from Not Now Jack -- I'm Writing a Novel
The Man in the Red Car
by Carmel Bird
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Copyright © Carmel Bird 1994.
All rights reserved
Brian and Amanda were in the middle of a happy marriage when Amanda
fell in love with Rex.
'It might be just a passing thing,' Brian said to Philip who was
his psychiatrist.
'Yes,' Philip said,' yes it might.'
'We were so happy, you know,' Brian said, looking hopefully at
Philip.
'That's not exactly what I know,' Philip said. 'Tell me about
the happiness.'
'We love each other, don't we.'
'Do you?'
'And we love Melody.'
'How old is Melody.'
'She's four. Just turned four. Goes to kindergarten'.
=======
Melody, goes to kindergarten wearing a scarlet tutu. 'You're naughty,'
a boy says.
'No I'm not; I'm nice,' Melody says.
The kindergarten is in a tall house of red bricks where a large
and affluent family must have lived a hundred years ago. The path
is lined with old trees. A magnolia, a pomegranate. Oaks overshadow
the house. Children run around the garden, run under the hose,
hurl themselves into the sand pit, quarrel over the swings. Their
paintings hang on a string to dry.
Melody has a long blonde fringe that dangles in her eyes. She
paints faces. She stands on a chair at her easel, a small, serious
blonde girl in a scarlet satin tutu.
Big thick brushes and pots of sloppy paint.
A teacher is reading a story. The Elephant and the Bad Baby. Girls are jumping onto a pile of tartan cushions.
Melody and the boy who spoke to her go into the miniature kitchen.
The boy collects a bucket and turns to leave.
'I have to go to work, Alice,' he says to Melody.
'Is it that time already, Tom?' Melody says.
'You know what the traffic is like.'
Melody sighs and picks up a saucepan.
'I could drive you,' she says.
'No, Alice. You stay here. You stay here and tidy the place.'
'I think I'll come with you anyway.'
'No, Alice. You stay here until I get back. And then, if you are
very good. I'll take you out.'
'Where?'
'I'll take you to a Chinese Restaurant.'
He is gone.
Melody shrugs. She goes back to her easel.
She paints faces.
=======
'Happy at kindergarten, is she?' Philip asks Brian. 'Well I suppose
so. I haven't heard really. You see I don't think I get reasonable
access.'
'You were telling me about your marriage. You and Amanda.'
'We were sitting watching the news one night. It was hot and I
was tired and I was half concentrating on the news and half thinking
about a file we had lost in the office.
Melody was sitting on the floor playing with big Lego. Amanda
was staring at the screen and she had a martini. Suddenly she
sat bolt upright in her chair so that the martini spilt all over
Melody's Lego and Melody screamed and Amanda stood up and said
something like,
I can't stand this farce any longer. I think she said farce ÉThen she drained the martini, threw the
glass at the fireplace and said, and this is exactly what she
said, because I was listening, she said My mother was right. You are a zombie. I'm leaving.'
'And she left.'
'She left. She said she was going to be with a man called Rex
and I said who the hell is Rex and she just gave me a look. This
really cold, contemptuous look. The way a snake looks.'
'Did you go after her. What happened next?'
'I got up and followed her into the bedroom and she got a suitcase
out of the cupboard and I asked her what she was doing and she
just said I am leaving, Brian. Will you carry this to the car, please? She pushed the suitcase at me and it was full. What's in here I said. And she snorted and snapped it open and I saw that it
was packed. I said something like Wait a minute and she sort of growled and closed the case and said she'd carry
it herself and she dragged it out of the room and then she pushed
it over the top of the stairs and it landed in the hall and she
went running after it and put it in the car and drove off. I have
this memory of her snorting and grunting and growling -- it was
as if she was doing imitations of animals. She kept baring her
teeth at me. Honestly, Philip, she's mad. And she shouldn't be
allowed to have Melody.'
'Where did she go?'
'This Rex was waiting for her at his place.'
'And you say this was the first you ever knew. You were happy
up to this point.'
'Perfectly. It was the week after my birthday and Amanda organised
the party. She did everything. We had about forty guests.'
'You turned forty.'
Brian blinked and looked out the window and said that yes, he
was forty.
'Did anything happen at the party. Anything that seemed unusual
to you at the time?'
'No.
'You told me Amanda had a very severe haircut. When was that?
When did Amanda have all her hair cut off.'
'The morning of the party. Her mother was furious. It seems Amanda's
hair was her mother's pride and joy. And at one point, quite late,
during the party, I was sitting on the couch and Amanda's mother
came over to me and instead of saying anything she just bent down
and straightened the rug where it had folded over under my foot.
She gave me a sort of grim stare. That's where Amanda gets the
wild animal imitations from, I suppose.'
'So she went off to this Rex's place.'
'In Hawthorn.'
