Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved.

. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Deborah Forster grew up in Footscray, Melbourne. She worked as a staff and freelance journalist for many years and was a This Life columnist on The Age and The Sunday Age. Deborah is married to Alan Kohler and they have three children. Her first novel, The Book of Emmett, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2010. Praise for The Book of Emmett Deborah Forsters debut novel, The Book of Emmett, is wonderful . . . Immediately engaging, it tells with grace and humour, panache and simplicity, the story of a broken family . . . This is a story not of how people are crushed, but the many ways in which they survived. With humour and pain in equal intensity, Forster rips through one familys search for love and acceptance. Jennifer Levasseur, The Sydney Morning Herald Brilliant. A story of such gently savage emotional intensity it stays with you long after youve turned the last page. Susan Duncan Deborah Forster is a writer in a class of her own. When a book makes you breathless with fear and love for the characters, and says a Kombi van handles like a dog on lino, you know its wonderful. Deborah Forster has used an angels phrasebook to make a story thats as beautiful as hope, as real as truth and as Australian as 5050 cordial and Tic Toc bickies. Kaz Cooke A powerful story. In this mature and strangely uplifting book, Forster neither sensationalises nor trivialises the enormity of the pain for those whose childhoods are denied them. Mary Philip, The Courier Mail The central story is not new: a family growing up under the overwhelming shadow of domestic violence and the generational legacy that entails. But the inventiveness of the telling, the dark seductiveness

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

of the language and the prickly complexity of the characters make this most familiar of stories original and surprising. Jo Case, The Age In an impressive debut novel that vividly evokes Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, the dark, disturbing experiences are illuminated by innocent and happy ones. The children are wonderful and its their indomitable spirits that make this book fly. Australian Womens Weekly A first novel of subtle achievement, The Book of Emmett stands out from a flood of tales on domestic abuse. Written with no-nonsense poise and leavened by wry humour, it never shies from the stunting consequences on the lives of those affected of the trauma of emotional and physical violence. Despite this, it is a poignant story of survival with memorable characters a salute to tenacity and a touching marker of lost potential. Judges, 2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award Beginning with a fractious funeral ceremony on a hellishly hot day in Melbournes west, The Book of Emmett . . . patiently and painfully traces the lives to this point of an ordinary family. The father, Emmett Brown, is by turns cruel, capricious and charming. Forster analyses the physical and psychological damage that this combination of qualities causes Emmetts wife and children, as well as the bonds that they are compelled to form with each other. The novels prose is elegiac. Its scenes of domestic life are jaggedly vivid. Forster has created an insightful anatomy of suburban Australia. Judges, 2010 Prime Ministers Literary Awards This is a powerful and emotional debut novel. Forster beautifully portrays the fear and shame experienced by this family, but also the love and courage that sustains them. Professor Robert Dixon, Chair of Australian Literature, University of Sydney

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

OF GRACE

THE MEANING

DEBORAH FORSTER

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

A Vintage book Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060 www.randomhouse.com.au First published by Vintage in 2012 Copyright Deborah Forster 2012 The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry Forster, Deborah The meaning of grace / Deborah Forster ISBN 978 1 74275 534 2 (pbk) A823.4

Cover image by Kirsten Mckee/Getty Images Cover design by Natalie Winter Internal design and typesetting by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in Australia by Griffin Press, an accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004 Environmental Management System printer Random House Australia uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

PART I

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Chapter 1
Cellophane

H
Crumbs of fog lay on the sea that day, and the stillness was unbroken. On the poplars, yellow leaves shiver on their stems. Next door the maple, red as a new wound, towers over the little house. On the way to the car for the drive to chemotherapy, Edie puts her arm around her mothers shoulders. Grace mentions the leaves, but all Edie is aware of is her incredible lightness. The word cancer hurtles through her and blocks out everything all over again, but she thinks maybe she says yeah about the leaves. Grace had been slow to open her eyes that morning and it seemed even the blue of them was being claimed by the grey future. And yet the map of her life in the lines of her face is kindly, is her, is Grace. How you going, darlin mum? Edie had asked, kneeling beside the bed, and Grace had touched her hand to her daughters cheek and said, Better now for seeing your face, my girl. She tucked a strand of Edies hair behind her ear. Edie smiled but wanted to weep. Maybe she always loved me, she thought, and we find out at the end. Setting out, Edie sees yesterdays sheets and Graces blue nightie on the line, and that the thin May stillness holds them silent and unruffled. Should have brought them in yesterday before the day

