A New Kind of Dreaming
Page 19
‘Thanks. Pretty heavy rain.’
‘Yeah. It’ll come down like this through to the end of February now. Wait’ll you see the desert afterwards.’
‘Why?’
‘Everything comes to life.’
Jamie tried to imagine the desert landscape alive with creeks and rivers, wildflowers and greenery. It was too difficult to picture. He’d have to wait until he saw it.
‘How’s Butcher?’ The sergeant had been taken across to the Karratha hospital and from there he’d gone straight to the lockup.
‘Bit pissed off. Reckons he’ll sort you out properly next time.’
‘Should I be worried?’
Robb grinned.
‘Nah mate. By the time the courts finish with him he’ll be lucky to get less than twenty years.’
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
‘Here we are. Say g’day to Grandad for me.’
‘Yeah. How come you don’t come round more often?’
‘No need. We see each other about the place.’
‘I guess.’ Jamie found it strange. He missed having his own family around. ‘I’ll see you later, eh?’
‘Yeah. Catch you.’
Archie was out the back, patching a couple of leaks in the verandah roof. Jamie flopped onto his bed and watched for a while.
‘Eh, Archie?’
The old man looked at him.
‘You remember telling me that story? ’Bout the wanderers and the lost ones?’
Archie nodded a reply.
‘I meant to ask you, what do you reckon I am?’
There was no sound but the throb of rain on tin. Archie thought about his answer for a long time, then finally he smiled. It was the first real smile that Jamie had seen on him. His teeth gleamed in the light, and his blue eyes sparkled.
‘Neither mate. You’re a local.’
epilogue
a new kind of
dreaming
The wet season passed, and the rivers and streams that had burst into life slowly dried up again. The sun returned in all its usual intensity, baking the earth and shrivelling the millions of wildflowers that had sprung up in the desert around Port Barren. Jamie had taken to running with Cameron in the mornings. They’d go off in a different direction every day. Sometimes off to the east, sometimes to the west. Now and then they’d run along the beach, passing the blackened pile of rubble that was once the boat. The place held no fear and no fascination for either of them anymore. They only ever stopped there once, about three months after the end of the wet.
‘Not a lot left now.’
Jamie just nodded his reply, Cameron was still by far the stronger runner, and it took him a few minutes to get his breath back.
‘You ever wonder what happened to her?’
‘I think the cops are still running tests and stuff.’
‘Yeah, that’s what I heard. Seems sad, don’t you reckon?’
Jamie threw Cameron a look. ‘Sad?’
‘Yeah. She came all this way. Died like that, but didn’t even get a proper burial. Not much of a welcome, is it?’
Jamie didn’t reply.
A minute or so later, they resumed their run.
The pool looked almost exactly as it had the first time they’d visited. Jamie and Cameron climbed over the top of the rock pile and stood, taking in the sight of the deep green water and the cliffs rising from it. It was still breathtaking.
No words were said as they climbed carefully down to the water’s edge. Cameron sat on a flat rock and shrugged off his backpack. Jamie drank deeply from his canteen.
‘You’re right, mate. This is the place.’
‘Yeah.’
‘They reckon it’s bottomless.’
‘Even better, then.’
Jamie also took off his pack and laid it carefully on the ground.
‘Look at that.’ Cameron was pointing up.
The late afternoon sun caught the branches of the boab tree where it perched on the lip of the cliff. It seemed to shimmer and glow an iridescent white.
‘Wow.’ Jamie’s voice was a whisper.
‘The perfect headstone, I reckon.’
Jamie dug into his pack, and pulled from it a long, carefully wrapped bundle. Slowly, he peeled away the layers of cloth and padding until he held the smooth white bone in his hand.
‘You want to do it?’
Cameron shook his head.
‘No mate. You saved her.’
Jamie threw the bone gently out into the middle of the pool. For a few seconds they could see it drifting down into the green depths, then gradually it vanished.
‘Welcome.’ Jamie spoke the word silently.
As they climbed back to the top of the rock pile to start the long trek to where Robb and Archie waited with the car, Jamie took a last glance back. The surface of the pool was as still and unbroken as a mirror. Somewhere along the valley, a kookaburra began its raucous laughter, and at that moment the weight seemed to lift from his shoulders and belly.
‘Did you feel that?’ Cameron stood stock still, his voice a whisper.
Jamie nodded.
‘I think she’s all right now,’ Cameron said. ‘I think she’s dreaming.’
Jamie smiled.
‘She is. A new kind of dreaming.’
Grinning at each other, the two boys started back along the gorge.
First published 2001 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
Reprinted 2002, 2003, 2004 (twice), 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011
This edition published 2012
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© Anthony Eaton 2001
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