The True Story of Spit MacPhee (27 page)
‘I’m not going to stop you,’ Grace said. ‘Nor will Jack.’
‘I’m not going to go to church either,’ Spit said.
Grace restrained Jack who was about to say something, and she said, ‘I don’t know how we’ll solve that one, Spit. I simply don’t know.’
Grace also knew that Spit was trying to come to terms with her, lasting terms, not with promises but on some agreed possibility of mutual respect. And though she knew that Spit didn’t exactly know what he was doing, it was obvious enough to her. It was obvious in the grip he had on the school gate, in his bold eyes which went down and then up again to meet hers – watching, waiting, testing.
‘Come on, Spit,’ Sadie said then. ‘We’d better go.’
But Spit didn’t move, as if for a moment he couldn’t move; as if he knew that one life was about to come to an end here and another entirely different one was about to begin. In that grip he had on the school gate he was holding on to something for a lost moment, to everything that was about to disappear. The gate was the only thing at hand that he could hold on to, and it was Grace who gently undid his fingers from the gate and said to him with one of her gentle smiles, ‘Yes. Go on, Spit. We can’t stand here all day.’
‘I know,’ Spit said. ‘I’m still wet though. I can feel it.’
‘Nonsense,’ Grace said, and she watched the two of them go reluctantly into the quiet school. Then, as Jack got into the car she said, ‘I’ll walk home, Jack.’
‘Why? What for?’
‘I don’t know. I just want to walk a bit, that’s all.’
‘You’re not going to let this business get the better of you, are you?’ Jack said seriously, almost sternly.
‘No. I have to think a bit, that’s all.’
She left him, and as she heard the Dodge turn around and head into the hinterlands, where Jack did most of his work, she walked through the town wondering what it was that had made her take on this boy; where it was going to take her and what problems she would have to face. Because she knew, as all parents knew, that the topsy-turvy problems of children would always multiply and re-multiply as they grew older. And, with Spit, there was going to be a big multiplication in her life which would need all her patience and care, and she wondered how on earth she was ever going to do it. But the first thing she would have to do would be to cure Spit of those two bad habits – shouting and spitting – which would be a terrible burden on him in later life if she didn’t make a point of putting a stop to them right away.
Dancing on Coral
Glenda Adams
Introduced by Susan Wyndham
The True Story of Spit MacPhee
James Aldridge
Introduced by Phillip Gwynne
The Commandant
Jessica Anderson
Introduced by Carmen Callil
Homesickness
Murray Bail
Introduced by Peter Conrad
Sydney Bridge Upside Down
David Ballantyne
Introduced by Kate De Goldi
Bush Studies
Barbara Baynton
Introduced by Helen Garner
The Cardboard Crown
Martin Boyd
Introduced by Brenda Niall
A Difficult Young Man
Martin Boyd
Introduced by Sonya Hartnett
Outbreak of Love
Martin Boyd
Introduced by Chris Womersley
When Blackbirds Sing
Martin Boyd
Introduced by Chris Wallace-Crabbe
The Australian Ugliness
Robin Boyd
Introduced by Christos Tsiolkas
All the Green Year
Don Charlwood
Introduced by Michael McGirr
They Found a Cave
Nan Chauncy
Introduced by John Marsden
The Even More Complete
Book of Australian Verse
John Clarke
Diary of a Bad Year
J. M. Coetzee
Introduced by Peter Goldsworthy
Wake in Fright
Kenneth Cook
Introduced by Peter Temple
The Dying Trade
Peter Corris
Introduced by Charles Waterstreet
They’re a Weird Mob
Nino Culotta
Introduced by Jacinta Tynan
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
C. J. Dennis
Introduced by Jack Thompson
Careful, He Might Hear You
Sumner Locke Elliott