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

went, she thinks, backing out on the disintegrating gravel drive. Hope Im back in time to get the clothes in before the birds shit on them. The radio in the car is on Graces favourite talkback station and the morning host is Stuart Apple. Stewies fired up, Edie remarks. The station has taken a bit of finding in Edies car radio, but there he is, going on about dumb government, train timetables and what makes an Australian? A refugee? Jangling ads fertilise the mix. Driving through islands of low cloud, Edie worries that Stewie, who she thinks of as Spewie, will get to her, but Grace treats him as an audible newspaper, just another diversion in a sea of them. Bit of company, love. Bit of a diversion, thats all, she says, on a long drive. Warmth is late coming to the sky; the sun seems too far away today. The car seats cup them and they drive the twenty or so kilometres to the hospital. They swerve to avoid a dead fox smeared on the road like a broken jar of jam. In the distance, on the green paddock, black-andwhite dairy cows stretch and munch. Grace clears her throat so Edie mutes Stewie on the radio. You have to watch foxes around calves. Theyre cruel too. Take a calfs eyes out for the fun of it. Isnt that crows and lambs? Well, they will too. Nature can be cruel, you know, Edo. I spent some time on a farm when I was a girl. Edie hasnt heard Grace speak about that time for so long, its halfremembered. She thinks she might raise it but maybe mentioning the days when Grace was away from her own mother . . .well, right now that might not be good. So she leaves it. Leaving it is the wisest course, she has discovered. In all things. In the warm car, crocheted rug on her knees, Grace appears to doze and Edie is careful with the driving. She stays back from other cars and gets tooted twice for her trouble Mrs Slowpoke at the lights. As theyre turning into the hospital Grace says, Dont worry about those bastards. Youre a good driver, darlin . . . Long as you

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

know your way, of course. Edie glances over and sees closed eyes and nothing short of benevolence but still, out of habit, she holds the comment for further perusal. And then somehow it all takes so long finding a spot in the car park lined with dusty cars and utes that Edie isnt surprised when her mother whispers, You know, I dont think Ill be able to walk today, love. But Edie is unprepared for it; each decline is like another leg of the marathon. And some kind of alarm switches on and makes her want to run to get help, or maybe even just run away. The idea of fleeing swoops on her like a bat in the night, surprising and efficient, but common sense stops that rubbish. Right, Mum, stay here. Rest. Ill get a wheelchair. Edie tears off with no idea where the wheelchairs might be, and of course there are none to be had. She sprints to three different booths in the foyer: information, volunteers and lost property, all empty. She shouldve known better no wheelchair booth. Bastards, she curses. This dashing about gets her so hot that sweat rolls freely and into her eyes. For a minute she doesnt know whether shes crying or not. Tears dont sting, she thinks maybe sweat is tears with muscle. Oh God, could you be more pathetic? Blood thumps. Thatll be the high blood pressure. Unfit, pale, on the wrong side of forty-five and you cant even find a wheelchair for your poor old Mum. Useless. Shes dressed wrong too, for though it was cool earlier on at Yarrabeen, this place is a bloody hothouse disguised as a hospital. Edies parka and dangling red scarf draw unhappy attention to her, and could it be that her second-best jeans really are trying to drown her as she wades through the foyer? It must be so. At the moment when it seems shell have to carry Grace, she spots a nurse pushing a big woman folded into a plaid dressing gown. Edie takes off after the wheelchair, already apologising from a distance. Excuse me, nurse, would you mind if I took the wheelchair after . . . The patient snores and a tremor jolts her left hand. The

