Summary
On Tuesday of the Bennie footy trials, Brendan gives the kids a lift to school. Brendan teases Kylie and then asks about how Tom is doing. As usual, Tom is kind of standoffish, but Brendan remains friendly and asks Tom to come running with him. Brendan mentions that he spends time running up the local hill, which reminds Tom about how they called the hill on their old street Daniel’s Whine since he spent so much time complaining about having to climb it on the way home from school. After the footy trials, Tom comes home, and his dad is excited to hear how it went. Tom is less optimistic since he thinks that the team is awful. To him, playing footy will never be the same. As Tom watches the sunset, he asks his dad if he can go to see Daniel, and his father agrees to it. Gran calls for dinner, but it ends up being just him and her since the others are all busy. Tom doesn’t really feel like eating and feels like he’ll never get used to life in Coghill.
The next week, the results of the trials are pinned on Harvey’s office door: Tom made the team as a half-back, with his father acting as the assistant coach. He heads to the library, uninterested in celebrating with anyone since this wasn’t his life anymore. Reminiscing, Tom remembers that he and Daniel used to pass around the football and play ball all the time, especially the summer after Year Nine, where Dad and Daniel began training him together. By the time of the accident, Tom and Daniel Brennan had both been formidable players on the field. After the accident, it was a long time before they could go back to school. The people weren’t the problem—instead, Tom was weighed down by the reminders of the way his life had changed so drastically.
At the same time as this is happening, Daniel and his lawyer are preparing for the sentencing meeting. They’ve established that the sentence will be as long as three to eight years, trying to focus on the fact that Daniel has done the things to indicate he’s shown remorse, including writing a letter to Luke and Nicole’s families apologizing for what he did. One of the lowest moments for him was when Nicole’s family responded. Their letter essentially says that while they have sympathy for Daniel and for the Brennan family, Nicole isn’t coming back, even if Daniel spends his life in prison. After the court hearing, no one comes around anymore. Kylie’s best friend, Becky, comes by, and Tom is free to go to Matt’s house, but things seem tense everywhere else. Claire also visits for a while, and Kylie goes out of her way to avoid her. Tom and his dad, but Tom’s mom implies that Claire might be partially to blame for the situation. Eventually, Claire leaves to pursue a job overseas as a nanny.
On the day of the sentencing, they find out Williams (the tough judge) is presiding and they find themselves nervous, but they make it to the courthouse, all of them dressed up. In the courthouse are some of Nicole and Luke’s family members, as well as a couple of people from the town. The judge reviews the case, and then sentences Daniel to a total of five years in prison with a non-parole period of three years, amidst loud objections from the observers in the court. Back in the present, Tom’s dad wakes him up early on Saturday so he can head to the prison to see Daniel for the first time in six weeks. He struggles to eat, and although his mother tries to encourage him, Tom can’t see past her yellowing teeth and her bad breath. Things become tenser as his mother reveals that she was aware that he made the rugby team but didn’t say anything to him about it. Tom flinches away from her a bit as she hugs him goodbye and tells him to give Daniel her love.
As they drive to see Daniel, Brendan mentions that she’s been having a really tough time, but Tom is unsympathetic, disgusted by her lack of hygiene. They move on from that conversation, talking about how Daniel is. Brendan shares that Daniel’s not doing very well, and again reaches out to Tom, who again shuts down. Everything about the prison, Westleigh, feels hot and sticky to Tom as they drive through the gates. They line up outside the visitors’ area, are searched and sent through metal detectors, and head towards the waiting room. Tom watches the other people around him as they make their way inside, noting how everyone looks pretty rough—to him, he and Brendan are the ones that seem the most “normal” out of everyone. Tom notes that Westleigh is reserved for younger men and is a minimum-to-medium-security prison, and he wonders if he’ll ever get used to the prison.
Soon, Daniel comes back and Tom notes that something about him has changed. Although he’s always resembled their mother, the similarity is even stronger now—they both appear lifeless and dejected. Daniel is happy to see Tom but is still withdrawn. They exchange pleasantries, and when Tom announces that he made the rugby team, Daniel is at first too overcome to speak but then finally manages to express that he’s sorry. However, he begins to freak out, and Brendan has to calm him down. As Brendan is talking to Daniel, Tom realizes that he’s become the rock for a lot of the process. Brendan promises that Daniel is going to get through this, but Daniel feels uncertain. He turns to Tom and asks if Tom hates him now, but Tom assures Daniel that he’s his brother. Daniel quickly shifts the topic to rugby, and although he’s thrown off, Tom promises Daniel that he’ll take the time to teach the others after admitting that they’re not as good as the team at St. John’s.
