Life After Ted by Richard Feneley

Author:Richard Feneley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Modern fiction, family drama, contemporary fiction, family life, relationships, family, family relationships, family conflict, conflict, Australia, Bondi, beach, Australian fiction, drama, family dynamics, family relations, family tragedy, toxic family relationships, mother, father, son, grief, hope, humour
ISBN: 9781760688257
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2023-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

5.

Sabbath

Six hundred voices lift Seb’s spirits. For all of his reservations about Pastor Pat’s church, he is roused by the united exultation of its fellowship. Seb sings along.

We’ll follow Him

Day and night

We’ll honour Him

His power and might

Amber and Mack, too, sing the rocking hymn, as do their friends Kerry and Ant Waldren and their kids Aaron and Luke and Jemimah, a row in front, as they are every Sunday in this vast assembly hall, the Congress of God Church. The congregants are on their feet and the chorus is led by Lakepi, a Tongan giant at centre stage with a Madonna mic latched to his ear, whose soulful tenor is leavened by his wife Avoca’s lilting harmony, a third higher. The six-piece band behind them, with its two full drum kits, is going full-tilt boogie. A skipping bassline spurs the legions to dance on the spot, and upon each repetition of the word power the dual kick drums impel them to jump as one.

Seb wonders, as he often does, where he’ll find such fine singers and musicians for his DIY Church. When the time comes, this may prove to be his greatest hurdle. Without a solid house band it will be difficult to recruit worshippers and harder still to keep them, particularly young ones.

Seb jumps on power.

From the rhythm section up. That’s how he’ll build his band. Find a great drummer and bass player and the rest will come. But nothing so showy as this outfit. One drummer – snare and cymbal – will suffice.

Seb wouldn’t dream of attempting to poach Pastor Pat’s players. Not that they’d defect. Seb’s looser interpretations of the scripture are a harder sell than Pat’s gospel truths. The DIY Church will appeal to a different constituency.

Only now does Seb hear the sounds coming from his mouth. He’s adding sevenths to Avoca’s thirds, and he’s turning heads because it sounds sweet. He’s been doing it inadvertently because it’s a gift – from his father and from his Heavenly Father – and he gives thanks because it’s infectious and voices around him are following his lead, and Lakepi can hear it welling up from the floor. He gives Seb a thumbs-up and they all rejoice.

We’ll follow the path that Jesus paved

The only path to be saved

We’ll never stray, we’ll follow His light

We’ll honour Him, his power and might

Kerry Waldren turns and smiles at Seb to acknowledge his influence. She turns back to the stage, raises her arms and jumps with the kick drum and shimmies to the cymbals. Her firm glutes quiver under her dress. She wears it like Glad Wrap. It’s skin-tone this week, or a match for her fake tan, but she has a seemingly endless supply of these Sunday-best body-huggers. The colour changes but all are cut to cling to the body that she sculpts at the gym where she works out with Amber.

Amber sings with her eyes shut. Kerry turns again and smirks at Seb, because she knows – or it seems to Seb she knows – that he’s looking at her arse.

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