Chapter 59

I went by my dad's office, but was told by a receptionist that he wasn't expected until the seventh. I called Rachel and discovered that she was at home. So I went home, too.

I was reading Germaine Greer's On Rage after dinner. It's about the widespread rage of indigenous men and was criticised as being racist. It followed Kevin Rudd's apology. But what got me to Greer was her militant feminism. How could my mum think that Sarah shouldn't be a taxidermist? That was sex stereotyping just as telling her she couldn't be a mechanic would be.

Deep down, Sarah's trapeze artist or whatever was just her anger, just as violence and drunkenness realised the aboriginal's rage. Was riding the motorcycle with Henry that, too?

Thinking about Henry, I thought of the three boxes from the "Royal Australian Navy." I hadn't realised they had missions to the American islands in the 1950s. One of them, the last one, seemed heavier than the others. But maybe that was subjective, because it was last.

"Why so pensive?" Rachel asked.

"I was thinking about Sarah and about Henry."

"Not about Sarah and Henry?"

"No. I don't think either of them is matrimonially inclined right now." I'd told Rachel about the three cartons and Henry's phone calls.

"Henry won't get an answer from Honolulu, you know."

"Why not?"

"What academic is available on January 2^nd? With a weekend impending. I doubt whether he'll be able to talk to anyone much before Tuesday morning."

"Tuesday?"

"Dateline, sweetheart."

"God! I'm stupid! So it's four hours less than 24."

"Good marks. Go in on Monday and see what's in those two other boxes and clear space for the Hilo tsunami on the afternoon of the seventh."

"What have you been reading?"

"Deborah Hart's book on Williams. I borrowed it from the Gallery."

"Borrowed?"

"Well, Winnie had it and she wasn't in. So I borrowed it. I'll put it back before she notices."

"And?"

"It's interesting. She says that Williams revolutionized the way Australians see and think about the environment. The book showcases Williams's strength as a painter. Hart says that Williams's special talent was abstracting from the real or, as he put it, seeing the world 'in terms of paint'. I'm fascinated by his images of the Pilbara. I think I'm going to buy a copy of this, and also the catalogue of his Pilbara paintings."

"O.K."

"It'll come to about a hundred."

"That's about half of a percent of what we gave our siblings."

"Right. I'm silly."

"Just about dosh. You're a check rein on me. I need you."

"And I you."

Monday morning I phoned the Dean's Office at Law School and made an appointment for Wednesday, late morning. I told the receptionist/secretary/whatever that it was a "curriculum problem."

Rachel had overheard and was curious.

"I've nothing to take this year. I've done the required stuff and there are no electives I'd be interested in."

"None?"

"Well, there's 'Indigenous People and Public Law' but that's in July to November. And there's 'Anti-Discrimination in Law' but that seems to be about gender, religion and age. I want something like 'Indigenous Property Rights' or 'Lost Children'."

"There might be something on the latter under Sociology."

"There might. But I want the legal wedge on the chisel. I want a degree next November and I want to go and get the required PLT [practical legal training] and take the LPAB exam and get to some group or band or company and do something!"

"I understand, dear."

"So, I'm hoping Dean Riley will help."

"Riley?"

"Joellen Riley. She's the new dean. She does employment, equity, and commercial law. She's also got a degree in management."

"Will she help?"

"Hard to know. She was really strict about that exam last november. Contracts or something. But she didn't sound unfair. I heard she told some student not to be such a whiner." Rachel laughed.