Songlines

by Carolyn Denman

  ‘And just what area of land are you applying to mine?’ Aunt Lily asked in a dangerously saccharin voice.

  ‘The area south of Mokin Road down to the southern end of the state park, and extending east to the river,’ Mr Beckinsale stated smoothly. My heart thumped wildly. That included my valley, and the caves. Even though I had known it was coming I could still feel the anger churning inside me like a waking beast. Drilling holes and extracting gas wasn’t even the real problem. The problem was simply that no one was allowed to be anywhere near that area. Ever. Narrowing my eyes, I wondered how well hard hats would protect the miners from an attack by a thousand angry cockies.

  ‘Here are the documents outlining the reasons we think the government should agree to the compulsory acquisition of a small part of your land, including a very generous offer of compensation.’ He slid a thick pile of papers over to her with a smile, as if he genuinely expected us to be convinced by the offer of money.

  My glorious aunt looked him directly in the eye. ‘Not a snowball’s chance in Hell!’

  ‘Ms Gracewood, this isn’t an access agreement. There’s nothing for you to sign. This is an application to the state government for the compulsory acquisition of the land. I’m simply informing you of the process as per company policy. Our full licence will be approved in the next week or two and then mining will commence straight away.’ The electricity in his voice could have made a dead frog jump. He was not going to be at all intimidated by anything we said. Or so he thought.

  ‘Excuse me, Mr Beckinsale,’ I said, trying to sound demure. ‘Would you please outline the major arguments in the document for your application? I will read it all as soon as I have the chance, of course, but if you could just save us some time?’

  He threw me the barest glance and then addressed his answer to my aunt. ‘We’ve discovered a subterranean gas pocket in the area that’s of a size and grade that will be a viable source of fuel for many years to come. We believe that it’s in the best economic interest of the community to mine this resource.’

  ‘And just how did you obtain the data on this area?’ I asked. ‘Your exploration licence didn’t permit you access, and no permission was granted to you by the landowners.’ My voice didn’t usually sound this composed when I was angry, but all I could think of was the way Bane had accused me of always storming off instead of listening.

  ‘Kolsom surveyors tried their best to remain in the area specified in the licence, but without appropriate signage it appears that they followed the seam too far to the east. They stopped their activities as soon as they realised, and the error was duly reported to the relevant authorities.’

  Aunt Lily glared at the ‘relevant authority’, who was fiddling with his pen and pretending not to notice.

  ‘Nevertheless, the data collected provides sufficient evidence that there is a very large pocket in the heart of the ravine and so we felt it appropriate to submit the application to mine it.’

  ‘How will you get to it? That valley is inaccessible. And it’s all old growth forest so you won’t be allowed to just bulldoze your way in.’

  I gasped as I suddenly realised why he’d tried to burn it. To get past the environmental restrictions. Land that had already been cleared by ‘natural’ disaster would be pointless for the environmental agency to try to protect. I knew what he’d done. And by the razor sharp look he gave me, he now knew that I knew.

  ‘Nothing is ever really inaccessible,’ he said. ‘We’ll find a way.’

  Words buzzed just under my tongue at the threat in his voice, but they were unformed and directionless. I just couldn’t think of what to do. If we had been outdoors, he might have copped a good swoop from a magpie though.

  ‘I see. Well, I expect there are all sorts of hoops you still have to jump through to get this application approved. Just the Native Land Act alone would be quite a hurdle, I imagine.’

  ‘This area is not listed on the Aboriginal Heritage Register, so it shouldn’t take too long,’ he smirked.

  My tongue flipped over a word that tasted like iron and bedrock, and the windows began to rattle in their frames. It frightened me so much I gripped the edge of the table and began to hum again to stop myself from forming any more words. Bane was right. I had to learn to calm down and stop behaving like such a drama queen before I broke something. Like a mountain. Or gravity. Aunt Lily stared at me with her mouth slightly open.

