Spring. Six days without cloud. The kind of dry that doesn't announce itself anymore — it just sits there.

FRANK DOOLEY DIED IN CAIRNS, 1989: THE GAZETTE PUTS THE RECORD STRAIGHT AND ACCEPTS THAT THIS CHANGES THINGS

The registered mail arrived Tuesday at eleven. This office stood at the desk for several minutes before sitting down. That is accurate and the witness through the window may quote it.

What the envelope contained is now partly in circulation — "she's got the death register" reached the servo before Thursday, which is faster than this paper moves and not a coincidence — so the Gazette will confirm what it confirmed to two people in passing and now confirms in print: Frank Dooley died in Cairns in 1989. The document in hand is the official death registration.

What this means for the Henderson tenancy, the east gate arrangement, and the question of who exactly extended what authority to whom when Ray Connelly moved in last spring — those questions are now, as of this edition, open in a way they were not open before.

Deb Forsythe drove to the Henderson place Tuesday afternoon. She was back by three. She had something in her hand when she got out of the car — a letter, says the person who drove past — and she and whoever was at the fence talked for a period that witnesses describe as long enough to matter. Nobody heard a word of it. This paper does not know what was said. This paper notes that she went without ringing first, and that she came back alone.

The fourteenth of August remains a date this paper has mentioned twice in three editions without yet explaining why. It will be explained. The registered mail is part of the explanation.

HENDERSON EAST GATE: RAY CONNELLY AND BRUCE PATTERSON STACK TWELVE ROLLS AND THE TOWN COUNTS THE HANDSHAKE

The Narrabri Steel mesh arrived Saturday morning. Early — not late, which was the original anxiety. Twelve rolls. Bruce Patterson got there at eight-ten. Ray Connelly was already at the gate.

The truck driver mentioned the handshake at the servo on Saturday afternoon. By Saturday evening it had become the image the town was assembling from available parts: Ray already at the gate, Bruce arriving, twelve rolls stacked, two men shaking hands over a fence that the town now understands — following Tuesday's development — may have a more complicated legal standing than previously appreciated.

"That means Ray knew the time" is one reading of his presence at the gate before Bruce. "That means Ray was ready" is another. This paper offers a third: Ray Connelly is always ready, and this has been true since Edition 23, and nobody has yet worked out what he is ready for.

REDGUM HOLLOW 10.8 LOST TO CURRAWONG FLATS 12.11: FOUR LAST-QUARTER GOALS AND A QUIET BUS

The final score was 12.11 to 10.8. Currawong Flats, away, which is always harder, and the town is applying that mitigation with the care of people who know it is a mitigation.

The town was ahead at three-quarter time. Four goals in the last quarter is the fact that will not settle.

Steve-o kicked one from the corridor. Against Willowmere he kicked two. "One from the corridor against Currawong is different from two against Willowmere" is being said quietly, by one or two people, and this paper reports it as the minority view it currently is. Keith said nothing after the game. The bus was quiet, according to two players. Macca put out the parma special Saturday night without being asked. Fifty-one through the pub, which is less than Willowmere week, and everyone understands why.

Wednesday's training — Keith running corridor drills with Steve-o as the reference point — suggests Keith is not sitting with the loss any longer. Whether the team is ready to follow him there is, as of this edition, the football question.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Marge,
I don't know who told the servo about the registered mail and I won't speculate. I will say that some of us consider it ordinary manners to let a person open their own post before the whole district knows what's in it.
— Name withheld, who works near the servo

Dear Marge,
On the subject of the underline versus the circle at Tash's store — I was not the one who mentioned this and I'd like that noted. I was simply present. There is a difference.
— Lorraine Apps

(Ed. — There is, Lorraine. There always is with you.)

Marge,
Macca's parma on Saturday was a decent gesture and I think it deserves saying plainly without all the interpretation. It was a parma. We lost. He put it out. That's a good man.
— Bruce Patterson

AROUND THE DISTRICT

Clarrie Burton was not on the bench outside the store Tuesday, which given what Tuesday turned out to be, this paper notes without further comment.

The east gate track has been used four times in a fortnight by vehicles this paper has not been able to identify. The track is real. The traffic is real.

Dr Priya Sharma's Thursday clinic ran forty minutes over. It is understood she did not appear bothered by this.

No rain. None forecast.