Matilda is Missing by Caroline Overington Sample Chapter

8/4/2019 Matilda is Missing by Caroline Overington Sample Chapter

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CAROLINEOVERINGTON

Matilda is Missing

In the struggle between

warring parents, who will

protect the child?

Copyright Caroline Overington 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.


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This is a work o fction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the producto the authors imagination or are used fctitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,

living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Bantam bookPublished by Random House Australia Pty LtdLevel 3, 100 Pacic Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by Bantam in 2011

Copyright Caroline Overington 2011

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by anyperson or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by anymeans, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutoryexceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or byany information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission ofRandom House Australia.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found atwww.randomhouse.com.au/ofces

National Library of AustraliaCataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Overington, Caroline.Matilda is missing/CarolineOverington.

ISBN 978 1 74275 038 5 (pbk.)

Custody of children Fiction.

A823.4

Cover photograph courtesy of Getty ImagesCover design by Christabella DesignsTypeset in 12/18 pt Sabon by Midland Typesetters, AustraliaPrinted and bound by Grifn Press, an accredited ISO AS/NZS 14011:2004Environmental Management System printer

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Stewardship Council Standards. Grifn Press holds FSC chain

of custody certication SGS-COC-005088. FSC promotes

environmentally responsible, socially benecial and economically

viable management of the worlds forests.

Copyright Caroline Overington 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.


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3

Chapter One

The last time I saw Frank Brooks was at Young andJacksons, which is the pub on the corner of FlindersStreet in Melbourne, and it was about three weeks before

Frank died.

It was Franks idea to meet. He called me after the

disaster with the billboard and said, Why dont we have a

beer, old friend?

Now, youre probably thinking whoa, what billboard?

Well, for now its best I say only that Frank called about thetime my wife, Pat, did something that was pretty much out

of character.

Shed arranged to have a giant billboard put on the

freeway, as part of a ght she was having with our son

Brians missus. Brian is the youngest of our four boys. Hes

coming up for forty now, and still in the same job he hadwhen he left school. He works on container ships, down at

the docks, at Port Melbourne.




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Brian was one of those boys who, instead of getting out

of the house as soon as humanly possible, stayed at home

with Pat and me until he was thirty.

To my mind youre a bit old to be living at home when

youre thirty, but Pat was all for it.

A young man working as hard as he does needs a hot

meal on the table when he gets home, she said.

Like Brian couldnt have cooked his own meal? Hes not

an invalid.

In any case, he took advantage, paying minimal rent and

getting his clothes washed and dried and folded, and saving

money so he could travel to Bali and over to Broome. Hed

trick up old cars and put mag wheels on them. At one point

we had two-and-a-half cars on the street outside, and I had

to say, Brian, its not fair on the neighbours.

Just when I was thinking Brian would never move out,

he met a girl, Nerida, and decided she was the love of his

life.

Now, I dont want to go scratching old sores, but its

hardly a family secret that Pat struggles with Nerida, andhas done from the very start. To my mind thats because

Brian was Pats baby the youngest boy, and the only one

still at home but thats not the only thing. They clashed.

Some people just do.

My Pats not posh. Like me, she grew up in Footscray

with working-class parents. As a kid, Pats house was alwaysas neat as a pin, and Pats the same as her mum, polishing

the glass at least once a week.




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I dont know how many families there are like that any

more, but Neridas not from one of them. Neridas mother

has never been married, and when our Brian met Nerida,

she and her mum were living in Housing Commission.

Taking hand-outs, is what Pat says about that.

Brian met Nerida at a pub in Maidstone. Pat was ne

with that. Pubs are where people meet these days. But Nerida

wasnt at the pub with her girlfriends, having a dance or a

counter meal. Nerida was pulling the beers.

Shes a barmaid, Barry, is what Pat said.

I remember the rst time Nerida came to visit. Pat took

one look at the black dyed hair and the six earrings in the

top of the ear, and raised her eyebrows at me. But shes a

good woman, Pat, and even when shes made up her mind

about someone, shell still be polite. She took Nerida into

the kitchen, saying, Lets have a cup of tea.

Nerida followed Pat into the kitchen and pulled out a

pack of ciggies. Pat said, Im sorry, Nerida, we dont allow

smoking in the house. So Nerida headed for the yscreen

door and lit up on the porch.Shes standing there, half-in and half-out of the house,

blowing smoke and waving a hand in front of her face,

said Pat.

And do you know what she told me, Barry? She told

me she lives in Maidstone with a child who is our years

old. I said, But how old are you, dear? And she said shestwenty. Which means she had him when she was sixteen,

Barry.




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Like an idiot, I said, Whos the father?

Pat said, Dont you think I asked about that, Barry?

Dont you worry, I asked about that. She said she has no

idea. She said, Whoever it is, we dont see him. Its just me

and Ethan. Whoever it is, Barry.

I said, Well, Pat. A girl can make a mistake.

Pat said, Do you know where she lives, Barry? She

lives with the child, and with her own mother in Housing

Commission in Maidstone.

I think its fair to say that things went downhill from

there.

Have you really thought this through, Brian? Pat would

say whenever she got the chance. Is this a serious thing?

