Cody woke thick-headed, with a dry furry tongue. He splashed his face with water and rinsed his mouth. It had been a while since he'd drunk alcohol. Next time he'd drink light and halve the quantity, ease his way back into it. He grabbed the kettle handle as the whistle blew. "Fuck!" Cody dropped the pot and put his hand under cold water. "That's another thing I've got to do. Fix the fucking handle," he muttered.

He sat on the verandah with his toast and tea. "Whatcha think, Max? The sun's shining, and the birds are singing. Beautiful, huh?"

Two kookaburras cackled to each other. Max barked at the noise. He ran to the base of one of the trees and jumped on the trunk yapping like crazy. The birds ignored him and laughed again.

"Come here, you stupid bastard." Cody chuckled and slapped his thigh.

The dog barked once more, gave the tree a final look, ran up the verandah stairs and put his head on Cody's lap.

"You're an idiot, aren't you?"

The dog groaned and closed his eyes as Cody rubbed behind his ears.

"They think you're an idiot too. They're up in the tree laughing at you because they know you can't get them."

The birds called again as if to say, we're done here, then flew away.

"You need some friends, buddy. How about we get a rooster and hens?" He scratched Max's ears and said, "That old chicken coop under the mango tree wouldn't take too much to fix. Whatcha think?" The dog grumbled with pleasure as Cody rubbed his chest. "Yeah, I agree. We'll call into that place advertising hens for sale."

Cody stood and stretched. "Well, come on, boy. This ain't getting anything done. Shower first, work second." The water was cold. He didn't mind. It helped clear his head.

The dog followed Cody backwards and forwards as he carried tools, brackets and timber into the storeroom. Cody shoved him aside with his foot. "Come on, Max, bugger off. You're in my way."

When Cody set to work, Max slunk back into the room, lay in the corner and closed his eyes. Each time the hammer banged the dog's eyebrows twitched but, he remained where he was.

By lunch, the two walls of the room were lined with shelves. The internal wall housed the fridge and freezer. He left the front wall bare to access the window. "Done," Cody said and looked at Max for approval. He laughed, made himself a sandwich and cup of coffee, then grabbed one of the books he'd bought from the pawnbrokers in town.

Once he settled himself in the chair on the front verandah Cody studied the cover. The picture was of the bottom half of a girl's face. Her nose and mouth were visible. Glossy painted red lips and tongue stuck out in a sexy pose. A trickle of blood ran from her mouth. Cody grinned and looked at his dog. "The universe must be trying to tell me something, Max." He turned the cover towards the dog, tapped it with his finger and chuckled as he said, "If you knew the things a girl's mouth can do to a man, you'd want to be human."

He flipped the book to read the blurb hoping it was something in the erotic genre, which might get his body back to full working order.

Cody read. Maybe. Maybe not. Attractive cocktail waitress. Vampires and murder. Could be interesting. The main character's surname was Stackhouse. Cody tacked it onto his name and said it out loud, "Cody Stackhouse." Nah... The author's surname was Harris. He gave that a try. "Cody Harris." Pursing his lips, he nodded, it was okay and common. Did he want to have a common-sounding name? It'd be easier to get lost in a crowd, and not hard to remember. Something a little more unusual would have people saying, it sounded like... but... I'm not sure.

Cody flipped through the pages and said each name out loud. "Rattray... Cody Rattray". Too evil. "Merlotte... Cody Merlotte." Sounded like a wine. "Lenier... Cody Lenier". Not bad if he was pronouncing it right. "Fortenberry... Cody Fortenberry". Too much of a mouthful. "Compton... Cody Compton".

He liked the sound of that. It had a certain ring about it. Cody studied the book again. The vampire's name was Bill Compton. Would he want to be named after a vampire? Why not? Vampires took people's lives, and isn't that what he'd done?

He closed the book, leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. Cody sucked in a breath and stood. "Compton it is," he said, another reminder; a symbol to add to his shrine of remembrance.

For the rest of the afternoon, Cody cleaned the mess in the store room and then shelved the tins and packets of food, cleaning products, toilet paper and other essentials.

When he was finished, he was pleased with the way the room had turned out. Each time he went into town he'd buy more stock to fill it, in readiness for the big wet, the area was renowned for.

With Max at his heels, Cody carried his tools to the shed and stopped to look at the chicken coop. "Yes or no to chicken friends, Max?"

The dog yapped.

"I'll take that as a yes." Cody grinned and studied the coop.  

The bird in the photo is a Kookaburra.  The sound they make is like a cackling laugh.

Copyright © 2025 Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.