Underdawgs

Chapter 5

I'm not what you'd call a morning person and, as I exit the flats and begin walking the eight or so blocks towards Sarah's school, this one is no exception.

      We pass the local milk bar, a disheveled wreck of a building. A couple of primary school kids in blue and yellow uniforms, like Sarah's, are coming out the door, arguing over footy cards.

      A large dog sits outside, tied to a bike stand, and I start thinking about Jeffery and that girl Lily I met the other day. I can't put a finger on it, but there's something about her that makes me want to see her again. Hopefully she'll be there when I arrive at school later.

      The Commissions are always reasonably quiet in the mornings. All the Lads, Drunks and Junkies who have been up partying and mucking about the night before are at home, coming down and sobering up. At this time of day, the streets are full of primary and secondary school kids, usually in groups of twos and threes and sometimes accompanied by a parent, moving slowly towards the two local schools, which are less than a block from each other.

      Among the droves of kids, I see a group I recognize, standing on a street corner and throwing rocks at a cat perched on top of a power pole. They are the Fredrick brothers, three young juvenile delinquents from the same flats as us and destined for Lad status in the future. They're aged between ten and fourteen, and the middle child, Timothy, is in Sarah's class at school.

      I watch as Sarah looks over at them and sees what they're doing to the cat. She moves to storm over to them, but I catch her arm and pull her in the other direction. 'Come on,' I tell her. 'It's not worth it.'

      We begin walking up the street, Sarah giving the finger to the Fredricks as we pass.

      'Timothy's really gonna get it when we get to class,' she tells me. 'I'm gonna punch  him 'til he cries.'

      Fifteen minutes later we arrive at the gates of Sarah's school. I squat down to her eye level.

      'See you, Jase.' She hugs me and kisses me on the cheek.

      'Have a good day,' I tell her, pulling a stray leaf out of her hair. 'Be safe coming home and don't start any fights because of the Fredricks.'

      Sarah smirks. 'I'll try not to, though you're not exactly one to talk about starting fights.'

      I laugh. God, she's beginning to get sassy. I look across the playground and notice a group of mums and dads watching us from afar.

      'Just be safe, okay?' I say in seriousness.

      'I will,' replies Sarah. 'And you be safe too.'

      'You know me.' I wink at her. 'They call me Captain Safety.'

      She gives me a cheeky grin. 'You're such a dork, Jason.' She punches me softly in the arm then runs off to play.

      I get to my feet and head off down the road towards Kaid Street. It's only a five minute walk from Sarah's school.

      Kaid Street Secondary is a big, old, ugly thing made out of blue stone. From a distance, it looks like an oversize toilet block, or a prison. A prison intent on capturing inspired minds and wild imagination and re-educating them towards more mundane tasks.

      It's been around for yonks and was built some time after the depression. It's undergone a few additions since then, like the science labs and an electrical system that doesn't short whenever it rains, but the honours board still reads for 'God, king and country', and apparently no one has informed them that corny school slogans like 'The pursuit of knowledge is the pursuit of happiness' went out of fashion years ago.