Kaimoana Tales, Damian & William 2

“Down there,” Damian waved to the right. “Down there is mother’s artistic souvenirs shop.”

“Yeah, I know,” William replied. “I’m one of the souvenirs, remember?”

“you are. You’re the best-looking thing in there. Most of it is over-priced junk. Call it art, double the price, and some idiot will buy it, if you’re lucky.”

“Okay. You’re not a big fan of your mother’s shop then?”

“Definitely not. It used to be a good little business, but it’s not now. She wanted to ‘raise the tone’ so she got rid of all the cheap and tacky gimmicky stuff but that was what used to sell and make the profits.”

“Why not put it all back then?”

“And admit she was wrong? That’s not going to happen! The shop is losing money but she likes it the way it is. There’s much more status in dealing in the arty stuff. Keeping up appearances, remember.”

“Why don’t they just close it down then?”

“She’d have to admit she failed. No, it stays there so that she can be an art dealer. It’s subsidized by Dad’s businesses, they make money.

He’s got the liquor store, up on the highway. There’s good profits in selling cut-price booze. Mind you, between them, they probably drink a good slice of the profits.”

“Your parents are drinkers then?”

“Bigtime. They’re sly drinkers, they drink at home.

Mother also breeds Borzoi dogs and miniature horses. I don’t know if they make much money but there’s ever-so-much status in it.

That’s Dad’s car sales yard – the Dealership, they call it. That makes money, it’s the only car-sales in town, apart from the agricultural machinery place out on the highway, and he owns that too.

The Ocean View boutique motels, up the road here, are his too. You can’t help but make money from motels in this town.”

“They’re busy people.”

“They are that. They’re both on the council too, and he’s in Rotary and she’s a Soroptomist. Plus they’re on several sports committees.”

“Good for status?”

“You’ve got it.”

“I don’t know how they find the time for all of that.”

“They manage. They’ve got a lot of help, plus they save in other ways.”

“Like?”

“Like they put absolutely no time into their family. Ashton, Suzanne and I are nothing but servants there – unpaid servants. Ashton does all the yard-work, Suzanne cleans the house and I do the car-cleaning and grooming at the Dealership.”

“But, you must get paid for that?”

“Not a cent. When we get money, it comes with strict instructions on how and where to spend it. Ashton even has to account for every kilometer he does in the Beamer.” “Damian, I don’t think I like this picture you’re drawing.”

“You don’t like it? I have to live in it. There’s more yet, much more. That’s our house, up there on the hill.”

“Oh yeah. The Fabulous Woods’ Family Mansion. Impressive house, and you’ve got a great view down over the town and the beaches from up there.”

“It is a good view, but that’s just a bonus. The house is designed to be looked at. The back wall is just plain, all the showy stuff is out at the front, where it can be seen.

There’s a short-cut up the side of the motels here.”

They went up the narrow alleyway at the side of the Woods family’s motels and there was a track up the hill at the top of it. At the top of the track they came out on to the sloping lawn below Damian’s parents’ house.

William stopped and looked up at it. “Wow.”

“Yeah, impressive isn’t it? Like I said, that’s what it’s designed for.”

“Works for me. Our new house looks like a shack next to this.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that. Come on inside and I’ll show you.”

They crossed the lawn and the drive at the front of the house, and up the wide steps to the grand entranceway.

William looked up. “There’s a lot of glass.”

“There is and it’s dammed hard to keep clean; we’re in the salt-spray zone here. Guess whose job it is to clean it?”

“Yours?”

“Right. Suzanne does the inside, I have to keep the outside sparkling.”

At the top of the steps, William looked back down over the front yard. “The grounds look great, like a park or something.”

“Yeah, they look good. That’s Ashton’s job and he wouldn’t let a leaf get out of place; he wouldn’t dare.”

“Do you guys really have to do all the work?”

“If we want to eat, we do. Come on inside, Wills.”

“Are you sure? My being here is not going to get you into trouble is it?”

“It would if they knew, but they won’t. The parents will be at work for a couple of hours yet, Ashton’s cruising around impressing the locals and Suzanne has got her drama-club thing today. Come on.”

Damian swiped his card and the glass doors slid open. They walked into the foyer and it looked more like a hotel than a house. The wide, sweeping, black and white marble stairs before them looked like an old movie set. The floor was tiled in imitation marble. There was a big, bubbling tank of tropical fish in the centre and potted palms and several arty sculptures around the walls. A huge, cut-glass chandelier hung from the high ceiling.

“Wow-how-how!” William circled around with his mouth hanging open.

“Yes, wow. Well done, Wills, that’s just what you’re supposed to say. In the right here, is the party room – or formal entertaining area to give it its proper name.”

There was a huge lounge area with shag-pile white carpet, over-stuffed black-leather seats all around, objects d’art everywhere, the biggest TV screen he’d ever seen and a full-length bar on the back-wall, complete with upended spirits bottles and a big mirror.

