Leon had had a long day. He’d left for the park early that morning to meet a minibus-load of volunteers, then spent seven hours organising them into jobs and making sure they enjoyed their work and felt useful. It had been a tough call because of their varying ages and fitness. A few had been young and able uni students on holidays, wanting to do something worthwhile, but the rest had been either overweight or old and arthritic, and one was so ancient that Grandpa might have been more efficient. Leon had given the young people spades and barrows while designating lighter tasks to the oldies. They were all supposed to have brought their own food, but he knew from experience that volunteers came with different levels of preparation. Luckily he’d dropped in at Miki’s this morning and stocked up on lollies and chocolate. And they’d been fortunate with the weather today. Up in the mountains, even in spring, wind could whisk in a cold front in minutes. Bad weather had been forecast, but the rain held off most of the day, and the views had been excellent—to the east, the lowlands on the coast and the steely blue sea; to the west, the rumpled blanket of mountains. In the end they’d completed a reasonable amount of work before the weather came in: big purple clouds rising up from the ocean and marching over the mountains.

Now Leon was tired and hanging out for a shower, and he didn’t feel up to dealing with Max. But there was no dodging it. The kid looked upset. Leon remembered the discussion he’d had with Miki last week. Maybe Max had been caught stealing.

‘You okay?’ Leon asked, approaching the boy and the dog. He hoped Bonnie had been working her magic. Dogs were good at mood-reading; they seemed to know when you needed company.

Max’s voice wobbled. ‘Yeah, fine.’

Obviously not fine but trying hard to be brave. ‘Do you want to come in?’ Leon glanced at the ominous clouds; it could rain any time.

Max shook his head.

‘How about I bring some food out then?’

‘Nah. I’ve had afternoon tea.’

‘Want to kick a footy?’ They hadn’t kicked balls in a while.

‘Yeah, okay.’

Leon grabbed a footy from the laundry, and they knocked it around out the back. Bonnie kept trying to run off with it, and Leon tried to distract her with her own mangled ball, firing kicks at Max in between. It wasn’t much fun. Max was quiet, even when Leon asked questions.

‘How was your day?’

‘Good.’

‘Anything interesting?’

‘Nah.’

‘Any problems at school?’

‘Nup.’