Atomic Testing

by Alan Tucker

  Dad told us there are two people in each car—the driver and the navigator. The navigator reads the map and gives directions. The driver follows directions and drives as fast as he can. Dave said he doesn’t want to be a navigator because he’d have to think too much. ‘I just want to drive.’ Dad agreed that that was the job for him too.

  Robert suggested we do an experiment. ‘I’ll show you how an atomic explosion happens.’

  He told us to push most of the cars together so they were touching, then he CRASHED another one into them at high speed. Cars bounced off in every direction, but quickly stopped.

  ‘The dirt slowed them down. Let’s do it again on the veranda.’

  This time the cars went further from the centre of the ‘explosion’.

  I had a brainwave. I ran and got my marbles then bunched them tightly together. Boy, did they ricochet a long way when we threw another marble into them!

  Mum appeared at the door and wanted to know what all the excitement was about. Dave said Professor Anthony had just successfully tested atomic theory.

  She looked hard at me. ‘Well, I hope Professor Anthony’s end-of-term school report proves he’s as smart as you say he is.’

  Tuesday, 11 August

  Great news! Dad’s going to take Dave and me to see the Redex cars pass through Port Augusta on Thursday. It’ll be a long day. We’re catching the Tea and Sugar train south on Wednesday night and back home again on Thursday night. Dad can only get one day’s leave. One of his mates will drive us to the station at Pimba. Mum’s worried that I’ll get over-tired if I don’t get much sleep for two nights.

  Friday, 14 August

  What a fun day we had yesterday.

  We got off the train at Port Augusta, had breakfast at a café near the railway station, then walked to the checkpoint where the rally cars had to stop. When the cars arrived they were dinged and dusty, but the drivers were really friendly. It was amazing to think they’d driven halfway around Australia in just a few days.

  They’re expected back in Sydney in three more days. They’ve finished on the dirt roads now. It’s all bitumen from Port Augusta to Adelaide, then Melbourne, then Sydney.

  One day I’d like to drive to those places. I don’t want to do it as part of a rally. I want to drive slowly and stop in each city. Townsville is the biggest city I’ve ever seen. It didn’t have buildings higher than two storeys. American cities in the Superman comics have skyscrapers. I’d love to walk to the top of the Empire State Building so I can prove my legs are strong. It’s 102 storeys high. I wonder if that’s higher than Mount Everest.

  The cars came in one at a time. They were covered in dust. A couple had hit ‘roos during the night—THUD—and smashed their grills and headlights. Others had bottomed out in big bulldust holes and pushed their bumpers up at weird angles.

  Dad wanted to meet ‘Gelignite’ Jack Murray but was told he couldn’t because Jack had rolled his car near Cloncurry and was out of the race. Dad told us Jack got his nickname because he used gelignite to blow up a campsite dunny. Dave thought that was hilarious.

  On the train coming home Dad was still excited. He told us that when he gets out of the Army he’s going to drive in a rally.

  Dad had to go back to work this morning but he let me stay home from school. Mum didn’t mind either. She knew I didn’t get much sleep on the train. Dad got even less. He let me stretch out across his seat so I could sleep better. He sat up and talked to other adults about the rally cars.

  When I told Mum that Dad’s going to drive in the rally one year, she wasn’t impressed. She said it’s about time he grew up and stopped acting like a boy.

  I think it’s a good idea. Dad’s mad about cars and motors and loves driving and he loves the bush. He’d make a good Around Australia rally driver.

  7.30 pm

  When Dad got home from work at teatime he looked exhausted. He said he needed an early night to catch up on his sleep.

  Mum wasn’t in a calm mood though. She’d read in the paper that Russia has exploded a hydrogen bomb. The news frightened her and she wanted to talk to Dad about it. He didn’t want to listen, but that didn’t stop Mum from trying.

