by Kim Miller
That parcel was heavy and gnarly and there was no telling what was in there. But inside were pants like Robocop and a tag with Dad’s work logo on it. They were thick and industrial and definitely not mountain bike pants and inside those pants there was this yellow layer of Kevlar protection.
I said to Dad, ‘These are funny bike pants,’ and he said, ‘Here is the next parcel.’
And inside the next parcel, which was just as lumpy through the paper, there was this jacket and I could see straight off that it was a wicked motorbike jacket and it had his logo on the sleeve and I looked at Dad and he said, ‘Come and see my new toy.’
Dad stood up and I had to hurry to catch him up. He went quick to the shed and turned on the light and there was this madaz Aprilia Pegaso 650 Trail. There were two helmets there on the seat and he gave me one that had Ned Kelly painted on it and said, ‘This helmet is for you, Clem. Happy birthday.’
I was standing there in shock and Dad’s eyes were sparkly out there in the shed and he said, ‘There’s a pillion seat and room for a passenger and I will be full-on careful with you on the back.’
And that is the honest truth fully straight-up I can tell you.
*The correct lyrics to
‘The Times They Are A-Changin” are:
‘Come mothers and fathers throughout the land And don’t, criticise what you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command’
Written by Bob Dylan
Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special
Rider Music. All rights reserved. International
copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.
The ‘Questions They Ask When We Stuff Up’ comes from the Restorative Justice work of Terry O’Connell of Real Justice Australia. Terry was instrumental in the formation of young offender community conferencing in Australia. The questions are quoted with his permission. He also advised me on Police procedures for other parts of the book. Terry’s work can be followed up at RealJustice.org
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Firstly I want to thank Clem. One night this book started to write itself in my head and that is where I met Clem. If I got a bit off line with the story Clem was always there to set me straight and he is fully cool for doing that for me.
To my younger friend, Zoe Littlejohns, who taught me a bit of texting. Zoe is a brand new schoolteacher and she will full on love those kids and I want to be in her class and Zoe appears in this book.
To my older friend Lewis Elliott who was known to school kids as the BFG. Lewis saw me writing this book and offered two lines to inspire me. Those lines became sentences one and two on the sad day of Hamish. His words had extra meaning when I heard of his illness. Lewis died, 87 years young, just before this book came to print.
To my friends Piers and Margaret Hartley from Bogong Outdoor Education Centre where piers was Principal. There’s a generation of school kids who have enjoyed their unique blend of mad humour, wisdom, and deep humanity, and who will recognise them in this book.
To two friends in the literary world, John Cohen of Reading Time, and Tessa Wooldridge of Austlit, who gave me encouragement and advice through the early editing stage. They gave momentum to my own faltering efforts.
A special thank you to children’s author, Hazel Edwards. I met Hazel at a writers’ conference where she read a draft of this book. She could see the real Clem in among my messy writing, and she took his story very seriously. Hazel’s mentoring and assistance has been the springboard from which Clem’s story comes to print.
Mostly I want to thank my wife Kay who sat around without me while I wrote this book on a camping holiday. Clem has been a guest in our house for three years. Now he’s gone into the world on his own two feet and we can have another go at that holiday.