Restoration in the River

Take Me Home

Emmaline loved her job, but as of late she was feeling nothing but burnt out. So when she finally got back home after being interviewed for any evidence she may have held, she was happy to do nothing...absolutely nothing at all.

She lived in a lovely, old stunning Queenslander home on the banks of the ever winding Brisbane river just a little upstream from the CBD.

Christmas was approaching fast. 

"So this big ass grandfather clock arrived a couple of days ago" came the voice of her younger brother, Mark. He was five years her junior.

"And that big ass grandfather clock cost me, a few thousand!" Came her reply. "Where is it now?"

"I've taken it hostage until you tell me that Julian Lennon is going to be my new brother in law," he said seriously.

"I walked past it when I came down the hall, you over obsessed John Lennon fanatic!" She bit back.

"This is the thanks I get for housesitting for you!" He pouted.

"You get free accommodation, free food, free electricity, free WIFI, free hot water, Mark Hatchford!" She told him.

"John Lennon is an immortal genius!" He stated "you cared for his son for six weeks! How did he not get eaten by a male hippo??"

"Luck, I put it down to," She said. "You're going to get every detail out of me aren't you? Mark, my little brother, please don't put him on a pedestal because his last name is Lennon!"

 "You don't like him!!" He pouted again.

"I helped him recover enough to be discharged from hospital well enough to go home. He was a pretty good patient, despite having to go through what he went through! Hippo attacks, bites are EXTREMELY painful!" She told him.  

"You never married, my sister" he stated. 

"True, I never did, my brother," she said in reply. "But I'm not miserable, I'm a touch burnt out though!"  

"You're not going to help out at the Wesley over Christmas are you?" He asked.

"This year I was going to give it a miss," She told him. 

"Good!" He nodded in approval "so come to Hawaii for Christmas with Mia and me! That way, you're not alone!"

"I was actually invited to a Christmas function in London," She told him.

"Great! Emmaline! Putting your career ahead of the only family you have left....yet again" He snarled.

"Mark, don't be like that!" She said. "You and Mia always enjoy Christmas with your dogs! And you know Mia doesn't like me!"

"And New York?? I heard you were in New York??" He asked, his eyes wide.

"Where do you think I got the grandfather clock from?" She came back with.

"Fine! You have a point!" He admitted. "I heard about the shooting just up from The Dakota, you weren't anywhere near there were you?"

"I was on scene to help out Mark" she couldn't lie to him.

"Of course you were!" He said flatly. 

"I wasn't in any danger! The shooter was not on the scene as he had been arrested, I was in a cafe down the street having a treat after buying the clock and a child ran in and asked whether there were any emergency service workers or doctors. I couldn't sit there and go 'oh well, whoever can die because I really can't waste this cheesecake and Chai Latte!' "