"Where's the book?" "You don't even know what it is you're asking for." " Is it about my life?" " Yes." "There's only one copy, written by hand." "I am trusting you with this, and I know you'll do the right thing." "Chief Kevin Garvey." "Garvey?" "Thought you went crazy." "That was my dad." "Will you please shut up?" "No, no." "I'm not gonna tell him." "Your dad's been released." "Isn't that great?" "Do you want to call the nuthouse?" "What are they gonna tell me if I do?" "That I'm cured." "The voices, they just went away?" "No, sir." "I just started doing what they told me to." "They tell you to go to Australia?" "I can sit around and cry about how the world fucking ended, or I can start it up again." " Dad?" " It worked." " Where are you?" " I'm in Perth." "I am fucked up on this shit they call "God's Tongue,"" "so I really hope this is real." "Son, I love you." "Help them!" "Go and help them!" "They're gonna drown!" "Pull over!" "They're not coming up." "They'll come up." " Please, Dad?" " Please pull over." "You know how long ducks can hold their breath?" "No." " As long as it takes for you to stop looking at 'em." "Then pull over and let's look." "Okay, let's look." "I think they're dead." " No, they're not dead." " But how do you know?" "Ducks go down, ducks come up." "This is the natural order of things, son." " There they are!" " Yep." "There they are." "They're okay!" "They're okay." "And there you have it, folks." "The ducks are alive and well." "Kevin Garvey Jr." "Reporting." "What are you doing?" "Preventing the apocalypse." "What are you doing?" "Don't smile." "This is a songline." "Is it?" "You can go." "Uh, you don't get to keep that." "Well, the... the mic, okay, that's fine, but the player, can I have it back, please?" "Please?" "Oh, thank you." "I..." "W-where's the tape?" "What's on the tape is stolen." "You took it without permission." "No, no, not that one." "That's fine." "The other one." "It says "Niagara '81."" "Please." "It's me and my kid from a long time ago." "It's really important to me." "Please." "Thank you." "Yeah." "Go, get." "Yeah, thank you." "Why did Travis wanna kill the president?" "Travis didn't wanna kill anyone." "He's not real." " I don't get it." " Travis is pretend." "He's in the movie." "John is real, and that's how he got the idea." "So, John killed the president because he saw it in a movie?" "He didn't kill the president." "He tried to kill the president." "Why?" "Because he's crazy, Kevin." "But the president's okay, right?" " Yeah, buddy." " The president's fine." "And there you have it, folks." "The president is just fine." "Kevin Garvey Jr." "Reporting." " Howdy." " G'day." "Do you deliver mail to the communities around here?" "Yes, sir." "I'm looking for a friend..." "Christopher Sunday." "Maybe you have an address for him." "If he's a friend of yours, why don't you have his address?" "I misplaced it." "You need to talk to Sharon." "Okay." "Who's Sharon?" "She's a liaison to the indigenous community." "All due respect, friend," "I don't need a liaison." "I'm a member of the indigenous community." "Sharon's over at the cultural center on Borland Circuit." "Anything else?" "Yeah." "I had my mail forwarded." "I heard how helpful you were down here." "Kevin Garvey." "May I see some ID?" "Unfortunately, I lost it." "But I can tell you the return address." "One Matthew Jamison." "Miracle, Texas." "US of A." "If that's not enough, I can tell you what's inside." "You know the best-selling book of all time?" "I reckon it's the Bible." "You reckon right, my friend." "And that there... is the goddamn sequel." "Oof." "Fucking asshole." "Full of shit." "Jesus." "What?" "Motherfucker!" "Oh, hi, Noah." "Is your daddy home?" "Let Mommy, honey." "Hello?" "Uh, hello." "This is Frank Johnson from the Episcopal council." "Can I speak to Reverend Matt Jamison?" " Frank Johnson?" " Yes." "Are you sure this isn't the former police chief of Mapleton, New York?" "Because I know Matt would wanna talk to him." " Who is it?" " It's your buddy in Australia." "I'm taking Noah to the park." "You want me to come?" "Not when you have important work to do, Matt." " Hello?" "" " Mary seems pissed." " What'd you do?" " I didn't do anything." "We're just working through some..." "We're fine." "How are things down under?" "Well, Matt, funny you should ask about how things are going down here because it seems like you don't give a shit." " What?" " I'm not in it, asshole." "I'm sorry?" "I'm not in it." "I spent hours talking you through what I'm doing down here." "There's not a word in your goddamn book." "Well, the book is about what's happening to your son." "You know, if he were in Australia..." "I don't want him in Australia." "I don't want him anywhere fucking near Australia!" "Okay." "Since you clearly weren't listening the