Absolution Creek Read Online Free PDF

We will be close to the water in the eastern suburb of Rose Bay. Very gentrified environs . . .’
    Tears pricked Olive’s eyes. She wasn’t like the others: she didn’t want to move south and she certainly didn’t want to leave their neighbourhood. Henrietta was four years older and moulded in their mother’s likeness, while her brothers were money-market men, impressed with their abilities and well-planned futures.
    ‘It will be wonderful,’ her mother said decisively. ‘You’ll see, my dear.’

    Jack knew what was afoot as soon as he saw the two vans outside the Peters’s terrace. Beds, wardrobes, lamps, tables and paintings were being wrapped and stacked inside the vehicles. Mrs Peters, dressed in black with a double strand of waist-length pearls and a large hat, motored past in her husband’s six cylinder. Jack ran across the busy street. The noise of a jackhammer blasting into rock echoed in the air, and as he side-stepped a youth carrying a crate he envisioned the sandstone heart of North Sydney crumbling.
    ‘Jack!’ Olive was at the front door, a handbag tucked under her arm. ‘I was just coming to see you.’
    ‘Were you now?’ Both of them moved across the tiled porch to make way for the drawing-room chiffonier.
    ‘Come in.’
    Jack followed Olive into an empty entrance hall and left as she turned into the drawing room, where boxes and packing were strewn about. A fire glowed pitifully within an elaborately carved fireplace.
    ‘It’s good to see you, Jack.’
    ‘Is it?’ He backed away towards the window, tugging the velvet curtain open. ‘Resumed?’
    ‘Sold to the Works Department as a field office.’
    ‘I see.’ He turned his back towards her. ‘You were fortunate to make the sale.’ The material of his jacket strained across broad shoulders. ‘Where are you moving to?’
    ‘Rose Bay. I was coming to see you, Jack. It’s just that everything has happened at once. Mrs Jessop couldn’t afford to pay me so I lost my job. Then Mother announced we’re to leave.’ ‘I was coming to see you.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear about your job.’ He nodded curtly. ‘Well, it was good of you to think of me.’
    Olive touched his arm. ‘Jack,’ she said softly, ‘of course I think of you. I’ll never forget how you rushed across the street that day . . .’
    ‘Anyone would’ve done it.’ He looked about the room. It was as big as his house. Two crystal chandeliers showered light across polished boards and richly coloured scatter rugs. ‘My father went over to the city this morning to see someone from the Works Department. I thought I’d drop by on my way to meet him at the ferry.’
    ‘I’m glad you did.’ Olive twisted the strap of her handbag.
    ‘He wants an assurance either way as to our future. No one here will talk to him, and frankly I understand.’ He gave a half-laugh. ‘Things will never be the same again.’
    Olive sat the handbag on a tin trunk. ‘What will you do?’
    Jack thought of his carefully constructed speech, a heartfelt declaration of intent. Words such as starting anew now seemed pitiful. ‘Persevere,’ he replied flatly, scrutinising the plaster ceiling. In the face of such luxury he was at a loss for words. They walked outside to an overcast sky. The removalists were stacking boxes in the rear of the van. ‘When are you going?’
    ‘Everything will be out of the house tomorrow.’ Olive stepped beneath the overhead balcony as a light drizzle misted the air.
    ‘Not much time to say goodbye.’ He looked at her.
    ‘No, not much.’ All night she had wondered whether her sister, Henrietta, was right. Maybe her feelings for Jack were just puppy love. He was, after all, her first beau, and although he’d saved her from the stray horse, a strained ankle was hardly life-threatening. Yet the memory of his kiss lingered. It was her first.
    He touched her cheek. ‘I’ve nothing to offer you, Olive. We’re like chalk and cheese.’
    The head removalist