…Before you moved in there was druggies running a meth’ lab in that place. There were hookers turning tricks in there, fights, non stop fucking problems. I had to call the cops one night ’cause this guy climbed my fence and fell asleep in my back yard…” I lived in Redfern for a while, in…
While we weave, Bianca tells us a story… “Mum has always been an activist. She has always been a proud and vocal Aboriginal woman, but when I was in my teens I was ashamed of who I was. I grew up in a context that was profoundly racist. At school I was regularly…
“When I was eighteen, I just went off and travelled… I didn’t have anybody watching me, or criticising me. I didn’t really have any money, but it didn’t seem to matter. People were so helpful and generous. My family reported me as a missing person. The police saw my truck parked in the street. They were like: ‘why don’t you call your mum? She’s worried about you.”
…It was like looking down on myself in a video game. I stopped shaking, and this insane anger just shot through me. I kicked the door of Steve’s flat, right beside the lock. The door split, and I pushed through the gap. The TV was on. He was standing in front of the couch, in his…
…’I have never hitchhiked’, Vladimir says. ‘Only once. It was during my time in the military. I joined the Serbian patriots when I was just turned fifteen. Tito was my commandant at that time’… ‘Poochera. I sleep here once with my wife’ Vladimir muses. ‘I think was here…’ Poochera is an almost non-existent settlement on…
I notice that the windshield is spider-webbed with cracks. The glove box lid is missing, and all the seats are torn. There is a heavy layer of discarded food wrappers on the floor, and the car has a slightly unpleasant odour. I’m getting a bit of a crack-head vibe off the guy…
…’Madaram sudaram, madaram sudaram, mumbo jumbo, blaggedy bla!’ The bastard’s putting a curse on me! I give the guy his ticket, and say, ‘have a happy Confest’, and as he drives away he’s like: ‘hope you sleep well tonight mate! Sweet dreams buddy!’… Confest 2014. Thursday morning. I’m selling tickets on the front gate. Bloke…
…So where you headed then, mate? I ask him, hoping it’s somewhere really close. He jabs the point of the scissors close to my face, his arm shaking, the point of the scissors bobbing an inch from my left ear. Mind your own fucking business, he snarls, his voice shaking with rage. I keep…
…I got the urge to shave my head one day. When my flatmates got home, they burst out laughing. You look like a skinhead, they tell me. Then suddenly Leon snaps his fingers. I’ve got an idea he says… Asi is a chef. He is passionate about cooking and a great story teller. He chats…
Jonah falls quiet for a while. Dad?
Yes, mate? I know I got myself here, and I’m really proud of myself for hitchhiking and everything, but I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t told me about it, and encouraged me to give hitching a go. Thanks dad. You’re very welcome, mate. I’m so glad you’re here…
I hear something move a few metres away. A crackle of shifting twigs. It’s closer now, just on the other side of the tree. I whirl around the trunk, spear ready…
…I’m fifty feet up in the air, thinking, well, this isn’t gonna end well. I hear the loose coil sliding along the steel edges, and I look over me shoulder, and it’s coming straight at me. It must have hit me, but I don’t remember that. The next thing I remember is being eight or…