Dirt Music

A cyclone strikes the island, battering Lu and endangering his makeshift camp. In the chaos of the storm, he thinks of his mother’s death, when a tree snapped, a branch impaling her chest while he held her hand. He recalls how she saw the world as holy, bearing gifts. His father was never convinced, but Lu realizes that it may be both holy and dangerous. He understands that he lives between the two worldviews. He will not turn sour, like his father, or live in complete bliss, like his mother. He will find a middle way.

After the storm, a dry spell follows that has Lu worried about water. He explores the islands nearby, then the mainland, and soon finds a hammock that leads him to a cave beyond. The cave is filled with simple paintings. He goes back to the main island and steals more food from the cache, a skillet, beer, and other items, covering his tracks as he departs.

Lu is out of water and life on the island is losing its luster. He bumps into a taut fishing line and enjoys the sound. Soon he has strings tied to limbs, taut so he can make music to fill the silent void. This excites and revives him, and for the first time, he thinks of Georgie and he misses her. Music takes him home, back to his library, to her, and to his childhood in happy moments, and he is contented. He gets a song stuck in his head and soon realizes that he is aware of Bess’s death, far off, and feels sadness wash over him. He recalls why he stopped playing music: Memory lives within it. Slowly, Lu is coping with his pain, addressing his past, and searching for acceptance.

Lu is swimming in memories, even after he stops playing the strings. Mackerel jump near shore and he tosses a line. Something bites and jerks Lu forward, and the reel slips from his hand into the water. He is injured in the struggle, his feet torn badly. At camp, he realizes it was he who did everything in the family and that Sal and Darkie only wanted each other and the music, neglecting all else. Lu had raised the kids, the home, the melon patch— everything. He feels bad for feeling this way but is happy to have finally allowed the thought to surface. He is healing, though he does not acknowledge it.

Lu survives his injuries from the mackerel and devises a way to fish with just line and tackle. He decides to visit Axle and Menzies and play their guitar when his feet heal. A plane overhead startles him, followed by a fishing boat that comes up to his shore. Something in the face of the fishing guide tells Lu he has to leave. He breaks camp, destroying every trace of his life on the island, and leaves.

Lu makes camp where he found the cave art, and although it is a good camp, he misses the island. The plane appears overhead every seven days. In the new camp, he ties up string, finds an E, and enjoys the sound. He falls into bliss while playing again.

Part 8 opens with Georgie and Jim in Broome, in northwestern Australia. Georgie explores the tourist town, noting how it has modernized and become a hub for vacationers. Instinctively, she knows Lu isn’t there. At the pool bar, Jim introduces her to his cousins Merv and Tiny, who don’t look at her directly. At dinner, Jim says they found Lu hiding out on an island in Coronation Gulf and will fly out by bush plane tomorrow. They have a real moment of connection as each describes what they saw in the other, which was pity and need. Jim admits he married her to help her out of her bad situation, and she married him because she felt sorry for him and didn’t know what else to do.

Jim explains that his father was married before the war, and his firstborn son was captured in WWII and tortured then killed by the Japanese. This changed his father, making him cruel. Jim grew up under the shadow of Bill’s anger and is trying desperately to escape the legacy of hate and rage.

Jim also explains why he wants to make amends with Lu. Long ago, Beaver caught Jim having sex with Sal Fox the night Debbie, his wife, gave birth. Nobody could do anything to Jim because they feared his father and his cruelty. When Debbie got breast cancer, Jim believed bad luck rubbed off on him from Sal. He now feels he has to do something to break the bad luck—something to prove he has changed and that he isn’t his father. Georgie is furious but wonders if him pawning her off on Lu isn’t best for all of them.

From Lu’s perspective along the coast, music has become part of his daily ritual. He loses his voice, falls ill, and with a fever, he imagines Georgie there, caring for him.

The plane carrying Georgie and Jim flies over the gulf, landing on the water. They meet with Red Hopper, the fisherman who once pulled Georgie and her former boyfriend Tyler Hampton’s damaged boat into port. They discuss the search for Lu without specifying why they want to find him. Georgie announces that she knows where Lu is and they set off. They don’t find Lu on the island but locate his makeshift instrument, the skillet, and more, which Hopper says he stole from his camp. They return to Hopper’s camp and sleep, though Georgie has nightmares of Mrs. Jubail.

Lu’s fever breaks after more laden dreams, and he awakens to the realization that he needs to move on. Despite this realization, he doesn’t want to go, and he decides he’ll stay and die at this camp, withering away as the water and food run dry.

