A knot of fear had been forming in Thomas Parry's stomach ever since he'd
gotten off at the bus stop. He hated getting back this late, it was dark
and the gangs that tended to stay quiet in the daytime were beginning to
move. His grip tightening on the strap of his bag he wished he hadn't had
to bring all this home with him. There were over at thousand dollars worth
of drugs in his pocket alone, if anyone thought to stop him he was dead.
Jessica's voice ran through his head 'stay calm and nothing bad will
happen'. Although he didn't believe a word of it the thought of her soft
voice soothed him enough to stop him from breaking into a run and drawing
excess attention to himself.
Still it wasn't until he'd unlocked his front door and was in the warm
light of the kitchen, able to see Davy sitting safely at the table and
smell pies cooking in the oven, that the knot began to undo.
"Hey buddy," he said to Davy as he sat down on the seat next to him.
Davy looked up and fixed his bright green eyes blankly on him for a moment
before he turned back to his jigsaw puzzle.
"I got you a present," Thomas continued putting his bag onto the table,
"well its not really a present. It's from the paper. Here," he took a video
case out of his bag, "Hamster Huey and the Glooey Koblie. New show on FOX,
I'm reviewing it for Friday's edition. Want to watch it after dinner?"
Davy didn't look away from his puzzle.
"Bag off the table," Jessica came in from the other room, her left leg
dragging slightly as she made her way over to the oven, "I'm starving. Davy
wanted to wait for you before we had dinner."
Thomas looked again at his son, still bent over the puzzle his dark hair
giving no indication of the brain that was enclosed within, "he told you
that?"
"Well no," she placed a plate in front of him, "but I could tell. Cut that
up for him would you?"
Thomas began to cut the pie into pieces as Jessica placed the other two
plates onto the table.
"I got you something."
"Hamster Huey and the Glooey Koblie," Jessica sat down and squirted tomato
sauce on the pie Thomas had cut up, "I heard."
"I think you'll like it," Thomas put his hand into his jacket pocket and
put three bags full of drugs onto the table before finding the packet he
was looking for.
"Davy leave the puzzle for a minute, eat your dinner," Jessica said picking
up the packet with some interest, "Honey I don't think he needs sleeping
tablets."
"They're for you."
Jessica looked up at him sharply.
"We both know you need it."
"Thomas, we can't afford."
"Its okay. I fixed it so its on our insurance, " Jessica's face still
looked unsure so he continued, "I know what we agreed Jess but god, you
need to at least sleep. This is powerful, it'll really knock you out."
Jessica put the packet back on the table with the other tablets, "Davy I
said eat your dinner," she gave Thomas a small smile, "you can't fuss. You
know that."
Thomas forced a smile at her. He often wondered if she understood that this
whole thing was killing him as much as it was her.
"Take it now. I'll put Davy to bed."
"What about Hamster Huey?" she asked, pushing a tablet out regardless.
"I'll save it for tomorrow.
Jessica smiled, looking for a moment as beautiful as she had in college
before she looked across to her son, "Davy, look at mummy."
There was a knock on the door as Davy fixed his glance on his mother.
"Stop doing that. Time to eat."
"Are we expecting anyone?" Thomas asked, glancing at the door.
"No," Jessica went to stand, a grimace crossing her face.
"Sit down. I'll do it. You feed him."
Thomas crossed the room and glanced through the peephole, "you better put
those away," he said looking back to the bags of drugs on the table.
Jessica put the forkful of food back onto the plate and reached for the
bags. Her hands missed them by a couple of centimetres.
Steeping back to the table Thomas picked up the bags and shoved them back
into his jacket pocket, "you okay?"
"No," Jessica said, her eyes drifting closed, "wow. Those are strong."
"They shouldn't be that."
The knock on the door was sharper and more urgent this time.
"I'm coming," Thomas called out, "I'll just let him and then we'll put you
to bed okay."
In response Jessica put her head down on the table. While Davy went back to
his puzzle, Thomas crossed to the door, pulled the chain off and opened it.
"Hey. Come on in."
The man stepped in slowly and immediately walked across to Jessica. He bent
over her, his head close that he could have felt her breath on his face.
"How's she feeling?"
"Ah you know Jess," Thomas said pulling Davy's plate to him and putting a
forkful of food into his mouth, "I'm just about to put her to bed."
"Don't bother," the man said, he'd moved so his voice was now coming from
directly behind Thomas, "I'll do it."
Thomas was just about to protest when he felt the nuzzle of a gun pressed
in against the back of his neck. His eyes fixed on his son sitting in front
of him, doing his puzzle as though there was no one else in the room.
"Davy." he began, his voice shaking.
He never got any further before the gun went off.