Dead Dog in the Still of the Night

by Archimede Fusillo

  ‘I meant what I said about being sorry about the dog,’ he said simply. ‘I am sorry about that. I wish I could take it back.’

  ‘What you did with the dog is repulsive, but it’s got nothing to do with us,’ Maddie said without hesitation, dropping her hand. Seeming to reconsider, she added, ‘Well, maybe it does. And maybe I’m the one who’s confused, I don’t know. I don’t like what you say you did but ...’ She shrugged. ‘Primo, I do care about you.’

  It is to do with us, Maddie, Primo thought. I put a dead dog on the doorstep of a house where kids could have found it because I wanted to score cash off my cheating brother. What sort of girl wants a boyfriend like that?

  ‘I heard you changed your Facebook status. Why?’ he asked.

  Maddie sighed. ‘I’m angry with you, Primo. You’ve let me down.’

  Primo nodded. He’d let a lot of people down lately, including himself. He pressed his lips together. ‘I can’t come to Europe, Maddie,’ he said. ‘And not just because of the money. I can’t leave Mum alone.’

  ‘I don’t buy that, Primo. Your mum has Adrian,’ Maddie tossed back. ‘And Santo too, you reckon. And besides, it’s just for three weeks.’

  ‘I can’t leave her with them,’ Primo said flatly.

  Maddie turned her back on Primo.

  ‘Can I tell you something?’ he asked, not expecting a reply. ‘I was going to get you to help me load up the car and take the lot down to the freight yard and sell it off to the boys there, Maddie. You see, it would be so easy to do. I bet my old man doesn’t even remember this stuff is here. He’d never miss it.’

  ‘And that would give you money to put toward the trip?’ Maddie asked and faced Primo again. ‘You’d do that, for me?’

  ‘Yeah, guess so,’ Primo answered.

  Maddie looked round the workshop.

  ‘This is it,’ Primo said. ‘This is all my father has left. It’s all Mum has, apart from the house, and the Fiat – which she never wanted in the first place.’ Primo bit his bottom lip. ‘My plan was to gather as much of this stuff as I could and then sell it.’ He paused. ‘Until I walked in here.’ He looked around.

  The outside world seemed not to have disturbed the workshop since the day his father had padlocked the front door. It was as though his father had finished off his last job, wiped his hands on one of the many discarded rags that littered the various benches and empty oil drums, and walked out.

  Primo kicked a metal bucket and sent it catapulting across the concrete floor. It came to rest against one cobwebbed leg of the main workbench.

  ‘I can’t do it, though,’ he said between clenched teeth. ‘I can’t do that to Mum. I wish I could. I really do.’

  ‘Maybe me going to Europe without you is a good thing,’ Maddie said. ‘Perhaps it’ll give us some time to sort out a lot of stuff between us. This business with the dead dog. It’s sick.’ She turned away, then quickly turned back to stare fixedly at Primo. ‘I don’t think I could enjoy the trip knowing you sold this out from under your dad without him knowing, Primo. And you couldn’t either.’

  Primo nodded.

  After dropping Maddie off without a further word between them, Primo went to his afternoon shift at the freight yard. The moment he made eye contact with Ari, the big guy ambled over.

  ‘Juice. Listen up. The next time you want some shit you know to not come round the house, eh? You don’t need to go hanging round my sister’s place, you know. Ari thinking maybe you there for some other reason.’

  Primo feigned surprise. ‘Why would I hang around there, Ari?’ he asked casually. ‘Not even anywhere near my neighbourhood.’

  ‘You right on that one, Juice,’ the giant answered.

  Primo swallowed hard before speaking. ‘Your sister found a dead dog you said,’ he began. ‘Stupid prank probably, you reckon?’

  Ari looked askance at Primo, sussing him for a long moment.

  ‘Some dumb-arse think maybe sister figure Ari bringing problems to the house so Ari move turf if she complain loud,’ he answered finally. ‘No way, man. Crystal, she lost her job. She got nowhere to go. The kids’ dad, he don’t spring a cent to help out, so she staying where she is, and Ari do what needs to be done, eh? She don’t like it, she can hit the street, my man. And the littlies too.’

  ‘You know who did it then?’ Primo tossed the question out, hoping to catch Ari off guard.

