Rule Breaker

I
Edmund locks the Inala place, pockets a ring of other people’s mornings.
Family on the lawn: thongs, a scuffed Steeden, glare you can taste.
The vinyl NO TRESPASSING goes on; a bubble traps air over the O.
He reads the catechism the lender likes, eyes on the curb.
The girl’s question doesn’t belong to any clause.
He turns the key hard. Click.

II
“Not to occupy… penalties… clink.” Statute heat on tin.
The father holds a kettle cord and one spoon.
“Where will we stay?”-five years old, same number as the threat.
No answer; the biro stays shut. He steps past the ball, the dead mower stripe.
Keys knock his thigh toward the ute.
The biro cap tests itself once in his pocket. Click.

III
Glovebox: felt pouch, oil, the small machine.
One round where it has lived for seventeen mornings.
Thumb, wrist, the practised cock; the cylinder whirrs dry air.
Metal on tongue-coins and summer rail.
Lorikeets heckle the verge; the ute breathes.
Verdict not in paperwork. Click.

IV
Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing-the kind of mercy that doesn’t clap.
He sets it down on vinyl, wipes his face with the same hand.
He does not try a fourth time. That is the break.
Indicator ticks; a neighbour drags a bin to the kerb.
He cancels the blinker and watches the silence slot in.
The stalk settles against its stop. Click.

V
Beaudesert Road to Ipswich Road to Vulture Street, over the river.
No speeches; the wheel does the thinking.
West End: a flying-fox mural, heat in the shade.
Inside, cheap cork and crooked staples wait.
VOLUNTEER ROSTER-columns, dates, empty boxes like small rooms.
He uncaps the marker. The felt wakes and the cap lands. Click.

VI
E D M U N D-letters that haven’t done this job before.
The bowl of the D darkens, a chamber he can’t fire.
Someone hands him tea; steam climbs, steady as breath.
Cup to saucer; a ring prints itself, brown and exact.
Outside, the bubble over the O softens under sun.
Inside, names collect-small circles keeping the lights on. Click.

F.S.F