Brian would say: Stay out of it, Mum.

But do you really think its fair to the child to Ethan

to bond with him, and then disappear from his life? Pat

would persist. Hes had enough traumas in his life, surely?

Maybe you should back off a bit.

Brian didnt back off. Six weeks after meeting Nerida,

hed moved half his stuff over to her place in Maidstone,so he was half-living with Nerida, her mum and with

Ethan.

I really dont understand it, Barry, Pat said. I mean,

what goes on over there? Its a horrible place. I invite Brian

home for tea and he says hes busy. Busy doing what?

What could I tell her? Nerida was twenty years old andBrian was a healthy young man. Probably they were having

the time of their life, if you see what I mean. And it didnt




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help that Pat made it obvious not just to Brian, but to

everyone that she didnt like Nerida.

I cant quite put my nger on it, shed say, but I dont

trust that girl.

Id say: It hardly matters what we think, Pat. Neridas

Brians choice.

Six months into the relationship, Brian rang and said,

Were coming over Sunday, Dad. Me, Nerrie, Ethan and

Nerries mum. All of us.

Pat said, What could this be about, Barry? Please dont

tell me . . . Meaning: Please dont tell me theyre getting

married.

I remember Neridas mum, Cheryl, coming up the path

that Sunday in leopard-skin stilettos. Pat was in the front

room, looking through the blinds.

Heavens! she said when she opened the door. How do

you walk in those?

Cheryl plopped herself down on a kitchen stool and

twisted her foot around, saying, Arent they brill? Got em

on sale. Run down and get yourself a pair, before theyre allsold out.

How old was Ethan then? Im thinking not yet ve. Not

yet in school. He had black hair, cropped short, with a rats

tail. Pat tried to engage him. Would you like me to cut up

an apple for you, Ethan?

Ethan said, I dont eat fruit.Pat said, Well, what about a drink then? Would you

like some apple juice?




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Ethan said, Coke.

Brian said, Were getting married, Mum.

It was one of those moments like you see on the sitcoms.

Pat was holding two cups and saucers, and nearly dropped

them both.

I got up and pumped our Brians hand, saying, Well

done, son.

Cheryl opened her arms up theres quite a bit to see

when she does that, if you get what I mean and said,

Well, give us a hug, Pat! Were family! And Pat had no

choice but to go into her performing hug.

Discussions turned to the wedding. With no father of

the bride around, Cheryl was offering to foot the bill. But

she was on some kind of disability, or workers comp, and

couldnt afford what Nerida wanted, which was the big

white wedding.

Pat tried to be diplomatic. Well, she said. I suppose

in a way thats ne, because, you know, with Ethan and

everything . . .

Cheryl either had no idea what Pat was talking about Nerida couldnt have a big white wedding because she was

a single mother or if she did, she didnt show it. Like her

daughter, she was standing half-in and half-out the kitchen

door, waving a cigarette with red lipstick on the butt-end,

getting Ethan to fetch the lighter from where shed put it

down outside, talking about how great the wedding wasgoing to be.

Youve raised a good boy in Brian, Cheryl said. If my




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Nerrie hadnt seen him rst, I might even have had a go

myself!

I rushed into the conversation, saying, In the circum-

stances, were obviously happy to help out with the costs,

and, Ive got to tell you, I got in more trouble for that

from Pat than Id got for just about anything in my whole

married life.

What you should have said was, we dont wantthem

to get married, Pat said, after Cheryl had packed up

her cigarettes and headed out the front door, on those

spiky heels. What you should have said was, we think

the two of them should wait, get to know each other a

bit, before rushing headlong into something as serious as

marriage.

What could I say? There was a reason I didnt step in it

was basically none of my business! I told Pat, Brians thirty

years old. Hes big enough and ugly enough to take care of

himself. Hes picked Nerida and, whatever we think, thats

his choice. And he cant pick up the tab for the wedding.

Thats a cost you dont want to lay on a young man at thestart of married life.

Pat said, You cant see whats happening, can you? Our

Brians got a job. Hes got his Westpac Supersaver. Whats

Nerida got? Nothing. So our Brian is the best thing thats

ever going to happen to her, which is why shes getting her

claws in.To Brian, she said, I know you think youre in love, but

there are girls out there closer to your own age, girls with




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proper jobs, careers. Have you thought about how youre

going to pay the mortgage? Youre going to need somebody

who can help with the bills.

Brian said, Neridas not on the dole, Mum. Shes still

got her job at the pub.

Pat said, Well, thats lovely, Brian. Good for Nerida.

Shes got a job in a pub. But its hardly ideal for a girl, is it,

to be working behind a bar?

Brian said, She likes it. Although I reckon shell give it

up when she has a couple more kids.

Pat was startled.

More children? she said. Now, Brian, you wont want

to rush into that.

Brian said, Nerrie wants to have a dozen. And Cheryls

awesome with Ethan. She reckons its the best thing having

a grandkid. She cant wait to have more.

I dont need to tell you that the wedding went ahead and

it was a good one in the end. I stumped up for a spit roast

and a keg, and plenty of beer was drunk, not least by me.

