Dirt Music

Beaver, “a bear-like man in a pair of greasy overalls” who works at a local gas station (11), sees the shamateur, an illegal fisherman, launch his boat into the sea, and wishes he had seen nothing. He calls the shamateur an idiot under his breath and walks away to open his gas station.

Georgie goes about her morning after returning from the pre-dawn swim and soon notices the shamateur’s truck and boat have vanished. She knows she should report it, but she does not. She considers the economics of the fishing industry and how the fishing boon has made the formerly impoverished people of White Point quite rich, thinking, “she wasn’t about to go running out to protect millionaires from one bloke and his dog” (14).

The town is described in vivid detail as a haven for fishermen, the lone harbor on an otherwise unforgiving coast in Western Australia. The town has changed from one of wild vigilante justice to a more civilized version with a school and a hospital, though the old White Point resurfaces in bouts of violence or prejudice.

Jim Buckridge is at the helm of his fishing vessel when a deckhand named Boris is injured. Jim pushes away thoughts of the radar blip he’d seen earlier in the morning and rushes to see what has happened below.

Jim rings, waking Georgie from an early-morning nap. He asks her to get an ambulance and a new deckhand down to the pier. She jumps in the car, and in her haste, runs over her stepson’s skateboard.

In a small shed, the unnamed shamateur leaves his boat cleaned and ready, the morning’s haul packed on ice in his truck. With the dog in tow, they depart and are soon on the highway with their illegal cargo.

Georgie picks up depot master Yogi Behr from the depot office, the latter emerging wrapped in a towel, having been disturbed mid-shower. She drives Yogi to Rachel’s house and leaves him to convince the volunteer ambulance driver to get to the docks urgently. With Yogi’s advice in mind, she races to the surf shop to convince someone to take Boris’s place on Jim Buckridge’s vessel.

Shamateur Luther “Lu” Fox and his unnamed dog arrive at Go’s, a Vietnamese restaurant off the highway. Go is upset that Lu has not delivered abalone, though he buys the fresh fish from Lu’s truck-bed ice chest. They acknowledge their precarious relationship, as well as the fact that both Lu and Go are breaking the law.

Jim Buckridge’s fishing vessel Raider pulls into dock, unloading Boris and taking on the new deckhand Georgie has recruited, shoving back out as quickly as it came in. Yogi and Rachel are waiting with the ambulance, and they quickly load Boris, whose face is split open. As Georgie watches the ambulance pull away, she realizes she likes Rachel, though she has never put any effort into making friends in White Point.

Shamateur Lu sees the ambulance coming toward him on the highway and takes note of Yogi Behr crossing himself as he passes.

At home, Georgie suffers the fallout from the broken skateboard as Jim’s son Josh lobbies for her to pay for a new one even as Jim insists he earn the money to replace it on his own. Georgie makes a half-hearted effort to heal the emotional wound between Josh and herself. At dinner, Georgie considers Jim Buckridge, describing him in intricate detail. After dinner, Jim goes to Beaver’s shop to pick up a film. He brings it home but falls asleep, leaving Georgie to watch the movie alone and become lost in her competing emotions. As has become her custom, Georgie surfs the web through the night but tires of the meaninglessness of it at dawn and meanders around the dunes in a drunken stupor. She sees the shamateur again and sneaks closer to watch him.

Georgie watches the shamateur for a week, knowing she can no longer tell anyone without incriminating herself. She contemplates telling Beaver, who she considers to be a friend. Under the premise of returning another rented film, she asks Beaver if he’s ever seen anything strange on the beach, to which he says no.

Jim and Georgie fight after she buys Josh a new skateboard, which he forces his son to return, further deepening the emotional wound between Josh and Georgie.

Shamateur Lu pulls a tin can out of the limestone rocks in an old quarry behind his farmhouse and deposits a wad of cash. Inside the tin are tiny seaside treasures, more money, and bits of paper. In Lu’s wallet are a fake license and papers.

Georgie does not go down to watch the shamateur but continues to drink through the night and surf the Internet. That evening, she tries desperately to repair her relationship with her stepson Josh, but he pulls a photo of his deceased mother from an album and hits Georgie over the head with it. This hurts Georgie deeply, but she admits she does not understand what is happening or the emotions Josh is grappling with. That night, she catches Jim watching her with fear in his eyes. When she confronts him, he replies only with “It’s late.”

Lu is in his shed cleaning and prepping the boat. He recalls his father using only wire to fix all manner of nautical problems in this same shed. Suddenly, four kangaroos appear in the melon patch behind the shed, startling him. Back in the house, he feeds the dog and eats, then wanders from room to room to ensure he’s alone. He lingers at the doorway of a children’s bedroom still littered with toys. Though it is not revealed at this time, this is the farmhouse he shared with his deceased family. He goes further down the hall and sits on a double bed where he finds a pair of “her” jeans. He rubs these against himself, then stumbles out of the room, knocking down a steel guitar. He struggles to sleep and then finds misery in his dreams.

