by David Laing
Snook pointed towards the edge of the camp. ‘Then you’ll be takin’ the old bush road past the camp entrance, down there by those gum trees, the ones that are growin’ practically right across the road.’
Pouting, Quenton said, ‘So what if I am? Anyway, you can’t come. I thought of it first.’ Signalling for Gloria to follow, he turned and walked towards the old bush road.
Gloria, whose eyes were on Snook, as though pleading for him to do, or at least say something, didn’t move. She clearly didn’t want to go. ‘Let’s go,’ Quigley called back to her, noticing she wasn’t following. ‘We’ll ride our bikes. ’
‘Okay,’ she said her mouth downcast. ‘I’m coming.’
I had to restrain myself. I wanted to tell Snook to follow her, to at least say something, but, in his usual fashion, he did nothing. I felt like choking him … again.
After they’d gone, Snook thumped a hand into his fist. ‘You know, I really do think there’s some sort of conspiracy goin’ on. I was gonna suggest we go to the lagoon this arvo, but now Quigley’s beaten us to it. Plus, that Blowhard fella’s managed to muck up the gorge trip for us … the animals are probably still in their caves and holes in the ground shiverin’ in their boots. I don’t think I’m meant to win that competition.’
I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, despite his less than cavalier behaviour with Gloria. ‘Cheer up,’ I said, clapping him on the back. ‘The weekend’s not over yet. You never know what’ll happen next. Something might crop up.’ I picked up the water bucket and jiggled it. ‘It’s empty,’ I said, holding it up for Snook to see. ‘Let’s go fill it up at the creek and when we come back, I’ll make that cuppa. I reckon we could do with one. C’mon, Shadow. You can help.’
Chapter 18
* * *
On our way down to the creek, I asked Snook whether he still wanted to go to the lagoon after we’d had our cup of tea.
‘Not if Quigley’s there I don’t,’ he was quick to reply.
I sighed. It was time to reason with him. ‘Look, Quenton and Gloria were going to the far end of the lagoon. That’s what he told us, but we don’t have to go that far. That way, we probably won’t even see them.’
‘Yeah, maybe.’
‘The trouble with you, Snook Kelly, is that you’re getting to be real stubborn. You should have asked Gloria to stay with you back there, but you were too pig headed. Too proud. So, we’re going to the lagoon whether you like it or not.’
Walking side by side down the grassy bank, I could feel Snook staring at me. ‘You know, you’re not the same old Jars that I knew three years ago. You were quiet then. You’re kinda bossy now.’
‘What?’ I said, thinking that Snook’s remarks were kind of sudden, out of the blue so to speak. But in a way I supposed he was right – when I first came down from the Northern Territory to live with the Kellys, I was a bit wimpy. But as I grew older and got used to my new surrounds, I guess I became more confident, more positive – especially around people. Anyway, not really knowing how to reply to Snook, I just handed him the empty bucket. ‘We’re here,’ I said. ‘Here, you fill it. I’ll make the tea when we get back.’
‘Okay,’ he said, grabbing it by the handle. He then stepped out onto a flat stone and leaned over one of the deeper pools to scoop some water. Something made him stop. He straightened and rubbed his eyes. Taking a step backwards, he asked, ‘Do you see what I see?’
I followed Snook’s line of sight. ‘Yes, I think so. That Blowhard fellow’s building a new fireplace – right next to the one that’s already there. It looks like he’s gone and collected his own wood too. Why would he do that, I wonder? It sure seems silly.’
With the empty water bucket dangling from one hand, Snook scratched his head with the other. ‘It’s more than silly; it’s crazy. He must be cracked.’
I had to agree with him. It looked like Blowhard was building a bigger and better fireplace than the one provided, just because he could.
Snook shook his head. ‘What an idiot. He has been actin’ like a complete fool ever since we first saw him in Sam’s shop. I just hope he knows what he’s doing with that fire though.’
I hoped so too. The fireplaces were put there by the local council for a purpose – to keep the place looking nice for its visitors and to keep the fires contained and safe. Even the wood was supplied – to stop people hacking into the surrounding trees at random.
