Leon put his arms around her and held tight. She was so wracked with pain for that man—didn’t she remember what he’d done? Leon hadn’t forgotten her bruises, the loss of light in her eyes. Even now he couldn’t kick his old habit of checking his watch at four-thirty each afternoon, because that was the time he used to start driving home so he could be there when his dad arrived, tanked and on fire, ready to lay into his mum. This illness was karma, Leon thought. What goes around comes around. If there was a god, then he had come to get his dad at last.

He unwrapped his arms from his mum and gently held on to her shoulders so he could look into her face. ‘How long is he going to be in here?’

‘A few days, maybe a week …’

‘Well, you can’t live here with him.’

‘No, I’m going to check into a hotel.’

Back in the room, Grandpa was sitting on the bed, holding Reg by the hand. Was it that serious, Leon wondered? Was his dad going to die?

Driving home with Grandpa, Leon probed himself to detect any softening towards his dad, but it seemed his heart had turned to stone. Grandpa knew it, the discerning old bastard, and Leon sensed he was about to be attacked with a pick. When they pulled up outside the old people’s home, Grandpa laid in. ‘The last man as perfect as you walked on water,’ he said.

Leon was offended. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You have to forgive, lad. Nobody’s perfect.’

‘Some are less perfect than others.’

‘Your father is sick as a dog. Where’s your heart?’

‘You didn’t see what he did to her.’

‘And I’m glad I didn’t—I’m sure it was a terrible thing. But she’s forgiven him, so why can’t you?’

‘She shouldn’t.’

‘But she has. So you have to too.’

‘I can’t. This is what he deserves.’

‘Live in anger. Die in anger. Live in peace …’

‘Yeah, all right … Die in peace.’

‘Think about it, lad. Promise me you will.’

‘I’ll think about it.’ Leon gripped the steering wheel. He was still living in anger. There was no peace in sight.

‘Can you take me again tomorrow?’ Grandpa asked.

‘Can’t go till the weekend now, after Saturday’s game.’

‘What if he’s dead then?’

‘He won’t be. Only the good die young.’

He waited while Grandpa punched a code into the security pad and the front sliding doors eased open. Grandpa looked back and waved. ‘Just climbing the stairway to heaven,’ he called with a crooked grin.

It’s buying, Leon thought.