Hanging Rock is just fifteen minutes from my sister's new home, and she, the boys and I went for a look yesterday. It is a spooky place, the weird rocks sheltering silences tense like a held breath.Quite unintentionally we may have solved the mystery of what happened to Miranda and the other girls who vanished: they met a four-year old. Ironically I figured this out trying to tell the story to a four-year old!
This is a famous place. A long time ago a class of girls came here for a picnic. - Why did they? - Because it’s a nice place for a picnic. - Why is it a nice place for a picnic? - I don’t know, I suppose the trees are nice and the rocks are pretty neat. - And then what happened? - Four of the girls went up into the rocks and were never seen again. - Why weren’t they? - Well, one of them was found later but the others never came back. - Where did the other ones go to? - Nobody knows. - Don’t you know? - No, nobody knows. - Why don't you know? - (beat) - How do you know they went away? - The other girls at the picnic told everyone. - Where did they go? - Back to Melbourne, I suppose. - What were their names? - I don't know. But one of the girls who disappeared was named Miranda. - Where is Miranda now? - We don’t know, maybe she's still up there in the rocks with the others. - Did they go into a cave? - Maybe; you saw, there are lots of caves and it would be easy to get lost. - Which cave did they go into? - Well, if we knew that we’d know where they were. - So where are they? - I told you: nobody knows. It’s a mystery. - What’s a 'mystery'? - Something nobody knows. - Why is it a 'mystery'? - Because nobody knows what happened to those girls. - Don’t you know? - No, why should I know? - Didn’t they call you? - Who? - Miranda and those other girls. - It happened a very long time ago. - How long ago was it? - A hundred years: that’s before any of us were born. - Even before Patrick and Alex were born? - I imagine so; how old are they? - Patrick is six and Alex is five. - Yes, long before even they were born. - But how do you know it happened? - It was in the newspaper. - Who put it in the newspaper? - The girls who came home. - But what happened to those other three girls? - I don't know. - Why don't you? ... repeat with variations ad infinitum.
If this conversation hadn't happened in the car on the way home, we'd still be there.
