They Told Me I Had to Write This Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dad’s like a motorbike that can’t take a passenger,’ and I was stalking around the room and hitting the wall and the door and everything and out of the window was the Aprilia sitting there in the car park. I could have gone out there and blasted it into the ground. And I was shouting out, ‘My dad’s got this cover over the passenger seat where I should be but he’s still my dad and he should take that cover off.’
    I was yelling and the Rev waited for me to get normal like he does whenever I chuck a hissy fit in the session. But this was the worst one ever. This was red-mist murderous.
    Gram, it was horrible but that’s how Dad is and how he’s never had room. And I stalked around in the Rev’s office and was going on about how I used to think up ways to hurt Dad even when I was little and I still do sometimes and I hate it when I get like that.
    How did the Rev know all that? How did he know about that bike seat? Coz he was right, Gram. That’s the worst part. I wasn’t really talking about the motorbike at all. But when I saw the Rev on his bike with his little boy on the back I wasn’t thinking all that toxic stuff, really I wasn’t.
    Gram, do you think there’s a cover on me like there is on Dad? If there is the Rev sure got it off in that session. And I sat down again and cooled off and got back to normal, whatever that is. The Rev asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of the session and I didn’t know. I was pretty washed up by all the toxic waste, and you know what we did? We went mountain biking.
    ‘Let’s get a couple of bikes from the shed and take one of the flat trails for a while.’ That’s what the Rev said. And so we got a couple of the school bikes and went for a ride in the bush. And when we got back I asked him if that was his son on the motorbike with him and he said next time he sees me in the street and he’s on the motorbike like that he will stop and introduce me.
    It’s funny, Gram. He still didn’t say who that boy was or anything. It’s as if the Rev’s always got this family kind of stuff covered up and I can’t really see inside.
    And that’s where we left it. I think I need some time out from this stuff.
    Clem.
    FRIDAY, MAY 29
LITTLE PEOPLE
    Dear Gram
    Some things you have to hear straight off. A three day walk through the mountains. Mr Sykes proves, once again, that he is not the come-back king.
    Walking this trail to the top of a cliff and there was a lookout up there with a fence and a long drop. Way across this valley was another lookout with a bunch of people, probably five or six people, a kilometre or more across the valley. Mr Sykes pointed to them and said, ‘Wow, look at the size of those people over there.’
    Jacko said nice and quiet, ‘Probably the same size as us, I reckon.’ Mr Sykes looked up and was about to say something but he couldn’t think fast enough and stood there with his mouth a little bit open but his brain wouldn’t take up the slack. And we stood around laughing like crazy.
    And that’s Jacko. He can be fully out there like when he does something that sends the teachers right off, or he can be almost silent and he just gets funnier. Still, I feel sorry for Mr Sykes on that one, he was goosed up proper.
    That’s it for me. Just another week of laughing and crying. Does this stuff ever end, Gram?
    Clem.
    MONDAY, JUNE 1
ONE HOT METAPHOR
    Dear Gram
    You know what I’ve been thinking? I’ve been thinking about what it might be like if I was writing to Dad instead of to you.
    Trouble is, after that session with the Rev I kind of understand what he does to me when that cover goes onto his passenger seat. And if I was to be writing to him I think I would just try to yell my way through that cover and every letter would be the same. So I started to think what I can use to explain what he is like. And this is what they’ve been teaching us in school.
    In English we learned that when something is like something else it can be a