Chapter VII Summary

Cloudstreet is in a uproar, because today Hattie Lamb will marry her longtime suitor, Geoffrey Birch. There are noisy preparations and a wild ride to the church. Afterwards, Earl and May Blunt drive back to Margaret River. The Lambs nurse Quick for seven days, during which he is silent but glowing like mother of pearl. Oriel and Lester feel that he has gone somewhere mentally. They have a long talk on the back step, during which Oriel insists that people make their own luck, and that the strangeness around the Lamb family, of Quick aglow and of the house itself, are ordinary in this strange world. Oriel says she does not believe in country or family or love or work, which are just things a person does. She believes in eight hours' sleep and a big breakfast. Lester watches as she...