by Leo Nix
At first the aboriginal members were very nervous and wouldn't go near the sacred spring. Even the daring teenagers, Lulu and Danni, stayed well away. So as soon as practical the warriors, Harry, Roo, Nulla and Wiram sat around the spring and sang the song Roo taught them. It was taught to him by his grandfather and uncle. That was around the time he lost his beloved Afghan grandfather and his speech.
When the song was finished the four looked at each other and smiled. They were each men of high degree within their own tribe. Wiram was nangarri which the whites would call a sorcerer or 'medicine men' but he never spoke of it. His status was only known among his people.
Roo had never told anyone of his initiations, only those closest to him knew - his granduncle, grandfather and Billy. Like Harry, Nulla and Wiram his chest and back showed the thick scars indicating his initiation into secrets he was not allowed to speak of, even to tribal men not of his degree.
Charlene knew of the scars, but from the little she knew of his time in the mission school, she thought they might have been torture marks. She didn't want to open that can of worms before he could talk properly and she had the skills to manage it.
Now the secret was out, Roo spoke of certain things to Harry, Nulla and Wiram, things he was permitted to speak of. The girls already admired his lithe, good looks but now they were in awe of his manhood and warrior status. Though of different tribes, Sundown's aboriginal community closed their protective screen around him.
By the time Kris and Shrek watered the sixty camels, the spring water had splashed and spread, forming a massive mud puddle. The super-fine desert mud was slippery and coated everyone who helped. Nearly everyone slipped over ending up covered in mud.
It was late that afternoon when Luke and Simon called for Shrek and Arthur to go with them to have a 'dip in the pool'.
“Come on Shrek, you need to wash that camel manure off you,” called Luke as the teenagers gathered on the edge of the mud puddle. To get to the rock pools they had to somehow walk across without slipping over.
Simon looked at his friend and Luke smiled back. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” he giggled.
“Yeah! Let's do it!” cried Luke as he stripped off his clothes and dived stomach first onto the mud. He slid for a good ten metres before stopping. Simon was right behind him. They both squealed in teenage glee.
Shrek looked at Arthur hesitantly. He wasn't sure if he should strip buck naked like his new friends. “Arty, can we do that? I mean, are we allowed to go naked in the Commando?”
Arthur looked at him sideways as he hurriedly pulled his trousers and shirt off. “Shrek, from what I've heard about you and Jaina, being buck naked in the desert is nothing to what you pair get up to.” He leaped with a screech of pleasure into the mud sliding almost as far as Luke and Simon who were now slinging mud at each other.
Terrified of doing the wrong thing and upsetting his mates, Shrek took off his shirt and then his trousers. He lay them carefully on a rock so they wouldn't get wet, not like the other three who just threw theirs on the ground.
His enormous penis hung almost to his knees in the heat and when Simon saw it he let out a gasp. “Crikey, Shrek, don't let that slug get anywhere near us virgins!” The other two looked up and collapsed in laughter.
“Now we know why they call you 'Shrek',” yelled Arty, “because you've got an ogre between your legs.” The boys cracked up laughing. They shrieked even louder when Shrek looked down trying to find the ogre.
“Come on Shrek! Get into the damn mud before the dingos see your one-eyed trouser snake and think it's a sausage,” cried Luke throwing a handful of mud at him.
Simon and Luke had invited the girls to join them for a dip in the spring, as expected, they took their time. The girls now looked at each other listening to the boys laughter. They couldn't see past a large rock and thought the boys were just having fun in the spring. But as they rounded the rock Heidi took one look at the four naked boys and screamed. The other three girls joined in, their squeals caused the boys to turn and stare at them.
Shrek was still undecided. He'd not yet made the plunge into the mud but the girl's screams and laughter made the decision easy. With a wild up-country yell, he dived forward, sliding beyond the three before stopping. He spun in circles with delight laughing and yelling like a child.
