"Today I learned that Gary’s brother Kevin Foley is dead at 53. Last Friday, the man Gary described as the “handsome and talented Foley brother” passed away in Yeppoon.

Now, Foley has been going flat-chat teaching winter school and marking three-hundred undergraduate essays. Stuck at the PC, he has had no time to ride his bike or tend his garden; the two activities that most reliably keep him in good form. He’s been feeling old and creaky and jokes quite often that he will die soon; after all, he’s already exceeded the average mortality age for a blackfella.

I usually laugh but today it’s not funny. Today, Kevin Foley is dead and Gary—a man of pure reason—is feeling.

The man needs time. He needs time with his family and he needs time to grieve and time to prepare for a Melbourne winter where he will—and YES this is entirely selfish—work with me to write a book. I am thinking a couple of grand to give the guy some time with his girls, Susie and Ruby, and a rest in the sun.":