I know that because we saw three of them swimming in a lake a couple of weeks ago. Coincidentally, that was right after I finished reading David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green.

“I was changing out of my school uniform when this dream of a silver MG cruised down Kingfisher Meadows. Into our driveway it swung, and parked under my bedroom window. Rain’d been spitting all afternoon, so the top was up. My first view of my sister’s boyfriend, then, was via aerial surveillance. I’d expected Ewan to look sort of Prince Edwardish, but he’s got exploding red hair, sooty freckles, and a bouncy walk. He wore a peach shirt under a baggy indigo sweater, black drainpipes, one of those studded belts that sags loose off your hips, and winkle-pickers with white tube socks, like everyone’s been wearing recently. I yelled up to Julia’s attic that Ewan was here. Thumps thumped, a bottle was knocked over, and Julia muttered, “Bugger.” (What is it that girls do before they go out? Julia takes aeons to get ready. Dean Moran says his’re just the same.) Then she yelled, “MUM! Will you get it?” Mum was already hurrying down the hall. I took up my sniper’s-nest position on the landing.” (pg. 106)

Suffice to say that I’m keeping this book on my shelf and I plan to read it again (and possibly, even after that, again). Because it’s absolutely epic.

May 29th, 2007