Jaina looked at her three friends and shrugged, pulled her top off followed by her trousers, and leaped forward. Sliding up to her boyfriend. Jaina playfully wrestled with him until both were covered in mud. Seeing their friend's nakedness covered by the clinging mud, the modest aboriginal teens and Heidi decided that if Jaina could do it, so could they.
With much giggling and laughter the girls quickly stripped naked and dived in among the boys. They spent the next half hour sliding, spinning in circles and throwing mud at each other, completely oblivious to the dangers of the world around them.
Danni whispered to Lulu that she and Luke had kissed on the first night of their patrol. The two were giggling so much that Jaina, Heidi and Donna decided to wander over with their camp oven. Heidi swung the heavy cast-iron pot by her side as she asked Lulu and Danni what they were giggling about. As they sat, preparing the vegetables for dinner together, they listened excitedly as Danni related her adventure all over again for their friend's benefit.
“You gotta believe it.” Her breathing was deep with emotion. “He said poetry to me, he did!” She giggled when she saw the look of amazement on her friend's faces. “He said I was his mistress! He sure did. Luke's cute isn't he? His kiss was so soft…” Her voice drifted off as her eyes closed, recalling the sensation of that special moment.
“Oh come on girl!” laughed Heidi. “There's no way that dumb ass knows poetry! I should know, he never said a word of poetry all the way across the Strzelecki Desert. Not to me or anyone.”
Donna, a few years older than Heidi, decided she needed to say something. “Heidi, don't forget you have Arty. Why would Luke speak love poetry to you?”
Heidi paused and thought for a moment. “Huh? Oh yeah, I guess you're right…” She was silent for but a second then bounced back in. “Why don't we ask him to recite poetry at camp-fire time? We could do with some culture out here in the desert.” The girl's giggling grew louder causing some of the commandos to look, enjoying the teenager's happy abandon.
“You ain't gonna let him kiss you in front of everyone, are you, Danni? Not when he says that poem?” Lulu was serious for one of the few times in her life. Love, to her, was serious business, especially since their time as the terrorist's sex slaves.
“NO WAY! That'd be so embarrassing! But I might afterwards.” Danni said and the girls conspiratorially giggled together behind their hands.
As it happened, a lot of things had to be organised before meal time that evening. Wiram and Harry gave their reports of security and supplies. Sundown listened with his support team gathered around one side of the camp fire. No one interrupted or came near them, these meetings were administrative and very boring to the younger set anyway.
“OK, thanks, Harry. How's the stomach going mate, that camel ride causing you pain?” said Sundown.
“One day, when I'm brave enough, I'll tell you my story Sundown. But yeah, I've got the shits with me gut pain but I've lived with it for the past ten years, it's just part of me existence these days,” replied Harry as he stood and went off to help organise the camels with Kris, Halo and Shrek.
“Wiram, do you and Nulla have that roster for patrols? And who's got tonight's watch? I'll take the last one if you want.” Sundown was always keen to be first up and didn't mind the final hours before dawn. Even though named 'Dimas' for his birth time, sunset, it was the sunrise that gave him the most pleasure. For some reason, he became melancholy towards evening, he'd rather go to bed early than face a late night.
“You've got the dawn watch then Sundown, thank you,” said Wiram. “I'll get the rest of the orders to you presently. What I wanted to talk about was how much a
mmunition to issue our patrols. We're low on ammo, as you know, we've trained the girls and all the troops in fact, to conserve ammunition and police their cartridges. But we've been running through it fast on the front line, holding back the terrorists at Marree. Harry's been on to us to find other means to fight. The tunnels under the palace have a room filled with archery equipment and swords and things. I spoke with Johnny and Louie and I've been mulling it over with Nulla this week. I reckon we need to seriously explore alternatives.”
“Yeah, Louie spoke to me too. I think it's a goer but I don't think going up against the Stosstruppen or Deaths Heads with bows and arrows is going to cut it. We have to first bleed their supplies down to that level and there's only one way to do that,” said Sundown. He closed his eyes as he considered several pathways that formed as he spoke. “I need to consider this some more during my meditations with Shamus.”
