The Crocodile Nest

by Des Hunt

  Luke nodded. ‘What calibre is it?’

  ‘It’s a Winchester .270. It suits the sort of shooting I do. Bring it over and I’ll show you how it works.’

  For the next while, Luke learnt all about the Winchester XTR .270 rifle. He never got to fire a shot, but that didn’t matter: he was handling a rifle for the first time, and it felt good.

  Their second break was at the clearing to burn the marijuana. Luke collected some pieces of dry wood for kindling, while Kev formed a fireplace around the log at the bottom of the pile. With everything in place, and the foliage saturated with meths, Kev threw in a lighted match.

  There was no whoosh as Luke had expected. Instead, the air shimmered with invisible flames, until the wood started to burn and a normal fire began. Soon, large columns of smoke started rising from the top of the pile. The two of them sat on the ground, watching the smoke tower into the air; high enough to spare the people of the Three-oh-nine from inhaling it for the rest of the day.

  ‘So, Luke,’ said Kev, ‘what did you think of your first pig hunt?’

  ‘Great! But I wish we’d killed that boar.’

  ‘Maybe next time. You do want to do it again?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ replied Luke, enthusiastically.

  Kev studied him for a while. ‘You know, you look a lot like a guy who used to come shooting on my property a number of years back. You’ve both got the same fair complexion and grey eyes. Hamish Sloss was his name, but everyone called him Ham, partly because he was fanatical about pig hunting. And good at it as well.’

  ‘Would he have shot that boar?’ asked Luke.

  ‘More likely would have stuck it,’ replied Kev. ‘He worked with dogs and preferred to do his killing with a knife. Although sometimes he used a rifle if there were a lot of pigs around. He used to come up from Thames every couple of weeks or so. He’d always go back with some pork, which I suspect he sold illegally in pubs and the like.’

  ‘Why doesn’t he do it now?’

  ‘He just stopped coming. I don’t know why. He left one weekend, saying he’d be back in a fortnight, but I never saw him again. I heard he’d shot through to Australia. I don’t know if there’s any truth in that.’ Again, Kev studied Luke. ‘Yeah,’ he continued after a time, ‘you and he look so much alike, you could be related. Might be your uncle or something. When you get the chance, ask your mother if she’s ever heard of a Hamish Sloss. It wouldn’t surprise me if she has, somewhere along the line.’

  Butchering the beasts began with setting the bath on four concrete blocks, half-filling it with water, and then lighting a fire underneath. While Luke tended the fire, Kev dug a hole near the large puriri tree that filled the space in front of the house: the puriri would support the pigs while they were cut up, and the hole would take their guts and any other scraps.

  During this phase, a car drove through the gate and pulled up alongside the bath. The window slid smoothly down and a voice demanded, ‘Why didn’t you tell me the road wasn’t sealed? Now I’ve got my nice new car filthy.’

  It was Beth Anderson.

  The car was indeed filthy. Yet even dirt couldn’t disguise that it was a very expensive Mercedes hatchback. ‘Hello, Beth,’ Luke said, with a smile. ‘Do you want me to wash it for you? I’ve got plenty of water here.’

  She climbed out of the car. ‘No, Luke,’ she said, ‘it’ll just get dirty again on the way back. You continue having your bath. Although why you would have one out here is beyond me.’

  It was Kev who answered. ‘We’re going to scald a couple of pigs we shot. Got to get the water to sixty degrees.’ For a moment he stood taking in Beth: it was clear that he thought she looked pretty good.

  Beth seemed to enjoy the appraisal. ‘Hello,’ she said, with a questioning smile. ‘I’m Beth Anderson.’

  While Kev was introducing himself, Alice appeared.

  ‘You must be Beth,’ she said. ‘Luke’s told me all about you.’

  Beth did a bit of a double-take at Alice’s red hair and nose stud, yet if she disapproved she managed to keep it to herself. After a bit of small-talk she and Alice went into the house, allowing Luke and Kev to get on with the job of processing the pigs.

