The Sunburnt Country

by Palmer, Fiona

  Chapter 22

  DAN watched Jonelle until she walked off into the crowd. She was fighting it, he was sure. He’d felt her body tremble as he’d touched her hand, but then again, it could just have been his own trembling. The delight that small touch had brought him was breathtaking.

  ‘Hey, she’s all right,’ said Zac, scooting closer and nodding to a girl walking past in tight jeans, a T-shirt and straight blonde hair.

  Dan nodded, barely interested. The crowd was mainly blokes. Even fewer women in race suits. Jonelle had said that quite a few girls raced in juniors and the quarter midgets, but hardly any continued after turning seventeen. He’d also noticed that all the guys Jonelle raced against were in their late thirties, although some were nearly sixty. Only one was younger and he looked like he was hardly eighteen.

  ‘Do you want a beer?’ Zac asked.

  ‘Here?’

  ‘No. Up at the clubhouse they have a licensed area where you can have a drink. It’s a good view from there, too. I packed swags, so we don’t have to drive home if we don’t want to. Racing usually finishes up around eleven if there are no major incidents.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t mind driving home at night but Jonny can’t. She falls asleep twenty minutes into the trip. Think she gets worn out from all the adrenaline. She usually camps just to be safe.’

  ‘We could drive her home, couldn’t we?’ Dan was thinking he could spend some alone time with her, but then he’d never towed a trailer before. ‘I mean, you could, and I could follow in your ute?’

  ‘Not a bad plan. I knew I brought you for a reason, Dan,’ he said. ‘Come on, let’s go have one drink. Your shout.’

  It was nine o’clock when Jonelle drove out for her third heat. She’d drawn fifth for this race, and after coming first in the second heat she had a chance for a pole position in the final if she could finish this heat at the front.

  ‘They have some money on tonight so if Jonny keeps this up, she’ll be shouting the pub,’ said Zac, rubbing his hands together. ‘You glad you came?’

  ‘Hah! I didn’t realise I’d had a choice,’ he joked. ‘But yes, I am having a ball. Didn’t realise what I’d been missing out on.’

  Sitting here with Zac made him wish he could share this with his brother. As kids they’d done everything together. Both of them played football and were always kicking the Sherrin in the backyard, trying to hit the garage on purpose to get their dad to come out, hoping he’d stay and play with them. And every time the V8s came around on TV, they’d be out with their own car that they’d built with their uncle’s help. It was more like a soapbox go-kart that they’d take turns pulling each other around on in their cul-de-sac. Dan would always be Peter Brock and had a small bag of pretend crystal rocks tied to the inside of the kart when it was his turn, just like Brocky. They had been the best days. They mightn’t have had their dad, but at least they’d had each other.

  Cameron was only twelve when the divorce happened and he’d blamed their dad because he was the one who left, but Dan knew the truth. It all got so messy. After Dan grew up, his life became very different from the one he had shared with Cameron. Dan lived in an inner-city apartment with his dad and began his career in the banking world.

  ‘Here she goes, Dan. Come on, Jonny!’ yelled Zac, his knees jiggling on the spot.

  The green flag dropped and away went the ten cars, motors revving, mud splattering. Jonny passed two cars before she’d finished a full lap.

  ‘She’s on fire,’ Zac yelled over the cars.

  Into the third lap, Jonelle was starting to overtake another car when a white one behind her tapped her back-end hard. Her car veered off course, and headed straight towards the concrete wall. The crowd gave a collective gasp. Zac and Dan leapt to their feet, trying to get a better view as her Torana drove straight into the outer wall. The front end of her car crunched against the concrete wall before bouncing back onto the track, narrowly missing the oncoming cars. Smoke or steam rose up from the compacted front end. It all happened in a split second.

  ‘Shit,’ said Zac.

  ‘Will she be okay?’ Dan asked clenching his fists. He strained his eyes scanning the wreck for any sign of her as the fire trucks and ambulance took off towards her car. The fire fighters circled the car with their extinguishers, making sure there were no flames or flare-ups. The track lights had been flicked to red and the rest of the field came to a standstill. The crowd had fallen silent. Dan’s heart had stopped, his breaths becoming shallow pants. Would she be alive? he wondered, panic-stricken. It was a shocking crash, the car was compacted, and he tried not to imagine her body bent and broken inside the metal. He realised his fists were squeezed so tight his fingers were going numb.

