Ghost River Read Online Free PDF

mud. ‘You don’t know what ya talking about there, Tiny. I have never dealt with no kids.’ With that, the Doc lay down by the fire, turned his back on the other men and soon went off to sleep.
    Many stories circulated as to how the Doc came by his alias. A popular telling was that he’d once earned a living as a street quack with no medical training and had posed as a doctor going door to door across the city selling the medicinal powders he prepared himself, with a claim they cured colds, pains and general ailments . The powders were a risky remedy, seeing as the Doc purchased the raw ingredients from the hardware store – various chemicals and dyes mixed with warm water. It was claimed that he’d once sold a powder to a mother nursing a baby screaming from a gut ache and throwing up its own insides. Not more than ten minutes after the mother administered the medicine provided by the Doc the infant went off to sleep. When the mother went to fetch the baby the following morning she saw that it had turned a sickish green colour. The baby was dead.
    While they had no idea if the story was true or not, the thought that the Doc may have interfered with kids scared the boys a little. After hearing Tiny’s story Ren backed away from the campfire and pulled Sonny by the shirt. Tallboy was watching and saw the worried look on Ren’s face.
    â€˜Hey ya, boys, listen to me. Old Tallboy’s got a real good story to tell yas.’
    He held up a half-full wine bottle and took a long swig for lubrication.
    â€˜I remember one day I been drinking in town, by the Banana Alley there, with a couple of boys who was labouring casual on the railway, chasing some drinking money.’
    He stopped and did the best he could to gather his thoughts before he continued. Ren and Sonny listened closely.
    â€˜We had a good drink under the palm tree there. Could have been on a tropical fucken island if it weren’t for all the noise of the trucks. We finished off the grog and I wished them fellas best and went walking through town on my way to Gordon House for a feed and a bunk. I was going by the department store there. Myer. No good reason why but off I went inside. Ya know, to look at the wristwatches, smelling the perfumes in the air. The women. I took the moving stairs, up and up, to the furniture. Fancy wardrobes and tables. I see this bed with the big mattress on top of the other mattress. Two mattresses. Can you believe it? Would sleep all of us here, I reckon, it was that big. You ever slept on a mattress like that one, you kids?’
    Ren answered ‘not me’, and Sonny shook his head from side to side.
    â€˜Wouldn’t have thought so. Well, I’m standing there eyeing the bed and this young buck comes along with his shirt and tie. Haircut. Shaved clean. Nametag on. Could never forget it. LEE. You know, like Lee Marvin. The kid, he seen me looking at the bed and come over. Gonna say fuck off , I was thinking. But nup. He points at the bed. Would you like to try it, sir? he said to me, like we was both gentlemen. I look down at my dirty boots and ask if I have to take them off and he says, I’m happy for you to leave them on. ’
    â€˜Must have been looking to get the arse from his job,’ Tiny speculated.
    Tallboy ignored him and took another drink, emptying the bottle. ‘I said to him, well thank you, Lee , and lay down on the bed. None of you here ever felt a bed that way, laying in the clouds there. Then he says to me, would you like to try a pillow, sir? And I says, thank you, Lee ,a second time.
    Tallboy looked around the campfire, searching for a response from his audience while gathering confidence in his story. ‘The next minute he sticks the pillow behind my head like he’s my own nurse. Well, I rested my head down and was off to sleep before I knew it.’
    Tallboy peered down the neck of the empty bottle. The others, including the boys, waited for him