  ‘Where will it all end? It’s a race towards the end of the world. Why, Frank, why? If they destroy everything, no-one wins. This arms race is so stupid. The Americans build an atomic bomb, so the Russians build one. The Americans build a hydrogen bomb, so the Russians build one. Now the Americans claim they’ve got a super hydrogen bomb. It’s madness. Both countries can already destroy the world several times over.’

  Dad said it’s not a super hydrogen bomb, it’s a megaton bomb. He claimed Mum had been reading too many of my Superman comics.

  ‘You’re right, Frank. I have been reading, but not comics. I’ve been reading newspapers and books, and what I’ve read frightens me. It’s not the bomb blast I’m worried about, though heaven knows that’s bad enough. It’s the fallout from the bombs that concerns me.’

  Dad told her he was too tired for such a serious discussion. He said she was being melodramatic and walked out of the room to lie on the couch in the lounge.

  I thought if I talked to Mum they might stop arguing. I asked her what fallout is. She said it’s an invisible poison that radiates out from the centre of an atomic or hydrogen bomb blast and is carried by the wind. It can drift for hundreds, maybe thousands of miles. It poisons any land or water it falls on and makes people sick if they eat or drink anything from the contaminated areas.

  ‘And it doesn’t go away, Anthony. It makes people sick for years afterwards and it kills people who get too much radiation. And now the British Government is going to explode a similar bomb just up the road from us.’

  Dad shouted from the lounge that the test site is not just up the road. It’s hundreds of miles from here. And it’s upwind. ‘We’re perfectly safe. The winds will take any fallout into the desert to the north-west.’

  She yelled back that there were people living in that direction.

  Dad appeared at the kitchen door and sneered. ‘Oh, come off it, Beryl. Be real. There are only a handful of station people out there and the government has built them special bomb shelters.’

  Mum didn’t back down.

  ‘So it’s that simple, is it? If you believe that then you’re the one who’s not being real. They can shelter during the blast but the fallout remains for years. And what about Aboriginal people living out there? Have they been given bomb shelters too?’

  ‘The government has Native Patrol Officers removing them from the danger area and warning them not to go back till it’s safe.’

  ‘And just when will it be safe? They live off the land. They don’t wear clothes, they sleep on the ground, walk barefoot and eat animals that eat the grasses. They can’t escape the fallout, Frank.’

  Dad was fuming. He shouted that he’d had enough for one night and was going down to the Mess. As he was leaving he said he had trust in the government. ‘If they say it’s safe, Beryl, it’s safe. If they say they’re protecting everyone, then I believe them.

  ‘I’m in the Army, Beryl. I follow orders, not question them. I just do my job. I don’t want to know about any of this stuff you’re on about.’

  He SLAMMED the door and left. It was suddenly very quiet. But then Mum started to cry. I asked her if she was all right. She said ‘Yes’, but straight away went to her bedroom and shut the door.

  The fifth test starts tonight, but I won’t sit up and listen to it. I do not want to be awake when Dad comes home. If he comes home.

  Saturday, 15 August

  This morning was really weird. Dad was home but looked pretty crook and Kenny was with him. Dad ran into him at the Mess and invited him around. Mum cooked bacon and eggs on toast. She served Kenny politely but BANGED Dad’s plate down in front of him.

  Kenny tried to keep things bright and happy. He told us he’d been out at Emu again but it had become too crowded for his liking.

  ‘I can handle wo
rking with half-a-dozen blokes bush-bashing and road making, although even that’s a few too many. I’m happiest when I’m alone on a recce. Can’t argue with anyone then.’ He looked at Mum and Dad as he said that. Dad must have told him about their humdinger argument.

  Mum asked him what all the men were doing out in the desert. He said that they were just doing rocket range work.

  ‘Kenny, I’m not stupid. The government doesn’t build barracks for men in the middle of the rocket flight path if they’re planning to fire rockets in that direction. They’re getting Emu ready for these atomic bomb tests, aren’t they?’

  Kenny didn’t say yes or no, but he did say the British and Australian governments are simply trying to free mankind from the fear of war.

  Before Mum could ask any more embarrassing questions Dad leapt up and suggested Kenny have a shower to wash off the dust.

