FORTY-FIVE
Caitlin took my arm and we set off through the gate. Our footsteps thumped dully on the concrete, jarring with the hollow-sounding timber boards in my memories.
"This isn't how I remember the jetty," I blurted out. "It was wood – I remember, all timber, and old timber, too. Grey from age, not because of concrete." I tapped the railway track with my shoe. "And it was narrower, too. There wasn't space to walk beside the tracks. And there weren't handrails on both sides, either. I remember walking on the edge of the boards, having to put one foot in front of the other like I was on a balancing beam, until Alanna shouted at me and Dad made me get away from the edge. She walked right in the middle of the tracks – she was afraid of falling in." I laughed softly. "She wasn't as toug
