Bone Song Read Free Page A

me.
    ‘What’s on at school, sweetie?’ She’s definitely slurring now. There’s no money for a taxi and I’m stuffed if I can carry her. I hurry her along a bit more.
    ‘It’s a parent thing, and we’re late. We’ll have to speed up, come on.’ Oddly enough, the faster I hassle her along, the straighter she walks. Lucky she’s got her sensible work shoes on. I can feel the bones in her hand, like an old hen I’d once picked up on a farm visit in primary school.
    ‘Steady Mum, we’re nearly home. Look, the elevator.’ I pray that it’s working – for once, it is. Of course, it stinks of pee and vomit and there’s a pile of paper in one corner that I don’t want to look at too closely. I press the button and the doors close.
    It’s all going OK. Mum hasn’t questioned why we’re home instead of at school. If I can get her to eat something, we’ll be on a roll. She starts to stagger just before we get to our front door and I can’t hold her. She drops to her knees as I reach for my key to get her inside as fast as I can, but it’s not in my pocket.
    How many stupid damn things can you do in one day, you idiot?
The tears burn in my eyes but I force them back. Maybe Mrs Wyatt will be home. She keeps a spare key for me, and sometimes lends me money. I roll Mum around awkwardly and manage to lean her against the wall, then knock on Mrs Wyatt’s door – but there’s no reply. Bingo night. She won’t be back until after nine.
    Everything comes crunching down on me all at once. I don’t know whether to cry or scream, but I haven’t got enough energy to do either. My knee is killing me. How come I didn’t feel it before? I look down at it, stunned when I see all the dried blood in streams down my leg. The top of my sock is soaked and turning brown.
    Mum starts to slide sideways. I haul her straight again, then sit down beside her, letting her fall against me. Her head lolls on my shoulder; I hear her breathing, deep and throaty. If she took another trank before she went to the bar, she’ll be out all night now. I really, truly hope Mrs Wyatt’sson walks her home tonight, so he can help me carry Mum inside. I close my eyes and try to think of absolutely nothing.

CHAPTER 4
Dobie
    I hang around the school for about ten minutes until I realise I’m behaving like a total dork – I mean, who stays at school if they don’t have to? I wait at the bus stop, kind of hoping the bus is cancelled but it turns up in a couple of minutes just to spite me. I walk all the way to the back, ignoring the two old ladies in their floral dresses and big white handbags who purse their lips at my studs and hair.
    The bus driver is staring at me in his rear-view mirror. Does he think I’m going to start a riot on my own? Hey, that might be something new to torment my mother with.
    The bus passes Middle Gate and the street leading down to the Housing Commission flats. All the way down, four-storey cement-sheet buildings create a wall of grey squares and red glass, the sunset reflected in the windows. It looks really cool but I’d hate to live there. It’s bad enough going to school with some of the kids from that street.
    I wonder what my mother thinks of them. Maybe she’s waiting for me to get hooked on drugs so she can ship me off to a
facility
where she doesn’t have to see me or think about me. Likewise Sara and Louise. Dad might miss me though. I hope.
    Anyway, there’s no way I’ll get into drugs. Had enough of that in the hospital, feeling like the world was coated in fuzz and everyone was talking in a tunnel. Oops, daydreaming so much that I nearly missed my stop. If I had two dollars, I could buy some chocolate before my next bus arrives, but I know that I’m practically broke. Bummer. Have I still got a chocolate stash behind my books? Or did I actually get upin the middle of the night last night and eat it all? Might have dreamt that.
    The second bus takes forever to weave its way through the business