Overhead Palm fronds slap at each other Encouraged by the gently probing fingers Of the island breeze. The foaming white break Two hundred meters offshore Surges and sighs, A perpetual rhythmic heartbeat. It drums the coral below With the same tattoo It has played for...
Beyond the Jumbuck Ranges, where red dust swirls and stains, A boab tree grows, bottle-shaped, on cattle station plains. It’s stood there for some thousand years, a silent ancient scout, Observing ever-changing land of fire and flood and drought. Today, as...
“All right, mate?”
Dean blinked back a glitter of tears as the foreman’s calloused hand settled on his shoulder. The pine’s grain swam back into focus. He’d been doing it again. That thing where his mind wandered away to a dark, distant place he didn’t have a map for.
Max was finally getting to spend a Christmas Day with Lily. The last one was five years ago when she was only two. Too young to remember. Emma and Max had quite an amicable split, but Emma insisted that Christmas was her day with her family, which included Lily by...
‘Mind your step,’ the assistant said. The vivid Arthurs Seat EAGLE logo stood out on his sea blue t-shirt. ‘Don’t want to mess up that lovely white gown.’ Our reserved chair lift had a massive white bow wrapped around its circumference. I heeded his words and stepped...
Paul led his blindfolded daughter, Emily by the hand out onto the porch. ‘Now watch your step,’ he said as he walked her carefully down the front stairs. ‘No peeking,’ he said as he guided Emily onto the driveway. Her high blonde ponytail swayed with each move....
Daniel knew what people would say: ‘He’s your father – of course he loves you!’ But why ‘of course’ was what Daniel thought? Perhaps once, when he was a dumb baby and an innocent child, but now! He loved his car because it was a Mercedes; he loved his house because it...
John had been like a specimen tree that grows in the middle of a lawn: strong, straight, and tall, and in no doubt that he would always be strong, straight, and tall. When he was growing up, he had always been picked first for teams. His powerful legs had carried him...
Kate should have died twice, but fate delivered her up safe both times. The first incident occurred when she was ten – she fell out of a tree onto a metal star picket. The picket caught the edge of her waist, tore her clothing, and left a bleeding gash on her side....
‘Jacinta, I have something to tell you. Sarah had a heart attack … she died.’ 'What! But she’s only 39.’ Sarah is, was, my cousin – older by six months. Our mums are sisters. We grew up together, as cousins do. I never considered her a close friend, but it had...
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