Careful What You Wish For (6 page)

Without a word the rest of them followed. Sure enough, the tyre was completely wrecked. Strips were sticking off at all angles and there was the smell of burnt rubber. Everyone stared at it in dismay for a few moments.

‘What’s a blow-out, Dad?’ Paul asked.

‘Well, it’s when the tube inside the tyre –’

‘What does it matter what it is?’ Ruth shrieked, kicking the tyre angrily with one foot. ‘It means we can’t drive on it!’

‘Okay, calm down,’ her father said. ‘Come on, Marcus, we’d better change this before it gets dark.’

Marcus jumped into position beside the wheel and all their bags and food containers and bits and pieces were heaved out onto the ground around the car as Mr Craze uncovered the spare-tyre cavity.

‘How long will this take?’ Ruth was hopping from one foot to the other. ‘Because I have to get back to –’

‘We all know what you have to do, Ruth!’ her mother cut in irritably.

‘Shouldn’t take long,’ Mr Craze mumbled, head still in the boot. He lifted out the spare and rolled it to the side of the car. ‘All we need now is the jack.’

‘Hurry, Dad!’ Ruth began pacing up and down. ‘Please.’

She noticed her bag sitting on the side of the road and thought of Rodney lying there under all her things, with no idea of what was going on. Night was coming down. Better give him some air. She unzipped the bag and pulled him to the top and left the zip half undone.

‘Oh no,’ Mr Craze groaned, and straightened up from the boot shaking his head.

‘What?’ Mrs Craze said in alarm. ‘What is it?’

‘Just remembered that I took the jack out last week and forgot to put it back,’ Mr Craze groaned again and let his head roll back in a dramatic fashion. ‘Can’t believe I did that.’

‘So how are we going to change the wheel?’ Ruth snapped.

‘We’re not, Ruthie,’ her father replied apologetically.

‘We’re going to have to ring for roadside service.’

‘What!’

‘No,’ Mrs Craze groaned too. ‘Ken … tell me this isn’t happening!’

Mr Craze looked at Marcus. ‘Have you got your phone?’

Grim-faced, Marcus handed his phone over. ‘Better be quick,’ he said, ‘the battery’s almost out.’

‘So typical of this family!’ Ruth yelled. ‘Nothing works.’

‘We all do!’ Mrs Craze shouted back. ‘For goodness sake, Ruth.’

‘Ruth, would you please …’

Mr Craze dialled the number and turned away to speak to the operator. But he had some difficulty describing exactly where they were. They’d taken one of the back roads as a shortcut, so no one was sure. Marcus was sent to find out the name of the bridge they’d just crossed. When he came back with the news that it was called Happy Chance Creek they all groaned.

Mr Craze told the operator and switched the phone off. ‘They’ll be up to an hour,’ he said. ‘Just have to be patient.’

‘Why does this always have to happen to us?’ Ruth moaned in frustration.

‘Ruth, you are not helping,’ her mother said sharply.

‘
Ruth, you are not helping
,’ Ruth mimicked.

‘Watch yourself, my girl,’ said her father.

Ruth shrugged as though she couldn’t care less and walked off towards the bridge. She was so angry that if another car had come past she would have hailed it and tried to get a ride back to the city. As it was, there was no other traffic at all. Ruth leaned on the white wooden railing of Happy Chance Bridge and fumed to herself.
Why did this have to happen on the one day when she really needed to be home at a certain time?
She looked at her watch and sighed. It was nearly six, the time she was meant to turn up at Lou’s house for the sleepover. Everyone in the whole year wanted an invitation to Lou’s place and she’d finally cracked it. Now look where she was! On a bridge in the middle of nowhere! She didn’t even have Lou’s number to ring to explain what had happened. The darkness was creeping in around her.

When she got back to the car, Marcus and her parents were standing to one side staring morosely at the busted tyre. Ruth opened the back door, about to join her little brother who was playing on the back seat. But she stopped in shock when she saw what he was playing with. Paul must have spied Rodney at the top of her bag and taken him out.