  The big man smiled crookedly and squared his shoulders, his thick neck flexed, looking right at Primo. Primo held his gaze, too scared not to.

  ‘You got work to do, Juice,’ Ari said slowly and indicated the conveyor belt that had started up behind Primo.

  Ari walked off and Primo let go of the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

  ‘What happened to Bambino?’ his mother asked the moment Primo entered the back door into the kitchen.

  Primo stopped, then kept walking, dropping his school bag as he went. He’d been into school for an extra biology class on gene expression in eukaryotic cells, and his head was pounding.

  ‘Managed to get that prac paper in on time after all,’ he said, hoping to change her tack. ‘Getting these add-on classes during the break is a bonus, I guess, even if it sucks having to go in.’

  His mother stepped away from the pantry where she’d been building a pyramid with cans of peeled tomatoes and looked hard at him. ‘Santo’s furious about something to do with your father’s precious little car. Did you do something to the car without telling your father or me, Primo?’ she asked.

  Only then did Primo see Beth. She was standing behind her grandmother, among the food shopping bags, thumb in her mouth. She smiled at her youngest uncle.

  ‘Adrian and Stella have gone out for a chat,’ Primo’s mother said. She bent down and gave the child a pat on the head and gently pushed her toward the play mat that was spread out in front of the TV. ‘Nana got you the pots,’ she said gently. ‘You go along and play. Nana will come join you soon.’

  The child sat on the mat but looked back at her uncle, sucking her thumb loudly now that Primo had turned his attention to her.

  ‘Hey, Beth,’ Primo said, waving at her. Beth giggled. She began lightly tapping on the array of kitchen pots and pans spread before her.

  ‘Santo wanted to surprise your father by turning up at the Home in Bambino,’ his mother went on. ‘You can imagine his surprise, and my shock, when he came running in here asking what had happened to it.’

  She paused to hand her grand-daughter a slice of apple from a small plate with fruit on it.

  ‘I had no idea what he was even talking about, so he pushed and shoved me into the garage and showed me,’ Primo’s mother said.

  Primo didn’t say anything.

  Beth gave a squeal as she banged two lids together. The sound cut the air like a sharp peal of thunder. The apple slice lay untouched by her feet.

  Neither Primo nor his mother reacted. They stood looking at each other.

  ‘So, what happened, Primo?’

  ‘It was an accident,’ Primo said finally, studying the palms of his hands. ‘But it’s all good. I’ll have the door repaired and it’ll be as good as new.’

  ‘Will it, Primo?’ his mother said softly. ‘Will it be as good as new?’

  Primo frowned. ‘Yeah. Tone’s cousin is a bit of a mechanic and a panel beater. He’ll fix it.’

  ‘The car maybe,’ his mother replied and started stacking the cans of beetroot, tuna and corn from the bags around her feet.

  ‘Santo won’t tell Dad. Will he?’ Primo said, passing his mother the items from the floor one at a time, as he had done so often when he’d been a little boy.

  ‘I’ve asked him not to,’ his mother answered. ‘But it’s Santo, so …’ She shrugged.

  ‘Why is it his car?’

  His mother didn’t answer.

  ‘Why is it automatically Santo’s car? Why not Adrian’s or Kath’s, or mine?’ Primo asked ferociously.

  ‘Why not mine, Primo? Afte
r all that I’ve put up with. After all the turning the other cheek that I’ve done, why isn’t it mine?’

  ‘You want Bambino?’ he asked feebly.

  ‘Do I want Bambino?’ his mother croaked. ‘No. No, I never wanted it. It wasn’t my dream, Primo. Just like shutting the workshop wasn’t something I was ever consulted about.’

  For a long moment his mother just looked at Primo, her face blank.

  ‘I don’t hate your father, Primo,’ she said slowly, deliberately. ‘I’ve never hated him. I’m just very disappointed in him. In myself too, if the truth be known. What happened with the car, son?’

  When Primo didn’t answer she reached out to touch him gently on the left cheek with the tips of her fingers. Then she turned, and pushing shut the pantry door, held a hand out to her grand-daughter.

  ‘Your father broke my heart, Primo,’ she said. ‘More than once. More than twice.’ She paused. ‘But that day, when he struck you for no reason, in the car, he came very close to crushing me completely, son.’

