No Sugar Read Online Free

Government blanket.
    MILLY : Shut up! Dawarra , nitja wetjala .
    GRAN : [ clicking her tongue ] Choo , kienya .
    JIMMY : I’m only jokin’. Anyways, who wants to ’ear a song?
    JIMMY produces a mouth organ and plays ‘Springtime in the Rockies’. MILLY begins to remove the damper from the ashes and dust it off.
    MILLY : Cissie! David! Mum, see if the stew’s cooked… Cissie! David!
    GRAN checks the stew.
    GRAN : Yeah, it’s cooked.
    CISSIE and DAVID return with the bike. JOE spreads a wogga on the ground.
    Cissie, plates, plates. David, put the billy on.
    DAVID : Me bike’s moorditj ; we went right down the rubbish dump.
    CISSIE : Yeah, an’ I had to push you back through the sand.
    DAVID lays the bike on its side and they sit and serve the food. SAM breaks up the damper.
    SAM : [ to FRANK ] You eat this before?
    FRANK : Damper? Plenty a’ times.
    SAM : Cooked in the ashes?
    FRANK : No.
    JOE : You eat underground mutton before?
    MILLY gives him a plate of stew.
    FRANK : What? Oh, thanks, missus.
    JIMMY : Underground mutton!
    JOE : Rabbit.
    JIMMY : You try that, dip the damper, moorditj !
    FRANK : Yeah, we used to live on ’em when we was on the farm.
    GRAN : James, you come an’ get your supper.
    JIMMY : No, leave it, I’ll get it dreckly.
    He takes a long drink of wine as the others eat.
    [ To GRAN and MILLY , indicating FRANK ] You see that fella there, Mum, Mill? He had his own farm once. You wouldn’t believe it, eh?
    JOE : [ to FRANK ] Yeah? Where?
    FRANK : Out Lake Yealering.
    JOE : What happened?
    FRANK : Aw, between the rabbits and a couple of bad seasons and the bank, the bloody bank, I lost it; the lot, even the crop in the ground.
    JIMMY : [ drunker ] Yeah, fuckin’ gubmet. Fucks everybody up; everybody, eh? Eh? You allowed to walk down the street after sundown? Eh?
    FRANK : Yeah, don’t see why not.
    JIMMY : Well I’m not. None of us are; you know we’re not allowed in town, not allowed to go down the soak, not allowed to march…?
    He mimes handcuffs and gaol by first putting his wrists together and then placing a hand downwards over his forehead with the fingers spread over his eyes.
    Manatj grab us like that. Bastards…
    FRANK : Who?
    GRAN : Politjmans.
    JIMMY : They can shoot our dawgs, anytime they want to. Bastards. They shot Streak. [ To SAM and MILLY ] Eh, you ’member Streak. Kill and show dawg, used to catch meat for every blackfella in Northam and they shot him. [ Miming ] Just like that. [ Maudlin, almost in tears ] Ay, Mill, he’s married; got three kids and a wife.
    MILLY : [ sympathetically ] Nyorn , winyarn .
    GRAN : [ to FRANK ] Where they now?
    FRANK : When we walked off I sent ’em to Perth, stayin’ with her parents.
    JIMMY drags a wallet out of FRANK ’s pocket.
    JIMMY : Show ’em that photo. Go on, mate, show ’em.
    JIMMY gives FRANK the wallet and stands.
    [ Wandering off ] Go on, show ’em.
    SAM : Where you goin’?
    JIMMY : I’m gonna strain the spuds.
    FRANK takes out the photo and passes it around.
    MILLY : All girls, eh?
    GRAN : Nyorn , winyarn , pretty koolangah too.
    SAM : Nice lookin’ yorgah .
    CISSIE : She come from Lake Yealering?
    FRANK : No, met her at a dancin’ contest; Charleston, at the Lux, in Perth.
    SAM : How long since you seen your kids?
    FRANK : Six months; haven’t even sent ’em any money.
    JIMMY returns and falls over the bike in the dark.
    JIMMY : Oh, Jesus, me bloody leg! Fuck that bike!
    JIMMY kicks at the bike savagely.
    DAVID : Oh, Uncle Jimmy, don’t do that; I just fixed it up.
    JOE : [ jumping up ] Eh, kongi , David’s been workin’ on it all day. Kienya .
    He runs to rescue the bike, but collects an accidental blow from JIMMY .
    Ow! Me nose!
    SAM jumps up, runs to JIMMY and pushes him.
    SAM : You cut that out, you hear me?
    JIMMY : You git!
    He swings an ineffectual punch at SAM .
    SAM : Just stop it,