The Book of Emmett by Deborah Forster Page B

his eyes and was astonished. She files it away to discuss with Rob later.
    Louisa and Rob remember the train ride home. Sealed in there with him in the red rattler, shaking across the flat industrial acres and looking out from the dark windows, they can still see that leaping Russian and hear the music that spoke of otherness.
    Near to Middle Footscray Station Emmett leans across to Louisa and whispers, ‘You understand beauty, young Louie, and beauty will always console you.’ Louisa smiles and doesn’t know what to say to her father so she says, ‘I’d like to be a dancer like Nureyev or even be like old Mrs Fonteyn, that wouldn’t be too bad.’ The sheer delight of having all this good attention from him is making her dizzy. Emmett nods sagely and sitting back on the vandalised train seat says, ‘Anything is possible.’
    He looks reflective as he watches the light bounce off the blocks of containers outside. ‘Nureyev is very good but if you want a real artist, look no further than Frank Sinatra, a Yank, true, but what an artist. And of course, there’s always Banjo.’ He sits back and grins and Louisa thinks she sees happiness in him. The rarest thing in the world.
    Soon, they’re at their station and he’s bustling them off the train with ‘Get a move on, Robert, you dilatory boy!’ And then the train is gone and they’re walking in his footsteps, following him home through the thin, darkly shining streets.

13
    To some, Australia is Europe distilled, but to Emmett Brown, it’s just distance. And that is its strength. The Browns emerged from the round-shouldered question mark British Isles about 180 years ago and settled into the width of Australia, bringing every single one of their bad habits with them.
    The small Scottish island in the chilly North Sea was steep with rocks and rich in sky and they stepped onto the great southern land with many reservations.
    For one thing, the vastness really bothered them. The scale was all wrong. Everything was way too big. The sky and the sea and even the fish were huge. And it must be admitted that the trees with their tattered drooping leaves were a sore disappointment, though it was also true that back on the island their own trees had long since been felled for warmth and money.
    Puzzled, amazed and isolated, not one of them expected to love this country but there was nothing left in Scotland – the highland clearances had seen to that. They had been turfed out of their own country by their English landlords and replaced with sheep.
    They expected to tolerate this place, to eat and maybe even to make some money (they never did manage that) but then, somehow, love grew in their bones like a secret, at first quietly and then wildly and randomly it grew within each of their hearts until it reached Emmett Brown and in him, love of place culminated. Australia is his first belief.
    â€˜Wouldn’t mind going over to Pommy land one day,’ Emmett declares one evening stretching back on the chair and balancing lightly, a long man lounging on a small chair in a narrow room. ‘Just to check up on those bastards who wanted to get rid of us so bad they kicked us out of their puny little runt of an island. Bloody Poms, can you credit them?’ He laughs, comes upright with a thud and takes a pull of his tall golden beer. There’s an art to pouring a beer and the Brown kids know it. They poured this one to perfection, a small head and the beer, the aspic clear of amber.
    Tonight he’s in a positive mood and possibly a reflective one, even on the subject of politics. The children are gathered again and know they must keep the mood where it is. Must not let it drop. They are the audience to his life and while not the ones he would have chosen, they’ll do. Louisa is caught dithering in the kitchen and is frozen there, not knowing when or if to move.
    Emmett is explaining to the kids that he