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

thought flies through Edie that getting old is always going to be a major disappointment. The nurse in blue scrubs, ponytail swinging, stops, turns and surprisingly, agrees to give Edie the wheelchair. Okay, she says, cross and kind at once, but only if you bring it back to the ward. Promise on your life! These chairs are rare as bloody hens teeth round here. Edie wipes the sweat off her brow, subtle enough, she believes, to escape detection and blots it on her jeans. Yes, I definitely will. Ill bring it back for sure, she lies, wide-eyed and convincingly with no intention of bringing the thing back. She wrangles it through the sliding doors, out to the car, to find Graces head resting against the window. God, how did it happen so fast? She lifts her into the wheelchair, groaning with effort, but Grace seems to rally. Once inside the hospital they pass the op-shop where theyd bought things for each other: a slimming black shirt for Edie, a set of knitted bed socks in gelato colours for Grace, a doily, a small pewter vase, all souvenirs of the days of better health. She could list them, maybe she could chant them. And they pass the coffee shop where Grace loved to watch Edie devour her roasted-vegie focaccia while she dallied with her pie. Today, they hurry on to the oncology ward and then get redirected to the emergency department because theres no point having chemo now. They hurry so as not to be late for the hours that stretch ahead of them like a traffic jam. Against a wall of windows they take their place in the grey, arching room overlooking a car park. Outside, smokers lean on pillars and look at the sky. Makes you think of that cyclone up north, where all the bananas got wiped out, Grace whispers after a while in the waiting room. And the people and the houses as well as the bananas, Mum, Edie admonishes, before setting off on a helpful list of disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, bushfires, cyclones and floods, and soon their neighbours join in with other remembered Acts of God. One old woman with a sprained ankle the colour of a storm wonders

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

why there still arent many mens names for cyclones, and someone says they alternate these days between male and female. Someone else says, Wasnt there an Oscar? and all of them fill in time as if they were filling in holes with shovels. Grace can wait though. Dont worry. You get patient when you get old. Edie hears her mother as a breath. Scattered clouds come and go outside the high windows, and Edie presents at the admissions and says, Please take a look at my mother. She cant bring herself to demand pity when she looks around and sees the others in the same boat. That she doesnt set her mother above the others doesnt come back to her till later. Now, the answer is the same: theyre doing their best. It wont be long. She gets a cup of coffee from the vending machine and manages to drop it on the floor and then skid in it. Grace doesnt comment on her clumsiness but it brings a faint smile. While Edies cleaning up with a few tissues donated by others, somehow time elapses and Grace is being taken into the inner sanctum and given a trolley bed. Then a new set of waiting begins. A blood-pressure cuff is placed on her skinny arm and her shirt is opened so that red and blue stickers can be placed on her chest to measure her heart rate. Her breath is slowing. Edie thinks Grace says, Ian, her husbands name, which Edie hasnt heard for years, and then it seems that Grace is just sleeping. The nurses and doctors decide to admit Grace and agree that, while today is a very bad day, it wont be the day she dies. Not today, she tells herself in a rush of gratitude, thank God its not today. Still, she cant stop the wave from breaking within her when she realises she must ring Juliet, her sister, about the question of hospices, but shed rather not think about that just yet. It seems that though everything is flimsy and shredded, the kids are nothing to their mother now, which is only right because Grace cant listen anymore. She need not be troubled by Jules and Edie. This love for her mother quietens her. She will be calm. She releases Graces hand with a regret that feels elemental. It seems all warmth leaves with

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

her, and her mothers quiet fingers rest like a pianists waiting for new music. Edie leans forward and kisses the hand. Tears fall, heavy and clear. She pulls down her sleeve to mop them up, and as shes doing this in the softness of the moment her mother places the other hand on her daughters head and out of sleep whispers, Matey, my little mate. And Edie must leave to escape this falling sadness. Outside the booth, in a corridor of pushing people, she pulls the curtains across to screen her mother and leans against a fragment of wall, shaking with the loss that is coming at her now out of the dark like a comet. She wipes a hand past her eyes but still feels like a child. And then a teenage boy is wheeled past with a head wound, his hair matted with blood. Her eyes harvest his hot fear. It seems to Edie that in here theyre all swimming in the deep end now. She steps into the cool air in the car park, next to an ambulance, and takes a deep breath. She calls Juliet and gets the lilting message: Hi, youve called Juliet Fisher. Feel free to leave a message. Juliet, its Edie, Mum has taken a turn for the worse, the cancer is back and they think shes going to need more care. Though she wont die today apparently, so dont worry about that, but shes failing. You better come to St Johns Public Hospital. H Standing beside the bed again in a room on a ward now, she watches Grace sleep. The disease has reclaimed her, split apart and travelled like an alien across her brain and spine and taken her away. She remembers a younger Grace filing her nails at night, pale fingernail dust floating in beams of light while they watched telly and devoured chocolate. Edie imagined inhaling her mother with the chocolate. On those nights, Grace would laugh with an ease the kids under-

