Nature of Ash, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

mad, not sure if it’s the cold or unshed tears. All I can think about is reaching home and facing Mikey: how do you tell a kid that the father he thinks is invincible is dead?
    By the time I arrive at our apartment block I’m so damn hypothermic my teeth chatter and my fingersstruggle to open up the door. Inside, Jiao is tucked up on the sofa beside Mikey, reading him a book. They look up in unison, Mikey’s grin of welcome morphing into shock.
    ‘Why’re you all wet?’ he asks, while Jiao rises slowly like a stalking cat.
    ‘I thought I’d take a swim,’ I say, forcing out a cheesy laugh. ‘I’ll just get changed.’
    And so I take my second shower of the day, trying to ignore the disapproving conservation Nazi in my head. The hot water stings my gooseflesh and by the time my paltry two minutes is up I’m lobster red. I put on dry clothes and muck around a little longer in the bathroom, borrowing Dad’s razor to shave. I don’t really need to, but anything is better than what’s coming next — even the two clumsy nicks caused by my shakes.
    When I’ve run out of excuses I return to the lounge and sit down next to Mikey, who’s still flicking through the book. Jiao brings me a mug of coffee and I nurse it in both hands, trying to stop trembling long enough to drink. She perches on the arm of Dad’s old La-Z-Boy and I know from the way she holds her body that she’s waiting for The News.
    Finally I look directly at her and nod my head. Her eyes widen. ‘You want me to stay?’
    There’s a part of me that really wants her to. But I don’t know anything about her and, quite frankly, right now the fact she’s Asian only makes things worse. ‘No.’
    ‘What about Monday?’
    ‘I really don’t know.’
    She rises quickly, crosses to Mikey and pecks him on the cheek. ‘See you, Batman,’ she says to him. ‘Take care.’
    Mikey frowns. ‘Why’re you going? Ashy’s only just home.’
    ‘I’ll let you have some family time.’ She ruffles his hair as he looks up at her.
    Mikey does his funny little three-fingered salute. Our salute. ‘Over and out, Robin!’
    Jiao scrawls something on the notepad by the phone, then gathers up her bag and jacket. ‘My number’s on the pad. Just let me know if you need me again.’ She shuffles at the door for a moment before she leaves. ‘Good luck.’
    This is it . If I don’t tell him now, someone is sure to blab. ‘Hey mate, we need to talk.’ I pluck the book out of Mikey’s hand and lay it on the coffee table, putting my arm around his shoulders as much for me as him.
    ‘When’s Dad coming home?’ he asks.
    ‘The thing is, mate … the thing is, Dad’s not coming home.’
    He looks at me like I’ve farted, half disgusted and half expecting me to share the joke. ‘Is he at work?’
    ‘Something’s happened, Mikey. Something bad. Very, very bad.’ I blow out a long breath to calm myself. It doesn’t work. There’s nothing for it now but tell him the truth. ‘Some very bad men put a bomb in Dad’s building and it exploded. Dad is—’
    ‘A bomb?’ He fires up, giving his best impersonation of an explosion while he throws his hands around in full dramatic style. ‘I’ll chase those bad men and I’ll—’
    I grab his hands and make him look at me. ‘Mikey, listen. Dad is dead. The bomb went off real close to him. It smashed him bad.’ Saying it out loud like this, so baldly, so plainly, eats me right up.
    ‘Make the doctors fix him, Ashy, then bomb the bad men back.’
    Oh Jeezus, this is never going to work . The only time he’s ever had to cope with death was when his bloody pet frog died, and then Dad instantly replaced it, which kind of killed the lesson if you ask me.
    ‘They can’t fix him, mate. He was hurt too bad.’
    He’s starting to get agitated, throwing off my hands and rising to his feet. ‘They have to fix him. Tell them that.’
    ‘There’s nothing they can do, okay? Dad’s dead and gone. He’s never coming