first time I told you," "I am not a part of Kevin Jr.'s story." "He's a part of mine." "He's the one who guided me here." "Why isn't that in your book?" "Well, I'm sorry." "W-when did this happen?" "When he was eight years old." "Yeah, well, children don't feature prominently in scripture." "W-what about Abraham's kid?" " Isaac?" "He was 36." " No, no." "When Abraham tried to sacrifice him." "He was a grown man." "36 years old." "That makes no fucking sense at all." "Did you, uh... did you get the money I sent you?" "Yeah, I did." "Ha." "What's it for?" "Well, just to help you out." "Oh, really?" "It's not so I'll keep my mouth shut and not tell my son you're writing an unauthorized fucking biography about him?" "Kevin, telling him would not be a good idea." "He needs to just go through his life." "Knowing any of this would not be in his best interests." "It would be in your best interest to pick up some scuba gear, because if I fail down here, you are gonna be under a fuck of a lot of water, shithead!" "Okay." "Best of luck with that, Kevin." "Go fuck yourself, Matt." "Hello." "Excuse me." "Is Sharon around?" "She's in the crapper." "You can wait in her office." "Oh, great." "Thanks." "Do I know you, mate?" "I sure hope not." " Oh!" " Good afternoon." "You must be Sharon." "I'm Frank." " Hello." " Is that snake Papunya?" "It is indeed." " How'd you guess?" " Oh, I'd know Papunya anywhere." "They have a very precise style." "Actually, I painted it myself." " You did not." " I did." "Well, then you are incredibly talented." "So, what brings you here, Frank?" "I'm looking for a cleverman named Christopher Sunday." "I was told you might have an address for him." "Well, the name rings a bell, but if you're making a documentary, you'll have to go..." "No, no, no." "Documentaries are boring." "I'm just seeking enlightenment." "I'm only interested in his wisdom, his counsel, nothing else." "I'd have to accompany you." "I wouldn't want it any other way." "Let me see if I can get that address for you." "Uh, is this your son?" "My grandson, Ollie." "He wants to be an astronaut." "My son wanted to be an anchorman on the news." " Yeah?" "And did he?" " Nah." "He's a cop." "A good one." "And your..." "Your wife?" "She passed." "Cancer." " Oh, I'm so sorry." " Thanks." "It was a long time ago." "Did you find him?" "It seems that, um, Chris lives in a... community just a few..." "I'd like you to hear my side." ""Appropriation of sacred ceremonies without permission,"" "theft of creation songs, misrepresentation of identity." ""Under no circumstances should this man be given access to tribal elders."" "Shame on you." "You've stolen from these people." "Really?" "I've stolen?" "Same way your government stole a whole generation of their children?" "We apologized for that!" "Shame on you, Sharon." "I have lived among these people." "I am trying to fucking save these people." "Save them from what?" "!" "Oi!" "Christopher Sunday." "I'm sorry if I mispronounced." "Are you Christopher Sunday?" "Chris." "Chris, it's a real honor to meet you." "I am Kevin, Totem of the Bush Snake." "I've come a long way to find you." "You're scared." "I am, yes." "Of what?" "I used to hear voices." "They started about five minutes after it happened, after people disappeared." "So they put me in an institution." "And there I stayed arguing with something nobody else could even see, fighting it." "And then I stopped fighting." "And I started doing what the voices told me." "The last thing they told me was to leave, to go to Australia." "It's a pretty big country you got here." "A little specificity would've been nice, but I figured instructions were forthcoming, and I always wanted to check out the Opera House, so I flew to Sydney." "Bought a ticket for Verdi, put on a nice suit, and I'm on my way from the hotel when this guy, this hippie with a red headband... walks right up to me and says," ""Do you wanna talk to God?"" "That's gotta be it, right?" "So I said, "Fuck, yeah, I wanna talk to God."" "And he said, "Then you've gotta talk in God's tongue, mate."" "God's tongue, it turns out, is an experimental, high-end hallucinogen this guys brews in his basement." "And I wake up two weeks later in a hotel room in Perth on the opposite fucking coast." "There's a smoldering mattress next to me and a bunch of white dudes lying around in war paint." "And I have no fucking memory how I got there or what happened while I did." "Also, God did not talk to me." "And I'm thinking this is a fucking waste of time, at best, a misguided detour... when I notice the TV in the hotel room is on." "And do you know what I saw on that TV, Chris?" "A chicken." "On October the 14th, a town in the outback lost its entire population." "A small town, only 14 people." "But all of them vanished, even the animals." "Every