‘What else can I do?’
‘Well, you can have a look at this, since you’re here. Let me just …’ She plonked her laptop down on a pile of invoices and hit a few buttons on the keyboard. The printer in the corner of the office creaked to life.
‘Here we go,’ she said, plucking the page from the rollers when it was done and handing it to him. ‘What do you think?’
LIBRARY EVENT—THIS THURSDAY—NOT TO BE MISSED
Gavin Huxtable, Yindi Creek local, in conversation with old mate Charlie Cocker, talks about his secret career as the award-winning crime writer Gavin Gunn.
Bookings Essential. Call Bernice at the Yindi Creek Library.
‘Awesome. Where are you going to stick this up?’
‘Around town. Not everyone here is glued to the national news and I don’t want anyone to miss out. Read the last line.’
He dropped his eyes back to the flyer and read aloud the bit Maggie’s crooked finger pointed to. ‘Gold coin donation to the library’s Read How You Want program.’
‘I can match it,’ he said. ‘Whatever donations come in, I’ll double it. What’s a Read How You Want program?’
‘Read How You Want is an organisation that reformats books for people who read better in different ways. You know, in braille, or in a font that suits people with dyslexia, or with phonetic clues. But the books are pricey, so donations help the budget go further. The library also buys learn-to-read books for adults who aren’t so great at reading and who might be put off if all they could borrow were kids’ books.’
‘Fantastic.’
‘And what say I call the editor of theWestern Echo? See if some of the Media Arts students who publish in their newsletter want to come along and write an article?’
‘It’s school holidays. I’m sure the kids have zero interest in writing assignments for school on their holidays.’
‘Not even if they get to meet the great Gavin Gunn?’
TYSON: Watch the tone, lady.
‘I’m not sure if you’re trying to build my ego or deflate it. Maggie, you’re wasted here in Yindi Creek. You’re a marketing marvel.’
‘You reckon? I think I’m exactly where I ought to be.’
‘I wish I was so certain.’
‘Oh, Hux.’
‘You know, Mags, if my life were a book, then I’m at that point where the hero either has to decide whether to keep on doing things the old way or change things up.’
‘Change is good, Hux. Go for it.’
He raised his eyebrows at her. ‘So says the woman who’s not changed the menu on that blackboard out front for two decades.’
‘We’re talking about you. Anyway, your life isn’t a book, and maybe now that you’ve outed yourself and don’t have to pretend you’re two different people, you’ll stop confusing yourself with that moron Tyson Jones.’
TYSON: Woah, what did I do?
‘People love Tyson.’
‘Because he’s fictitious. Because they get to play cops and robbers with him for a couple of hours every now and then. You think a real-life Lana would ever get together with a real-life Tyson?’
He shrugged. ‘Does it matter what Lana and Tyson would or wouldn’t do?’
‘It matters when Tyson’s creator is trapped in the same emotional rut as his main character.’
‘I am not in an emotional rut.’