61. GOD KNOWS, BROWN NOSE

No need to ask who stood before him.

33. RUNNING DEAD

There was nigh on two thousand at the City Oval for the afternoon performance. Clearly, St Brigid’s were on an extended lunch break to watch their girl. There must have been a hundred serious media types pulling lengths of wire and calibrating importance.

31. LEFT FOOT, RIGHT FOOT, LEG ENDS

Maddy’s euphoria had energized Geoff Derwent. He didn’t really believe the girl was going to win The Gift but he damn sure wanted to. And that was good enough. It was better than the desert the Demons had been wandering through for a decade. Okay, The Gift wasn’t footy per se but it associated the club with getting the job done at the business end of elite competition. And that kind of association is gold.

20. MILKSHAKE

After school, Catherine, Annabel and Layla were sitting outside a coffee shop on Robinson Street - happy to have found shade in this forty degree Celsius furnace. At times there’d be a rise of dusty relief but mostly the unobstructed sun - searing, dominant and with magnetic attraction - held Horsham together.

6. I’M LAYLA AND I’M A BAHAI

Mrs King walked into her 10am Religious Education class. The class stood up, desks and chairs grating. She routinely threw her handbag onto her table and addressed her pupils.

 

“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

4. POWERFUL FIRST IMPRESSION

Yes, I’m Joel from Horsham.

 

The first time I saw Layla was very memorable. Me and a few footy mates (Port all the way!) were hanging around inside the St. Brigid’s College main entrance. It was the start of a new school year and we were waiting to get acquainted with year 9 personnel and protocols.

3. EN ROUTE TO HORSHAM

Layla was born in Haifa, Israel in 1985. As far as anyone could tell there were no major astrological events on the 25^th of January (the night of the birth), a point that some would later bring up. However, it was around that time that Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote “We are the World” which is kind of relevant and did feature many stars.