Inwardly, I groaned, but mumbled, “Fine,” and shovelled some potatoes into my mouth.
“Salad, David?” Mum handed me the bowl when Dawn was done. I reached for it, and then I saw them. Cucumbers. Panicked, I looked at my sister. It couldn’t possibly be?!
She grinned at me and bit into one, crunching noisily. “These are the best cucumbers, Mum.”
“They’ve had such good ones at the market, lately,” Mum said, and I watched, horrified, as she tasted one. “Nice and big.”
“Mmmm!” Dawn grinned, nudging me under the table. “I know!”
Chapter Five
“David!” Oh bugger. Mum again. I buried my head under my pillow and pretended for the third time that I hadn’t heard her. Couldn’t a bloke sleep in on a Saturday?
I used to live for the weekends. Now they had turned into endless days of chores that Mum found needed doing around the house, and of course Dad seemed to be in agreement- he said I needed to keep busy, since I wasn’t at school anymore.
“David!” Oh hell. It was Dad this time. She had called in the big guns. I threw the pillow off my head and grabbed a pair of jeans from next to my bed, tugging them on. He opened my door without knocking just as I was pulling on a t-shirt. “Oh, good, glad you’re up.”
“Yeah.” I sighed, running a hand through my hair and waiting. I knew it was coming.
“I’ve got to fix your mother’s planters,” Dad said. “Get some breakfast and come out back to help me, would you?”
“Okay.” I gave him a little salute as he shut the door. Damn. Doing chores for Mum was better than spending the day handing tools over to Dad-listening to him swear at whatever piece or part wouldn’t fit into the correct spot and then taking it out on me just because I handed him the wrong spanner or whatever.
All that meant that when I stormed into the kitchen, I was in a fairly black mood. Mum was washing up the breakfast dishes, and I grabbed a bowl and a box of Frosties, standing at the window and shoveling in bites while I watched Dad pulling Mum’s planters out. Dawn was lying in the sunlounger watching him, wearing her white bikini and soaking up the near-afternoon sun.
“So what’s wrong with the ones you have?” I asked through a mouth full, glancing over at Mum. “They look fine to me.”
“They’re rotting in the back.” She reached over me for a tea towel. “Your father said he didn’t use the treated wood, but he’s got some in the shed he’s going to replace it with.”
I stared at her for a moment, milk dribbling down my chin as I turned back to look out the window. Dad was heading for the shed, now-to get the wood for the planter, I assumed. The very wood that my porn collection was hidden under! Fuck! I threw my bowl in the sink, still half-full, and bolted for the back door.
“David!” Mum called after me, sounding disgusted. “You didn’t even finish-”
I didn’t hear the rest. I burst out of the door in my bare feet, jumping down the steps and landing in front of Dad just as he was about to open the shed door. He took a step back when I barrelled out in front of him, and stood staring at me with his mouth open.
“Hey!” I slapped him on the shoulder. “Here I am! Reporting for duty! What can I do? Can I get something for you out of the shed?”
Dawn sat half-up, lowering her sunglasses to look at us. I glanced over his shoulder at her, pleading her with my eyes.
“Actually, you can go down to the basement and get my toolbox.” Dad moved to step around me. I matched his movement, still blocking the way.
“That wood is kind of heavy, Dad.” I looked over at Dawn for some help. “Let me carry it for you. Dawn can go get your tool box.”
“I will not!” She snorted, leaning back and sliding her sunglasses up.
“Come on, David.” Dad stepped around me and grabbed the shed door. “Go on and get my toolbox.”
I widened my eyes at Dawn and she shrugged but was silently laughing. Some help she was! I bounded up the back steps, pulling open the door and running through the kitchen, nearly knocking Mum over on my way toward the basement.
“David!” she cried, sounding exasperated, but I didn’t stop. I flew down the stairs and turned the corner toward Dad’s work room. His toolbox was under the work bench, and I leaned under to grab it, hitting my head on the table as I came up.
“Fuck!” I swore, rubbing my head as I lugged the toolbox back up the stairs, slowed down now by the weight.
“Everything alright?” Mum asked as she opened the back door for me.
“Ta,” I panted, answering cryptically: “I’ll know in a minute.”
Dawn sat up again as I came back out, still wearing a crooked smile. Dad was still in the shed. I set the toolbox down and peered inside the shed door. He was fishing through the boards, whistling something. It didn’t sound or look like he’d found anything-yet. I let out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, Dad,” I called in. “I have your toolbox. Want me to carry any of that?”
Dad looked up from where he was kneeling. From the angle I was watching from, I could actually see the corner of one of my porn mags resting under the boards just on the other side of his knee. The sight of it so close to discovery made me feel dizzy and ill.
“You’re awfully helpful today.” Dad stood and brushed his hands off. “Here, take these four outside.” He pointed to the boards he had laid aside. I grabbed them and propped them over my shoulder, carrying them out of the shed.
“Come on, Dad.” I set the boards on the ground between his toolbox and the planter. “Let’s get this project started!”
Dawn was silently laughing, her belly and breasts shaking as she covered her mouth so Dad wouldn’t hear her. I gave her the finger and she made a wanking motion between her legs, sticking her tongue out at me.
I’d been so panicked about the possibility of Dad finding my porn collection that I’d barely noticed her in her white bikini, but now the motion of her hand between her legs drew my eyes there and I found myself staring.
“Alright, Davey.” Dad slapped me on the shoulder as he came out. “Let’s get to work!”
At that point, I was just thankful that no one was poking around the shed anymore and I was pretty much willing to do anything. Dawn laid back down to soak up some sun, and Dad and I got to work, pulling apart the old planter.
Mum hadn’t planted anything in it this year, because the wood had rotted, so we didn’t have to worry about that. The wood had split in several places, though, making it harder to pull apart. I was using the claw end of the hammer at one end, and Dad was at the other, trying to pry the nails up.
“Next time,” I grunted, wiping sweat off my brow with the tail end of my t-shirt. “Don’t use such long-arse nails!”
Dad yanked a nail free and it tinkled on the cement. “Come on.” He started on another one, grunting with the effort. “Don’t be a nancy boy. Just give it some welly!”
“Yeah!” Dawn called, dropping her sunglasses and looking at me. She had that Dawnie-grin on. “Give it some welly, David!”
“Nosey Parker!” I made a face at her and grabbing my hammer, starting to work on the board again. By the time we got the back taken off, I was sweating like mad, and I pulled off my t-shirt. Dawn whistled and I threw her a dirty look.
“Come on, go starkers.” She grinned. “No one can see.”
“Good thing.” I tossed my t-shirt at her. It landed shy of her chair. “You might as well be, in that thing.”
Dad glanced over at her, frowning. “The boy has a point.”
“Oh, naff off, both of you!” Dawn turned over on her belly on the lounge chair. Her bikini bottoms pulled across her arse, and I could actually see the outline of her lips in them. She swung her feet, not looking at us, her body glistening with oil. I noticed that she was actually getting a little more brown.