  I cleared out too and came to my room. In a minute I’m going to sneak off to Dave’s. I can hear Mum banging dishes around in the kitchen.

  An atomic blast couldn’t be much worse than this.

  Later

  When I got home for lunch Dad had gone to the Mess. Mum hardly spoke while we ate. I said I’d do the dishes and told her to sit on the couch and read.

  ‘Thanks, Anthony. You’re more thoughtful than some men.’

  Dave, Robert and I rode to the store this arvo to buy iceblocks. While we were in the square eating them, Jonathon sat with us. He was waiting for his mother to finish shopping. I didn’t tell the boys about Mum and Dad’s argument. Instead I asked them about atomic and hydrogen bombs. I was curious to know if any of what Mum said was true.

  Robert told me the Russians didn’t really test a hydrogen bomb. It was a prototype. I had no idea what that was. He explained it’s only a small step away from the real thing.

  I asked them if any of the bombs could blow up the whole world. They didn’t know, but Jonathon said the Americans had already wiped out a whole island in the Pacific. One minute it was there, then—BOOM! When the mushroom cloud blew away there was no island. It had completely vanished. Robert said that’s true. His father had told him the same story.

  ‘The Americans have tested bigger bombs since then and the Russians are trying to race them.’

  I don’t know exactly where Russia is. If they played test cricket I’d know. I know where England, South Africa, India and the West Indies are because they play test matches against us.

  Sunday, 16 August

  What a terrible weekend so far. I’ve hardly had any sleep for two nights. First Mum and Dad had the big argument, then I got arrested.

  We’d just finished eating last night when there was a knock at the door. Two Commonwealth Policemen came in and said they wanted to ask me some questions down at the station.

  Mum and Dad wanted to know what I’d done, but the policemen wouldn’t say. When I told them I hadn’t done anything they didn’t respond except to say we had to leave immediately. Mum and Dad were asked to come with me.

  My first thought was that someone had reported Dave and me for shooting the slug gun near the town’s water tanks. Mum and Dad would kill me if they found out.

  At the station they made me sit down on one side of a wide desk. Mum and Dad were told to sit behind me and say nothing.

  I was scared.

  They said they were investigating two possible offences. The minor one was a firearms offence. The more serious allegation involved spying. I was so frightened I could hardly speak. My mouth dried up and my legs started shaking. I nearly cried. It was just like in the movies. They had a big light shining on me that made me squint and sweat. I couldn’t see their faces when they started asking questions.

  I told them all about the slug gun and who’d been shooting it with me. I told them we shot targets and killed rabbits and birds. I also told them about nearly shooting the men working behind the water tanks, but it was the target practice they were most interested in.

  Why was I practising?

  Who did I plan to shoot?

  When they asked me those questions, tears came out. I hadn’t cried since I was a little kid and the nurses hurt me. But I couldn’t control it now. The men were so mean to me.

  Eventually they gave me a toilet break but I wasn’t allowed to speak to Mum and Dad or even look at them.

  As soon as I came back they asked me about the spying. It wasn’t the same men. I couldn’t see their faces, but the voices were different.

  They asked me if I knew what spying was. They asked me if I knew what the penalties for spying were. They asked me who was paying me. Was it the Russians? I told them I didn’t know where Russia was and I’d never met any Russians.

  ‘What about Australians who are working for the Russians? Can you name any Russian agents?’ I told them I wasn’t a spy.

  ‘Then why are you receiving stolen photos of Top Secret rockets and jet planes? And why are you selling detailed drawings of Top Secret weapons?’

  ‘Who are you selling to, lad?’

  ‘How much are the Russians paying per drawing?’

  I was bombarded with questions and felt so stressed I started to shake. Mum leapt forward, hugged me from behind and told them to stop bullying me. ‘Give Anthony time to calm down and answer.’

