Dad came home just on dark, and Mum called Max to dinner. It was meat and three veg again: barbecue chops with boiled potato, carrots and peas. Suzie was picking at her peas like they were poison, but Mum and Dad ignored her. If Max had mucked around with his food like that, he would have been in trouble. Nobody was talking much so he thought he’d better fill in the space. He didn’t like it when Mum and Dad were quiet because that meant an argument might be brewing. ‘Rosie got her stitches out,’ he said, knocking his plate with a clatter that made Dad look up.

‘Why is your fork in the wrong hand?’ Dad said. ‘If you’re going to eat like an animal you can go out with the dog.’

That wasn’t a bad idea. Max wouldn’t mind being outside with Rosie. At least it was quiet out there. No arguments. And nobody telling him what to do. He picked up his plate and fork to go, but Dad yelled at him to sit back down. Max shook his head—he couldn’t win.

‘Did it cost anything to get those stitches out?’ Dad asked, scowling.

‘No. Leon said it was free.’

‘Damn right, it ought to be free. Especially when I didn’t want it done in the first place.’

‘Her scar looks good. That’s what Leon said.’

Dad glared at Max. ‘What would he know? He’s a bloody Parkie.’

Max asked, ‘What’s that?’

‘Someone who works in the National Park,’ Mum said. ‘A ranger.’

‘A Parkie is someone who locks up trees and steals people’s jobs,’ Dad snarled, leaning across the table towards Max. ‘And don’t you forget it.’

‘Is that what Leon does?’ Max asked Mum. Sometimes Dad got all hot about things that weren’t true.

‘He empties rubbish bins and fixes up trails,’ Mum said.

‘He’s a damned greenie, that’s what he is,’ Dad insisted.

‘His family were all loggers,’ Mum said.

‘Sounds like bullshit to me. You believe him?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Then you’re just as clueless as he is.’

Max bent his head and got on with eating. The sooner he was done, the sooner he could get out of here.

After dinner he found Rosie in the shed, sitting in a funny position and pushing with her tummy. Max wondered if a bone had got stuck, then he realised she might be squeezing out a pup. He ran inside and fetched his torch so he could see. By the time he got back, Rosie had dropped something on the blankets and was eating a piece of red rubbery meat. Was she eating her pup?