Unhooking the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

Grass. The Northern Harrier is a hawk with a three-foot wingspan. There’s a lot of wildlife in the greater Winnipeg area. It’s like the Serengeti without the lions. Suddenly the hawk sprang up with two red-sided garter snakes in its talons. It looked great! ‘The early bird catches the early worm,’ I said.
    â€˜But are you the early bird who catches the early worm? Or the early worm who gets caught by the early bird?’
    I just gave her a look.
    â€˜Anyway, it’s a good omen,’ she said.
    â€˜How can you say it’s a good omen after what you said about Dad?’
    â€˜Different omens mean different things. A hawk capturing two snakes is a good long-term omen. We’re good for the long-term,’ she stated.
    â€˜You’re such a Rat.’
    â€˜Everybody wants to be a Rat!’
    â€˜It’s cat, you dummy.’
    She laughed. She was just winding me up.
    We were out of breath by the time we reached the river. We pushed the bikes in the bushes, and, firing-up the
Marlin
, we blasted downriver. It was cool going to school in a boat. And, no matter how tired I was when we started out, I always felt refreshed when we got there.
    We rounded the Red River and continued up toward Luxton School. Me and the Rat could have gone to a school closer to home but we preferred the sophistication of Luxton. It’s a great school with great teachers and it has large playing fields where we did all sorts of sports.
    We docked the
Marlin
as close to the school as we could and, tying her fast, we ran up someone’s driveway. We slowed to a walk when we saw a couple having breakfast on their patio. They said goodmorning to us and we said good morning to them, and then we carried on running.
    â€˜Harold’s not here,’ said the Rat.
    Harold always waited for the Rat at the school gate. If he wasn’t there it was because his legs were giving him grief. ‘He’s probably taking it easy,’ I said.
    When we entered the playground we saw that some of the parents had already arrived; the last day of school was always a bit of an open day. Little Joe came over with some of the guys: Scott and his brother Steve who were so alike they looked like twins. James, the only black kid in my year, who everyone called Jazzy James because he could almost play the sax. And Fireman Fred who got that name because he burned down his garden shed when he was eight. He burned down next-door’s garden shed the following year, but denied setting fire to the Wal-Mart, even though he was seen in the vicinity.
    Then there were the Hanson girls, Stephanie and Judy, who came with their older sister Jade and her jailbird boyfriend Bono. They really were Winnipeg white-trash and proud of it. They bragged to everyone that their mother was the second-best shoplifter in Winnipeg. Second only to their other older sister Sara who was once Miss Winnipeg and whose beautydazzled the security guards so much they wouldn’t have caught her if they could. But the girls were always well-dressed and fun to be around. And Judy was so smart she got a scholarship to a private school in the US.
    Then came Vernon, whose real name was Archibald but who went ballistic if you mentioned it, and Peter, who turned up with his born-again parents who watched over him like he was the next coming. But he never wanted to be a Christian, or to have his parents follow him around. He just wanted to hang out with his best friend Fireman Fred to see what burned down next. And last but not least came the two James boys: Frank and Jessie. But their name wasn’t James it was Johnston. They were the coolest because their big brother played hockey for Colorado and their sister had been dated and dumped by the lead singer from the Darkness. He said he’d kill her if she ever came near him again and so straight away she was in both Winnipeg newspapers.
    I stood with them, boasting as boys do, while the Rat stood with the