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But nothing—no one—comes between me and my family. I won't allow it.
I exhale slowly, and through the back window, I spot the mob of 'roos taking off, kicking up a dust storm in their wake.
Col's still catching his breath under me. I manage to open the door and peel myself off him, crawling over into the driver's seat.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Uh, yeah, I will be. Gimme a sec."
He slowly returns to an upright and seated position.
We fall into a long silence.
After a few minutes, I start the car. "S'pose we should get going."
17
Col
"I hope you're happy. You have completely ruined kangaroos for me," Brant exclaims, completely bewildered when I finish telling him about my little adventure yesterday. "Every time I see one, I'll think of?—"
"What's this about kangaroos?" Dad asks, poking his head into the frame and giving me a wave.
I wave back. "Uh, nothing. I was just telling Brant how Wilby and I saw a ton of kangaroos when he drove me back to Scuttlebutt yesterday during an otherwise completely uneventful car trip where absolutely nothing else out of the ordinary happened."
Dad shakes his head and laughs. "I still can't get over that name. Scuttlebutt."
Phew. Thank god he's still on that. Disaster averted.
"Yeah. That name is pretty out there," I say, glad to be moving on from kangaroo-gate.
"Everything good, son?"
"Yep. I'm all good. Well fed. Well rested." And after replaying the events of yesterday in my head over and over, well cranked out, too.
He eyes me for a long moment. I'm twenty-six, but I guess in his eyes, I'll always be his little boy. He's been weathering the parenting load solo for nineteen years. That's not something you can just flick off like a light switch.
"Good. I'm glad to hear it. Just maybe lay off the sun a little. You are applying sunscreen, aren't you? I was reading the other day, did you know that Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world? Apparently, it's got something to do with the ozone layer and— Ow!" He turns to Brant. "What was that for?"
"That was on behalf of Col," he says with a smile.
"Thanks, Brant." I poke my tongue out at Dad. "Can always rely on my bestie."
Dad sniggers and starts walking away. "Will there ever be a day where the two of you don't gang up on me?"
"No!" we both declare in unison, laughing.
Once Brant confirms Dad is out of earshot, he brings the phone closer to his face and asks, "So what happened after you got, you know,kangaroo-ed?"
"Nothing. Wilby started driving again and dropped me off in town."
"And you didn't talk?"
"Not a lot. It was a little hard to recover after that."
"Isn't it like a three-hour drive?"
"Like I said, hard to recover… Is Dad really gone?"
