Pobby and Dingan are maybe-dead (Pobby and Dingan - Ben Rice)

Member Name: frannyfortune

Product:	Pobby and Dingan - Ben Rice
Date:	16/07/01 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I've been wanting to write this for ages, and now I've done it, hooray, hooray

Disadvantages: I now have no idea what to write about next

You know how there are some books that make you want to go and tell all your friends about it, the minute you finish reading it? You know how there are some books you go out and buy copies of, to give to people, to make sure that they actually sit down and read it too? Well, 'Pobby and Dingan' is not that sort of book. It's better than that. It makes you want to go up to strangers on the street and tell them about it. It made a friend of mine, who I successfully converted to the cult, seriously consider bulk-buying a load of copies and posting them at random through people's letterboxes. It makes you want to fly an aeroplane over your hometown, with a banner streaming out behind it, proclaiming "POBBY AND DINGAN ARE MAYBE-DEAD! DOESN’T ANYBODY CARE???"

This is a strong claim to make about a book, I know, and I am not altogether confident that I will be able to back it up in this op. It’s a first novel, by a youngish (well, younger than me – he's 28) British author, and it's only 90 pages long. It's also only available in hardback at the moment, although the paperback is due out in October, But at the moment, it costs 10p per page to read this, which sounds awfully expensive. All I can say is, if you had the option of reading only one page, it would probably be the best 10p you’ve ever spent.

Ashmol Williamson, the narrator of the book, lives in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, with his parents and younger sister Kellyanne. Lightning Ridge is an opal-mining town, and Ashmol's dad has moved the family out there to pursue his dream of striking it rich. Ashmol loves his family, although they drive him crazy at times, especially Kellyanne and her odd imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan. Kellyanne spends most of her time playing and talking to these two, and the worst thing is that almost everyone is happy to indulge her in her fantasies. His mum even puts out food for them at dinner tim
e, and when Ashmol complains, says that they are quieter and better behaved than him, and "deserve the grub". Lightning Ridge is "full of flaming crackpots", according to Ashmol, who give Kellyanne extra lollies at the store, to share with her friends, and even award Dingan third place in the Opal Princess competition. "Everybody knew everybody in Lightning Ridge. And some people even knew nobody as well, it seemed."

Thank goodness for Dad, thinks Ashmol. His father, Rex, is a more realistic kind of guy – isn't he? - who likes to have a few beers (maybe a few too many) after spending the day chasing his beloved opal, and get all excited because he just knows tomorrow will be his lucky day, and they'll be millionaires. Ashmol believes in his dad, and his dad seems to be the one other person who doesn't believe in Pobby and Dingan. This all changes, however, one day when the two of them pick on Kellyanne's eccentricity ("She's a fruit-loop,") one time too many for Ashmol's mum. She explodes, and points out that none of them have seen a sniff of opal for two years, yet that never stops Rex from dreaming about it and talking about it morning, noon and night. As far as she’s concerned, Pobby and Dingan are as real, if not more so, than his imaginary opal strike.

This obviously hits home with Rex, and to his son's disgust, he begins to show a little more respect for other people's dreams, and humours Kellyanne, along with the rest of the town. So much so, that he offers to take her friends to the claim (his piece of land, used for opal mining) with him one day. When he returns home, Ashmol sees straight away that his dad has had one too many, and that his little pretence has slipped his mind. In fact, he's 'forgotten' to bring Pobby and Dingan home with him at all. Ashmol sits back to watch the fun. He knows Kellyanne will go mad, and reckons his dad deserves
it for 'turning into a poof' by playing along in the first place.

They end up having to drive back out to the claim, to look for the missing pair. At first, Rex and Ashmol assume that Kellyanne will 'find' them after a few minutes. But as it starts to get late, and dark, and the boys just want to get it over with and get home, a frantic search ensues, culminating in Rex crossing over the boundary of his neighbour's claim, and rooting around on his hands and knees in the dirt there. Cue that sinking feeling. Of course, he gets caught in this very compromising position, and charged with 'ratting', or searching on another's territory for opal. As Ashmol explains, ratting "is the same thing as murder in Lightning Ridge – only a bit worse."

That night both children, and their mother, with Rex in police custody, lie awake.

"And that night at around twelve was when Kellyanne crawled into my bedroom through the Dodge door which I got Dad to fix up to make going to bed more interesting. And my sister looked at me all pale and fuzzy-faced and said, 'Ashmol! Pobby and Dingan are maybe-dead.' And she just sat there in her pyjamas all nervous and hurt. But I was half-thinking of Dad and if he was in prison and how the whole thing was Pobby and Dingan's fault. And then I tried to get my head round how it could be their fault if they didn't even exist."