Georgie thinks about her status as the family’s black sheep, a stark contrast to the beauty-focused mother and sisters who live among Perth’s elites. She recalls how she met Jim Buckridge, binoculars to her face in a hotel window, keeping watch for her abandoned boyfriend, Tyler Hampton, who she’d come to despise on a long sailing trip. When Tyler’s boat collided with another, Georgie took only a few items and slid into the lagoon without a word, swimming to escape the failed romance. Georgie decides to meet Jim, and two weeks later announces to her family that she’s engaged to the fisherman. Georgie wonders if it is her mother’s laughter at this announcement that has kept Georgie in the marriage long after the love has faded.

Lu considers letting the dog inside but decides against it to save the dog from realizing the house is empty. He goes to the lagoon and allows a good feeling to wash over him as he imagines that “they’re all still ashore in their beds sleeping off the Emu Export and the bedtime bong while he has the sea to himself” (50). He catches several fish, then dives for abalone in a wetsuit, recovering mollusks instead. He rides in as the sun rises, skirting the town’s fishermen as they head out to sea.

On the highway out of town, he sees a Land Cruiser on the side of the road and believes he’s been caught. Only when he passes does he see a woman bent over the hood. It’s hot, and the road isn’t often traveled, so he stops out of decency. The dog jumps out the window and runs to the woman before Lu can pull away, so he gets out begrudgingly to help the stranger. He knows if he is caught with fish, he’s done, and the fear nearly blinds him.

Reluctantly, Lu offers to drive Georgie into White Point, although he knows it will be trouble. She declines and asks for a ride to Perth instead. He has to drop the boat at home first but agrees even as he tries to figure out how he’ll sneak the catch onto the truck without her seeing. He wonders if the car is truly broken down or if it is a trap, and he curses the dog as they walk toward his truck.

Georgie does not talk to the shamateur as they drive to his home. She follows him inside a run-down farmhouse. He leaves her in a small library and goes outside while she looks through his photo albums and books. She finds a photo of a blonde woman and children and is jealous of the woman’s physical appearance and confidence. Suddenly, she wishes she wasn’t there, and her inclination to escape surfaces. She sneaks out, finding the truck without the keys. She is forced to wait for Lu.

In the truck on the way to Perth, Lu is uncomfortable under Georgie’s constant questions. She says she’s seen him go out and advises he get a safer job, and that she’s a fisherman’s wife. A silence follows wherein the point of view switches to Georgie’s. She loses resolve in her escape from her spouse and ponders the nature of fleeting love. The point of view switches again as they arrive at the Sheraton Hotel in Perth, and Georgie invites Lu in for a drink. He resists her at first, then cries in her arms on the bed. They make out, and Georgie does not know why she seduces the shamateur—only that she is attracted to broken things she hopes to fix.

In bed, Georgie asks Lu why he steals from the sea. Then, they introduce themselves, sharing names after sex. They talk about his work and the sea and then have sex again. When they awaken, he asks who her husband is, and he panics when she tells him, dashing out of the hotel. Georgie spends the night drinking and watching porn, resigning herself to her hollow life.

Lu returns home and is confused, anxious, and bitter. He likes Georgie, but she is dangerous—Jim Buckridge will burn his life to the ground. He falls asleep, only to wake up to Georgie in his kitchen. She seduces him again, and after sex, he drives her to a large plot of land owned by Jim Buckridge—something she hadn’t known existed—and they swim in the sea.

He tells Georgie that his family died in a rollover car accident. He tells her about his band, his childhood learning to play music, his brother, and how his parents both died while he was young. After the last funeral, he burnt every scrap of paper that could identify him so he could live as a ghost to his secrets. Georgie understands that he is stuck in this life, just as she is stuck in hers. He takes her to his hidden tin and they share secrets. She knows that their relationship, as much as she wants it, cannot work. Georgie leaves.

Lu wonders what he is doing with Georgie, senses the danger, and wonders if his process of trying to forget the last year of his life has been set back. He goes back to the tin and opens it to look at dozens of bits of paper that all say “SORRY.” These were written by his six-year-old niece, Bird, though he doesn’t know what she is apologizing for.

Back at Jim’s house, Georgie apologizes for leaving and Jim calmly suggests they talk later. Georgie lies awake next to him and realizes she cannot leave a good man like Jim for someone else: “choosing one over the other, that felt bitterly close to shopping” (92).

