Chapter One
371 Words
Chapter One
Summer 1976Matthew Jameson jogged slowly along the edge of the breaking waves, gazing occasionally at the sunset stretching across the western horizon.
The rural fire brigade had been backburning throughout the day in the Blue Mountains, and the western sky was ablaze with a brilliant orange glow. Having been raised in those mountains, the spectacle made Matthew feel a twinge of homesickness for his prior life.
Now a solicitor in his mid-thirties, he was reflecting on a murder trial he had acted in over ten years ago. He had chosen not to take advantage of the publicity the case generated by being admitted to the bar as a barrister. Instead he had opted for a quiet suburban life, where the home unit he was paying off afforded him access to a magnificent beach in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The life of a barrister might seem glamorous to outsiders, but the hidden cost of a broken marriage, an alcohol addiction or mental health issues which afflicted some of its members was something that Matthew was anxious to avoid.
Like many decisions made with the best of intentions, he was no longer sure he had made the correct choice, as he no longer found the humdrum work of a small solicitors’ practice satisfying. Not that he cared much for money or status, but he felt that his skills were wasting away, together with his life.
He had hoped that by now he would be happily married, with two or three children and a thriving legal practice. Instead he was single, lonely and disillusioned.
At least he had Lena Wasilewski, his legal partner, to pull him into line when he started feeling sorry for himself. She was some ten years older than him, and their relationship, whilst purely platonic, was immensely valuable to him. Lena was a survivor of the h*******t in Europe, and despite losing all of her family to the horrors of the concentration camps, she was always positive and supportive.
He knew now that it was time to move back to the city and challenge himself with life at the bar as a barrister.
What he did not know was how to tell Lena that he was deserting her.
- Writer
