Sunday morning, Leon was taking his time over coffee and toast when he heard a knock at the door. When he opened up, Max was there with a pup in his hands. ‘You still carting those puppies around?’ Leon said.

The boy’s face crumpled and he burst into tears. ‘Dad took the pups away last night and he hasn’t come back. Bonnie’s the only one left. I managed to rescue her.’

Leon felt sorry for Max—it was clear what Shane had done with the pups. ‘Maybe he’s gone to Hobart to sell them,’ he suggested, trying to comfort the kid.

Max shook his head. ‘Mum thinks he’s killed them.’

Leon patted the pup on the head. ‘How did you save this one?’

‘I took her down to Robbo and Trudi, and they looked after her.’ Slumping on Leon’s front porch, Max cried into the pup’s fur, tears running down his face.

Leon had never seen anyone cry so hard. He sat down and put his arm around the boy’s skinny shoulders, which were shaking with sobs. ‘Hey, hey,’ he soothed. ‘You’ve still got this pup.’

‘But I can’t keep her. When Dad gets back, he’ll take her too.’

Leon let the kid lean against him. It was a long time since he’d held anyone—not since he’d hugged his mum goodbye back on Bruny Island. Leon was sad for the boy. For weeks he’d been watching Max take care of those pups; Max was only ten, but no one could have done better. Last night, Leon had heard shouting next door, but that wasn’t unusual for Shane and Wendy so he’d turned up the TV to drown it out. This was the same trick he’d used back home when his dad was going off. His dad used to go drinking then stagger home, rampaging and looking for a fight. It had taken Leon a while to figure out what was going on. In the beginning, he’d been living in Hobart and didn’t know why Mum was being evasive on the phone. Then, one weekend, he’d dropped home to see his folks and was surprised to find the curtains drawn and nobody around. He’d hunted for the key that usually hung in the hedge but it wasn’t there, so he’d gone for a walk on the beach. When he returned, he’d spotted his mum cringing behind the lounge-room curtains and he’d yelled at her to open up because, for God’s sake, he’d come home to see her and why the hell wouldn’t she let him in? She’d timidly opened the front door, and Leon had known straight away what was happening—the evidence was clear. After that, he’d made arrangements to move home and take a job on the island instead of applying for one of the bigger parks.