‘Those community meetings go for hours. We’ve got heaps of time.’
He didn’t know how to explain his mother’s illegal entomological practices. ‘It’ll be awkward if she finds you here.’
‘Aren’t I allowed to visit you at night?’ she teased, playfully nudging him back to lie on the bed. The feel of her body against him in that dress sent the blood rushing between his legs. Her lips on his neck and down his chest were paralysing.
She sat up. Riley could see her breasts pushing at the thin material. He reached out to touch them. ‘Ha,’ the sound escaped at the firm softness.
She was watching him. ‘You’ve never felt a woman’s breasts before, have you?’
A slight shake of his head and he was kneading the wonderful things in his hands. She shut her eyes, moved toward him and groaned. He thought he had hurt her and leapt up, shocked at the violence of his thoughts. He wanted to rip her dress open and rub himself against her until he squirted like he did with his own hand. Such a gentle girl and he kept picturing being violent with her. Was there something wrong with him? If David were alive he could ask if this was normal, but there was no one.
She was watching from the bed. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry. Mum might be home soon, I…’
She straightened the bedspread. ‘There. She’ll never know.’ She slid past him and he followed her downstairs to open the door for her. ‘I forgot. Tilly said to come around in the morning at seven. She’ll try you out with the lawn mowing.’
‘I’ll...I’ll be there.’
She looked up the road. He wanted to hold her.
‘Can I see you tomorrow?’ They said it at the same time.
‘I’ll come over after you’ve finished work then?’
‘Sure.’ He shut the screen door before they could touch. This touching business was dangerous. She was his mango sorbet he wanted to devour until he felt sick.
Ayla looked back and blew him a kiss. He felt it land on his lips and became aroused again.
The stairs squeaked. He switched on the light in the stairwell, wondering if it was the ghosts of the five Johnston brothers that made the house creak so mysteriously, while another part of him was remembering the feel of Ayla’s breasts in his hands.
Running up the stairs and throwing open the door to his mother’s lab, the knowledge that he had limited time to find the box pushed all other thoughts from his over-excited mind.
Dora nudged Grappa awake. ‘You’re snoring.’
He tried to focus as the pimply council representative droned on about the history of mosquito spraying in the bay. Tilly caught his attention as she popped outside for a cigarette. That’s when he saw her bewitching face, pale against the blackness of her hair, dark eyes shining fiercely. She was sitting near the entrance to the verandah beside June, in the shadows, listening and watching. Suddenly Grappa was very alert, feeling her foul energy, even from where he was in the middle of the room. She stepped forward, her knife-blade voice slicing the air, cutting off the council bloke mid-sentence. Grappa couldn’t place her trace of an accent. Ayla had said something about America.
‘You moronic little yes man. How dare you stand there boasting about council’s routine massacres of mosquitoes. As an entomologist, I’ve carried out a series of scientific tests only to find the mud surrounding this island is toxic.’ A gasp rippled through the audience. ‘Those ‘harmless’ poisons you brag about pumping into their ecosystem on a regular basis…let me tell you…I have found samples of those poisons in mangroves, pipis, fish, crabs, and I’m sure if I tested any one of you, I would find it in you, in your babies. Apparently, a baby died of cot death in the house I am living in, which is situated on the border of the principal mosquito habitat for this island. I’m sure if a further autopsy was carried out on the corpse of that baby, they would discover the cause to be chemical toxicity. Chemical toxicity created by the very poisons you’re trying to sell to this community as harmless. How stupid do you think these people are?’
She walked through the hall up to the council officer and shoved some papers at him. ‘Here’s a report on the results of all the tests I’ve conducted. I believe the family of that dead baby could sue council if they wanted. Go back to your superiors and tell them that. Might make them think twice about spraying this island anymore. Go on, get out of here, and take your poisons with you.’
She walked back to stand beside Tilly. The poor young council officer fumbled with the papers as a hushed murmur fell. To Grappa’s dismay, Dora stood and clapped. A quarter of the audience joined her. Seeing Dora all fired up to let loose, he sank into his chair.
