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 B

he tried not to think about what might have happened or what could happen in the dark.
    At Gordy’s house he banged on the door. “Hello, hello. Is there anyone home?”
    There was no answer and he banged on the door again.
    “Hello, hello! Gordy, Jaysus, are ye home, man?”
    The porch light came on and then the door was slowly opened. “G’day, Bluey, mate,” said Gordy.
    “God, am I glad to see ye.” Joey was breathing heavily from the running.
    “What’s the drama?”
    “It’s Marti … and my wife, they’re missing.”
    “What do you mean missing , mate?”
    “Gone, vanished. Haven’t they just disappeared.”
    Gordy told Joey to come inside whilst he called the station. Joey stared at his feet and ran his fingers through his hair again and again until Gordy came back and said, “There’s nothing reported, Bluey.”
    “What … nothing. Well, where can they be?”
    “Look, mate, could they be visiting someone or…??”
    “Christ no, sure Shauna hasn’t spoken to anyone in months. She has the depression. I’m scared out of my wits here, Gordy. She’s not fit to be minding the boy.”
    “Okay, okay. Let’s keep calm. Did you have a row?”
    “A row … did we ever. But sure there’s nothing strange in that, a man having a row with his wife.”
    “No, no, there’s nothing strange in that, but if she’s depressed and you had a row, well…”
    “What are you saying here?” Joey’s mind was buzzing. He couldn’t think straight. All he could think of was Marti, where he might be and what he might be doing. Jaysus, he could be anywhere could he not, and in any state entirely.
    “Was everything like normal at home?” said Gordy.
    “How do you mean?”
    “Were any of their things taken – clothes, toothbrushes, that sort of stuff.”
    Joey jumped to his feet. He had caught Gordy’s drift. He felt his eyes open wider than ever, then snap shut like he’d been stunned by a bright flash. “God – the suitcases! That’s what she was after in the shed.”
    Gordy stood up beside him. “Bluey, are you all right?”
    Joey’s mouth dried over. He wondered was his heart about to jump right into it. He felt like he had just been given the scare of his life, like his entire body was fighting the shock of it. “Christ Almighty, she’s taken my boy,” he said.
    “Bluey, now you don’t know that yet.”
    “She’s taken him.”
    Joey broke for the door and Gordy stood up. “Bluey, what are you going to do, mate?”
    “Find them. What do ye think, man? My son is taken, my wife has finally lost it.”
    “Bluey, don’t do anything silly.” Gordy grabbed Joey’s arm tightly and delayed him where he stood. “Sit down and I’ll give the blokes the word, to keep an eye out … okay?”
    “No chance.”
    “Joey, you’re madder than a cut snake. Stay away from the grog. I won’t be there to keep you out the divvy van tonight.”
    “Gordy, let me go. I appreciate what you’re saying, but I have to find my boy.”
    Gordy released his grip and Joey ran into the street. He ran past his own home and into the next street where he had told Marti not to climb the trees. He ran to the late-night milk bar and he ran over the cricket oval where he had taught Marti to punt a pig-skin. He ran past the stream where Marti caught the frogs that he’d taken home and over the bridge where the stream flowed into a river. He ran through the rushes and the long grass that he had told Marti to stay away from for fear of tiger snakes and red-bellied black snakes that were seen there. And he ran to Marti’s school where he grabbed the gates and shook them until they rattled so much that the entire street sounded like it was suddenly filled with machine guns firing.
    “Marti, son. Where are ye? Where has she taken ye, my boy?” Joey fell to his knees and started to sob into his chest. He sobbed for only a short while, until his thoughts of Marti made him wonder what the boy might think of him, and then he