J.P. Powell > Quotes

“Sergeant Joe Washington watched from the southern end of the Victoria Bridge as arm in arm they came, a ribbon of colour braided between the metal arches of the bridge that spanned the oily river. Loose-limbed girls with bobbed hair or tight curls pasted to their foreheads, giggling and nudging each other, arms linked. Bobby-soxers and dames, broads and beauties. Blondes, brunettes, redheads. Long evening dresses shimmered under the weak lights of the evening brownout, short skirts twirled. Every now and then a slim figure was in uniform, the drab green and khaki of the AWAS relieved by a sprig of mimosa or a pink-throated orchid pinned to the collar.”
― J.P. Powell, The Brisbane Line

“The night was moonless. A black sky pierced only by the rhythmic sweep of searchlights mounted on hills to the west. The overlapping funnels of light crisscrossed, sliding over the cupola of the Town Hall, the metal spines and white arches of the two bridges. Details emerged briefly, half-realised shapes and patterns appeared one moment, only to be swallowed up the next. The light flickered over people and places. Nothing was solid, nothing certain; events played out in a world of shadows.”
― J.P. Powell, Deception Bay