His Father's Son: To save the son he loves, a desparate father must confront the ghosts of his past by Tony Black Read Free Book Online Page A

Christmas if you’re a good boy, son.”
    Things could be just grand now, he thought, just like they were before it started to go wrong. Hadn’t Shauna been a rare one, back in their day. She wasn’t like the rest of the Kilmora culchies. There was a wildness in her. All night she stayed out, dancing and drinking and enjoying herself and didn’t she care less who knew it. Joey’s own mother had said she was a wild one.
    “Wouldn’t she stick her tongue out at the cross and mind not who saw her.”
    Joey heard his mother’s words and then there were more of her words came back to him, and he remembered why he didn’t like to think about the past in Ireland with Shauna. If there was one thing he was sure of it was that the past must stay where it was. That was just Shauna’s trouble, didn’t she need to lock it all away.
    Joey looked out the window into the yard and saw Marti’s friend Jono sitting on the back step with his fists dug into his cheeks. The boy looked sad, he thought, upset even. He waved at him. Jono looked up, gave no sign he had recognised Joey, and then he ran out the yard at full pelt.
    “Jaysus, who’s taken his cake?” said Joey, and when he turned his gaze he saw Jono’s mother at the window over the way. He raised his hand to wave at her too, but she turned her back before he could make any further movement. Am I a leper here? No, surely not. There’ll have been some falling out had because Jono couldn’t go with Marti this afternoon, sure that’s what it’ll be. Aren’t they a terrible pair them boys, inseparable.
    Still, it unsettled Joey to see his friendliness rebuffed. They were always so kind with a nod and a wave in Australia, weren’t they the nicest people entirely. You had to be a real mongrel like they said to turn the neighbours against you. It was the old mateship thing. You couldn’t be falling out with anyone because weren’t you always jumping the fence for a bit of a barbie or a look at the footy or such like.
    He walked out the back door to see if he could find Jono and ask what the bother was, but the boy was nowhere in sight. Joey was about to come back inside when he noticed the shed door was open, the padlock swinging from the latch, the key still in it. Well, there’s been no robbery, that’s for sure, he thought, but who would be in the shed? Wasn’t there only a bunch of junk kept there, only stuff they never used like Marti’s old bikes, a tyre with a puncture and the big old suitcases, brought with them from Ireland back in ’68. He looked inside. The shed was still a whole mess, but someone had definitely been in there. He shut the door and slipped the padlock back on the latch. There was something up, something queer.
    Joey sat on the back step, watching the sky darkening and waiting for Shauna to come home with Marti. He felt the heat draining out of the day and he heard the crickets starting up. It would soon be night-time. Where were they? He lit another cigarette. He was smoking too many, he knew it. He could feel his throat getting raw, but didn’t the cigarettes calm you down, didn’t they take your mind off things. His palms were sweating and a moist ring appeared round the base of the cigarette.
    “Jaysus, where are they? They should be home by now, surely,” he said.
    He stood up – think – control was needed. Where would they be? He knocked on his head with a closed fist. There was no zoo, there was no bowling alley or even a cinema for miles, and Shauna couldn’t drive anyway. The shops would be closed and it was getting too dark to be wandering around parks. Wasn’t Marti too old for them now anyway; he was beyond the swings stage, sure. They could be anywhere. What’s to be done? Joey’s heart was beating faster. “Gordy, that’s it. I’ll ask Gordy. He’s a copper. He’ll know what to do.”
    He ran through the street to Gordy’s house. It was dark now. They were never big on street lamps round their way and as he ran