Ethan looked good, in a suit from the Footscray Marketwith sneakers and a carnation. As for Nerida well, I

thought she looked perfectly nice in her white dress.

Its cream, Pat corrected me when I mentioned it.

Denitely cream.

Our eldest, Scott, gave the speech, saying it was about

time Brian left home, given that hed started losing hishair. There was a cake and all the rest of it, including a bit

where Nerida sat down on one of the fancy chairs, middle




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of the dance oor, and Brian went under her dress to get

her garter off.

It was done. They were married and into a place of their

own. Brian put the deposit down. He paid the mortgage.

Thats what a man does. Besides which, three months after

the wedding, Brian announced that Nerida was ve months

pregnant.

Pat took it pretty well. Its wonderful news, Nerida,

she said. If you need any advice or anything, you can ask

me. Dont be shy. Were family now.

To which Nerida said, Well then, can you hire me a semi-

trailer to haul my arse around? Doctor says Ive put on thirty

kilos already, and Im barely past the halfway mark.

Pat said, Well, youre eating for two.

More like Im eating for ve, Nerida said. Im, like,

craving the weirdest shit. Hot chips and Maccas burgers

and those apple turnovers, and peanut butter, and bacon.

Im sending Brian out in the middle of the night to get me

ice-cream, jelly snakes, whatevers on sale at the servo,

which is the only thing whats open at midnight. Its doinghis head in!

Pat said, Well, perhaps you should try to get some vege-

tables . . . and the smoking? Are you going to give up the

smoking?

Brian interrupted. Dont tell me you didnt smoke, Mum,

with us lot.Well, it was different in the sixties, Brian, Pat said. We

didnt know. You cant say that now.




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Nerida said, First few weeks, the smell of it had me

retching. Couldnt handle it. And thats not on, because Im

working in the pub and everyone is fagging. So I forced a

couple down and Im good again now.

Six months into the pregnancy, Nerida was still smoking

and the size of a house. Shed come over for tea on Sundays,

saying, Check out the size of me! Doc says I better stop

eating or hell have to take me down the docks to weigh me.

Im, like, alright, me hubby works there, no worries!

The more she did that kind of thing, the more I liked

Nerida, but Pat, who was standing serving, said, More

vegetables, anyone?

Three months on, Brian called again one night, saying

Nerida and the baby were in the hospital.

Shes had him already? asked Pat.

Brian said, She nearly dropped him in the dunny! Nerrie

thought she needed a poo and he was half into the bowl!

Half out before we even got into the car! She said, Id better

keep my legs crossed or Ill have him on the freeway.

Pat pushed me out of bed and ordered me to drive heracross town, to the public hospital at Sunshine. We found

Nerida sat up in bed, with Ethan eating potato chips, and a

baby boy swaddled in a crib.

Take a look, Pat. Its another bloody boy! Nerida said.

Right through the pregnancy, everyone was saying to me,

Dont worry, its gonna be a girl. Youre all out in front,and that means a girl. What am I gonna do with all the

pink stuff I got given?




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Im not sure Pat was listening. To be clear, when that

little boy was born she already had ve grandchildren our

eldest, Scott, had three kids, and the other boys had one

apiece but this was Brians rst and, as Ive said, Brian

was Pats baby.

What will you call him? she said. It was like she was

in a trance.

Im buggered if I know, Nerida said. I had my girls names

all picked out. I was that sure it was a girl, I cant tell you. I

was right out in front, wasnt I, Brian? And when youre right

out in front, they reckon its a girl. Shows what they know.

Well, what was your fathers name? said Pat, to which

Nerida replied, No way is my kid getting named for that

idiot.

Well then, Brians grandfather my father was

Herbert. Bert to his friends, of course, but Herbert is lovely,

dont you think?

I watched Neridas face. She seemed to think Pat was

joking. Then she saw that Pat wasnt joking, and that

amused her even more.Bert, like Bert and Ernie? she said. Thats a top idea,

Grandma Pat!

They didnt call him Bert, obviously. He went without

a name for a week and then, after they got him home and

settled, Brian called to say they had called him Jett, and

because he had a thick mop of dark hair, like Neridas evenbefore she dyed it, his middle name would be Black. So, Jett

Black Harper Harrison.




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I passed this on to Pat, expecting her to say, I do hope

youre joking. But shed already lost her heart to that little

baby.

I really like that, she said. Jett Black! Its got a nice

ring to it. And with his hair, its going to suit him well.

The weeks after Jett was born, it was like Pat was a

rst-time grandma again. She took a heap of pictures of

him, stopped her old friends in the street, saying, Would

you like to see a picture of my grandson? See his dark eyes?

Lashes like a foal, hes got. Long lashes, like a foal.

Nerida didnt bother with breastfeeding Jett The little

bastard split my nipples, she said so Pat was allowed to

babysit Jett from pretty early on.

Well get our own bottle sterilising kit, and you wont

have to worry about anything, Pat told Nerida. Ive got a

lot of experience with little boys, Brian included! So dont

worry. I know what Im doing.

