by Derek Hansen
Once out of sight of the house, Jimmy wasted no time making his way back to his Toyota. Apart from keeping off the track, he threw caution to the wind. The money was as good as in the bank. All he had to do now was keep an eye on his odometer and record the distance back to the loop, the distance from there to Stony Creek Road and the number of kilometres back to the turn-off to Cumborah. He pulled the driver’s door open.
‘Tand dill, you thie-vin bar-tid!’
Jimmy nearly screamed with fright.
‘I know whad you’re af-der.’
Jimmy recognised the voice, exhaled with relief and hoped his galloping heart would slow before something broke.
‘Jesus Christ, Rodney. What did you do that for? You scared the living shit outta me.’ Jimmy raised his hands in the air and slowly turned around. Rodney lifted his head from the sights, lowered his shotgun slightly but kept it pointed at Jimmy.
‘Whad you do-in creep-in round oud he-yah?’
Jimmy’s mind raced. He was pretty sure Rodney wouldn’t shoot him but his three hundred dollars were definitely under threat.
‘It’s a secret, Rodney. Can I trust you with a secret?’
‘De-pend.’
‘You know the woman who lives up there?’
‘Lin-da?’
‘Yeah, her.’
‘Whad do you wand wid her?’ Rodney raised his shotgun threateningly.
Jimmy had begun lowering his arms but raised them again immediately.
‘Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to harm her. In fact, I’m doing her a favour.’
‘A fay-va? Whad kind of fay-va?’
Jimmy saw immediately that Rodney had a soft spot for Linda and decided to exploit it.
‘These people want to interview her for TV and asked me to help them find her. Apparently she’s quite famous.’ Years of snooping and playing with suspicions and innuendo had taught him the merits of sticking relatively close to the truth. ‘They’re making a film about all the good things she’s done but it has to be a surprise. They want to film her in her little hideaway here.’
‘Why?’
‘Put the shotgun down and I’ll tell you. I’ve got some beer in the esky. Do you want a beer?’
Rodney lowered his shotgun and clicked the safety on. He still stared at Jimmy with the utmost suspicion.
‘Here,’ said Jimmy. He opened a beer and passed it to Rodney. ‘Mate, if you tell anyone you’ll ruin the whole thing.’
‘Whad a-boud Bil-ly?’
‘Definitely not Billy. He’d tell her and that would be the end of it. Look, the film guy said it’s going to be a tribute to Linda. You know what a tribute is?’
‘I’m nod tu-pid.’ Rodney’s eyes blazed with fury.
‘Sorry, mate! Sorry! It’s just that if anyone deserves a tribute, she does. That’s what they reckon. You don’t want to spoil that, do you?’
‘I don wand fil-lum pee-pul craw-lin all oh-ver the place.’
‘They won’t, Rodney. God’s truth. They told me they’ll be in and out in a morning. They’ve got helicopters.’
Rodney looked unconvinced.
‘Do it for Linda. Mate, when it’s all done, she’ll thank you.’
‘They bed-da nod hang a-round if they know whad good for them.’
‘They won’t, mate. Now promise you won’t tell anyone.’
‘Prom-id.’
‘Good on yer. Finish your beer and have another?’
‘No. You bed-da go now be-fore I change my mind.’
Grant made the call to Jimmy from Riccardo’s restaurant in Paddington. His timing was perfect as he was forced to wait in line behind a real estate agent while the fax machine printed out a sale contract. The restaurant was full of business men and women, all demanding service at the same time. Grant had to press up against the wall in the narrow corridor to let the waiters pass by with their plates. The real estate agent gathered up his contract and raced back to the table before his buyer cooled off. The fax rang almost immediately. Grant picked up the pages addressed to John Wilson, Gunshot Productions. The map and instructions were perfectly clear. It was also perfectly clear to him that, if anyone ever asked, nobody would have a clue who’d used the fax that day.
Chapter Twenty-five
Billy hated homework but he came to hate Neil’s homework even more. Whenever something needed doing Neil always had homework, which meant Billy was always the one who had to help his father with the hundreds of jobs that kept cropping up. He couldn’t understand why Neil hadn’t left school after completing his school certificate like his sisters had done. The younger of them, Kathleen, had just gone to join Glory in Dubbo and scored a job as a secretary. They seemed to be having the time of their lives, which made Neil’s decision even harder to comprehend. Neil had stayed on to complete his Higher School Certificate and, worse, was actually taking his studying seriously. Billy suffered all the extra work because he saw a benefit at the end of it all. He assumed he’d leave school when Neil did at the end of the year and they’d go down to Sydney together to look for work. Though neither of them had ever been to Sydney, they’d heard all about it from other kids. They had Test matches down in Sydney and live bands in pubs. Billy didn’t share his plans with anyone because he didn’t want to be lectured on the importance of finishing schooling and gaining qualifications. Besides, he didn’t think for a second Neil would go without him. What he didn’t know was that his parents had already made plans for him and they ran at odds to his own.