  ‘May I just point out that minor earthquakes are a natural occurrence,’ Mr Beckinsale said as he put a steadying hand on the jug of water. ‘Nothing to do with Kolsom’s activities, I can assure you.’ He gave a short laugh as if he expected us to be amused at the coincidence, but not even the councillor smiled.

  I laid my palms flat on the table and recited the list of elements until the ground was still. And then I practised under my breath to make sure my next words would come out in English.

  ‘Take care, Mr Beckinsale. There are more important things in this world than money,’ I said, sliding the pile of documents back to him. ‘Aboriginal sacred sites are legally protected whether they’re registered or not. And it won’t be difficult to get this one listed regardless.’ I nodded to Aunt Lily to show them the photos. She came to my aid because I hadn’t been confident that I would be able to do it—the cave art was so close to Eden that I had felt the usual guilt just showing her. It must have been necessary though, because I had no trouble talking about it to the suited executive. That gave me some confidence that I was on the right track as to how to deal with this threat. We would have to be careful; the last thing we needed was for a host of people to turn up on our doorstep to check out the paintings. Luckily, there were thousands of sites listed on the register so hopefully one more wouldn’t attract too much attention.

  The councillor looked uneasy but Mr Beckinsale exhaled like a bull about to charge. Just how hard could I push him? He had invested a lot into this project, and had already risked lives to get what he wanted.

  ‘We can still mine the valley and leave this site alone,’ he said.

  ‘But this area is full of cave systems, and the valley has been left relatively undisturbed up until now. I’m certain that my people will want to keep it that way,’ I said, to remind him of my heritage. ‘Sacred sites don’t just extend to rock paintings, you know. I expect that the remaining members of the local Indigenous community will want the whole valley registered given such evidence of cultural significance.’ Thank you, Nalong College curriculum.

  He leant towards me, eyes full of malice. ‘From my understanding, there aren’t many members left. The government probably won’t act on your word alone, given the conflict of interest you have in this matter. I suppose we could consult with Harry Doolan, if he was available?’

  My heart skipped a beat. If he started to ask questions regarding Harry’s whereabouts things would get tricky. He had no close family that I was aware of, but that didn’t mean that no one would investigate if we couldn’t explain where he was.

  ‘Harry is currently on long service leave,’ Aunt Lily piped in. ‘He’s gone Walkabout and we don’t know when he’ll be back.’

  Nice one. If we could establish that the valley was one of the footprints of the ancestors that formed part of a Songline that Harry was following, it would only aid our claim to get the valley registered. The best part was that it wasn’t untrue. If the Garden of Eden didn’t count as a sacred site, and the path to it didn’t count as a Songline, then I didn’t know what would.

  She continued smoothly, ‘I have no doubt that when he returns, he’ll be able to provide whatever information the Aboriginal Affairs Department need.’

  The lawyer stayed silent. I could sense his fury just barely controlled. I would have liked to have felt smug or relieved that my plan seemed to be working but all I felt was dread.

  And when the meeting finally finished, Bane met us just outside the door, a
nd his eyes locked on to Mr Beckinsale’s face with a fury I had only seen in him once before. And the dog had not survived it.

  Chapter 32

  After the meeting we met up with Noah and Tessa by the river, at the same swimming hole where we had spent our fateful graduation afternoon. It was humbling to think I could have been dog meat that day—or at least been seriously injured. Even having a Guardian wasn’t a guarantee that nothing could happen to me. My mother’s sudden fall down the riverbank that had caused my father’s death had highlighted that. As I stared into the reflections on the water’s surface I could almost hear her scream as she’d scrambled with me along the river’s edge trying to follow him as he was swept away.

  Shaking my head, I started humming the first thing that came to mind to clear away the morbid music but it turned out to be a tragic Nick Cave ballad, which didn’t help at all. In the past I had never really worried about my own safety but maybe I was finally becoming responsible. Apparently I was needed now, and that made a difference to how I viewed things. I missed the days when I could just fool around. I missed getting into trouble with Noah each time one of us dared the other to do something crazy.

