The Promise Read Free

Park on the Western Highway.’
    â€˜The Lion Park? Those poor scabby cats still there? I thought the bloke who ran the place was done for animal cruelty.’
    â€˜He was. He went broke and sold up to this bloke with the dogs. He runs a few horses, some sheep and these heelers that he breeds. When I got there he let the pups run around in the yard so I could get a look at them and pick one. I’m on my hands and knees playing with this pup, a lovely dark blue – Jhedda, that’s what I named her – I picked her out of the litter and brought her home. While I’m playing with the dog I hear a screen door slam and this woman comes out of the house holding a mobile phone. It was a call for him. I look up and see China.’
    â€˜You sure it was her?’
    â€˜Sure I’m sure. She looked a bit heavier. There was a kid running around. I suppose it was hers. But the face, and that red hair and her eyes. It was China, all right.’
    â€˜She say anything to you?’
    â€˜You didn’t know who I was when you saw me, so why would she? I never existed when she lived here, so she wouldn’t know me now. Anyway, she didn’t really look at me. She handed him the phone and walked back inside. But it was her.’
    I didn’t say much for the rest of the drive. When he stopped at the gate I sat in the car without moving.
    â€˜We’re here, mate. You getting off? Or do you want to come out to my place for a good feed?’
    â€˜What’s the best way over there?’
    â€˜Where? My place?’
    â€˜No. The Lion Park.’
    â€˜Oh. You cut across country. Take the fire road out behind the speedway. It gives you a straight run to the highway. It’s about another forty k on from there. You thinking of catching up with her? I’m sure she’d be married to this bloke. They looked pretty homely out there. I can’t see him laying out the welcome mat for an old boyfriend a month out of the nick.’
    â€˜I’m not driving over there. Just curious. As it is, I got no car. Thanks for the lift.’
    Old Bob was standing by the gate waiting for me.
    â€˜How much longer you thinking of being with us, Cal? I don’t like my boat out in the sun. Or the rain.’
    â€˜Oh, not much longer at all, Bob. I’m about to move on.’
    I skipped my mother’s cooking and lay on top of my bed thinking about what Bruce had said. Just on dark I grabbed my jacket and wallet, left the garage and headed for an old haunt, the car park at the RSL. I walked the aisles and settled on a battered Ford sedan with an unlocked back passenger door. I’d wired the car in less than a minute and was on the road in another thirty seconds. I passed the speedway and turned onto the fire road, driving through the pitch-black night. Pairs of eyes flashed at me from the scrub and from behind trees. A fox raced onto the dirt road carrying the bloodied carcass of a rabbit in its mouth. I felt the left front wheel slam into it, crushing its ribcage. By the time I’d turned onto the highway I’d dodged a dozen more animals and hit maybe two or three, although I couldn’t be sure on account of the bumps and divets in the road.
    The Lion Park wasn’t hard to find. A faded billboard with the face of a roaring lion welcomed visitors. I pulled off the road at the gates. A light burned on the porch of a house at the end of a drive. I left the car and walked. A dog barked and came running from its bed on the porch. It was an aged blue heeler, a little timid. The porch light went on and the door opened.
    There was no mistaking China. The shapely silhouette resting against a door post could belong to no one else. Another dog sat by her side.
    â€˜Can I help you? This is private property.’
    â€˜China,’ I croaked, as if someone had shoved a handful of dust in my mouth.
    She stepped forward and stood under the porch light. She was barefoot and wore a floral