storm laughs
at your rage, and the biting Dark laughs with it.
Was a while he walked the earth, buried himself when the Sun came up. But he took
to the roads. He took to the roads, and he wasn’t all cruel.
The Imperatives bound him, even then.
CHAPTER
10
IF I HADN’T been all busy yawning and grumbling under my breath, I’d have seen it
before it hit me. Might have been able to duck, but no. I fell on my bum, blinking,
and the missile bounced off me and rolled away. I’m up quick, and there’s a laugh
in the not too distance, a laugh I know well. One that brings a bit of heat to my
face.
‘Very funny,’ I yell, eyes scanning the trees on the edge of the property, rubbing
my head where the half-ripe peach struck it.
A small shape drops from the tree nearest, light-footed as she’s deadly with a peach.
She’s holding another and grinning, fierce as any Day Boy.
Takes a bite. ‘Thought you’d fancy some breakfast,’ she says between crunches.
‘No time for playing, Anne.’
Anne throws the peach at me. This time I’m ready, but it nearly gets me regardless.
‘Won’t be brushed off by the likes of you,’ she says.
She’s a hard one to cross, and a friend as good as any I got. Mary’s daughter. Mary
who owns the grocers. Who I need to visit this afternoon, because I need milk because
ours has gone off. Always forgetting the milk. Anne’s da, no one talks about him.
I shrug. ‘Master’s got me chored to the teeth today,’ I say.
‘No time for fishing then?’
‘You at school today?’
She glares at me. ‘If I was at school would I be here?’
I shake my head. ‘No time.’
‘You want a hand?’
Give another shrug. But she’s already gunning for the gutter, clambering up the ladder
and onto the roof faster than me. ‘These won’t clean themselves.’
‘Don’t you fall,’ I say.
‘Falling’s the best thing!’ Anne says.
I clear my throat. ‘I don’t want Mary coming after me.’
Anne’s head juts over the roof, eyes that trip me up and make me fall myself. ‘And
she would, you know. My ma’s got a backbone all right.’
Two people that Dain doesn’t ever get me to mark their doors. Paul Certain’s one
of them, Mary’s the other. I know Dain visits her, but I don’t draw the seven at
all there. He says they have other arrangements.
I don’t know what her ma thinks about her coming and helping: probably takes a dim
view on it. But Anne’s her own girl, no Master to lord it over her. I like her. I
don’t know if she likes me.
A handful of leaves finds my head, and then another.
‘I’m taking that ladder,’ I say.
‘And I’ll just jump on your head. Thick enough from all accounts.’
Yeah, yeah, she’s right. Chores are easier shared. If she wants to share them with
me, I’m not fighting her. And she’s good: she’s a worker. She can hold a tune too,
and I like listening to her sing. Sometimes I like watching her sing when she don’t
think I am: I don’t think I’ve ever known such earnestness.
We’re done with those gutters in under an hour, and a good thing too, because the
Sun’s fierce this morning. Then there’s the lawn, and the garden and the raking and
the verandah to be swept and cleared. By the time we’re done the Sun’s well past
noon. And we’re lying on the grass in the shade of those leafy trees looking at the
clouds, and I’ve pulled two cool drinks from the cellar. Anne won’t go down there
with me. She thinks it’s where Dain is in repose, and I won’t make her no wiser.
Some lines I won’t cross for no one, no matter how much I might want to impress.
Besides, Anne’s stronger and mostly tougher than me: it’s nice to show a bit of bravery
to her.
Sweet cider, a blue sky streaked with clouds and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
‘Useless, you Day Boys. Tits on a bull,’ Anne says, drinking deep. Eyes fixed on
me.
‘You know it,’ I say. A bit stung.
‘Never understood why there weren’t Day Girls.’
‘Same as
at your rage, and the biting Dark laughs with it.
Was a while he walked the earth, buried himself when the Sun came up. But he took
to the roads. He took to the roads, and he wasn’t all cruel.
The Imperatives bound him, even then.
CHAPTER
10
IF I HADN’T been all busy yawning and grumbling under my breath, I’d have seen it
before it hit me. Might have been able to duck, but no. I fell on my bum, blinking,
and the missile bounced off me and rolled away. I’m up quick, and there’s a laugh
in the not too distance, a laugh I know well. One that brings a bit of heat to my
face.
‘Very funny,’ I yell, eyes scanning the trees on the edge of the property, rubbing
my head where the half-ripe peach struck it.
A small shape drops from the tree nearest, light-footed as she’s deadly with a peach.
She’s holding another and grinning, fierce as any Day Boy.
Takes a bite. ‘Thought you’d fancy some breakfast,’ she says between crunches.
‘No time for playing, Anne.’
Anne throws the peach at me. This time I’m ready, but it nearly gets me regardless.
‘Won’t be brushed off by the likes of you,’ she says.
She’s a hard one to cross, and a friend as good as any I got. Mary’s daughter. Mary
who owns the grocers. Who I need to visit this afternoon, because I need milk because
ours has gone off. Always forgetting the milk. Anne’s da, no one talks about him.
I shrug. ‘Master’s got me chored to the teeth today,’ I say.
‘No time for fishing then?’
‘You at school today?’
She glares at me. ‘If I was at school would I be here?’
I shake my head. ‘No time.’
‘You want a hand?’
Give another shrug. But she’s already gunning for the gutter, clambering up the ladder
and onto the roof faster than me. ‘These won’t clean themselves.’
‘Don’t you fall,’ I say.
‘Falling’s the best thing!’ Anne says.
I clear my throat. ‘I don’t want Mary coming after me.’
Anne’s head juts over the roof, eyes that trip me up and make me fall myself. ‘And
she would, you know. My ma’s got a backbone all right.’
Two people that Dain doesn’t ever get me to mark their doors. Paul Certain’s one
of them, Mary’s the other. I know Dain visits her, but I don’t draw the seven at
all there. He says they have other arrangements.
I don’t know what her ma thinks about her coming and helping: probably takes a dim
view on it. But Anne’s her own girl, no Master to lord it over her. I like her. I
don’t know if she likes me.
A handful of leaves finds my head, and then another.
‘I’m taking that ladder,’ I say.
‘And I’ll just jump on your head. Thick enough from all accounts.’
Yeah, yeah, she’s right. Chores are easier shared. If she wants to share them with
me, I’m not fighting her. And she’s good: she’s a worker. She can hold a tune too,
and I like listening to her sing. Sometimes I like watching her sing when she don’t
think I am: I don’t think I’ve ever known such earnestness.
We’re done with those gutters in under an hour, and a good thing too, because the
Sun’s fierce this morning. Then there’s the lawn, and the garden and the raking and
the verandah to be swept and cleared. By the time we’re done the Sun’s well past
noon. And we’re lying on the grass in the shade of those leafy trees looking at the
clouds, and I’ve pulled two cool drinks from the cellar. Anne won’t go down there
with me. She thinks it’s where Dain is in repose, and I won’t make her no wiser.
Some lines I won’t cross for no one, no matter how much I might want to impress.
Besides, Anne’s stronger and mostly tougher than me: it’s nice to show a bit of bravery
to her.
Sweet cider, a blue sky streaked with clouds and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
‘Useless, you Day Boys. Tits on a bull,’ Anne says, drinking deep. Eyes fixed on
me.
‘You know it,’ I say. A bit stung.
‘Never understood why there weren’t Day Girls.’
‘Same as
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