Big Little Lies(123)

Max pushed Skye.
Skye. Bonnie and Nathan’s anxious, waif-like little girl. Max had pushed Skye down the stairs again. The thought of her son hurting that fragile child made Celeste feel instantly sick.
“But why?” she said. “Why would he do that?” The back of her head had begun to ache.
“Dunno,” shrugged Josh. “He just does.”
“Wait a moment,” said Celeste. Her mobile phone was ringing somewhere downstairs. She pressed a fingertip to her forehead. Her head felt fuzzy. “Did you say, ‘Max isn’t hurting Amabella anymore’? What are you talking about? What do you mean?”
“I’ll answer it!” called out Perry.
Josh was impatient with her. “No, no, Mummy. Listen! He doesn’t go near Amabella anymore. It’s Skye. He’s being mean to Skye. When no one is looking except me.”
“Mummy!” Max came running in. His face was ecstatic. “I think my tooth is wobbly!” He put his finger in his mouth. He looked so cute. So sweet and innocent. His face still had that baby-roundness. He was desperate to lose a tooth because he was obsessed with the idea of the Tooth Fairy.
When the boys turned three, Josh asked for a digger and Max asked for a baby doll. She and Perry had enjoyed watching him cradle the doll, singing it soft little lullabies, and Celeste had loved the fact that Perry didn’t mind at all that their son was behaving in such a nonmasculine way. Of course, he’d soon dropped dolls for lightsabers, but he was still her cuddly son, the most loving of the boys.
And now he was staking out the quiet little girls in the class and hurting them. Her son was a bully. “How does the abuse affect your children?” Susi had asked. “It doesn’t,” she’d said.
“Oh, Max,” she said.
“Feel it!” said Max. “I’m not making it up! It’s definitely loose!” He looked up at his father as Perry came into the room. “You look funny, Daddy! Hey, Daddy, look at my tooth! Look, look!”
Perry was barely recognizable in his perfectly fitted shiny black wig, gold aviator glasses and, of course, the iconic white Elvis jumpsuit with glittering gemstones. He held Celeste’s mobile phone in his hand.
“Wow! It’s really loose this time?” he said. “Let me see!”
He put the phone down on the bed next to Celeste and Josh and got down on his knees in front of Max, pushing his glasses down over his nose so he could see.
“I have a message for you,” he said, glancing at Celeste. He put his finger on Max’s lower lip. “Let me see, buddy. From Mindy.”
“Mindy?” said Celeste vaguely. “I don’t know anyone called Mindy.” She was thinking about Jane and Ziggy. The petition that should have Max’s name on it. She needed to tell the school. Should she call Miss Barnes right now? Should she call Jane?
“Your property manager,” said Perry.
Celeste’s stomach plunged. She let Josh wriggle off her lap.
“I bet your tooth isn’t loose!” he said to his brother.
“Maybe a little loose,” said Perry. He ruffled Max’s hair and straightened his glasses. “They’re putting new smoke alarms in your apartment and want to know if they can get access Monday morning. Mindy wondered if nine a.m. was OK with you.” He grabbed both boys by their waists and lifted them up on his hips, where they clung comfortably like monkeys, their faces joyous. Perry tilted his head at Celeste. A white-toothed Elvis smile. “Does that suit you, honey?”
The doorbell rang.

Chapter 70: The Trivia Night
70.

Stu: As soon as you walked in the door you were handed one of these girly-looking pink fizzy cocktails.
Samantha: They were divine. Only problem was the Year 6 teachers made some sort of miscalculation with quantities, so each drink was worth about three shots. These are the people teaching our kids math, by the way.
Gabrielle: I was starving because I’d been saving all my calories for that night. I had half a cocktail and—hooeee!
Jackie: I go to a lot of corporate events with big-drinking highfliers, but let me tell you, I’ve never seen a group of people get so drunk so fast as they did at this school trivia night.
Thea: The caterer’s car broke down, so everyone was hungry and drinking these very strong alcoholic drinks. I thought to myself, This is a recipe for disaster.
Miss Barnes: It’s not a good look for teachers to get drunk at school functions so I always sit on one drink, but that cocktail! Like, I’m not even sure exactly what I was saying to people.
Mrs. Lipmann: We are currently reviewing our procedures in relation to the serving of alcohol at school events.