Crown Park

by Des Hunt

  Not long after lunch, Jack was woken from a snooze by squeals and laughter coming from the nurses’ room. One of the patients went to see what was happening. He returned with a big grin on his face.

  “What’s going on?” asked Jack.

  “Some dude is handing out gifts to the nurses. He’s heading this way. Maybe we’ll get something.”

  Soon afterwards a well-dressed man entered the room and walked up to Jack’s bed. “Hello, Jack,” he said. “I hear you’re getting out today.”

  It was Fluoro, or rather Professor Mike Rackman. Nobody could think of this man as Fluoro the vagrant.

  “Hi,” said Jack with a big grin. “I was wondering if you’d ever come to see me.”

  “I always leave the best part to last.” He stood looking down at the boy for a time. “You’re looking great, Jack.”

  “You’re looking pretty good too. What’s with this professor stuff? What does a professor do?”

  “A professor is in charge of a subject at a university. Can you guess what I might be in charge of?”

  Jack smiled. “Something to do with volcanoes?”

  “Spot on! It’s called volcanology. My specialist study is the Taupo Volcanic Zone.”

  “Is that why you could make it seem so real?”

  Fluoro glanced around the room, and lowered his voice. “Actually, I didn’t know about some of that stuff we saw.”

  “You mean it was real?” Jack whispered.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see how it can be.” A long pause. “But I want to go back. I want to see the last part of the eruption.”

  This was what Jack wanted. “Can we do it here?”

  Fluoro shook his head. “No! But I think I’ve worked out a way.” He lifted a plastic shopping bag onto the bed. “This is a gift for you. It’s a phone.” He gave a little chuckle. “A Blackberry.”

  “A stolen Blackberry?” asked Jack with a grin.

  “No. This is yours. I’ve got to head back to Auckland in a few minutes, but I think we can use phones to do a trip.”

  “When?”

  “How about Saturday at 10pm?”

  “OK. Who rings who?”

  “I’ll ring you.”

  Jack nodded. Then he asked the question that was at the top of his mind. “Do you think we’ll find out about Chainsaw?”

  “I hope so,” said Fluoro. “I hope so. But I don’t think we’ll be able to save him. Too much time has passed.”

  “I just want to know if what I think happened did happen.”

  “Me too, and maybe we’ll find out on Saturday. We’ll just have to wait and hope.”

  After picking Jack up at the hospital, his mum took him to the pet shop in town. They had kittens, but they were all fancy, fluffy things. None of them looked like they’d ever have the guts to take on an adzebill. Jack didn’t want any of them. Anyway, he felt it would be disrespectful to Chainsaw to buy one just yet.

  Saturday morning he was home by himself again, hopefully for the last time. Both parents left early in the morning claiming that next weekend would be different. Jack hoped so, because he’d had enough of being home alone.

  To fill the day he went to Crown Road to look for the squashed cat. It had gone, although a dark patch stained the road near one of Chainsaw’s crossing points. He had probably walked across as if he owned the place, except this time a vehicle didn’t stop. Jack wiped his eyes and moved away.

  The thermal activity in Crown Park was almost back to normal. Orange netting surrounded the gully, with signs saying “Keep Out! Danger! “ Through gaps in the steam Jack could see that Fluoro’s home had been removed. The only things left were the storage holes in the bank.

  Jack walked home feeling as if something had gone from his life. Fluoro’s home had also been Chainsaw’s home. Now both of them had gone and his life was emptier for it.

  The morning dragged into the afternoon, and then the evening. Jack watched television and played with his new phone. He wanted to make some calls, but had no one to call.

  By the time ten o”clock came, Jack had been lying in bed for ages, growing increasingly nervous. Maybe Professor Rackman was feeling the same, for the phone rang at exactly 10pm.

  “Hello, Jack,” said Mike. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s go.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. This time it was not Professor Rackman speaking. It was Fluoro, sounding just as he had on that first trip a week before.

