I call into GateWay Auto after school on Monday to say hello, and to find out how Mr Gates is going. But what Belinda wants to find out is how I’m getting on with Electra.
‘She’s too shy to come and see us.’ Belinda opens a folder on her desk. ‘Now that Vin’s in hospital. But she always says hello if we see her. I think she still finds living in Melbourne a bit of a shock.’
‘Yeah, she does. It freaks her out.’ I nod. ‘She’s racing on Saturday night at Olympic Park. And she took some flowers around to Mr Gates’s house when she heard he was back in hospital.’
Belinda smiles. ‘Yes, well, we all love flowers, don’t we, Marc?’
‘We certainly do.’ I see that there’s a picture of a big bunch of them, drawn by Casey, on Belinda’s wall. They have faces. ‘So how’s Mr Gates going?’
Belinda settles into her chair and puts her pen down.
‘He’s hanging in there. But I don’t know for how much longer. It’s like just about the saddest thing you’ve ever seen.’
I’m sure it’s a lot like the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. But that’s something I have only ever spoken to Amelia’s parents about, and Trav, briefly; and something that I don’t think I will ever speak about to anyone ever again.
‘Mikey seems to be going okay,’ I say, changing the subject. ‘You know, with things, in general, I mean. The gallery and, er, whatever.’
Belinda smiles. Then she arranges some papers, including a few car brochures, as if she’s deciding what exactly she should say, and how to say it.
‘Yeah, he’s getting along pretty well, I think. And you deserve some of the credit.’ She speaks carefully. ‘It means a lot to him that you and your friend Travis accept him and have helped him out. And to me. Quite a few people freak out if they discover someone’s gay. Even someone as nice as Mikey. They don’t know how to handle it.’
‘He’s a good guy,’ I say. ‘I can’t believe his family don’t like him.’
Belinda shakes her head. Suddenly her eyes are bright, sparkling, as if she might be about to cry.
‘I’m sure they like him, Marc.’ She leans forward. ‘I’m sure they love him. It’s just that people, for whatever reason, let things get in the way of what is actually true, and important. They did put his picture in the paper. But, you know, maybe words were said that can’t be unsaid. It’s not as straight-forward, I bet, as it looks to us.’
I’d agree with that.
‘It’s hard to know what’s the right thing to do,’ I say, although I know if AA was here, or Ronni Water Python, they’d have been on the phone to Mikey’s family in a heartbeat. But they’re not here, and don’t I know it.
Belinda sees me off, standing at the bottom of the steps of the GateWay office.
‘Good to see you, Marc. Come again. I’ll tell Mikey you dropped in.’ She takes a step back up. ‘I’d better go. I’m trying to get some clues on how we might set up a new car franchise here. I’m talking to people all over the place. Vinnie thought it might work. I might actually try to do it.’
‘Really?’ I say, although I’m not exactly sure what a franchise is, except that it may or may not have something to do with Jim’s Dog Wash. ‘Would you, like, have to build a showroom?’
‘Oh, yeah.’ Belinda draws a box in the air, her nails like pointy pink jewels. ‘All that and more. But I’d need the right kind of help.’
I get the feeling that if Belinda thinks something can be done, it can. I notice she also wears a type of business shirt, but pink. And somehow, in just a week, she seems older.
‘I think you could do it,’ I say. ‘Anyway, I’d better go.’ And I do, turning to head down the driveway, seeing Mikey trudging towards me as if he was climbing a mountain.
We meet halfway, beside a Commodore station wagon.
‘Hey, Marc.’ Mikey stops. His eyes are underlined with dark rings. ‘How are you going? Everything all right?’
‘Yeah, fine,’ I say. ‘How about you?’
‘Not quite a hundred per cent.’ Mikey grins, just. ‘I’ve been to the hospital. Poor old Vinnie’s hitting the wall. I thought I’d better come back and tell Belinda. Anyway, you keep dropping in, mate.’ He finds another smile, as if he’s using it to hold back a tide of tiredness. ‘We need to see your face. Catch you, mate.’
I say goodbye, and go home, with plenty to think about.