Degrees of Separation by Laurence Fearnley

Author:Laurence Fearnley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742532301
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2011-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

SALLY

Sally watched as William turned the stone in his fingers. She felt a pang of concern, as if fearing he might drop it, or, worse, pocket it and refuse to return it. The truth was, she hadn’t picked it up. It was a stone Craig had passed to her one evening and, simply by keeping it, she had made it precious. It was hers and she didn’t want anyone else to handle it.

The day, she remembered, had begun like the others – with a hot drink. Only this time, as she’d stood outside Craig’s tent, the steaming mug in her hand, she’d heard him ask, ‘If you’ve got nothing special planned for the day, could you give me a hand with some stones?’ She hadn’t responded immediately but had stood silently, waiting to see if he would come to the door of his tent. ‘If you’ve got other plans, though, it’s all right. I can manage on my own.’

She’d remained standing, gazing towards a shingle bank and a skua that was circling above. The night before she had gone for a walk, taking her recording equipment with her. She had inadvertently wandered too close to the bird’s nest and had been attacked. As she’d crouched low to the ground, protecting her head, the bird’s attacks had become increasingly frenzied: instead of making wide circling movements and flying towards her at a low angle, it had begun to jerk up and down above her head, like a twist of paper tied to a string held by someone teasing a kitten.

They’d walked towards the southern end of the island, to an area where small coloured pebbles of granite lay scattered across hummocks of black, angular stones. The ponds in this area were larger than elsewhere, lakes with patches of ice glinting like steel on their surface. Her attention was caught almost immediately by a round, pale pink stone. It was the colour of the skin on the palm of her hand, and as she turned it in her fingers she could feel its abrasive surface. It was a beautiful stone and she felt proud for having spotted it. Holding it up for Craig to see, she asked, ‘What do you think?’

He’d turned, looked at it, then reached out. ‘Ah, that’s nice, isn’t it?’

Sally had blushed, pleased that he’d noticed. Although she’d wanted it for herself, she’d offered it to him. ‘Do you want it?’ Even as she spoke, she could feel her hand reaching out, as if uncertain of making a gift of such a perfect object.

Something unexpected had happened then. Instead of returning the stone, Craig had laughed. ‘Nah, it’s rubbish!’ he said, and tossed the stone away. Sally stood speechless, watching as it curved gently in the air before landing on a piece of ice and skittering into a pond with a plop.

‘So,’ Craig asked, ‘have you found inspiration yet?’ She’d laughed then, told him she’d done hours of recording but was having trouble determining what direction to take. She

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