by Derek Mortimer (Author)
These stories are about being young, getting old, and life in between. An Australian teenage girl in 1970s country NSW waits in a wet, wintery, small New Zealand town for the arrival of her illicit lover, and the decision that will change her life, 'Mary's Story'. Three children are washed out to sea clinging to an upturned table when floods sweep away the family farmhouse in the historically based 'The Flood'. In 'Conditions Apply', an invalid and lonely old man tires of looking at the world from his front window and hires a tree-loving female carer, but each has their own agenda. Other stories are surreal or whimsical. In 'Superman', a young wannabe novelist works in an abandoned phone box, then he meets the man of the title, the one-time all-American hero, now reduced to a depressed tattered ikon of the past. A boy's pursuit of a butterfly sets off an unexpected cause and affect chain in 'Revenge of the Butterfly'. There is humour here, sometimes sadness, sometimes anger, but always there is compassion for the human condition.