In a flashback, it is the night of the crash. Lu climbs up a hill by the house and retrieves his niece, Bird, for dinner, putting her in the shower and making food. Bullet, his nine-year-old nephew, comes into the house just as dinner is ready. On the veranda, his brother Darkie is playing guitar with his wife Sal. They eat, and Darkie invites the kids to their show at a wedding later that night. Lu says he’ll stay with the kids, but the kids beg to go, so they do.

After the show, Darkie drives them home after too many drinks, and they crash as they come into the driveway. Lu is thrown from the vehicle, and severely injured. He wakes to find Darkie dead, Sal dying shortly after in his arms. He finds Bullet dead a short distance away, and then Bird, breathing but barely so. He limps to the house and picks up the phone.

In the present, Lu recalls how his father would stiffen at the mention of Bill, Jim Buckridge’s father. He knows how they settled business back in his father’s time by sinking boats and burning shacks. Lu knew Jim in school and recalls a time Jim tortured sea creatures for amusement and the approval of his peers. Georgie reflects that Jim is dangerous and that it’s better if Georgie never comes back.

Georgie drinks vodka and takes Temazepam but cannot sleep. She thinks about her stint in Jeddah as a nurse, which is a dark spot in her past. From there, she worked in the US, Indonesia, and finally back in Australia. She lies next to Jim and thinks he is faking sleep. In the morning, he leaves without a word.

Lu goes out on the water after removing the tackle, rods, and ice boxes from his boat. He looks like little more than an amateur out enjoying the nice weather. He slides over the side and free-dives, barely making it back up. He’s giddy from the close call and relishes in the experience and his ability to make such deep dives.

Georgie walks the boys to school and they reject her attempts at affection. At Beaver’s, he mysteriously warns her to be careful. On the walk home, she hears gunshots.

Lu brings the boat in, safe in the knowledge that he has no fishing gear on the boat to give him away as a shamateur. When he returns to shore, however, he finds his dog dead from a gunshot wound, tied to his damaged truck, the engine destroyed by the penetration of bullets. Without a word, he returns to the boat and pushes out. He knows the vigilante justice of White Point is upon him.

Georgie awakens and spots Lu’s boat on the beach, riddled in holes, the dead dog still tied to the bumper. She tries to pack, cannot find the rental car keys, and starts drinking to calm her nerves. Jim returns early with her keys and will not speak with her. She wonders if Lu will survive the sea, as there is nowhere to come into port.

At sea, Lu’s boat finally runs out of fuel. He cannot call for help knowing only White Pointers will come. He guesses he’s five miles from land when he drops the anchor and pulls on his wetsuit. He doesn’t know if he’ll make it, but he knows he must swim to shore and try to make it home. He also knows that Jim Buckridge will have burned his farm down.

Jim Buckridge watches Georgie pour another drink from his office as he instructs the car rental company to come pick up the car, effectively stranding Georgie in White Point. His control of her is a dark cloud that Georgie pretends not to be aware of.

Lu swims, losing strength and willpower and growing delirious from the strain. His mind wanders as he swims until moonlight glistens overhead.

At dusk, Georgie is still drinking vodka on the deck as she looks down at Jim and his friends cooking barbecue in the yard. In the distance, two boats fire up their engines and head out to sea. She knows they are not fishing boats.

At last, Lu reaches the shore, though he is confused, delirious, and near death.

Georgie wakes on the terrace to find Jim approaching with a shovel and flashlight. He goes inside and tells her to sober up and sleep in the guest room. She takes the flashlight and goes down to the beach, where she finds Lu’s dog gone, a soft mound nearby where Jim buried him. She vomits on herself and cries, too drunk to think clearly.

Lu follows tracks along the beach to a shack, where he drinks water and steals clothing from the line. He sleeps under a bush, waking up at dusk and walking to White Point. He sees that his truck and dog are gone. He sneaks into Jim Buckridge’s yard, drinks from his hose, and eats meat from his cooled grill. The door is unlocked, but he does not go in. Instead, he kisses the sliding glass door, puts the shovel down, and leaves.

Georgie wakes up a day and a half later, finding evidence of her drinking in the guest room. Her rental car is gone. She is alone and scared as she gets the bike down and goes to see Beaver. She convinces him to lend her a car, and in return, he asks that she not tell him anything.

Lu walks toward his farmhouse in the hot sun, covering 15 miles before he reaches the old Buckridge plot he and Georgie had crossed to swim a few days prior. At the farmhouse, he sees Beaver’s truck out front but cannot place it. He hides in the bush and falls asleep, waking to see figures on the dunes.

Georgie is alone in Lu’s home when he staggers toward the door. She nurses him back to health and says she’ll take him to her secret island someday—an unnamed island in Coronation Gulf.

Georgie is gone when Lu wakes up, but she left a note tucked into the atlas. He explores the page, a map of Australia, and finds Coronation Gulf. Georgie said her happy place was there. He goes back to bed and doesn’t sleep.