  ‘I shouldn’t of talked to him the way I did,’ Primo offered, and meant it as an apology. His mother shook her head slowly.

  ‘He didn’t mean anything by it, Primo,’ she said. ‘He’s confused. He doesn’t stop to think. He just says and does things. But before …’ She stopped abruptly, swallowed hard and broke eye contact with Primo.

  ‘Park, Beth?’ she said to the child by her side, her voice harried. ‘We go play in the park, love?’

  Primo felt his chest tighten. He clenched his fists unconsciously.

  ‘Santo can have the car if he wants it,’ his mother continued as she waited for the little girl to decide. ‘God knows Adrian never wanted it.’

  ‘What about Kath?’ Primo cut in.

  ‘Seems to me Kathleen never figured in any reckonings over your father’s car.’ She looked her youngest son in the eyes. ‘And besides, Kathleen’s always had her own mind. She doesn’t want Bambino any more than I do, Primo.’ She smiled, her lips hard.

  ‘But you, my boy,’ she continued after a moment, ‘you can let Santo have it or not as you see fit. After all, there’s no written agreement as to who should have it. Just a nod between father and son apparently. Well, between father and one son at least.’

  Her forlorn smile drew her face into a tight ball of pain.

  But there was something else there too, Primo noticed. Dignity.

  Primo swallowed, searching to find the words to tell her he understood, in some small way, about what she’d put up with, put up with still. But before he could, Beth reached up and grabbed at his trouser leg.

  ‘Park,’ she gurgled. ‘Park.’

  Primo’s first instinct was to shake the hands free. Instead he reached down and patted the little girl gently on the crown of her head.

  He couldn’t help but imagine what it might have been like if Beth had woken from sleep, gone to the front door and found a maggot-ridden dead dog.

  Primo cringed. His stomach cramped. Adrian would have sought out anyone who dared do that to ‘his kid’.

  Scumbags. Lowlifes. Degenerates.

  He’d deal with them.

  ‘Primo?’ his mother’s voice was plaintive.

  When Primo didn’t reply his mother cupped his face in her hands.

  ‘Don’t worry about Santo,’ she said. ‘I told him that something must have happened that your father never told me about.’

  ‘He believed that, you reckon?’ Primo said stiffly.

  ‘He believes what he believes, Primo. Whatever happened I don’t want to know,’ his mother said, her countenance grim. ‘Not anymore. I’ll sort Santo out. I always have, haven’t I?’

  ‘Park.’

  Primo looked down. His niece was smiling up at him.

  ‘Nana take you to the park,’ he said and bent down to be eye-to-eye with the little girl. She moved her head forward and their foreheads touched lightly, sending a shiver through Primo.

  Beth giggled, and turning in a tight circle twice, threw both arms in the air and yelped, ‘Park!’

  ‘Fix the car and let me know how much is owed. Apart from that, I don’t care to know any more.’

  Primo looked at his mother and felt more ashamed than he could ever remember feeling. Did he think that by confessing to his mother it would all be okay?

  The look on his mother’s face told him no. Redemption wasn’t that simple. Even for his father. His mother didn’t hate his father, but she had never forgiven him either.

  Primo wasn’t sure which was worse: to be hated, or not to be forgiven.

  There was a foul taste in Primo’s mouth. ‘Mum, there was this dead dog,’ he began. ‘There was this dead dog, and I shouldn’t have done it, but …’

  His mother covered her ears with her hands and started to hum loudly.

  Giggling madly, little Beth copied, cupping both hands over her ears and screeching incomprehensibly.

  ‘I better get her to the park before she howls the house down,’ Primo’s mother announced, scooping up the excited child. ‘If Santo gives you any bother, you come see me, Primo.’ She turned back in the doorway. ‘Oh, and Primo, whatever’s going on between you and that lovely girl Maddie, sort it out.’ She lowered her voice. ‘And you look like shit. I think that’s how you young people express any lack of spirit and drive.’

  She grinned. ‘I’m glad you got that biology paper in on time, son,’ she said after a moment. ‘Year 12 is a big year. I’d hate to think how all this business with your father, with Adrian, is playing havoc.’

