Signs of Life

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by Tim Winton


  What was he doing up a pole? Georgie asked despite herself.

  Christ knows. Waitin for the end of the world, I spose. Fuck, he was the end of the world, the silly old prick. He was rubbish. They were all rubbish.

  They’re all dead, Yogi, she said with feeling.

  Bar one.

  Yes, bar one.

  And what d’ye figure the odds are on that, all of em dyin in a roll- over on their own driveway? I was there, love. You can’t bloody imagine. And that last boy sittin in the ambulance like a zombie. You could feel it comin off his skin like electricity, just pure and simple shit luck. That’s what you were foolin with. People did you a favour, love.

  Well, thanks for the enlightenment, she said, pushing off the doorsill.

  Community service, he muttered. That’s me.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tim Winton has published twenty-one books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-five languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian/Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). He lives in Western Australia.

  ALSO BY TIM WINTON

  Novels

  An Open Swimmer

  Shallows

  That Eye, the Sky

  In the Winter Dark

  Cloudstreet

  The Riders

  Dirt Music

  Breath

  Stories

  Scission

  Minimum of Two

  The Turning

  For younger readers

  Jesse

  Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo

  The Bugalugs Bum Thief

  Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster

  Lockie Leonard, Legend

  Blueback

  The Deep

  Non-fiction

  Land’s Edge

  Down to Earth (with Richard Woldendorp)

  Smalltown (with Martin Mischkulnig)

  Plays

  Rising Water

  Shrine

  Photography Credits

  photo by Robert Frith, courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company

  poster reproduced courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company; photo by Robert Frith

  poster reproduced courtesy of Sydney Theatre Company; photo by Grant Sparkes-Carroll

  photos by Garry Ferguson, courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company

  photo by Lisa Tomasetti, courtesy of Sydney Theatre Company

  photo by Gary Marsh, courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company

  photo courtesy of Black Swan State Theatre Company

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (Australia)

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  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

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  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

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  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

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  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2013

  Text copyright © Tim Winton 2013

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  Cover design by Laura Thomas © Penguin Group (Australia)

  Text design by Samantha Jayaweera © Penguin Group (Australia)

  Cover photograph by Lisa Tomasetti (Aaron Pedersen as Bender, Sydney Theatre Company)

  Production Notes adapted from the program of the Black Swan State Theatre Company

  penguin.com.au

  ISBN: 978-1-743-48192-9

 

 

 


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