November by Gabrielle Lord Page B

Water, or Double Trouble, or the Little Prince? Tell me!’
    ‘What are you raving about, boy? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    From somewhere in the house, I heard a door slam. Immediately, the sick old man became agitated . ‘Ezekiel! Ezekiel? Get in here now!’
    The Polynesian suddenly appeared at the door.
    ‘That’s Wayne coming home!’ said Durham. ‘Get this kid out of here! Use the back door. Oh, I almost forgot! Wait, son, take this with you.’
    With that, Murray Durham, his haggard face pale with fear, opened a bedside drawer, took out an envelope and pushed it into my hand. ‘Now, disappear, the pair of you!’
    Ezekiel grabbed me and hurried me to the door, looking out each way, like he was checking for traffic.
    ‘Follow me,’ urged Ezekiel, before racing me down the hallway towards the door at the end. He kicked it open. ‘On your way!’ he said, pushing me out. ‘Disappear! Fast!’
    I didn’t have to be told twice. With the envelope tucked tightly under my arm, I took off, running.

    After I’d put a bit of distance between me and Murray Durham, I found a place to hide—in a carpark behind some charity bins—and ripped the envelope open.

    I leaned my head back against the wall of one of the bins. The newspaper clipping trembled in my shaky hands. As sick as all of this was making me, understanding brought an overwhelming sense of relief. At last I had the explanation as to why that threadbare white toy dog, the cold building and the crying baby had brought such fear and desolation to my nightmares. At last I understood why Mum and Rafe wanted to keeptheir dark secrets, and why they treated me as though I was damaged . They thought I was scarred from the trauma, even though I was way too young at the time to remember it clearly. At last I understood why I always felt like something was missing.
    I had a brother. Ryan Spencer’s mum was a friend of Durham’s sister. My double was my twin.
    The name my parents had given him was Samuel .

    Head down, my mind still whirling from Toecutter’s confession, I found my way back to the treehouse . I snuck up to the Lovetts’ shed to plug my phone in for a charge, then hauled myself up the tree and collapsed on the floor.
    My head was thumping. A song suddenly drifted into my thoughts.
    ‘Two little lambs in the cold night frost, one was saved and the other one lost.’
    Great-aunt Millicent’s song must have been her attempt to tell me about my brother.
    The soft wind stirred the leaves of the huge tree outside the windows. I sat up on the bench and hugged my knees. I had to call Mum. I had to tell her about Ryan—about Samuel . She needed to know that her other son was alive and well.
    Then I got to thinking about whether Mum would want to be reunited with her lost son. It would mean Ryan finding out about his shocking past, having to face the fact that the woman who had raised him was not his biological mother.
    ‘Hi Mum,’ I imagined myself saying to her. ‘I have something amazing to tell you. I found Samuel.’
    I rehearsed it over and over, trying out different ways of breaking this massive news to her.
    Finally, still undecided as to how I was going to put it, I retrieved my phone and dialled Rafe’s place.
    ‘Rafe speaking.’
    ‘Uncle Rafe, it’s me.’
    ‘Cal?’ he replied, his voice quavering.
    ‘Please hear me out. First of all, I just want to say that I didn’t fire the gun at the chapel. I’d heard a sniper was going to try to take you out, so I went there to stop him. To save you.’
    ‘Wh-where are you?’ he stuttered. ‘Are you OK?’
    ‘I’m fine. Listen, I really need to speak to Mum. I have something important to tell her. Something I think she’ll want to hear.’
    ‘I hope it’s not something that will upset her. Every time she talks to you, she ends up in a mess. She’s fragile, Cal. She has Gabbi back, butshe’s still finding it hard to cope with her family in tatters.’
    ‘This could