A great bubble of air broke the surface of the Bellinger and the flying foxes came down close upon the river. When they were close enough for his bad eyes to see, he thought they were like angels with bat wings. He saw it as a sign from God. He shook his head, panicking in the face of eternity. He held the doorknob as it came to be the ceiling of his world. The water rose. Through the bursting gloom he saw a vision of his father's wise and smiling face, peering in at him. He could see, dimly, the outside world, the chair and benches of his father's study. Shining fragments of aquarium glass fell like snow around him. And when the long-awaited white fingers of water tapped and lapped on Oscar's lips, he welcomed them in as he always had, with a scream, like a small boy caught in the sheet-folds of a nightmare.

J

432

Glossary

brolga-a large silvery-grey crane found in Northern and Eastern Australia, which performs an elaborate courtship dance.

Coberm-a worm, eaten as a delicacy.

jinker-a light vehicle, designed to carry two people.

kingsman-a large showy handkerchief in fashion in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Mohawk-a colloquial term for a late Regency/early Victorian "Hooray Henry." the push-colloquial Australian for a gang of vicious hooligans. shickered-drunk. swy-a gambling game.

433