living thing in that town was gone except for one thing..." "An egg." "Two days later, it hatched and they named him Tony." "At first, nobody took him seriously." "But then rumors started." "Rumors that the chicken could help people find whatever they were looking for." "And this is the first fucking thing I hear when I wake up from a two-week acid trip?" "It's got to be a fucking sign." "So, I hop on the train 4,000 kilometers back across the country, and I go see Tony." "So, I give this guy my money, guy puts the chicken in front of me, and says, "What are you looking for?"" ""Well, I don't know what I'm looking for yet." "That's the point." "I need Tony to tell me."" "And the guy says, "Doesn't work that way." "You've gotta give Tony something to look for."" "So I said, "Purpose!"" "I want some fucking purpose."" "And that very minute," "Tony jumped up on my pack and starts pecking." "He was pecking... this." "When my kid was about eight years old, my wife gave him a tape recorder for Christmas." "She died about a month later, so he... he kept it with him all the time." "All the time." "Well, that summer, I took him on a road trip to Niagara Falls." "And he just about drove me nuts... recording everything we said." "Excuse me." "I like listening to it." "This is the tape that Tony pecked." "I didn't rewind it." "I put it in the player and waited for one last voice to tell me what to do." "You have to sing it." " Oh, come on." " It's for little kids." "You're a big kid now." "You have to or it won't stop." "It's gonna get in the car!" " We're pulled over." " We're safe." " Please, Daddy?" " Just sing it." "Okay." "You did it!" "On the seventh-year anniversary of the Sudden Departure," "I believe the rains will come, and with them a great flood." "I have to sing to make it stop." "You have to sing?" "For the last two years," "I've been working my way down the songline." "I don't have to tell you every community has a different part, so I've had to learn it piece by piece..." "Every sacred site, every ceremony, every word." "You want my song?" "It's the last one." "The last one." "And it is my understanding that you are the only man alive who knows it." "My song is bring the rain, not stopping." "Well, that's all subject to interpretation." "You want to stop the flood?" "I do." "Start there." "You got a deal." "Can you see the problem?" "Yeah, your swamp cooler's leaking like a motherfucker." "Can you fix it, then?" " You got a pipe wrench or some duct tape..." "Ah, shit!" "Oh, shit!" "Don't believe a word that woman says about me." "Remember, we've got a deal!" "Oh!" "I rolled the other way." "You saw me, right?" "I..." "I tried to miss you." " Chris, can you hear me?" " Settle down." "I'm just concerned that when we get to the hospital, they're gonna separate us." "And Chris promised he'd teach me something." "Didn't you, Chris?" "Chris, Chris, Chris, nod if you can hear me." " Otherwise, they're not gonna believe me." " Sit!" "Sit." "Friend, I am acting in your best interest." "You are looking at an initiated Yanmedjaran." "Show a little respect for your fucking elder." "Uh, I'm sorry I lost it." "You're gonna leave me here?" "Ah!" "Fuck me!" "Fucking, fucking, fuck, fuck, fuck!" "I don't think this is the way we're supposed to go." "Garvey men don't follow a highlighter on a goddamn triptych, son." "But what if we get lost?" "AAA wants you to take the interstates to get you to drive by the AAA Howard Johnsons and the AAA giant balls of twine." "You want a real adventure, you gotta chart your own course." "Hey!" "Stop!" "Ah!" "Hey!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Ah!" "Man, what are you doing?" "They didn't take me." " Whoa, whoa, whoa." " Slow down, slow down." "Let's just talk for a sec." "They didn't take me." "Buddy, they didn't take most of us." "You're not alone, trust me." "But that was seven years ago." "Would you kill a baby if it would cure cancer?" "What?" "Would you kill a baby if it would cure cancer?" "No." "That is exactly what I said." "Wait!" "Whoa, shit!" "Ah!" "Please let there be water." "Please let there be some goddamn water." "Fucking alcoholic." "Jesus." "I know what you're trying to do, but it's not gonna work!" "You can't stop me, asshole!