Page 91 of The Vanishing Place
June didn’t push it.
Effie took two chairs from the waiting room and pushed them together, making a sort of cot, then she walked into the storage room and rummaged around until she found a blanket. Four watched without moving, the confusion and tiredness rooting him to the spot, and Effie folded his jumper into a pillow.
“Do you need to wee?” she asked.
He nodded.
Effie took him through to the bathroom and hovered in the doorway as he relieved himself. Four perched on the toilet seat, legs closed tight as he held the sides. Aiden had peed upright from the moment his skinny legs allowed it. In the bush, against trees, on Mum’s vegetables, his wee spraying in the wind. After Four had flushed, Effie got him to wash his hands, then she made him swirl cold water around his teeth.
Four turned and looked up at her with big eyes, spit dripping down his chin.
“Where’s Aiden gone?” he asked.
“To somewhere better,” said Effie, then she kissed the top of his head. “Come on, it’s past your bedtime.”
She helped him clamber into the makeshift cot, then she tucked the blanket around him.
“Go to sleep. No more questions.”
Effie pulled out a chair and sat next to him, waiting until his eyes closed and his breathing slowed. June was perched on a chair next to Tia, her body tense and wide awake, while Tia slept on her arm. But June’s eyes were closed, and she was praying, the useless words making her lips move.
“It’s all bullshit, you know,” Effie muttered, “the God stuff.”
“Oh?” June opened her eyes.
“Praying’s a scam.”
“A scam?”
“Yeah. A big lie, Dad says. To satisfy those sad people who stare at the sky all day, hoping a miracle might drop out of it.”
“And it won’t?”
Effie shook her head. “Nothing’s going to fall in your eye but rain and bird shit. Praying’s a waste of time.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Well.” Effie looked at her. “That’s cos you’re being scammed. But it’ll catch you out. One day, something real bad will happen to you, and God won’t do nothing. Then you’ll wish you’d done something more useful with your time.”
“Useful.” June looked at her. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Effie scowled. “Painting or some shit.”
June considered this. “I do like painting.”
“Well, there you go. Problem solved. Paint more. Pray less. Then you won’t be let down by the nothing in the sky.”
“I think,” June let out a small sigh, “that I might stick with the praying. If that’s okay with you.”
Effie frowned. “Why?”
“Faith, I suppose.”
Effie scoffed at that.
“And,” June smiled, “I guess, just in case.”
“In case what?”
