Caitlin Rose in session

Diamond Star Halo, Tiffany Murray

'The courtyard was suddenly still. It was anticipation.
Beyond the west stone wall our green fields were caught mid sparkle, bright as light on a dragonfly’s back. There, Nana’s curly-horned sheep froze, mid-munch. I took a breath of the still quiet.

It was then we heard the bus rumble closer.
We watched it glide under the red-brick arch: it was big,and it was silver.

‘Expensive,’ Nana Lew said, pointing. ‘American’
It turned, popping gravel. As it did, we waved. We waved hard and we stared at our stretching reflections on its shining silver surface: on the blacked-out windows. We were flag-wavers at a
Home coming parade, cheering on the cavalcade, and for a moment we were frozen like that.

The bus shuddered to a stop.
As it hummed and my family drew a collective breath,
its silver concertina doors sprung open.
Eight brothers jumped out one by one.
Their smell wafted to us first: it was cheesecake, smoke, and peanuts. They stretched out the cramp of the bus and we saw these brothers had honey-brown faces and beards of gold that glinted in the setting sun. These brothers were huge.

The most remarkable thing about them, though, was their
clothes. They all wore white suits, but these suits were embroidered with pictures as colourful as the pictures in my sister Molly’s books. On their lapels were pink and naked girls; on their arms and thighs were great, green cactus trees, silver stars, and big white pills. The stars sparkled and the naked girls seemed to be dancing as the brothers fidgeted. My family, for a small moment, was speechless. One brother turned to gaze out at the
courtyard, and I saw a big red cross and a running black horse sewn onto his wide back. I was sure I could hear cantering hooves. These men were wearing stories, and both the brothers and the stories were beautiful.
‘This is it, huh?’ one brother said.
‘Guess so.’
‘Man.’'