The Publicity Push

by Christopher Cummings

  Wait-a-while brought this outburst to an abrupt end, with much swearing and the sound of ripping cloth. Blood trickled from numerous scratches but Graham ignored this. Peter snipped him free. They resumed their slow movement but it infuriated all of them. Every second it seemed that one or the other of them was being snagged by a vine or branch which caught in their clothing or webbing.

  “Bloody stuff!” Graham shouted. “I can see why all those pygmies run around the jungle naked.”

  Peter laughed aloud. “You can if you like, but personally I don’t fancy getting my important bits jagged on the wait-a-while.”

  Graham managed a grin. “No by Jove. And I suppose the leeches wouldn’t be much fun.”

  Kylie hadn’t thought about leeches but now discovered several on her. She pulled these off in disgust. The rain seemed to get even heavier, drenching everything. The slow move along the ridge went on. They had to slog up onto a fair sized knoll and arrived panting on top. By then Kylie’s hands were white and crinkled. She felt wet and chilled right through. Her jelly beans had gone soggy and mushy in the packet so she shovelled the sticky mass into her mouth rather than waste it.

  Roger puffed up to join them, then stopped, leaning on a tree and had a drink. Within seconds he threw up, the water and mucous being whirled away by the wind.

  “You OK Roger?” she asked.

  Roger raised miserable eyes to hers. “No, but I’ll make it.”

  “You’ve got a big bruise on your face,” Kylie observed.

  “So have you,” Roger replied. Kylie put her hand to her face but it just felt numb. She knew it was being hit repeatedly by branches and leaves. She wiped rain off and had a drink herself.

  The ridge changed direction almost at right angles at that point and ran westwards. Graham showed them on the map where he thought they were. Now, as they walked, the wind and rain struck them on the left side. Kylie was appalled at the sound of the wind tearing at the foliage. The trees threshed and waved wildly from time to time as sharp gusts eddied around from a different direction. A huge tree fell close beside them with a rending, heart-stopping crash.

  For the next hour they struggled on down into a saddle and up over another knoll. After that they got off course and went down the wrong spur. As the slope got steeper and steeper Graham looked more and more anxious. Finally he admitted he had made a mistake and they turned and retraced their steps back to the top and waited while he scouted to find the start of the right ridge. He returned after five minutes and they set off, Peter still cutting the track and Graham navigating with map and compass in hand.

  They turned to South West for a few hundred metres and even went into a small area where they were down behind a knoll and out of the direct force of the wind for a few metres. But not out of the rain. This still deluged them and flowed ankle deep in places down the spur. On top they found another pile of boulders and slumped thankfully in their shelter.

  It was 12 O’clock. Kylie was appalled. “We have been going for over four hours and have only come four kilometres!” she said, as Graham showed them where he thought they were. That meant ten to go. ‘At this rate we will take at least ten more hours! It will be dark long before then,’ Kylie thought in dismay. It was a disheartening thought.

  Graham wasn’t discouraged. “We are over the worst of it now. Getting up the mountain was the hard bit. If we don’t miss the ridge we should be able to do about two ‘Ks’ per hour.”

  His prediction turned out to be right. After ten minutes rest he urged them on. They clambered out of the rocks and into a shallow saddle. Almost at once Peter said. “This used to be a clearing. There’s an old track.”

  It was. Kylie felt her hopes surge and tried to rein them in. She did not want to get them too high and then have them dashed. Peter went much faster now. Kylie saw that they were actually following an old road. It had once been graded and had distinct edges. In places the old road was almost clear and they could walk as fast as their tired legs and heaving chests would allow them. In other places small trees and ferns had grown up which they had to push or cut through. Time after time a mass of wait-a-while blocked their path and hundreds of dead logs and freshly blow down trees lay across the road. Some they clambered over and others they had to crawl under or detour around.

