Tip Rats

Part 23 - Sold

Early the next morning the barking of dogs roused Ned. He looked out the window to see Daryl speaking to a man who was sitting in a beat up old ute with a couple of cattle dogs in the tray. The dogs were agitated by some goats penned up in the paddock next to the house. Ned checked the time on his phone, 7.49am. Normally, with the exception of the occasional early morning surf, Ned would tuck back down for another couple of hours. He left it five minutes but it was surprisingly noisy and bright. The awning outside his guest room window was clear plastic and seemed to intensify the sunlight, directing it precisely onto the spot where his pillow lay. As he left the bathroom he could smell bacon cooking and hear the clattering of plates and utensils. Entering the kitchen he could see his mother making her best attempt at a hot breakfast.

Debra cracked an egg and sloppily dropped it into a frying pan. 'Morning Ned'.

'Morning' Ned replied, 'you cook breakfast these days?'

'Only on special occasions' Debra replied, peering doubtfully into the pan. 'You ready for a trip out to Patterson's Gap? Big auction on out there today'.

'Um, yeah, OK'.

'I'll have to show you the collection before you go'.

Ned gave his mum a smile and wandered over to the table.

*

'So your mum tells me you're off to see the world Ned' Daryl rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the plate of bacon and eggs.

'Yeah' Ned replied, 'flying to L.A and then probably heading down to Mexico'.

Debra brought over two more plates of bacon and eggs and joined Ned and Daryl at the table.

'Great. You'll have to chat to Julian about that. He's a bit of a traveller, South-East Asia mainly, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, those sorts of places. He goes quite regularly'. Darryl nodded in the direction of his son's bedroom.

Debra raised the back of an opened hand to the side of her mouth, 'we reckon he's got a girl over there' she whispered.

The fact that Julian was a fairly obvious sexual deviant seemed to have evaded Daryl and Debra, whether it was through selective ignorance or not, Ned couldn't be sure. He just smiled and nodded.

'He stays up late doing business on the computer so we let him sleep in' Daryl insisted. By 'business' Ned assumed he meant 'frantically masturbating to snuff films'.

Ned's dislike of Julian was justified and it came about after overhearing a conversation at his mother and Daryl's wedding. Julian was seated at the same table as the Roach children. He was in his early thirties at the wedding though his balding head and large tinted glasses made him look significantly older, though the fact that he possessed the body of a malnourished 13-year-old evened things out a little. A few hours into the reception Ned was standing at a table with his back to Julian who was describing his recent trip to Bangkok to another guest. He divulged how he had made a habit of finding a hooker early in the morning and locking her in his hotel room for the day while he gallivanted about in a way only an ugly white man can. He would return later in the day with a number of other girls that were ''lucky if they were 15'', and invite them to do all sorts of unsavoury acts to each other and him. He justified this behaviour by insisting that it was ''part of their culture'' and ''they'd always done that sort of thing in Thailand''.

'These eggs are delicious Deb' said Daryl as he wiped some yolk from his moustache, 'she doesn't usually do this, you're a lucky boy Ned'.

'Mmmm' Ned nodded and smiled.