As it is on Earth

By Rob Firth

In this modern day tale of broken moral compasses, Frances Brennan, a successful highflying lawyer, and Gino Rossi, a reformed crim, carry the two lead characters on a journey with their respective views on life and the afterlife, making use of their protective dogmas as their drivers. Their protagonist and antagonist roles appear to reverse as they each encounter some of life's serious crossroads.

Despite their abiding respect and affection for each other, the two become perilous foes, who use mentors and external creeds to justify their own deep convictions. Armed with these convictions, Frankie and Gino choose their separate courses of action, all wrapped-up in serious ethical dilemmas, right through to the thrilling end, when the line blurs between social justice and social carnage.

Ethically adrift, Frankie and Gino manage to re-purpose their opposing understandings of God to suit their conflicted consciences and behaviour. Values and principles narrow to a single purpose.

While maybe not as extreme, the novel echoes ethical dilemmas we've all faced, or may face sometime in our lives. It will challenge readers and stimulate discussion and debate about what keystones we use to sort right from wrong, and how difficult it can be sometimes to distinguish between the two.

It leads us all to consider how and why at times we do the right thing for the wrong reason, and sometimes the wrong thing for the right reason.

Not stuffy or highbrow, this book is for thinkers in the general community, as well as fiction lovers, thriller readers, faith holders, legal professionals, and even senior high school students.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781922542397

Rob Firth

Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Rob has always felt alert to social and fairness issues, and welcomes robust discussions with family and others about religion, politics, ethics and equity.Rob values strong interpersonal connections, and is after honest conversations and maintaining close friends. And he’s interested in the meaning of life, what makes others tick, the freedom to be ourselves, and how we react to the unexpecteds we encounter. He’s retired now and lives with his wife on the outskirts of Sydney, away from the hustle and bustle.As it is on Earth, Rob’s debut novel, is a thriller that aims to engage readers and stimulate thought about ethics and how we decide what’s right and what’s wrong.

Book preview

ONE

‘All rise,’ the Supreme Court Clerk declared in well-rehearsed voice.

The stoop-shouldered Justice William Hennessy entered the courtroom, struggled to climb the four awkward podium steps, and took his position behind the bench in a squeaky leather seat.

Eyeballing Counsel, who stood beside her client, Chris Tang, in a black metal wheelchair, the judge commenced delivering his Summary of Judgement.

‘In the matter of Christian Li Tang, a registered psychologist, v the Minister for Police in The State of Victoria, this is my judgement. Senior Counsel for the plaintiff, the Honourable Frances Brennan, was comprehensive in her detailing of the events on the night of 20 June 2002, almost a year ago to this day.

‘It is agreed that on the night in question, members of the Special Branch of the State Police Force did undertake a drug raid at the residence of one of the plaintiff’s patients in suburban Footscray. That raid, it is further agreed with regret, should have only involved the adjacent residence.

‘Concerning the misadventures sustained by the plaintiff during the Police search, Ms Brennan provided abundant and indisputable advice from experts to support her client’s claim.

‘The plaintiff’s extreme trauma experienced during the period of that mistaken raid, without question resulted in irreparable spinal cord damage leading to total and continuing paraplegia. This is acknowledged as a tragedy for a hitherto healthy professional man of thirty-one years of age, envisaging a bright future. And his prospect of a diminished ongoing earning capacity is noted.’

Deepening his tone of voice, Justice Hennessy continued.

‘However, The Court remains unconvinced and rejects any argument that the fall by Mr Tang down the staircase in the Footscray residence was indeed caused by the presence of, or any action by, any member of the Police Force involved in the search. I am persuaded that Mr Tang’s life-changing fall on the night of the event was entirely accidental.’

The judge rested for a moment and drank from the small glass on his bench; Frankie winced to herself through gritted teeth. She was guessing what he’d say next, and frowned towards her client about her dark concerns.

Already anxious, Chris edged his chair backwards and forwards; its rubber tyres squelching on the tiled floor. This noise caught the attention of the judge, who with raised eyebrows, then scanned the courtroom to locate the source of the sound.

‘Therefore,’ the judge re-commenced, ‘I am left no option but to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim of twenty-one million dollars for compensatory damages, to cover medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of future income, and necessary alteration costs of home accommodation.

