A place in line
Ella is quiet for a long time.
She takes the last bite of the pear
and hops up to toss the core in the bin.
She sits back down,
closer to me than before.
I take a deep breath to finish my story.
‘The family left town
owing six weeks rent.
Ever since, I’ve tried to imagine what the boy
who’d hit me
was thinking
barrelling down the highway
in the back of an old car,
all their belongings packed in the boot,
his father cursing and wondering
how a place in the canteen line
was worth all that trouble.’
The bell rings for the end of lunch.
Ella stands
and reaches for my hand.
She doesn’t let go
until we get to our lockers.