Free See If I Care by Judi Curtin

the first day in ages and ages, her mum had no work to go to, and with a jolt of sadness, Elma understood that the biggest problem of all was that her parents could no longer bear to be together.
    Boxing Day was nearly as bad as the day before, and after that things began to get a bit better, as Elma’s mum left the house more and more to go to work. Elma wondered what kind of offices needed cleaning two days after Christmas. Was her mum like the woman she’d seen on TV once, who left her house every morning pretending to go to work, but really spent her time hanging around parks and shopping centres?
    One morning, about four days after Christmas, when her mum was gone out, and the boys were playing in their bedroom, Elma decided it was time to talk to her dad. She waited for an ad-break, and then pounced. Before he could react, she switched off the television and ran to sit beside her dad.
    ‘Dad,’ she said in her gentlest voice. ‘Why don’t you go back to work?’
    He looked at her, and she tried to ignore his wrinkled top and his unshaven chin. He gave a big sigh. ‘You know I can’t work, love. I’ll never work again.’
    Elma took a deep breath. ‘The doctor said you’ll never work as a plumber again. But you could do something else.’
    ‘Like what?’
    Elma sighed. How was she supposed to know stufflike that? ‘I don’t know, Dad. But you could find out. Why don’t you get dressed, and we could go and look in the window of the job centre?’
    ‘But–’
    Elma ignored him. ‘We could bring Snowball. He’d love the walk.’
    Elma thought she’d die if anyone saw her in public with Snowball, but it would be worth it if it got Dad out of the house.
    For a moment she thought she could see a flicker of life in her father’s eyes, then it faded as quickly as it had come. He reached for the remote control. ‘Thanks, love,’ he said. ‘I’m a bit tired today. Maybe we’ll do it next week. Now turn the TV back on, there’s a good girl.’
    Elma stamped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She felt like crying, or screaming, or something, but what was the point? It wouldn’t change anything. Then she punched the wall anyway, just because she couldn’t think of anything else to do.
    The bruise lasted for eight days.
    Elma trudged into school after the holidays, with Zac and Dylan trailing behind her. She felt sorry for them, of course she did, but she felt sorry for herself, too, and what good did that do her?
    As soon as she walked into the classroom, Evil Josh came over. ‘Did you have a nice Christmas?’ he asked. ‘Did you get lots of lovely lumpy gravy every day? Did your dad have any more stupid accidents?’
    Elma felt like hitting him, but she didn’t fancy a day sitting in the headmaster’s office, so she resisted, and walked away, biting her tongue.
    Just then Tara came in. She raced over to Elma and hugged her. ‘Elma, great to see you,’ she said. ‘Did you have the best Christmas ever? I so did. I got the best presents. I got an Ipod with the coolest skin ever, and a big box of make-up, and a whole new outfit, oh and loads of other stuff. And me and my family went ice-skating, and bowling, and we went to the panto, and …’
    She kept talking, but Elma stopped listening. She didn’t want to be mean to her friend, but it was just too awful. Why couldn’t she have a nice life like Tara?
    Just then Mrs Lawrence came in, clutching a bundle of envelopes.
    ‘Settle down, children,’ she said. ‘Now, here are your letters from Ireland, and since it’s the first day back, I am going to allow you to read them, and reply at once.’
    Elma took her envelope and examined it. For onceLuke Mitchell had managed to stick his stamp the right way up. In a way she was disappointed. She opened the envelope and pulled out a Happy New Year card. It didn’t seem like the kind of card Luke would buy. Maybe his mum had bought it for him? She sighed as she read what he’d written inside.