She speaks with love and compassion in all that shit-speak and it makes me laugh.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say.
‘There are things you can do,’ she says. ‘There are places you can go to be safe, people you can trust. There are still people in this city more powerful than the police. There’s still a few Luke Skywalkers left in Brisbane, Eli.’
‘Heroes?’ I ask.
‘Can’t have all those villains walking around without a few heroes too,’ she says.
*
Dear Alex,
Greetings from the children’s ward of Royal Brisbane Hospital. Firstly, please forgive my messy handwriting. I recently lost my right forefinger (really long story) but I can grip a Bic ballpoint pen just fine between my tall finger, my thumb and my right ring finger. My doctor, Dr Brennan, wants me to start using my hands and she said writing a letter might be a way to start practising my writing as well as getting the blood circulating in my hands. How are you and the boys and Tripod the cat? Sorry I can’t give you any updates on Days of Our Lives, they only have one TV in the children’s ward and it’s always on Play School. You ever been in hospital? It’s not bad here. Dr Brennan is real nice and speaks with an Irish accent that I think the boys in 2 Division would love. Dinner’s a bit rough with the roast lamb but breakfast (Corn Flakes) and lunch (chicken sandwiches) are spot on. I could stay a bit longer here but I can’t because I’ve got work to do. See, I’ve been thinking about heroes, Alex. You ever have a hero? Someone who saved you. Someone who kept you safe. What makes someone a hero? Luke Skywalker didn’t set out to be a hero. He just wanted to find Obi-Wan. Then he just decided to step outside his comfort zone. He just decided to follow his heart. So maybe that’s all it takes to be a hero, Alex. Just follow your heart. Step outside. You might not be able to get hold of me for a while because I’m going away for a bit. I’m off on a quest, going on a bit of an adventure. I have established my goal and I have the will to achieve it. Remember what Slim always says about the four things: timing, planning, luck, belief. I reckon that’s like life. I reckon that’s like living. I’ll write to you when I can, but if you don’t hear from me for a bit, I want to say thanks for all the letters and thanks for being my friend. So much more to say but I’ll have to leave all that to another day because my moment is almost here and my time is slipping away. Like sand through the hourglass. Ha!
Your friend always,
Eli
*
Slim always had this self-belief thing about escaping prison. It went something along the lines of, ‘If you truly believe the guards can see you then the guards can truly see you. But if you truly believe that you’re invisible then the guards will believe you’re truly invisible.’ I think that’s what he was saying. It was something about confidence. The Houdini of Boggo Road wasn’t as magical as he was sneaky and confident and a confident sneak can make his own magic. His first successful escape from Boggo Road was in broad daylight. A blistering Sunday afternoon, 28 January 1940. Slim and his fellow D Wing prisoners were being walked around the central circle towards Number 4 yard. Slim fell back among the group and he believed he was invisible, so he was.
Four factors to a clean escape: timing, planning, luck, belief. Timing was right, between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on a Sunday when the majority of the prison guards were off guarding the majority of prisoners at prayer service in Number 4 yard, on the opposite side of the compound to Slim’s D Wing. Simple plan. Effective plan. Confident plan. On the way to Number 4 yard, Slim simply went invisible, slipped like a ghost from the single line of prisoners and ducked into Number 1 yard, adjacent to D Wing, nearest yard to his ultimate destination, the prison workshops.
Then he believed he could scale a three-metre wooden fence and so he did. He climbed the fence bordering Number 1 exercise yard and leaped down to a track below, a sterile zone that ran along the inside of the prison walls to form a square