Free Finding My Way by Megan Keith

into the
driveway and park my car behind Ethan’s ute . 
When I get in the front door I hear Dad yelling, “Anna, give us a hand will ya ?”
    “Just a sec Brian I’m
in the middle of something!” Mum yells back.
    “Hey Mum!  Hey Dad!”  I yell as I head for the kitchen.
    Mum’s in the kitchen
leaning over the oven.  “Hello darling, how was
your day?” she says as she shuts the oven door.
    “Interesting,” I say
as I slump down at the kitchen table.  The chairs are hard and I wince.
    “What’s wrong with
you?” she asks noticing.
    “I dunno, my thigh is
a little sore,” I say rubbing it.
    “Let me take a look,”
she says coming over and tugging on my tracksuit pants.
    “Mum!  No go away!” 
I giggle and push her hands away.  She gives me a smile.  She will
never change, she still thinks of me as a little child.  I know she just
wants to help, but sometimes it’s not appropriate.
    “Anna!” Dad yells
again from somewhere in the house.
    “I better go see what
he wants!” she yells back so that he can hear her.  One thing you can say
for my parents is that they are never quiet.  They love to bicker but they
love each other unconditionally too.  I am really grateful to have parents
that, even after thirty or so years of marriage, are still so happy together.
    I take the
opportunity while the kitchen is empty to quickly pull down my tracksuit pants
to see why my thigh is so tender.  I vaguely remember that it was hurting
earlier when I was rushing to the train station.  There is a huge purple
and blue bruise on my left thigh.  I must have got that when it knocked on
my chair at work this morning.  Why didn’t I notice that when I had a
shower?  Oh I know, because I was preoccupied with thoughts of Seth… brown
eyes… his hands… lips –
    “What the fuck, Em ?” Ethan says as he enters the kitchen, fresh from his
shower.
    Shit!  I quickly
pull my pants back up.  “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before!  And
mind your language!”  I snap.
    “Make me!”  He
smiles as he strides towards me, stops and purposely flicks me with his shaggy
wet hair.
    “Ugh, you need a
haircut!”  I tease, giving him a shove.  Ethan has wavy brown hair a
shade or two darker than mine, and he really does need a haircut.  It is
untidy, uneven and getting rather long.
    My brother and I have
a good relationship, we always have gotten along
well.  Even as kids we rarely fought.  I think because we have
similar personalities and because we are close in age, he is only three years
younger than me. 
    Ethan walks over to
the fridge, opens the door and examines its contents.  “So how’d you get
the bruise?” he asks with his back to me.
    “What bruise?” Mum
asks as she comes back into the room.  “Ethan close the fridge, dinner’s
almost ready!”
    He slams the fridge
door, saunters to the dining room table and sits on the chair beside me.
    “So what ya do?” he speaks in a patronising way as he nudges me with
his knee.
    “I fell off my chair
at work,” I say trying, and failing, not to smile.
    “You idiot!” he
laughs and I join in.  Mum rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
    “Hello baby girl,”
Dad says as he enters the kitchen.  He leans over and gives me a quick
peck on the cheek.  He’s carrying a large cardboard box which he places in
front of Ethan on the dining room table.  “Here we go Ethan.”
    “What’s this?” Ethan
asks.
    “Photos,” Dad
replies.  “I thought after dinner we could make a start on your photo
board for your party.”
    “Oh Dad, my party
isn’t for weeks.  Plus I was going to play a couple of games of pool with
Jake after dinner.”
    “See, I told you
there was plenty of time Brian.  But do you listen?” Mum says, winking at
me.
    “I just like to be
organised, our boy is going to be twenty-one.  That only happens once you
know.  Besides it’s less than four weeks away so we have to be
prepared.”  Dad loves a party.  He also