At 4.30 am on Friday the 23rd of January, my father, Joseph Brennan, closed the front door of our home for the last time.
The opening line of the novel sets the stage for everything that is to come, but also implicitly reveals what has already gone before. Why would a family leave their home under the cover of darkness of the early morning? The answer to this question is, of course, the centerpiece of the narrative.
“I want to see Daniel this weekend.”
Daniel is the reason that the Brennans have snuck out of town likes thieves in the night. Daniel's fatal drunk driving accident has left them ostracized from their community, and this fact is at the heart of Tom’s story. His decision to go the prison to visit his brother represents a step in his eventual healing.
“Therefore, under Section 52a Driving in a Manner Causing Grievous Bodily Harm, I sentence you, Daniel John Brennan, to one year's imprisonment. In the subsequent two charges of Driving in a Dangerous Manner Causing Death under Section 52a, I sentence you, Daniel John Brennan, to two years' imprisonment on each account.”
Judge Williams hands down his verdict in the case of Daniel Brennan’s drunk driving accident which resulted in the death of two others. It is a sentence that pleases no parties, hardens the hearts of the community against the Brennan family, and sucks the emotional bond keeping the family cohesion together. Even more than the accident itself, to a degree, it is the punishment delivered to Daniel which drives the action of the story.
Sunday the 28th of August marked the first day of my new life. Even though so much bad stuff was to follow, I still think of that day as the worst. It was one punch after another as each fact and its reality were realised.
The accident that Daniel caused took place on the night of August 27th. Because of the events on that Saturday night, Sunday mornings are now Tom’s least favorite part of the week. Before the start of that Sunday, his parents had already been summoned to the police station and everything would continue downhill from there leading inexorably to that early morning January escape, an escape that would prove to be no real escape at all.
Yet in the days that followed that terrible night, the whisper around town grew louder.
'Daniel Brennan was an accident waiting to happen. Daniel Brennan was an accident waiting to happen. An accident waiting to happen. An accident waiting to happen.'
So how come the township of Mumbilli saw it coming and we didn't?
Tom is struggling to understand how it seems like everyone in town but their family knew that Daniel was going to do something reckless. Moreover, this quote gives the reader an understanding of how the town didn't view it as out of character for Daniel to do something so irresponsible. That suggests that there were multiple warning signs before the incident; warning signs that Tom reflects on throughout the first half of the book. It also foreshadows Tom's eventual realization that Daniel had been on a dangerous path for a long time.
Tomorrow? I felt my heart slip to the ground. That was the thing I couldn't quite get my head around—there would be a tomorrow, and a day after that, and a day after that. The world went on regardless of how I felt.
Here we see how overwhelmed Tom is by all the changes that are taking place. It's gotten so bad for him that it's difficult for him to even imagine the next day. The past looms so large in his mind that there is no room for anything else. Using metaphor—"my heart slipped to the ground"—Tom communicates how emotionally hard it is to look to the future.
The St John's game was a hill, just another hill to climb in my journey; then life would plateau for a while. That seemed to be the way it worked. I'd get through Saturday and life would go on.
In contrast to the beginning of the novel, where Tom is unable to deal with the past, this quote shows us how far he's come. Using the metaphor of the hill, Tom reflects that life will always have difficulties, but that he will also get through those difficulties. Instead of looking at the hill and saying that it's impossible to climb, one has to remember that they'll be over the hill soon enough and that afterward, life will go on. Tomorrow isn't a threat since it's only one day, and the same is true of the next day, and the day after that. Tom has learned to keep pushing, even if it's hard.
I'd meant it when I said the Bennie's fellas were okay. They were top blokes. They knew how to have a laugh and not take things too seriously. I guess when it came to footy I just wasn't used to that attitude. Winning had been everything at St John's, but now I was confused, 'cause I think Dad was trying to tell me that wasn't enough.
Tom is learning a new way of approaching rugby. Before, he thought that the most important part of rugby was being skilled, but his teammates have shown him another possibility. All this time, he's been thinking that the Bennie's boys have been wasting their time since they're not that good at rugby. However, as much as Tom has taught them, they've also taught Tom something important—that footy can be fun and that you don't have to take it too seriously in order for it to matter. Asides from being useful for rugby, this is also a philosophy that will help Tom approach life.
'They couldn't control Dan. They were scared of him. Well, scared of the consequences if they tried to pull him into line.' I closed my eyes and pictured Daniel's face. The way he looked now, the way he sounded now. 'Maybe Daniel was always going to do something like this. Maybe he had to fall this far.'
After a difficult and confusing journey, Tom has finally come to understand that the events of the 27th had nothing to do with him or Kylie. Although initially, he had trouble understanding why everyone called Daniel "an accident waiting to happen," he now sees that several of the adults in their life were concerned about his behavior leading up to the accident. Even from childhood, it's clear that Daniel had problems with anger. It's possible that only something this serious could have shown Daniel exactly how out of control he was; it's just tragic that it had to be something that severe. But most importantly, Daniel is ultimately the only one responsible for his actions.
But now I knew what I missed the most. I missed me, Tom Brennan, and that's why now I could smile, 'cause I could see that he was coming back.
This is the moment where Tom realizes that, in the midst of losing so much, he had also lost himself. Obviously, there are so many things that can't come back, but Tom can bring himself back, and realizing that makes him happy. This quote defines a shift for Tom, where he's learned to accept the past and move forward into the future.
