Page 24 of Going Down Hard
They were quiet for a bit. The night noises from outside the only thing breaking the silence around them. Finally she decided on a question.
“What’s with your name? Did you change it?”
“Stone Mason is my birth name.”
“It’s a little unusual.”
“More than a little.” He chuckled and rubbed his hand lazily over her stomach. “My mother was—is—a little more than a hippy. She’s the poster woman for out-there.”
“And your dad didn’t argue?”
“I doubt she cared what he thought. Not that she knew who my dad was. She could narrow it down to five choices.”
“What?” This time she wiggled and squirmed until he loosened his hold and she managed to turn in his arms and face him. “That’s…it’s…I…”
Stone laughed. “Yeah. She was all about the free love. Still is.”
Sophie had no idea what to say. Her parents might not be the best but at least she knew who they were.
“Don’t worry. It didn’t make a difference to me. The commune where I grew up had plenty of male role models, and as I said, free love was a big part of the community’s values, so I never lacked for a father figure.”
“You grew up in a commune?” The thought boggled her mind. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”
“Not from my mother. I’m the only one. My biological father could have more kids though. Some of the kids I grew up with could have been my half siblings but it wouldn’t have mattered. We were treated the same by everyone. All the adults raised us as though we were theirs.”
“So you had lots of mums and dads?”
“Pretty much. It was a good way to grow up. We were cherished by all, and other than having very limited contact with the outside world, the commune wasn’t a bad place to live.”
“I’m gobsmacked. Just the idea seems unreal to me.”
“It is to most people.”
“Where was the commune?”
“On a huge property on the north coast of New South Wales. Inland a bit from Byron Bay.”
“Does your mother still live there?”
“Yes. She’s still in the timber shack I was born in.”
“Timber shack?”
“Better than the tent she was inbeforeI came along.”
“Did you at least have running water? Hot water? Plumbed sewage?”
Sophie had been camping once, when she was a teenager, and the lack of plumbing had been enough to turn her off the outdoor adventure for life.
“We weren’t that cut off from the world. There was a washhouse next to the kitchen house. We had electricity too. Definitely not primitive.”
“Would you take me there?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wanted to suck them back in.
“Sure. We can go there as soon as Hagar is out of the picture. I’ve got holidays owed.”
“You’d really take me?”
“If you want to go.”
