The whole world

Abstract

Pip's father is on the megaphone. He stands on the top step, light seemingly sucked into his leather jacket, so he is almost silhouetted. Pip and her brother are in town to visit him. This slowly lapping beach town, paint peeling off wooden colonial buildings and off his house-yacht. The main street runs beside the marina, and the main building is an ageing ferry terminal with metal bars edging its front steps. It is here the protesters converge. Pip didn't want to come but her father was having none of it. She scuffs her shoes against the asphalt - there's not even gravel to kick - and glances occasionally over her shoulder. She catches sight of her brother, off to the side, handing out leaflets for their dad. Sometimes she despises Jared for being so like, so close to, their father. As second child, baby, she is more the daughter of their stepfather, the house and pool, the private school. Jared went to the local co-ed and has the self-etched tattoos to prove it.