#3: That Bali Smile by Paul Mitchell

Released: 2007

Available: Dodging the Bull

Paul Mitchell is a Melbourne-based writer of prose and poetry who has appeared in Island, Overland and The Sleeper's Almanac 2007, among other journals. Martin Flanagan has prescribed Mitchell's writing for "people who think life hurts, rewards, bend, breaks and redeems."

I came across his first collection of stories  Dodging the Bull in the Monash library while looking for my next hit of quality short fiction. Having now read the collection, I am a huge fan. Mitchell charts otherwise ordinary lives as they search for a handhold. Along the way he finds compassion and occasionally redemption for his characters and asks greater questions about the nature of truth and responsibility in contemporary society.

The Story

Rachel is in need of a break from long nights in the research department. She has been taken to Bali for a holiday by her sister and her advertising executive friends for days lounging around the pool and nights out on the town. Sunburnt and with a touch of bali belly, Rachel is nevertheless talked into heading out for the night.

While at a club, she meets Heath, who seems to know everything, or at least everything she wants to know. Freed by Heath's confidence, they take to the dance floor and she moves as her body tells her to. Heath whispers something into her ear. She doesn't catch it, and as Heath takes her hand, the story goes in an altogether different direction.

Note: This is one of those stories that really benefits from not knowing the outcome, so for this time around, I'll leave a few knots untied, and you can pick up the story yourself to find out what happens.

Why it Sticks

In another author's hands this same material could have been cliched or melodramatic, but Mitchell skilfully shifts focus away from the main event and into the lives that populate the story. Rachel, in particular strikes a memorable figure as she searches for something to hold on to.

Mitchell is a master of the surprise reveal, and as a reader, you are often left grasping for the story you thought you were reading, particularly in his stories In the Shell (Featured in Dodging the Bull, but also available in Best Australian Stories 2004) and Cappucino, Soft Drink, and the end of the World. That Bali Smile works both because of the early reveal, and thematically by linking two character's stories through the very device that separates them.

What's refreshing about That Bali Smile is that it doesn't tie up all the loose ends, instead allowing readers to sift through the information and make their own conclusions. As a portrait, it is striking; as a story, it is surprising...and of all of the stories in the book, this is the one I keep thinking about again and again.