  They told her to move back, but she didn’t. She sat next to me and held my hand while I answered. I told them I was only drawing pictures for my friends and I hadn’t asked Robert and Jonathon to bring me photos. They volunteered. I’d given all the photos back and said I’d give the money back too. I wasn’t a spy. I was just a kid.

  Dad didn’t say anything. He’s in the Army and has to follow orders. Mum doesn’t.

  9.00 pm

  I hope they believe I’m not a spy. I’m still under investigation. Another two Commonwealth Police Officers interviewed me again this morning. At least they did it at home where it wasn’t so scary and I could see their faces.

  I’ve been restricted to our house until further notice. They even have a guard out the front so I can’t talk to anyone. I wonder what my friends think. Dave won’t believe I’m a spy. He’ll still want to play with me. I hope Robert’s parents won’t stop him from being my friend, but I bet Jonathon’s will.

  Mum, Dad and I had a big talk at teatime. They’re not cross with me because of the drawings. They know that’s just a misunderstanding. They didn’t like the Commonwealth Police before this. They hate them now. Dad says they haven’t got enough to do if they’ve got to pick on kids. Mum says they’re bullies. Dad thinks they’re acting tough at the moment because the Russians have got the hydrogen bomb.

  ‘They think there’s a Red under every bed, son. They’ve got spy phobia. But why would the Russians want to spy on the British tests? They’ve already got the hydrogen bomb and the Poms haven’t even got an atomic bomb.’

  ‘Let’s hope they don’t get it,’ Mum added. He told her not to start that again. ‘We have more important issues to deal with right now.’ He said he was disappointed in me for playing with a gun. I said it was only a slug gun, but Mum said that wasn’t the point. It was a gun. ‘We’re united on this, Anthony. You did the wrong thing and you know you did.’

  I apologised. They accepted it then sent me to my bedroom while they ‘discussed the matter further’.

  Later they told me I’d been grounded for a week even if the police allow me out of the house. I hope I’m not grounded any longer than that. I had enough of being isolated when I was quarantined in the polio ward. And besides, this week’s the last of the term and I don’t want to be stuck home alone in the holidays.

  Monday, 17 August

  It was a very quiet day. I sat in my room and drew pictures, but nothing with rockets or jet planes in them. I also caught up on the sleep I’ve missed over the past three nights.

  The police came around during the afternoon and told me they had interviewed the boys at school and they confirmed my story. I can go back to school tomorrow.

  I hope R
obert and Jonathon don’t get into too much trouble for lending me the photos.

  Tuesday, 18 August

  What a strange day. I was surrounded by people but I was alone. Dave was the only one I spoke to all day apart from the teachers, and even they didn’t talk to me much.

  As soon as I went into the classroom this morning Mr Crouch changed our normal seating. He moved Robert and Jonathon right over to the other side of the classroom from me. Robert later passed me a note saying his parents have banned him from talking to me until the police investigation is over. I don’t think Jonathon will ever be allowed to speak to me again, let alone visit my house.

  Dave would have sat next to me but Mr Crouch wouldn’t let him. The other kids all looked a bit scared of me. That’s all right. I got used to that when I first came back to school after I had polio. In fact, that was worse. Everyone avoided me by miles then. They were all scared they’d catch polio from me. Their parents even avoided my parents for a long time because they were afraid too. I wonder if Dad’s Army mates will treat him differently.

  It’s been a terrible few days, so bad that I haven’t even listened to the cricket. Dave told me Australia’s not going very well. Nothing’s going right at the moment.

  Wednesday, 19 August

  We got thrashed in the test. England won by eight wickets in less than four days. I’ve had plenty of time to read the paper while I’m grounded. But who wants to read about a loss?

  Friday, 21 August

  The school holidays started this afternoon and there’s some good news at last. The Commonwealth Police have told me they’re no longer investigating me and Mum and Dad have said I can play with my friends again tomorrow. They’re going to monitor what I do more carefully in future. Mum and Dad haven’t argued this week. They were too worried about getting me out of trouble. Who’d have thought that drawing a few pictures could get anyone into so much strife?