The Turning Page #5

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Jeez.

I don't believe it.

Will you come with me?

You've never met them,

have you, Gail?

Your uncle Ernie'?

Just for an hour.

Yeah, fine. Just for an hour.

Are you sure this is it, Mum?

This is the address

they gave me.

I just don't recognise anything.

Well, you haven't seen them

since you were at the uni.

We'll look around the back.

Might be in the pool.

You don't even know

if they've got a pool.

What are the chances of a place

like this not having a pool?

Imagine cleaning it.

What? The pool?

The house, Gail.

Oh, so... yes.

Hello?

Hello?

Ifs quiet.

It's too damn quiet.

Yoo-hoo!

it's the Marie Celeste.

Ifs rude, that's what it is.

Jesus!

My sainted aunt!

Not in this family!

It's lovely in!

What if this isn't even

the right place?

It better be.

I'm going to check.

Just wait there.

Oh, bloody hell.

Hey!

- What is it, love'?

- It's not them. Get out.

Oh, God.

I've lost my other shoe.

I'm going to lose my job.

Oh, dear.

Wrong house, Mum.

- But I wrote it down!

- Oh, sh*t!

Is that champagne?

Pour me a glass!

What'?

What, you don't think

I've got an excuse?

Just this once'?

Oh, come on.

Give your mother a drink.

I lost a shoe over this.

Oh, look.

I wrote '75'

and read the 5 as an 8.

My handwriting's not good

and my eyesight's worse!

Oh!

Don't worry about it, Carol.

For what it's worth,

I enjoyed it.

Imagine if they'd've

sprung us in their pool.

They'll find the shoe.

I mean, that is

breaking and entering.

Well...

Happy Christmas.

- I'm serious, Mum.

- Oh.

Well, I don't know about

anyone else,

but it's the most fun

I've ever had at Christmas.

I felt like I was 10 years old.

Got that

kind of naughty feeling.

Oh, yeah.

Be quiet, Vic. Let her talk.

When I was little,

we weren't even allow to say

"Merry Christmas"

because it condoned drunkenness.

It was "Happy Christmas"

or it was the doghouse.

Oh, I'm sorry, Carol.

I wasn't thinking.

Sorry.

What, because Bob

was an alcoholic?

You're too careful.

Why... how did you know

it wasn't Ernie's house?

Photos.

Oh, no red hair,

no freckles, no ugly cousins.

No wobbegongs.

Hang on. That's our gene pool.

Don't even say the word 'pool'.

Well, they're nothing alike,

Bob and Ernie.

Pardon me.

Bob was everything Ernie wasn't.

He cleaned up every mess

Ernie ever made.

No thanks, no recognition.

And when Bob needed help,

nothing.

No... nothing.

Just a howl of disappointment.

Disapproval.

Yeah.

No, no. I've heard the stories.

Family's not a word,

it's a sentence.

Mmm!

Rubbish. It's a challenge.

No! It's an adventure.

I think I'd like another glass,

Gail.

Come on.

We'll take the bottle outside.

- Mum...

- We can drink it there.

Oh, come on.

Oh, Vic!

It's Christmas!

Anyway,

I think I'm a little bit tipsy.

Whoops.

- Go on. There you go.

- Oh.

Ooh!

Thanks, Gail.

Vic!

You coming out?

No, I'm good.

Yes, he is. He's a good man.

Like his father.

There. See there?

That's where Santa Claus lives.

Is it'?

My mother was a drunk.

She lived on peanuts and gin.

Whenever I wanted

her to hug me...

I dragged her out of pubs

after school, every day.

Whenever I want her to hug me,

she'd crack open a peanut

and she'd say, "Look, Carol.

That's where Santa Claus lives."

Don't give her

any more to drink.

Well, excuse us, Constable!

Oh, let's get him

with a peanut. Go on.

Oh!

- Right.

- Well done, Gail.

- Hey?

- Now it's on.

Oh, yeah. Now it's on.

It's a peg fight.

Peg and peanuts.

Now it's serious.

Hit him with the peanut.

This time, it's serious.

Pretty good.

Come on, Victor.

You're the target.

Yeah, don't start something

you can't finish.

Is it your mother?

Yes.

You'll need a cup of tea.

How long have you

lived like this?

Sober? 15 years.

Look, it'll be too dangerous

trying to drive back to the city

in the dark.

Can you wait till morning?

You're welcome to stay here.

How do you live?

I get the pension.

I look after things for people,

keep them for them.

What sort of things?

Money, gold.

There's a few people here

and there still prospecting.

And often as not, they're just

going off their rockers and...

...drinking too much.

They don't trust each other,

they don't trust themselves

and they leave their stuff

with me.

Why you?

Because I don't drink.

Because I'm trustworthy.

I have to see some people

before I leave.

In case there's any

misunderstanding.

Do you want me to drive you?

Well, it would be quicker.

Yeah, just pull up here.

Yep.

I won't be long.

Did you hear about

the royal commission?

Somebody said it was on.

You're not curious?

It was a long time ago.

Shame to get this car dirty.

I hear you're a lawyer now.

Yeah.

What kind'?

Industrial relations.

On whose side?

The little bloke.

Oh, that's good.

That's good. You've gotta

look after the little bloke.

Yeah, well, that's the theory.

And your mother, is she...

...sick?

- Yeah.

- How sick?

She's dying.

Well, it hasn't all

been for nothing, then.

What hasn't?

Sobering up.

I couldn't have gone drunk.

I don't think she really cares

about that anymore.

Well, I wouldn't have.

I wouldn't have gone drunk.

- That's irrelevant.

- I wouldn't have gone.

It's not irrelevant to me.

Well, Jesus, you've been sober

for 15 years,

any way it turns out.

Waiting every day.

Have you ever written to her?

- Not since I've been straight.

- Why not?

Shame, I suppose.

- I didn't want to get...

- She's married to you!

So I believe.

It's good that you're sober.

I'm sorry.

I wish I could undo it all.

What the hell was it, Dad?

I lost my way.

Yeah, well, we've come across

that, haven't we?

You lost your way and we...

we all got lost with you.

You never said.

You never told us.

And the job?

Was it something you did?

Is that what you think?

You think that I'm sitting here

waiting to be named

in that inquiry?

Well, I've...

I've wondered, Dad.

I'm really sorry about that.

I saw things.

Well, I don't know.

I half saw things.

Things I didn't really

understand at the time.

I don't even really understand

them now. It's just...

It was the surprise of it.

Knowing that

I was on the outside.

As soon as I smelt that

there was something crook,

I knew there was

no-one safe to tell.

Nobody at all'?

No, I thought I was going nuts.

But then there was

this little kid.

He was a small-time petty crim.

He had his legs broken

out on Thunder Beach.

Yeah, he got... he hopped into

a car with detectives...

Yeah, that's the one.

Those two demons

come down from the city.

I don't know what it was about.

Drugs, I s'pose.

I never really understood it.

It was just that

he'd fallen foul of them

and any question about it,

any witness account

died on the vine.

It didn't matter who it came to.

It felt like

whatever was going on,

I was the only bloke

not in on it.

So who do you talk to?

Who do you trust?

I know it ate me alive.

I should have quit.

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