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16. MY FATHER TALKING
c. Celebrating His Fiftieth Birthday, On Speed And Rum
i sat on the backstep of dad's house,
holding a piece of lightning ridge country in my hand,
the moon shone into the big black opal in the dark
and lit up the electricity inside it,
like the camera flash that had just lit up the kitchen,
and dad celebrating his fiftieth birthday, on speed and rum,
he did not want the photo taken,
he was self conscious about his looks,
about the alcohol and drugs,
and especially his wide glassy eyes
and the big cream sponge cake with frozen strawberries on top,
'i don't eat that coral, no one eats that rubbish out 'ere,'
but he has rice cream and caramel topping in the cupboard,
and throughout the 45 degree summer,
a big load of no-frills frozen ice cream in the freezer,
he pretends that he has bought it for me,
he says, 'you're the one that eats it, it's vegetarian,'
dad is always bitching about someone,
even on his birthday he said,
'they reckon the mother-in-law used ter make great rice puddings,
i made better ones than 'er,'
i say 'dad shut up and eat the cake,'
he says, 'i'm not fucken eatin' that, piss off!,'
so i went and sat on the backstep,
knowing that he will get up in the middle of the night
and have a bit of rice cream with birthday cake mixed in with it,
he will blame the mouse again |