It wasnt like Nerida needed convincing. You want

him, you have him! she told Pat. Youd think Id have

remembered what its like to have a baby around. Like,with Ethan, he can get himself up and get a bowl of Coco

Pops, or whatever. Now Im back in bottles, nappies, and

the bloody crying, it never stops. Dont get me wrong, hes

dead cute and all that, but Jesus, he carries on.

Well, I dont mind at all, Pat said. Its my pleasure to

help.By the age of two, Jett was spending as much time at

our place as he was with Brian and Nerida and to say that




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arrangement suited Pat is to understate it. To be honest it

suited me too. Grandkids well, its not like having your

own, is it? Its better than having your own. You dont have

to worry so much. And you can give them back! And Jett

was a right little character. When he started to walk, for

example, Pat bought him a Superman body suit: red under-

pants painted on the outside, the kind of thing our Brian

would never have been seen dead in. Jett put it on and, I

swear, you couldnt get it off him, not even to wash it. Hed

sleep in the thing. Hed walk down the supermarket with

it on. Not at all embarrassed. Ive got to tell you, it was

hysterical.

Then, when Jett was three, and Ethan going on for

eight, Nerida came around and opped herself down in the

armchair, saying, I cant bloody believe this. Im up the

duff again.

Are you sure? said Pat, which was a fair enough

question. Nerida had been saying since Jett arrived that

she wasnt interested in having another baby too much

bloody hassle and shed never lost any of the weight shedput on with Jett, so I wouldnt have been able to tell if she

was pregnant again or not.

Thats what the doctor reckons, she said. One in the

oven, ve months cooked.

Of course, it was another boy.

Is that all you Harrisons have? Nerida complainedfrom the hospital bed. Youve got four, Pat. Scotts got

three. Now Ive got another two. Dont you reckon a girl




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might have been nice? What the hell am I going to call him?

Weve got no boys names.

They decided, in the end, on Baxter. I dont know, but

Im told thats a name from somebody on Neighbours,

or maybe Home and Away. As with Jett, Pat offered to

take him a couple of nights a week, pretty much from the

get-go.

You catch up on sleep, she said. Nerida took no

convincing at all, and so, within ve years of Brian meet-

ing Nerida, and Pat deciding she didnt like her, all three of

Neridas kids Ethan, Jett and the new baby, Baxter were

in our house three nights a week.

You reckon she didnt love it? She loved it!

Now, Im trying to remember how old the kids were

when the marriage ultimately did go south. From memory,

Baxter Bax had started walking, so maybe he was one,

or even a bit older, which means Jett would have been,

what, four or ve, and Ethan maybe eight or nine?

Probably it doesnt matter. The main thing is that I was

home with Pat one night, feet up, watching telly, whenBrians Holden came up the road, and onto the nature strip

outside the house.

What on earth is he doing? Pat said, looking out the

blinds. Why doesnt he park by the kerb?

The minute Brian got out of the car, I could see what the

problem was. He couldnt fndthe kerb. Drunk as a skunkhe was, so much so he couldnt get his old house key in the

lock.




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Im gonna stay here a while, he said when Pat opened

the door.

But what on earth has happened? said Pat.

Dont ask, he said, and started down the hall, bouncing

off the walls as he went.

Pat turned to me. Go and talk to him! she said.

I went down the hall into Brians old room. He was face

down on the bed, with his Blundies still on.

I said, Whats gone on, Brian?

He muttered, but his face was in the pillow and I couldnt

hear it.

Say again? I said.

He lifted his head and said, Nerrie doesnt want me any

more. Shes gone and done the dirty.

Ah, Jesus, Brian, I said. Thats no good at all.

Shes a moll, he said, and threw up on the bed.

Now, theres obviously quite a bit of pain involved

when a marriage breaks up and I couldnt hang anything

on Brian for getting drunk like he did that rst night. It

didnt actually bother me too much when he kept drinkingnight and day, for something like a week.

My feeling was: let him be. Well nd out soon enough

whats gone on. But Pat isnt the type to let a sleeping dog lie.

What exactly had happened, she wanted to know? Was this

a one-off, with Nerida, or had she met somebody else? Did

she want Brian to take her back? Was Brian going to do it?Its not your business, Mum, Brian would slur, drunk

again. But actually, it was Pats business. Shed organised




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her life around caring for Neridas boys, and suddenly

theyd stopped coming.

I dont see what your problem with Nerida has to do

with me, shed say to Brian. I dont see how it means that

the boys cant still come here, like they used to do.

Brian said, Nerries got the shits with me, Mum. I said

some stuff to her. Let her calm down.

To me, Pat said, I cant stand this, Barry. What have I

done wrong? Absolutely nothing, thats what. Why isnt she

bringing the boys around to see me, at least?

Pat, I said. This is one of those situations where were

going to have to wait and see.

This is your fault, Barry, Pat said. I told you from

the outset this girls no good. But you wouldnt listen.

Wouldnt warn him off. Now look rst chance she gets,

shes off with someone else. And who gets punished? Me.

I said, Theres no warning kids off their choices, Pat.

You know that as well as I do. The main thing is for us to

stay out of it, and see what happens.