The future had never been an issue with Billy. It was just something that was going to happen and would be good when it did. He rarely looked further ahead than the next football match, pig shoot or party. When anyone asked what he intended doing with his life, he just shrugged. If pressed, he’d admit that he’d like to do an apprenticeship and become a builder or a mechanic. Everyone knew he was good with his hands and both occupations seemed logical choices. Not once did he say he wanted to take over the farm.
Things began to unravel one Saturday morning after the wool cheque arrived, when his father tossed Billy the keys to his old Holden and asked him to drive him into town. Billy was a bit annoyed because Neil was just sitting around and he’d intended to talk him into tracking down a couple of pigs. He noticed his father had put on a clean shirt and moleskins and even let his mother trim his hair. Something was up.
‘Where are we going?’
‘You’ll find out when we get there.’
Billy sighed and nursed the car down their rutted track onto the road. He let the speed slowly build up to seventy k’s and sit there. Any faster and the old Holden bottomed out in the dips and jarred rust free every time a wheel hit a pothole.
‘We’re going to have to do something about these shock absorbers,’ said Billy, after a hammering over a strip of corrugations.
‘One day,’ said Braden.
‘Should do the suspension while we’re at it.’
‘Probably not worth it.’
‘What do you mean? It’s still a good car. There’s nothing wrong with the motor. Or the gearbox.’
‘What about the rust?’
‘I can fix that,’ said Billy.
‘Then fix the suspension at the same time.’
Billy turned towards his father and was surprised to see a wry grin on his face. They didn’t talk much the rest of the way into Walgett.
‘Where to?’ said Billy as they motored slowly down the main street. The town was always pretty busy on a Saturday morning. ‘Stock and station?’
‘Just keep going.’
‘How far?’
‘Start slowing down after the intersection.’
Billy was mystified.
‘Stop here.’
Billy pulled over outside the Holden dealership.
‘What are we doing here?’
Braden climbed out of the car.
‘Come with me and you’ll find out.’
Billy followed his father into the car yard. It felt odd just wal
king in there. The owner, ‘Smiling Bob’ Smart, greeted his father like a best mate. Billy had lost count of the number of times Smiling Bob had chased Neil and him out of the yard for leaving fingermarks on the duco and windows of new models. New-model cars were one of the most exciting things that happened and all they’d wanted to do was gawk at them and try to imagine what it would be like to ride in one.
‘Bob, you know my son, Billy?’
‘Of course. How’re you going, Billy?’
‘Good, thank you, Mr Smart.’
Smiling Bob greeted him like a long-lost buddy too, which was really odd given their previous encounters.
‘Well, what do you think of it?’ Smiling Bob opened the door of a brand-new Holden utility. The white paint dazzled in the morning light and the new tyres, free of dust, glowed with a blackness they’d never achieve again in their life. The red vinyl upholstery hadn’t a mark on it.
‘It’s great,’ said Billy cautiously. He’d never thought the day would come when Smiling Bob would actually invite him to look over his cars.
‘Why don’t you give it the once-over while your dad and I finish the paperwork?’
Paperwork? Billy turned from Smiling Bob to his dad. The sly grin was back on his father’s face. Billy looked at him incredulously. His father just nodded but the nod said it all. He turned back to the ute. His father had bought it? A brand-new ute? Billy couldn’t recall his father ever buying anything brand-new. But, as unbelievable as it seemed, there were his father and Smiling Bob walking away to the office. His father was laughing. Billy turned his full attention to the ute, his eyes devouring every detail. It was the six, not the V8, but the six was plenty good enough. He took in the column change, the radio in the dash and the heater. Billy had never even ridden in a car that had a heater. The bench seat had an armrest that folded out. Billy struggled to take it all in.
‘What are you doing with the old rust bucket?’
Billy spun around. He’d been so absorbed in the new ute he hadn’t heard Smiling Bob and his father return.
‘I’m giving it to Billy.’
Billy’s jaw dropped. Was there no end to the surprises? The old car was his?
‘God love him, what’s he done wrong to deserve that?’ said Smiling Bob. He started laughing. ‘Billy, I’d think twice before saying thank you, if I were you.’
A phone rang in the office. ‘Excuse me a sec.’ Smiling Bob ducked back inside to grab the phone. When the wool cheques were in, every call was a potential customer.
‘What do you think?’ said Braden.
‘About the ute?’
‘About taking over the old car.’
‘What do you think? I’m blown away. But what about Neil?’
‘He won’t need it at university.’
‘University?’ Billy reeled. Things were happening far too quickly.
‘Well, he might need it at university but he won’t be able to afford it. Amounts to the same thing.’
‘Neil’s going to university?’
‘Of course. You knew that, didn’t you?’
Billy hadn’t known. Nobody had said a thing to him about university. University was somewhere other kids went. Not Neil. Not him.
