41. ROYAL FALCON

“Ladies and gentlemen, here and all over Australia, welcome to the 118^th running of the Australia Post Stawell Gift.”

40. BREATHE OUT

“Hi, I’m Sholeh. You Joel?”

 

[Joel]:

“Yeah, I’m Joel, why?”

 

Sholeh leaned forward and put her nostrils to his lips.

 

[Sholeh]:

“Breathe out.”

39. BAY MARE REARING

Monday was to be a fun day. Our adult supervision team loitered at St Brigid’s, anxious and curious. “Where are they all? It’s nearly 9.00 and we have to make tracks.” Disappointingly empty, four downbeat buses shuffled off to mass.

37. HEAT

Everything was set up for an extraordinary 1999 Australia Post Stawell Gift. At noon, nearly two hundred entrants and a bumping crowd of over thirty thousand spectators were at or near Central Park stadium. There really was an air of unreality surrounding the favouritism of young Layla Parkin in the face of so many leading international and Australian athletes. Amusingly, one larrikin managed to get hold of the public address system and dodododood the Twilight Zone theme tune. It struck a chord with many. What on earth was going on? Well, something was up. The crowd could tell. Hey, even the bookies were edgy; worried they didn’t have access to an important piece of the puzzle. Ravenous and salivating, the throng awaited their entrée. Delicious excitement. The heats had just begun and Layla was up next.

36. A GIFT HORSE IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS

Each morning Maddy Quigley was grateful to God that he hadn’t died. Maddy that is, not God. Although… no, let’s not get into that.

35. LET THE TRUSTING TRUST

8PM at Geoff Derwent’s big brass door knocker. Bang, bang, bang.

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.

30. PUT ON MUSCLE

Geoff Derwent, president of Horsham Demons footy club, was a man who could make things happen for you. He’d put on muscle when a man would murmur a needy story in his shell-like. Appearing distracted by efforts of the senior team, he’d interrupt once he got the gist of the tale and pointedly demand ‘Tell me, what is it you need to happen” and, if it aligned with his business and footy interests, he’d do what he could to affect that outcome.

29. THE GIFT

With school out for the week-end Layla and her group exited St Brigid’s. Maddy Quigley was waiting in his car.