The Rest is Weight (UQP Short Fiction) (18 page)

‘I’ll do another pass – get ready,’ he says. He can feel Mr Ravka looking at the side of his head, but does not check for the expression.

Alex makes a ninety-degree turn, then another, letting the plane lose altitude. He needs to be high enough to do some damage, but close enough to be sure of a hit. He feels stronger than before, focused, almost has the adrenaline rush of a young man flying a bomber. His last flight, he supposes. Make it count for something.

He ducks and turns, passing low over the trees towards the house. He can see the tops of pines bend and shake away from the plane. Flying, he knows the moment, knows the right shape of the curve it will make, where it will end.

‘Now,’ Alex shouts.

Mr Ravka moves his hand. Alex flies almost straight up, loops fast and tight before he remembers that his passenger might be afraid. When he looks across Mr Ravka is clinging to the seat but smiling.

‘Another?’

‘Yes,’ Mr Ravka shouts, ‘but no more upside down!’

Alex passes over the house again. He is absorbed in his flying, and when he calls ‘Now’ for a second time he doesn’t see the man’s hand float over the button, for the second time float past without touching it.

They return at a higher altitude, easing above the few low clouds.

‘Seems to be clearing,’ Alex says.

Mr Ravka doesn’t answer. Alex gazes past him, out to where St Petersburg lies glowing and smoky in the evening sun. The Nevsky hums, the bridges shine; the city’s miraculous islands disappear behind a forest of grim tower blocks. It is the last time he will see it from the air.

‘What are you going to do,’ says Mr Ravka, ‘when you retire?’

‘I don’t know. I suppose I’ll make myself useful.’ Alex shrugs. ‘Fix my roof.’

Mr Ravka coughs. ‘Ah,’ he says.

Acknowledgments

‘Aperture’, ‘Architecture’ and ‘Demolition’ were written during an Asialink residency in Beijing in 2010, for which I am very grateful.

A few of these stories were improved, and the manuscript encouraged, by a week-long master class at Varuna, the Writer’s House, with Cate Kennedy and Robin Hemley in 2010.

Several of these stories have appeared previously in the following journals and anthologies – many thanks to the editors of these publications for their support:

‘The air you need’ in
Escape: An anthology of short stories
(Spineless Wonders, 2011), edited by Bronwyn Mehan.

‘An innocent man’ in
Meanjin 69.1.

‘Aperture’ in
Meanjin 70.3.

‘The capital of missing persons’ in
Page Seventeen 6, Award Winning Australian Writing
(Melbourne Books, 2009), and
Fishtails in the Dust: Writing from the Centre
(Ptilotus Press, 2009), edited by Janet Hutchinson.

‘Crow season’ in
Total Cardboard 8
(as ‘On the Outside’),
Adelaide Advertiser
and
Alice Springs News
.

‘Extra time’ in
Overland 194.

‘The lap’ in
Mini Shots 10
(Vignette Press, 2007), and broadcast on radio 2SER’s Final Draft in 2007.

‘Look down with me’ in
Bruno’s Song and other Stories from the Northern Territory
(Northern Territory Writers’ Centre, 2011), edited by Bronwyn Mehan and Sandra Thibodeaux, and
The
Best Australian Stories 2011
(Black Inc., 2011), edited by Cate Kennedy.

‘The milk in the sky’ in
The Milk in the Sky: Writing from the Centre
(Ptilotus Press, 2006), edited by Janet Hutchinson, and broadcast on the National Year of Reading 2012 website.

‘Moth’ in
New Australian Stories 2
(Scribe, 2010), edited by Aviva Tuffield.

‘Plain Indians’ in
Award Winning Australian Writing
(Melbourne Books, 2009) and
Fishtails in the Dust: Writing from the Centre
(Ptilotus Press, 2009), edited by Janet Hutchinson.

‘Prospect’ in
Meanjin 69.3.

‘Reason’ in
Alice Springs News
and
The
Best Australian Stories 2007
(Black Inc., 2007), edited by Robert Drewe.

‘The rest is weight’ in
Meanjin 71.1

‘Roadhouse’ in
Total Cardboard 8
,
The Milk in the Sky: Writing from the Centre
(Ptilotus Press, 2006), edited by Janet Hutchinson, and broadcast on the National Year of Reading 2012 website.

‘A selfish prayer’ in
Page Seventeen 5.

‘The shipping views’ (as ‘Water views’) in
Total Cardboard 6
and
Herding Kites: A celebration of Australian writing
(Affirm Press, 2008), edited by Michael Williams.

‘The wind and other children’ in
Heat 16.

First published 2012 by University of Queensland Press

PO Box 6042, St Lucia Queensland 4067, Australia

www.uqp.com.au

© Jennifer Mills 2012

This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Cover design by Design by Committee

Cover artwork by Maurizio Cattelan,
Novecento
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×
269cm
×
68.5cm; installation at Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Art Contemporanea, Turin; courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

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The Rest is Weight / Jennifer Mills

ISBN 978 0 7022 4940 2 (pbk)

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