Having finally collected the water, we were about to head back to our camp when we saw something else. In the distance.
It was a person, walking beside the river towards the lagoon and he was dressed in khaki pants, braces and a peaked cap.
The rhotosaurus inched his way down the mountain path to the bottom of the gorge. He looked behind. The others were following.
After what seemed like ages, he reached the bottom of the gorge. Already, relishing the coolness of the water that awaited, he took the few steps to the river where he stood, letting the fast flowing stream swirl and cascade over his aching limbs. It was a welcome relief from the heat and wind that he could still hear raging from above.
He sniffed the air. Mixed in with the sour, acrid smell drifting down from the plains was something else. It was the sweet, airy scent of still water, a new sensation that brought up buried pictures from somewhere in the back of his head – of his safe place where he saw himself sprawling in its still pool, drinking from its depths. He stepped out of the river and onto the bank. He could be there soon, to the pool, to where he could ease the burning pain in his body, where he could be safe.
Standing on the bank, the rhotosaurus shook his head as though clearing his thoughts. Then, his mind made up, he started to run. Soon, his twenty- tonne body was pounding forward, swaying, brushing against boulders, and dodging fallen rubble, flattening any shrubs in its path. Then he realised. There were still shrieks and cries coming from the cliff tops. Some of the other dinosaurs had not made it to safety. And in his path, as if emphasising the point, he saw the first of the bodies – two muttaburrasauruses that he thought he recognised. Pulling to a halt and throwing back his head high into the air, he roared. He felt something – maybe guilt – he was running to safety whilst around him his world was collapsing, being destroyed. He looked around. There were other bodies – more dinosaurs from the cliffs and many pterosaurs from the sky. Angry now, he thundered on, his mind scrambled, his feet pounding and echoing through the narrow gorge.
Boom –Boom – Boom –Boom.
His safe place was waiting.
Chapter 19
* * *
The sun had nearly disappeared when I woke up with Shadow licking my face and a sliver of grass tickling my nose. I’d been asleep on the grass next to the creek. Snook was there too, lying next to me, still sleeping. I sat up and shook my head. Dinosaurs, in particular a very big one, were rattling around in there, and they looked like they were running for their lives, but I didn’t know why. Then I smelled something. Smoke. Coming from the other side of the river. Shaking Snook awake, I yelled in his ear, ‘Wake up, Snook! There’s a fire and it’s coming from Blowhard’s camp!’
‘What? What’s goin’ on?’ Snook mumbled, sitting up. ‘How come we’re lyin’ here? Did we go out to it again, or what?’
‘Yes,’ I said quickly, more concerned with the fire than explanations about what we’d seen. ‘It happened again, I managed to blurt out – the kid and the dinosaurs paid us a visit. But didn’t you hear me? There’s a fire! Blowhard’s in trouble!’
‘All I can see are a couple of swans and some ducks,’ Quenton said to Gloria as they propped their bikes up against one of the willow trees that grew down to the water’s edge at the far end of the lagoon. ‘This spot doesn’t look much good after all.’
Gloria looked at her watch – a quarter to five. ‘I think we might as well head back,’ she said. ‘The sun’ll be setting soon. We don’t want to be too late getting home.’
‘We might as well, I suppose,’ Quenton s
aid, walking over to his bicycle. ‘I can tell you don’t want to be here with me anyway.’
‘How do you mean?’ Gloria asked, following him.
‘You still like Snook. You only came with me on this photo competition thing to make him jealous. Admit it. It’s true, isn’t it? I saw the way you were looking at him back there at the camp.’ He bent over and picked up his bicycle. He threw a leg over the crossbar and waited for a reply.
‘You seem to have read my mind,’ Gloria said, ‘so I might as well tell you everything I know, which isn’t that much. The truth is, I don’t know what’s going on. Snook doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me. He snubbed me all day yesterday and today he wasn’t much better, and I don’t know why. All I know is that he’s had some sort of funny turn that’s made him the way he is and I don’t know what to do about it. So I guess I came with you because … because I wanted to find a way … to fix everything. Sorry it’s worked out like this, Quenton. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’
‘Yeah, okay, whatever,’ he said as he started to move off. ‘But maybe you’ll change your mind when I do win the photo competition … and the dinner for two at the Realty Restaurant.’