‘What this scientist is saying is spot on. As one of the traditional custodians of this land, I vehemently oppose any further spraying. My ancestors lived here for thousands of years in harmony with the mozzies. Why can’t we? What makes us any different? Every chemical you spray into the environment affects the whole fragile ecosystem we are all a part of. By poisoning the mozzies, we’re effectively poisoning ourselves. Anyone with a half a brain can figure that out. You shouldn’t need a scientist to tell you,’ Dora nodded at the woman. ‘But I’m grateful she’s taken the time to do so.’
The woman nodded back. When Dora sat down, Grappa leaned across. ‘Don’t smile at her.’
‘Why not? I like her. She’s got balls.’
‘That’s the woman I had the dream about.’
‘You still going on about that dream?’ Dora looked at him like he wasn’t the full quid.
Sharon stood up. ‘I reckon council should send their own scientists here to carry out their own tests. No offence to Marlise, but I know for a fact she has a real fondness for mosquitoes that could make her a tad biased.’
Marlise? What kind of name is that? Grappa felt offended at the sound of her name, especially the way Sharon said it. He liked Sharon but couldn’t tolerate her voice. Listening to her speak was like listening to a sick crow dying.
‘Most of us have lived on this island for years and have experienced, first hand, how bad the mozzies are in summer.’
A significant hum of agreement spread through the crowd, evoking the buzz of mosquitos on the hunt for blood. Sharon glowed with self-satisfaction as she addressed Marlise.
What the hell was Sharon thinking? She was usually a good judge of character. Couldn’t she see the woman was emanating pure hatred? If Sharon knew what was good for her, she’d shut up. Grappa’s thoughts were screaming through his head as he tilted his chair back to gain a clear view of Marlise.
Dora hissed at him. ‘Didn’t they tell you in school it’s dangerous to swing on your chair?’
Poor Sharon continued to crucify herself. Mother-of-God, you’re playing with fire, girl.
‘No offence, Marlise but you’re yet to experience a summer here. My kids used to play outside all year, but the last few summers, since council stopped the spraying…last summer, they had to stay indoors the whole bloody school holidays, the mozzies were that fierce. What kind of quality of life is that for our kids? Also, as a small business owner, the summer tourist trade used to keep us afloat for the rest of the year. I don’t know if we can cope much longer if the visitor numbers don’t pick up. Please, I beg you, resume spraying. Generations of families lived here without any health problems from the spraying. I think she’s leaping to big conclusions. Babies die from cot death all the time. I really don’t know how legitimate these so called ‘findings’ are. Resume the spraying. Not only is the lack of mosquito control affecting our quality of life, it’s putting us out of business.’
Sharon sat down, pleased with herself as most of the audience clapped and cheered. Maria Boccabella was speaking now, but Grappa wasn’t listening, intent on watching Marlise, tilting his chair back further. He saw Tilly lean in and say something. Marlise shook her head in disgust and turned to leave, briefly catching his eye. The sharp stab of her stare from those black pits made him yelp.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Dora snap
ped.
‘Just got the evil eye.’
‘Serves you right for staring, you pea brain,’ were the last words he heard before his chair tipped backwards spilling him across the floor, causing the people around to cry out.
Marlise was so incensed, she stood in the middle of the car park, fuming, imitating the sound of Sharon’s voice. ‘No offence, Marlise.’ Sorry Sharon, offence has been taken…bitch. If the council did send their own scientists, they would easily disprove her findings. Where the hell was her scooter?
Circling until remembering she had parked near Tilly, she located the sign on the roof of the car, ‘Tilly Little Real Estate. We Make Big Things Happen’, and walked towards it, smelling the dog shit before she saw it smeared over the bright yellow vinyl of the scooter’s seat.
