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Back Going Under Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I BIRTH
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. PART II LIFE
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. PART III DEATH
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. EPILOGUE
  69. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

He looks as if he’s about to protest, but we’re distracted by the creaking of hinges as someone else pushes open the door and enters the house.

The first intruder seems relieved. ‘Thank God you found the bottle shop. Can you please tell Kitty and Estelle that I’m not a psycho and find me some tobacco paper?’

‘It’s all right, guys,’ Max says, walking through the door with a carton of beer. ‘He’s clean.’

I don’t know whether to be more surprised by the appearance of Max, who’s meant to be back in Sydney about to start his surgical term, or by his apparent friendship with our uninvited guest.

‘By clean he means really dirty,’ the uninvited guest explains.

Max throws himself onto the couch and grins. ‘Ladies, it’s time you met the Godfather.’

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Max and the Godfather met for the first time at the airport gate, we learn. They were the only two on the afternoon flight to Wingabby who weren’t wearing Akubras, so they correctly assumed they were both junior doctors on the way to their rural secondment. The Godfather, formerly known to us as uptight heart surgeon wannabe Pete, was drinking from a hip flask of whisky. On identifying Max, he immediately offered him a sip.

Max, who was about to start his surgical term, had managed a swap at the last moment with a girl who had anxiety issues and claimed special consideration. Figuring he was going to be sent to Wingabby at some point anyway, Max had decided he’d rather go with his mates, but instead of just telling us the good news like a normal person, he’d decided to surprise us with a dramatic entrance.

By the end of the ninety-minute flight, Max quite liked uptight heart surgeon wannabe Pete. As well as sharing his flask of Jack Daniel’s, Pete revealed that to earn extra money on the side of junior doctoring he dealt marijuana; he’d already lined up some connections in Wingabby. Max rightly acknowledged him as the Godfather, and the name has stuck.

‘We thought you were obsessed with being a cardiac surgeon,’ Estelle says as we gaze at him in amazement. ‘But you’re actually a pot dealer!’

‘I also dabble in a bit of blow now and again,’ the Godfather says. He’s puffing away happily on the spliff he’s creatively fashioned out of a page of Estelle’s emergency medicine pocket book.

‘You kept that quiet!’ Estelle, not normally impressed by any doctors, looks floored.

‘I find it best to keep my private life private,’ he says sensibly, leaning back on a mouldy cushion. ‘And I was interested in cardiac surgery for a while, but I’ve changed my mind since.’

‘Sensible,’ I say, thinking back to my own experience on surgery and shuddering.