Beneath Sam’s seat, behind his legs, was the cardboard sign Jon had been carrying when they’d picked him up. It tickled the back of his knees, and as the car rumbled along the track, he lifted it up and set it on his lap. Everyone was quiet, and Dettie was watching Katie intently up front, repeatedly wafting her hands away from the radio dial. Jon was staring out the window at the trees and mounds of dirt flashing by, his thumbs buried in his beard, scratching his chin.
Sam turned the sign in his hands, reading it over. On one side was Jon’s large, looping writing in thick black texta, Help Me, I’m British, but the other side was blank. Leaning back down to the pile of papers and wrappers on the floor, Sam found Dettie’s crossword-puzzle book and slipped the pen free from its pages. He tested it on the corner of the cardboard, and then tapped Jon’s leg to get his attention.
Will you come with us to Perth? he wrote, and held the words out.
Jon read the message and smiled, sadly. ‘We’ll see, me mate. We’ll see.’
‘What? What’s that?’ Dettie stretched back in her seat, cocking her ear towards them.
‘Nothing, love,’ Jon said, taking the sign and pen from Sam’s hands.
For a moment they sat motionless as Dettie fretted with the rear-vision mirror. When the car had settled back into its familiar drone, Jon scribbled something on the sign himself. He tapped Sam’s knee with his knuckle and held it out to read.
You asked before…This means SCARED.
Sam looked up and Jon was signing. Both hands were curled up like bear paws, fingers hooked like claws. He tapped them on his chest, twice, the right hand higher than his left. He tapped two times, silently, his eyebrows knotted together.
Sam mirrored the movement back at him, tapping twice. Then again. He felt the tiny flutter upon his chest like a heartbeat.
Jon nodded and turned back to the window. Folding the sign in half he tucked it away beneath the front seat.