He followed his father home so he wouldn’t cover the new Holden with his dust, and tried to make sense of the morning. He’d been blown away to discover his father had bought a brand-new ute. That was enough to blow anyone away. Then he’d been blown away to discover the old car was now his. He’d made no secret of his desire to have his own car but had thought he was years away from acquiring one. The old car even felt better to drive now that it was his, now that he nursed it along with the respect that comes with ownership. Billy should have been elated but instead felt strangely deflated. It should’ve been one of the best days of his life, yet all he felt was confused and somehow betrayed. Why hadn’t Neil told him he was going to university? And what about their plans to go to Sydney? He kept his thoughts to himself while his father showed off his new acquisition and took them all for a ride in it. But as soon as they sat down to lunch he asked the question uppermost on his mind.
‘If Neil goes to university,’ he said, ‘what am I going to do?’
‘Stay here,’ said his father, as though the answer was obvious. ‘Someone’s got to stay and help me run the place. Can’t manage it on my own.’
Billy had the oddest feeling that somehow the whole world had moved on while he wasn’t looking and he’d been left behind. He was assailed by so many thoughts and emotions they roadblocked in his brain. But one thought emerged with blinding clarity. He’d just been shown his future and it looked like a lonely version of his past.
‘I’ll give you a hand with the rust,’ said Neil.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going to university?’ said Billy.
He’d taken Neil out for a test run in the old Holden, ostensibly to work out what repairs needed doing most, but really just to get away so they could have a talk. He’d driven out towards the Grawin and stopped where floodwaters at some time had carved out a broad warrambool. The depression gave way at the southern end to a lignum swamp. The change in vegetation was so abrupt it was as though someone had drawn a line in the ground as a boundary. The road, which was raised above the level of the floodplain, provided an uninspiring view which reflected Billy’s state of mind. It had dawned on him that the car was his consolation prize. Up ahead, lousy jacks were picking over the carcass of a galah that had been hit by a car.
‘I wasn’t sure I was going myself. I wasn’t sure Dad could afford it. Even with government assistance, Dad will still have to help me out until I get a decent part-time job.’
‘How can he help you out? He’s just bought a bloody new ute.’
‘It’s leased. I helped him arrange the lease.’
‘You knew he was buying it? And you didn’t tell me?’ They weren’t questions so much as accusations.
Neil shrugged. ‘You know how Dad likes his little surprises.’
Billy got out of the car, picked up a stone and hurled it as far as he could into the warrambool. A cluster of small parrots scattered as it burst through the trees.
‘Why do you want to go to university anyway?’
Neil joined Billy, propped against the Holden’s mudguard.
‘To get away from this. I’m sick of being poor, Billy. I reckon we’ve all been poor long enough.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘For Christ’s sake, I want to make something of myself. Make some money. Real money.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know yet, Billy. I don’t know. But I’ll find a way. All I know is there’s a big world out there and opportunities I can’t even begin to imagine.’
‘What about me? I don’t want to stay here. Don’t you think I want to make something of myself too? Don’t you think I want to be rich? Stuff it, why should I be the only one left here?’ Billy angrily hurled another rock into the bush.
‘Which of us do you reckon has the best chance of making it?’ said Neil quietly. ‘You or me?’
‘You,’ said Billy reluctantly.
‘That’s right. I have. I’ve thought it through and I’ve got a plan. Once I finish uni and start making some real money I’m going to send for you, okay? Whatever I’m doing, I’ll make you part of it, if that’s what you want.’
‘When will that be?’
‘I don’t know. But it’ll be as soon as possible.’
‘Fair dinkum?’
‘Of course.’
‘Promise?’
‘Cross my heart.’
‘What about Mum and Dad?’
‘They’re part of the deal. If things go well, I’ve promised to pay them back by setting them up in a little house somewhere where they can retire.’
‘So I’m not stuck here for ever?’
‘No way.’
‘Well, you better make a shit load of money real fast, that’s all I can say.’
‘Trust
me,’ said Neil. ‘I promise I’ll get you away from here.’
Chapter Twenty-six
‘This place needs screens right around the veranda,’ said Billy irritably. ‘Don’t know why I didn’t do it when I built it.’ He was fidgety. Being indoors for any length of time always made him fidgety and the fact that Linda had set the table inside didn’t help. He belonged outside, with his feet up on the rail, but that wasn’t an option. The hot spell had continued into May and the sandflies and flies were ferocious. They clung to the outside of the window screens in their thousands. ‘I feel like a bloody prisoner in here.’
‘Thanks,’ said Linda. She joined him from the kitchen with a beer in each hand. ‘For goodness’ sake, stop prowling around and sit down.’
Billy took the beer from her, pulled his chair out from the dining table and sat facing the window. He didn’t feel quite so hemmed in so long as he could look outside. She sat down opposite him. She’d aimed a fan at the table but all it did was shift the warm air from one place to another.
‘I think it would be a good idea if I brought you a shotgun.’
‘A shotgun? I don’t know anything about guns.’
‘I could teach you all you need to know in five minutes.’
‘Why? So I can shoot my ex-husband if he happens to find me?’
