The Birthmark by Beth Montgomery Read Free Book Online Page B

Riki!’ Lily taunted him.
    Hector blushed.
    â€˜ Suh! ’ he spat at her, ‘Shut up!’ He grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed hard. Lily laughed and fell off the platform onto Hector’s bike. She and the bike toppled to the ground, her feet tangling in the handlebars as she fell.
    Hector couldn’t help chuckling. She looked ridiculous lying beside the bike with her legs stuck in the air.
    Lily glared up at him, her expression hard to read through the puffiness of her face, then she laughed again. Decima joined in, but ran to help her up.
    â€˜ Ngaitirre! I’ll get you for that,’ Lily snapped.
    â€˜You couldn’t catch me,’ he said.
    â€˜Hey, sit down,’ Decima said, gathering up the scattered cards. She sat down and began counting them.
    Hector was enjoying this: two older girls giving him all this attention, talking to him like like a friend. What a way to spend the afternoon!
    â€˜What are these ghosts your ibu talks about?’ Lily asked. ‘Has he seen any?’
    â€˜Yeah, I think so. You know that story about the witch who calls for her children?’
    â€˜We’re missing some cards,’ Decima whined, but Hector and Lily weren’t listening.
    â€˜Has he seen her?’ said Lily.
    â€˜Well, he thinks he knows who she was. Says she was ‘Come on you guys, help me look for these cards. Three are missing.’ an evil woman…lived at the edge of Anbwido and Baringa long ago. She ate babies.’
    â€˜Everyone knows that. What about men ghosts?’
    Hector shrugged. ‘Probably. He knows a lot about ghosts.’
    â€˜How come he knows so much?’ asked Lily.
    â€˜Because he’s Gilbertese. He knows about spirits and healing and things.’
    â€˜My family thinks he’s weird,’ Lily said.
    Hector looked at her and his voice rose. ‘He’s not weird. He’s just grumpy. He likes being alone.’
    â€˜Where is he now?’ she asked.
    â€˜Home, but he’s going out fishing soon, at high tide.’
    Lily laughed at him, ‘See, goes out in the hot sun, I told you he was weird.’
    Something tightened in Hector’s throat and he couldn’t be sure if Lily was teasing him or not. ‘Shut up. He’s not weird.’
    â€˜We can’t play cards, if the joker and two other cards are missing. Where are they?’ Decima directed her gaze at Hector.
    He looked hurt. ‘Me, why do you think it’s me?’ He slipped a hand up the leg of his shorts and pulled out the missing cards. ‘Is this what you want?’
    â€˜Bastard!’ the girls screamed at him in unison.
    The three of them whooped with laughter and Hector felt like a king.
    â€˜Come on, let’s play,’ Decima said. Her small dark hands flashed back and forth as she dealt the cards.
    â€˜Why do you want to know about ghosts?’ Hector flicked a card onto the discard pile between them.
    â€˜Lily saw one the other night, didn’t you?’
    There was a long silence while Lily picked up a card. ‘I think so,’ she whispered.
    â€˜What was it like?’ Hector asked. He was keen to hear an eyewitness report. If someone had really seen a ghost, then he was willing to believe it was true.
    Lily told him what she’d seen. Hector’s mind was immediately filled with ideas. ‘We ought to see if he comes back—perhaps he was trying to tell you something. Who do you think it was?’
    Lily looked at him with a pained expression. ‘I don’t know. I thought he was Chinese.’
    Hector thrust a card on the discard pile and hissed his displeasure at the progress of the game. ‘Do you think he’s Japanese? A soldier from the war? Maybe he died somewhere in Anbwido.’ He looked eagerly at Lily, hoping she’d feel the same excitement about it. Her face was sad, swollen and disfigured. She sniffed and looked at him, impassive.
    â€˜I didn’t