playing ‘bronco riding’. He stops jiggling and turns the harrumphing into a cough.
‘That’s why Mum was taking us to The Warehouse.’ I don’t say anything else while she writes it down in her notebook. I don’t want to have to keep saying it. I want to say it once and get it over with like Mum did.
‘To get your brother a birthday present?’ I nod because my throat feels tight like Whiskey’s belly when she’s full of kittens.
Mum puts her glass of water in the sink and then turns around to face the table. Her arms hang down her sides like she’s forgotten about them. She’s looking at the policeman holding Falcon’s Robot Man. His hands are between his knees like the Robot Man is heavy but he’s not. He’s just plastic. He makes Robot Man’s arms go up and down like he’s marching. Robot Man probably has Falcon’s slobber all over him because Falcon’s always putting him in his mouth.
‘Your mum was driving, and you and your little brother were in the car,’ the lady policeman says. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. I look at Dad and he nods at me without smiling, so I nod my head at her. She writes something down even though I didn’t say anything. The policeman makes Robot Man’s head turn right around. I look at the buttons on the lady policeman’s jacket.
She puts the pen down and looks right at me. She says, ‘Do you remember Mum stopping the car?’ She’s not her mum and I want to say that, but I don’t. I just look at the buttons. ‘Do you remember the car stopping?’
‘Yes,’ I say, because I do remember. ‘There’s heaps of swans there.’
The policeman looks up when I say that. He puts Robot Man on the table and then because we’re all looking at it he picks him up again. Then he doesn’t know what to do with him.
‘You and Falcon were making a lot of noise,’ the police lady says.
Out the window behind Mum’s head, the sky is white. Sometimes a sparrow flies past, its little wings beating fast, chirruping like mad. Every time it happens Pearl chirrups back but she has to stay in her cage. I can’t see Mum’s face because of the white sky.
I try to explain to the lady policeman but the words don’t work properly. ‘Falcon wanted Mum to take us to The Warehouse but Mum was fed up with us making all that racket,’ I say. ‘She had the yips.’ I look at Mum to make sure it’s okay to say that but she turns around to look out the window again. I can’t see what her hands are doing.
The lady policeman writes it all down and doesn’t look up at me. ‘You and Falcon were making a racket and your mum got out of the car.’ She looks at me like she wants me to answer a question but I don’t know what it is. Then she does ask a question. ‘Do you know what a handbrake is?’ I know the answer and nod. I hope she’ll smile at me for answering right but she doesn’t. ‘And do you know where the handbrake is in your mum’s car?’
This time I say ‘Yes,’ out loud but just watch her hand write down the words. My bony arse is sore from sitting on Dad’s leg. The sky around Mum’s head hurts my eyes. A seagull flies past the window. It disappears into Mum’s head like she’s eaten it, then it comes out the other side crying and flies off safe.
‘Do you remember your mum doing anything to the handbrake, Sunny?’ She’s wearing pink lipstick but it’s rubbed off a bit. ‘Before she got out of the car?’ She’s looking at me like she wants me to say yes and get it over with like Mum did. My hair sticks to my neck where it’s hot. I wish I’d taken my pyjamas off and not just put my sweater on top. Dad lifts me off his knee but keeps his hands there so I’ll know he’s not angry with me. His hands are hot and his fingers squeeze into my stomach but he doesn’t mean to hurt me. I tell him I need to pee and he lets me go. I walk straight out the door without looking back at him or the policeman with Robot Man or the lady policeman with the notebook. Mum has the tips of her fingers