  Any doubts Jack had about it working, faded as he drifted off to that land in the past. He was on his way to find Chainsaw. Alive or dead? He would soon know the answer.

  Chapter 20

  They were standing near the summit of a mountain. In the distance was the lake, if you could call it that now. It was more like a lot of smaller lakes, each reflecting the light from a full moon. The part where Chainsaw had almost drowned was now a cone volcano spewing a plume of stuff high into the sky. The bottom of the plume reflected a glow from the molten material in the vent. Higher up, the ash was lit with the eerie white light of lightning flashes. Even from their distance, Jack could hear the rumble of thunder and a roar from the vent.

  “Fifty kilometres,” said Fluoro. “That’s how high the ash went. It fell down all over northern New Zealand. Some of it circled the globe making red sunsets as far away as China and Europe.”

  Jack looked up at the man. The orange glow from the vent was reflecting from his eyes. The perfect match to his orange clothes. His expression was one of peace and satisfaction.

  “Oh, you two are back, are you?” came a cross voice from nearby. “I thought we’d got rid of you for good.”

  Jack turned and saw Lucy surrounded by moho. On her back were Emily and Pat.

  “Where’s Godfrey?” he asked.

  Lucy pointed her beak straight at Jack. “You! You have the nerve to ask where Godfrey is?” She sniffed noisily. “Gone! That’s where he is. Gone, and all because of your stupid plan.”

  “And Morris,” added Emily, sounding as angry as Lucy. “He’s gone, too.”

  “Did the adzebills get them?”

  “Yes! Of course the adzebills got them,” Lucy shouted. “What else could have happened?”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” said Pat, reasonably. “All we know is that there was nothing at the tree when I went back. No you, no adzebills, no Chainsaw, no Godfrey, no Morris, no anything.”

  It took some time for Lucy and Emily to calm enough for the whole story to be told.

  Emily had flown straight from the tree to where Lucy was waiting with the moho. She reported that the adzebills were walking into the trap. So they had waited. Then The Source had made its loudest noise ever, with glowing ash and lightning filling the sky. Lucy claimed to know it was a bad omen. But still they had waited. And waited. By then it was dark and they knew something must have gone wrong. Pat went back to investigate and that’s when he found that everyone had gone.

  “The next morning,” said Emily, taking over the story. “I went out with my Eyes in the Sky and found the adzebills a bit further back on the track. They were lazing about as if they’d had a good feed. There was no sign of any of our lot or your furry thing. If I could’ve looked in those mongrels’ bellies I would have found them, I bet.”

  “After that,” said Lucy. “I decided that we’d better get away from the area as quickly as possible. Pat knew of this place because sometimes his family roost in caves nearby. He guided us here and this is where we’re going to stay for a while.”

  Jack spoke to Emily. “Did you do any more Eyes in the Sky?”

  “Every day. I’ve seen nothing.”

  “Not even the adzebills?”

  “Nope. We don’t know where they are.”

  “I hope they’ve gone back to The Source,” said Lucy with venom. “Let them burn there.”

  Fluoro gave her a smile. “So you agree that the lake is a dangerous place to be?”

  It took her a
while to answer. “Yes,” she finally admitted. “You were right to tell us to come here. We all would’ve died if we’d stayed. Not just Godfrey and Morris.”

  Fluoro accepted the apology with a nod. “The worst part of the eruption is still to come,” he said. “When it does, everything you see in front of you will be destroyed.” He turned his head towards the lake. “It’s going to be a fantastic sight.”

  As if by magic, the volcano chose that moment to give an extra large burst.

  “Whoa!” said the moho as one.

  Lucy turned to them. “Haven’t you lot gone to bed yet?”

  “No,” said one. “Nobody told us to.”

  “Well, I’m telling you now. You know you’ll only be grumpy in the morning if you don’t get enough sleep.”

