A Reason to Exist

Chapter 11

'Take these quotes for the new fence next door and give it to that woman, what was her name?' mum said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

'I've got three quotes. Of course, she's welcome to source quotes herself. This one here, from A1 fencing, I've got a good feeling about them. The cheapest isn't always the best. I've spent a lot of time on this. Time I don't have. She should know that.' Mum passed me the three quotes. She'd handwritten notes on them.

'Can I get something to eat first?' I asked. 'I'm starving.'

'I'm making you something special,' she said. 'Off you go. You can eat when you get back.'

I walked out the front door, annoyed. I didn't feel like seeing Tucker. He's a stupid show off. He's nothing like me. I'm sensible. I follow the rules. Even when the rules are stupid.

I knocked and Tucker answered the door.

'You're home,' I said.

'Yeah. I took the day off school.'

'Just like that?'

'Pretty much.' His smile punctuated the silence. 'Hey, you'll have to come in. I've got cheese toasties in the sandwich press. Shit, they'll be burning ...' I could hear a smoke alarm. He rushed down the hallway. I had no choice but to follow into the kitchen.

Tucker threw me a teatowel.

'Wave that,' he said.

'Huh?'

'Wave the teatowel up there,' he pointed at the smoke alarm. 'It's sensitive as anything. Any hint of smoke and it's ringing.'

I stood on tippy toes and waved the teatowel in the air.

'You're very pretty putting out fires,' he said, turning off the sandwich press and opening the kitchen window.

'Shut up,' I responded.

'Want a cheese toastie? I've got two here.'

'I don't know,' I said, even though I was starving. 'Is your mum home?'

'Nup, just me. Bastian will be home soon. Mum won't be home until late tonight. She's got a date. Drinks with a guy after she finishes work. From Tinder.'

'Tinder?'

'If she isn't home for dinner, I'll know it's going well.' He winked and smiled that big, wide cheeky smile. 'What about your mum? Is she dating?'

'God, no,' I said.

'She probably needs a good fuck.' He chuckled, and I couldn't help but laugh too. It felt weird and liberating and suddenly ten tonnes of intense conversations with my mother were lifted off my shoulders and lit like fireflies in the air.

'Go on, have a cheese toastie. It won't kill you.' He didn't know that according to mum gluten would kill me. 'Okay,' I decided.

He placed our plates down on the laminex table littered with junk mail; Myer, Kmart, Big W, Aldi and Coles catalogues.

'What happened to you the other day? You disappeared quickly,' Tucker said.

'I thought your rollercoaster stunt was stupid,' I said.

'Oh.' Tucker picked a crumb up off the table with his pointer finger and brushed it onto his plate.

'There could've been an accident,' I said.

'I knew what I was doing.'

'Yeah, well, I wasn't impressed.' I placed the sandwich back down on the plate. Tucker looked hurt. This guy, so full of bravado, suddenly looked crushed. 'I'm not into dangerous stuff like that,' I said. 'I don't think it's cool. It's unnecessary. I'm not the right audience.' Tucker's face took on a serious and sad expression. I felt bad for deflating the guy. Perhaps his risky behaviour was armour that he wore. Underneath, he was a softie like the rest of us.