Justine Larbalestier - Magic Lessons

Like the first book in this trilogy, Magic Lessons contains both Australian and American spelling, vocabulary, and grammar. Chapters from the viewpoint of the Australians, Reason and Tom, are written in Australian English, and those from Jay-Tees point of view are written American style. You will find synaesthesia in the Australian chapters, but synesthesia in the American. If any of the words are new to you, turn to the glossary, where you will learn that being jack of something means youre over it , and that a dogs breakfast is a mess .

Once, when I was really little, we passed a road sign peppered with bullet holes. It was pretty much the same as any of the other road signs we passed out bush, but this one I read aloud in my squeaky toddler voice: Darwin, 350. Two times 175. Five times seventy. Seven times fifty. Ten times thirty-five.

My mother, Sarafina, clapped. Unbelievable!

How old is the kid? asked the truck driver who was giving us a lift to the Jilkminggan road. He glanced down at me suspiciously.

Almost three. Sarafina was seventeen.

Not really?

Really.

When we arrived, three of the old womenLily, Mavis, and Daisysat down with us on the dirt floor of the meeting place. They gave us tuckeryams, wild plums, and chocolate bickies to eat, and black-brewed, sticky-sweet tea to drink. A posse of kids hung around, darting in and out for plums and bickies, but mostly stood just out of reach, watching and giggling.

A few gum trees dotted the settlement, their leaves a dull green, standing out amongst the dirt, dry scrub, and ant hills taller than a man. Healthier, greener trees, bushes, and vines grew farther away, on the other side of the buildings, where the ground sloped into the banks of the Roper River. The buildings were low, made of untreated wood and rusting corrugated iron. The only one with four walls, a proper door, and windows was the silver demountable where school was heldthe hottest, most uncomfortable building in the settlement.

Youre that travelling woman, eh? Daisy asked. With all them different names?

Sarafina nodded.

What you want to be called now?

Sally. And my daughters Rain, Sarafina said, even though my name is Reason.

We hear about you, Daisy said. You been all over, eh? All the way down south, too?

Yes, Sarafina said. Weve been all over Australia.

Seen lots of white man places, too?

Some. Sarafina always stayed away from cities so that her mother wouldnt find us. I like Aboriginal places better.

The three women grunted as if this were to be expected.

That little one, that Rain, Daisy said, looking at me. Shes countryman, eh?

Sarafina nodded.

Her father countryman, innit?

Yes.

Where him from? Mavis asked. She was the oldest of the three women. Her hair was all white and her skin was so black it shone. She took a piece of chewing tobacco from behind her ear and put it in her mouth.

I dont know.

The three women murmured at this. Dont know?

Sarafina shook her head.

Who his people?

Dont know.

Them from desert country? Arnhem country?

Sarafina shrugged. He didnt tell me.

Daisy nudged Lily. That little one, Rain? Him amari? Him munanga, I reckon.

True, Lily said, but him daddy still got country. She turned back to Sarafina. Where you meet him?

Out west. Sarafina gestured past the water tank resting on a huge mound of dirt, to the horizon where the sun would set.

How long you him together?

One night.

They nodded at this. Drunken fella?

Sarafina laughed. No.

Him from bush or white man place?

Bush.

Ah, Lily said, pleased to be given something solid. Stockman?

I dont know.

Him barefoot or got boots?

Boots.

They nodded again. Stockman.

Sarafina made flashcards. She cut up an old cardboard box that had once held cartons of Winnies, and she wrote on them with a fat black Texta shed bought in Mataranka.

She wrote the names of nine recent places wed either stayed or seen road signs for: Darwin, Jilkminggan, Katherine, Mataranka, Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Borroloola, Limmen Bight, and Umbakumba; the names of all the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (though she said the last one wasnt really a planet); and the branches of mathematics: foundations, algebra, analysis, geometry, and applied.

We sat on the dirt floor under a roof of paperbark. Occasionally strands of it would drift down and land on us. The three women sat cross-legged, gutting a kangaroo and waving the flies away.

Sally, Daisy asked, what are you doing with your girl Rain?

Teaching her how to read.

They all nodded and agreed reading was important, though of the three of them, only Daisy really knew how.

Sarafina held up the cards with one hand, waving flies away, and patting one of the dogs with the other. The sky was the intense blue that only happens when the earth is the red-brown of iron. Not one cloud. Dry season. There would be no rain for months.

Ve-nus, I read. Dar-win. Al-ge-bra.

Sarafina held up the next card. Nnn I said, trailing off, staring at the card with its n and g and k and r s and u s. I wasnt sure if Id seen it before. I didnt understand how those letters went together to make sounds.