I might as well have been talking to a wall.Shes going to take you for everything, Pat told Brian,

not two weeks into the separation. I notice shes still in the

house, Brian. That house has a mortgage on it, and youre

going to have to pay that mortgage, unless you want a black

mark on your credit rating for the rest of your life.

Brian said, Mum, Ive told you. Stay out of it.Pat said, Well, you tell me, Brian. What did she put into

that house? Not one cent, thats what. And shes going to




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walk off with it. Given what shes done, you should ask her

to move out, and you stay there with the boys.

To which Brian said, As if Id do that, Mum.

But whats going to happen to me? said Pat. Ive gotten

into a good routine having those boys here. Theyre used to

me. Its not fair on them being snatched away from their

own nana. And I count Ethan in that.

Im planning on talking to Nerrie this weekend, said

Brian. Do you want me to ask her if I can take the boys

bring them here for a couple of hours?

What do you mean, ask her? said Pat. Theyre your

kids! Even Ethan, hes practically your own child! You dont

have to ask permission to see them!

Stop interfering, Mum, Brian warned her again.

But Pat couldnt.

What I dont understand, Brian, is why when youve

done nothing wrong, youre the one being punished.

Neridas called quits on the marriage. Thats ne. But why

does that mean that you have to ask permission to see your

own children?Brian said, I can see them when I want. Its just Nerrie

doesnt want me taking them out of the house. Shes mad as

an axe with me. Im in no frame of mind to see her either.

Im just letting things settle.

Pat said, I can see that weve youve got no claim on

Ethan. She holds the cards there. But Jett and Baxter theyreour esh and blood. It doesnt seem right to me that Nerida

decides when we can see them.




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Brian said, Im not going to say it again, Mum. Stay out

of it.

The weekend came and went, and Brian didnt bring the

kids over.

I asked Nerrie, he said, on the telephone, from his old

house. She said its best they stay here. Im just sitting with

them. Say hello on the phone. Bax, say hello. Its Nana. Say

hello.

Pat said, But Brian, Ive cooked the chook.

I cant tell you how that broke my heart, to hear Pat

say: But Brian, Ive cooked the chook! Because that

was always a tradition in Pats family to have a roast

chicken on a Sunday afternoon. I remember the rst ones

she cooked for me, right after we got married. And she

cooked chicken every Sunday after that, even when it was

expensive, and even when, because of the four boys, we

had to buy two.

Only when the boys moved out did Pat give the cooked

chook away. Too much fuss for two people, shed say,

and you cant get a half-decent chicken in the supermarketthese days. But then one afternoon, she made chicken soup

for baby Baxter this must have been before he was onto

solids from a real roast chicken.

He ate two bowls, Pat told Nerida. Good and nourish-

ing.

There had been a wishbone with the carcass. Pat wipedit down on her apron, and showed Jett how it worked. He

loved it. So the next Sunday, Pat made another chicken




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soup and, as the boys got older and needed more than just

soup, the cooked chook came back.

What am I supposed to do with the wishbone? Pat said,

after shed put the phone down.

Well put it in Tupperware, I said. The boys can have

a good ght over it next time they come around.

And when will that be? said Pat.

A few days later, I heard her talking over the fence. You

wont believe what happened. My daughter-in-law knows I

love to see those boys on a Sunday and now shes stopped

them from coming. Can you believe that? What a mean

thing to do.

Id say a month or so went by before Brian did nally

bring the kids all three of them over for a cooked

chook on a Sunday. Pat wanted to know what had brought

on the change of heart. It was only later that we found

out Nerida had broken up with the bloke shed left Brian

for, and she was actually begging Brian to take her back.

He told her straight: Im sorry, Nerida, its not going to

happen.Shes done it once, he told me. A leopard doesnt

change its spots. I thought that was pretty brave of him,

because whatever had happened between them, Brian still

loved Nerida.

In any case, Nerida was a free agent again, and it wasnt

long before she gured out that if Brian didnt want her,some other bloke probably would, and she was ready to go

out partying.




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It suits her to have the boys stay here when shes not

home, said Brian. Which is ne by me.

So Pat had the boys again, and she was over the moon.

Shed get up early and make hot porridge, which was some-

thing they never got at home, and she let them stir Milo

into milk, or else shed sit them around her feet while she

was at the sewing table, and let them play with the jar of

buttons. She took them to the movies, to see Monsters Inc.or Toy Story, and let them polish the silver with a rag from

the ragbag.

So, everyone was travelling along great, and to my mind

everything would have stayed great, if only Pat could have

stopped with running Nerida down. What must it be like

for them, their mother out at the pub every other weekend?shed say to me.

Id say, Shush, Pat, because the boys were often well

within earshot, and anyway, kids listen out for that kind of

thing.

Pat would say, Oh, come on, Barry. Does she think the

children dont know why theyre staying with us? Because

shes out all night on the booze?

To the boys themselves shed say, Wheres your mummy

tonight, I wonder? Not here with you! Or else shed tell

them, If Mummy gets cross with you, you come and stay

with Nana. Nana wont get cross with you! Nana loves

you.

Then there was the way Pat behaved with Nerida, whenthey were doing the handover of the boys. Pat might pack

Jetts pyjamas into his backpack with a note pinned to them




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saying, I managed to wash these, Nerida, but there wasnt

much I could do about the holes.

