Chapter 8

Tessa and Sam devoted the weekend to the basics (cleaning the flat, marketing) and trying to resolve their logistics problems: sexual, educational, and geographic. They discussed the last first.

“Well,” Sam said, “I signed a one-year lease; but it may have been for the academic, not twelve-month year. I know that I looked at it, but...”

“You’ve got a copy?”

“Of course.”

“So look it up, dummy!”

“Right.” It took only a few minutes. “Here. We’ve got this place till June 30^th. It’s a Sunday. But I prepaid the whole thing. So we’re clear of further expenses.”

“Unless we destroy it.”

“During one of our drunken orgies?”

“Dream on.”

“It’s not clear whether we can sublet. I think we can. We can ask Patrick.”

“Right. But we’re getting towards the end of trimester 2, what are the dates for three?”

“You look. You’ve got the University’s calendar there.”

“Three runs from the beginning of the New Year to the end of February and one from the beginning of March to June.”

“Three’s shorter than one or two.”

“No hols. Just Australia Day. Christmas and Easter and Summer during the others.”

“So we’ve only a few weeks and then we can drive down and see what Sydney might be like.”

“Pretty much. I’ve got a paper and an exam.”

“I’ve the same. But the paper’s for history, so I’ve got to do it right.”

“Stay clear of anthropology and sociology!”

“That’s obvious. Is that book on Marree here?”

“Right over there, with ‘MARREE’ in white on the spine.”

“It had some stuff about the old railroad. He’d like that as a topic.”

“I’m going to write about birds in Australian mythology.”

“Isn’t that cheating?”

“I’m not writing about personal experiences!”

“Will we come back for January and February?”

“That’s got to depend on what we learn about Parramatta. If we can just enroll as of the beginning of trimester one, we can move and set up over the time from before Christmas to the end of February. And you can take time to set up time at museums or whatever.”

“And you?”

“I’m going to push ahead for a degree in the social sciences. Anthro, Soc, maybe Psych.”

“Not what they call ‘social work’?”

“No. Nor things that would make me an agent of the state bureaucracy.”

“In some ways, that’s nearly everything.”

“I’ll aim for that ‘nearly.’ I’m just not sure where it is.”

“I’m really bothered by the general view of ‘school’ – or education.”

“‘General view’?”

“Yes. I think I’m here to learn, but everyone I talk to, everyone we meet, seems to be into what job they can get. There’s a difference. I’m not into job training.”

“That’s because you never had to!”

“True. But I think that’s why I get so itchy in the history lecture. There are things that might explain both the current but also the earlier behavior. Blainey spends several pages on the Aboriginal/European contacts in the first century or so after 1788, including contrasting NSW with South Australia, which had no transportees. I’d never thought about that. Nor about the variety of contacts brought about by the differences among the immigrant groups.”

“Please! No book reports!”

“Sorry. But there’s a big difference between learning and job training. I’m at one end, Susie’s towards the other. You’re in the middle.”

“OK. But let’s get down to what we’re doing next: We’re going to get our courses in order and try to schedule the next trimester, with the knowledge that we’re driving down to Sydney around December 7^th.”

“Pearl Harbor Day.”

“What?”

“The anniversary of the day the Japanese attacked Honolulu. The first attack on Darwin came three months later on February 19^th. Over 200 were killed here.”

“How do you remember those things?”

“It’s part of history. And it’s part of my heritage. Haji. My Japanese shame.”

“You’re only a quarter Japanese.”

“True. But Ruth Benedict pointed out the difference between the West and the East as a difference between a ‘guilt’ culture and a ‘shame’ culture. Christianity is a guilt culture; China and Japan typify shame cultures. My mum told me not to feel guilty, but responsible. Not acting responsibly brings shame. The Japanese did not act responsibly nor honorably at Pearl Harbor nor at Darwin.”

Tessa was quite silent for a while.

“Would you like tea?”

“Please.”

While waiting for the kettle to come to a boil, Tessa asked: “What about Susie?”

“What about her?”

“What do we do about her?”

“Well, first of all, I hadn’t been aware that we had assumed responsibility. And second, she’s an adult and we’ve no indication as to her inclination nor intent.”

“Oh. Right. I’ve made a big jump. I guess we wait for her to return from Tamworth, then learn of her – uh – inclinations, and then come to a conclusion.”

“If any is necessary. You’re assuming some sort of connection or commitment, rather than a transient encounter.”

“Right again. You’re still soaring on the currents, watching those of us lower down.”

“And you’re reverting to avian metaphors.”

“Sugar?”

“No, thanks.”

“You’re right.”

“Huh?”

“I started out a week ago thinking about Bunjil and the two swans. But then it was trying something different. Oh, the girls at school paired off and had threesomes. But I was never asked, I was dark meat. So, now I’ve tried another woman. But I think I need more. I just don’t know what.”

“Well, let’s skip that. What are your educational goals? I’ve no notion what mine are. Gordy’s were to study ants, my dad’s were to execute legal justice, my mum’s to relate different views of landscape. What are our’s?”