narratorAUSTRALIA Volume One

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  He didn’t notice at first but it soon dawned. Where is it he asked when he came inside from the car. I said the motorbike dealer assured me he could sell it no worries. Paid cash I said. I thought he was going to cry and I knew I’d hit a raw nerve.

  The doctor said the stitches popped because of a knock when we finally got back into emergency that night. The nurses were efficient and soon patched him up and while we were waiting for the paperwork who should pop in but Brendan. Apparently he’s doing his psychiatry degree and has to spend time in the hospital he said. Well, I said, a psychiatry degree. That is something. He looked at me and pointed to John’s shoulder. No Marjorie, this is something.

  I knew that tone. My mother used to use that tone. No Marjorie, she would say, this will not be tolerated and out would come the wooden spoon, the doorknob, the electrical flex.

  Brendan said he needed to make an evaluation because this wasn’t the first time John had come in with injuries inconsistent with the explanation. John just sat there on the bed. He didn’t say anything. I threw the word chummy at John and he flinched. Brendan took a step placing himself between John and me.

  Marjorie I think we need to get some clear guidelines here he said. If he had put his hands on his hips he couldn’t have been more like my mother. She’d always be saying things like that. Marjorie Anne Dutton she would say, you are stepping outside the line. And then she would berate me and father would look the other way. I wished I had a shed. I used to spend a lot of time on the toilet. It was the only room in the house with a lock. I even planned an accident for my mother. Something fatal. But it never happened. I looked at Brendan but all I could see was my mother, standing there with a disapproving look.

  Brendan I said, I think you are the one that needs to realise some things are private between a husband and a wife.

  Like this, he said and he pointed to John’s shoulder. And this, he added pointing out John’s black eye. Psychiatry degree or no psychiatry degree I wasn’t about to be bullied like that and so I hit him.