  After a time Kylie stopped worrying about leeches, or being wet, or of thorns scratching her. She just concentrated on putting one foot in front of another. Margaret passed her some chocolate but it made no impact on her taste buds. She just ate it mechanically. At one point Graham helped Margaret over a log and she slumped down the other side into his arms. He held her for a second and then said: “You are a real game little trier aren’t you.”

  Margaret gave him a weak little smile and could only nod. To Kylie it appeared that she was ready to collapse. That was how she felt herself. What both encouraged and annoyed her was that both Graham and Peter kept joking and making stupid comments to each other. It occurred to Kylie that the boys saw the event as an adventure which they were enjoying. ‘Stupid men!’ she thought in exasperation.

  They slogged on. The old road wound up and down and changed from West to South West and back again as it followed the ridge top. Graham kept looking at the map and nodding with satisfaction. An hour went by and they stopped for a brief rest. Peter and Graham kept getting further and further ahead and had to wait for Kylie and the others to catch up. At times the two boys got right out of sight. By then Kylie was so exhausted she was starting to break into tears.

  Perversely she was also thirsty as she had drunk her waterbottle dry. She had to drink rainwater and that helped. They moved on at 1:30pm. By then Kylie was almost staggering and was starting to lose interest in the reason for the effort. She found herself walking with Margaret and Roger, both of whom looked utterly exhausted. The storm continued unabated but by this time they barely noticed it. It had gone on so long they accepted it as a form of normality.

  Kylie staggered and panted up another slope, her breath coming in gasps and her boots slipping on the greasy wet leafmould. At the top she found herself in a muddy clearing. The two boys were waiting. For a moment it did not register but then she cried aloud with relief. “A road!”

  Graham waited till Margaret and Roger had joined them, then pointed to his map. “I reckon we are here at the end of this road, at Hill Seven One Six. Pete and I are going to dump our gear and run. You follow us at your best pace.”

  Kylie nodded. Now they were on a road she felt safe, so splitting the group did not seem to matter. “How far to the farm?” she asked.

  “About four ‘Ks’,” Graham replied, “but you should come to the Anderson’s farm before that. Come on Pete, let’s get going.”

  “Carry our webbing please,” Peter asked as he swung his off.

  “OK,” Kylie replied.

  “And don’t eat all my chocolate,” Peter added as he set off after Graham at a jogging trot.

  CHAPTER 32

  BLOODY SCARY!

  Kylie watched with a feeling of intense relief as Graham and Peter jogged out of sight. “Only four kilometres to go. They should cover that in an hour,” she said.

  “Or even less,” Roger added. “We should be able to do it in that time.”

  Margaret hitched up Graham’s webbing and peered into the rain. “Then let’s go. The sooner this is over the better,” she said.

  They began plodding along the gravel road. This turned out to be difficult to do. The rain was still driving in and Kylie realized it was blowing almost directly into their faces. The water was running down rills in the road surface in gushing flows. On both the downslopes and upslopes they found themselves slipping continually. It was annoying and very hard on their overstrained muscles. And there were trees across the road they had to climb over or detour around.

  The road sloped down for a few hundred metres then ran level for the next half kilometre. Dense rainforest hemmed them in on both sides. By now Kylie was sick of rainforest and ju
st wanted to be out of it. She found it hard to push herself to keep plodding and on the next upslope she came to a shivering, shuddering standstill.

  The others stopped with her but the rain was so heavy and so cold the halt did not seem to give any relief. With a groan she forced herself to continue. The road wound up and around the side of a hill and then went down to a small clearing. This was only two hundred metres across and all overgrown with lantana and molasses grass but it was still a welcome change from the jungle.

  The overgrown ruins of a hut stood beside the road under a mango tree. For a minute they stood and contemplated it but it did not offer any shelter. The rain was still slatting in almost horizontally. Hunching her coat closer around her neck Kylie resumed her slow plod. She knew she was close to the end of her endurance and could see that both Margaret and Roger were also looking exhausted.

