Arcadia

by Di Morrissey

  ‘You just have to look around,’ agreed Jessica. ‘From melting arctic ice and glaciers to warming oceans. Scary.’

  They stood up and Dan went over to the airstrip while Jessica headed back to the cottage for lunch with Sally, deep in thought.

  *

  At the jetty the next morning, Victor slung their backpacks onto the boat as Sally then Jessica hugged Carmen.

  ‘It’s been really special,’ Jessica said.

  ‘Come back anytime.’ Carmen smiled. ‘Whenever you want a little escape.’

  ‘It’s the perfect hideaway, that’s for sure,’ said Jess.

  Dan untied the rope from the bollard and jumped on board. Then Victor reversed and turned the bow towards the open sea.

  Sally went below, but Jessica stayed on deck, waving to Carmen then watching the cliffs of the headland recede.

  ‘Is Sally okay?’

  She turned to Dan. ‘Just anxious to get home. As soon as she can call Toby, she’ll feel better.’

  ‘Too bad you couldn’t stay longer on the island, there’s still a lot to explore.’

  ‘Well, thanks to you, we’ve seen heaps. I had a really wonderful time.’

  They were quiet for a moment, then Dan said, ‘You have a science degree and lab experience, Jessica, maybe you should think about investigating new fields to work in. I’d be happy to make any introductions. You could spend a couple of days at the museum and the Botanical Gardens to see what projects they have on there.’

  ‘Perhaps. But I don’t want to hurry into anything. I’ll just hang with Sally and Mollie for a bit. I’m getting used to the freedom of being unemployed, although I’ll have to face up to the reality of earning a living soon; my savings won’t last forever.’

  She went below deck and found Sally hunched over her phone.

  ‘No reception yet,’ Sally said when she looked up. ‘It’s awful being away from Toby and Katie when something horrible happens. It’s rattled me. I feel like I’m unravelling or something.’ She looked stricken.

  Jessica was about to say ‘rubbish’, but she hesitated then said gently, ‘It is a bit unnerving, Sal, but I’m sure everything will be okay. Dan is going to check out the people at Seawinds, and come see you and Toby at Arcadia, which is good of him.’ She paused. ‘I suppose it’s just those odd things that have shaken us . . .’

  ‘So you feel it too?’

  ‘Well, sort of. Now don’t you go spooking us!’

  ‘Who, me?’ Dan stuck his head through the hatch. ‘When we get there, would you like to have a late lunch with Victor and me before you head off?’

  ‘We should get going . . .’ began Sally uncertainly.

  ‘Talk to Toby as soon as you get phone reception,’ suggested Jessica. ‘I’m sure you’ll feel better after that. If we have lunch then we won’t have to stop later.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Dan, and Sally nodded, glancing at her phone.

  *

  Once ashore Sally was her cheerful self again. ‘Toby and Mum are fine, Katie has a friend over to play, and they’re looking forward to meeting Dan.’

  Jessica sighed. ‘Phew. Well, that’s good. Let’s go eat.’ The four of them walked along the waterfront to the seafood café Victor had suggested.

  ‘You know, this seemed like the end of the world a few days ago,’ said Jessica as they arrived at the simple eatery that had once been a general store. ‘Now it feels like a teeming civilisation!’

  ‘This is the best place for battered flathead fillets and potato wedges,’ Victor told them.

  He turned out to be amusing company, and Dan and the girls kept exchanging glances as Victor regaled them with funny stories of his time as a landlubber on an outback sheep station.

  ‘That fish was delicious, light and flaky, freshly caught, I s’pose?’ said Jessica.

  ‘Yep, old Angelo, one of the local fishermen, knows all the spots if you want to have a fish any time,’ said Victor. ‘I swap him oysters and crays.’

  ‘Well, we’d better make a move,’ said Sally.

  They split the bill between them and Dan walked Sally and Jessica to their car after they’d farewelled Victor.

  ‘You’ve got a full tank? Don’t forget, there’s not a lot of places to get fuel if you take that back road I told you about.’

  ‘Yes, we’ll be fine. So we’ll see you at Arcadia in a day or so?’ said Jessica.

