239. The echoing footsteps

Moving as a unit, hand-in-hand, the four of them honed their curiosity. They felt better after the stack of pancakes at La Renaissance, more inclined to take their time and investigate each nook and cranny. Jeff found, also, that the coffee restored his usual patience, and eased the buzzing in his head. He liked that sort of coffee, rich, dark, but without the bitterness from over-roasting.

While visiting Sydney was a joy, they would not want to live there. No. Living in Canberra was just right. The clean air, the open spaces, the emphasis on the here and the now that braced the rapidity of future change. That was how Sue thought of it, and Jeff agreed. His compromise, though, was to spend some of each holiday in older, more rumpled areas of the country. There is a beauty in the decrepit that youth needs to have teased out, prized.