A Straight Line to My Heart Read Online Free Page A

‘ On the Outer Barcoo– ’
    And Reggie joins in –
    â€˜ Where the churches are few– ’
    â€˜Shh! I’m the reader. You’re the audience.’
    â€˜Aw. Righto. Carry on.’
    I read it to the end.
    â€˜It’s a good ’un that.’
    â€˜Let’s see what else is here. How about–’
    â€˜No, Tiffy. I’ve had enough for now, thanks. You run along. I’ll be fine.’
    I don’t feel good about leaving him, not yet, so I go over to his record player, turn it down low, and play ‘Let It Be’.
    He closes his eyes and breathes out slowly, letting go of any remaining tension.
    Our house has heard that song so often it’s a wonder it just doesn’t come on automatically when we go inside. It’s Reggie’s all-time fave, and his philosophy of life. For nearly anything that went wrong with me as I grew up – school or boys or a mortal fear of swimming costumes that made me look like Shrek’s hideous sister – ‘Let It Be’ was Reggie’s answer. And when the message finally got through to me – when I stopped worrying and started going with the flow – everything gradually worked itself out, just like he said it would.
    I’m about to play the record for a second time when I notice that Reggie is making little whistly snores.
    I creep out of the room and back to Bull and Zoe.
    â€˜How is he?’
    â€˜Zonked.’
    Bull nods. ‘Kayla rang. Said you were going to help her babysit tonight.’
    â€˜I was, but I can’t now. Did you tell her?’
    â€˜Nah. Told her you’d be there.’
    â€˜But I can’t, Bull. I have to stay home, in case something happens.’
    â€˜Nothing’s going to happen.’
    â€˜How do you know?’
    He glances at Zoe. It’s that tag-team thing that old married couples do. With one look he passes the question to her, and she answers.
    â€˜We see a lot of sick people in our job, Tiff. Old people, especially. You get to know how bad it is. Reggie’s okay for now. He’ll soon let us know if he’s not. We’ll be right here – won’t we, Bull?’
    â€˜For sure,’ he says. ‘So you go see Kayla like you planned. There could be other times when you’re needed here, but we got it covered tonight.’

Kayla and i both live in Abercrombie Road, a little over one kay apart; her on the high side and me down in the valley.
    Bull offers me a lift up there
    I remind him I’m nearly eighteen.
    â€˜So that’d be a no, would it?’
    â€˜See you, Bull – Zoe.’ And even though he can’t hear me – ‘See you, Reggie.’
    Trudging up the road I become a part of the landscape, along with the endless sky, the bushland on both sides of me, and the locusts, who never let up on the most boring one-note song in the world.
    I’ve done this walk so many times. Going to see Kayla . . . 
    We’ve been friends since we were nine. Back then I wasn’t great at conversation. Hello and goodbye were my strong points. Finding something for the middle was always a problem. When the new girl came to school I could see no reason why she’d want to know me.
    She had mad legs on her even then, and she’s a ranga: long flowing hair the colour of apricots. Dress her in rags, she’d still look hot.
    I tried to talk to her a few times, but I think she saw me as a human form of broccoli: she knew I’d probably be good for her, but she didn’t like me.
    One day it changed.
    We were on the school bus, sitting in separate worlds as usual, when she began to sob.
    â€˜What’s wrong?’
    â€˜Buster.’ She screwed her eyes up to nothing, but still the tears rolled down. ‘My new puppy. He was bitten by a snake. Mum said the vet would save him, but she didn’t.’
    I got lucky and found the right words to say. There weren’t many of