The Best Australian Stories 2013 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Australia, Short Stories, Fiction
ISBN: 9781922231222
Publisher: Black Inc.
Published: 2013-10-16T13:00:00+00:00

As soon as Paul stepped out of the taxi, the hot northerly flayed his hair and tugged at his coat. He squinted, put his hand up to shield his eyes and hurried towards the chapel. He hadn’t meant to be late – it was the trains, the consistently unreliable trains.

What a relief to be inside, out of the heat. The service had already started and there were no seats left. He found a spot to stand, leaning against the doorway where he could see over the woman in front of him. The coffin had been placed at the centre of the aisle at the edge of a raised platform. Paul found it hard to imagine Julian lying inside it; he didn’t want to think of Julian as still and cold.

A man finished reading from the Bible and Julian’s sister made her way to the lectern. She was four years older than Julian and from the way she talked it was clear that they had been close. She described Julian’s school years, briefly mentioned his time at NIDA and went on to his business achievements. Paul learnt that Julian had developed and patented the stock-counting device that was used by stackers in supermarkets. Apparently, it had made Julian very wealthy.

This is typical, Paul thought, another account of a man’s life according to his occupation, his career. He remembered the first improvisation workshop at NIDA, how Julian had played a door-to-door salesman selling God, and how Paul had almost lost it when Julian went through his spiel. Julian had been so convincing, so spontaneous and inventive. But tuning in again, Paul realised that Julian’s sister was talking about other aspects of Julian’s life – how he’d loved body boarding, how he had been active in the Big Brother scheme that befriended troubled teenagers, how he hosted dinner parties where he served lamb shanks and cheesecake. These anecdotes surprised Paul – the Julian he knew was contained by the two and a half years at NIDA.

At the end of second year, they had taken a trip up the coast. The night before they left, they had gone for a drink and on the way home they had stolen a garden gnome from someone’s front yard. An average sort of gnome with a red hat, a full beard and a somewhat faded blue coat. He was standing at the edge of a pond holding a wooden fishing line out over the water.

Julian picked up the gnome, took one look at him and christened him Mac, after the Head of Acting.

‘What are you doing?’ Paul asked.

‘We’re taking Mac on a holiday. He looks like he needs it.’

‘You’re nicking a garden gnome?’

‘No, we’re just borrowing him. And I’ll make sure he writes home so these good people don’t worry about him.’

And so despite Leeanna’s protests that this was a bad example for Jack, the four of them set off on their trip up the coast with the garden gnome in the middle of the back seat. They took the first photo of Mac in front of the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour.

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