Free The First Week by Margaret Merrilees Page A

mean?’
    â€˜He was pissed off about a lot of things,’ Sam said. ‘Injustice. Is that what you’re saying? But isn’t that …? You’re an activist too.’
    He was mixed up in something with Lee. Some sort of terrorist thing?
    â€˜But it’s not about killing people. You don’t think that, do you?’ Sam looked as though she might cry. She’s so young, Marian thought. Whatever it was, Sam wasn’t part of it. Well not the brains of it, anyway.
    â€˜Of course I don’t.’ Lee shook her head. ‘It’s different with Charlie. I don’t even think I should have told him stuff, about the Reserve, the way my people were treated in the town. What happened with Granny and the school and all that. I don’t know why he wants to hear about it. Makes him angry but guilty at the same time. Some trip of his own. You know?’
    Sam nodded. ‘Yeah. That cold sort of anger.’
    Mac’s anger? Marian’s neck was all stiff cords. She eased her head to one side.
    â€˜It’s hard to know what he’s thinking,’ Lee went on. ‘You know all that time at the brewery? He heard lots of people’s stories then.’
    â€˜What brewery?’ Marian asked.
    â€˜When they built those rich people’s flats on the old brewery site. You didn’t know about that?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜The old Swan Brewery, down on the river. Didn’t you ever see it on the news?’
    â€˜I remember something.’ Troublemakers.
    â€˜It’s a special place, Goonialup, Wagyl mia . Important to Swan River people. We tried to save it. Lots of white people joined in too. But lots more didn’t. If we don’t stop them here they’ll take over the whole city. It’ll be your backyard next. Fear campaigns by the big money.’
    â€˜What happened?’
    â€˜What do you think?’
    The police moved them on. The flats got built.
    â€˜But Charlie was with us all the way on that,’ Sam said.
    â€˜Yeah I know. But it’s different. You and Ros and Ben, you get involved because you think things should be better. I’m not so sure about Charlie. Sometimes I don’t feel like telling him any more stories. I don’t trust him. I end up saying oh it’s not that bad really .’ Lee’s laugh had no humour in it. ‘It’s like he’s already decided everything’s stuffed. All he wants is proof.’
    Lee didn’t trust Charlie. Marian didn’t trust Lee. It was like a game at school. There should be words for it. Three blind mice …
    Sam stood up abruptly and then slumped down again. ‘He doesn’t trust anyone,’ she said, voice not much more than a whisper. ‘He doesn’t like people.’
    Silence fell between the three women.
    Eventually it was Sam who spoke. ‘I should have seen what was happening for him. Maybe I could have …’
    Marian’s eyes were closing again. But she’d had a sleep. She couldn’t be tired again. She hauled herself upright.
    This Charlie, that these young people knew, he didn’t seem to have anything to do with her. The way they lived, their friendships, their politics. Getting involved. Whatever that meant. Getting involved in what? Wanting to change everything. What would they know?
    â€˜Change everything,’ she blurted. ‘You just want to change everything.’
    What right did they have?
    Lee looked at her, considering. ‘Depends where you sit, doesn’t it? You got nothing but kicks in the teeth, then you want things to change. If you’re sitting on a nice pile of money, then you don’t.’
    Marian was gripped again by anger. ‘It’s not like that. It’s not as simple as that.’
    â€˜Looks pretty simple from where I stand.’
    â€˜You complain about everything, you people. You don’t know what it’s like. The work it takes. You think we