The Long Way Home Page 21

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  Simon and Justin had just said goodnight to everyone and taken themselves upstairs to bed. Simon’s Mum was downstairs in the lounge room with his Aunty Gail and Uncle Tim and were about to watch the late movie on TV.

  Justin had run up the stairs ahead of Simon and was the first one into the bedroom.

  “I won, I won.” He called out as he dived onto his bed. Simon followed a few seconds later and flung himself down on the bed next to him.

  “That was the funnest day ever!” Simon said.

  “And you know what else Simon?”

  “What?”

  “It’s only six more sleeps to Christmas!” Justin hollered as he got to his feet and started jumping. “Hey Simon, wanna jump on my bed?”

  “Okay.” He replied as he too got to his feet and began jumping up and down with Justin while they both yelled.

  “Six sleeps to Christmas, six sleeps to Christmas, six sleeps to Christmas….”

  “I know two little boys that won’t get a visit from Santa if they don’t stop jumping on the beds,” interrupted Justin’s Mum.

  “Oops, busted.” Justin said.

  “Yes I busted both of you didn’t I, now in to bed and lights off boys.”

  “Sorry Aunty Gail.” Simon apologised.

  “Yeah sorry Mum.” Justin copied as he scrambled under the bed sheets.

  “Are you ready to say your prayers Justin?”

  “Yes Mum.”

  “Okay close your eyes then, you too Simon.”

  “Dear Lord, thank you for blessing us with this day. Thank you for giving us our family and blessing us with a warm bed to sleep in at night. Thank you for Christmas and for loving us. Forgive our sins and watch over us safely as we sleep we pray, by the grace of Jesus name. Amen.”

  “Goodnight Mum.” Justin said as his mother bent down to kiss him goodnight.

  “Goodnight Justin.”

  “Goodnight Aunty Gail.”

  “Goodnight Simon.” Gail said as she bent down to give her nephew a kiss on the forehead. “Did you have a fun time today?”

  “Oh yeah, it was the best day ever!”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself Simon. I know it’s been a hard year for you, but always know that you are welcome here and we love you very much. I can see that you are trying so hard to do the right thing, you two boys keep on being good and having fun okay.”

  “Yes Aunty Gail.”

  “Now it’s lights off time now, so that means no talking.”

  “Yes Mum.”

  “Aunty Gail?” Simon asked.

  “Yes Simon.”

  “Why do we say prayers?”

  “So we can thank God for looking after us.”

  “But he only looks after dead people like my Nanna.”

  “He looks after everyone Simon,” Gail said before pausing for a moment. “Your Mummy doesn’t take you to Sunday school does she?”

  “What’s Sunday school?” He asked.

  “Gail, the movie is starting.” Tim called out from downstairs.

  “We’ll talk about it more in the morning Simon, I promise. Goodnight boys, sweet dreams.” And she left the room.

  Simon lay in bed, the day replaying in his mind. A full moon shone through the bedroom window, bathing both boys’ beds in a brilliant, eerie glow. Through the bedroom door, darkness enveloped the hallway. The entire second floor had fallen peacefully quiet now all three children had gone to bed. The only noise that could be heard in the house was the echo from downstairs of a Saturday night action film blazing its way across the television screen. It had been twenty minutes since Aunty Gail had turned off the lights and Simon was still awake, only now he needed to pee.

  “Justin,” he whispered. “Are you awake?”

  There was no answer. Simon got out of bed and tiptoed across the floor to the edge of Justin’s bed.

  “Justin, are you awake?” He tried asking again. “I need to go to the toilet.” There was no response. Justin was out for the night.

  Desperately needing the toilet, Simon slowly made his way across the bedroom floor and into the dark hallway that he feared. Seeing the upstairs bathroom at the far end of the hallway, he drew a big breath and ran down the hallway as fast as he could. Reaching it, he hit the light switch on hard, turning around to see the hallway partially lit by the light thrown out from the bathroom. It wasn’t so scary. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the toilet.

  After he had finished, Simon opened the bathroom door and turned off the light behind him. The hallway didn’t look so scary anymore. It had looked darker from Justin’s room. Downstairs the television still boomed loudly. Simon started back down the hallway when something caught his eye.

  Pausing in front of the doorway to his Aunty Gail’s bedroom he could see the moon dancing on the harbour below. The master bedroom overlooked the harbour courtesy of two gigantic sliding glass doors that opened up onto a small balcony. There below, making its way across the harbour was what had caught his eye, a late night Manly ferry was starting to approach the Manly Pier having just come from the city. At night, it looked like a gigantic floating palace shimmering on the harbour.

  He had watched the big ferries tie up at the Manly Pier this afternoon. Never had a boat seemed as big as the blue and cream coloured monster that had made the pier shudder when it had bumped against it this afternoon. His Uncle Tim had promised he would take them all for a ride across the harbour to the city when he had the day off work on Wednesday. He was lucky, he could go for a ride on one every day when he went to work in the city.

  Simon walked into their bedroom and over to the glass doors. He had never seen a ferry at night before. It would be great to be on Manly Pier now, watching as it tied up and all the passengers walked down the big timber gangway. He couldn’t really see much from here as he glanced down at the small backyard below and the garden gate that led down the concrete steps to the water and the small wharf where Uncle Tim kept his little boat tied up. He could see it now, bobbing up and down all lonely. It didn’t look scary down there he thought, the backyard was bathed in moonlight and the steps were lit by a rusty lamp shade hanging from crooked timber pole.

  Sneaking back out of the room, Simon crept quietly down the hallway until he came to the top of the stairs. The stairs ended below, near the front entrance to the house and completely out of sight from the lounge room. Simon descended the stairs quickly and quietly, he wouldn’t have much time he thought as he reached the bottom and turned towards the kitchen. He would have to be quiet opening the backdoor as they might see him if they looked his way through the dining room. He passed through the kitchen and seeing the curtains were drawn across the back sliding door, he slipped out of sight behind them. In a moment he had flicked the latch and was outside, running fast across the back lawn under the moonlight heading for the gate at the far end of the garden.