  There was a tidy patch of green below the bridge, with a shady picnic shelter that had been graciously paid for by the local council. They did, after all, try to act in the best interest of the community. Apparently. We ate the lunch Aunt Lily had organised and then cleaned up while she went for a walk along the river. I figured she needed time to rant against Kolsom and the council, and freak out about what I’d done in the meeting without having to guard her language. Noah took our rubbish up to the bin on the street—which funnily enough had a bit of a tilt to it—and came back with a soccer ball he found stashed somewhere in his ute. He and Bane soon found a flattish bit of grass to let off some steam, which they both needed to do badly after hearing what Kolsom were doing.

  As I shook my head at the waste of water required to keep the grass here alive while so many farmers were struggling to feed and water their stock, I watched my boys kick around the ball, looking relaxed for the first time in weeks. At least there didn’t appear to be any more tension between them. Noah had always been pretty easy going, and it was clear that Bane wasn’t going to make any moves towards Tessa so I figured the testosterone levels would stay reasonable.

  Tessa pulled an ice block from the esky and ran it across the back of her neck while ogling Noah unashamedly, finally able to enjoy watching him play without having to hide her reactions. ‘They could both be models. Easily,’ she commented as she watched Noah ball up his T-shirt and toss it away.

  I nodded appreciatively just as Bane came in for a rough-looking tackle, which made her hiss, but she stayed seated. It was a testament to how hard she’d worked over the years to control her impulses. No wonder she’d always seemed so highly strung.

  ‘Lainie, what do you think my role really is in all this?’ she asked, twisting her hair into a casual knot to get it off her neck. Even in the shade we were struggling with the heat. ‘It’s not like I would actually be able to protect Noah from anything. All I seem to do is get sick and stressed and make him feel bad about getting on with all the things he loves to do. I don’t want to be that sort of girlfriend.’

  ‘You mean the sort who argues when he suggests jumping from the bridge into the river, or climbing onto the roof of the hay shed to watch the sunset?’ Not that any of Bane’s arguments had ever stopped me.

  She nodded. ‘What am I, his mother? He had enough of that with Claudia. I refuse to be the typical nagging ball and chain. No one likes those.’

  ‘Can you tell that to Bane? And use those exact words. Nagging ball and chain.’

  That made her smile for a second. ‘So what do you suggest I do instead?’

  I fanned myself with a leftover paper plate as I considered. ‘Let him do whatever he wants, but do it with him. He’s going to have to take risks sometimes, just be there to help if things do go wrong, that’s all.’

  She nodded, and looked down. ‘But seriously, Lainie. It really is hard to resist our reflexes when we know you might get hurt. Go easy on Bane, yeah?’

  I was trying to. These compulsions were tying us all up in knots and taking away all sorts of freedom. It didn’t seem to be fair on any of us, but that’s what duty was. Part of the reason I felt such a desperate need to see Eden was so I could appreciate just what it was we were making these sacrifices for.

  ‘Have you healed him of anything yet?’ I asked tentatively. It had been a very intimate and personal experience each time Bane had healed me so I didn’t know if she would be happy to discuss it, but when she looked at me and nodded, her eyes were ecstatic.

  ‘Just a couple of minor things, but it felt amazing,’ she said, then bit her lower lip. ‘Well, to be honest, I kind of passed out the first time, but I’m getting better at it. Bane gave me some hints.’ She looked as pleased as a cat carrying a mouse. It made me wonder what Bane had told her.

  ‘Still,’ she said, ‘I wish he’d chosen a safer sport to get addicted to. It should be easier now that I understand why I was so sick every school holidays when he worked at the hang gliding centre but I’m still going to struggle. He loves to fly, and I wouldn’t dream of taking that from him. I just don’t know how often I can handle it.’

