32

^‘Your dad wants to see you in his office,’ said Jerry, appearing on the verandah with a leaf-blower in his hand. As always, his tone was neutral.

Kaydon stepped into the blast of cool air and took a seat in front of his father’s desk without speaking. There was a brittle silence.

His father looked away. He toyed with a pen, rolling it back and forth under his fingers. ‘I told you not to go out to Glenvale.’

‘The whole place would have burnt down.’

‘But we don’t own the place yet. We could have negotiated to get it a bit cheaper.’

Kaydon was astounded. ‘You wanted the place to burn?’ he clarified. What kind of bastard was his father? Everything Holly’s family owned was in that place.

His father let out an enormous sigh, tapping the pen absent-mindedly against the top of the desk. Tap tap tap tap tap . . .

‘All the same, you did well today. I was proud of you.’ The words didn’t seem to flow easily out of his mouth, but at least he said them.

‘Thanks,’ Kaydon muttered.

‘I didn’t know Ken Harvey’s wife had cancer.’

‘There’s a lot you don’t know,’ said Kaydon.

‘Like what?’

‘Did you know Mr Parker is a geologist?’

‘Was a geologist,’ his father corrected him. ‘Now he works in finance and investment.’

‘Financing mining projects.’

‘Kaydon, if there was even a sniff of minerals or resources on this property, don’t you think I’d know?’

‘He doesn’t want resources.’

‘That’s right,’ said Pat. ‘Now drop the bloody subject.’ His voice was getting a narky edge to it.

‘Dad, he wants to do something worse, like dump . . .’

Pat thumped his fist on the table and pushed himself up out of his chair. ‘Oh, stone the bloody crows, Kaydon. You’ve done one school assignment on carbon cycles and now you’ve become a tree-hugger.’ He leaned across the desk. ‘Don’t you get it? We need capital investment and having Parker as a partner is the only way to do that. It’s my only option.’

‘But it’s not about that, Dad. It’s about geo-sequestration.’

‘Drop it.’

‘Dad . . .’

‘We’re settling on Glenvale tomorrow. It’s as good as done. And with Aaron out of action for six weeks, I need you to help run the place.’

‘But I’ll be back at school.’

‘No you won’t.’

‘What?’

‘Unless this Glenvale deal works for us, there will be no money for your fancy private school, Kaydon. There will be no money for you to go and do something whimsical like environmental science.’

‘Dad, that guy doesn’t care about farming. He’s going to turn this place into a dumping ground.’

‘No he won’t, because I won’t let him.’

‘Holly reckons that . . .’

‘You’ve been listening to the hippies? What do they know about the land? What do they know about running a viable farm? They’re filling your head with crap, Kaydon.’

Kaydon slumped. He was getting nowhere. ‘What percentage share will Mr Parker have?’

His father didn’t answer.

‘Will he own more than us?’

His father’s face only tightened further.

‘So, he’ll be able to do whatever he likes with the place.’

‘You have absolutely no proof that this guy wants to do this geo-whateveritis. You’re making assumptions based on what some barefoot hippie with a pretty smile told you.’

‘Don’t you think you should look into it?’

‘I’ve told you. It’s too late. We’re signing tomorrow. The deal is done.’

‘And I’m a part of that deal without having any say?’

‘Go and get showered and changed, we’re visiting Aaron in hospital.’ His father pointed to the door.

Kaydon spun on his heel and stormed out of the office, slamming the door on his way out.

In the burns unit, Aaron lay on his stomach on crisp white sheets with his head to one side. One arm was bandaged and rested on a plank that was attached to the bed. More bandages covered his back and there were tubes everywhere.

Aaron spoke to them out of the side of his mouth. ‘Sorry about the fire,’ he said. ‘You missed Mum and Dad. They just left.’ He closed his eyes again. Kaydon wished he could do the same. He was queasy with tiredness and felt like he was running on autopilot.

A male nurse came into the room. ‘He’s been heavily sedated.’

Bron touched Aaron’s hand. ‘How’s the pain?’

Aaron’s eyes flickered briefly open and he gave a stupid grin. ‘What pain?’

‘He’s had plenty of morphine too,’ said the nurse. ‘He has second-degree burns, which will heal, mostly without scars. Once we can control the pain without a drip and the risk of infection passes, he can go home.’

‘Very lucky he didn’t burn his hands or face,’ said Bron.

Kaydon took a chair in the corner of the room while his mum tried to make conversation with Aaron, but he kept falling asleep. He must have dozed off too because when he snatched suddenly out of sleep, his parents had left the room. Outside, the day was fading and settling into night. The bustling traffic whizzed along in a stream of headlights.

‘Your parents went to get a coffee,’ said a girl in a blue uniform, as she checked Aaron’s chart.

Kaydon stared at his cousin. Once Aaron got out of here, they would work at Glenvale together. No more school. He never thought he would feel crushed about that. It angered him that he had no say in his own life. Dad couldn’t afford to keep him at Bentleigh, that was fine, but couldn’t he go to the local high school? Couldn’t he at least finish school?

‘Heyyy, Squirt.’ Aaron was staring at him with bleary eyes.

‘Gidday, arsonist,’ he replied.

‘Sorry about that.’

‘You look more sorry than me.’

Aaron looked around the room. ‘Has Parker been in to see me?’

‘Not that I know of. Why?’ Kaydon leaned closer. ‘How do you know him, Aaron?’

‘Met him at the pub in Narrabri. Then we went fishing together.’

‘I thought you worked with him?’

‘Nah. He worked at the same mine as me years ago, but not while I was there.’ He started snoozing again.

Aaron met Mr Parker in the pub? Alarm bells started ringing.

Kaydon shook Aaron’s hand. ‘Wake up.’

Aaron’s eyes snatched open and his face contorted with pain. ‘Is Stacey coming to see me?’ He fumbled for a small white gadget and clicked it a few times. ‘I can’t remember how much of this stuff I’ve had.’

‘Aaron, who does this guy work for? What is his company name?’

‘Mr Parker works for himself. He is a very smart man.’ Aaron started snoring again and this time, no amount of shaking would wake him up.