept everything neat. Just like a display home, Mum always said. Mum reckoned Trudi had nothing else to do because she didn’t have kids and only worked part-time. But Mum didn’t work at all, so she should have had plenty of time. Max sometimes wondered what she did all day. He and Suzie weren’t hard to look after, so why couldn’t she clean his room for him? Max had other stuff to do. Like take the dog for a walk.