No Worries (16 page)

‘I'm here all right, mate. Not much good to yer most of the time, I know that. But I'm workin' on it, boy. Give me another twenty years and I'll be a bloody saint.'

A weight had lifted from me just talking to him. But then it was time to go.

I got Mum out of the house in record time. In the car she moved the seat right back so it was like being in bed. Her face was still grim and resigned but at least she wasn't lying in her room daydreaming about ways to die. Now there was hope. And for me it was relief — incredible relief.

As we were backing out of the driveway I heard the phone ring inside the house.

I should have kept on driving, but I thought it might be Dad so I stopped and got out, ran up the steps, unlocked the door.

‘Yes?'

‘It's Doctor Rezni.'

‘Oh. Hi. We were about to leave.'

‘I'm glad I caught you. Look, I'm terribly, terribly sorry, Brian …'

Please don't tell me any bad news.

‘This is going to be difficult for you, I know, but I made a mistake. There isn't a bed here for your mum. We've had two admissions that I wasn't aware of … Brian?'

There were no words for how I felt.

‘Now what you have to do is this — if your mum gets really bad, ring an ambulance. Will you do that? In the meantime I'll give you the number of the mental health team. They'll come out and assess her. If need be, they can get her admitted. Do you have a pen?'

‘I have their number!' I held the phone away from me and tried to get it together. But I couldn't. ‘She won't see them. I told you that! She's sick of hospitals, sick of being bloody assessed! You're the only chance I've got!'

I should have saved my breath.

‘I know how upsetting this must be, Brian, but please call the mental health team — they can help you. Now I'll expect to see you both on Monday morning at 9 am.'

I ran my hand back through my hair. The world was such an empty place sometimes.

‘Brian, are you still there?'

‘I have to go.'

I hung up the phone.

‘Who was it?' Mum sat up as I got into the car.

The truth was too hard.

‘Someone from work. They wanted to know if I'd do some overtime. That's all.'

She closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat.

The hospital was an hour away. All the time I kept hoping … maybe Doctor Rezni would change her mind and find a bed. She couldn't turn Mum away, could she? Not after she saw how bad she was. Or maybe Dad would be waiting when we got there. He'd get someone else to finish his mail run and drive to the hospital to support me:
‘Bri, me boy, anything for you, son.'

I tried not to think that the drive was pointless, that there would be no bed, no Dad. I couldn't face it. Just like Mum, I was tired.

To be honest, more than a few times I'd thought it would be easier to simply not be around any more. But I always I knew I'd never do it. Things were pretty bad, but I kept telling myself it would work out all right. I'd be back at my job on Sunday night, joking with my mates. Some time soon I'd share a can with Dad. Mum would get her head together again. And before long Emma would be home again and today would all be just a rotten memory.

But some time soon was an eternity away. Surviving now was the hard part.

I just wanted to come out from under and breathe. I wanted to be a kid. Seventeen. No worries.

I took myself back to the beach, Emma beside me, Sassy playing ball.

‘I'm not
in
love with you.'

My heart broken into a thousand jagged pieces.

Then her head resting on my shoulders.

‘Don't go away, Bri … please don't go away.'

I grabbed hold of those words and hung on fiercely.

Mum opened her eyes as we jolted over a pothole.

‘Are we nearly there, Brian?'

‘Yes, Mum. Nearly there.'

First published 2005 by University of Queensland Press
Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia

This digital edition published 2015

www.uqp.uq.edu.au

© Bill Condon 2005

This book is copyright. Except for private study, research,
criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act,
no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Typeset by University of Queensland Press

Distributed in the USA and Canada by
International Specialized Book Services, Inc.,
5824 N.E. Hassalo Street, Portland, Oregon 97213-3640

Cataloguing in Publication Data
National Library of Australia

Condon, Bill, 1949– .
No worries.

1. High school dropouts — Fiction. 2. Teenagers — Fiction.
I. Title.

A823.3

ISBN 9780702234910 (pbk)
ISBN 9780702256844 (pdf)
ISBN 9780702256851 (epub)
ISBN 9780702256868 (kindle)