‘Nevertheless, I am not oblivious to the circum­stances surrounding the event, nor to the plaintiff’s aforesaid diminished ongoing earning capacity. With these considerations in mind, I make no order as to costs, leaving each party to this case to cover their own legal costs. Case dismissed.’

And the judge’s gavel boomed on its sound block.

With a gasp of bitter disappointment, Frankie dropped into her curved-back chair as she looked again at her client, sitting dismayed in his wheelchair. Her Irish ivory face took on a ruddy complexion.

‘Damn it, Chris. I’m bloody furious with this ruling; I’m astonished that we failed; no, I failed, I failed you … and myself! I’m so sorry.

‘I know I’ve specialised in criminal law, however from time to time I’ve nailed other civil cases like this one of yours. But now, I think I should’ve found someone else at the firm to prosecute this one for you, or even told you to use another firm’s civil lawyer.

‘I used every argument I could. That judge, Bill Hennessy, well, he didn’t grasp the nexus between the raid and your fall … that if the police hadn’t stuffed-up by coming to search that house, the wrong house, your patient’s house, you wouldn’t have fallen!’

‘But Frankie, there are a lot of what ifs about all of this … what if I hadn’t scheduled a counselling session with my patient in his home that day. What if I hadn’t been standing on the top landing when the police rushed into the house and up the stairs.’

‘I hear you Chris, but I seriously think to win before this judge, we needed to have a video of that officer jostling you up against the wall on that top landing of that blasted staircase, which led to your fall.’

As Frankie tossed her court wig into her briefcase on the table in front of them, its lid slammed shut blowing her strawberry-blonde fringe from her face. It revealed her sparkling blue-green eyes, filling with tears behind rimless glasses.

Almost swiping her leg with his wheelchair, Chris swung around to face her. He thanked her for doing all she could.

‘Frankie, I’m angry too, angry and disappointed! I figured it was clear we had a win coming. To help me cope with what lies ahead, I needed a win.

‘That said, I know you’ve worked hard on this case for me. And even though I can’t see it, I have to ask; is there any way we can appeal this thing? Either way, I won’t have you feeling responsible for this result.’

He told her in his most professional psychologist’s tone.

‘I can’t imagine anyone else would’ve got a different outcome, and I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to have tried.’

Despite the heavy Melbourne rain, they made their way to a laneway café nearby, and claimed its solitary dry outside table that was wheelchair-friendly.

‘I know it’s still early, but I’m having a drink rather than a coffee, how about you?’ Chris asked.

Frankie was keen.

‘I’m up for a bourbon; you still partial to a Jim Beam?’

‘You know, you always did have a good memory … yep, that sounds like what I need to help soothe this body blow.’ He shot back.

At first, they sat in silence as they sipped. Looking at each other, they finished their first drink and ordered another. Then, rather than talking of how unpleasant the future looked, they began talking of their past.

TWO

Frankie first met Christian Tang at university, in 1994.

At twenty-one, she was working her way through the final year of her undergraduate studies in a combined commerce/law degree. Chris was finishing his own degree, a post-grad master’s in psychology.

With a Western mother and an Asian father, Chris’s head of hair was rich and dark, and his eyes were engaging and enigmatic. He carried a wide smile against his golden-beige complexion, which revealed a striking aesthetic mix of cultures.

A tenacious and talented man, not only was Chris a fine clarinettist, with his six foot two height he was also an adept basketballer.

He and Frankie were skilled orators; frequently they found themselves competing in evening debating competitions, after which they often chatted till the early morning about how to solve the problems of the world.

She could see how he’d develop a professional practice as a skilful and sought-after psychologist.

For a time, they were known as quite the couple at Uni, but she never conceived their paths would cross again once he finished his masters, and she commenced hers.

Even before university, Frankie shined academ­ically, and became used to being exceptional during her high school days.

It wasn’t surprising that she was also a stand-out at uni. Completing her commerce/law degree with honours in a record four years, Frankie then gained a master’s degree over the next two years while working as a clerk in AVT Legal, a Melbourne law firm.

In 1998, she accepted an offer to join the firm as a junior partner.

