Free Watery Graves by Kelli Bradicich Page A

clutched the shopping list. She forced herself to pull her gaze away from Libby and back to the legumes.
    *
    Kristian propped the newspaper on top of a box of apples. As he rifled through the cash tin, Emmy and Sebastian’s gaze dropped to the main headline. Father Shot Dead in Park – A 27 year old man was shot dead in a busy parkland in Acacia Falls yesterday while pushing his six year old daughter on a swing. The man’s wife, 26, looked on in horror, as she nursed their newborn...
    “Oh my God ,” Emmy said.
    Kristian swiped the newspaper away, and tucked it under his arm. He ruffled Sebastian’s hair and winked at Emmy. “You’ve both survived this long without news. Bad for your brains.”
    Sebastian threw her a filthy look.
    She shrugged, mouthing, “What?” Emmy was actually grateful for the lady holding out three punnets of strawberries for her to put in a paper bag. 
    “Okay guys, I’m off,” Kristian said, pulling the van keys out of his jeans pocket.
    “We’ll be right,” Sebastian replied, counting out change for another woman who’d scooped up two tubs of yoghurt, a box of mixed fruit, and was eyeing off the fresh pikelets with jam and cream.
    “There’s enough change in the tin. The wine deliveries will take me about two hours, I think. I’m stopping off at a new pub outside town to see if they’re interested in making an order.”
    “We’ll be fine, Kristian,” Sebastian said.
    A customer handed her some cucumbers and tomatoes. She’d recognised her, figuring she must’ve seen her before. It was the way her lips were so stiff and pursed that her face didn’t move. Emmy smiled and weighed the produce, while Sebastian made the calculation.
    “Hey Mrs Archer !” Kristian yelled across the market quadrangle. “If the kids need someone –” Kristian walked off, looking back in their direction as he left the market square.
    Mrs Archer waved, and giggled behind her hand, calling, “I’ll be there for them.”
    “When will he get used to leaving us here,” Sebastian whined, circling the calculated price for Emmy.
    “That’s three seventy,” she said to the lady.
    Flashing manicured nails, the lady handed over a ten dollar note.
    Emmy fished out the change, “That’s six dollars and thirty cents change.”
    The lady looked down at the note and coins in her palm before looking at Emmy, incredulous. “I gave you a twenty dollar note, love.”
    “No .” Emmy smiled. “It was a ten. See?” She lifted the note up to show her.
    “How dare you ,” the lady gasped. Other market shoppers turned to stare. “Anyone can lift a ten dollar note out of their cash tin and wave it in a person’s face.”
    Sebastian cleared his throat . “Excuse me, Miss.”
    “It’s Mrs Paltry, not Miss. Don’t make assumptions, young man.”
    “Please don’t yell, Mrs Paltry,” Emmy begged, her face burning.
    “You cheeky girl.”
    “She’s speaking to you respectfully and she’d like to be spoken to in the same way,” Sebastian defended.
    Mrs Paltry drew in a deep breath, and yelled louder. “Respectfully? Who taught you about respect up on that mountain? You do not steal from a person and then demand that they treat you with respect.”
    Emmy swallowed. The crowd around her disappeared in a fog and the market noise engulfed her. “I don’t steal,” she squeaked.
    Sebastian edged his way in front of Emmy, and she took a step back. “Mrs Paltry, please don’t yell.”
    Mrs Archer appeared behind Mrs Paltry and guided her away from their stall with a wink back at Sebastian and Emmy. “I saw you hand the young girl there a tenner, Mrs Paltry. I saw you and my assistant saw you.”
    They watched her lead her over to the stand and offer her a block of cheese. She took it.
    “Really? Mrs Archer was watching us that closely that she saw the note Mrs Paltry gave me?” Emmy whispered.
    “Probably was. She along with every other woman here would do anything for Kristian,” Sebastian