Forty Seven

I was pretty hacked off after leaving Lisa's. I knew she was probably role playing for Mike's benefit, making out something was nothing to let him down easy... but that crap about Kevin...

I went to the beach. Unusual for me these days as I'm not a nature freak: it's nice that it' s there, but let's not get all green about it. It was the same beach I'd walked along with Nina. The same beach I'd fished on (unsuccessfully) after school, the same beach I'd snogged Michelle Lorex on and the same beach I'd tried to snog her sister on. I guess we'd built a history, me and the beach. An unwilling partnership forged as a teenager who needed somewhere to go to escape the tensions of home and a beach unable to stop anyone walking over its face.

I would have hung out at the shops more but there was a huge psycho from another school who used to beat up anyone from my school for no apparent reason. I couldn't even remember his name now. I wondered what a psychopathic bully did when he grew up. I bet he didn't clean toilets.

I meandered my way home after reminiscing depressed me further. I figured I'd blog out my woes and eat junk food until I felt sick.

I wasn't in the mood for company so I was kind of peeved to see Nina sitting against the garage wall. There was some sort of package next to her which was doubly annoying - now I'd have to be nice to her to find out what it was.

'Hi,' she said, after I 'd parked. She turned her familiar red.

'Hey,' I answered without enthusiasm. It was nothing personal, I would have been pleased to see her normally - I guess I just didn't need any extra guilt at the time.

Seeing the deflated slump of her shoulders I tried to up my game. 'What have you got there?'

'Oh. Dunno. It was by the door.' She handed the brown-paper wrapped parcel to me. There was no name, address or postage on it.

'You wanna come in?'

She shook her head. 'Oh, maybe I shouldn't.'

'Nah, please. I'm just a bit down. Company would be nice.'

We went through the garage and I put the package on the kitchen bench. I got us some cold water and Nina shocked me by speaking without me prompting her.

'I hope you don't mind. Dad's home this afternoon and I just had to get away. He's going through this mid-life crisis thing. Dyed his hair, bought a sports car. He's got this thing about energy and yings and yangs.'

I nodded in sympathy. 'Sounds painful.'

She put her glass down. 'If he'd told me to walk with a purpose one more time today I...'

'Walk with a purpose?'

'Determination in your walk, is determination in your life.'

'Pft, and I thought my Dad had problems.'

She shared a smile about the common banality of parents. It encouraged Nina to elaborate. (Yeah, I was shocked.)

'His latest thing,' she said with a laugh, 'is he wants us -me and my brother - to think of him more as a friend than a parent. So we're supposed to use his name'

'Ew. It sound like a bad 90210 re-run with Jim and Cindy. '

'Yeah. I hear "call me Kevin" almost as often as "walk with a purpose"'.

My glass slipped in my hand forcing me to catch it. 'Your dad's name is Kevin?'

She got a little crease between her eyebrows. 'Yeah, why?'

I shook my head. 'Er, nothing.' Even I wouldn't do that... although in Year 12, Richard's mother was so-

'You ok?'

'Yeah. Yeah.' It was just a coincidence. It had to be.

She pointed at the parcel. 'Are you going to open it?'

'Sure.' I absently pulled some scissors out of a draw and cut the string and ripped off the paper. A plain cardboard box was sticky taped shut. I snipped the tape and peered inside.

A strong smell of salt wafted over us. I could see some thin plastic and a folded over piece of card. I took out the card and parted the plastic.

'Shit!'

'Ewww!' squealed Nina.

'What the hell- ?'

'What are they?'

I looked again. 'Pigs trotters.' Fresh too. It struck me how similar they looked to dog paws. I unfolded the card.

Still think you're a tough guy? I think you're my bacon boy.

Forty Eight