20070516

The Drifter

Part 1 of 6 by Joseph Ridgwell

I woke early and walked to Thrifty car hire on William Street. I put down a six hundred dollar cash deposit and a further four hundred and fifty dollars as payment for a seven-day hire of a green Mitsubishi Colt. Then I set off on a road trip to Queensland in search of answers. When I left Sydney there were blue skies all around, the sun was shining in full magnitude, and it was a beautiful Australian day. I glanced at a little map of Australia spread out on the dashboard; Queensland didn’t look far away on the map, but I had no idea of scale or distance. After driving across the city and over the Harbour Bridge I headed onto the Pacific Highway.

6S

Joseph Ridgwell, author of The Last Days of the Cross, lives and writes in London. Look for Part 2 of The Drifter on Saturday, May 19th.