  It was almost an hour before everything was cleaned up, and the women were invited outside to see the results. They were suitably impressed, quickly claiming some pieces they liked. Beth took a fair bit, including the two heads, which she said she’d make into brawn.

  Soon afterwards, the spare meat was loaded into Alice’s old Corolla and Kev headed home, promising to have the repairs finished before Alice went to work on Monday.

  Later that afternoon, Alice and Luke walked up to the bush to check on the weed fire. On the way Luke told his mother about the pig hunt, giving special emphasis to the boar which had grown much bigger and incredibly more ferocious. If Alice found the minute detail of the story tedious, she gave no sign of it. In fact she seemed to enjoy listening to her son’s excited voice.

  The fire had died down, and, while there were still bits of unburnt marijuana, the police would not be able to use them as evidence of cultivation. Luke added a few pieces of wood before stirring up the embers. While they waited for the flames to take hold, he thought back to the conversation he’d had with Kev earlier in the day.

  ‘Have you ever heard of a guy named Hamish Sloss?’ he asked, moving forward to give the fire another poke. ‘Kev thinks I look like him.’

  There was no answer in the time it took to stoke the fire, and when he turned around he found that his mother was standing stiffly, staring at him in fear.

  ‘What?’ he asked, urgently. ‘What’s the matter?’

  Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

  Luke was growing increasingly alarmed. ‘Mum! What is it?’

  ‘Oh God, Luke,’ she said, bringing her hands up to her face. ‘I never meant you to find out like this.’

  ‘What?’ shouted Luke, concern now giving way to anger. ‘Find out what?’

  Alice’s eyes lowered. ‘Hamish Sloss is your father,’ she said, so softly that it was almost a whisper.

  ‘My father? But my father is dead.’

  She shook her head violently, still not looking at him. ‘No! He’s alive. I lied to you. He left me before you were born.’

  Luke looked at her, not knowing what to think or say. Anger had been replaced by confusion. All his life he hadn’t had a father, and now it seemed that he did. He’d thought his father had died in a car accident, but that wasn’t true. ‘Tell me!’ he ordered. ‘Tell me the truth.’

  And so she did. There, sitting on the ground by the fire in the darkening evening, Luke learned about his father. Alice told of the relationship between her and Hamish that had lasted more than a year. They worked at the same restaurant; he as a cook and she as a waitress. Then she became pregnant. At first it seemed as if he was coping with the changing situation, but as the pregnancy developed he spent more and more time away from her, mostly out pig hunting. And one day he didn’t come home. For hours Alice was worried that he’d had an accident, until his mate turned up and told her that Ham had taken off to Australia. She never saw him again.

  For months she was angry about his behaviour. So angry that she refused to give a father’s name for the birth certificate. After that, with a baby to care for, she soon forced him out of her mind and got on with her life. Later, she created the myth that Luke’s father had died in a car crash. She knew that at some stage Luke would have to be told, but somehow she never seemed to find the right time, and so the lie had continued.

  ‘He was a good man, Luke. Probably still is. I’ve thought about what he did, and I’m sure it was because he was scared. Scared of being a father.’ She gave a little sigh. ‘And probably a bit selfish, too. He wasn’t ready to change his ways. Give up all that pig hunting. Not that I would’ve stopped him, but that’s probably what he thought. Anyway he went, and that left just you and me. And that’s the way it’s likely to stay.’

&nb
sp; Luke listened without asking questions. The time for questions would come later, when they’d both had the chance to adjust to the new situation. For a while, they sat watching the flames. Later, they walked back down the hill; side by side, not touching. Neither of them spoke, yet their thoughts were as heavy in the air as the dew that was now settling out of the starlit sky.

  Chapter 6

  By Sunday morning, Luke had decided that he was going to find his father. He wasn’t at all sure why. He couldn’t even work out whether he was angry about what his father had done, or excited by the idea of having someone to call Dad. His emotions were in such a tangle that he wasn’t sure about anything, except that finding his father seemed to be the thing to do.

  His first move was to quiz Kev on Sunday evening when he returned with the Corolla, now worthy of a warrant.