‘Enough is enough,’ she screamed to the edge of the car park, where the street light didn’t penetrate, where anyone could be hiding in the undergrowth, watching. Harnessing her anger, she ripped a section from the hem of her dress and used it to wipe the turgid sticky mess.
When she rode past the dog owner’s house, still reeking of dog faeces, her blood was pumping furiously. She glared at the house in the hope that he was watching. He had pushed her past the end of reason now.
On arriving home, she stormed into the laundry, threw disinfectant on a sponge and viciously scrubbed the seat of the scooter. The more she scrubbed the angrier she became, until she found herself laughing, realising her fear had evaporated. Her anger had empowered her. It was war. She would fight to the death, if necessary.
She remembered the wooden box hidden under the seat and lifted the newly cleaned compartment to see it there, untouched.
Riley was at the screen door.
She dropped the seat.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I sat in dog poo.’
‘Yuk. I can smell it.’
‘It’s all over the back of my dress.’ She returned the cleaning equipment to the laundry.
That was too close. She had to destroy that box.
In the laundry, she slipped out of her soiled clothes, grabbed a towel from the washing pile and wrapped it around her.
He was still at the screen door. ‘Tilly tells me you’re starting work tomorrow.’ She forced herself to sound pleased.
‘Yeah.’
‘Thought you’d be happy?’ She opened the door.
‘I am.’ He moved to let her pass.
She stood in the stairwell, examining him. ‘Riley, have I done something to upset you?’
‘No. Better get to bed. Early start. Night.’
‘Night. I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in.’
‘Please don’t. I’m too old for that now, Mum.’
‘But you know I like to.’
He was all hunched over as he walked away.
‘Love you.’
He didn’t answer.
What was she going to do about him? She clung to the idea that this new job would snap him out of it. The hard ball of anger from the evening’s events began to churn as she tried to ignore what was solidifying in her mind: she had made a fatal mistake moving them to this island.
14.
The shower had made the ringing in Riley’s ears from mowing lawns all morning worse, not better. He would buy himself ear muffs, as Tilly suggested.
Flopping onto his bed, he shut his eyes and imagined Ayla dancing naked on a beach made of mango sorbet. His mother’s voice in the hallway caused him to spring up, using the towel to cover his arousal.
‘I’m off now. What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ She was dressed in a sarong. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Thought I might do some laps at the pool.’
‘Laps?’
‘My new hobby.’ She disappeared.
Riley was baffled. As far as he could remember, his mother hated swimming. At the sound of her scooter fading down the road, he pulled on a singlet and jeans. Then starting in the lounge, he snatched books from the shelves, two at a time, in the hope that the box was hidden in the bookcase. He found his copy of Huckleberry Finn given to him by David on his twelfth birthday, and opened it to read the inscription when a knock on the door startled him. He ran downstairs two at a time.
It was Ayla in jeans and a blue t-shirt with ‘Say NO to plastic’ written across her chest. He nearly knocked her over in a rush to hug.
‘Did you find it?’
‘Not yet. But Mum’s gone out.’
‘I’ll help you. We can’t keep sneaking around behind her back. It’s not right.’
‘Come on then. Let’s empty the book case.’
They worked methodically, side by side as Ayla told Riley about Peach’s reaction to being released back into the bush this morning. Riley, in turn, shared how he had befriended a series of monitor lizards and giant tree frogs over the years, sharing his tree house with them, and the funny names he had given his wild pets. He stopped searching to act out each one, portraying their different personalities until Ayla was shaking with laughter.
‘Wish you’d been there.’ He swallowed the emotion that threatened.
Her eyes turned liquid. ‘Wish I’d been there too.’
In silence, they returned to the task at hand, but he couldn’t concentrate, every molecule of his being was tuned to her. Was it possible to fall into someone?
Marlise kept shifting the banana lounge into the shade as the sun moved, ensuring she always maintained a clear view of the notice board and jetty. She was pretending to utilize the pool, in the hope that she could meet people in the community and discover more about this Harley. If she confronted him about the note, there was a possibility he would deny it and cast her as a paranoid fool, as Sharon had. At least there were no more nasty hand-written threats on the noticeboard. On arriving, she had checked.