But Gloria wasn’t listening. She was watching the billowing grey smoke that was coming from the direction of Blowhard’s camp.
With Shadow leading the way and with Snook following, we ran up the bank and over the bridge towards Blowhard’s camp.
We got there just in time for the first explosion.
I could hardly believe my eyes. His fire was erupting. Rocks, embers and sparks were flying through the air like missiles, and billowing into the sky and growing denser every second, was a mass of grey, choking smoke. Right in the middle of it all was Blowhard, making short, sharp yelping noises, hopping around on one foot and holding the other as if he was doing a war dance.
We needed to do something fast. There were a dozen or more spot fires in the grass and bushes in and around his camp that had already started. Another minute and the whole camp site would be burning and the nearby trees would be next. I could see the fires already spreading in their direction. ‘We need some blankets!’ I yelled. ‘To smother the fires!’
Understanding immediately, Snook raced over to the van. It was locked. He then ran over to Blowhard and grabbed him by the arm. ‘Stop prancin’ around like a bower bird and open the van!’ he yelled into his ear. ‘I need to get some blankets!’
Blowhard didn’t seem to understand. His dancing had stopped but now he just stood, staring into space and jabbering to himself. Snook’s frustrations came to the surface. Still holding Blowhard’s arm and yelling in his ear, he shook him backward and forwards like a rag doll. ‘Open the van, Blowhard. We need those blankets now! Rex is catching on fire!’
The thought of losing Rex seemed to galvanise him. His nonsense talk stopped and he allowed himself to be led to the van where he extracted a key from his pocket. He handed it to Snook. Snook didn’t waste any time. He opened the door and leaped into the van. Two seconds later and he was leaping out, blankets in hand.
Wasting no time, he handed me a blanket. ‘Start around the annex first,’ I yelled. ‘That looks the most exposed.’ We then flew into action, starting with the spot fires surrounding Blowhard’s sleeping quarters. Shadow joined in running from one small fire to the next acting as our spotter. We then hurried to the other dozen or so fires that were spreading rapidly. Blowhard was no help; he’d disappeared into his van.
Then, after what seemed like hours, it was over. All the fires were out. ‘Phew,’ Snook said, his breath coming in short gasps, ‘I think we’ve done it. If we’d got here any later though, it would have been a different story.’ Shadow too, looking exhausted, had collapsed under a tree.
I looked around. Snook was right. Bracken, ferns, bushes, maybe even the trees, would have gone up in smoke. We could have had a major bushfire on our hands. I coughed. Smoke still hung in the air and through the smoke I saw Snook striding towards Blowhard, who was coming out of his van. Blowhard was a sorry sight. Dragging one foot after the other, looking like he’d been chucked out of a tool bag, he limped over to his seat by his now smouldering fire. And with his head in his hands as though trying to hide from the world, he began to rock backwards and forwards as if dipping for apples.
He didn’t see Snook standing over him, looking down.
I could almost feel his anger. It looked raw, electric. I kind of hoped he wouldn’t be too hard on him. Blowhard looked like he’d had enough shocks for one day. I cringed, waiting for Snook’s anger to surface.
Maybe it was seeing Blowhard so crumpled, so down and out and pathetic, or maybe he was having a brain fade. I don’t really know, but instead of blasting him, Snook did something completely different. He explained, quite reasonably, some of the dos and don’ts of camping and how not observing these could lead to dire consequences – like starting bush fires.
Looking through his fingers, Blowhard stuttered, ‘I-it wasn’t my f-fault. It was the rocks. They just exploded. They sh-shouldn’t have done that.’
Thinking to lend Snook a hand, I picked up one of Blowhard’s rocks using a couple of sticks. It was still glowing. I walked over and showed it to Snook. ‘Look, isn’t this lime-stone?’