  “OK,” accepted the moho. “Goodnight, Lucy.” A chorus of goodnight Lucys followed. Then it was goodnight Emily, followed by goodnight Pat. No one said goodnight to Fluoro or Jack.

  After the moho had tucked their beaks under their stubby wings, Lucy went off to find a quiet spot to sleep for herself. Emily followed, but Pat joined the two humans who had found a large stone to sit on.

  “I’m real sorry about Chainsaw,” Pat said in a quiet voice. “He saved me. But I couldn’t save him.” He paused for a while to look at the volcano. “I did try,” he continued. “At nights when the others were asleep, I would fly off and search. But I never found any sign of him. Nor Godfrey. It didn’t really worry me about Morris. He’s so stupid.” He turned to Jack. “I bet he’s the one who messed up your plan.”

  Jack had moved on from blaming Morris. “It was a bad plan,” he said. “Everything had to work perfectly and it didn’t. There’s no point in blaming anyone.”

  After that they sat and watched the volcano in silence. It was hard not to. The activity seemed to be changing all the time. There were times when it was a little quieter. Then it would go with a rush and the plume would light up like a gigantic firework.

  As the moon rose higher in the sky it became even more spectacular. There were no clouds and the wind was carrying the ash away from them. The night was perfect for watching one of the world’s greatest volcanoes in action.

  Then, as if a tap had been turned off, the eruption stopped.

  “Look!” cried Fluoro. “The vent has collapsed.”

  Where the cone of the volcano had been, there was now a hole. The plume remained for a second or so, before falling to the ground. It spread out from the lake like a dust storm, covering everything in its path.

  By the time the sound of the collapse reached the mountain, the plume was gone and the last of the ash was being blown away to the East. After that there was silence.

  “Was that the end?” asked Jack.

  “No!” replied Fluoro. His eyes were alight with excitement. “That was nothing compared with what is yet to come.”

  “Will we be safe?” Pat’s voice was even squeakier than usual.

  “I hope so,” replied Fluoro. “I sincerely hope so.”

  They waited while the minutes passed. The wind had now dropped, as if it too was holding its breath for the big event.

  And still nothing happened.

  Jack turned to Fluoro. “You sure you got this right?”

  “I’m sure,” he said, smugly. “See where the vent was? The earth is beginning to bulge. The cork has to pop soon.”

  It did!

  One moment there was just a bulge, the next there was a column of molten magma, hundreds of metres wide, as if a giant red-hot poker was being thrust out of the earth. Up and up it went. And yet still more magma powered out of the earth, until there was a column many kilometres high.

  Then, as before, the flow stopped, leaving the magma suspended in the air.

  But not for long.

  The first part to hit the ground splattered up and sideways. Then came the rest. There was nowhere for it to go except sideways. And that’s what it did, with a speed that was breathtaking.

  A circular wall of red blasted over the land. Where there were hills, it rushed up and over the top. Where there were valleys it jumped from one side to the other. Nothing could stop it. Land, water, forests, nothing. It seemed like it could flow forever.

  In the end it had to slow and stop, but not before Jack and the others on the mountain began to fear that they would be caught in the flow. Even after that, they had no time to feel relief before the blast hit them. Hot, stinky air lifted them up and threw them backwards. For the first time in their lives the moho were flying. But only until they were dashed against the rocks of the mountain, where they lay heaped against each other.

  Jack was the first to get up. He found himself in a silent world. Too silent. He put his hands to his ears. Oh no! Not my ears again!

  Then he was aware of something stuck on the back of his sweatshirt. He went to brush it off only to find it was Pat. He was clinging on as if his life depended on it.

  “Wow!” said Pat. “What a blast!”

  Jack closed his eyes with relief. He’d heard the little bat’s voice loud and clear.

  One by one the animals picked themselves up and gathered to view the damage.

