I think he knew how she'd react if he dropped her at the front gate, he'd read that well ahead. The morning had been tense. I kicked a ball around to settle my nerves while Kylie spent hours in the bathroom. At first I thought she might've been throwing up but she was doing stuff to her hair. What, I couldn't tell you. It looked like she'd stuck her head in a fan then dipped it into a cement mixer. When she got in the car she stank. There was so much gunk in her hair, I thought I was going to suffocate with the fumes. For a joke I started doing choking noises, and did I cop an earful. It started with just a 'Piss off, Tom,' which wasn't enough to stop me. It grew to a 'Tommm,' through clenched teeth, 'I said – pissss offfff.' Kylie had a habit of clenching her teeth when she was mad. It cracked Daniel and me up. We called it her 'need to do a crap' face. So naturally I had to get my money's worth out of that. Then I went back to the coughing and choking, louder this time, holding onto my neck, making my face go purple.