Hopper, Jim, and Georgie search along the gulf, finding nothing and ultimately agreeing that the search is hopeless.

Lu changes his mind and decides to leave, setting off on foot, and stowing the boat. He hears Hopper’s generator as he cuts inland and hikes down to look. He eats leftovers off the stove and reclines in the plastic chairs. He steals clothing, oil, and more food, and he catches a glimpse of himself in a mirror. He is shocked at his appearance. He flees as Hopper’s motor rings across the water.

Hopper laughs at Lu’s thievery while Jim grows dark and Georgie grows hopeful. Jim’s anger clouds their plans as he yells for Georgie to go into the wild and call for him. She refuses, unsure of what Jim wants to do with Lu. Finally, Jim storms away. Hopper says they will cook a feast to lure Lu from the wild.

Lu is very ill as he watches Jim in Hopper’s camp. He does not believe what he sees is real. After being sick, he has ruined the clean clothing he’d just stolen and put on. Ashamed and exhausted, he does not crawl down to the camp for help.

After a massive feast meant to draw Lu out of hiding, Hopper and Georgie talk about their past lives, though they prefer the lives beyond the occupations that they have now.

In their cots later, Jim asks Georgie if she’ll blame him if Lu dies out in the wild. She says she will never think of him again either way, and that he can start a fresh life outside of White Point for himself and the boys. Jim responds that he is a fisherman.

Very ill, disoriented, and delirious, Lu wanders through the jungle. Sunburnt, he pours oil on his skin and eyes, and he sees everything as a mirage through the oil. He thinks he sees Axel’s guitar, but isn’t sure and wanders on, wishing he had limped into Hopper’s camp.

They find Lu’s backup camp on the coast, and Jim rips apart Lu’s bedding in a fit of rage. Georgie asks if Hopper will call in the plane. They are finished. Hopper agrees and offers to take Jim fishing to dispel a budding fight. Before she leaves, Georgie places Lu’s tape on a rock in his camp for him to find as a sign that she was there.

Lu wanders toward the coast and sees Georgie fishing. She catches a massive fish but it gets off the line. He isn’t sure if she’s real but hopes she’s there. After she fails to land the record-breaking fish, the boat takes off for Hopper’s camp.

Hopper and Jim get drunk, lamenting the loss of Georgie’s fish. She, however, doesn’t care because a fish like that deserves someone you can share the memory with, and she has no intention of sharing it with Jim. In a stupor, Jim tells Georgie she’s impatient, then passes out.

Lu cooks a meal and falls asleep with the plan to find her in the morning if she’s real.

The final chapter of Dirt Music oscillates perspectives between Georgie and Lu at a rapid pace.

Georgie wakes from another nightmare about Mrs. Jubail, then asks Hopper to tell Lu she’s at his farmhouse. She offers to pay for his stolen items, but Hopper refuses, relenting to sending Lu home if he finds him alive. She asks Jim to leave her alone in Lu’s house, as that is how he can prove he is better than his father and that he has truly changed and broken the family legacy. When the plane lands, she knows it is the last time she’ll ever share space with Jim Buckridge.

Back at his camp, Lu finds the tape Georgie left and knows she is real. He paddles out into the gulf to reunite with her, but he’s too late. He arrives on the water in time to see the plane lift off and fly over him. He knows Georgie is inside.

Georgie sees her island from above but is conflicted about the emotions she feels. It feels like an end, but it was always meant to be a beginning. Suddenly, Jim is pointing out the window and yelling at the pilot. A moment later, the engine dies and the pilot is struggling to control the plane. She sees Jim squirm and pities him. The plane turns back toward the gulf, coasting down fast.

Lu watches the plane bank, turn, and come down fast. When it impacts, the plane cartwheels on the water, hangs for a moment, then sinks. He sees two men bobbing in the water, paddles past them, and, using his free diving skills, goes down to the sandy bottom where the plane has come to a stop.

Georgie is drowning. She is not scared, and then suddenly, she sees something grabbing at her. Fear consumes her as she bats the thing away. She is jerked free of her restraints and is hauled up.

On the deck of Hopper’s boat, Georgie watches Lu. He watches her. When Lu starts to convulse and turn blue, Hopper turns to George. “‘Well,’ said the guide. ‘You’re the nurse’” (400). She performs CPR on Lu.

The novel ends with Lu’s thoughts, “She’s real,” on deck as Georgie blows air into his lungs.