Sue-Ellen was sitting beside Pedro, she now leaned forward to speak. “I want my boys on duty as well Wiram, have you found a job for them yet?”
“Ma'am, I wanted to get your permission first. Sundown told me to keep them busy but as you two are joint commanders and all, I ah…” he hadn't finished speaking when Sundown spoke.
“I know I know, I'm a bossy bastard at times and I don't know when to back off. I need to learn to let others take responsibility but I can't make that sacrifice. I fear that if I do, I'll fail everybody.” Sundown's eyes went red and Pinkie saw he was wrestling with emotions he usually kept hidden. “When we lost Shamus I swore to look after everyone. Then we lost John and Sergeant Doff's boys because I wasn't there to lead. I can't, I mean I struggle… Sue-Ellen, I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.” He had to stop. The memory of Shamus, and their times chatting together nearly a year ago, hit him hard. It still did, even when he spoke to him regularly in his evening meditations.
Sue-Ellen watched curiously at first then her expression changed, she got it. “Sundown, it's all right. I'll just kick you under the table when I need you to shut up and let go.” That broke the tension. She called the meeting to an end not waiting for Sundown to come back from where he'd escaped to. She stayed a little longer as did Pedro, Wiram and Pinkie.
“Wiram, send my boys on patrol when you're ready will you please?” She smiled evilly. “Any dirty job you've got, get them to pitch in and help. Maybe send them on a midday run to the homestead and back as well?”
Wiram smiled, he knew what she was saying. “Got that ma'am. I was thinking much the same thing. If you don't mind, I need a hard hitting experienced crew who know how to break an assault. They asked if they could go with the scout patrols at dawn but I want to consolidate here first. I've been talking to Nulla and he has the same plans for them as well. Assault training Nulla style. I promise they'll get a work out and I'm sure they'll teach young Nulla a trick or two.”
“Thanks Wiram. They're in your hands now but I'll need them when we run our Darwin assault in a few weeks,” Sue-Ellen said.
Just outside the light of the camp fire Luke recited the poem over and over in his mind so that he would get it just right. A natural performer he was confident he could pull it off. He'd watched how Halo and Cambra managed to tell their stories and engage everyone the previous few nights and was visualising his performance just like Nulla had taught him. Luke rehearsed a few jokes he wanted to throw in as well.
As Pinkie and Jenny handed the bottles of Palace Port around to those who enjoyed it, and tea and coffee for the rest, Heidi stood up to introduce the evenings entertainment.
“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to our youngest member, Luke.” There was a round of polite applause. The Commando were uncertain what to expect as the youngsters took control of the camp fire entertainment. “Luke, it turns out, is a poet, and not just any poet, but a love poet.” Now she had their attention.
Shrek had found himself on this trip. He and Jaina continued their physical relationship and were very much in love. They pitched their swag away from everyone after Blondie quietly suggested their lovemaking was keeping people awake.
“Hey, Luke,” Shrek called loudly across the camp fire sparks rising to the stars above. “Can you teach me some of your love poems?”
Jaina glowed with joy but at the same time was a little embarrassed. She pulled at the shirt tails hanging out of his trousers and told him to 'shush up'.
“Shrek, our giant green ogre and master cameleer, tonight I dedicate this poem to you and your beloved, Jaina.” He glanced at Danni and caught her smile. She'd told him not to embarrass her and he didn't want to spoil their blossoming relationship.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Sundown's Cameleers, tonight we celebrate something special which goes way back, like a thread stitched through the tapestry of human existence. The sun is setting and the moon is rising - it is the time for love.” The commando were now silent, enthralled and entranced by this amazing word craftsman standing in the flickering firelight.
“The poem I am about to recite was written by an ancient poet, Andrew Marvel, who lived in England about four hundred years ago. Life in those times was just as troublesome as it is today.” He looked around at everyone making sure he was engaging his audience. He needn't have worried, they were fascinated. “Time's winged chariot will always hurry for young lovers, and old lovers alike… it goes like this: 'To a Coy Mistress', by Andrew Marvell.