  ‘So Ham’s your father,’ said Kev after hearing the story. ‘I knew it had to be something like that. You two are the spitting image.’

  Luke smiled. ‘He’s handsome, too, then?’

  ‘Ha! The women certainly thought so, although he never seemed to notice. He was more interested in pigs than girls. I never heard him talk of any relationships.’

  ‘How long did you know him?’

  ‘Oh, off and on for many years. His family lived in Whitianga for a while. He went to school there. Then, when he was about your age, they shifted away.’ A pause. ‘He must’ve been about eighteen when I saw him next. Came and asked if he could go hunting on my farm. That lasted for about five years until he shot through to Australia. Haven’t seen him since.’

  ‘Do you know where he might’ve gone?’

  ‘No idea. I don’t remember him talking about Oz. But I bet he went some place where he could still go pig hunting. It was in his blood.’ He looked at Luke for a while before adding, ‘If you’re thinking of looking for him, don’t get your hopes up too high. He might not want to be found, you know. Some guys are like that. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good bloke. But he ran away once—he just might do it again if you get too close.’

  The quest continued at school on Monday, the start of the last week of term. After interval, Luke was once again ‘invited’ to the DP’s office: she wanted to know if he’d taken up the job of sorting out the lady’s computer. He assured her that he had. Instead of leaving when dismissed, he remained seated.

  ‘Is there something else?’ she asked.

  ‘You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you?’

  She chuckled. ‘Yes, almost thirty years. Why? Do you think I’m past it?’

  ‘No!’ he said quickly. ‘I was wondering if you remembered somebody called Hamish Sloss.’

  ‘Hamish Sloss,’ she repeated, leaning back in her chair. ‘That’s a name from more than twenty years back.’

  ‘You remember him?’

  ‘I remember the name of Sloss, but I’m having trouble visualizing the person.’ Luke must’ve shown his disappointment, because she asked, ‘Why are you interested in him?’

  ‘He’s my father,’ Luke replied, quietly.

  She looked up sharply, before swivelling to her laptop. After typing for a while, she turned back to him. ‘It says here that your father is deceased. Is that Hamish Sloss?’

  Luke shook his head. Then the whole story had to be told. She listened without interruption as he outlined his mother’s deception, followed by the revelations of the weekend. Once he’d started, he found it easy—almost like confessing a sin.

  When he’d finished, the DP sat silently for a time. Then she pulled a pad over and noted some details. ‘Look,’ she eventually said, ‘I can’t promise anything, but we may still have records from back then. There are some privacy issues I need to think about, but I’ll find out what I can, and get back to you before the end of the week. Is that OK?’

  It was, and Luke left the office feeling more relaxed than he had since first hearing the news about his father.

  Beth was all prepared for him when he arrived after school. The broadband had been installed, and she was keen to use it. So, too, was Luke.

  He soon found that Beth hadn’t scrimped on the broadband connection: it was faster than anything he’d experienced before.

  The first hour was spent covering emails. Beth had collected all her friends’ addresses and wanted the computer set up so she could start communicating with them.

  Then she contacted her bank, and together they organized Internet access to her accounts. That was where they ran into problems: Beth wanted to use her middle name as a password. After he’d talked her out of that, she wanted to use her son’s name.

  ‘What does it matter?’ she asked, beginning to get annoyed. ‘Nobody’s going to use this computer except you and me.’

  ‘It’s not just this computer. You can access the bank account from anywhere. Which means so can anybody else, if they have your access number and password.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘You need something that no one can guess. Something that doesn’t make any sense except to you.’

  It took a while for her to come up with a password that she felt she could remember. They entered it and, after another phone call to the bank, Beth had access to her account.

  That’s when Luke got a shock. He’d figured that Beth was rich, but just how rich staggered him. There were two accounts with more than a million dollars in each. Even her current account contained over half a million.

  ‘The amount just seems to get bigger and bigger,’ said Beth with a smile. ‘I don’t know how I’m ever going to spend it.’

