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the new Sports Medicine Centre at Narrabeen. Tom travelled with Cain and I was now free to pay some attention to Landa. As in the first campaign, I found myself sitting alone in the back of the LTD, with Landa in the front beside the driver.
When Landa was the Minister for Planning and Environment, and later the Minister for Education; I had been secretary of his caucus committee -- and had glimpsed a complex personality. Since he had become Attorney General I had not seen much of him.
"Do you enjoy being Attorney General?" I asked.
"Its terrific -- what I've always wanted," he said.
Somehow, the inflection in his voice betrayed a certain uncertainty. He threw a question back:
"What will you do if the worst happens on Saturday?"
We both knew that any chances of holding Manly were slim. I thought for a moment as we passed the pines along the familiar beachfront.
"I might just sit on the beach for six months," I said at last.
"How old are you now?" Landa asked.
"I'll be forty-six next week."
He turned and followed my gaze out towards the ocean.
"Dont take six months," he said wistfully, "take a year."