‘Stop!’ Ruth yelled. ‘Give him to me now, Paul!’

‘Oh, let him play with it, Ruthie,’ Mrs Craze said. ‘It keeps him occupied.’

‘No!’

‘He’s not hurting it.’ Her father tried to grab her arm to stop her getting into the car, but Ruth slipped out of his grasp and managed to snatch the rat away from her little brother.

Paul started howling.

‘You are such a pain, Ruth,’ Marcus said, glaring at her. ‘Why can’t you let him play with it? He wasn’t hurting it.’

‘Rodney’s mine!’

‘You’re too old for that stupid rat anyway,’ Marcus sneered. ‘Kids your age don’t play with toys like that. You should give it to Paul.’

‘Why don’t you go and … and try out a new hairstyle,’ Ruth shouted. ‘Pretty boy!’

She’d walked in on Marcus in the bathroom that morning. He’d been preening, and hadn’t known she was there. She’d watched him as he turned his head this way and that, put on a smile and then a sultry frown.

‘Hi, handsome,’ she’d jeered.

She had stayed long enough to see him turn beetroot red before she ran out again.

Now, Marcus made a swift grab for the rat; suddenly it was his.

‘How much do you love him, Ruthie?’ He dangled Rodney by the tail just out of her reach. ‘Tell us all how much you
really
love him.’

‘Give him back!’ Ruth screamed.

But Marcus was enjoying himself too much. Every time she got near him he pulled away. Back and forth they went, shouting at each other, circling the car.

‘Mum! Dad!’ she yelled. ‘Tell Marcus to give him to me!’

‘Marcus!’ Mr Craze bellowed.

Just then a yellow car appeared some distance away. It looked like the roadside-service vehicle and both of Ruth’s parents turned away to watch it approach, their attention diverted.

‘Looks like them.’

‘They were quicker than I thought they’d be.’

That was all Marcus needed to up the ante. He began to dance backwards towards the bridge.

Ruth blundered along after him, her panic rising to a new level.

‘Old ratty wants a swim!’ Marcus was on the bridge now, laughing and holding the rat up to his ear, appearing to listen. ‘Yep, he says he wants a swim! We’d better do what he wants, eh, Ruth?’

‘Marcus!’

Both her parents’ backs were turned, and she couldn’t even hear what her brother was saying now. That’s when it happened. Everything inside Ruth stopped as she watched Rodney fly like a bird for just a few seconds, up in a high arc against the darkening sky, and then ever so slowly descend into the river. She watched in suspended horror as the rat was pulled downstream by the current and began to disappear from sight. Only then did she move. Down she ran as fast as she could towards the river, catching one glimpse of her brother’s shocked face on her way.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …’ Marcus was running after her. ‘Hey, look, I didn’t mean to let go.’

Ruth was only a few metres away from the bank now. She didn’t care that she wasn’t a very good swimmer. She would jump in and fish him out because …
she had to
. He would drown. He would die. He would be lost forever. There was no alternative. Ruth slipped out of her coat and wrenched off her shoes.

‘Don’t be stupid!’ Marcus was frantic now. ‘Listen, I’m sorry.’

But she didn’t stop.

‘
Ruth!

’ She had almost reached the water when Marcus caught her around the waist and held on.

Struggling and screaming to be let go, Ruth’s last image of Rodney was a small brown dot heading rapidly downstream.

* * *

Once the wheel was fixed, the whole family searched the riverbank for the rat. But it was useless and they all knew it. It was too dark.

‘We’ll come back, Ruth,’ her mother said on the way home. ‘He might be caught nearby in a little eddy or backwater. You never know. We’ll come back and have a good look in daylight.’

Ruth gave no indication that she’d heard and she looked out the window into the blackness for the whole trip home. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, it was so terrible. What was she going to say to Mary Ellen?

‘What’s an eddy, Mum?’ Paul asked.

But his mother didn’t reply.

