get out,’
Norm ‘Was that all?’
Amelia ‘Yes, I think so Oh. I was also wishing how I could get to the back door, but I didn’t want to leave the kids in the house with him.’
Norm ‘Did you think, I’ll kill this bastard?’
Norm Kennedy’s voice had changed, instead of sounding sympathetic, he sounded as if he was accusing me.
Without hesitation, I said in a very offended tone, ‘No. I just wanted to get to safety I was terrified of what he might do next.’
His voice not so aggressive
Norm ‘What happened then?’
Amelia ‘Frank saw me holding the knife and said come on bitch, if you’re game enough.’
Norm ‘What did you do then?’
Amelia “Get out before I kill you, ya bastard.”
Norm ‘Did you feel that you wanted to kill him then?’
Wiping the perspiration off my face.
Amelia ‘No, I wanted to torture the bastard. I just wanted to give him a dose of his own medicine.
Keith ‘How far away from you was he?’
Amelia ‘He was still near the doorway and I was near the stove, that’d be about three feet wouldn’t it?’
Keith ‘About that, did he come towards you?’
Amelia ‘No he never moved other than his hands he stayed in the same position. He just kept taunting me to have a go. I walked towards him until I stood directly in front of him and I held the knife up in front of my chest.’
Norm ‘Where was the head of the knife?’
Amelia ‘About an inch away from his stomach.’
Norm ‘Was it near his naval would you say?’
Amelia ‘God. I don’t know I was looking at his face. I know my hand was shaking, I was shaking all over.’
Norm ‘Were you excited?’
Amelia ‘Jesus. You’ve got to be kidding, I was nearly shitting myself, and I was so scared.’
Norm ‘What were you scared of?
Amelia ‘HIM.’
I nearly screeched the word. I took a deep breath.
Amelia ‘He had this peculiar look on his face as if he was playing a game it was as if he had a surprise in store for me.’
Norm ‘How do you mean?’
Amelia ‘Oh you know, as if he was waiting for me to make the first move and he would win the game with his counter attack.’
Norm ‘Go on.’
Amelia ‘He said, ‘Go on, go on, you’re not game are you, and he held his hands above his head and he stuck his stomach out. I … I felt a sort of twitch in my hand.’
Norm ‘Your hand moved you mean?’
Amelia ‘I … I don’t know, it was a sort of sinking feeling as if my hand moved without me feeling it.’
Norm ‘Did you know that you had stabbed him at that stage?’
Amelia ‘No I didn’t know, I thought the knife may have, but I wasn’t sure. There was no force it was like as if the blade had sunk into thin air.’
Norm ‘How far did the blade penetrate?’
Amelia ‘I honestly don’t know I just cannot remember. I don’t remember pulling the blade out. I didn’t think it had even gone in. One minute he was standing there then he was staggering into the living room. It happened so bloody fast I just can’t remember.
As I was talking to Norm, I put both hands to my forehead and pushed my hair back off my face and stretched my neck backwards in an effort to think harder. Then I fell back on the lounge and gave out an exhausted moan. I shook my head slowly from side to side as if I was giving a negative answer to an invisible person.
Norm ‘What happened then can you remember?’
Amelia ‘Yes, I put the knife on top of the cupboard near the living room doorway.’
Norm ‘Where was Frank had he gone into the living room did you think you had stabbed him then?’
Amelia ‘No I had put the knife down and I was just about to gesture to Vivian to come into the kitchen so that we could all go out the back door.’
Norm ‘But you said before that Frank had staggered into the living room, surely you must have realised then that he was hurt?’
Amelia ‘No, Frank’s one of the best actors I’ve ever met, one day I accidentally tapped him across the mouth like this. I gestured a light smack across my cheek, mouth and nose, with three fingers honest to God you would have thought I’d planted a haymaker on his face. He’d often over dramatize situations.’
Keith ‘When did you realise that he wasn’t acting?’
Amelia ‘Vivian ran into the kitchen and said ‘Quick, Mum, he’s bleeding’ and I said ‘Are you sure? Vivian said, ‘Yes, there’s blood everywhere, you’ve stabbed him, Mum.’
Heather and Claire came in screaming that he was bleeding and vomiting. I ran to the phone and started dialling triple zero. I told the kids to go downstairs and to stay out of the way. I got through to the operator, I didn’t know you had to speak to an operator and I just gave my name and address. She kept babbling, ‘What service do you want?’ and I said ‘Ambulance. Then Frank slammed his fist on the phone and disconnected the call.
Norm ‘What happened then?’
Amelia ‘I had to struggle to get the receiver off him and I then had to force his hand off the cradle of the phone. He was bearing down as if he was on the toilet and the blood was spurting everywhere. I said, ‘For Christ’s sake you fool, lie down on the floor or you’ll bleed to death. The stupid bastard stood there laughing. He was obviously in great pain, but then he pushed his fingers into the wound as if he was trying to make himself bleed more then he said, ‘I’ll show you how good I am.’ and he picked up his glass of beer and swallowed every drop.
Norm and Keith’s mouths were agape and they