Josh, who was finishing the water aerobics class he had been teaching, looked over as she undid her sarong to reveal her old crocheted swim suit. Lying down, she admired the weave of the crochet against her unblemished skin, the way the stitch became tighter over her nipples. She was glad now she hadn’t thrown it away. This morning when she put it on and looked in the mirror, she noticed her body seemed to have a fresh ripeness to it. When her period had been more regular, there was always a time of the month when her breasts felt beautifully full, when she was quickly aroused. She hadn’t had a hot flush in days. Maybe her cycle was returning to normal. She could feel her estrogen rising.
Pulling her sunglasses down to hide under, she was in the perfect position to watch the notice board, and sporadically perve on Josh. Apart from the healthy mosquito population, Josh was the most entrancing feature of the island she had discovered so far. The class was over now and he was saying something to make the old women cackle. He dried himself, tied the towel around his waist, then, bare-chested, headed towards the ice-cream booth.
Marlise dragged her eyes from him to the notice board at the end of the jetty, where a small crowd of people gathered, including the dog owner’s lank-haired neighbour.
How perfect, just the woman I was hoping for. The thought tickled Marlise on the lips almost making her smile.
The group was chatting as they walked up the jetty, but Harley’s neighbour remained at the notice board.
Was she looking for his pathetic little threat?
Marlise appeared beside her, causing the woman to jump. ‘If you’re after the ad for the scooter, too late, I already bought it’. She gestured to the bike parked under the palm trees at the pool entrance.
‘Oh…I was just…seeing what was on the board.’ The woman went to walk away, her brown eyes darting everywhere.
‘I’m Marlise by the way.’ She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and held out her hand.
‘June.’ She shook Marlise’s hand. There was a jitteriness about the older woman Marlise found comforting.
‘You live next door to that poor man whose dog just died, don’t you?’
‘Harle
y. Yes. He’s a bit lost without Jip.’
‘I know what he’s going through. I lost my dog of fifteen years not so long ago. There’s a gaping hole in my life where a big bundle of love used to be.’
Relief flooded June’s face. ‘I’m so glad to hear that. I mean, I’m not glad your dog died I just…I’ll pass on your sympathies to Harley. He’s so upset you see…he…he’s convinced someone slipped Jip a bait.’
Marlise opened her mouth to portray shock. ‘That’s abominable. People who do that kind of thing should be hung, drawn and quartered. Who in their right mind would want to hurt a poor, innocent animal?’ She dished the clichés out, gratified by the ease with which the conversation was unfolding. ‘I was about to have a coffee by the pool. I don’t really know anyone here yet. Don’t suppose you’d have time for a coffee?’
‘I…have to pop across to the mainland…here’s my boat. Maybe next time?’ She started to walk down the jetty.
‘If I’m still here when you get back, come over.’ Marlise was making herself sick with the drivel pouring out of her mouth but was determined to talk further about Harley.
‘Okay. I will.’ June’s smile was contagious.
Marlise beamed back, hoping she would find out all she needed before the day was out.
When she returned to her banana lounge, the pool was empty. She waved to Josh in the ice-cream booth. He waved back, peeping over the top of his newspaper as she undid her sarong again. She stretched out and pulled her sunglasses over her face, watching him watch her, and felt sexy lying there with his eyes sliding over her body. She rolled over and released the strings across her back that held her top in place, then rested her head on her arms, aware that Josh would have a perfect view of the side of her breast.
The ferry arrived and left twice, with no sign of June.
She stood to face Josh, slowly lacing up her top, then turned and bent over her bag to search for her purse, giving Josh an eyeful of her backside. Her desire was palpable with him continually watching her. She dawdled towards the ice-cream booth, casually adjusting the crocheted triangles over each breast. ‘Hi.’
Beneath the Mother Tree Page 16