Fragments Read Online Free Page A

if he spoke about something that he was passionate about.  The only time I ever saw him being a bit goofy was when he was around my family or teasing me. His smile, though, could wipe out a hoard of women when he used it. He, too, was lusted over by the slutty girls in my year level.  A sly wink and his megawatt smile just about got him whatever or whomever he wanted.  That smile never worked on me, though. I had years of being used to it and was immune to that bullshit. 
    “If someone would help me, we could eat at a reasonable time.” Mamma glared at me. For some reason, being a female often meant helping my mamma with the house setup.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I answered. I approached the table and delivered the steaming hot bowls one by one to everyone.
    “What have you boys been doing anyway? You looked like there was a drama or something.” I asked Robbie. He sat at the dining table, pouring drinks in the glass that Mamma had previously set, while fanning himself with a newspaper.
    “There are a few wild dogs or dingoes breaking into the chicken coop. We were trying to make it safer for Bjork and her ladies.” Bjork was our Rhode Island red chicken. She was almost as loved as our German Sheppard Pret. Six years ago, Dad had come home from one of the markets with four baby chickens, thinking our mamma would appreciate fresh eggs. She didn’t. She just thought it looked like extra work.
    “So, Bjork is all right?” I asked, returning to the table with the bread and butter plates and setting them out, worried momentarily as we had grown fond of our family chicken.
    “Yeah, they’re all fine. We’ve set some concrete around the edge to stop the digging,” he replied, reaching for the bread rolls.
    Mamma approached a table with a platter of cutup meats, cheese, and other sandwich fillings. We all dug in hungrily, the gentle munching of rolls with the soft sounds of my father’s slurping echoing throughout the room. Mid-chew the house phone rang, but none of us wanted to move.
    “Robbie,” I chewed, “You get it, it’s probably one of your ‘lady’ friends.”
    He gulped down his juice and replied, “Hardly, Trice. I’m not available during the day.”
    I looked at him and while Mamma huffed and got up to answer the phone, I mouthed whore to my brother while he mouthed virgin back at me, as my face heated in a blush.  Cheeky shit.
    “Robbie!” Mamma yelled, “It’s one of those girls you were talking about.” We all burst out in laughter, while Robbie choked on his bite.  The girl on the phone would have heard what our mother said and automatically what she thought of her. 
    Robbie rushed to the phone, and covered the mouthpiece to stifle our laughter. When he finally swallowed the rest of his roll, he tentatively answered.
    “Hello?” followed closely by, “Oh, hey Rach…. No, what’s that? No, babe, there’s no one else. It’s just my mamma messing with you.”
    I covered my mouth holding in another laugh, looking straight at Alex while grinning widely. He held his right hand up the ceiling like he had scored a goal. 
    Once lunch was finished, I went back to my room to prepare for the lake. My friends Trinity, Hazel and Theo were due to arrive soon. Anytime we had a spell of this dry heat, our friends bombarded our lake. I rushed in and changed into my black one-piece suit and put my board shorts over the top. I grabbed my Paul Frank towel (anything with a monkey on it just cracked me up) and slipped into my thongs then searched for my sunglasses, hat, and sunscreen.  Even though I had an olive complexion, I hated being burned.  My skin peeled easily, and since I had been dancing from a young age, our teacher would get cranky if we didn’t take care of ourselves.
    Once I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen, I stole a glance at Alex and Robbie who were chatting quietly in the lounge room. I could hear a murmur of appreciation followed by a cheer and high five. When they