  On the flat the road became knee deep mud in deep ruts which caused them to slip and stumble. After two hundred metres of sloshing misery they re-entered the jungle and the road went up another slope. Margaret muttered a miserable ‘Oh no!’ as she set herself to climb it. The road was greasy and water gushed down it. Kylie tried walking on the leafmould at the side but found that just as hard as she had to climb around trees and dodge wait-a-while and vines.

  The road climbed for over a kilometre. It wasn’t steep, just a continual, steady, upward slog through a dark tunnel of rain forest. Kylie began to think she would not make it and found that when she stopped to wait for the others her legs were trembling uncontrollably. It took the three children five rest stops and thirty minutes to get to the crest.

  Here they rested again for a few minutes. Margaret began to cry and was visibly shivering.

  “Come on, not far now,” Kylie encouraged. She was wishing she hadn’t taken Peter’s webbing now as it felt very heavy and she contemplated leaving it to collect later. Instead she had a drink from one of the waterbottles, then rummaged around in the basic pouches and found half a chocolate. She broke off a row of squares and offered one to Margaret.

  Margaret shook her head. “I don’t want it thanks.”

  “It’s Graham’s,” Kylie gently teased. “Go on, eat it. It will give you a boost of energy.”

  Margaret managed a weak smile, then burst into tears. Kylie held her for a minute, then made her eat the chocolate. The group resumed slow walking down a long, gentle downslope. A check showed Kylie that it was nearly 3pm. ‘The boys should be at the farm by now,’ she reasoned.

  Every time they rounded a bend she was filled with the hope that she would see places she knew; and was cast down each time this did not happen. Everything looked grey and gloomy and wet. The wind and rain flogged at them still and she began to get upset. ‘If only it would stop!’ “Stop rain! Stop!” she shouted in distress.

  The road turned sharply to the right and Kylie saw a circle of light ahead. The road ran out of the tunnel of jungle into open country. She gave a little cry of relief and felt her hopes rise again.

  It was the end of the jungle. As they emerged from the tunnel of trees they could see for kilometres out over rain sodden cow pastures. Kylie cried with relief. ‘Not far now!’

  They sloshed on along the muddy road. Out in the open the wind and rain slashed at them with icy fury and they had to shield their eyes to be able to see. When gusts struck them they staggered and twice Kylie lost her balance and fell in the mud. The other two were also blown off their feet a couple of times.

  To add to the discomfort cold water trickled into the necks and fronts of their jackets, adding to their misery. By now all were shaking continually and Kylie knew in her heart that the situation was deadly serious.

  ‘We must get to shelter soon or we will die of exposure,’ she thought.

  Even as she did Margaret let out a cry as she slipped on the muddy road. She went down with a splash in a large puddle. Instead of getting up immediately she just lay there and began to cry. Kylie walked on a few paces, then stopped. Roger bent down and put out his hands.

  “Up you get Margaret,” he said.

  “No. Go on without me. I can’t walk any more,” Margaret wailed.

  “You can and you bloody well will!” Roger snapped angrily. “I am not leaving you here so either get up and walk or I will bloody well drag you.”

  Margaret stared up at him from wide, misery laden eyes but reached up and took his hand. With an effort that had them both slipping and sliding on the greasy clay she got to her knees, then to her feet. Roger put his arm around her waist and helped steady her. Kylie moved and held her up from the other side.

  “Not far now,” she said. “The farm is only about a kilometre. We can walk that in ten minutes.”

  Margaret nodded dumbly and set her trembling legs into motion. The group set themselves at the slope and plodded slowly up it, straight into fresh showers of driving rain.

  Now walking truly became a test of character and endurance. Each step seemed to require an intense effort. Even breathing was hard with the rain striking their faces. They bowed their heads and plodded slowly on. Five minutes went by, then ten. Every time Kylie glanced up she did not know whether to be disheartened or not. The muddy road seemed to stretch on gently upwards for ever.

  Through a driving mist of rain and low cloud she saw a copse of three trees. ‘Those trees. They are at the bottom end of the farm, down near the creek,’ she thought. It took a moment for the realization to sink in but then she felt a new surge of hope and energy. “Nearly there! We are at the farm. Come on, it is only up this hill.”

