June Free Chapter - A Distant Land by Alison Booth

7/31/2019 June Free Chapter - A Distant Land by Alison Booth

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opyr g t son oot 2 2. r g ts reserve . o part o t s pu cat on may e repro uce , store

in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

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3/12

A Bantam book

Published by Random House Australia Pty LtdLevel 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by Bantam in 2012

Copyright Alison Booth 2012

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or

entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronicor mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions ofthe Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage andretrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.

Permission to reproduce words from the T. S. Eliot poem Burnt Norton, first published in1935 and later in Four Quartets, courtesy of the publisher Faber and Faber Ltd, England.Permission to reproduce words from the Judith Wright poem All Things Conspire, fromA Human Pattern: Selected Poems, published in 2009, courtesy of ETT Imprint, Sydney.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product ofthe authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, livingor dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be foundat www.randomhouse.com.au/offices.

National Library of AustraliaCataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Booth, Alison.A distant land/Alison Booth.978 1 86471 194 3 (pbk.)A823.4

Cover images: tree by Jason Loucas, Photolibrary, courtesy of Getty Images; flora by dpaint,courtesy of Shutterstock.com; woman by Elena Yakusheva, courtesy of Shutterstock.com;sky by Iakov Kalinin, courtesy of Shutterstock.comCover design by Natalie WinterInternal design and typesetting by Midland Typesetters, AustraliaPrinted and bound by Griffin Press, South Australia

Random House Australia uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products andmade from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes areexpected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.



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Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.

What might have been is an abstractionRemaining a perpetual possibility

Only in a world of speculation.

T. S. Eliot, Burnt Norton



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5/12

PART I

September 1971



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6/12

7

CHAPTER1

It was only early September but the sun felt hot on Zidras

face. The centre of Sydney was cordoned off, the traffic

diverted elsewhere, the streets occupied by anti-war

marchers. It was a fantastic turnout, she thought; there had to be

tens of thousands of people demonstrating. Narrowing her eyes

against the harsh glare, she peered at the stream of bodies flowing

towards the Domain, bodies holding up so many placards and

banners that sometimes it was hard to make out the faces of the

people carrying them. The messages were unmistakable though:

Nurses For Peace; Miners Against Massacre in Vietnam; Youth

Campaign Against Conscription.

There was almost a carnival atmosphere, in spite of the

violence at the last moratorium march, in spite of the gravityof the common cause. And in spite of the police presence: burly

men arrayed like wooden figures in a game of table football

waiting for the start of play.

After scribbling some words in the notebook she was carrying,

Zidras attention was caught by an enormous banner bearing the

message End the Unjust War. It was held aloft by five middle-

aged women, all wearing pretty floral dresses and hats as if theywere attending a formal garden party. The fabric of the banner



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7/12

8

Alison Booth

billowed in the breeze, and a sudden gust filled it like a spinnaker

and threatened to lift the women off the ground. Zidra nudged

Chris but hed already seen it. Snapping everything, hed takenhundreds of photographs of the marchers, of the ranks of

observers, and of the impassive policemen too.

Chris hoicked his camera equipment onto his shoulder and

grabbed Zidras elbow with his free hand. Their plan was to take a

short cut through the side streets to reach the Domain, where the

speeches were to be made. At that moment she heard someone

call her name. It was her best friend, Lorna Hunter, marchingonly metres away. Wearing a T-shirt with the Aboriginal flag on

the front and a red bandana tied around her shoulder-length

black hair, she was at the front of the group under the banner of

the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign.

While Zidra was waving back, her attention was caught by light

reflecting off a telephoto lens on an expensive-looking camera. A

rival newspaper, she thought, although she didnt recognise the

man holding it. He was of average height with an unremarkable

face: the nose was snub, cheekbones appeared absent, and his

hair was so nondescript that youd only describe it as mousy if

you were being kind. A Mr Ordinary, whom she would never

have noticed if it hadnt been for that shaft of sunlight glinting

off his lens.She watched him sidle along between the line of police and

the onlookers on the other side of the road. He was keeping pace

with Lorna. Photographing Lorna. The police presence didnt

seem to stop the progress of Mr Ordinary, who was still taking

snaps of the marchers bearing the Vietnam Moratorium banner.

Get a shot of that man, Chris, she said, pointing.

Which one?The guy with the telephoto lens, see?



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8/12

9

A Distant Land

Chris obligingly snapped a couple of shots in the few seconds

before Lorna was carried out of sight in the surge towards the

Domain. Then he grabbed Zidras hand and began pulling herthrough the crowd of onlookers, people peeling apart as soon as

they saw the gear he was carrying.

Its Zidra Vincent, isnt it?

She stopped, while Chris loosened his grip on her arm and

forged ahead. She recognised the voice. Hank Fuller was smiling

down at her. Suddenly conscious of her dishevelled appearance

her curly brown hair was escaping from the ribbon shed tied itback with and her face was devoid of make-up she smoothed

her crumpled dress. Better looking even than she remembered,

Hank had the oval face and deep-set eyes of a saint from an early

Italian painting. This was an illusion, she knew. The way hed

kissed her on the balcony at that cocktail party two weeks ago was

far from saintly. Moments afterwards shed gone inside and soon

after left without saying goodbye. Shed felt wary about Hank the

Yank after learning he worked for the American Consulate. And

anyway hed come on to her too fast. Yet she was pleased to see

him in spite of that.

Hurry up, Zidra. We havent got much time. Chris was yelling

at her from several paces ahead and she could see that the crowd

was already folding back over the opening hed created.Are you with that big blonde guy with the camera? Hank

said. Hes a man in a hurry.