  Luke felt as if he was spying, yet he couldn’t avoid seeing the figures as Beth insisted that they explore all the features of the bank’s website. He’d never done Internet banking before, but it wasn’t too hard to work out. Unfortunately, it took the rest of the time, and he didn’t get to google ‘Hamish Sloss’ before Alice arrived to take him home.

  Beth was in quite a state when he arrived Tuesday afternoon. She’d woken at three in the morning to find there was light in the lounge. Worse still, it seemed to be moving around. She’d lain in bed, too scared to get up and investigate—too scared to move. Eventually the light had gone out, but by then she’d worked herself into such a state that she couldn’t sleep. When dawn came, she finally got up and checked, only to find nothing was wrong. Yet now, many hours later, she was still worrying about it.

  ‘What could it have been?’ she asked, nervously twisting a ring on her finger. ‘Do you think it could’ve been the computer?’

  ‘Did you turn it off last night?’

  ‘I didn’t have to. It had already turned itself off. And I’ve been too scared to touch it today.’

  Luke moved to the computer and pressed the space-bar. A moment later the screen came alive, showing a pop-up window that said the computer had updated itself.

  He turned to Beth. ‘The computer wasn’t off: the screen had just gone blank to save power. It came on during the night to do an update.’

  Beth shook her head slowly. ‘Why do they have to do things like that?’ she complained. ‘Can’t they make it simpler?’

  Luke saw her distress. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘what would be simpler for you?’

  ‘Can’t I just press a button and it comes on, and then press it again and it goes off?’

  So Luke spent the next hour simplifying the system.

  ‘Thanks, Luke,’ she said when he’d finished. ‘I’m sorry if I acted like a stupid old lady. I think I’ll be able to manage now.’

  ‘What do you want to learn next?’ he asked.

  She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘Well, I did want to learn how to search for things, but I think I’ve had enough for today.’

  ‘Do you mind if I use it for myself?’

  ‘No, of course not! Maybe I’ll watch you, if you don’t mind. You never know, I might learn something.’

  Luke didn’t mind, and soon he was googling for ‘Hamish Sloss’. Of course Beth couldn’t help but ask who Hamish Sloss
was, and ended up with a full explanation.

  ‘So you’re looking for your father?’ she asked when he’d finished. ‘Isn’t that exciting?’ Then she added, ‘And a bit scary, too, I suppose.’

  Luke nodded without taking his eyes off the screen. It was scary. It could be a new start to his life, or it could be a disaster. In the back of his mind was the thought that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to find a man who had deserted his partner when she was pregnant. Maybe he wasn’t such a great person to know.

  In the end, he never found out either way. According to Google, Hamish Sloss didn’t exist. There was quite a clan of Slosses in Scotland; but if any of them were called Hamish, they didn’t appear to have an Internet presence—no Bebo, no Facebook, no YouTube video. Nothing!

  So he tried searching for ‘Ham’, and while at first the result looked better, it proved just as useless. There were a hundred million web pages containing the word ‘ham’. One or more of them might be about his father, but after looking at just over fifty, he realized that it would be impossible to view them all. To Luke, it was worse than getting no hits. His father might be on one of those pages, and yet there was no way that he could ever find him.

  Chapter 7

  It was Wednesday before the DP once again called Luke into her office. A manila folder lay on the desk in front of Luke.

  ‘I can’t let you open it, but there’s no harm in you seeing the cover.’

  Immediately, Luke’s eyes went to the small photo in the top right-hand corner. There he saw a boy with sandy hair, fair complexion, and twinkling grey eyes. Any doubts he’d had about Hamish being his father evaporated. The likeness was so striking that it was almost like looking in a mirror.

  ‘Looks like he’s my dad, doesn’t it?’ he said, quietly.

  The DP nodded. ‘Without a doubt, I would say.’

  Luke’s eyes scanned down to the written details. Hamish Boyd Sloss was born on 12 July 1975, which made him a year older than Alice. He and his family had lived on Cook Drive. He’d had no brothers or sisters at school, which suggested he was probably an only child. He’d left the school when he was thirteen to attend Thames High School.