Where the Trees Were : A Novel (2016) by Simpson Inga

Author:Simpson, Inga [Simpson, Inga]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THEY CROSSED THE park opposite the shops, following the deep furrow worn in the grass, and hurried through the stile. Last time, they had dawdled through and a branch had fallen from the big blue gum overhead, landing only a few centimetres from Sarah’s sneakers. They didn’t call gums widow makers for nothing.

They took the track around the base of the mountain. ‘So where’s the arborglyph now?’

‘I don’t know.’ The track overlooked the houses lucky enough to back onto the reserve. Some owners had put in decks and glass to catch the morning sun. All of the original cottages had been built to face the road rather than north, with poky windows and small rooms. Eighty years later, Canberrans were finally adapting to the environment.

‘Is this why you wanted the package?’

Jayne nodded. ‘Now I’m just sweating on the investigation …’

‘Investigation?’

‘It’s only internal.’

‘Christ.’ Sarah pulled her beanie lower, half-covering her eyes.

A woman walking her Staffy from the other direction detoured around them. They weren’t putting out a good vibe.

Sarah walked faster. ‘They can take the money back, you know. If you’re convicted. And I’d have to tell my employer.’

‘If I’m convicted. And, I think, only if I benefited from the crime somehow. Which I didn’t.’

‘Well, you’ve planned everything, haven’t you?’

‘Don’t.’ Jayne hunched into her jacket, hands in pockets.

‘Did you think through what would happen?’

A gaggle of mountain bike riders whirred past. The track had never been so busy. ‘I guess I knew I’d either get away with it or I wouldn’t.’

‘And if you didn’t?’

‘I was prepared to accept the consequences.’

‘To me? To us?’ Sarah stared at the water tank ahead, bright with fresh graffiti tags.

‘We weren’t together when I started.’

‘We are now.’

Present tense. Don’t panic. ‘I guess I see it as being bigger than us.’

‘More important?’

‘In some ways,’ Jayne said. They stopped to look out over the city, its trees without leaves, parks browned off by winter. Spring couldn’t come soon enough.

‘Right.’

‘Hundreds of those trees were bulldozed into piles and burnt. Or sold off to museums and galleries – like they were ours to sell! It’s not just the individual trees – they were part of a burial site, a place for the initiation of young men. It was bad enough taking the land, but we’re talking about deliberately destroying a people’s cultural heritage.’

They turned onto the path heading up the slope. ‘I agree,’ Sarah said. ‘But—’

‘But what?’

‘You aren’t responsible for the past.’

‘But I am,’ she said. ‘Sometimes, someone has to do something.’

‘What about your professional responsibilities? It’s separate to our personal views. That’s what being a grown-up is.’

‘Oh, I’m a child, now?’ She kicked a stone off the path. ‘I can’t separate those things. Anyway, we serve the taxpayers, not the government of the day. What I did was in the public interest.’

Sarah shook her head.

‘Please understand.’

‘I don’t know, Jay. I have so much going on already, I can hardly think straight. I need some time.’ She let Jayne take her hand. ‘I didn’t know about any of this. You’ve kept so much from me,’ she said.

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