by Ben Hobson
She waited until the coroner had finished with Sidney before going over. She’d always liked Sidney. Seemed to be a good dad. Wasn’t as rough as his father or his brother. He was lying with his arm up and his elbow pointed at the sky, which was maybe where he now rested. A flannelette shirt with jeans, not unlike how Peter dresses. The sleeves were rolled up, his elbow exposed. Sharon crouched. Sidney was face down, the back of his head gone. All the choices he’d made had led him here. An end he’d surely never wanted. And yet here he was.
THIRTY-SIX
VERNON MOORE
A few weeks later Vernon stood before William Kelly’s grave. He’d missed the funeral because he’d been in jail. He stood there with his wife, holding her hand. This cold concrete block told nothing of Bill Kelly. It bore his name and his wife’s name, and his son’s, and a bit about him being a reverend. A cold concrete slab of nothing. His mate buried beneath it, all skin now in a wooden box. Vernon’s unborn child buried here somewhere, too. Mark. Somewhere close. If what Bill had said was true, if what Penelope had said she hoped, about God and goodness and all that, then Bill was just not here. His spirit was free. Someplace better. But Vernon doubted his friend’s words so deeply he almost cried. Possible his friend had wasted his life preaching a false gospel and ended up a sack of flesh.
He wanted it to rain. The sky was blue. Maybe what Kelly had said was true and all their lives had meaning. Kelly’s death. Sidney’s sacrifice. Maybe it wasn’t meaningless.
Penelope squeezed his hand and let him stand there as long as he liked. It was quite some time before he pulled himself away and headed back to the car.
Ben Hobson lives in Brisbane and is entirely keen on his wife, Lena, and their two small boys, Charlie and Henry. He currently teaches at a Queensland high school. In 2014 his novella, If the Saddle Breaks My Spine, was shortlisted for the Viva La Novella prize, run by Seizureonline. To Become a Whale, his first novel, was published in 2017.
The Snake Island Soundtrack, an original piano score composed by Christopher Dicker, is now available on all good streaming services.