She cruised through her bar law exams, and as a barrister at twenty-seven, switched firms and became a partner with Macmaster Legal International (MLI). Conveniently located in La Trobe Street, its offices were just around the corner from the Melbourne Courthouse sector.

Following successes in a number of homicide cases, she progressed to head-up the firm’s team of criminal defence attorneys on her twenty-eighth birthday.

Two years later, knowing her significant strengths, Chris Tang, her old university friend, tracked her down and approached her firm to prosecute his civil claim against the Police Department.

* * *

Once the upset from Chris’s loss in court settled, Frankie and Chris started seeing each other again. This subsequent contact reawakened their old feelings for each other, rekindling romance, and creating a deep and lasting relationship. A year later they married.

Frankie took some years to shed the doubt in the back of her mind, that maybe this heated reignition involved a little guilt on her part, around the failed court case.

THREE

Four years after marrying, their union unexpectedly produced a daughter.

And then in subsequent years, another daughter, followed by a son. Like her mother Linda, Frankie always wanted to be as present as possible. She became a devoted and caring mother to her children and a loving wife and partner to her husband; always looking to put them first.

But Frankie was the bread-winner. And taking time to build a sound reputation in the legal world lay additional pressures on her.

Her mother sacrificed a thriving career in consulting to commence a family. However, Frankie convinced herself that she could manage both family and career side-by-side; it helped that Chris was homebased, where he provided occasional counselling to a few patients each week.

He jumped at the notion of being a regular home dad, albeit knowing that he wasn’t altogether regular, and knowing there’d be some things he wouldn’t be up to doing for their children.

Early on, Linda could see that Frankie was intellec­tually alive, with levels of competence and capacity akin to her own, but with a touch of her father Ronan’s impetuous self-assurance to speak-out at times. She always tried to bring out Frankie’s innate potential.

Frankie possessed her mother’s smarts and aptitude, with her father’s verbal assertiveness, how­ever with far more charm than he bore.

Standing five foot nine, Ronan wasn’t tall; but he carried broad muscular shoulders and sculptured arms – the result of his frequent visits to the boxing gym near his workplace. Some of his work colleagues were sure that this solid build gave him unwarranted confidence.

When she was just eight, Frankie’s grief at the loss of her treasured mother was intense, and she cried for months. Not only because they shared a loving and spiritual bond, but also because the death was sudden and unexplained.

Despite this trauma when she was so little, the young Frankie showed tenacity and grit.

One initial display of this drive appeared with the piano lessons that Ronan organised for her. His wife’s upright piano stood untouched in their lounge room for a year after her death.

He remembered Linda’s belief that their daughter was blessed with ample capacity. And in what was a little atypical for Ronan to come across, he’d heard that neurological studies identified, among other positives, a strong link between the development of a child’s musical skills and their mental prowess.

Frankie’s piano lessons commenced soon after she turned nine; they continued until she was about sixteen. Rising to the challenge of developing this new skill, she grasped the instrument’s sensitivity; and she embraced the feeling of connecting with her mother through its keys.

And Ronan adored having the keyboard sounds fill the house, like it was the scent of Linda’s perfume.

Able and diligent, Frankie demonstrated enough aptitude to secure a place in a nearby selective government high school. And as a keen reader and a dedicated student, her solid academic performance year-on-year, generated in her father huge pride.

Elliot, her brother two years younger, convinced himself that he’d never receive such paternal praise.

For most of his life, Ronan worked as a local council staffer, and he believed that Elliot’s talents also lay in bureaucratic officialdom.

With ash-brown hair and bright blue but shy eyes, Elliot carried a developed build for his age. It wasn’t surprising that he struggled with the untimely loss of their mother from her mystery illness; he was only six.

In the classroom, Elliot tried hard to avoid standing out, despite having talent and attending the same selective high school as his sister.

Frankie developed champion public-speaking skills. Her short stature disguised capability, and her powerhouse performance was a surprise every time she hit the debating floor. Without exception, her breadth of knowledge gave her confidence, always arguing with remarkable clarity, charm, and effect.

The smarts displayed, the enthusiasm exerted, and the skills fashioned during her high school and university days, produced in Frankie everything needed to be a dynamic and successful lawyer.

She applied the dynamism and smarts to her busy professional life, sprinting through the ranks of MLI.

Having three children in somewhat