Carpentaria (64 page)

‘One day,’ he said to the boy, ‘your Mum and Dad are going to come and get you after the grass grows green, and when the clouds of grasshoppers have come and eaten the grass down and died in the wintertime, and when you have caught one big, fat barramundi in the lagoon. Can you wait until then?’

The boy thought about all of these eventualities, where the enigma of time sidestepped desire and ran away from dreams. His face lit into a smile as he looked up at the big man surveying the flood plains. All dreams come true somehow, Norm murmured, sizing up the flattened landscape, already planning the home he would rebuild on the same piece of land where his old house had been, among the spirits in the remains of the ghost town, where the snake slept underneath.

‘I reckon we will go home then,’ he said. So, they walked in mud away from the town left to the dogs that tried to howl for their owners. Neither spoke, because neither would have heard the other. It was much better to listen to the mass choir of frogs – green, grey, speckled, striped, big and small, dozens of species all assembled around the two seafarers, as they walked.

It was a mystery, but there was so much song wafting off the watery land, singing the country afresh as they walked hand in hand out of town, down the road, Westside, to home.

I would like to thank my good friends in Central Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria, particularly David Ross and Tracker Tilmouth for their support, and Paul Memmott who gave valuable advice whenever I called.

I am deeply grateful to Nicholas Jose, and to my agent Rose Creswell, who was the first person to read the manuscript and whose enthusiasm and professional advice gave me strength and confidence to continue my work.

I am also blessed to have worked with two of the finest editors in Australia – Bruce Sims and Ivor Indyk – who at different stages in the development of the book contributed their insight, understanding and impeccable judgement. 

Gavan Breen’s valuable work with the Waanyi language was a great resource for me to draw upon in bringing the words of our language into the novel.

I am also grateful to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for their generous support.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.