Free Each Way Bet by Ilsa Evans Page B

dishwasher? Just rip off a piece of paper each and use that.’
    As soon as the white butcher’s paper was folded back, the aroma of deep-fried fish and chips filled the room. Emily took an appreciative sniff as she tore wide strips of paper off and passed them along to the others.
    ‘I haven’t had fish and chips in I don’t know how long,’ she said happily, loading some chips onto her paper plate, ‘this is fun!’
    ‘S’not,’ said Cricket, glaring at her.
    ‘How much fish did you get, Matt?’ asked Megan, digging around under the chips. ‘Like, there’s mostly dim sims and potato cakes that I can see.’
    ‘There’s heaps of fish,’ Matt replied, exchanging glances with Kate. ‘Here you go, have half of mine.’
    ‘All right, all explained – sort of.’ Jack came back into the room tucking a folded sheet of paper into his pocket. ‘Hi, guys. I see we’re eating gourmet tonight.’
    ‘Coz she cooked cwap,’ said Cricket accusingly.
    ‘Megan, could you –’
    ‘Already done, Dad.’ Megan laid the marker down and rejoined her family at the table.
    ‘Where’s the salt?’
    ‘Hey, don’t use all the sauce!’
    ‘You pig! You just sucked your finger and put it on the last potato cake! I saw you!’
    ‘Who took all the bloody dim thims?’
    ‘Hey, hey!’ Emily remonstrated weakly, glancing towards Jack for support. But, seemingly unaware of the activities of his offspring, he was just sitting rather slumped at the end of the table staring morosely out of the window.
    While Emily was looking at him, wondering what to do next, Cricket reached across to help herself to more chips and managed to snag the corner of the butcher’s paper in her overall bib. Then as she sat back down the paper came with her, sending the remainder of the chips cascading across the table. Kate flung her hand out to stop the chips infecting those on her paper, and promptly knocked the sauce bottle over, which, as its lid hadn’t been replaced properly, splattered globules of red across Megan’s meal and over her school jumper. She leapt up, knocking her chair backwards and yelling. ‘Thanks a lot , freak!’
    ‘ She’s the freak!’ said Kate nastily, pointing at Cricket, who was sitting rather stunned with a handful of chips clutched in her hand and the butcher’s paper still caught in her overalls.
    ‘As if I haven’t got enough to worry about!’ Megan yelled as she wiped sauce off her chest and flicked it across at Kate. ‘You’re both freaks!’
    ‘You’re all freaks,’ commented Matt, sitting back well out of harm’s way.
    ‘Enough!’ roared the father of the assorted freaks, coming back to life and abandoning his contemplation of the window.‘That’s enough! You should be ashamed of yourselves! We’ve got a guest here, for god’s sake, and you’re behaving like a pack of bloody savages!’
    ‘You thaid –’
    ‘ENOUGH!’
    There was a stunned silence around the table as everyone glared at each other and then concentrated on finishing off their meal, obviously unwilling to be the first to speak. Megan dabbed serviettes at the sauce on her chest while Kate used her sleeve to wipe the spots from the table around her. Deciding not to get involved, Emily just ate the rest of her chips slowly and thought about the cool peace of her apartment. She wondered if mealtimes were always like this and, if so, how Jill had lasted as long as she had.
    Eventually, as the taut silence stretched uncomfortably around them, Jack got up and started clearing the table. This was made a lot easier by the fact no crockery had been used. Instead, all Jack needed to do was collect the various oil- and sauce-splattered pieces of paper and scrunch them. Megan immediately jumped up to help her father, and this seemed to break the spell. The chatter, muted at first but quickly settling back into its usual rhythm, flowed once more and Jack turned and gave Emily a rueful grin as he carried the sauce-splattered butcher’s