  Some commotion started on the other side of the track. A cheer went up and the crowd began to clap. Jonelle emerged, climbing slowly from the window. Dan released his fists.

  The paramedics guided her to the ambulance. Dan watched as she gingerly took off her neck brace, her helmet and lastly the blue balaclava. She stretched her neck from side to side, then waved off the ambulance officers.

  ‘She’s okay,’ said Zac breathlessly. ‘Come on. Let’s go see her.’

  They raced down the grandstand to the corner of the pits where the gates were. By the time they got there, racing had started up again for the last few laps. The chequered flag appeared before long and the guy in the white coat opened the pit gates. Dan followed Zac onto the track, carefully watching the rest of the cars as they peeled off into the pits. His steps on the slippery clay track were unsteady until he reached the racing line, and then he jogged to the infield alongside Zac.

  Jonelle had her head under the front end, one knee in the dirt.

  ‘You okay, sis?’ Zac puffed.

  She leant back on her feet, glancing up at them with a disappointed look. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. But the car’s not. The front end’s shifted back a few inches, my steering arm is snapped, along with both engine mounts, and that’s just the first few things I’ve seen.’

  ‘But you’re fine?’ Dan asked.

  Jonelle shrugged her shoulders. ‘Of course. There is a reason the car is full of bar work and we wear a five-point harness. Safe as houses. I feel all right now, but ask me later when the adrenaline’s worn off. I may have mild whiplash,’ she said with a smirk. ‘Damn it. The Torrie was flying tonight, had the power when I needed it and was handling the track really well.’ Jonelle put her hand on the broken fibreglass bonnet as if giving a sick pet a final farewell.

  ‘What now?’ Dan asked.

  Jonelle stood up slowly, taking the hand Dan offered. ‘Well, we stay here and watch the sprint cars and then it’s the break for the track grade. That’s when we load up . . . somehow. Might take a bit to get her on the trailer.’

  The Torrie’s front wheels pointed at funny opposing angles. Even though the impact had been at the front, the damage had gone all the way through to the back of the car, shifting the bar work. It was amazing to him that Jonelle had walked out unharmed.

  ‘Let’s sit on the boot and watch this race. One of the fellas is letting his fourteen-year-old son drive his sprint car tonight. And he’s not bad.’

  As they all squeezed together on the boot, which was the only straight panel left on the Torrie, the sprint cars filed out and were push-started by utes and four-wheel motorbikes.

  ‘Hey, Jonny. Do you want to head straight home after we’ve loaded up the car? I’ll drive.’

  Jonelle leaned against Zac, her head resting on his shoulder. ‘Thanks, Zaccy. Sounds like a plan.’ After a minute she bent forward so she could see Dan. ‘So, did we put on a good enough show for you? Everyone loves the crashes.’ She smiled.

  ‘It was rather special. Just a shame it had to be you. You were killing them out there. I’m glad I got to see you race.’

  ‘Thanks, Dan.’

  ‘Did that guy get the black flag?’ asked Zac.

  ‘He got sent to the back of the field. These things happen. Rubbing is al
l part of racing.’ Jonelle smiled again, her face glowing.

  ‘Is it fixable?’ Dan asked. She was a mechanic, after all.

  ‘Most things are fixable, just depends on how much you want to spend. I haven’t got two cents to rub together so this little girl might be parked up for a while.’

  ‘Really?’ asked Zac, sadly.

  ‘Yeah. The motor’s pushed back – I could be looking at a cracked head, I reckon. I can pull it apart in my spare time but I won’t have the dosh to replace anything. I won’t be able to see out the season, that’s for sure. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.’

  After the sprint cars finished in a whirl of dust, Zac ran off to get Jonny’s ute and trailer while Dan sat with her.

  He studied her face in the floodlights. ‘You sure are a surprise package, Jonelle,’ he said. ‘It started the day I met you and you still seem to find ways to amaze me.’

  Her smile was genuine and he felt its effects through his body.

