Bridge of Clay

The Murderer, Michael Dunbar, grew up in a small Australian town called Featherton. His mother was a typist for the town doctor. Michael spent his childhood building towers and reading comic books on the floor of the doctor’s office. His father died in a fire when he was young, leaving his mother a widow. One day, a girl from school named Abbey destroys a spaceship he builds, and the adults in his life are impressed by how well he handles it. The mailman gives him a package addressed to his mother, which contains gifts from a charity organization supporting the fire victims. He finds a calendar inside of Men Who Changed the World, which contains information about Michelangelo. Because the calendar is a year old and used, his mother challenges him to find 24 women who changed the world before he can have permission to keep it. Abbey returns to the doctor’s office with an injured arm; Matthew reveals that Michael and Abbey get married.

Clay sees the riverbed in front of his father’s property. He grapples with feelings of identity, unsure of who he is or where he belongs. He spots his father waiting in the field in front of the house.

Michael completes his research project on women and hangs the calendar in his room. He begins researching the men featured in the calendar and is awed when he researches Michelangelo, becoming drawn to art. He practices drawing by tracing Michelangelo’s paintings. His mother encourages him by showing him other painters and his skill grows. Michael turns 16 and becomes attractive, developing a crush on Abbey. At night, he walks by Abbey’s house. One day, his dog Moon dies killing a king brown snake. Michael buries the snake and dog in his backyard, then walks to Abbey’s house and knocks on the door. The two bond quickly, spending most of their days together. After they have sex for the first time, Abbey apologizes for Moon’s death and for destroying his spaceship, claiming she did it because she loved him.

The Murderer (Michael) and Clay shake hands and enter the house. They sit uncomfortably on the sofa together until Clay gets a tour, then is left to get settled in. He becomes homesick. The Murderer tells him it’s time for dinner.

Michael’s love for Abbey intensifies the longer they are together. They complete their school years with grades good enough to pursue education in the city. They spend four years happily together; Michael pursues art while working as a laborer, and Abbey pursues commerce while working as a bartender. Abbey gifts him a copy of The Quarryman, a book about Michelangelo, and eventually they marry. Michael promises that he will build her a house by the Amahnu River.

Clay struggles to sleep that night, but when he succumbs, sleeps until the early afternoon. The Murderer (Michael) feeds him, not telling Clay that he shouted Matthew’s name as he slept. Clay rushes through food and is embarrassed by having slept late, then is combative when the Murderer tries to reassure him. Clay becomes mortified once again when he realizes his father knows how long he spent in the trees the afternoon before, waiting to approach the house. The Murderer invites him to rest, telling him that there is something he must see the next day.

Michael feels as if his only artistic talent is in painting Abbey; while the rest of his paintings are good, he is much slower than his peers in art school. Abbey gets a bank job and quickly advances. She also grows dissatisfied with Michael, frustrated that he does not understand things the way she does or has the same interests. She underscores his lack of initiative, especially romantically, and wonders if love is enough to save a relationship.

That night, Clay once again experiences sleeplessness, missing home and Carey. The next morning, he walks with his father along the empty riverbed, hiking for hours and seeing the destruction the river is capable of. They gradually grow more comfortable with each other until the Murderer (Michael) once again confirms that Clay wants to help him.

Michael and Abbey have some good days, but their relationship gradually fractures. She spends more time with work friends, who are very different people from Michael, and looks more businesslike. He continues to paint her and is painting her portrait the day she leaves. While she does not confirm that she has another partner, he suspects that is the case. She leaves and he cries, overlooked by the many portraits of her.

Clay and the Murderer (Michael) fall into a routine, gradually building trust. Clay continues to be homesick. On Monday, they go to town to order supplies, and Clay sends letters to Carey and his brothers. By Thursday, Clay sits with his father in the evening, reading books about bridges. He falls in love with Le Pont to Gard, a Roman bridge.

The Murderer (Michael) tells Clay that he must go to work for the next 10 days, where he works in the mines in Featherton. He tells Clay that he can stay or go home, but Clay expresses he cannot leave. They talk more about the bridge, then the Murderer presses Clay about his unwillingness to return to the city. The night he is supposed to leave, the Murderer comes into Clay’s room, asking him about Le Pont du Gard. When Clay gets up in the morning, his father has left an initial sketch of the bridge that mirrors Le Pont du Gard.

Five years pass until the accidental delivery of a piano draws Michael out of his stupor. In the interim, he remains in the city to hide what happened with Abbey. He goes home occasionally to visit his mother. He packs away his paintings and ultimately keeps his head down until the day of the piano.