A week after the visit, Daniel starts at the Westleigh Peer Support Facility and Tom starts running with Brendan. It’s very difficult—there’s a lot of running uphill—and as they run, Brendan explains the move to Tom. Daniel will be there for a few months to help with his depression, and Brendan thinks that it’ll be a good change for him. As dawn comes, they sit down and Brendan admits that he never imagined this kind of thing for Daniel, who was loved by Tom’s grandfather, Pa, and who was into cars like Brendan never was, which delighted Pa. He also reveals that he stayed in Coghill instead of moving away because things got complicated. He walks away, and Tom realizes that that’s the most he’s ever learned about Brendan. Tom walks back to the house and finds Kylie glaring at him. It turns out that he ate the apple strudel Kylie had made for her home science class. In response to his attempt to explain himself, Kylie screams at him for being absorbed in rugby while she was having a hard time and claims that he doesn’t even have any friends, and argues that it could be worse since he could be Fin. As she finishes, Tom notices their Aunty Kath standing outside the door, and Kylie goes to hug her and cry. Tom feels incredibly small.
Aunty Kath is staying while Fin gets ready for his move to rehab, although Tom didn’t know that she was coming. Kath tells Kylie to go upstairs, leaving Tom alone with her. He asks how Fin is doing, and Kath says that she thinks that rehab will be good for him, especially since he’ll have some more independence there. She also shares that Fin is looking forward to Tom visiting him at rehab. Tom is nervous, and internally, he admits that visiting Fin is stressful for him because there isn’t any hope that he will get better and that isn’t easy to swallow. Kylie comes into the kitchen and gives the recipe for the apple strudel to Aunty Kath, who says that she doesn’t mind making it. Kylie and Kath had always been close and Aunty Kath has always been a great cook but hasn’t had the chance to cook very often since the accident. When Tom comes back the next day, he finds Kath cleaning the kitchen. She comments that the fridge is a mess and that half of the food is covered in mold, clearly in a bad mood. We discover why when Gran comes in, revealing that Tess (Tom’s mom) was supposed to help her clean. Tom knows that a fight is coming, and it arrives the next afternoon once he and his dad come back from rugby practice.
They get into the house and everyone is in different locations, tense. Dad asks what’s going on, and they reveal that Aunty Kath answered the phone when Daniel called, catching him off guard. Tom’s mom complains that Daniel has to watch his back every second, to which Kath responds that her son (Fin) cannot even turn his neck to see his back. Brendan asks them not to go there, and Kath snaps that they wouldn’t want to upset Tess in case she spends forever in bed. She then challenges Dad, asking why they have to do everything when Tess is Daniel’s mother and when she’s also Tom and Kylie’s mother. Tess asks what she’s supposed to do when she feels like she can’t even move. Kath argues that she doesn’t have the indulgence not to move, since she has to take care of Fin all the time. The rest of the week is tense, but Dad decides that they should all go to mass together. It’s Palm Sunday, and the church seems extra crowded. Luckily—according to Tom—Father Vincent is the one giving the sermon, so it shouldn’t be too long of a service. Everything feels like a bit of a mess, but most importantly, Tom’s mom is up and out again. As he looks around, he sees the members of his rugby team scattered throughout the church. He hears a lone voice singing from the choir and discovers that it’s Chrissy. Enthralled, he’s disappointed as she waves to a guy who seems to be her boyfriend.
The first match of the year is on April 19th. Tom goes over to Brendan’s, late after skipping their morning run. Tom is ribbing Brendan for also not going on their run when he bumps into Jonny wearing just a pair of boxers, making him realize that Brendan and Jonny are together. He moves on quickly, asking Brendan if he thinks that a scrapbook would be a good birthday gift for Daniel. Tom heads out but comes across Chrissy heading to the sheds with some stuff for Jonny. It’s super heavy, so they both take it out of the car together. But Tom wants to impress Chrissy, so he tries to carry it by himself even though he feels like he’s going to break his arms. He then heads into the house to take a hot shower, then dresses and begins to rummage through Gran’s scrapbooks. He’s going through them when he’s startled by the presence of an article that reads, “Football Party Tragedy,” which recounts what happened in the accident in concise, unemotional words.