  ‘Well, thanks, Dan . . . I think. You’re not so bad yourself . . . for a bank dude in stiff shirts.’

  It was his turn to smile. ‘Ah, but not tonight, hey?’

  ‘No, tonight you look . . . normal. And yes, that’s a compliment.’ She flashed him a cheeky grin.

  Dan would have liked more time with her but before he could get another word out, Zac was pulling up with her ute. On the back were Frankie, Dic and Alan, who jumped off and went straight to inspecting the damage on the car.

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘Crunched all right.’

  The boys had their heads stuck under, around and inside the car. Reports of breakages volleyed back and forth.

  ‘Mounts are snapped.’

  ‘Pump’s broken.’

  ‘Steering arm’s kaput.’

  Finally they all stood back, hands on hips, their overalls open at the top.

  ‘Well?’ said Frankie, glancing from the car to the trailer.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Jonelle.

  ‘We’ll have to push it on,’ said Dic.

  Dan moved to the back with Zac, Alan and Dic while Frankie took a side window. Jonelle made sure the Torana was out of gear before she gave the shout to start pushing. After a lot of groaning, lifting and shifting, the car was eventually hauled up onto the trailer. After Jonelle had secured it with ropes, they all stood back and stared at it again. A few more headshakes later and the guys made a move.

  ‘Thanks, fellas. Appreciate your help.’

  ‘No worries, Jonny. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do. Guess we won’t see you at the next meeting?’ asked Frankie.

  Jonelle just shook her head.

  The three drivers took off across the infield on their way over the track back to the pits. Dan opened the passenger door of the ute and turned back to Jonelle, who was putting her helmet, gloves and balaclava back into a bag on the tray. Once done, she climbed in, Dan squishing in beside her as Zac drove towards the pits, waiting for the grader and the water truck to pass.

  In the dark of the ute, Dan found Jonelle’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He wasn’t sure what it meant – I’m glad you’re alive or I really like you – but he just felt compelled to do it. Surprisingly, she squeezed back and didn’t let go until they reached her spot in the pits.

  ‘Here are the keys to my ute. Just follow us, and dodge whatever shit falls off Jonny’s car,’ Zac said to Dan.

  ‘Hey!’ said Jonelle, as she started loading up the spare tyres and her toolbox onto the ute. ‘No, you gotta stop and pick them up, they could be important bits,’ she said, laughing.

  With the last drum of fuel loaded, Zac told him they’d wait at the turn-off to the main road for him, and then climbed into Jonelle’s ute.

  ‘Thanks, Dan. It’s nice to be able to get home.’

  She was standing so close that he wanted to hug her. Instead he reached across to her arm, rubbing it gently. ‘I’ll see you in Bundara. You’ll need a hand getting it off?’

  ‘Ta, but I think I’ll just leave it on the trailer for now. Not sure where I want to put her. But thanks anyway. I guess I’ll see you at the barbecue?’

  ‘Yep.’ Dan wasn’t sure what barbecue she was talking about but made a mental note to ask Zac. He didn’t want to miss it for the world.

  She turned and climbed into the ute while Dan headed for the exit with Zac’s keys dangling from his hand. As he walked back through the crowd, the smell of hot chips, coffee and wet clay filled the air. Music was playing over the speakers and kids were leaning against the fences, trying to get a good look at the track. It certainly had been an experience and one Dan hoped his own kids could enjoy one day. But when he thought of his life, returning to the city, he knew he’d be leaving all this behind. Living in Bundara was like living in another world; he felt like he was a completely different Daniel. One he liked a whole lot better.

  Chapter 23

  JONNY had stared at her beat-up car all morning. Now, as she prepared to head to the pool for an early afternoon swim, she gazed at it again. No miracle had happened. It was still just as bent and busted as it had been before. Jonny threw a towel over one shoulder and her bag over the other and headed back through the workshop.

  On her way past, she paused by the pin board. ‘Well, I guess we’re even now, hey, Coot.’ She pressed her finger against the faded photo, missing the crazy old guy. He’d know what to say to make her feel better. No doubt something like, ‘I’ve done far worse than that,’ and then he’d proceed to tell her in great detail about the crash of all crashes. His old photo album was full of his different racing cars over the years and the spills he’d taken. Now she had another one to add to her collection.