  ‘Sounds good. Safe trip, and I’ll let you know what I find out if it’s anything exciting. Otherwise, see you at your place, Sally.’ He opened the driver’s door for Jessica and gave Sally a wave. ‘Don’t miss the turn at River Bend, it’s a bit rugged but saves you time.’

  ‘See you, Dan,’ said Jess.

  They lapsed into silence as Jessica drove through the quiet countryside, the lingering afternoon light mellowing the fields, paddocks and meandering rivers.

  ‘Did you want music?’ asked Sally.

  ‘Not really.’

  As they drove higher into the hills, turning around the curves of the incline, stately trees, their upper branches and canopy too high to see, leaned benevolently over the road. They seemed to watch and guard the small red dot of the car as it slid steadily through the golden shadows.

  ‘Stunning scenery. How old must these trees be?’ Jess said.

  ‘You wouldn’t want to have an accident and go down there, they wouldn’t find you for yonks,’ muttered Sally, staring at the steep drop beside the road.

  ‘Don’t look. Anyway, we haven’t seen another car.’

  ‘Just as well, there’s nowhere to overtake.’

  ‘I wonder what’s the longest stretch of straight flat road they have in this state,’ said Jessica. She flipped the sun visor down as the setting sun began to angle into her eyes. Then she glanced in the rear-vision mirror. ‘Oh, rats. Someone is behind us.’

  ‘Well, they’ll have to be patient, there’s nowhere to pull over and let them pass.’ Sally shuddered, looking down again at the mountainside disappearing in layers of forest.

  Jessica tapped her brakes, flicking a ‘slow down, back off’ message to the driver behind. And the four-wheel drive dropped back.

  ‘Good. They got the message. How many mountains have we driven over on this jaunt?’

  Sally shrugged. ‘I didn’t sleep well last night. I might close my eyes for a bit, okay? Let me know when you’re ready to trade places.’

  ‘Okay. I’m good for now.’

  Jessica silently reflected on her conversations with Dan and what he’d said about the environment, and about Sean’s work. From there her mind tumbled into thinking about how she lived day to day, week to week, month to month. The years had begun to blur, one into the next, and yet, how often did she ever take a step back and consider the big picture for the future? Really think about what sort of world children like Katie would inherit?

  The light was fading, and as she reached a short straight section of road she glanced in the mirror to see that the four-wheel drive was back behind her again. And it was annoyingly, dangerously, close. Its lights were on high beam, obscuring her view of the driver behind the tinted windscreen.

  As she rounded a bend there was a wider section of the shoulder, so she quickly pulled over and the car sped past her.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Sally sat up, woken by the sudden jolt of the car braking.

  ‘Just letting that car past. They must have known the passing shoulder was here; they came up right behind me.’ Jessica pulled back onto the road.

  ‘It’s getting dark early.’

  ‘All the trees, I guess. We’re almost down. Oops, what the –’

  The black four-wheel drive with the tinted windows had pulled over ahead of them, and as Jessica swerved past it, a bright light flashed.

  ‘Did they just take a photo of us?’ exclaimed Sally. />
  ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’ Jessica put her foot down.

  ‘Hey, Jess, ease up. You’re over the speed limit.’

  ‘At the moment I wouldn’t mind being pulled over by a traffic cop. That car is giving me the creeps.’

  ‘There’s no police on this road,’ said Sally. ‘There’s no one on the road. Full stop.’

  A few minutes later Jessica said quietly, ‘They’re back.’

  Sally turned and looked behind at the headlights. ‘Probably some yobbo trying to frighten us. Saw two women in a car.’

  ‘It’s ages till we get to a town and there’s nowhere to pull over.’ Jessica gently increased her speed again, but the gap quickly closed as the black car kept pace on their tail.

  ‘I know you’re a good driver, Jess, but this is scary!’ Sally sat rigid in her seat, her foot pressing on an imaginary brake, her eyes glued to the darkening road as they twisted downwards.

  ‘We’re levelling out,’ said Jessica grimly as they hit the lower section of the mountain road, passing paddocks and old wooden fences.

  ‘Jess! There’s a light over there.’ Sally pointed. ‘A farm.’