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

stood was hard won and all the damned better for it. The peace of those nights still hangs within Edith like a pearl moon. Once, out of nowhere, after Ted was put to bed and before the telly went on, she announced, Girls, never let anyone take your freedom. And then she handed out scorched almonds as if they were tablets of wisdom. The girls took them solemnly and they were more than their taste. They thought about it but still secretly only hoped their respect might get them another chocolate. It didnt. Grace was always pretty tight with chocolate. Afterwards the girls pondered the mystery of chocolate rather than the mystery of freedom. Why were they were called scorched when they sure didnt taste burned? In the photo album in Edies mind, Grace that night is happy as a box full of birds, a general in charge of a cellophane bag of scorched almonds. And now here she is and everything is falling apart, like some kind of ending. How can this all be happening on a day in May, right here and now, when its coming up to the right time for Grace to die, for the force of Grace to be released? And on a day when its been decided Edies old enough to be able to cope with the death of her mother? No. Well, she wont ever be that old, not for that kind of desolation. She smooths the cotton blanket with the red stripe. That wont be possible. Like an everyday angel, Karen the social worker arrives in the shining corridor. Karen says Grace should stay with them now, move across to the nice new hospice down the street behind the whispering grasses. The words we can control her pain and help her die with dignity register in Edie, but still she blurts, We have Rodney the district nurse. The social worker looks at her with modulated pity. I see, Karen says with a small smile that, despite the comfort, makes Edie feel nervous. Abruptly, Karen roughs up her short, tufty hair with one hand. Her eyes have seen it all and she knows Edith would like someone

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

to tell her what to do. Shes willing to be the one. She rests a hand on the bed and places her unruly papers beside Graces feet like a sleeping cat. Edie feels that finally the understanding has come and soon caves in to agreement, which because its so easy doesnt stand a chance. Karen offers to ring Juliet and run it all past her, and Edie accepts with unglued fatalism. Her heart thuds. She might not be too happy. She wants Mum to die at home. Guilt seeps from her. She remembers the raging row they had after the first diagnosis. Edie never cared for the whole dying at home argument and Juliet, who had travelled for most of her life, cared passionately for it. They took the fight to the backyard so Grace wouldnt hear, but nothing mattered in the end because Edie had no stomach for the fight. If Karen can pull this off there must be a God, Edie thinks. And here she is trying to duck under the rope without asking Juliet or Ted. How many times before she learns? Its one of those decisions you get to relive, and she starts the reliving even before Karen leaves. Then the taste of regret fills her mouth like sour milk. The thing she understands is that they have some time now and they need to get organised. When Juliet does arrive, shes upset and terse. Could I speak to you, Edith? In private. We wont be needing you, Miss Berger. This is a family matter. Juliet has dyed her hair red again. They are shepherded to a room at the back, a lunch room with tartan couches. Weve had this talk, Edith. Mum wants to die at home. She told me this. Many times. Juliets eyes are wide, her face now about the same colour as her hair. She wont be going into any hospice. Ted is in full agreement with me. Edie knows Juliet will get her way and that the work of it will fall on her own shoulders again. Still, she will have her say. Listen, Julie, Mum told me she didnt want to be a bother. She couldnt stand the idea of that. She didnt want me wiping her bum, said she couldnt

10

Copyright Deborah Forster 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

stand it. That she didnt bloody well care where she died, as long as she had a bit of dignity. Edies eyes start to water. Juliet is not impressed they are fighting over long-held territory, the country that is their mother and she has always been more determined. There will be no give and take. Get organised, Edie. This is how its gonna be, mate. Juliet leaves and Edie sinks onto the highlander couches looking at the kitchen with its jar of broken Nice biscuits. Is it pronounced nice or neece? she wonders. Its not too long before she takes herself off, past the hospital bed where Juliet is holding Graces hand, down the ship-like hospital stairs and out into the cool night. In the privacy of the car, still holding Graces bag and the bright rug she had over her knees this morning, she weeps.

11