Finally, with the muesli bar in her hand, the suitcase safely away, Agatha unlocked the door and went into the hall, closing the door behind her. She looked in both directions and headed for the front door. She had only been home for a couple of hours and needed to get some fresh air. She opened the front door, leaving it open and unlocked and went out to the front step.
The afternoon was still warm, and she sat down in the shade of the front porch. Opening the bar, she took a small bite. She knew she would have to make it last. Small bites. The occasional car went past and a gentle breeze, pushed through the leaves on the tree that stood tall on the nature strip. Summer was nearly over. She had spent it with Katherine and that’s where her mind wandered to now.
The clean and ordered home of Katherine, a bedroom door that doesn’t require a lock, a decorative candle on the mantlepiece, not in the refrigerator and someone who listens to her. Agatha’s real world was so far from Katherine.
Finishing the bar, Agatha placed the wrapper on her thigh and smoothed it out. Once it was free of all the creases, she gently lifted it up and looked through it, checking that all the crumbs were out. She stood up and went back inside, into her bedroom and opened the top drawer in the wardrobe. Carefully, Agatha placed the wrapper on to a small pile of other wrappers that sat neatly in the corner of the top drawer.
Pushing the drawer closed so as not to disturb its contents and then sliding shut the wardrobe door, she went back to her bed. She may have wished that she belonged with Katherine, but it had become increasingly clear to Agatha that this is where she deserved to be. She took off her shoes, pulled back the clean doona and sheets and slipped under. All alone, curled up, she cried.
4
Nell arrived just after nine. She knocked several times before Agatha opened the front door. ‘Morning,’ Nell said. ‘I thought I’d take you out for breakfast.’
Agatha stepped back from the front door to let Nell in. Agatha hadn’t changed from the day before, having slept in her clothes all night. She had been up for a few hours and had intended to have a shower, a habit she had enjoyed at Katherine’s house, but the morning hadn’t gone the way Agatha had hoped. Once again, no hot water. And when she had gone to the bathroom both the bath and the shower that had been cleaned while she was away, had been filled with folding chairs, buckets and a garden hose.
She went back to her bedroom and Nell followed. ‘How was it yesterday, after I left?’
Agatha shrugged, ‘Same as always.’ She moved to the wardrobe and looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing her dishevelled hair. She slid open the door and found a hairbrush, where it was always kept, in the second drawer. ‘I had to spend some time, last night, rearranging these drawers. Things had been moved so I needed to get things out. This is my space, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. That’s the agreement. You have three of the drawers and those two shelves above. Do you want me to move the stuff your mum has put there?’
‘I’ll do it later.’ Agatha finished her hair and then looked at her teeth. ‘I have to brush my teeth.’
‘Sure. How about I wait out the front. We have plenty of time.’ Nell didn’t wait for an answer. They had played out this routine plenty of times.
She leaned against the car and waited. Even though she hadn’t seen Edith or Karl, she knew that they would be totally aware of her presence. Out by the car was neutral territory.
‘What’s wrong with you people?’ A voice came from behind her. Nell turned to see a middle-aged woman standing on the street on the other side of Nell’s car.
‘Excuse me?’ Nell said, lowering her sunglasses into place from the top of her head.
‘I said, what’s wrong with you people? How could you bring that poor child back here?’
Nell had heard this before. Not from this particular neighbour but from others. There was no answer she could give that would satisfy this woman because there was no answer Nell could give that satisfied herself.
The woman came around to Nell. ‘You’ve been inside that house. It’s not normal. But they’re adults so they can do what they like, but she’s just a child and you people should be doing whatever it takes to get her out of there.’
‘I don’t disagree.’
Both women let out a sigh.
‘I’ve lived over the road since they moved in. And, yes, it was tragic what happened, we all felt for them. They’re not bad people, I know that. But lots of people have tragic things happen and they don’t end up like this. And that little child. . . well it’s just wrong.’
‘I was told one of the neighbour’s organised a roster to keep the lawns mowed. Was that you?’
‘No, but we’re on it. My husband and me. We help with the garden. At least from the street the house looks like the rest of the street. We’re all worried about our property prices. I mean I live over the road and that’s close enough. I’m glad I’m not next door.’
‘We are trying.’
The woman flung her hands up into the air, a gesture of frustration. ‘Well try harder. She’ll be lost to that house if you don’t get her out. She’ll just become like them, if she hasn’t already.’
Agatha appeared just as the conversation came to
