Barracuda (Christos Tsiolkas) by Christos Tsiolkas

Author:Christos Tsiolkas
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: FIC000000, book
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2013-10-01T21:00:00+00:00

Between being dropped off and going into the pub, he experienced a warm delicious relief. He could have quite gladly stayed there, in the cold, in the darkness, in the in-between. A drunk couple were sauntering up the street, the man with his arm around the thin girl, and Dan had to step aside so they could pass. The man called back over his shoulder, �Sorry, mate,� and then, jokingly, �Happy Olympics, man,� and the girl sniffed, �It�ll be shit.�

The feeling of comfort didn�t last long once he was inside. It was an old-school pub, the kind that was fast disappearing; there were no pokies in the intimate, cramped space, and there were fading beer and whiskey posters on the wall, and a signed poster of the 1990 Collingwood Premiers took pride of place behind the bar. And it was crowded. But the first thing Dan noticed was the television sitting at the end of the bar. It was plain that the TV didn�t ordinarily sit there�it was a squat domestic model casually put there for the night. Everyone was watching it. Dan�s eyes were drawn to the screen, he was seeing the stadium in Sydney, shrouded in darkness, with flashes of light moving across the black sea. Then the lights took shape, filling with colour and taking on the form of the Serpent, and suddenly�in the pub, on the screen, in the arena�it was the first day of Dreamtime. A young woman sitting on a chair beside him exclaimed, clearly shocking herself, �My God, it�s beautiful!� She was dressed in black, except for a purple beret. Her boyfriend, with a goatee and shaved head, nodded in agreement. They had probably been whining a week ago, thought Dan, about how much it was costing, and how all the blackfellas had been moved off the streets of Sydney, but now they thought it was beautiful. Stupid pricks.

From beneath the drone of the didgeridoo a new music emerged, and a European clown in top hat and tails rode into the arena on a bicycle, on the back of which was a rabbit in a cage. A woman near the bar said, �That�s good, that�s us bringing our serpent into the Garden of Eden, that�s great,� and a man�s voice boomed, �Fuck me, I think it�s going to be good. I think they�re going to pull it off.� There were explosions of light on the screen and Dan was sickened, thought for a moment he couldn�t support his own weight. He felt he was sinking into earth. But then he heard his name being called.

Demet and Luke were in a booth around the corner from the bar. Demet was there with Leanne, her girlfriend. When she�d told him about Leanne, he was not at all surprised; but he was still unnerved by the fact that she had someone else to share a life with. He worried that Leanne didn�t approve of Demet�s friendship with him, that she didn�t think he was worth it. She hardly acknowledged him now, she was tilting her chair back, trying to get a view of the TV.

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