‘You’re right, it is!’ Snook turned to Blowhard once again, this time dressing him down like the old Snook. ‘You’re an even bigger dill than I thought! Don’t you know that lime-stone explodes if you overheat it? I thought you’d know that, being the expert bushman you say you are. And another thing, Blowhard, seein’ as you reckon you’re a real hotshot, why haven’t you read the warnin’ sign, the one near your annex that tells you all about how the river can flood unexpectedly? You might wanna read that before you go to sleep tonight.’ As if looking for support, Snook glanced in my direction.
‘Yes, Mr Blowhard,’ I said, ‘what Snook has told you is correct. I’d shift your annex if I were you. It’s far too close to the river. Your van should be all right, though. It’s higher up the bank.’
Not saying a word, Blowhard got up, limped over to his van, rested his head on the van’s side and patted it as if it were a dog. Then, looking at the wreckage behind him, in a low, chanting voice, he said, ‘It was the evil spirit monster that did all this; it caused the fires and made the rocks explode.’ He patted the side of the van again. ‘It wasn’t us, was it Rex?’ I watched as he climbed the steps of his camper and disappeared inside.
I gave Snook a nudge. ‘Let’s head back to camp; leave Blowhard to it. We need to talk about what we saw back there by the river, and I don’t mean Blowhard’s fire. I’m talking about that kid who keeps popping up for some reason or other, and I’m talking about the dinosaurs too. There has to be a reason we’re having the visions and I want to know what that is.’
‘Good idea,’ Snook said. ‘I wanna find out too. I especially wanna find out what happens to the big dinosaur, the one that keeps runnin’ everywhere like he’s lookin’ for somethin’.’
Chapter 20
* * *
‘What’s happened to you two?’ Gloria asked when we got back to camp. She walked over to Snook and looked him up and down. Covered in soot and black sweat and with his hair sticking up like a porcupine, he looked like he’d been down a chimney. I supposed I looked just as bad, but Gloria wasn’t worried about me; she was too busy fawning around Snook who seemed to be enjoying all the attention. He’d adopted a lost animal look, a bit like how Shadow was looking, black and sooty. I suppose I couldn’t blame Snook for lapping up Gloria’s sympathy; he’d been through a lot lately and right now he really was a mess.
Dragging her eyes away from Snook and looking more in my direction, Gloria said, ‘Quenton and I cycled back as soon as we saw the smoke. What happened? We didn’t know what was going on or where the fire was.’
‘Everything’s okay now,’ I assured her. ‘There was a fire that needed putting out. That’s all.’
Quenton must have been thinki
ng that it was time he got into the act. Stepping forward, he looked over at Snook and said, ‘Acting the big hero, were you? Who were you trying to impress?’ He draped an arm over Gloria’s shoulder. ‘Not my girlfriend, I hope.’
Snook’s eyes flashed. ‘Don’t try getting too cute, Quigley,’ he said between clenched teeth, ‘or else.’ Like a fever, I could see Snook’s anger rising. His face had gone a deep purple and his fists had clenched. It was time to do or say something, when Gloria’s father turned up.
We all watched as he climbed out of the Volvo.
‘I wonder what he wants now,’ Snook said, his anger forgotten. ‘I hope he doesn’t wanna examine us.’
‘Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough, I guess.’
He marched straight up to us. ‘Ah, Snook, Jars, you’re here.’ Noticing the state we were in, he said, ‘Good Heavens! Look at you! What’s happened to you?’ We told him about the fire and how we’d put it out. ‘My word, you have been busy,’ he said. ‘Hold still while I have a look at you. I had better make sure you’re okay.’ Lifting Snook’s eyelids with one hand, he took his small doctor’s torch from his top pocket with the other. He shone the torch into his eyes and then turned to me. ‘Mmm,’ he said, ‘I’ll talk to you two in a minute.’ He then examined Gloria and Quinton. He said, ‘I’m pleased you two haven’t been in the wars like Snook and Jars. That’s something.’ He pointed towards the car. ‘You and Quenton might as well come home with me. Go and put your bicycles in the boot. I won’t be long. I just want a word with Snook and Jars.’
What did he want a word about now? I wondered. We’d already told him about the kid, even down to what he was wearing. It couldn’t be about him. ‘You two have had a vision again, haven’t you?’ he said after Quenton and Gloria had left. ‘You’ve both got that dreamy look about you and your pupils are dilated.’
