The Story of Danny Dunn by Bryce Courtenay Page B

now . . . tomorrow!’
    â€˜It’s Sunday,’ Half Dunn reminded him.
    â€˜Yeah, right, Monday then. I’ve had a gutful.’
    â€˜Danny, I heard what Sky Scraper said to you downstairs. He was pissed – don’t take no notice.’
    Danny suddenly turned on his father and shouted, ‘Pissed or not, he was fucking right!’
    â€˜Danny! Danny, calm down, mate. You’ll bring your mother running,’ Half Dunn said in an urgent undertone.
    â€˜Well, why not? Sort it out right here and now.’
    â€˜Yeah? Like the last time?’
    Danny sighed. ‘I’m sick of the way people look at me in the street. Last Wednesday I bought a pie and a cup of tea in a cafe on Parramatta Road opposite the uni and this old woman brings it and there’s a white chook feather sticking out the top of the pie. “Ma’am, I ordered a meat pie, not a chicken,” I joke.
    â€˜â€œThat’s a meat pie, son,” she says.
    â€˜â€œWhat’s the feather for then?” I ask.
    â€˜â€œAsk your father,” she says, mouth like a duck’s bum. I should have laughed, but I didn’t. I lost it . . . I completely lost it! I picked up the pie and hurled it against the wall and then I poured the cup of tea on the floor and walked out. “Don’t ever come back, yer bloody coward!” she shouted after me.’
    Half Dunn looked down at his hands, then sighed deeply and looked up at Danny. ‘Mate, what can I say? I’ve always felt like a weak bastard because I didn’t join up in the last stoush against the Jerries. They said I was too fat to fight.’
    â€˜Dad, that’s a medical reason. I’m not too fat.’ He nodded in the direction of Brenda’s bedroom down the hallway. ‘She’s the only reason I’m not in uniform.’
    Half Dunn sighed again. ‘Son, your mother’s never going to give her permission. You’ll just have to wait until your birthday next year, then you can do what you bloody well want!’
    â€˜No, Dad. I don’t want to join up because I hate Mum! Because I don’t – I love her. I want to join up now right now , because it’s the right thing to do. Last time, when I agreed to finish university, everyone said the war would be over in a matter of months and that we were bound to win. But that hasn’t happened, and Britain, we, the allies, we’re taking a hiding. There’s talk of the Japs joining the war. If they do, we’re in deep shit. You know that, you said so yourself. This time it’s different. This time Doc Evatt could talk until he was blue in the face and it wouldn’t make any difference.’
    Half Dunn didn’t speak for some time, but when he did it was prefaced by a growl, or perhaps it was a groan. ‘Go down to the post office Monday morning – not the one in Darling Street, or Balmain East, they might tell your mum – go over to Birchgrove, get the parents’ permission form and I’ll sign it.’
    â€˜Jesus, Dad, she’ll kill you!’
    â€˜Yeah, well, maybe. I’m still your father. I might not have been much of a one, but it’s time your mother realised it too.’
    On Monday morning Danny woke early, though not early enough to beat his mother, who he could hear talking to the early cleaning lady from her office downstairs where she did the accounts first thing, wrote the orders for the day and completed her other office duties. He dressed quickly then walked quietly along the polished wooden corridor towards her bedroom. It was next to Half Dunn’s, and he paused to look in through his father’s half-open door. Half Dunn lay on his side like a great beached whale in grey striped winter pyjamas. As Danny watched, a small bubble formed at the left corner of his mouth then immediately popped with his next breath. Danny noted that the pillow