Chapter 03

August

While in hospital, and also while at home for the first couple of weeks of recovery, the girls keep Hal up to date with his school work by providing notes and getting teacher recommended books for him to use for self-study. He’s given extra time to lodge assignments, but he gets them all in on time; even though one is amended to allow for him to do the physical model while in bed. The teachers even bring him some exams to do. He returns to school in time to be part of the major review for the important end of year exams fast approaching.

During his recovery he spends a lot of time doing rehabilitation therapy to enable his leg and knee to recover and to rebuild from the surgery. This involves exercises to help build the strength and flexibility of all of the ligaments and the muscles remaining in his left leg. During this process he notices the new knee feels stronger and much more able to take weight than the previous one. He tells Mr Davidson about it, and he tells the manufacturer who is very happy to hear the report.

The only problem is when he’s approved to return to school. Hal wants to use only a cane while the doctors insist he uses two crutches. He uses just a cane at home and during rehabilitation therapy, but due to the longer amount of time he’ll spend on his feet while moving around at school and when shopping the doctors insist he use the crutches until they say otherwise. Despite hating it Hal does as they tell him to.

School

Hal leans on his crutches while he waits for the bus to school. There are a few other students waiting for the bus too. When the bus arrives it pulls up a bit before the group of students then creeps forward until the door is right in front of Hal. The driver smiles at him when he gets on. He gives her a half frown because she’s never been known to smile at the students and she’s often yelling at them about behaviour. She sees his look and says, “My nephew is a lot happier without those bullies after him. Thank you.” Hal smiles and nods his understanding as it’s good to know why someone is acting different toward you.

The first seat at the front of the bus is being held for him by Greta, so he sits there. Usually other kids who get on at the start of the run sit there, but they’re sitting a bit further back so he can have the front seat. He spots them a few rows back and he gives them a wave to thank them for the consideration since he’s sure they were in this seat last Friday.

The bus load is its normal raucous self, but he does notice there seems to be a heavy infection of smiles amongst the passengers, much more than one would expect for a Monday morning or see on a school day. He still doesn’t understand why when the bus stops in front of the school and he starts to get off the bus.

Hal is looking down when he takes a lot of care while getting down the steps and off the bus. Once on the ground and moving away from the bus he looks up, and he’s surprised by the very large number of students who are around the front of the school and the entrance. The total number of kids at school is about what you’d expect at this time, maybe just a few more than normal. However, by this time they’re usually spread throughout the whole campus and not hanging around the front of the school. Even while he’s glancing around at all of the students his head is angled down due to him leaning over the crutches while he watches where he puts his feet. Out of the corner of his eye he catches a large colourful group on the top of the school steps. He stops to look up. Across the front of the school, filling the top step, is a row of teachers: his teachers, all of his teachers. They’re standing there holding a huge banner saying: ’Welcome back, Hal.’

He has a hard time not crying at seeing this support for him. He was never one who did much to get recognition within the school, but this time the whole school seems to know him and recognise he’s someone they should be happy to have as part of their little community. When he walks in the gate the students start clapping. He smiles and nods at everyone by turning his head in every direction to try to make eye contact with them all while he makes his slow way forward and up the steps. When he reaches the line of teachers they part to make way for him to precede them into the school. He walks through the doors to see an empty corridor. When he does the memory of what happened the last time he was in a school corridor that was this empty returns to him. He stops, gulps, then hobbles on a few seconds later. The teachers move in behind him, then around him to go off down the hallway on their way to classes. The students flow around him while they do the same. He gets a distinct impression this was all set up to allow him to confront the fear of the empty corridor while knowing he has a lot of support right behind him. He wonders who thought of this and set it up before he says a short prayer of thanks for whoever it was, and for those involved with it.

Standing in the doorway of his office while looking out on the scene when Hal arrives and walks into the school Principal Jensen wonders if he’s done the right thing in setting up the empty hallway. But seeing how Hal stops and then moves on Mr Jensen decides he did the right thing. He felt there would be a problem the first time that happened, and he thought it would be best to get it over with straight away. But even he’s surprised by the actions of the teachers in organising the banner and standing at the top of the steps. Also, the gathering of the students with their clapping surprises him. He’d simply told the students not to enter the school when they arrived today as they were not to enter until after Hal does. The way the staff and students organised this support all by themselves has him feeling that there is more hope for this generation than he had thought they had before. With the event over he turns to his office to get back to his paperwork.