  Pulling down her sunnies from the top of her head, she swung the workshop door down and locked it, then began her walk to the town pool.

  Ryan was meeting her out the front at two. It was going to be a big day for him, as a special community event had been planned to help raise some money for a men’s shed and to raise awareness about depression. The local counsellor had been asked to visit, in a casual role, to talk to people and hand out some pamphlets. Other than that, the event was to be low-key, just folks getting together and having a good time.

  Jonny’s thongs slapped against the path as she walked the two blocks. The sun bore down on her light cotton dress, which covered her black bikini. As she ambled she tried not to swallow. She’d woken this morning with slight whiplash. Her neck was tender, but it was her throat that hurt the most. It felt like she had tonsillitis, even though her tonsils had been removed when she was seven.

  ‘Jonny.’

  She lifted her head slowly, spotted Ryan by the kerb and waved. Splashing and laughter were coming from the pool. It sounded wonderful on such a hot day.

  ‘Hey, mate,’ she said, giving Ryan a gentle hug.

  They approached the entry and paid their admission. ‘Thanks, Pete,’ Jonny said, handing over money for both of them. Pete had been the pool manager since she’d learned to swim. They’d all made sure not to drown, as no one wanted to be revived by Pete and his blistered old lips.

  ‘Where should we go?’ she asked, as they stepped towards the kids’ paddling pool under the shade.

  ‘There’s Zac and Rick over there.’

  Jonny was surprised Ryan spotted them so quickly, given the number of people at the pool. It was a great turnout. All the day’s entry fees were going towards building a Men’s Shed near the hall. It would be an alcohol-free meeting place for local men to get together, talk and build things.

  She put down her towel and when she stood back up Daniel was standing there in nothing but boardies. Heat flashed across her cheeks as his lean, perfect chest filled her vision.

  ‘Hi, Jonny. How are you today? How’s the neck?’

  He looked so sincere it made her shiver.

  ‘A little sore. Throat’s the worst.’

  ‘What’s happened?’ asked Ryan, his brow creased with worry and
confusion.

  She saw Daniel smile as she began to explain. ‘Had a crash last night at speedway. Wrote the car off.’

  Ryan’s eyebrows bunched together. ‘Say what?’

  ‘Nothing big. Got a tap from behind that sent me into the wall.’

  ‘Nothing big, my arse,’ said Daniel. ‘She was racing really well before the crash. The hit was huge. Car looks stuffed.’

  ‘Whose car is stuffed?’ asked Rick, pushing in between Dan and Ryan. All three guys had bare chests with nothing but boardies on.

  By the time Jonny had told the story again, Gemma had tapped Rick on the back and was asking him about it, and then Ken appeared. It was the Bundara grapevine in action. She told a few then they turned around and told a few more. She could almost see her crash working its way along the pool edge, flitting through the crowd like a Mexican wave.

  ‘Hey, they’re running a special bomb diving comp off the diving board. Everyone is turning a blind eye just this once because it’s for a good cause. Are you in, Dan? Ryan? Rick, your name’s already down,’ said Ken, slapping his son on the back.

  ‘Well, if mine is, old man, then yours is too.’ Rick tapped his dad’s belly. ‘Just don’t empty the pool out.’

  ‘Why, you!’ said Ken before wrapping his arms around Rick and roughing him up.

  Daniel was watching Ken and Rick. Jonny thought he looked so sad. Nudging him with her elbow, she said, ‘Are you gonna win? You better have something awesome planned.’

  Daniel perked up. ‘Are you kidding? The last time I tried to do a bombie was back at school. I’m not sure I even remember how to swim,’ he said.

  Zac and Rick overheard his comment and shared a look. ‘Well,’ they said together. ‘There’s only one way to find out.’ They latched onto Daniel’s arms and dragged him towards the pool.

  Jonny clapped and laughed as Daniel went in with a splash, his sunnies and thongs still on. She was so busy laughing at Daniel that she failed to notice Rick creeping up on her and before she knew it both of them hit the water with an almighty splash.