Little Boy Blue

The receptionist in the doctor’s surgery is always good for a peppermint lolly too. Sometimes she will even let Bodie sit on the counter and pick his own.

There is LeeAnn in the newsagency and Lucy in the fish and chip shop. And Warwick in the video shop.

Bodie could spend a whole day looking through the video shop. There are the Ninja Turtles. And Batman. And Howard the Duck. And Mickey Mouse. And ...

But there is always something that has got to be got from the supermarket. And Bodie knows everyone in there too. Bodie knows where they keep the bread and the milk in the supermarket. That’s his very own special job. To carry the bread and milk back to the counter. He gets rewarded with a Freddo frog every time. And Bodie just loves those Freddo frogs.

They keep the Freddos near the cash register but Uncle Bern says, “Ya always gotta show the lady and pay for it. Never take anything without paying for it”. So Bodie always shows the lady his Freddo. Of course Uncle Bern or Aunty Chez have to pay for it ‘cos Bodie isn’t too clued up with the state of the economy just yet. Maybe next year when he goes to kindy.

But when The Prime Minister starts talking about a recession and its effect on future generations it isn’t too hard to work that one out - it’s Bodie and his mates sitting down to little lunch at pre-school.

Bodie doesn’t understand intolerance. Or prejudice. Or anger. Violence. Hatred. Or frustration. But that doesn’t mean he’s dumb. ‘Cos little people are going to be big people one day too.

Just like Aunty Chez. And Aunty Kim. And Uncle Bern. And Ray the butcher. Warwick. LeeAnn. And Lucy. The Prime Minister. And all the rest of the big people.

If only Bodie’s mummy could have stayed around to see it happen. To see Bodie become a big person.

Every night Bodie looks for his mummy: The brightest star in the sky. And when he finds her he asks her to come back home.

God can have someone else. Bodie wants his mummy back.

But she’s never coming back.

How do big people explain heroin overdoses to little people?

Oh to be a little boy again ... living in a child’s dream.