Free For the Forest of a Bird by Sue Saliba Page B

had always been wrong. She
did
understand. She had gone to the island just as he had thought, and no, she wouldn’t go back home. She didn’t need to go back home as he’d said she did. She needed to be here with her dad. Here where there was love.
    Nella walked along the driveway and across the verandah, through the front door and into the lounge room where her father sat reading a book.
    â€˜We took the tree to Isobel’s place,’ she said.
    â€˜Thanks Nella.’
    â€˜Dad, can I use the computer in your bedroom?’
    A voice came from the kitchen.
    â€˜David, we’ll be having dinner soon.’
    And then a woman stepped out.
    â€˜Nella,’ she said. ‘I’m Linda.’

    Linda wasn’t what Nella had expected but then she was. She was bits and pieces of Nella’s imagination and fears and anticipations and strangely even ambitions. She had little ways of behaving and looking that Nella had sometimes wished she might have had.
    They sat together at the dinner table and Linda’s painted red fingernails, her groomed blonde hair reminded Nella of everything her mother was not. The perfectly chopped salad she’d prepared was something Nella’s mother would never have attempted, and the printed paper napkins beside each plate was a nicety her father didn’t get when he lived with his family. There was also Linda’s voice: confident, sure, not like the often low, small voice of Nella’s mother.
    He won’t find her asleep beside a dressing table of empty pill bottles, Nella thought. And she remembered her mother’s repeated attempts to die when her depression overtook her.
    â€˜Nella, do you like the risotto?’
    It was Linda.
    â€˜Yes. Yes, thanks,’ Nella answered.
    Linda smiled.
    â€˜I made it especially. No meat.’
    She looked at Nella as if expecting a response.
    Nella said nothing.
    She went on. ‘I know you like animals but . . . maybe a little meat would be good for you, don’t you think?’
    â€˜This is great, thanks, Linda,’ Nella’s dad said, reaching his hand out and touching her arm.
    Linda looked down at her plate then, before raising her head.
    â€˜Nella, I hear you’re friends with my niece.’
    â€˜Yeah, I guess so.’
    â€˜I’m not surprised. I mean, I can see why the two of you would get along, why she would be drawn to you.’
    â€˜Really?’
    â€˜Yes, I mean, people are usually attracted to other people who share . . . common interests.’
    Common interests
. What a strange phrase. Nella looked at Linda, a little puzzled.
    â€˜. . . you know, you’re both interested in similar . . . I guess . . . issues.’
    Nella glanced at her father.
    â€˜Linda, you said you still had some mail of mine you took around to your place when I was in hospital. I probably should have a look at it,’ he said.
    â€˜What, right now?’
    â€˜Well, after dinner. You’re only around the corner. I thought you could just run around and get it.’
    â€˜Okay, hopefully I can find it,’ Linda said. ‘I spend nearly all my time here now so I don’t even remember where half the stuff is in my house anymore, but I’ll go and have a look. I think I put it in the drawer of the dresser.’
    Nella placed her spoon on her empty plate.
    Her father stretched back in his chair.
    And Linda continued eating in silence until finally, she sipped the last of her wine and said, ‘I guess I’d better get over there now.’
    â€˜I’ll clean up the dishes,’ Nella said. She reached across the table and began collecting all the plates. Linda stood and kissed Nella’s father on the cheek.
    â€˜I’ll just wash them in the sink,’ Nella said as Linda made her way to the front door.
    â€˜Don’t worry about that,’ Nella’s father called from the table. And then he got