Chapter 29

“How are you doing?” Patrick asked as he arrived home.

“Good. I wrote some and had a long talk with Sayuri.”

“Ooh?”

“She really likes Al. Possibly seriously. But she thinks her father will explode. She also knows that Al has been sexually active and she’s quite virginal.”

“Not my problem.”

“No. But it may be mine. I’m going to call Al and ask about his intentions.”

“You sound like a Victorian parent.”

“No, I’m here in New South.”

Patrick stared at her for a moment. “You’re not supposed to make bad jokes! That’s my department!” He grabbed her. “And that’s why I love you.”

“And I you. Let’s put the groceries away and then you can show me.”

“My pleasure, madam.”

At around 2000, Rachel went into the bedroom to call her brother. She was in there for half an hour. When she emerged, she said: “He’s ripe. He’s afraid of the responsibility of marriage, so he’s revising his curriculum, so that he can get a degree – and a job – this year.”

“Is he being realistic?”

“I don’t know. It sounds OK, but I just don’t know.”

“What’s he proposing?”

“Well, at this instant he’s begun a Master’s in Mathematics. But he thinks he could transfer to a Master’s in Applied Statistics and not lose any of his current credits. But Macquarie also has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Statistics and he could do that in the July to December session.”

“Sounds as though he’s given it some thought. And I know there are a lot of jobs, depending on what he’s interested in.”

“Really?”

“Well, the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] is always posting jobs and so are insurance and financial firms. I expect that there are openings in areas like medical statistics, too. But this is far from his interest in theoretical algebra a few years ago, isn’t it?”

“No worse than your sister Sarah’s switches...”

“Don’t be catty.”

“Sorry. I’ve been reading and think I’ve another side to bite into.”

“Tell me. But try not to mix too many metaphors.”

“OK. Anyway, I was looking at Williams’ old book Television [1974]. He says [she read] ‘The photograph is in one sense a popular extension of the portrait’. But that’s only true in a very limited sense. I think people in general took far more photos of places – houses, trees, mountains – than of people. Think of post cards. People go to the shore or to a park and buy pictures of the area, not of other people in the area. And while there are lots of portraits painted in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, there are many landscapes and seascapes.”

“Well, you’ve got a valid point. But don’t get over-involved in it. Mention it, cite this chap...”

“Raymond Williams.”

“Right. Cite him, but don’t let it be a stumbling block. You are writing about Dupain, after all. Can we get back to Al?”

“I don’t know what else there is to say.”

“Are you going to see Sayuri and talk about their ... um ... relationship.”

“Maybe. She’s very Japanese. I may not be able to mention intimacy.”

“I get it. Well, I’m not willing to do anything there. But I certainly wouldn’t suggest that Al buy the car without a test drive.”

“You’re disgusting!”

“Of course. And you, my sweet, were a virgin on our wedding day.”

Rachel turned red. “Should we practice any more?”

“I thought you though you were already pregnant.”

“I do think so, but we might just make certain...”

And they did.

In mid-morning Gordy called Patrick. “It just occurred to me that I hadn’t enquired as to what you’d done with your – uh – birthday gift.”