We spend all of February working on the transmigration.
We are moving the books to preserve the memories in them, the thoughts on the pages. We secretly place the books in other stores, around the city.
At night, when I can’t sleep, I think about those books, and I like the thought that Michael’s copy of Great Expectations now belongs to someone else. They are reading Michael’s thoughts – his passion for Sophia, in the passion Pip had for Estella. His passion is there in his underlining, in his notes, in the inscription on the title page.
In April, Henry drives us all to Sea Ridge. We are returning to scatter Cal’s ashes. Lola, George and Martin are in the back of the van. Rose is following in her car. Frederick and Michael and Sophia are coming too.
We will take them to the water and let the current have them. I will love the idea that a speck of Cal might make it to Mexico, given the right weather and conditions. I’ll think about this over the years, the specks of him travelling.
Hiroko is in New York, but we’re playing the CD of her and Lola’s musical history as we drive. I’m not thinking about endings, though. I’m thinking about beginnings. Rose has agreed that Mum and Gran and me can all live with her next year, while I do Year 12 again. She’s started building walls in the warehouse, in preparation. Each room, because of the way it’s designed, leads into another room, though. Rose doesn’t love the idea, but she’s coming around to the fact that she and Gran will be connected.
Henry puts his hand on my knee as I wait for the water to appear – first in small triangles and then in deep scoops. Henry is worried, because I’m going back to the water, to where I lost Cal. It will be fine and it won’t be. It will be terrible and good.
The past is with me; the present is here. The future is unmapped and changeable. Ours for the imagining: spreading out before us. Sunlight-filled, deep blue, and the darkness.
Acknowledgements
There are many, many people to thank for helping me with Words in Deep Blue. Thank you Catherine Drayton, my brilliant agent – without you, the book would not be finished. Thank you Claire Craig, my wonderful publisher – you read so many drafts, gave so much detailed feedback. Thank you Ali Lavau, Jodie De Vantier, and Georgia Douglas – my brilliant Australian editors. Thank you also to my brilliant US editors – Allison Wortche and Karen Greenberg, and the many, many other editors that read my manuscript. (More thanks to you to come in the US edition.)
Thank you Mel for my gorgeous cover. Thank you to the people at Midland for the typesetting and the design. Thanks to Alison Arnold, Emma Schwartz, Elizabeth Abbott, Diana Francavilla and Kirsten Matthews for your constant support and editing ears. Thank you to Gabriella for letting me use your desk that one time and Lewis and Harriet for inspiration. Thank you Fiona Wood, Simmone Howell and Gabrielle Wang for everything writing and friendship. Over the last five years, I have spoken to many young adults who have generously given advice and suggestions – thank you, all. Thanks to my family for advice and love, especially Esther, Charlie, Ella, Declan, Callum, Tom and Dan. Thanks to Michael Kitson – for advice about writing and bookshops, and for marrying me while I was in the midst of a writing muddle. Last, but not least, thanks to the booksellers – old and new – and thanks to writers, without whom the world would be a terrible place, bleak beyond imagining.
About Cath Crowley
Cath Crowley studied Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT and works as both a freelance writer in Melbourne and a creative writing teacher. Words In Deep Blue is her sixth novel, following the three Gracie Faltrain novels and the award-winning Chasing Charlie Duskin and Graffiti Moon. To find out more about Cath, please visit cathcrowley.com.au.