The Rectory was a turn of the century delight. It was one of the two houses in the town with actual river frontage. The highlight was no doubt the five sets of French windows which opened out on to the river, so that on those hot nights when no air seemed to move you could lie awake and hear river sounds. Splashes as birds fell into the water. The occasional riverboat, loud at first as you heard the music and the clinking of the glasses, then the voices were far awayagain. The expanse of the river just devoured everything around it.
In the darkness it was surreal, there was no sound like it. No sound like the deadened sound soaked up by the river.
It was not too hot when they returned so they sat on the verandah and watched the sun crash into the far bank as the twilight increased, the gums on fire with the sunset glint that only Australians truly appreciate. The gift of God every evening
"So what do you think it's really all about?"he frowned at her as she tried to encourage him to talk.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you've been here nearly two months, surely you have some idea whether or not this apparition is true."
"Ahh!,"he said, "true! What is truth?"
"Don't play games!,"she chided, '"I think it's quite important."
"I think,"' he ventured, "the blessed Andrew of holy memory," he bowed his head facetiously as he referred to his predecessor, "was a very lonely man. He needed to believe, in a way that most people don't. It meant something to him, more than it should have"
He sipped the gin and tonic and gazed into the river.
"It's not so much that I don't believe in visions, because in a way I do. Yes, and not just in a way, I am quite happy with the idea of visions. But he desperately needed to have a very, very concrete vision. The voice had to be audible. I am never going to be like that."
"No,"she laughed, "you are never going to be like that"
She paused, a little too long he thought on reflection, and said
"But I might!"
He knew his eyebrows had moved so that she would have perceived his reaction. A stir of annoyance rumbled inside him, after all these years he had trained himself to not react when people said the outrageous. He wanted people to trust him. He wanted Penny to trust him, there were too few people in this wretched town with whom you could have a frank conversation. He could not afford to waste them.