Analysis
Brendan continues to try to reach out to both Tom and Kylie, and is patient with both of them. For Tom, the tryouts for rugby only represent another thing that’s changed for him recently. We also learn that Tom is very competitive. Although Daniel is a large part of the reason that he feels differently about footy, another aspect of the problem is that Tom feels that the players here aren’t good. The trials provoke him to ask about seeing Daniel, but even his dad’s agreement doesn’t cheer Tom up. Tom feels as if nothing is really his anymore, a mood that persists even through the good news about the tryouts. Football didn’t belong to him, it belonged to him and Daniel. It was a large part of their childhood, so doing it without him feels wrong. He can’t celebrate getting onto the team because he can’t celebrate football-related things without Daniel; they’re tied together for him.
It’s that same inability to be reminded of the past before the accident that initially prevented him from returning to school. Looking to the past, Daniel’s remorse is genuine but is also complicated by the fact that he has to show remorse in order to get a shorter sentence. His remorse also doesn’t change the fact that he was responsible for the death of two people, and no amount of apology can fix that. Even though the letter from Nicole’s family is somewhat harsh, it tells the truth, forcing Daniel to again reckon with the magnitude of his actions. As the narration shifts from Nicole’s family’s reaction to the new social life of the family, we see the impact that this incident has had on the relationship his other family members have to their community. Even people who stick around them, like Claire, don’t quite fit in the same way, and in the end, nothing can keep them and the members of the town together.
When Williams sentences Daniel, the loud objections from both the families affected and the townspeople confirm that he and the Brennan family will likely never really be a part of the community ever again. In the present moment, Tom’s trip to see Daniel is something that also induces anxiety in him, even though he doesn’t view his brother as a burden in the same way that he views Fin. His struggle to eat is juxtaposed against that of his mother. Although Tom is also likely suffering from depression, his mother is far worse. This makes it difficult for her to interact and take care of Tom and Kylie. The fact that she forgot to congratulate Tom for making the team because she’s so focused on Daniel, combined with her tendency to make excuses for him, gives the reader the impression that he’s her favorite child.
In turn, Tom finds it difficult to interact with his mom as a person. Instead, he sees all the things that are wrong with her, like her teeth and her bad breath. Tom’s judgmental thoughts continue as they head towards the prison. He’s not very willing to be sympathetic towards his mother, and the way he thinks of a lot of the other visitors in the prison is pretty harsh. But despite him and Brendan being the “normal” ones, in the end, they’re just like the other visitors, here to see someone they love who has been incarcerated.
When seeing Daniel, Tom immediately draws a parallel between him and his mother, which adds further to the image of him as his mother’s favorite child. Daniel is still struggling with how to take responsibility for all of the damage he’s caused, to the point where his body literally cannot handle it. Rather than having trouble accepting what he’s done, Daniel is having trouble living with it. Brendan’s intervention shows that Brendan, out of all of the family, has learned to live with the fallout of the accident. More importantly, he has been helping others learn how to live with the fallout. But that fallout still doesn’t change the love that Tom has for Daniel.
Soon after that visit, Daniel and Tom both start journeys that will change them over the coming months. For Daniel, that change will be related to his mental health and learning how to control his volatile side. For Tom, running trains his body, but is also an opportunity for him to get to know Brendan better. Brendan is the epitome of a team player, like Tom, and puts his family first by choosing to stay in Coghill. These meetings don’t resolve everything though. The fight with Kylie shows some of how Tom still has a lot of growing to do, even though she was far from being fair to him. Part of that growth will be learning how to be around Fin, especially since he needs support as he makes some difficult transitions. Aunty Kath’s visit exposes how much of the labor for caring for Fin has fallen on her, and how Tom’s mother might have stepped up in comparison.
Although Tom’s mother is depressed, Aunty Kath astutely points out that she has begun prioritizing Daniel over Tom and Kylie. Despite the fight between Kath and Tess being stressful for all involved, the incident ends up bringing the family (including Tom’s mother) together for the first time in a while. Seeing his family out and about, mingling with his rugby mates in church, Tom begins to form an idea of what life in Coghill might be like. This idea is deeply connected with thoughts of Chrissy, even if she has a boyfriend. Around Chrissy, Tom is less sad and more of a typical, slightly clumsy teenage boy who wants to impress a girl.
