Cool Bananas

by Margaret Clark

  Kiev looked at Flick. It was as if an electric current passed between the two of them as Flick’s deep blue eyes met cornflower blue and were lowered in confusion.

  ‘Come with me, Flick,’ said Kiev urgently. ‘We need to talk.’

  ‘I can’t. I’ve got to serve in the store,’ said Flick, confused by the strange feeling that was reducing her bones to the consistency of wet spaghetti.

  ‘I’ll pay someone else to do it.’

  He looked round at the crowd and was about to beckon a girl aged about sixteen, but Flick clutched at his sleeve.

  ‘No. You don’t understand. Kay’s short-handed. One of the casuals hasn’t turned up and the other’s just learning. And I’ve got to act responsibly. I need this job to help pay for my uni course. I can’t just chuck it in and go off with you on the tour bus. This isn’t some corny TV script, this is real life.’

  They stared at each other. Then Kiev smiled into her troubled eyes.

  ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said, as he leapt up the steps.

  Flick stood there, rooted to the spot, as the bus trundled off. All round her the crowd shouted and waved but she was silent as she watched it round the bend and disappear from sight. Slowly, the crowd dispersed, some heading to the beach while others decided to get a cool drink, an ice-cream or a snack from the store.

  Mechanically, Flick moved through the door and into her familiar position behind the counter. The orders came thick and fast. Ham, cheese and avocado toasted multigrain. Five buckets of chips. Chicken salad, no onion. Hot dog and mustard sauce. Two meat pies and sauce. Fried flake and chips. Three fried dim sims and six potato cakes. Beef burger with the lot. On and on till Flick felt her head beginning to spin. And all the while Kiev’s words ringing in her ears. ‘I’ll be in touch.’

  How could he get in touch with her? She hadn’t even told him her proper name! She’d raved on about Liz, Kay and Coolini Beach. All he knew was that she was called Flick and worked in the Coolini Beach general store.

  She’d never experienced such a powerful magnetic attraction to anyone like that before. It was exciting. And scary. And she couldn’t understand it at all.

  Last night she’d been hugging Tim’s clothes, head over heels in love with him. How could she be in love with Tim and suddenly be crazy about Kiev Beauman whom she’d only met for about a hour all told? You couldn’t love two men at once, could you? Maybe it was just that she’d been swept off her feet by someone rich, handsome and famous. Flick groaned to herself. This was terrible!

  ‘I said “Three pies and two sausage rolls”, not the other way round,’ snapped a woman as Flick gave her the wrong order.

  ‘Fried flake, not a crumbed chicken burger,’ someone else complained.

  ‘Sorry.’ Flick turned and knocked over a milkshake that was waiting to be picked up off the counter and strawberry milk went sloshing all over a woman’s white dress.

  ‘Oh, sorry.’

  ‘And I suppose you’re going to pay for the dry cleaning?’

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ said Kay, when Flick dropped a ham and tomato sandwich and trod on it. ‘Pull yourself together!’

  This was a nightmare.

  Flick went into the coolroom for more tomatoes. On the way she passed Liz who was buttering bread furiously.

  ‘I saw you,’ hissed Liz.

  ‘Saw me what?’

  ‘Kissing Kiev.’

  ‘I didn’t. He kissed me.’

  ‘Well you didn’t seem to be trying to stop him. In fact, you looked like you were enjoying it.’ Liz’s green eyes flashed sparks of fury. ‘And remember, that’s my brother you were busy cheating on, you … you … two-timing bitch!’

  Flick’s mouth dropped open then closed again like a stranded fish gasping for air. Her best friend Liz calling her a bitch?

  Flick whirled away into the coolroom and rested her flaming cheeks on a box of peaches. How could she have let Kiev kiss her when she was supposed to be going with Tim? But worse, she’d liked it. His kiss had sent her blood pounding and her heart thumping like a techno machine. When Tim kissed her it was nice. Her heart went faster and she felt excited and happy, but when Kiev kissed her the whole world had stood still as if time had ceased to exist.

  Flick gave a little gasp. What if Kiev didn’t call her? He’d only left an hour ago and already she was pining for the sight of those deep magnetic blue eyes and his gentle smile.