'And there you were with Melody. What did you do?'
'I went into the sitting room and Melody was building a house
from Lego and I stood there looking at her. I didn't know what
to do, what to say. I was in shock. Melody said she was hungry
and I said would she like a pizza and she said yes. So I rang
for a pizza.'
Brian patted his mobile phone.
'When the boy came to the door with the pizza I thought for one
mad moment that it was Amanda coming back. But it was only the
pizza.'
'So you and Melody had the pizza and then what.'
'It was getting very late and I still couldn't think properly.
It was like a bad dream. I realised I didn't know how to put Melody
to bed and I was hoping she would just fall asleep on the couch
or the floor, but she didn't. She went on building the house and
watching things on TV. Then I had a sudden inspiration and I looked
in the Teledex under R and there it was 'Rex'. Just Rex and a
number.
Then I stopped because I didn't know what I was going to say.
What if she wasn't really there? What if she was.
Do you say Oh, hello Rex, this is Brian, Brian Saegesser. I wonder if you
would happen to have my wife there with you. You do? Well could
you just put her back in the car and send her home for me, there's
a good bloke. I need her here to put our little girl to bed and
so on. Thanks. I just stood there stupidly staring at the number. Then I wrote
it on my wrist. Then I got a black texta and wrote it in huge
figures on the fridge. Then I printed his name on the fridge and
Melody came downstairs and she looked at the fridge and said Rex'. Just like that. She's smart. I hadn't thought to ask her about
Rex. So I said, as calmly as I could, Who's Rex' and Melody said Rex cuts my hair.'
There was a pause while Philip took this in. He looked down at
the desk and out the window and then he squinted at Brian and
said quietly The hairdresser?
'You see,' Brian said, 'you can't believe this either, can you.'
'I believe it.'
'So Amanda ran off with this Italian bloke that calls himself
Rex of Rex. First he cuts her hair then he cuts out her stupid brains.'
'Did you call him?'
'What, and ask for a blow wave? No. I suddenly came to my senses
and I just said to Melody. You have to go to bed now. And she did.
=======
Melody is standing on top of a box, attempting first position,
her hands crossed at the wrist, her heels together. Tom stands
beside the box with a xylophone.He runs the rubber hammers down
the xylophone and then he says in a loud voice Ladies and Gentlemen! The amazing Alice will now perform her exciting
tiger dance. Take it away Alice! Melody in her scarlet tutu bares her teeth and curls her fingers
into claws. She jumps up and down on the box while Tom plays random
notes on the xylophone. Melody takes a huge leap and ends up on
the pile of tartan cushions. Two girls who are watching laugh
and clap. Tom beats a tattoo on the xylophone. He shouts And again, Alice! and Melody jumps back onto the box and repeats her performance.
When she lands on the cushions the other two girls throw themselves
on top of her and they all squeal with excitement. A little less racket over there thank you Miss Moss says. Yes,
less noise please, girls Tom says. The crowd and the performers disperse. Melody goes back
to her easel.
Come here, Melody Miss Moss says I need to pin back your hair.
Let's get it out of your eyes. You look a bit like a sheepdog.
Now stand still while I pin it back. Melody barks like a dog.
=======
'So when did Amanda come and get Melody?' Philip asked. 'Not for
a week. I was going well. We had different take-away brought every
night and she used to call out in her sleep, but I think she always
does. I sent the secretary to pick her up from kindergarten, and
when I came home the three of us sometimes watched TV together.
I was starting to enjoy it. Then one day the secretary rang me
from the kindergarten and said Amanda had gone and picked up Melody.
That was when I rang Rex and things started to go badly wrong. He
was so cool. He said Amanda had nothing to say to me and he had
nothing to add and he hung up. So I went round to Rexand there he was the pooncie bastard farting around the basins
waving his hands like a magician over the heads of the women in
front of the mirrors. Just another half and inch, madame. And will you be having tips.
I was perfectly reasonable to start with and said I wanted to
speak to him privately. So we went into the kitchen and I hit
him and one of the girls called the police and Éwell anyway Amanda
isn't coming back. And she's got custody of Melody and I don't
get proper access. He won't let Melody have her fringe cut. She
can't see a thing. I think she's going blind. Don't tell me to
pull myself together. The police said that. Pull yourself together, Mr Saegesser they said.'
'You need some help there, Brian. I'd like you to take some mild
tranquillisers for a few days. Just until things sort themselves
out.'
'Things are not going to sort themselves out. I need to act. I
need to do something. And I have. I've been to my lawyer. I will get proper access.'
'In any case, take this prescription. No harm done. And blow off
a bit of steam at the gym.'
'I already swim every morning.'
Philip smiled and handed Brian the prescription. 'Do more laps,'
he said.
'More laps.'
'Take a holiday. Think about buying a new car. Fall in love.'
