Chapter 19

I phoned Winnie around dinnertime. She's taken the weekend off so we arranged for me to call for her around 900 on Friday. I told her about "hiring" Logan and about my Thursday appointment with my new advisor.

The meeting with Professor Adam went painlessly. I gave him the note from Dr. Caddis, he signed it, we went to the office together. Luckily, Jennie was there. I asked her to make three copies. When she was done I handed the original back to her, one copy to Professor Adam and kept two?

"For whom are those?" he asked.

"One for Dr. Caddis, one for me."

"Excellent. Excellent. Now I won't need to give you the lecture on record-keeping." He laughed.

"I hope not, sir. When's the first class?"

"Tuesday at 1400. The conference room near my office." He turned to Jenny. "How many do I have?"

"Five or six."

"Good. Don't want too many. See you then, Gordy." He went off.

"Thanks for helping Logan," Jenny said.

"I was helping the CSIRO and the Museum. I gather you're still seeing one another."

"Oh, yes. Though Karen's becoming a problem."

"Yes. I can understand that."

"Have a good weekend."

"Oh, I expect we will."

I packed several shirts and an extra pair of trousers as well as underthings and my washing/shaving kit. I also took my collection set, my copy of Naumann's Insects of Australia, my Banjo Paterson, and the Praed. It seemed like a lot of stuff to me. But I snatched my Puffin Book of Australian Insects [by Helen Hunt] as I went out the door.

I had told Mrs. Warren that I'd be away for the weekend and repeated it on Friday morning. Winnie was waiting and we drove off to Orange by way of Bathurst.

"Have you breakfasted?"

"Just a cuppa," she responded.

"Hungry?"

"I can wait."

"It's about two hours to Orange."

"If we see a real cafe, we can stop."

I squeezed her hand to let her know that I understood. A genuine Australian breakfast: lamb chops or lamb sausages, toast, eggs sunnyside up, marmelade or Vegemite, tea or coffee. I got hungry thinking about it, even though I hated Vegemite.

As we drove I started to hum, then sing "Waltzing Matilda."

"Working up to Banjo?"

"You bet!"

Written by Banjo Paterson in Queensland 1895, "Waltzing Matilda" was inspired by the death of swagman-shearer during the shearers' strikes of the 1890s. It was put to music by Christina Macpherson of Dagwood Station, near Winton, Queensland. The tune was adapted from the traditional Scottish tune "Craigielea" which she had heard at the Warrnambool Races in Victoria in 1894.

"Do you like other music? This is Sydney. Have you been to the opera?"

"Only once. In Brisbane. I saw Mozart's Così fan tutte."

"Did you like it?"

"Very much."

"We'll have to go. I'm not sure what Opera Australia is doing this year. But I know that Verdi's Rigoletto and Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky and a Mozart – probably The Marriage of Figaro and The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan are on the schedule. Could we go?"

"Of course. Only the Museum, the Gallery and two courses of study stand in our way. And dosh, of course."

"Of course. But there are cheap student seats. You can teach me about insects and I'll take you to the opera!"

"Sounds okay. But you're already doing literature."

"Oh, right. How Lady Bridget coming along?"

"Quite smartly. I've just begun the third book. That's a bit mixed. It's from Colin's point of view, but there are a few parts from others'. I think that having set up her method, Praed found it constraining and had to deviate. But it certainly gives a picture of life in the far northwest nearly a century ago."

"That's really good. Top marks, Gordy. I've a few more of Rosa Praed's novels, but I think I'll move you to a different author ... one that's a bit earlier."