  But he was Kiev Beauman, TV star. He could have any girl he wanted, so why should he want her, Felicity? Maybe he was just toying with her. Someone to try out his magnetic charms on to satisfy his ego.

  Tears rolled down Flick’s cheeks and dripped onto the tomatoes she was holding. Liz had called her a two-timing bitch. She hadn’t meant to be unfaithful to Tim in any way: the kiss had just happened.

  Sighing, Flick brushed the telltale streaks from her face, took a deep breath and came out of the coolroom. Angela gave her a filthy look as she passed her and muttered ‘Two-faced bitch’.

  Two-faced bitch? Angela played round with more boys than you could count on your fingers and toes at the same time.

  ‘If I’m a two-faced bitch then you’re a ten-times bitch,’ said Flick in a cool voice, and kept walking.

  Somehow she got through the rest of the afternoon without making any major mistakes. But the accusation of being a cheat and a two-timer really hurt. And there was guilt with the feeling too.

  Flick knew what it felt like to be cheated on. Before coming to Coolini Beach, she’d met Todd Newton at uni in Adelaide, and they’d been going out for nine months. Todd had told Flick she was the only girl for him, that he’d save up so they could live together and they’d eventually get married. But all the time he was saying this earnestly and gazing into her eyes, he was two-timing her with a girl from his home town out bush near the Flinders Ranges, whom he’d suddenly and inexplicably fallen for like a lightning-struck idiot.

  When she’d accidentally found love letters from the other girl stuffed in the glove box of his car, Flick had lost her temper, thrown him out of her flat, then packed her few belongings into her little red car and driven relentlessly towards Victoria. She’d wanted to get away from Todd and her feelings, but found that she’d taken her emotions with her.

  By the time Flick had finally driven through Mount Gambier and then along the bleak stretch of coast near Cape Otway, she’d run out of money. And she was exhausted She’d driven on through Apollo Bay hoping to reach Lorne and spend the night in a backpackers’ hostel, but the drive around the winding Great Ocean Road had taken longer than she’d anticipated. She’d pulled into Coolini Beach just as the sun was setting, and decided to get a pie and a coffee at the general store. When she’d seen the notice on the window saying there was a vacancy for a shop assistant, she’d thought about it for approximately three minutes then applied for and got the job.

  She’d been lucky because there was an old bus over in the caravan park owned by the ranger, so now that was her new home. Seventy dollars a week, and she’d paid up front for two weeks’ rent. It had a double bed, a single bed, fridge, table, sink, stove, bench, cupboards, wardrobe and TV. What more did she need? Kay always gave her leftover food to take back to the bus, the shower block was nearby, and the people around her in the village and the camping ground were friendly yet didn’t encroach into her space.

  She’d never told anyone at Coolini Beach why she didn’t want to go out on dates or have a permanent boyfriend. It was nobody’s business but her own as far as she was concerned. And there were no parents to check up on her either.

  In a way that was good, but in a way it was scary. She could disappear off the face of the earth and no one would care a fig. Mum was in America married to a photographer and living in New York. Flick had been there only once and hated it. And her stepfather was a slimy creep who couldn’t keep his hands to himself. But Mum was besotted and couldn’t see anything wrong with him.

  Dad was dead, killed in a car accident
. It had happened when Flick was sixteen, and she still woke up crying in the night after one of her nightmares about the accident.

  Flick was sure that her father’s insurance payout was the reason why Rolf had been attracted to Mum, but when she’d said this, Mum had screamed at her and slapped her face. Then when Mum had gone to New York to live, she’d told Flick’s sister Beth to keep an eye on the seventeen-year-old Felicity who was finishing her final exams before going to uni. Beth hadn’t worried too much about Flick. She was a sensible girl, very studious, and had a nice boyfriend. So Beth’d virtually left her alone in her small one-bedroom flat near the uni in Carlton.

  At least Dad’s will had included a clause that provided the money for her accommodation and further education, and Flick’d enjoyed her first year of arts/law, studying hard and daydreaming about being Todd’s live-in partner, helping him establish his law practice, maybe getting married and living happily ever after. So that dream had really exploded in her face when she found out Todd was cheating on her.