'I am in love. With Amanda.'
Philip almost sighed.
'Take up water ski-ing.'
At last Brian smiled and Philip said,
'Get a dog.'
=======
Melody sits on Miss Moss's knee while Miss Moss reads another story to the children. The day is long. The children take a nap on the cushions. The paintings dry. Miss Moss plays the piano while the children sing. Amanda comes to collect Melody. In the car she says Please take that thing out of your hair, darling and Melody explains that Miss Moss said she looked like a dog. A dog? Yes, she looked like a sheepdog with her hair in her eyes.Amanda raises her own eyebrows and says nothing. Melody falls asleep in her car seat. She is hot, dirty, crumpled. Asleep.
=======
Brian collected his tranquillisers from a pharmacy in Hawthorn.
It was not far from Rex.He would often walk past Rex when the salon was shut, and he would peer in the window thinking
of what he would like to do to Rex, to his salon. Photographs
of glamorous women with wind-blown hair hung on the walls. There
were big bowls of flowers and there were many, many mirrors and
a tank of exotic fish. He thought of Philip saying Do more laps as he watched the fish gliding through the weeds. He thought
of Philip saying Fall in love. Think about buying a new car. Think about buying a new car. Brian turned sharply away from
the window of Rex where the fish went round and round waving their
glorious tails and crossed the street to look in the window of
the car dealer. Get a dog? No, get a car. Think about a car. He noticed he was crushing
the packet of tranquillisers in this hand. Get a grip on yourself,
Brian.
No, get a grip on that.
In a blaze of light on a platform turning in the centre of the
showroom window was a svelte two-plus-two Mazda MX6.
It was red. Brian stared as the platform turned round. Fall in
love. With a car. Brian fell in love with the Mazda MX6. It winked
at him; it spoke to him; it sang. And two days later he took it
out on the road; and three days later it was his. He bought a
black leather child restraint. He drove to the kindergarten and
parked under an oak tree. He sat in the Mazda and watched the
children going down the slide. There she was. There was Melody
in her little red tutu. She looked so vulnerable. Why didn't Amanda
dress her properly. Her hair hung right down over her eyes. Every
now and then she would flick her head back. A boy was chasing
her with a plastic gun. She was screaming with pleasure,her hair
flapping,her red tulle skirt bouncing as she ran. Brian got out
of the car and went to the front door. The bell was answered by
pretty Miss Moss.
'I came to pick Melody up and take her for a haircut.'
Miss Moss beamed at him. She was very pretty.And when Melody saw
her father she shrieked with joy.
'Clothes too,' Brian said, and Miss Moss looked puzzled.
'I'll get her some shoes and a proper dress.'
'Lovely idea,' Miss Moss said. 'Off you go, Melody.'
And Melody went.
Tom ran after her. He ran as far as the gate and then he stopped.
He stared at the gleaming car, stared as Brian lifted Melody into
the restraint and adjusted the strap.
Tom watched as his wife, his tiger woman, his victim rode off
beside the man in the red car.
They drove north. They stopped at a K-Mart and got a blue denim
dress and some shorts and T-shirts and a pair of red plastic sandals.
A handbag with a frog on it and a doll in a box.
'Where'll we go now?' Melody said and Brian said,
'We'll go to Grandma's. She's going to cut your fringe for you.Then
you can have a bath and put on your new dress.'
'Good,' Melody said, 'Miss Moss said I look like a sheepdog. I
want a Coke.'
And as they drove Melody drank from a can of Coke and Brian drank
from a can of beer and they headed north to Bacchus Marsh where
Brian's mother lived. Brian hadn't planned this properly,but it
felt right. He overshot the turnoff, kept going on towards Gisborne.
The Mazda handled like a dream. He turned back and headed for
the Bacchus Marsh outlet. Too fast. He headed into the sharp turn
on the Bacchus Marsh outlet and the Mazda left the road and rolled
over and righted itself. By which time Brian was dead.
Melody was unconscious but unhurt. A man in a white Statesman
called the police and then he called and ambulance. Sirens and
flashing lights and Melody opened her eyes and stared at the weird
world around her.
Brian's phone was ringing and the policewoman picked it up from
the floor of the Mazda and answered it.
'Hello,' she said, and Amanda said, 'Hello,I wish to speak to
Brian.'
'Please hold the line for one moment,'the policewoman said. As
the policewoman conferred with the officer in charge, Amanda grew
impatient.
'What the hell's going on?' Amanda shouted.
'If you give me your number I will call you back,' the policewoman
said.
'Who are you, anyway?'
'Please give me your number.'
'No way.'
Amanda hung up.
'Now he won't even answer his own car phone,' she said to Rex.
'Call the police, I tell you,' Rex said.' For heaven's sake call
the police. He has kidnapped a four-year-old child. Call the police.'
Amanda called the police.