AustLit

'I was a lecturer at the university, in those last months before Independence. The campus itself exemplified the attitude of the parent administration: what had begun as something monumental and grandiose (the library, Great Hall) declined, as one moved through the grounds, into squat wooden structures and, finally, into Nissen huts left over from the war.'  (Publication abstract)

Roger, an old man helping handicapped children at a disabled home, suffers from fits of anger. He lashes out physically against a boy with cerebral palsy on their way home. As he gardens, now more aware than ever of his growing infirmity and his wife's arthritis, he reflects on the incident with equal parts guilt, weak justification, and worry for their own future.