  The sight of it was awesome. All of them fell silent as they took in the size of the disaster. Where there had once been lakes, rivers, hills, forests, there was nothing. Nothing but a giant, dull-red blob. In places it had cooled to the grey rock that would eventually cover the land. In others, escaping gases had caught fire, lighting the cool evening. Even though the nearest edge was some distance away, Jack could feel the heat warming his face.

  But the overwhelming sense was that of death. No living thing could have survived the event. From the biggest tree to the smallest insect, all were gone, making it hard to believe the land could ever recover. It seemed as if the silence would remain for all time.

  And yet, even as Jack was thinking that, he heard a sound coming from lower down the mountain where some plants remained. It was an animal sound. Almost like the honk of a goose.

  Jack looked at Fluoro. “Can you hear anything?”

  The man tilted his head for a while before shaking it.

  Maybe I’m imagining things, thought Jack. But the sound got louder. It was the honk of a goose.

  “I can hear it,” said Pat, excitedly. “It sounds like Godfrey.”

  But Jack was no longer listening to the honk. His ears had picked up another sound that was coming between the honks. A wonderful, beautiful, fantastic sound. The meow of a cat.

  Honk, meow. Honk, meow. Honk, meow… louder and louder all the time.

  Soon everyone could hear it. The moho rushed to the place where the track came out of the bushes.

  Godfrey was the first to appear. The moho split to form a pathway. Next came Morris, much to the delight of the rest of the moho. At the end was Chainsaw. His ears were even more damaged than before, and his tail even more crooked.

  Jack could no longer contain himself. He rushed forward, arms spread wide. Chainsaw saw him and broke into a run. He leapt into the open arms and began rubbing his head against Jack’s chin. Jack squeezed tight, and soon the noise of an idling chainsaw echoed around the mountaintop.

  Chapter 21

  Godfrey and Morris were the storytellers.

  Jack was sitting on the boulder with Chainsaw taking up most of the space on his lap. The tiny bit he didn’t use was taken by Pat.

  Fluoro was alongside, listening, but unable to take his eyes off the scene below. Godfrey and Morris stood between the human’s legs. The rest of the birds were gathered around like kids listening to a story at school.

  “We watched the adzebills drag Chainsaw away and move out of view,” said Godfrey. “No sooner had they gone than The Source spoke in the most terrifying way.”

  “I was really frightened,” said Morris.

  Godfrey nodded. “It was frightening. Even the adzebills were screaming. Things were calming down a little when Chainsaw came running towards us. He’d escaped! He ran past
and continued up the path to where he moved onto a side track. There he stopped and made that funny noise at us.”

  “Meow,” said Jack.

  “Yes, that’s the noise.”

  “Pity he can’t talk,” said Morris. “How dumb is that? Not being able to talk.”

  “He doesn’t need to,” said Godfrey. “I can understand him very well. It was clear that he wanted us to follow. So we did. Soon we were well away from the ambush tree. By then it was getting dark and I was becoming worried.”

  “I was too,” added Morris. “I was really frightened.”

  “Yes,” said Godfrey, rolling his eyes, “you were. But Chainsaw wasn’t. He kept us moving. When it got too dark for us birds to see, he began meowing so that we could follow the noise. Only after we’d been walking for some time did we stop and find a place to sleep. Although I don’t think Chainsaw slept. I woke during the night and he was gone.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” said Morris, crossly. “Where did he go?”

  “To check on the adzebills.”

  At the mention of the adzebills all of the listening moho let out a little whimper.

  “Anyway, he was back in the morning and we headed off again. He seemed to know what he was doing so we stayed with him.”

  “We marched for ages and ages,” said Morris.

  “Three days and nights,” added Godfrey. “And each night Chainsaw would go off for a while. I know now that the adzebills were not that far behind us.”

  Again the audience whimpered.

  “Then we came to land that had big rocks everywhere, and we stopped marching. Chainsaw found a clearing and started eating the grass. It seemed so strange, a furry thing eating grass. But he indicated that we should do the same, so we did.”