  And I had thought Bane had gone through trauma when I was riding cross-country events. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Tessa each time Noah had flown. He’d been so proud of the number of flight hours he had logged for his age. Hours that must have been torture for Tessa. I glared in Noah’s direction as if it was his fault.

  ‘Has he been talking about going flying again?’ I asked innocently, but she wasn’t fooled.

  ‘You know he has, Lainie. You both think on the same wavelength, so don’t try to tell me you haven’t had the same idea.’

  I looked away sheepishly, but as guilty as I felt about what it would put the Guardians through, I simply had to find a way into Eden. Maybe if she felt a bit more in control of her abilities she would find it easier to give Noah some space. She didn’t really believe she could protect him, so maybe she felt more nervous than she needed to be. A sly smile came over my face as I thought of a way I could prove that she was useful.

  ‘Let’s go and play, Tess. I can see you’re struggling to just sit here while my Guardian beats the panties off your Cherub.’ I smirked as I finished off the apple core I was eating.

  She laughed and ran after me as I took off towards the boys. Noah automatically tried to team up with Tessa against Bane and me, but I quickly bullied them into swapping partners. Noah and I had played together for years and it was time I showed Bane what I was capable of. Besides, this way I could take advantage of the fact that Bane would rather let me have the ball than risk me getting injured. We played for a few minutes, laughing at the complexity of a game where Bane was trying to protect me, Tessa and Noah were trying to protect each other, and I didn’t really care who I hurt. Perhaps our carefree days weren’t entirely over. Each time Tessa managed to steal the ball to stop Bane from needing to tackle Noah, I glowed with satisfaction. She would never have thought she could keep up with a game between those two brutes. My sense of playfulness jumped a level when Tessa and Bane took control of the ball and managed to get past us, racing for their goal. Noah ran to catch them. I was struggling with the heat, and I knew I had no chance of making it in time. Impulsively I took off anyway, running full pelt not towards them, but straight for Noah instead. I visualised myself bowling him over from behind and was gratified to see Tessa almost flip herself over to turn around as she felt the danger he was in. Just a split second before I slammed into him I realised my mistake, as out of the corner of my eye I saw the look on Bane’s face as he pelted after her.

  ‘What on Earth were you thinking?’ Aunt Lily yelled at me when I admitted what I’d done. Tessa had her wrist submerged i
n the dregs of ice in the bottom of the esky and Noah was pacing. Bane looked both angry and sick at the same time, and was refusing to look at anything other than his feet. He had done well to only injure her wrist when he’d picked her up and thrown her off me. I felt terrible. It wasn’t the first time one of my pranks had backfired but usually I had Noah on my side as I faced the consequences. This time I was well and truly alone in my disgrace. So much for being carefree.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Tess. I really am. I acted on impulse and I stuffed up. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, I promise.’ I hovered around her, wishing there was something I could do. She glared at me again, but then slowly started to smile. When she began to chuckle I started to breathe again. At least she could see the funny side. I hoped that meant I hadn’t done our relationship any permanent harm. After all those years at school together I was finally starting to like her. Now I just had to make it up to Noah and Bane.

  Luckily Tessa’s injury didn’t seem to be too serious. We came with her to get it X-rayed just in case, which took ages. At least it was cool in the hospital. Tessa insisted that she was a quick healer and that we were all making too much of a fuss, and I wondered if fast healing was a side-effect of her role. That could be useful to know but I wasn’t about to suggest any experiments. I was in enough trouble already.

  Finally the doctor gave her the all clear. He explained that there was some soft tissue damage and gave her strict instructions to keep icing it as much as possible. I apologised to her again as Noah bundled her carefully into his ute to take her home. She was not looking forward to explaining it to her parents.

  It wasn’t until we were out finishing up the evening feeds that I had a chance to apologise to Bane. I couldn’t believe I’d done it to him again. Yet again I’d forced him to become someone he wasn’t. There wasn’t a violent bone in his body unless I was nearby. What I was doing to him was far worse than just trapping him in Nalong.