“Had we but world enough and time - this coyness, lady, would be no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way - to walk and pass our long love's day…"
(You can find the full poem at the back of this book)
Just as Luke finished the last lines Simon entered into the light of the camp fire. He was dressed in a skirt, long grassy hair, his cheeks rouged from clay ochres and mascara from crushed charcoal. He looked hilarious but was amazingly female-like thanks to Danni and Lulu's costuming and make-up.
Off stage Luke pulled on a cloak, a slouch hat and his holstered pistol worn on the outside. In his hand he held a stick sword. He took centre stage once more.
“Fair folks, tonight my partner, Simon, and I, would like to present our remembered fragments of a famous love scene.” He stopped as he tried to find the right words. “Some would say 'butchered' fragments from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.” There was excited applause from the girls then everyone else enthusiastically joined in.
Turning to his now rapt audience, Luke spoke loudly and clearly, his hand to his mouth as though speaking to co-conspirators.
“Simon and I learned all about love-making from our mentor, Nulla. We learned how to make love as we watched him woo the fair Glenda.” Nulla shook his head and laughed softly. “However, tonight's Romeo and Juliet is not for Nulla and his lady love, Glenda. It is dedicated to our fair heroes, the newly weds, Wiram, now known as Romeo, and his fair maiden, Donna, now known as Juliet.”
Wiram almost choked on his port and Donna went red in the face.
“But soft!” He moved as though he was Leo DiCaprio on the stage. “What light through yonder window breaks?…”
Time stood still as the two flawlessly performed the window scene of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. There was laughter, lots of laughter but there was also an air of fascination. Everyone wondered, where did these two scallywag teenagers get this incredible talent?
At the end of their performance Luke threw a handful of leaves onto the fire and the scene brightened. Then, as the shadows returned the performers exited the stage - 'twas the end of their play.
No one spoke, no one moved. There remained the sound of the camp fire crackling in the still desert air. The only entertainment they ever experienced was a story or a song, but poetry and Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was, to the Commando, as refreshing as water is to the parched desert sands.
The boys returned and bowed deeply. The audience stood as one and clapped while their girlfriends cheered and helped them back to their seats.
“If I could stand up right now boys, I'
d leap over and give you all a hug. But alas, my Juliet here will have to do it for me,” called Wiram sitting comfortably beside his partner.
Donna shyly stood and embraced the boys. “Thank you for embarrassing us. I'm going to ask Sundown to make you our Court Jesters, then you can entertain us on all our patrols,” she said brightly. “But I confess, I have but one question dear Jesters. Where did you learn to recite poetry and Shakespeare like that?”
Luke answered for them both. “We ran the drama group in high school. We performed, produced, wrote, directed and set the scenery, we did everything. We booked the hall and practised every morning and lunch time. Simon and I produced a new play every term. We were even in the newspaper.”
“Well, how about a bush play about Sundown's Commando? But make it a comedy, not a drama, we get enough drama as it is courtesy of the Revelationists,” Donna suggested.
“Consider it done fair Juliet!” Luke replied. To Simon he called, “our next show will be an adaptation of 'All's Well That End's Well', 'Hamlet', 'Macbeth' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' rolled into a desert survival comedy thriller.”
Throughout Luke and Simon's performance Pinkie couldn't help but observe the lovers among the commando. The boy's voices cast a spell over the entire camp, not a single person looked away from the performers faces or their expressive movements. She felt Sundown's head drop onto her shoulder and his hand curled into hers. It was a moment in her life that felt just right as she closed her eyes the better to experience this special moment.
Sue-Ellen was also mesmerised by the show but in her heart she felt confused and sorrowful. There were images of her husband, Reece, now long dead, all but a memory that faded with each passing year. But what hit her hard was recalling the thrill she felt at Sundown's warm breath on her neck. She knew this fantasy of love was just that, a fantasy, and the tears that coursed down her cheeks were left to fall to the dry desert sands.