Yes, we work together. Im with the Sydney Morning

Chronicle.

I know. You told me that when we met before. And Ive read

your articles.

She stiffened. You cant know which are mine. None of thelocal news is attributed.



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9/12

10

Alison Booth

You cover anti-war marches, he said lightly. Under the

merciless sunlight she could see the mesh of fine lines around

his eyes. He looked older than shed first thought; probably in hisearly thirties. He added, And I know your style.

I dont have a style. I just observe and record.

In a particularly stylish way.

She refused to be flattered. I cant stop now, she said. Were

covering the moratorium.

Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?

She hesitated but only for a second. Yes, why not? Meet meat the Gladstone pub in Paddington at seven oclock. Im seeing

some friends there, and you and I can have dinner after that.

Sure. He shouted some more words after her but they were

drowned out by the chanting of the marchers from the Rubber &

Allied Workers Union and she thought no more of him.

After stuffing her notebook into her shoulder bag, she ran in

the direction that Chris had taken, although he was out of sight

now. Pressing through the crowd, she emerged at last into an open

space and glimpsed Chris disappearing down a side street near

Sydney Hospital. Overweight though he was, and burdened with

various pieces of camera apparatus, he still managed to maintain

a cracking pace, and she struggled to catch up with him.

At the same time, she was mentally composing her article andfiling, in another part of her brain, a different story, a story based

on the conflicting messages of those various placards that shed

seen, a story that would win her accolades and a weekly column,

if only she could get her editor to publish it.

Today everyone was united by their shared purpose, she

thought, in spite of their different narratives. It was the waging

of war on the warmongers. The marchers battle was glorious,their zeal was almost messianic.





10/12

11

A Distant Land

Who was your mate? Chris said when she was within

speaking distance. They began to negotiate their way around

the sea of bodies towards the platform at the far side of theDomain. It was a relief to be out of the unrelenting light and

under the dense canopy of the Moreton Bay fig trees encircling

the vast grassy area. Already the people who would speak were

seated on the dais, six in a row, and someone was fiddling with

a microphone in front of the lectern.

Hank Fuller. He works for the US Consulate.

Yeah? Hes CIA then. Be careful what you say.Shed had the same thought but she laughed at Chris. Though

he was only three years older than she, he liked to pretend he

was more. Liked to pretend he was in charge too, even though

she was the official storyteller in this duo. His photographs were

good, and sometimes so brilliant that they didnt need a story,

the image told it all. Hank probably just issues visas, she said.

Anyway, you dont really think I have secrets, do you?

He grinned. Nah, thats your problem. Too open. Apart from

when youre bottling up a story then youre like a clam. Got to

be cagey with CIA types though. Why else do you think hed be

attending a moratorium march?

Observing, Chris. Like us. But theres a difference between

spying and observing, you know.Too bloody right, he said and started unpacking his gear.

I guess that camera he was toting was just for tourist snaps.

Photos to show the folks back home rather than for work.

He had a camera?

Yeah, didnt you notice? I reckon you were too caught up in

his handsome face.

Everyone watching the marchers has a camera. Didnt younotice?





11/12

12

Alison Booth

I dont call a Polaroid Instamatic a camera. He had aHasselblad. Bloody expensive, those things.

All that means is that hes rich. It doesnt mean hes using itfor work. Maybe youre becoming just the tiniest bit paranoid,Chris.

Weve got to be suspicious nowadays. You should know thatmore than anyone, my budding investigative friend. And anyway,why did you want me to photograph that other bloke, the onewith the Leica?

Is that what it was? He was taking rather a lot of pictures ofmy friend Lorna.

A white bloke snapping an Aboriginal girl right under thebanner of the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign, eh? Hes eitheranother journalist or police, I reckon. I took a couple of hermyself. You can have copies of them if you want.

Thanks, Id like that.

Their conversation was interrupted by a piercing whistlefrom the amplifier on stage. When it had stopped, Chris said, Ifyou want a nice-looking Yank, go to the Cross and pick up one.Theyre a dime a dozen up there and no strings attached. Thatswhat Id do. Not go fishing in the US bloody Consulate.

Thats terrible advice, Chris. It was a doctor whod toldher about the venereal disease infection rates, but she hadnt

mentioned this when shed interviewed a few of the Americanservicemen on Rest and Recreation leave. Some seemed liketough thugs you wouldnt want to meet on a dark night butothers were traumatised vulnerable boys who needed to gohome. She added, You want to be careful yourself. Ive heard alot of the soldiers have got VD.

Nah, theyre all on penicillin. Not to mention other sub-

stances. But as I always say, theres nothing wrong with a goodold Aussie bloke.



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12/12

13

A Distant Land

Theres plenty wrong with a good old Aussie bloke, she thought,

especially when he doesnt live here any more. Jim Cadwallader

might have been in her heart but he wasnt in her country.Four years in Britain was four too many, and now he was in

Phnom Penh covering the Vietnam War as it spilt over into

Cambodia. Even though shed loved him for years, even though

theyd been writing to each other for years, none of that was

enough to bring him home.

At that moment she was distracted from her reverie by the

banner that was being stretched out across the back of the dais.Beaut flag, isnt it? Chris said.

It was the Vietnam Moratorium logo, a white sunburst on an

orange background. Chris raised his camera and began snapping.

Zidra pulled her notebook out of her bag as the applause began

and the first speaker, a Labor Party politician, stepped up to the

lectern. She knew what he would say. Hed said it again and again

and still it was worth repeating: Democracy begins on the farms,

in the factories and in the streets, and if people will not, often

at risk to themselves, stand up for their rights there will be no

democracy.



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June Free Chapter - A Distant Land by Alison Booth

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