Nerida would get on the blower and say, I really dont

appreciate what youre incinerating, saying you had to wash

the boys clothes.

Pat would say: It isnt incinerating, Nerida. Its insinu-

ating. And Im not insinuating anything. Im merely saying

that Jett came to us with his bottom hanging out of his

pyjama pants, and while were talking, Baxter didnt have

a toothbrush. Are you teaching him to brush his teeth?

Because it looks to me like theyre turning green.

Nerida would say, I tell him, Pat, and he forgets. And

Pat would say, Well, of course he does. Hes a child. Thats

why youre supposed to remind him, Nerida. And on itwould go.

Now, Im not an idiot. I get that Pat was trying to show

loyalty to Brian. She couldnt believe that Nerida had gone

and done the dirty. Didnt she know how lucky she was,

to end up with somebody like our Brian? All of which is

perfectly understandable: a mum is always going to sidewith her boy in a situation like that. But to my mind theres

got to be a point at which you bury the hatchet, or else

youll make things even worse.

To his credit, Brian could see that. He tried to reason

with his mum, saying, Youve got to stop running Nerrie

down. Its going to get to the point where it gets back to her,and then shes not going to let the kids come here.

Pat said, Well, she wont be able to do that. I talked to




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Carol down at the hairdressers and she told me things are

different these days. I mean, we may have no legal right

to see Ethan, but youre the father of those boys, and Im

the nana, and the way the law is now, Nerida has no right

keeping them away from us.

Then came the day that Jett went home from our place

to his mum and said, Whats a gold-digger?

Why do you want to know? Nerida asked.

To which Jett, poor kid, said, Nana says youre a gold-

digger.

Nerida was on the phone in seconds. I could hear her,

shouting down the line, Im a gold-digger, am I, Pat? Thats

what youre telling my own kids about me? Well, Ive bloody

well had it. You think you can poison my kids against me?

You cant, because you wont be seeing them any more.

Pat got a bit of a shock, obviously, that Jett had done

exactly what Id told her hed do one day, but she still

thought she had the upper hand.

I think youll nd, Nerida, that you cant holus-bolus

take the kids away from me. You can stop Ethan fromcoming, maybe, if youd want to be that mean. But Jett and

Baxter well, Im their nana, and grandparents these days

have just as many rights as parents do.

You might be their nana, Nerida said. But Im their

mother, and as their bloody mother Ill decide who theyll

see.Pat tried to brush it off. Shell send them back, she

said. Mark my words, Barry, the rst opportunity she gets




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25

to go down the pub, shell be on the phone to me, saying,

Pat, please can you take the boys?

I thought, maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe Nerida would

just say, Brian, you come here and mind the kids.

Maybe her own mum would say, you go out, and Ill

mind the kids. Maybe shed decide, to hell with this, Id

rather pay a babysitter.

In any case, Nerida didnt call again that weekend,

meaning Sunday came and went with no cooked chook.

Pat tried to get Brian to intervene, but he refused.

I told you to lay off it, Mum, and you wouldnt give up,

he said. Now its come around and bit you on the bum.

Well, thats ne, said Pat, but Neridas not punishing

me. Shes punishing those boys.

Brian said, Come off it, Mum.

Pat said, I just need to know that theyre alright!

Brian said, Theyre alright. Just leave things be.

You might think Pat would have taken that advice, but

no. A day or so later, Brian caught her on the telephone to

Jett at Neridas house, saying something like, Nana wantsto see you but your mummy wont let her!

What the hell? he said, taking the phone.

Hey, son, he said. Yeah, yeah, I miss you too. Yep, Im

gonna see you soon. Say hi to Bax. Say hi to Ethan. Alright.

I love you. Good night.

He put the phone down and turned to Pat. Honestly,Ive never seen him that angry.

Im banned from having my own kids in my own




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house, he said. Keep this up, Mum, and shell cut me out

altogether.

But she cant do that, Brian! Pat insisted. You ask anyone,

the laws not like that any more. Its all changed! Youve got

rights, Brian. Fathers these days, theyve got rights!

Brian said, Mum, Ive told you, its not your business.

I know theres going to be people out there saying, well,

actually, Pats got a point. Maybe Brian should have been

ghting harder to see the boys. But Ive got to say, I agreed

with Brian. I thought he was doing the right thing letting

the boys stay with Nerida, and trying to keep the peace

with her, even though he felt like shed busted up his family.

And I thought Pat should stay out of it too. Dont get me

wrong, I love the woman dearly, but she has a tendency to

make things that much worse.

Why dont you at least go and see a lawyer, Brian?

she said. My friend Carol, her boy went through the same

thing. The exact same thing! His ex-wife was trying to lay

down the law, push him around, take him for all he had,

but he got a lawyer and they went to court, and he ended upwith custody. He ended up with custody, Brian! Im telling

you, you can do the same.

Brian wasnt much interested in getting a lawyer, or in

going for custody of the boys. Hed already told me, No way

known am I going down that path into the Family Court. Ill

work out a settlement with Nerrie, the boys will stay withher and Ill see them as often as I can. Thats the right thing

to do.