6

‘D
id you go back?’ Howard asked.

Ruth shook her head.

They were sitting in the front room by the heater.

‘My aunt was in hospital when it happened, and straight after that she got much worse and we couldn’t go anywhere.’

‘I reckon you should go back there today.’

‘But months have gone by.’

‘Rodney’s a clever rat, right?’

Ruth laughed.
He was a clever rat.
It was ridiculous, but she really appreciated Howard’s attitude. He wasn’t being a smart alec. He was totally serious and that meant a lot.

‘Yeah.’

‘A clever rat might go back to where he last saw you,’ Howard said. ‘In fact, he might be waiting for you.’

‘You reckon?’ Ruth gulped, took a deep breath and stood up. She felt alternately sick and exhilarated by what Howard was saying.

‘But how would I get there?’ she said.

Howard looked around at the old computer in the corner of the room. ‘Got internet?’

Ruth nodded. Within only a few minutes he’d got the information she needed and had written it out for her in his untidy scrawl. A tram into the city and then a train to Geelong. From there a short bus trip. Then she’d have to walk for a few kilometres down the back road to the bridge.

‘How long do you think it will take?’

‘Depends on the connections, but if you get going now you’ll have time and there’ll be some daylight left to get back. You got money to buy the ticket?’

Ruth nodded. She earned a bit of money babysitting sometimes. Suddenly she felt scared.

‘What if I get there and there’s nothing?’

Howard shrugged.

‘What will I tell my parents?’ she added.

But he only shrugged again.

‘Why don’t you come with me?’ Ruth asked at last.

‘I can’t,’ he replied, his face closing over. He looked at the clock on the wall.

‘Why not?’

Howard hesitated. ‘Have to go somewhere.’

‘Where?’

‘Somewhere with my dad.’

Ruth thought of the welts on his legs and her mouth went dry.

‘Where?’

Howard shrugged and then looked away. ‘I just … have to … go with him.’

‘Okay.’ Ruth took the paper with the information on it from him. ‘Thanks, Howard.’

‘You’re welcome.’

She ran down the hallway to the kitchen and grabbed a packet of dry biscuits and a big lump of cheese, a knife and a couple of apples. She put these into her school backpack along with two packets of chips and a chocolate Big M that Marcus had bought. He’d be annoyed that she took it, but that only added pleasure to her crime. Apart from her coat, she didn’t need anything else.

When Ruth came downstairs with her coat, Howard was by the front door putting on his jacket.

‘Changed my mind, I’m coming too,’ he said, looking at his feet.

Ruth was pleased.

‘What about your dad?’

‘What about him?’

‘Won’t he get mad with you?’

Howard’s face suddenly split into one of his rare grins. It was there and gone before Ruth had time to fully register it. She smiled back in surprise, waiting for him to explain himself. But Howard was zipping up his jacket.

‘So you’re ready then?’

‘Yeah, I’m ready.’ Howard followed her out the door. ‘Let’s go.’

* * *

It felt odd at first, being on the train with Howard Pope. He took the window seat as though it was his right and Ruth sat next to him, but she might as well not have been there, at least for the first part of their trip. He was hunched over staring intently out the window as though concentrating on something very important. Whenever Ruth said anything he only grunted in reply. It didn’t worry her much, though. She was glad he’d come and, anyway, she had her own things to think about.

The train was an express. It thundered over the busy city traffic, then past suburban backyards, blasting across railway crossings and bridges and past miles of housing estates and small factories.

When Ruth got tired of staring out the window, she studied the head of the guy in front of her. He was balding on top and a grey pigtail hung down his back like a greasy plaited rope. Ruth thought of Howard’s father with his thin grey pigtail. She’d seen him once on the night of the mid-year concert. He’d arrived in an old vintage car. Very flash. It was red with chrome details on the sides and bonnet and wheels, and it had thick black tyres. Everyone had gathered around to look at it. The boys especially were fascinated; their dismissal of Howard had wavered momentarily as they complimented him on his dad’s car.