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Please." "Kevin Garvey Jr. reporting." "No." "God." "God." "Buddy, I know you're my totem, but I got some bad news for you." "If I go down, I don't think I'm getting up." "So..." "I need to eat you." "I'm sorry." "Know that you gave your life... for something greater than yourself." "Oh!" "Ah!" "Come on!" "Shit!" "Help." "Oh, hey there." "Oh." "Oh, no." "Fucker!" "Oh, oh!" "Hello?" "Anybody here?" "Hello?" "Will you accept a collect international call from..." "Kevin Garvey Sr." "All right, fine." "Do you know what time it is here?" "I don't care what time it is." "What day is it?" " What?" " What day is it?" "How long since we last talked?" "Uh, that was three weeks ago." "Oh, shit." "That's just, like, eight days left." "Shit!" "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Kevin." "Uh, I'm actually glad you called." "Could you send a photocopy of the book back to me?" " I..." "I gave the original..." " I threw it away." " What?" " Doesn't matter." "Look, I..." "I need you to call the Kurripa Hospital." "That's Kur-rip-pah." "Find out if there's a patient there named Christopher Sunday." "Matt?" "You threw it away?" "My friend, you've gotta move past that dumb book of yours." "I don't know where I am, but once I find out," "I'm gonna need your help in getting to this hospital." " Kevin." " Yeah?" "Go fuck yourself." " Hey there!" " Hello." "You're building a boat." "Uh-huh." "For the flood." "I need to get to the hospital in Kurripa." "Any chance you guys could give me a ride there?" "Lady of the house will take better care of you than the hospital." "No, I'm fine." "Anybody here know Christopher Sunday?" "Oh, yeah, sure." "We all know each other." "It's a tiny country." "I know Chris." "You're the fella that landed on him." "He's dead." "He's dead?" "Shit." ""Caleb's arthritis."" "You Caleb?" "I'm in pain, buddy." "Mm." "Let him up." "Okay, let him up!" "Hey." "What are you ladies up to?" "Oh, come on." "Hello." "Hi." "Would you like some tea?" "How's your arm?" "Itches like hell." "We get a lot of brown and tiger snakes out here." "I gave you antivenom for both just to be safe." "Much obliged." "You looked through my photos." "I was hungry." "It was in the fridge." "What's your name?" "Grace." "Nice to meet you." " I'm Kev..." " I just killed a man." "Okay." "I'll turn myself in tomorrow." "The other ladies you saw, they had nothing to do with it." "I'm hoping you'll consider leaving them out of whatever you tell the police." "Are you all alone out here?" "Yes." "Your family's gone?" "Yes." "On the 14th?" "It was the 15th here." "Fuck." "I keep forgetting that." "You were with them?" "I was in town at the Big W." "The register girl vanished right in front of me." "She was holding my box of Weet-Bix." "Took it with her." "I knew what it was the moment it happened." "The Rapture." "I finally made it home the next night." "I already knew the chapel would be empty before I stepped foot inside." "Their Bibles..." "Liam's, Abigail's," "David's, Samantha's," "Jimmy's, Sam, my husband, his Bible, too." "All in a nice, neat row." "And when I saw them in that moment..." "I felt so blessed... because God showed me." "He gave me confirmation that my family now sat by His side." "For two years, I spread His word." "For two years, I endured... and held true." "Then I received a phone call." "Remains had been found on my property." "The remains of five children." "Just bones." "Bleached in the sun." "The phones were down." "They had no way of knowing if I was ever coming home or if I had simply vanished like their father had." "So, they set out on foot... across the flats... alone." "I thought they had gone, you see?" "Gone with everyone else." "I never even considered searching for them." "If I had..." "I took the cross from the chapel and brought it out there... to mark the place where they died." "The place where I found you." "This was in your hand." "A page written like scripture." "One I'd never seen or heard of before." "It tells of a man, a police chief named Kevin... who drowned and passed into the land of the dead and spoke to them." "Who freed them from their pain and rose again." "Just 20 kilometers from here... there's a police chief named Kevin." "What are the chances of that?" "It had to be him." "So, I went to him, to Kevin, and I asked for his help." "And when he refused," "I drowned him... because I thought he was testing me." "Because I thought he'd come back." "And once I'd proven my faith, he would have no choice but to help me talk to my children one last time." "So, I thought you were sent by God." "Sent with a message just for me." "But you're not an angel." "There is no message." "And God doesn't care about me." "It's all just a story I told myself." "It's just a stupid, silly story." "And I believed it because..." "I've gotta be crazy, haven't I?" "No, Grace." "I don't think you're crazy at all." "You just got the wrong Kevin." "Kevin, what's wrong?" "You can tell me anything." "No, I can't." "Just tell me exactly what you think you saw." "I don't think I saw anything!" "Hey!" "I don't understand what's happening." " So it's a sting operation?" " Right." "I'm gonna find them and I'm gonna destroy them." "Wait!" "Is this real?" "I didn't know how to handle you talking to a dead person." "Oh, Jesus." "Is it happening again?"