The Promise (15 page)

‘This is getting heavier, Jim. Keep your window wound up or we'll cop a pelting.'

I turned on the ignition and the wipers. He knocked at the side door.

‘This is a German car.'

‘Yep. It is.'

‘We'll be right then. The Germans would have won the war if they'd stuck to engineering instead of trying to knock the whole world off.'

‘Really?'

‘Absolutely.'

I pulled out of the drive, switched on the headlights and drove up the road.

‘Did you fight in the war, Jim? You've never mentioned it.'

‘Not me. I was too young. Good luck, that. But I made money out of it, when it was over. Importing salvaged army gear, reconditioning it and selling it on. Up the bush, mostly.'

He stuck his nose against the side window and looked out into the night, to the lights of the city in the distance. He held up the sleeve of his dressing gown and inspected the pattern of lilac hibiscus flowers. This disturbed the cat, and it wasn't happy. It jumped from his lap into mine – and dug its claws into my crotch.

I screamed in pain. Jim jumped in his seat.

‘Where are we heading, Matthew? Where you bloody taking me?' He suddenly sounded lost and confused.

I held one hand on the steering wheel as I tried extracting the cat and calming Jim at the same time. It had got between my legs, wrapped itself around a thigh and stabbed its claws deeper into me.

I reached down and grabbed it by the neck.

Jim was almost crying, ‘Where are we going?'

‘For ice-cream, Jim,' I yelled. ‘You wanted chocolate fucking ice-cream.'

He leaned across the car and stared down at the cat.

‘Hey, watch what you're doing there. You'll hurt—' he looked up, ‘watch out, son. Look out!'

We were hurtling downhill, towards a hairpin turn in the road. The river lay straight ahead.

I let go of the cat, gripped the steering wheel with both hands and slammed on the brakes.

‘Hold on, Jim.
Hold on
.'

The car shuddered as the tyres tried gripping the wet road – we smashed through a hedge. It was all that had separated us from the river. The VW left the road and momentarily glided through the night sky. I turned my head away and saw Jim's eyes light up.

He pointed to the city skyline. ‘Hey, look at that. It's real pretty.'

Then we crashed into the water.

The car jarred violently from side to side and I felt Ella's body slam against the back of my seat. She landed on the floor, jammed between the front and back seats.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, turned and rested a hand on her back.

‘It's all right, old girl. It's all right.'

She looked up and licked the back of my hand as I patted her.

The cat had somehow found its way back onto Jim's lap. Its fur was standing on end.

Jim stared out of the front windscreen as he nursed her. He didn't look hurt and seemed calm. The car bobbed gently up and down in the water.

I switched the wipers to full speed and peered through the windscreen. ‘Can you swim, Jim?'

He thought about the question for a moment.

‘That's a hard one. I couldn't really say. But we'll find out quick if she starts sinking.'

He looked down at his feet.

‘We're pretty high and dry at the minute. Good car, this one. Does she belong to you?'

‘Well, not technically. The car's still in my wife's name.'

‘She won't be too happy then?'

‘Who knows. It wasn't worth much.'

The car began to sink and we were taking on water. It rocked from side to side in the current and then stopped moving. I unwound the window. We were not far off the bank. I opened my door and stuck one leg out of the car. We were resting in around a metre of water.

‘Hey, Jim. We're okay. It's not too deep.'

He patted me on the shoulder.

‘Well manoeuvred, son. Good work.'

Ella always loved a swim. I encouraged her into the water. She paddled to the bank and sat watching the car with curiosity. I helped Jim out of the car, nursing the cat in my arms.

‘Can you walk to the bank? Maybe I should piggyback you?'

He was shivering with the cold and was turning blue.

‘Good as gold,' he chattered through his false teeth.

We began walking up the hill back to our street. The cold wind cut through my dressing gown and my wet feet had turned to ice. A car travelling in the opposite direction flashed its lights, did a U-turn and pulled into the kerb. It was another neighbour, Ethan Morris, the son of a doctor who lived two doors down from me. He wound down the window of an old Toyota he was driving, a vehicle in a worse state than mine.

‘You two want a lift home?'

I tried to answer but couldn't get my frostbitten jaw unlocked. I nodded my head as best I could, opened the back door, helped Jim and the cat into a seat, followed by Ella. I jumped in the front seat. The car reeked of marijuana smoke. Ethan turned to Jim and Ella and then me, glassy-eyed.

‘What have you four been doing?' he drawled.

I still couldn't open my mouth. I was glad in a way, as I didn't know what to say.

‘Ice-cream,' Jim explained. ‘We have been out getting some ice-cream. I think we've got it here somewhere.'

‘Cool,' the kid nodded. ‘I love my ice-cream.'

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank John Hunter for his unwavering support of my writing. I also want to thank everyone at UQP associated with the delivery of this book – a dedicated team effort.

I am fortunate to have a wonderfully supportive family and a group of loyal friends. This is for you. For Sara – ‘We're riding out tonight to case the Promised Land'. And finally, Tully (1999–2013) – we miss your mighty big heart.

First published 2014 by University of Queensland Press

PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia

www.uqp.com.au

[email protected]

©
Tony Birch

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Cover design and photograph by Josh Durham (Design by Committee)

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ISBN 978 0 7022 4999 0 (pbk)

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ISBN 978 0 7022 5212 9 (Kindle)

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