Page 134 of Unspoken Words
He was silent for a moment. “You know what? I might come with you,” he said, a touch of playfulness in his tone. “I’ve always wanted to go to Darwin and Kakadu.”
I scoffed at his lame attempt to bait me. “I still haven’t been to Kakadu,” I admitted.
“What?” His head snapped in my direction. “You’ve lived up there all this time and you’ve never been to Kakadu?”
“Nope. Poo-brown dirt, remember?”
Connor burst out laughing. “I’ll take you one day.”
I laughed too. “No, you won’t.”
“Yes, Ellie, I will.”
Strangely enough, I believed him. But I had to focus on now and not then, so I explained I was going to put my headphones on, listen to the music track of the song we were currently working on, and make notes until we arrived at the hospital. I had to focus and utilize every moment we had to get our work done, which was what I did until I could no longer block out Max howling “nooooo” when we pulled into the car park “It’s okay, buddy.” Connor got out of the car, opened Max’s door, and unlatched his seatbelt.
“Noooooooo! It’s my Iron Man.” Max clutched his plaster-covered arm and tried to conceal it with his body.
“It won’t hurt. I promise.”
“It will! It will!”
Connor picked him up and he thrashed in Connor’s arms. “Max, stop it. That cast is coming off whether you like it or not.”
“No, Daddy, no.”
“Don’t ‘no’ me.”
If it weren’t a highly stressful situation, I’d think the two of them going head to head was hilarious. I mean there was Connor, a giant beast of a man, getting his arse whooped by his mini-me.
“You find this funny?” Connor asked, still wrestling with Max.
I bit my lip. “Yeah, kinda.”
His eyebrow rose, his expression partly annoyed.
“But I have an idea. Meet me at the front of the hospital and wish me luck.”
“What? Where are you going?”
Dashing across the road, I quickly ducked into the Newsagency next to the hospital and made my way to the kid’s section, praying I’d find what I was searching for.
“Can I help you?” asked a staff member.
“I hope so. Do you sell kid’s temporary stick-on tattoos?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Excellent! Please tell me you have … IRON MAN!” I snatched a packet of Iron Man tattoos from the shelf and bounced on the spot. “These are perfect! Thank you so much.”
She chuckled and rang my sale through the till. “You’re welcome.”
Rushing back out of the shop, I met up with Connor and Max at the front of the hospital, Max still struggling in Connor’s arms.
“Hey, Max, I just bought you the coolest present.”
He stopped thrashing and gave me his full attention.
“It’s so cool that even I’m going to wear one.”