“Through those doors, is the billiards’ room. There’s a full-sized table and a couple of pinball machines in there. After that is the library with floor-to ceiling books. No-one ever reads them, but they look good. The library opens into the conservatory, they grow orchids in there. Come back this way.”

At the other side of the foyer, the double doors opened into a formal dining room with a 12 seat, highly polished, wooden table and chairs.

The kitchen is through there. We eat in there, this is just for the guests.”

“Damm, Damian, this place is like a palace or something.”

“You think? There’s lots more to see yet.

He started up the stairs, William hesitated, looking up at him.

“Are you sure it’s all right? You said no-one is allowed upstairs.”

“Up these stairs is not a problem, we’re still in the public areas here. Come up.”

At the top of the stairs, was a wide gallery which ran the whole width of the front of the house.

“Okay. To the left is the television room, the games room and the 3 guest bedrooms, all with en-suites, of course. To the right is the upstairs lounge, the office, the master bedroom and another guest room. That one was built as a nursery, but it was never used for that. Dad sleeps in there as often as not, except when there’s guests.”

“And that’s your deep, dark secret is it? This still looks really impressive to me.”

“It’s supposed to. But now we go up the other stairs, where no-one is allowed to go.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t.”

“Maybe you bloody should! Come on, Wills.”

He went to a door at the back of the corridor and punched in the code to open it. The lock clicked loudly and he swung the door open. William hadn’t moved, he was still standing where he was. Damian went back and took hold of his hand. He tugged and led him through the doorway, pushing the door closed behind them.

It was dark in there. He turned the light on – one bare, low-wattage, energy saver bulb hung from the ceiling at the top of the bare wooden stairs. The walls were unlined, it was like they were in a different house altogether. William looked around and looked at him, puzzled.

Damian nodded. “Welcome to my real home. Shall we go up to the top floor of the fabulous Woods’ mansion?”

There was another locked door at the top of the stairs. Through that was a similar lay-out to the second floor, but here the floor was bare chip-board and the walls were of cheap plywood, painted white where it could be seen from the windows along the front.

He led William into a little cubicle of a bedroom – unlined walls, bare chip-board floor, a small cot-bed, a table, covered in books, with a wooden box for a seat, and that was all. There were no windows and the only light came through the doorway. William stood looking around. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

“Is this your room?” he whispered.

“This is it. This is where I live when I’m not working or on display. Fabulous, isn’t it?”

“No it’s not! It’s bloody awful. My parents wouldn’t keep a dog in here.”

“Neither would mine; not one of the cherished pedigree stock. Apparently, it’s good enough for me. Ashton’s room is exactly the same and so is Suzanne’s.

At least we’ve got walls, we never used to have that until they got a load of cheap, water-stained plywood. They say that they’ll finish the top-floor one day, when they can afford it. Money has to be saved somewhere.”

“What do you do for heating?”

“I get under the blankets.”

“Where do you keep your clothes?”

“In the laundry room, on the ground-floor; the same place where we go to shower.”

“Damian, I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe your life is like this, it’s so different to what everyone thinks.”

“It is, isn’t it? We’re all very good at keeping up the image, we have to or we’re outta here.”

“Out of here?”

“Yeah. The big threat is that if we don’t play along then we get to go and live with our grandmother in Sydney.”

“With your grandmother? How bad could that be?”

“Way bad. She’s a drunk and a chain-smoker. She lives in a trailer-park with her unemployed boyfriend and his 3 kids. It’s bad enough here, it’d be worse there. At least we get enough to eat here, if we work for it. It’s mostly beans and rice, but there’s plenty of it, if we get it for ourselves.”

“Do they beat you?”

“Hardly. That’d leave marks. No, they’ve got much more subtle ways of hurting kids. Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up with no-one loving you – ever?”

“Oh, Damian.” William stepped closer, put his hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Damian, I’m sorry, but thank you for showing me. You’re right, I would never have believed it.”

“William!” Damian was tearing-up. He slid his arms around him and hugged him hard.

William hugged him back and they stood in the middle of the awful little room, letting their bodies say what their mouths couldn’t.

Finally, Damian pushed away. “Thanks. Come on, we’d better get out of here before someone comes home.”

“Maybe I should stay here and let them know that I know?”

“No! William, please. You can’t do that. They’d slap a trespass order on you, I’d be on a plane to Sydney and I’d never see you again. I couldn’t stand that; you’re the only decent thing in my life.”

William kissed him briefly, hugged him again and said, “Let’s get downstairs.”

They hurried back down to the ground floor, arriving there just in time as a car pulled-up outside. They went out of the grand entrance and Ashton was coming up the stairs.

“Hey, William. What’re you doing here?”

“Hey, Ashton. I just had to sort out some stuff with Damian. ‘Bye, Damian. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, ‘bye and thanks, William.”

He went down the steps, over the drive and across the lawn to the top of the track. He stopped and looked back, the brothers were still standing there, watching him. He waved and hurried down the track. He needed to get home and talk to Dills.