  Somehow they struggled up it. It took ten minutes to go three hundred metres and they were gasping and shaking at the end of it but then they all cried out with relief. There, just ahead, was the turn-off and signpost. They stopped there for a minute to get their breath back, partially shielded from the savagery of the wind by the wall of jungle just beyond.

  Margaret eased herself out of their grip and set herself to walk the last few hundred steps. Kylie heaved a sigh of relief and made her own shaking legs follow. Those last few hundred metres were amongst the worst. The teenagers groaned and plodded painfully up over the low rise between the hilltop and the jungle, then went down the slope beyond like shuffling zombies.

  ‘The shed!’ Kylie thought as the dark shape came into view through the rain. The trio tottered down to the turn-off and almost crawled up the driveway to the house. As the house came into view Kylie felt elated and very light headed. The world seemed to spin and swirl. ‘Just the cloud,’ she told herself, seeing the low cloud streaming and shredding over the top of the jungle on her right.

  Then the front door flew open and out raced Mrs Grierson, followed by Gran. It was all Kylie could do to make herself take those twenty steps to the door. All she could think of then was the two boys.

  “Peter. Graham. Did they get here?” she managed to gasp as Gran seized her with surprisingly strong arms.

  Gran nodded. “Yes they did. About half an hour ago. They have both gone with Mr Grierson to get help. Now you children just come inside and don’t worry about anything.”

  They were divested of sodden webbing, belts, jackets and shoes on the porch, then helped inside. Now that they had arrived their own muscles seemed to give up. Kylie felt an intense sensation of relief as they passed out of the flailing wind and rain into the shelter of the house. Roger was allowed to slump onto the lounge room carpet and a blanket rugged around him. The two girls were half-carried to the two bathrooms. Mrs Grierson picked a sobbing Margaret up and carried her downstairs while Gran helped Kylie into the upstairs bathroom.

  She found her fingers were too numb and that she was shaking too much to unbutton her clothes but Gran deftly stripped her. A hot bath had been run in anticipation and Kylie was eased into it. At first she experienced a burning sensation and the water felt much too hot but Gran assured her it was only as warm as a baby’s bath.

  “Tested it with me elbow dearie. It’s just that you are so cold. You’ll s
oon thaw out. Now, are you alright for a minute? I want to go out and get young Roger a hot drink and I don’t want you to drown while I’m doing that.”

  Kylie assured her she was alright, although in truth she felt like just slumping down. Gran hurried out to help warm Roger up as well and Kylie gently splashed the warm water over her chest and face. After a while the warmth began to penetrate, causing more sharp pains. These persisted for a few more minutes but after that it was bliss. She slid down so that only the top of her face was out and thought it was the most heavenly sensation she had ever experienced.

  By then Gran was back and she soon made her sit up, then stand up and towel herself vigorously. A thick, flannel dressing gown was wrapped around her and Gran led her out to the back bedroom. Kylie was astounded to find that her legs would not work properly, her muscles trembling violently. She was immediately tucked in bed and hot water bottles added. Gran bustled off and returned with a cup of warm Milo. That was also bliss. While Kylie sipped it Gran hurried off to get Roger into the bath. Kylie managed a feeble smile at hearing Roger’s protests as Gran treated him like a little boy.

  Soon afterwards Margaret was carried up and placed in the bed beside Kylie. Mrs Grierson brought Margaret a hot Milo as well.

  “Can we ring mum please Mrs Grierson and let her know we are alright?” Kylie asked.

  Mrs Grierson shook her head. “Sorry dearie. The phone lines are down. We still have electricity but from the way this cyclone is building up I think we will lose that soon too. Don’t worry. Mr Grierson will arrange for them to be told by the police when he gets to Malanda.”

  “Is the cyclone coming here?” Margaret asked, casting a fearful glance at the window as she did. Kylie now realized that the house was shuddering from the blasts of the wind and rain.