During the rest of the morning the teachers and students treat Hal exactly the same way they did before he went to hospital, and he really appreciates how very normal things are. The only special attention he gets is at lunch. When he enters the cafeteria Jenner walks up to ask for the money to buy his juices, then she gets them for him.

Overall, Hal’s return to school is like a normal school day, except he takes a little longer to get his backpack on and the crutches in place when he goes to leave a room. Also, the cooking classroom storage has been changed around a bit. The schedule is still the way it was to start with, but all of the ingredients needed for the lessons for the rest of the year are all at waist and chest height. When he went into hospital many of them were stored in cupboards that were lower or higher than they are now. He smiles as he appreciates the effort that’s been made to allow him to do his work as normal, and without any special help being obvious. He also smiles when two students who don’t often talk to him help carry the food for Jenner to the cafeteria for him, ten soups today.

Back to Normal

The trip home is like normal and he has housework to do when he gets home. He had been exempt from work due to illness, until today. His mother reasons being able to return to school and go shopping means he’s able to do his share of the housework. But he smiles on seeing the daily task roster. His tasks for today and tomorrow are to mow the front, back, and side lawns: all up, that’s just under two days’ work for one person. Wednesday is polishing the dining room and kitchen tables; they’re very large and will take most of the time set aside. Thursday is cleaning all of the mirrors in the house. Friday is cleaning outside windows on the ground floor. All tasks he can do while seated or standing up for the whole task, but no bending or getting up or down. Yes, his mother has him back on housework, but she’s designated his tasks to make them ones easy for him to do while he’s still recovering.

Early evenings include his therapy sessions, followed by his studies. In other words, everything in the way of activities is back to normal. The next few weeks pass in blessed normalcy for all concerned.

October

It’s just after school on a Thursday in early October when Hal is helping Jenner with a task at Centrelink, which is the government agency to be the interface between the public and the government departments managing the welfare and assistance programs the government has. For the last few weeks her mother hasn’t been home most of the time, which is an oddity because her normal routine is to stay at home, except when buying alcohol or the odd night down at the pub or club. Some days ago, on Hal’s advice, Jenner got the forms from Centrelink to have the special allowance for Jenner and Julie paid direct into their own bank accounts. Mrs Denning signed them and didn’t ask what they were for. Today Jenner is handing the papers back in and she asked Hal to come along to support her because the staff aren’t used to having young girls Jenner’s age doing this sort of paperwork so they often ask for the papers to be brought in by the parents.

Hal is leaning on his cane when he stands beside Jenner at the counter while she hands the papers over. The young woman behind the counter looks the papers over then she looks up at Jenner and Hal, she notices how young the girl is and the boy looks to be just a year or two older. She has concerns about the validity of the paperwork and what the girl’s real situation is. So she asks, “Miss Denning, why isn’t your mother lodging these papers?”

Jenner gives a weak smile, “Because she’s sprawled out on the lounge at home, dead drunk, her usual position at this time.”

The young woman looks up at the tone and words in Jenner’s reply; she glances at Hal, and starts checking her computer records. After a few minutes of checking files she says, “I really should have your mother here making or giving verbal approval of these changes. But it’s almost time for another home visit from a case worker. I’ve scheduled her to visit the week after next, Wednesday at four p.m. I’ll process these forms and put a hold on them for now. When the case worker’s report comes in we’ll make a final decision then.”

Jenner isn’t happy with this, “Can’t you do it before then. The quicker this is done the sooner I’ve access to money to ensure I can buy food for Julie and me.” The young woman’s eyes go a bit wider as this does sound like a bad case, but she’s not sure she’s getting told the truth.

All during this there’s been a bit of noise coming from the man in his late twenties a pace or so along the counter where another young woman is serving clients. The noise goes up quite a bit when the man yells, “I don’t care what your fucking rules are! I need that fucking money. So approve it now.” All turn to the shouting. The man is very agitated, also he’s almost hopping about while he moves his weight from one foot to the other and back again. His right hand darts down to his trouser pocket and he pulls out a pistol. Hal sees this as he’s right beside the man, but he doubts anyone else can see the weapon due to their vision being blocked by the counter, Hal, and the man’s body. It’s clear to Hal major trouble is on hand.

Hal releases his hold on his cane when he moves a half pace toward the man to reach across to grab the man’s right wrist with his left hand. The gun is still pointing down when Hal grabs the wrist and pushes down while keeping his left arm straight. He reaches across with his right hand to grab the man’s throat. Hal says, “Be quiet and drop it.” The man struggles and tries to raise his right hand with the gun. The staff members only see Hal attacking this man and she responds by hitting the alarm button while telling Hal to let him go. Hal doesn’t look at them. He keeps his eyes on the man while he says, “Call the police. This man has a pistol in his right hand and I’m stopping him from raising it.” This causes the burly male member of staff approaching Hal to stop and have a close look at their hands. He gulps and he backs away as per the office set procedures for these situations: always keep away from guns.