  Without hesitating Jessica turned onto the stretch of dirt road at the milk-can letterbox on a post, rattling over the metal bars of the cattle grid and raising a dirt cloud behind them, and then sped up the driveway.

  ‘Are they following?’ Jessica’s voice was high and strained.

  ‘I can’t tell, there’s so much dust. Slow down! I can’t see any lights . . . I don’t know. Ooh, look out! Cows . . .!’ screeched Sally, as two cows were suddenly lit up in the headlights.

  Jessica swerved as the startled cows loped to one side.

  ‘Oh, no, they’ve turned in the driveway! Watch out!’ said Sally, her voice shaking. ‘Get to the house, quick. There’s a light on at the door.’

  ‘But there’re no lights on inside, they might be out. Damn.’

  Sally looked back over her shoulder. ‘That car’s slowed; they’re waiting. Do you think the house is locked? We could get in, lock ourselves inside and call for help . . . What’re you doing?’ she yelled as Jessica drove across the grass in front of the house and bumped around the back where bushes screened them. Their headlights swung across a barn, sheds and a vegetable garden.

  ‘Oh, shit,’ said Jessica. ‘Get your phone. You go to the barn, I’ll try the back door.’

  ‘Are you nuts?’

  ‘Just run, Sal! Hide. Then text me if I don’t come straight away.’

  They stumbled from the car, running in opposite directions as they heard the four-wheel drive clatter over the cattle grid at the bottom of the drive.

  Jessica stumbled up the steps to the back door and yanked at the doorknob, but it was locked. Then, seeing a light switch, she stabbed at it and the back verandah and yard were illuminated by two spotlights. She bolted across the yard into the barn. ‘Sal?’

  ‘In here . . . the second pen,’ came a muffled reply.

  Jessica slammed the heavy barn door shut. ‘Is there a back door?’ She paused, hearing a car door close. ‘Shit, they’ve driven up here. Sal . . .?’

  ‘Over here, careful.’ The barn was dimly lit, and when Jessica reached the stall she gasped.

  Sally was squatting beside an enormous sow, which was lying on her side on thick straw as a dozen fat piglets suckled the teats along her large belly.

  ‘What the . . . Holy cow, Sal . . .’

  ‘No, holy sow,’ hissed Sally. She giggled, but looked terrified.

  Jessica clambered into the stall as the sow gave them a beady-eyed glare.

  ‘Should we call the cops?’ whispered Sally.

  ‘I don’t know. I’ve no idea where we are, and it’d take them ages to get here.’

  ‘Why is that person following us?’ asked Sally nervously. ‘Is it the man from the phone call? He said he knew where we were . . .’

  ‘I don’t know. Let’s think . . .’

  ‘We can’t stay here, he’ll come looking for us,’ Sally said. ‘It pongs in here. Back there is awful, where she pees . . .’

  ‘That’s good . . . go and hide there. Whoever it is won’t look back there, and it’s dark.’

  ‘Is there more than one of them, do you think? Where’re you going, Jess?’

  ‘I don’t know, the windows are tinted. We need a photo of the number plate. I’m going out the back door. Hand me a couple of the piglets – ones that’re sleeping, not eating,’ Jessica said. ‘Leave this door to the pen open so the mum can get out . . .’

  ‘Jess, what the hell are you doing?’

  ‘Not sure. Need a distraction. He’ll probably look in here, so just keep out of sight. Give me those piglets. Quick. How can I keep them quiet?’

  ‘I don’t know. Hold their mouths shut, stuff them up your jumper, they’re asleep.’ Sally shoved two piglets at Jessica as the sow lifted her head.

  Her heart beating wildly, Jessica pushed the piglets under her jacket and moved quietly to the back door of the barn, which led into a small fenced pen. Clutching the piglets to her chest, she clambered over the rails and crept around the side of the barn in the shadows.

  Straight away she saw a man in a pool of light near the house. He had his back to her and was looking at the door, possibly wondering, as she had, whether he could open it.

  Jessica walked slowly around the far side of the house in the darkness, hugging the baby pigs close and pulling her phone from her pocket with her free hand. As she tiptoed around to the front, she prayed there wouldn’t be another man standing by the car.