  As she turned to walk out, she added, ‘Don’t be fooled by their bravado. Your father and brothers both, Primo. They’re more fragile than you might think.’

  This was not a woman to be taken for granted, Primo realised with blinding clarity. No matter what her past manner might have suggested, she was no mere victim.

  ‘Kath!’

  Primo turned to find his sister standing on the second step.

  ‘Mum. Hey, Primo,’ Kath said and finished her entrance. She tousled Beth’s hair playfully and kissed her on the top of her head.

  ‘My Kathleen. How wonderful to see you, unexpected like this.’ Primo’s mother wrapped his sister in a tight embrace and exchanged short kisses. Beth, caught between them, laughed loudly.

  ‘I’ve just come from seeing Dad,’ Kath said, allowing herself to be led to one of the chairs like some guest who was to be made to feel most welcome.

  When she was seated, Kath smiled awkwardly.

  ‘It’s been a while since you just dropped in, Kathleen. It’s great,’ their mother said.

  Kath nodded and smiled and made an excuse about how work and trying to do her share around the house just seemed to eat into her time.

  ‘Can you stay for dinner, love? Adrian’s out, and Beth is staying the night. It’d be terrific if you could.’

  Primo gave an unconscious nod, caught himself, and covered it by flexing his shoulders.

  ‘I need to have a chat with Primo, actually,’ Kath replied. ‘But, yeah, dinner would be great. Make a change from having to cook.’

  Primo saw his mother grin.

  ‘Well, I might take Beth to the park like I promised,’ she said. ‘We can catch up when I get back.’ She looked at Primo, her eyes keen. ‘It’ll be nice, won’t it, the three of us, and Beth.’

  She left, holding her grand-daughter firmly by the hand.

  ‘You wanted to see me, Kath? Why?’ Primo asked the moment the door closed.

  Kath rose, and Primo was reminded of how compact his sister was. Not short, just compact, like a neat bundle someone had carefully wrapped. There was something quietly able about her that Primo had failed to see before.

  It was, he decided, as though the things he thought he most knew suddenly had new dimensions to them. Or was it that he was just paying closer attention lately?

  ‘I can get that money for you. And I’m not going to ask you why, though I’m hoping you’ll tell me.’

  Primo
felt a pang of regret stab at him. He wished he’d never approached Kath for the money. But, he figured, there were a lot of things he suddenly regretted doing, so this was just another to add to the list. Primo decided to tamp down the anger brewing in his chest.

  ‘I appreciate that, Kath,’ he said slowly. ‘I really do. But everything’s cool now, so I won’t be needing it anymore.’

  ‘It’s not a problem,’ his sister said. She reached out to touch Primo’s arm.

  Primo backed off slightly and his sister pulled her hand away.

  ‘You didn’t bother answering any of my calls to your mobile,’ she said without reproach, as a statement of fact. ‘You never even replied to any of the texts. You had me worried. I almost came to see Mum about it.’

  Primo tensed. ‘Well, you can see, I’m perfectly fine, yeah,’ he said. ‘And really, I don’t need the money anymore. But, thanks anyway, yeah.’

  ‘Hey, I just want to know you’re okay,’ Kath said, her voice just above a whisper. ‘I’ve been going round and round in my head about what my little brother might need a thousand dollars for, and …’ She shrugged. ‘Just tell me it’s got nothing to do with drugs, Primo.’

  ‘No, not drugs,’ Primo answered finally. ‘Not gambling. Not drugs.’

  Primo didn’t know where it came from, but he reached out and held Kath in an embrace. When she hugged him back Primo swallowed deeply. He had a sudden urge to tell her about the dead dog, about Ari, but he feared fracturing the moment.

  And besides, he reasoned, not totally convinced, he was probably jumping to conclusions about Ari anyway.

  Stella arrived alone and unannounced to collect Beth.

  ‘One thing’s clear,’ Stella said icily as she stood with Beth in her arms, ready to go after less than ten minutes in the house. ‘My being pregnant is not reason enough to take him back.’

  And they were gone, out the front door like visitors, rather than leaving by the back door and through the garden and down the driveway like family.

  Two hours later and Adrian hadn’t arrived, and no amount of dialling his mobile could summon him.