Jenner reaches across to take Hal’s mobile phone from his belt. She uses it to call the emergency services while everyone else just stands around watching or ducking for cover. By the time the call is over the office is almost empty of clients and most of the staff have also left the area: as per the departmental procedures. Hal and the man stand there staring at each other. The man tries to lift his right arm but he can’t, so he tries to pry Hal’s right hand from his throat, with no success.

A minute or so after Jenner hangs up a siren approaches the area. Car tyres squeal, a car door slams. The automatic doors open, and two police officers race in. They stop just short of the pair. They approach with care while they assess the situation. On orders by the senior constable the policeman gets out his handcuffs and grabs the man’s left hand. He places the cuffs on the wrist when he pulls it away from Hal’s hand on the man’s throat. The officer twists the man’s arm behind the man’s back while the policewoman drops to her knees to grab the pistol. The hammer is already pulled back. She puts her thumb between the hammer and the body of the gun then she twists the gun toward her and up. The pressure hurts the man’s fingers so he finally lets go of the pistol. She moves back and away, holding the pistol while her partner reaches for the man’s right wrist. Hal feels the policeman take a good hold of the man’s wrist so Hal lets go of it and moves back as well. The constable moves the hand behind the man’s back to finish handcuffing the prisoner.

The policewoman turns to smile at Hal while saying, “I see you’ve taken my advice this time. Thank you. I do so much prefer to be taking the bad guys to the station to lock them up than to the morgue.” This gets them both odd looks from those within hearing, which is about half of the office because it’s dead quiet. One of those who hears this is the young woman who’d been serving Jenner.

Hal smiles back, “Senior Constable Barnard, it was easy to take this one prisoner. He was close enough I could grab him. So he’s alive.”

“That’s good. He won’t be a problem for a while. I know him and he’s in big trouble for having this on him,” she says while waving the pistol. Being reminded of it she takes care to lower the hammer and to put the safety on to make the gun safe to carry around.

“Hal, you should take more care in situations like this since you seem to have an affinity for them. That gun was ready to fire and it was pointed at your left foot. If it had gone off you could’ve got badly hurt.”

He laughs, “No, I couldn’t. Yes, it would have been expensive. But there’s nothing he could’ve done to hurt my foot.” She gives him an odd look. “I’ve a prosthetic foot, I lost the original a few years back.”

“Oh. I knew you had a walking problem, but I thought that was your knee, not the foot.”

“My walking is mostly the knee. If it was just the foot I could probably run a bit. The movement problem is the knee. In the incident where I lost the foot my knee was badly damaged too. Since the bits in between were still good they gave me a replacement knee and a fake foot. After a few years of no trouble while using the knee I should get about reasonably well. But since I got the replacement knee put in I’ve been in constant rehabilitation. I was just about OK when something happened to blow the first replacement. I was just up and about from that rebuild when we moved here. A little while back I had to have it replaced again. I’ve been in rehab therapy for the knee since I lost the original just over three years ago. With luck, I should be walking well in time for Christmas.” She nods her understanding of his situation as she takes out her notebook to get statements. Jenner’s eyes go wider all through this. This is the first she’s heard about his foot and the most she’s heard about his knee.

The woman serving Jenner gives him a very thorough look over when Jenner bends down to pick up his cane for him. She turns back to her computer to enter some codes. “Jenner, I’ve just approved those changes to happen now. I think the case worker will approve it all.”

Jenner smiles at her, “Thank you. With a payment due next week I can be sure we’ll have money for meals from now on.”

The young woman who’d been serving the man looks at the papers he gave her then she puts them aside with a note while saying, “I don’t think he’ll be needing or qualifying for this loan now.”

The office staff start to get back into their normal routines. The police take several minutes to get statements from all involved and those close by then they leave, taking the man with them. Hal and Jenner leave as well.

A couple of blocks away, and around the corner on the main street, they meet up with Else returning from doing some shopping. She’d driven them down and went to get some things Mrs Smith wanted from a store near here, which is why they put the papers in today.

They return home to finish their work for the day. When they have their post work snack Hal tells them all about the events at Centrelink. Which requires some discussion and comments, especially when Jenner lets the cat out of the bag about the foot. Not even Greta knew his foot was a fake. They ask about it, and they soon learn he doesn’t like to talk about how he lost his foot and knee while his family doesn’t like talking about it without his approval. Liz takes them home soon after they finish their afternoon snacks.

