Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
twelve years old at calisthenics
Dad picks me up
mum with him
Odd that
No banter or talk in the car
Odder that
two men in suites in lounge room
We’re in the kitchen
Mum holding a bottle of coke
‘David’s been killed’
Bottle dropped
He wanted David’s car
to get to the Royal Show
see his girlfriend
David hit with a coke bottle
Unconscious stuffed in the car
driven to the bush
Left there
dying
my early 40s
tradie at the house
name recognition
‘knew your brother what did he expect
ripping someone off
bullet through the head’
Not what I remember
Need to know mid 40s
Attorney’s Department
Thick file smelly
Court transcript coroner’s report
Carbon copies not easy read
photos taken out
Censored
Wrong place wrong time
Senseless
Murdered for gold ‘71 Ford falcon
3 boys 16, 16 and 17 2 wards of the State
David not quite 17
came to in the car
Head resting
bleeding on one boy’s lap
Dragged from car
Didn’t die from bottle blow
fought for his life
Broken fingers bruised
There’s a hole in his skull
Not a bullet
car lever hard hit
left to die they ran and hid
Took three days for
David to be found
Another few to find the boys
Whatever risk
boys removed not kept safe
Cost them us dearly
David
his life
name remembered
Facebook search
find him
the boy who killed David
The boy let down
changed lives
His name the town
face fills screen
man in his fifties
the boy of 17
murderer
sent a message
He replied
‘don’t you have better things to do with your time like spend them with you children or husband if you have them’