The Simple Gift (14 page)

Old Bill's suit and tie

Before meeting Billy

I went to the Salvation Army shop.

I bought a clean shirt

and trousers

and a tie.

I packed my old clothes

in a plastic bag

and walked out

a businessman

ready to impress the world.

Near

Everything took longer

than I thought,

mowing the grass,

buying clothes,

paying the electricity deposit,

so I walked quickly,

with my plan getting clearer,

sure I was doing

the only thing I could,

sure it was right

because

it was the only way

for him to stay in Bendarat

near Caitlin.

I was exhausted

when I turned the corner

and saw Billy

sitting against a wall

with his bag

and his troubled grin,

but

when I saw him

I felt something

I hadn't felt in

many years.

I felt pride.

All that knowledge

I wasn't always a hobo.

I worked in town.

I dressed neatly in suit and tie.

I understood the law.

I earned a lot of money

knowing stupid rules and regulations

and I'd studied for years

to make sure those rules

were enforced

when someone came to me for help.

But all that knowledge

and all that training

couldn't stop a young

beautiful child from

falling out of a tree,

or a wife from driving

a car too drunk to care.

All that knowledge

couldn't stop a man

from drinking to forget

to forget the life

with the suit and tie

in his office in town.

But today

the knowledge

that hasn't been used

in five years

could come up

with a solution

to where a sixteen-year-old boy

could live,

and what his legal rights were,

so all that knowledge

is finally worth something,

finally.

Old and young

I told Billy

I wanted to buy him a coffee

to pay him back,

you know,

for every morning coffee

and breakfast.

He didn't want to come.

He wanted to see Caitlin

and tell her his problem.

I told Billy

to sit, and enjoy his coffee,

as the waitress brought

two cups of steaming brew.

Billy looked out the window

and I saw the first signs of defeat

in his young eyes.

I know how it looks,

and I knew, right then,

I'd made the right decision

and I told him

my plan

without stopping,

my plan.

Old Bill's plan

It's so simple.

Billy lives in Wellington Road, alone.

We'll tell the welfare I live there too.

I'm a family friend helping Billy out.

We'll talk about

the drunken dangerous angry father.

Billy looking for work

or considering returning to school.

Welfare people like that talk.

We'll mention our work at the cannery.

We'll talk about how I can help Billy

with the cost of living in such a big home.

We'll talk nonstop.

We won't let welfare talk

their welfare bullshit.

We'll say everything's taken care of

and we'll prove it.

And we'll leave that office,

go straight to Wellington Road

and let Billy start his new life

in a house that needs a new life,

happier than the old one.

Billy

I held the keys

to Wellington Road

as Old Bill talked

and tried to convince me

and himself

that we could fool the

welfare worker and the cops.

I listened to Old Bill

and knew we could do it

but

as I listened

I knew that I'd never

never in my life

feel sadder

than I did right then

because

I knew

that Old Bill was giving me

more than these keys I held.

And as I held these keys

I wasn't sure

whether taking them

meant Old Bill

had a new life too

or if taking them meant

he now had nothing,

nothing at all to hold.

I held the keys

and I listened to Old Bill

and I tried to read

between the lines

holding someone's past

in my dirty hands.

Caitlin

I rushed out of school

but Billy had gone

so I went to his carriage

and knocked.

He wasn't there

and I thought of him

outside school

looking so lonely.

I knew something was wrong.

I walked home

making plans

to finish at McDonald's

tonight

and return to his carriage

with two apple pies

and some coffee,

eager to listen.

Liars

Luckily

the old cop didn't stay.

He introduced Old Bill and me

to Brent Stevens, the welfare worker

who took us into his office

and asked us lots of questions,

‘Billy this, Billy that'.

And Old Bill

told him our story,

and I've got to admit

Old Bill is one hell of a good liar!

When I asked him later

how he lied so well,

he laughed aloud,

and said he used to do it for a living.

I don't know if Mr Stevens

believed us or not,

but I knew

he couldn't do a thing about it.

I was eighteen.

I was living with a responsible adult

in a normal house,

and I planned to go back to school.

All lies,

but believable lies.

We shook hands with Mr Stevens

and he wished me luck

when I knew

I had so much already.

Old Bill and I walked out

into bright afternoon sunshine.