Late October

All of the kids are busy studying for the exams due to start in a few weeks, especially the students in year ten. Mrs Smith smiles when she watches them go about their work in pairs or groups. While working they’re constantly talking as they check each other on the material they expect to be examined on in the coming weeks.

On the Monday of the last week of October Jenner sits down to have lunch with Hal and she reaches for her half sandwich while saying, “Hal, I’m getting worried about Mum. I know she must be coming home for a while when we’re at school, but I’ve not seen her for some weeks. We cleaned up the house simply to be able to tell when she’s around. I can tell when she’s been because there are dirty clothes on the floor in her room. But she’s not been around since sometime last week. What can I do?”

He gives her a long look before replying, “First, I need to know: do you wish advice on what the law says you should do, on what I think you should do, or on what I think you should do that’s best for you and Julie? I ask, because they’re not the same answers.”

“What’s best for Julie and me?”

“OK, that’s simple. Get all of your new stuff together this afternoon and we’ll get permission for you to put it in the spare bedroom at our place. Also put most of your gear there so you can live there if you have to.” Her eyes go very wide. “Do you still have that new automatic teller machine card for your mother’s bank account?” He gets a nod. “Checked the balance on it lately?”

“Yes. It’s very good, a few thousand dollars. It’s normally empty, but she’s not taken anything out for some weeks. I can’t understand that.”

“Hmm. OK. Starting today you’ll get four hundred dollars out each day and put it into your bank account. Do that until you have the account down to only a few hundred dollars. Also put some into Julie’s account. That way each of you will have some money of your own to call on if you need it. How are the bills paid?”

“No problem there. Money is taken out for the rent, the phone, the power, and the groceries before it goes into Mum’s bank account. She only gets what’s left. A social worker set that up some years back. She got a court order to do it, and Mum has hated her since. I like it as it means I don’t have to worry about the bills at all. Why do you want us to get hold of the money?”

“I’ve no idea what your mother has been up to or where she is, but if she ends up in prison or the morgue you’ll need some money while things get sorted out. If the welfare people get involved at any point don’t tell them about your own accounts. The records will show they exist, but they may miss them. You need to be ready to protect yourselves or to run, depending upon what the situation is.” She slowly nods her head in understanding, and they move onto other subjects.

That afternoon the majority of Jenner’s and Julie’s things are moved into the spare bedroom at the Smith house with the approval and help of Mrs Smith.

Days move along the way they always do: school, work, study, time with friends, and shopping. Most nights the two girls don’t go home as they stay at the Smith house, going out or to school from there the next day.

November

The exams are held. Tempers are a bit short during this time due to lack of sleep and other tension creators. Students stay up late to study and are busy studying when they can, fitting it in around their work and other set activities. Voluntary activities like dates and fun times are few during this period, and that adds to the troubles with tension and tempers. This is all much more so for the year ten students. The year twelve students have already sat their exams and finished for the year, the students in the other years have also sat their exams, but those aren’t as tension creating as the important year end ones for the students in years ten and twelve. Poor Greta can’t understand the stress Hal is under, but she accepts it because she can see her sisters are under the same stress.

The exams are over by mid-November and the tensions are being released with fun times and parties. Jenner and Julie haven’t seen their mother for nearly two months now, but they have seen evidence of her visiting the house every now and then. They keep up with moving the money to their accounts. The only change to their living they make is to have most of the food supplied by the supermarket taken to the Smith residence where they use it to cook their own meals. They now live there most of the time because they don’t like being at their home without any adults around.

About this time the local service clubs announce a talent show all of them are sponsoring. Hal and the girls decide to enter it and they put an act together for the show.

Life moves on with Jenner and Julie enjoying living with the Smiths. However, every few days they do check their old house in the evening.

Jenner and Julie are de facto members of the Smith family, but they still won’t take any obvious charity. Hal wants them to have mobile phones, something they’ve not had before and they haven’t missed, but he’s missed not being able to contact them. He buys Jo and himself new top of the line mobile phones and they give the girls their two old ones. Julie and Jenner don’t see this as charity because none of the companies give you anything for your old phones so you just throw them away or give them away. In this case they’re given away with a small amount of prepaid hours then it’s up to the girls to recharge the phones as need be. They don’t mind the fact they have used phones because they’re just glad to have some mobile phones at all. Life is much easier by being in quick contact with people.