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27

Pat couldnt understand that.

If you try to do things yourself, youll lose the lot! she

said. Go to court! Everybody says its different now: you

can get back everything you put into that house, and, play

your cards right, you might even end up with the boys!

Brian wouldnt have it.

Im perfectly happy to have the boys live with their

mum, he said. Shes a good mum. And theres Ethan. No

courts ever going to give me Ethan, so what am I going to

do, take my two and leave him? Im not going to do it. Itll

make him feel second best. Hell be without his brothers.

Its not right.

Pat said, And what about me, Brian?

Brian said, You made that bed, Mum. You lie in it. Ive

told you before, if you could just cut it out, things might

improve.

And could Pat cut it out? She could not. She told Brian,

Ill take it to court myself. A grandmother has her rights!

Of course Brian wouldnt have it. You drag my kids through

Family Court, Im not going to forgive you. To my mind,there was a clear message there; he was dead serious about

it. I dont know if hed heard too much from mates of his

whod walked that route gone to court and been ruined or

whether it was that he didnt want to lose a load of money in

a lawyers picnic, or what, but he was dead set against court.

However, Pat knew where the boys lived, and she knew

where they went to school, and I suppose I realised that she

was seriously off her rocker about things when she started




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getting in the car at 7.30 am to park by the side of the road

where the school lollipop lady was, to see if she might see

Jett crossing the road.

Just a glimpse of him! shed tell me. I just need to

know hes alright.

Of course, you cant go hanging around the school

crossing for hours on end, not even if youre a lady of a

certain age and Pats going to kill me for saying this with

silver hair. Before long, people got suspicious who was

Pat, and why was she sitting there for an hour every day?

and they started to gossip, and so of course Nerida got

wind of it and told the school to tell Pat to back off.

They told me I had to move! Pat said when she camein that day. They came and rapped on my window like I

was some kind of pervert! They said, You cant sit here.

Its like spying. Its not right. I said, Dont tell me whats

right. Whats not right is my not being allowed to see my

own grandchildren!

Oh, Pat, I said.And I didnt even see the boys! she said. I didnt even

see them, let alone say a word.

Now, you might think that given Pat and me have been

married forty-odd years, I would have been able to predict

what was going to happen next, but Ive got to tell you, it

took me completely by surprise.

She thinks she can lock me out of their lives, said Pat.

Well see about that.




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29

A day or so later, I found her out on the front porch with

her gardening knee pads on, bending over an old sheet from

the linen press. By her side she had a can of black paint

from the shed, and in her hand she had a small paint brush.

I said, What in heavens name?

You shush, Barry, said Pat. I looked over her shoulder.

She was writing, JETT AND BAXTER HARRISON, WE

LOVE YOU, NANA AND POP.

I said, What on earth?

Pat said, Dont you interfere. Im going to wait for it to

dry and then Im going to hang it somewhere where theyll

be able to see it. Maybe on that cyclone fence across from

their mothers house. Im going to make sure those boys

know whats really going on.

I said, Pat, this is madness.

Pat said, Thats right, Barry. You take her side. Everyone

else is. Why not you?

I said, Pat, its not about sides. Its about what is normal

behaviour. How embarrassed are the boys going to be,

seeing that? And how is Ethan going to feel?Pat said, You dont think it hurts me, Barry, to have no

claim over Ethan? It hurts me. Not much I can do about

it, but it hurts me. But our boys our blood and bone, Jett

and Baxter they are actually family. Ive got a right to see

them.

She waited for the sheet to dry, bundled it up and droveoff the next morning, planning to pin the thing with clothes

pegs to the cyclone fence. Ten minutes later, the manager




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of the brick works, of which the cyclone fence was a part,

came and told her to take it down.

This is about my grandchildren, Pat said.

I dont care what its about, he said. That fence is owned

by a multinational corporation. You dont have permission

to stick a bed sheet on it. Theyve got rules about how the

site has to look.

Id hoped that Pat would settle down after that, that

shed see what a goose she was making of herself, but thats

not the way her mind was working. She was thinking,

Okay, if I cant put a sign on the fence because its con-

sidered vandalism, how can I put one up thats legal? And

thats when she went down to the freeway, where there was

an old billboard that often had nothing on it except a sign

saying Advertise Your Business Here!, and she got in touch

with the people who owned it.

Can you make up the billboard so it says whatever I

want? she said.

Well, sure, the man said, probably fooled by Pats

sweet-lady voice. We do that kind of thing all the time.What do you have in mind . . . is it a fete or something?

No, no, its a message for my grandchildren, said Pat.

I want to broadcast to the world how much I love them.

You mean, for their birthday?

No, no, just for all the time! said Pat.

Well, thats a nice thought, the man said. You send methe words you want to use, and a picture if you like. Do

you have a computer? Do you know how to send a JPEG?




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31

Provided the picture quality is up to scratch, well make it

look great for you.

Pat can use a computer. Who cant these days? So she

emailed a photograph of Jett and Baxter to the billboard

company.

I want you to blow it up as big as you can, she said.

