A novella in 30 chapters
Stingaree Bay: Chapter 17
A Place by the Bay
When Lucija Novak and Petar Marić married in 1970, Loreta was already a gentle rounding of her mother’s young belly.
It wasn’t an auspicious time to be starting a family in rural Bosnia, as the rickety Yugoslav economy lurched from one crisis to the next. Conversely, there were good jobs on offer in Australian manufacturing, and the two countries had just signed a migration agreement.
The Novak and Marić families scraped together enough money to get their daughter and son started in that Lucky Country on the other side of the globe. Neighbours whispered that the precocious progress of ‘The Bump’ was a motivating factor for the young couple’s hurried departure for parts discreetly distant.
After a brief stint cutting sugar cane in Queensland, Petar settled into a steady job in the Ford stamping plant in Brixham, while Lucija qualified as a nurse. There was good money to be had, and the shifts were plentiful.
Perhaps that was why Loreta remained an only child. The next two decades were busy, joyful, and exhausting. A bright kid, Loreta — Loz to her mates — went smoothly through school and college.
By their early forties, Lucija and Petar Marić had savings enough to buy land on…