By the last week of November Jenner and Julie have nothing they want in their old house. There are things and clothes still there, but nothing of value, no clothes that fit them now, and nothing they care about or want. The last evidence of their mother having visited was in the first week of November, and they still have no idea of where she is or what she’s doing.

Thanks to lots of good therapy Hal no longer needs his cane to get about, but he still takes it with him because he finds it’s good to stop him falling over if he stumbles on anything. He can walk at almost normal speed now, but not while carrying anything more than a couple of kilograms. He no longer has to sit and wait when they go shopping as the girls just slow down a bit while he walks as fast as he can, so all are now much happier when travelling about as a group.

Funny Visitors

The last Thursday of November Hal is asked to check on something at the house Mrs Denning rents. Liz picks him up from school to take him over in The Beast as she has the afternoon off. When they reach the house they see a car parked in front of it and another car parked down the road. Both are unusual items since the cars don’t fit. This street is all Housing Commission homes and only a few of the residents have cars. Those with cars have either very old family cars or very new sporty cars. Two year old family sedans with black windows do not fit any of the car types common to the area, but The Beast does. At Hal’s request Liz pulls over and parks a couple of doors down the street from the Denning house.

Hal gets out and walks up the path to the house two down from where he wishes to go. There’s no answer when he knocks so it appears no one is at home, which typical for this area and time. Hal gets out the mini-tool he carries with him, this is like a pocket knife but it has no sharp edges. He opens up the screwdriver blade to slip it between the door and the jamb. After a little pressure while he levers the two apart the door pops open. He walks in and he shuts the door behind him. He’s surprised to see a man sleeping on the lounge. A quick check shows he’s OK, just dead drunk. Hal walks through the house and out the back door.

He crosses the yard to the fence, well, what’s left of it. Few houses in this block have any fences between the houses as none are allowed in the front yards by the council rules and the wooden backyard fences have gone to fires many years ago. The Housing Commission has given up on replacing them because they vanish faster than they can have them built since metal fences sell well and wood burns well. It takes but a minute or so for Hal to be in the backyard of the Denning house.

After walking up to the back door Hal lets himself in as he has the key to both doors from Jenner. He takes care while he sneaks through the kitchen as the door is open and he can hear talking in the lounge room. One man says, “You got the gear the bitch wants?”

“Yeah, it was just where she said it was. The place looks very tidy for two girls to live in by themselves, are you sure they still live here?”

Hal can just see the outlines of the two men on the lounge chairs while they talk, but he can’t see their faces. He doesn’t like the sound of what they’re saying. Though he smiles at it. Hal takes out his phone to point it at the men. This phone has the facility for extra memory cards and he put a 128 GB card in as it’s the largest it takes, so he doesn’t have to think about checking storage for a long time. It records images as a still picture, a video, or it acts as a sound recorder. He records their talk.

“The boss is. The official address is still here. Mail coming here still reaches them. The case worker has recently interviewed them here. There are clothes and gear in the rooms the bitch recognises as theirs when she’s been here. So they must live here.”

“Then how come no one who watches the house sees them come or go. Hell, I was here before dawn the other day and they never came out to go to school. But they were at school later, I saw them getting on the bus to come back. But they never got off at the stop near here.”

“They probably walked over after getting off at another stop to visit with another kid they know from school and they came in the back.”

“According to the bitch they don’t know anyone at all. How long do you think the boss will wait to try and get them from here?”

“Do I look like a mind reader? I’ve no idea how long he’s prepared to wait to grab the girls here. But he sure doesn’t want to grab them at school, and he can’t grab them on the bus. So what other options does he have? If you don’t like the job, complain to him.”

“No, I think I’ll just continue to do as told just so I can continue to go on breathing. Anyway, we’re sure getting a lot of extra info from what we’re learning about the other kids in the area. So he may give up on these two and take some of the others as merchandise.”

“That I doubt. A lot in the business are now inside but the boss ain’t. And the one thing he does they didn’t do is to make sure there’s no one who’ll complain when the merchandise is taken for training and sale. If they aren’t back by night we’ll leave, as usual.”

Hal has their talk recorded, he hopes. At the moment he has no way of knowing how well the recording went. He waits several more minutes, but he learns nothing useful. Thinking he won’t learn anything more he makes his way back outside, locks the door, and he goes back through the yards to the house he entered earlier. He walks up the side of the house to The Beast and he gets in. The intended task is left undone.

While they drive off he gets out his wallet to look at a business card he has in it. Smiling, he calls the number on it. The number is answered and he speaks to the person to arrange to meet them at his home.