Max, this is a delicious piece that manages to bring into itself the
contrasting horror of the story of fire. You do a beautiful job with this.
thanks! sheila
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Milkshakes
>
> Sunday in Rathdowne Street North
> with its wide-verandahed shops
> another warm mid-February afternoon;
>
> tether the dog between a plane tree
> still in full leaf and a café table,
> park that over-heavy handbag of hers
>
> on the third of the metal chairs,
> smile at the young waitress
> (surely a peachy English rose)
>
> who brings menus and water,
> settle in for a slow late lunch.
> 'Were you on duty here last Saturday?'
>
> 'First day of the fires, yes, forty-
> five degrees at three p.m.,
> that was when we closed. And I'm
>
> from England where the sun never shines.
> 'I know England,' I boast, broadening
> my acquired Aussie accent.
>
> The cafe kitchen is so slow there's time
> for a quick sortie to Alice's Bookshop
> for a bargain from the kerbside box.
>
> 'North Face of Soho', Clive James's fourth
> memoir: the Aussie making good in England
> with wisecracks and the lowdown on Grub Street.
>
> The English rose has brought my milkshake,
> chosen for nostalgia value. This I'd have,
> me in short pants and sandals,
>
> Saturday afternoons, having picked up
> from the suburban station platform
> (Waterloo, no less!) and lugged
>
> the bundled Wellington 'Evening Post'
> to the nearby shop we called the milkbar –
> a caramel milkshake my reward.
>
> I never dreamed then there was another
> Waterloo Station, somewhat bigger.
> The Post carried mainly the sports results.
>
> The last droplets drawn up a straw
> reverberate vulgarly in the metal cylinder.
> James observes the older he gets
>
> the quicker the onslaught on him
> of early memories. What comes back now
> is the Hutt Valley's tame version
>
> of bushfires: the golden gorse-clad hills
> (transplants of nostalgic pioneers)
> burned most Februaries, doing
>
> little harm. Here the odorous haze
> of burned eucalyptus reaches in
> from Kinglake to inner-city Carlton.
>
> Wednesday 18 February 2009
>
> Max Richards
>
>
>
>
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>
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