Read Tuvalu Online

Authors: Andrew O'Connor

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Tuvalu (41 page)

BOOK: Tuvalu
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‘This island I don't know a thing about.'

Cold, I nuzzled into her and felt with sore fingers the warmth of her skin, felt it radiate out, but it was not enough to prevent a shudder.

She whispered in my ear. ‘I bet it has bright green tropical trees, big monkeys, natives and cerulean blue oceans. I bet it has ocean whichever way you look. I bet I won't even need to wear a watch.'

‘Probably not.'

‘And,' she said, ‘there'll be rain storms. Raindrops the size of marbles. We'll wake to the sound of tropical rain, or failing that the sound of waves. I love the sound of waves at night, don't you? They're so calm and regular. We'll lie on a bamboo bed in each other's arms like this and listen, and everything that's here will be left here, left to Japan, to grimy, unfair, sad Japan, with its overcast sky, with its industry and iron and sharp edges.'

A jetliner roared overhead and the hotel walls rattled loudly, then fell silent.

‘Goodnight,' Mami said. ‘Tomorrow we'll be in Tuvalu.'

I fell straight to sleep then but woke too early, woke when I should have slept. I heard her behind me, trying to cross the dark room quietly, her bare feet causing the tatami to groan. I heard paper slip over material and leather placed carefully back on plastic. When I rolled over, squinting, she was silhouetted in the doorway by fluorescent light.

‘Go back to sleep,' she whispered, ‘I'm just getting a soft drink from the vending machine.' And I nodded and rolled back, and when she shut the door all I could see was the deathly quiet snow falling outside.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Annette Barlow, Christa Munns, Catherine Milne, Ali Lavau and Catherine Taylor for a fantastic edit; to everyone at Allen & Unwin for their great support and patience; to
The Australian
and Vogel's for the ongoing encouragement and opportunity they give new writers; to Soph for her last-minute insights; to the many wonderfully kind and interesting Japanese people who explained so much of Japan to me; to the
gaijin
who were and still are there, especially Eric; to Serendipity Lavender Farm, Nar Nar Goon, for teaching me about lavender lollies and other useful details; and to old friends everywhere who always told me to get on and finish something. All mistakes are my own.

BOOK: Tuvalu
3.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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