Interesting dilemma, isn't it? The family's explanation of Rex's actions doesn't hold much water with the hard-boiled miners, as you can imagine, and the family are ostracised and persecuted as Rex awaits his trial. Ashmol is absolutely livid with two non-existent people, for ruining the family's good name. Kellyanne, meanwhile, hasn't got out of bed since her friends went missing. She says she just needs to know if they are dead or not. She won't eat, the doctor says she has a nervous illness
and begins to talk about hospitalisation. But Ashmol has been doing some more thinking.

"I figured this was the end of the world because we were all going crazy. Pobby and Dingan were messing up my family and they weren't even here. And also they weren't even anywhere....I knew flaming well that the answers to all these problems lay with Pobby and Dingan themselves.

And then I figured out something else. I didn't like to admit it, but it seemed to me the only way to make Kellyanne better would be to find Pobby and Dingan. But how do you go looking for imaginary friends? I stayed awake all the bastard-night trying to get my head around the problem....I also knew darn well that there was quite a few people in the Ridge who loved Kellyanne to bits even though they were a bit unsure about the rest of us Williamsons, and there were some who almost believed in Pobby and Dingan or who were real nice and understanding about it. And I had it in the back of my mind that if those people believed in imaginary friends and all that shit, or if they knew how real those friends were for Kellyanne, then they'd believe that my dad really had been looking for them out at the mine and not ratting Old Sid's claim."

So Ashmol sets out on his rusty old Chopper to tell the town that they have to help him find Pobby and Dingan, because Kellyanne is sick and won't get better till she knows where her friends are.

I'm looking back over what I've written so far, and wincing a little at the length. I certainly didn't intend this op to be a long and detailed synopsis of the plot, nor to spoil anyone's enjoyment by giving too much away. But I don't know how else to convey the extraordinary situation that first Ashmol, then the reader, and ultimately the whole town of Lightning Ridge, find themselves entering into. My problem is, I wanted to set the scene – so that you hopefully felt something of wha
t I felt at the beginning of this strange and marvellous book – and the fact is, this is the plot synopsis up to *page 25* of the book. Which staggers me a little. Ben Rice's writing is so spare, so condensed, so evocative, that I've struggled to say half as much as I would like about the first 25 pages, for goodness sakes, and still keep it under 1500 words (and that's just so far). There'll be no further plot summary from me, you'll be pleased to know. Only that the town's reaction to Ashmol’s call for help is surprising, it is funny, and it is moving. And little by little – maybe, just a bit – Ashmol starts to believe in Pobby and Dingan too.

If you’re wondering if Ashmol must turn into a 'fruit-loop', or a 'poof' (his word, not mine), too, then maybe I should tell you a little bit about what he discovers about P and D, (sorry, getting lazy now) and the people in the town, before you make a decision.

"I met this kid who knew as much about Pobby and Dingan as I did. He said he didn’t like Kellyanne too much but he thought Pobby and Dingan were all right. He said he had a much better imaginary friend than Kellyanne. It was a giant green ninja platypus called Eric. He didn't talk to it, but."

At first, having paid no attention to their personalities in the past, Ashmol has to put up notices around town giving P and D's description as "Imaginary. Quiet." But according to Kellyanne, P and D in fact speak English (as opposed to Australian) quietly. And they like to whistle. Dingan is very pretty, and clever, with a lovely opal which she wears in her bellybutton. She likes reading books over people's shoulders. Pobby has a limp in his right leg, but it doesn't stop him from going out to dance in lightning storms. They both like to eat Violet Crumbles and Cherry Ripes. And they're pacifists.

Do you believe in Pobby and
Dingan? Do you think you could maybe start to – just a little bit? A friend pointed out to me that it was a bit like 'Peter Pan' – if you don’t believe in fairies, then Tinkerbelle (Kellyanne) will die. But don't do it for Kellyanne – do it for yourself. If more people believed in Pobby and Dingan, then the world would be a better place. If you've ever believed in something which was hard to see, or hard to find, then read this book. If you've ever gone along with something that you didn't truly believe, or found it hard to believe, because you thought that it was worth fighting for someone else's right to believe in it, because it was beautiful, and true, and meant something to them, then read this book. If you find it much easier to believe in Pobby and Dingan than to believe that some of the hateful, inexplicable, insane things that happen in this world are really happening, then read this book, but please do be aware that it will make you cry.

Actually, it'll make you all cry. Or have a 'little thoughtful moment', or something, if you're big and hard. But I hope it makes you all cry, not because I'm a sadist or anything, but simply because if this book doesn't move you in some way, then you're the fruit-loop – not Ashmol. And certainly not me, of course :-)

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