Hope Farm by Peggy Frew Read Free Book Online

cricket.’
    He turned and stared. ‘Why should I care,’ he said, ‘if it’s any good for cricket ?’ He spat the word out like it was poison. Then after a few moments he grinned. ‘Oh, I see,’ he said. ‘You think these balls are mine .’
    I waited, confused.
    â€˜Yes, yes, of course you would,’ he said, as if to himself, clambering to his feet. ‘But I am afraid you are labouring under a false assumption .’ He bent and picked up the cricket ball again, and passed it to me. ‘See that?’
    I turned the glistening red surface to follow the trail of black letters. The writing was tall and reached almost all the way around. DEAN PRICE , it read, in aggressive capitals, HANDS OFF! I raised my eyes to meet the boy’s. He lifted an eyebrow.
    â€˜Dean Price?’ I said, hesitantly.
    â€˜Is not me.’
    There was a pause while I waited for whatever it was that he was so clearly looking forward to revealing.
    â€˜My name.’ He spread his wet hands. ‘Is Ian Munro. And I stole that ball from Dean Price. All these balls.’ He indicated the pile at his feet. ‘And that is because Dean Price is my nemesis .’

It wasnt our usual doctor it was a different one in a different part of town. He didnt look at me he pointed at the high bed and said Take off your underwear and hop up there. I took them off and then I didnt know what to do with them. I looked at my mother but she had her head down like she was praying so I just bunched them up and kept them in my hand. He put a sheet over me and said Knees up, then he went round to the end of the bed. I looked at the ceiling. Knees apart he said and put his hand in under the sheet and his fingers were cold. He felt the out side too, pressed around my belly. Yes he said to my mother. About four months. In the car my mother said Who was it? What do you mean I said. I mean who is responsible she said. I only knew his last name so I said it. She stared at me. Who lives at number fourteen? she said. Yes. She hit me on the ear. That man is married she said. I didnt answer, I put my hand over my ear. I had seen a woman of course, going in and out of the house but she never seemed to have any thing to do with him. My mother was quiet for a long time then she said Theres a place youll have to go in Brisbane, theyll look after you until its over and then you can come home, it will be like it never happened. It was hot and she took out a hanky and wiped under her nose. She put her hands on the big white steering wheel. Nobody needs to know she said but I couldnt tell if she was talking to me or to herself. I thought about Evie Dyers mother and her sorry smile her teacup shaking in her hands. Back at home my mother made dinner and I set the table. Linda was there in her room studying like always, she didnt have to do as many jobs round the house as me. When my father came home we had dinner like there was nothing different but afterwards when I was in my room I heard him shouting. Who did it? Who did it? Whats his name? he shouted. Wait wait my mother said, She doesnt know his name and any way hes gone now, hes left town. Its all right she said, It can all be dealt with nobody needs to know. He stopped shouting then. Quietly he said Of course theyll know, everyone always knows, her life is ruined now dont think it will be the same again because it wont. Shh said my mother, She will hear you.

Ian lived on the next farm over, on the far side of the stretch of bush. Despite being so skinny and brittle-looking he was in fact a year older than me and in Year Eight at Tarrina High, where I would soon also be going. Tarrina was a much bigger town than Kooralang; it had the train station where Ishtar and I had arrived that first morning. It was there at Tarrina High that Dean Price made Ian’s life a misery. Or misery , as Ian said; he seemed to enjoy straining at certain words with his rusty voice, wringing out