And the message on it should read: BAXTER AND JETT,

NANA AND POP LOVE YOU.

A week or so later, the bloke called back, saying, It

looks great, and its ready to go up whenever you are.

Pat told him, Well, how about next Wednesday? When

she put the phone down, she said, Thatll give me time to

warn A Current Aair.

I said, A Current Aair! Are you mad, Pat? Youre

going to get us into trouble. Its got to be against the law to

put a big picture of the kids up there for everyone to see!

Pat said, If theres a law against a grandmother telling

her grandkids how much she loves them, Id like to see that

law.

I was that tempted to tell Brian what his mum wasplanning. Maybe the only reason I didnt was because it

was a struggle getting my head around the idea that shed

actually do it. But do it, she did. Up the billboard went, and

everyone in Melbourne saw it, not just because it was on a

busy freeway but because pictures of it were broadcast all

over the TV.Pat had made good on her threat to call A Current

Aair. Id hoped that they might say: Oh, thanks, love,




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but thats not really our thing. A granny ghting over her

grandkids its got to be the most common story in the

world when youre dealing with divorce. But how naive

am I? What they actually said was, What a brilliant idea!

And can we offer to pay half the cost in exchange for an

exclusive interview?

Would you really? said Pat. Thats incredibly generous.

Not at all! they said. What youre doing is very brave!

And, if you think about it, youre not just speaking up

for yourself. Youre speaking up for grandparents all over

Australia who nd themselves missing out on their time

with the grandkids when their own kids get divorced. What

youre doing, its granny power!

A Current Aairs right behind me! Pat said when she

put down the phone. Unlike you, Barry, they get exactly

what Im trying to do.

I told Pat, Theyre not behind you, or right behind

anyone! Its the story theyre after. They dont care for the

rights and wrongs of it. Im telling you now, this is going to

make things that much worse.Theyre coming to get me, Pat said. Theyre sending a

car! And so they did, and they did an interview with Pat on

site weve still got the tape, which has Pat in front of this

bloody enormous picture of Jett and Baxter and it was so

windy Pat had to shout. Her hair was lifting, which made

her look half-mad.Exclusive tonight on A Current Aair! Heartbroken

granny ghts for her grandchildren, and for YOURS!




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33

That was how they introduced the story on the program

that night. The rst shot was the reporter, facing the camera

with the billboard behind him, saying, A Melbourne

grandmother has taken her ght to see her two grandsons

to the streets of Melbourne, erecting a giant billboard on

the freeway near where they go to school to show them

how much she loves them, even if their mum wont let them

see her!

Pat was in the next shot, yelling over the trafc: I love

my grandchildren and I want them to know that. I realise

some people might think this is a bit extreme, but when a

couple breaks up, the children shouldnt be made to suffer.

Why shouldnt my boys be allowed to see their nana?

Next up was an interview with a lady from Relationships

Australia, saying, This does seem extreme, and we cant

comment on any individual cases, but certainly its often

the case that grandparents are the rst ones to get cut out of

the picture when a couple breaks up. But, you know, grand-

parents do have rights in court, and it seems to be that court

might have been a better option here.Talkback radio was next to pick the story up. Who saw

that story on A Current Aair last night? said the bloke

who does the morning shift on 3AW. I cant say I neces-

sarily agree with this nanas methods, but Im sure theres

more than one grandparent out there who understands how

upsetting it is when the family breaks up. Now, weve obvi-ously got to be quite careful taking calls on this, but are

you in a situation, or do you know of a situation, where




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the grandparents are ghting for access to children after a

divorce? Give us a call now.

Quite a few grandparents did phone, saying, Were in

exactly that situation, and its absolutely heartbreaking.

Weve been to that many lawyers and had that much advice,

and we feel we cant get a good hearing. I just wish wed

thought to do what this ladys done. Other people called

saying, You can go to court if you want, but it wont get you

anywhere. The only people who win in court are lawyers.

I dont know whether Nerida saw the billboard, or the

story on A Current Aair, or if she only heard about them.

I do know that she wasnt at all shy about going to court.

She was at the Family Court that same day. Her lawyer

how she could afford a lawyer, I dont know, but maybe

shed organised Legal Aid told the judge that the children

had been horribly embarrassed by the billboard, so much

so that they didnt want to go to school because everyone

was laughing at them.

The point of this exercise, in our submission, your

Honour, was the public humiliation of the boys mother,the lawyer said. The song and dance the story were being

told is that this was all about the rights of grandparents,

but what right does a grandmother have to embarrass her

grandchildren, and their mother, in this very public way?

There is a forum for this type of dispute, and its this court,

your Honour, not the citys freeways.The court agreed and, without even hearing from us,

the judge made an order that the billboard had to come




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down, which was one thing. What was worse was that

the judge said Pat had showed such poor judgement

that she wouldnt be allowed to see the grandkids not

just Ethan, but also Jett and Baxter without the express

approval of Nerida, who was never going to give it.

It was about then that Frank got in touch.

Barry Harrison, he said down the phone into our old

answering machine. Frank Brooks here. Why dont you

and I have a couple of beers?

Matilda is Missing by Caroline Overington Sample Chapter

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