Max liked wedgies. They were cool birds. Maybe Dad would take him up there to see them.

‘Did you know about the nest?’ Mum asked.

‘Yeah, I saw it when we first started logging the site. We shouldn’t have been there. I thought about reporting it, but it’s not my job. That’s what those government bastards are paid for.’

‘Where are they going to send you instead? Have they got another site lined up?’

‘Don’t know.’

‘I hope they keep paying you. We have to eat, and there’s nothing in the bank.’

Max had noticed the dog food in the shed was getting low too.

‘Time to get rid of those pups,’ Dad said.

Max tensed. He hadn’t found homes for them yet.

Now it was Mum’s turn to go quiet. ‘I don’t think we need to do that yet, Shane,’ she said, more gently. ‘They give the kids so much pleasure.’

‘We can’t keep them forever.’

Max felt sick. He’d stopped washing the dishes, and Mum called out, ‘You finished yet, Max?’

‘Nearly.’ He slopped water over the last of the plates and shoved them on the rack. He needed to check the pups again.

They were fine. Still six of them, all curled up with Rosie.

When he went back inside, Mum was drying Suzie in the bathroom and Dad had disappeared somewhere. In the lounge room, Max saw Dad’s pack of cigarettes on the coffee table. He could hear Dad in the loo. Holding his breath, Max opened the packet, took three out and shoved them in his pocket. His heart was thumping like mad, but luckily the pack was almost full, so hopefully Dad wouldn’t notice.

He’d done it! Tomorrow he could give those cigarettes to Jaden and it would be over with.

At recess next day, Max was tugging his playlunch out of his bag when Jaden grabbed him by the arm, shoved him against the lockers and snarled, ‘Have you got them?’

That wrecked the rest of the day for Max—he was so scared he couldn’t do his work in class. He kept thinking about what would happen if he got caught giving cigarettes to Jaden. But he had to, or Jaden would bash him.

After school, he went behind the toilets where Jaden and Callum were waiting. ‘So,’ Jaden sneered, ‘did you bring matches?’

‘Yeah.’ Luckily Max had thought of that. He gave Jaden a box of Redheads he’d taken from the fireplace at home. Then he produced the smokes from his pocket. ‘One each,’ he said, handing them out. They were a bit squashed, but Callum seemed to think he was cool.

Jaden took the best cigarette and put it between his lips. Then he tried to light a match, breaking six before he managed to get a flame. ‘Crap matches,’ he said. ‘Get better ones next time.’