  Then she’d met Tim, just as she’d given up hope of ever trusting anyone again, and they’d been an item for two weeks. And here she was doing the same thing to Tim. Well, not quite — she’d only talked to Kiev, mainly about the habits of snakes, and had shared that brief kiss, but it was her emotions and feelings that were betraying the trust. Right now she was supposed to be in love with Tim, but the person she wanted desperately to be with was Kiev.

  Flick sighed. Soon she’d be nineteen, not that anyone except Liz and Tim knew. Her mother would forget, her aunts and uncles would forget and maybe she herself should forget, because she was acting like a love-sick thirteen-year-old. Even Liz was more mature.

  ‘Flick, can you show Sophie and Tania how to work the cappuccino machine?’ Kay’s voice broke into Flick’s thoughts.

  ‘Sure.’

  Flick was tired. She’d been on her feet without a break since eight, apart from that brief respite with Kiev in the courtyard. She pulled herself together and tried to concentrate as she showed them how to put the coffee in the attachment and press it down firmly before fitting it onto the machine, how to make the frothy hot milk, and how to clean out the used coffee grounds. She was struggling not to yawn. The surge of energy that had buoyed her up and kept her going had died, leaving her feeling drained and exhausted. Too much had happened too quickly.

  Tania was quick to learn and Sophie was as thick as two bricks. Flick made them both go through the procedure and produce a cappuccino each before she was satisfied they could work the machine. She knew Tania had grasped the idea but wasn’t sure whether Sophie would remember what to do fifteen minutes later.

  ‘Take a break,’ said Kay, noticing Flick’s white, strained face.

  Flick looked across at Liz. She would’ve liked a quick word, but Liz had her head down in the ice-creamery, busily scooping out a large serving of boysenberry to pile on a wafer.

  ‘Go.’ Kay gently steered her towards the door.

  Outside, the sun’s rays were searing hot as Flick strolled across the road and down the track that led to the beach. She was always fascinated by the sea and the beach, and never ceased to marvel at the changes she saw every day. Sometimes an easterly wind would bring in piles of thick kelp that would litter the beach like a herd of snoozing seals. Then the westerly would blow in and the kelp would be washed away with the tide, leaving the sand hard and smooth.

  Right now the sand was dotted with bodies sunbathing, kids playing, colourful beach umbrellas, abandoned surfboards and families having fun. A small bank of white fluffy clouds hung low on the horizon, looking like someone had flung heaps of shaving cream at the otherwise clear blue sky. Today the sea was turquoise, but in the afternoon it could look ultramarine blue, emerald green or even grey if the clouds came rolling in.

  Taking off her shoes, Flick decided to go for a walk round the point. She didn’t fancy getting caught up in the crowd scene: she needed to be alone to sort out her thoughts and feelings.

  She strode along the hard-packed sand, smiling and waving at the people she knew, but obviously wanting to be on her own. But of course, Boofa didn’t know that.

  Boofa was a big black dog that belonged to Brett, a permanent resident and mad-keen surfer. Being slightly crazy and exuberant with the joy of youth, Boofa was supposed to be locked up during the summer season because he liked to tear round and be everyone’s friend. And a lot of people didn’t appreciate getting leapt on and licked by a damp and sandy black dog.

  Boofa was a brilliant escape artist, however, and once free he would head straight for the camping ground, where there was food and kids. Boofa loved to play ball with anyone who was willing and heaps of kids usually were keen to oblige. When he’d finished visiting the tents, helping himself to food and playing ball, he would run down to the beach to see if he could spot Brett cracking a few waves. The dog catcher had picked him up a few times when people had complained and Brett had to pay the fines.

  ‘Oh no,’ said Flick, as Boofa bounded up. ‘You’re not supposed to be on the beach. You’ll get dog-napped by the ranger again if you’re not careful.’

  Boofa wagged his feathery black tail and looked at her with his long pink tongue hanging out.

  ‘Okay, you can come with me for a walk, but then I’m dropping you back at your place. And no arguments.’

  Boofa seemed pleased by this suggestion. He was tired and full of food and he wanted to go home and sleep it off, but of course he couldn’t lose face by going back of his own accord.