  The top-of-the-range vehicle was parked in the driveway, the driver’s door open. There was no sign of anyone else.

  Edging closer, Jessica snapped a photo of the car and its number plate, then hurried quietly back around to the barn. The driver had checked the back door, and must have seen the light switch and turned it off. The yard was in darkness. But Jessica could make out his silhouette trying the door handle of a shed before heading towards the open back door of the barn.

  She froze in the shadows as he hesitated at the barn entrance, then turned on the torchlight in his phone and stepped inside.

  ‘Sorry, kids.’ She wrenched the dozy piglets from her jacket, put them on the ground and gave their curly tails a sharp tug before sprinting for the front door of the barn in the darkness. To her relief, the piglets squealed loudly behind her.

  For all her gross bulk, the enormous sow must have been on her feet the second she heard her babies’ cries, because from her position in the doorway, Jessica, now saw the animal sprint at full charge to the back door on her tiny, dainty feet, bowling over the figure as she rushed to rescue the enraged little piglets dropped so unceremoniously onto the cold ground.

  While the man was picking himself up, Jessica dashed to the sow’s stall and pushed her way to the back, near a feed trough. ‘Sal, you here?’ she whispered.

  ‘What’s happened?’ hissed Sal. ‘You didn’t hurt those piglets?’

  ‘Only their pride . . .’ She shushed Sally as they heard curses and, peering through the pen, they saw the figure of a man limping outside as the angry screeches from the sow and irate squeals from her piglets ricocheted around the yard.

  ‘Urgh, it stinks in here. Let’s move.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Heading back to his car, I’d say.’

  ‘Shh, is that an engine? Is he driving away already?’ whispered Sally.

  ‘No, that’s a car driving in . . .’ said Jessica.

  There was a screech of brakes and some shouts, and then the girls heard the four-wheel drive rocketing away. Voices continued to yell and the sow started honking as her piglets screamed in fury. As the two women moved towards the barn door, they saw light flood the backyard, then someone picked up the piglets and came into the barn.
The person turned on the main light as the sow trotted worriedly behind them.

  They were middle-aged couple, and they were fussing over the piglets. ‘The rest are here. Now how the hell did Sheila get out . . .?’ the woman said.

  Sally and Jessica emerged from the shadows. ‘Sorry, we did that . . . are the babies okay?’ said Jessica softly.

  The woman screamed and the man started in astonishment.

  ‘Who the hell are you? What’re you up to? What’s going on?’ he stuttered.

  Sally put her hands up. ‘It’s all right, we can explain. Some of it, anyway . . . Do you mind if we go outside? The smell is getting to me.’ Sally hurried from the barn.

  ‘We’re so sorry to alarm you. I’m Jessica Foster and this is Sally Sandford . . . That man in the four-wheel drive was following us, I mean seriously shadowing us down the mountain. We came in here to get help, but when no one was home we looked for somewhere to hide. It’s a bit of a story, would you mind if we washed up first and then told you?’

  The woman had regained her composure and her frightened expression had turned to one of concern. ‘Oh, you poor dears, that’s terrible. Yes, yes, come in, have a shower if you want. Roger, can you please settle Sheila and the babies and lock up? I’m Barb. Barbara Brown.’

  ‘We’re so lucky you came home when you did,’ said Sally as they walked towards the house.

  ‘We were only over at the neighbours’ place. We have an alarm security system that alerts us if anyone comes near the house. It went off, so we came back. Why were you being followed?’ Barbara asked.

  ‘We wish we knew,’ Sally sighed.

  Over coffee, after a thorough scrub of their faces and hands, they gave an edited version of the events of the afternoon, as well as the mysterious phone calls and the fact that Sally’s farm had been raided. The Browns were very sympathetic.

  ‘Would you like to stay for dinner, stay the night?’ Barbara offered.

  ‘Thank you, but no. I’m anxious to get home,’ said Sally quickly. ‘I’ve already called my husband to say we’re just having a coffee break and will be back on the road soon.’

  ‘What did you tell him?’ asked Jessica.