Introduced by Robyn Nevin
Fairyland
Sumner Locke Elliott
Introduced by Dennis Altman
The Explorers
Edited and introduced by
Tim Flannery
Terra Australis
Matthew Flinders
Introduced by Tim Flannery
Owls Do Cry
Janet Frame
Introduced by Margaret Drabble
My Brilliant Career
Miles Franklin
Introduced by Jennifer Byrne
Such is Life
Joseph Furphy
Introduced by David Malouf
The Fringe Dwellers
Nene Gare
Introduced by Melissa Lucashenko
Cosmo Cosmolino
Helen Garner
Introduced by Ramona Koval
Wish
Peter Goldsworthy
Introduced by James Bradley
Dark Places
Kate Grenville
Introduced by Louise Adler
The Idea of Perfection
Kate Grenville
Introduced by Neil Armfield
The Quiet Earth
Craig Harrison
Introduced by Bernard Beckett
Down in the City
Elizabeth Harrower
Introduced by Delia Falconer
The Long Prospect
Elizabeth Harrower
Introduced by Fiona McGregor
The Catherine Wheel
Elizabeth Harrower
Introduced by Ramona Koval
The Watch Tower
Elizabeth Harrower
Introduced by Joan London
Out of the Line of Fire
Mark Henshaw
Introduced by Stephen Romei
The Long Green Shore
John Hepworth
Introduced by Lloyd Jones
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
Fergus Hume
Introduced by Simon Caterson
The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
David Ireland
Introduced by Peter Pierce
The Glass Canoe
David Ireland
Introduced by Nicolas Rothwell
A Woman of the Future
David Ireland
Introduced by Kate Jennings
Eat Me
Linda Jaivin
Introduced by Krissy Kneen
Julia Paradise
Rod Jones
Introduced by Emily Maguire
The Jerilderie Letter
Ned Kelly
Introduced by Alex McDermott
Bring Larks and Heroes
Thomas Keneally
Introduced by Geordie Williamson
Strine
Afferbeck Lauder
Introduced by John Clarke
The Young Desire It
Kenneth Mackenzie
Introduced by David Malouf
Stiff
Shane Maloney
Introduced by Lindsay Tanner
The Middle Parts of Fortune
Frederic Manning
Introduced by Simon Caterson
Selected Stories
Katherine Mansfield
Introduced by Emily Perkins
The Home Girls
Olga Masters
Introduced by Geordie Williamson
Amy’s Children
Olga Masters
Introduced by Eva Hornung
The Scarecrow
Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Introduced by Craig Sherborne
The Dig Tree
Sarah Murgatroyd
Introduced by Geoffrey Blainey
A Lifetime on Clouds
Gerald Murnane
Introduced by Andy Griffiths
The Plains
Gerald Murnane
Introduced by Wayne Macauley
The Odd Angry Shot
William Nagle
Introduced by Paul Ham
Life and Adventures 1776–1801
John Nicol
Introduced by Tim Flannery
Death in Brunswick
Boyd Oxlade
Introduced by Shane Maloney
Swords and Crowns and Rings
Ruth Park
Introduced by Alice Pung
The Watcher in the Garden
Joan Phipson
Introduced by Margo Lanagan
Maurice Guest
Henry Handel Richardson
Introduced by Carmen Callil
The Getting of Wisdom
Henry Handel Richardson
Introduced by Germaine Greer
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
Henry Handel Richardson
Introduced by Peter Craven
The Delinquents
Criena Rohan
Introduced by Nick Earls
Rose Boys
Peter Rose
Introduced by Brian Matthews
Hills End
Ivan Southall
Introduced by James Moloney
Ash Road
Ivan Southall
Introduced by Maurice Saxby
To the Wild Sky
Ivan Southall
Introduced by Kirsty Murray
Lillipilly Hill
Eleanor Spence
Introduced by Ursula Dubosarsky
The Women in Black
Madeleine St John
Introduced by Bruce Beresford
The Essence of the Thing
Madeleine St John
Introduced by Helen Trinca
Jonah
Louis Stone
Introduced by Frank Moorhouse
An Iron Rose
Peter Temple
Introduced by Les Carlyon
1788
Watkin Tench
Introduced by Tim Flannery
The House that Was Eureka
Nadia Wheatley
Introduced by Toni Jordan
Happy Valley
Patrick White
Introduced by Peter Craven
I for Isobel
Amy Witting
Introduced by Charlotte Wood
I Own the Racecourse!
Patricia Wrightson
Introduced by Kate Constable