  So the big dog loped alongside Flick as she broke into a jog. She was physically, mentally and emotionally tired so it seemed stupid exerting herself even more, but maybe the jog would unscramble her confused brain.

  They crossed the creek and headed towards the smooth flat rocks. Rounding the point she saw a few kids fiddling about in the shallow rock pools while their parents fished off the rocks or read magazines. Boofa raced across to one boy who was squatting by a pool and nearly knocked him into it.

  ‘Boofa!’ yelled Flick. ‘Come back here.’

  The boy wasn’t frightened by the big dog. He gave Boofa a pat, and smiled at Flick.

  ‘Should you be here on your own?’ asked Flick, remembering that an arm had been washed up on the other point, and who knew what sort of weirdos could be lurking. In fact, without Boofa with her, she wouldn’t have come this far.

  ‘It’s all right. My uncle’s over there fishing.’

  Flick looked and couldn’t see anyone, but suddenly a man stood up and shaded his eyes with his hand as he gazed across at them. He’d been crouching down to bait his hook and she hadn’t noticed him. Recognising Flick he gave her a wave, and she waved back.

  ‘Look,’ said the boy. ‘There’s a crab in under this rock. See?’

  Flick and Boofa bent closer to have a look.

  ‘Don’t take him away from his home, will you,’ said Flick, as the boy tried to scoop up the crab in his bucket.

  ‘Why not? I’d like a pet crab. It’d be cool.’

  ‘Not for the crab,’ said Flick. ‘How would you like a giant to come along and scoop you out of your home and take you away from your family?’

  ‘It’d be scary.’

  ‘It’s scary for the crab.’

  ‘Oh!’ The boy peered into the pool. ‘You mean this crab’s got a mother and father and brothers and sisters? I can’t see them.’

  ‘They might be visiting another pool,’ said Flick.

  The boy sighed. ‘All right, then. He can stay here.’

  ‘That’s the right thing to do,’ said Flick. ‘When you come into the store, come and see me and I’ll shout you an ice-cream for being such a kind person, okay?’

  ‘Cool bananas.’

  ‘See you later.’

  Flick walked briskly round the next point. If only all problems were so easy to solve, life would be a breeze. Suddenly Boofa’s ears went up. He sniffed the air and then took off, running towards a large rocky out
crop.

  ‘Now what’s he found?’ said Flick to herself.

  She saw Boofa run to a high ledge and stop. Then he disappeared. Suddenly a flipper waved in the air and the next minute an indignant head poked over the ridge.

  ‘Woof, woof,’ barked the seal, baring its teeth at Boofa.

  The big black dog hurriedly retreated as the old bull seal swayed his head angrily, and then with a disdainful look at Boofa, settled down behind the rock again to do some more serious sunbaking.

  ‘He should put up a Do Not Disturb sign,’ Flick said as Boofa came scuttling back with his tail between his legs. ‘But that’ll teach you not to try and mess with bull seals that are bigger than you, won’t it. And maybe there’s a message in there for me too. Maybe I shouldn’t be messing with a dangerous good-looking male either, because I’ll probably get my heart torn to bits and I don’t need it happening again in my life.’

  ‘Woof,’ said Boofa, barking deeply and staring in the seal’s direction. ‘Woof.’

  ‘Oh, don’t start being all macho and trying to out-bark that seal. How about I take you home now? You’ve had a good walk and anyway, I have to get back to work. Come on, let’s go.’

  They headed for the base of the cliffs. Walking back along the main road would be quicker and Brett’s house was nearby. Taking off her belt, Flick slipped it through Boofa’s collar. Now he couldn’t pelt onto the road and get hit by a car, or dive into some bushes and get bitten by a snake. There was an overgrown track winding up the cliff face, so Flick let Boofa lead the way, which was great because he could help pull her along. They were making quite good progress when Boofa suddenly gave a lurch and the makeshift lead slipped out of Flick’s hand.

  ‘Boofa,’ yelled Flick, as he went crashing off into the bushes. ‘Come back here!’

  She could hear him rustling close by. Then suddenly he appeared with a blood-stained scarf in his mouth, dragging it along the ground, a cloud of blowflies buzzing round him.

  ‘What’s in there, Boofa?’

  Flick parted the bushes. What she saw made her reel back in horror.