Crown Park

by Des Hunt

He turned to check on Chainsaw. The cat was now in the attack position, smiling in anticipation. At least he was ready. Maybe it would work after all.

  Then Boris was there, coming around the bend.

  Morris gave a cry of alarm.

  Instantly, the adzebill stopped, just as planned. Except he’d stopped too short. Morris’s cry had messed it up.

  Chainsaw couldn’t jump that far.

  More adzebills came around the bend and stopped behind their leader. Nothing was said. No order given, nor any signal. Their leader had stopped so they did.

  Boris stayed still, except for his eyes which were scanning either side of the path. They settled on Morris, which brought another cry from the terrified moho.

  Then Boris lifted his foot as if to take a step.

  Chainsaw rocked back, getting set to leap.

  But Boris had second thoughts and went back to scanning the edges of the forest.

  Chainsaw lost patience. He crept along the branch to get closer to the adzebills. Jack nodded his approval. If Chainsaw could move another couple of metres he’d be within range. The trouble was that the branch narrowed towards the end. It might not hold the weight.

  It didn’t. As soon as Chainsaw stopped moving, it snapped.

  Cat and branch crashed to the ground.

  Jack screamed.

  Boris never flinched. He called out a command, and three adzebills rushed towards the struggling cat. One went for the neck, with the other two each grabbing a front leg. Soon Chainsaw was being dragged along the path on his back.

  By then Jack was out of his hiding place and on the path. He tried to run after the adzebills, but his body refused. His lungs had no air, his legs no energy. He checked to see what was happening behind. Godfrey was struggling to free his foot from under a root. Fluoro had made it to the path, but was now collapsed on the ground. Beyond him, Jack got a glimpse of Morris cowering in the bushes.

  Turning to the adzebills, Jack saw that more of them had hold of Chainsaw and they were dragging him around the bend. The only one facing up the track was Boris. He looked more evil than ever. Jack staggered forward hoping that his body would respond. But all energy had gone and he fell to the ground.

  He lifted his head to see that Boris was still there, staring. After a while, the bird turned to follow the rest of the pack, and soon he too was gone.

  That’s when Jack’s world collapsed. The sky lit up with flashing lights, the air filled with sound. Pain shot through his head. He covered his ears, but still the sound got through. The flashing got brighter and the noise louder until his whole head seemed like it would explode.

  Then, after an ear-splitting crack, there was silence. The flashing lasted for a while longer, getting dimmer all the time, until that too went, and left Jack feeling nothing at all.

  Chapter 17

  Jack opened his eyes to a noiseless world. Some light had returned — an eerie green light that seemed to form no shadows. He was lying on a surface that vibrated and rocked back and forth. When he tried to raise his arms they wouldn’t move.

  The adzebills have got me. They’re taking me back to their camp.

  That idea soon went when a face appeared overhead. It was a human female wearing a uniform of some sort. A nurse?

  Her lips moved, but Jack heard nothing. Strangely, that didn’t worry him as much as it should have. It was better not to hear than to have the pain come back.

  It worried the nurse, though. She half turned and spoke to someone who moved forward and leant over him. Jack smiled. At last something that made some sense. It was his mum.

  “Hi, Mum,” he said. Or that’s what he thought he said. The noise he heard was a couple of croaks.

  The nurse removed a breathing mask from his face.

  “Hi, Mum,” he said again. His mother’s face lit up with a beaming smile of relief. She bent over and gave him a hug. The nurse looked relieved too as she replaced the breathing mask.

  After that they left him alone.

  The second time he opened his eyes, he could make out more of his surroundings. He was lying on a trolley beside a helicopter. That’s what had been vibrating. He’d had his first trip in a helicopter and hadn’t known about it.

  He was wheeled into a building and through a maze of corridors until he was parked near other people on trolleys. He looked around for Fluoro.

  His mother came alongside. “Where’s Fluoro?” he asked.

  She answered, but he heard nothing. Now he began to worry. How could he find out about Fluoro and Chainsaw if he couldn’t hear what people said? How could he find out about anything?

  His mother saw his distress and called to a nurse. She nodded and hurried off. Ages later a man arrived with a whiteboard. After Jack’s mask was removed, the man began writing.

  “Can you hear anything?”

  “No!”

  “When you talk can you hear anything?”

  “Just croaks.”

  The man smiled and wrote, “You haven’t turned into a frog, have you?”

  “More like a tuatara.” That got everyone smiling.

  “We’ll do something about that,” wrote the man. “We have to do some tests and take some scans. Do you understand?”

  Jack nodded. After that the man left.

  The next 24 hours made little sense to Jack. There were pills, injections, machines, sleep, more pills, more sleep, and finally a room with very bright lights. He knew it was an operating theatre and that they were going to do something to his ears. Later, he would remember the anaesthetist making him count her fingers from one to ten, except he only got to four.

  His next memory was waking up on a trolley. The same man as before was with him, except he no longer had the whiteboard.

  “Can you hear me?” asked the man.

  Jack was so shocked by what he heard, that he didn’t answer. His eyes went wide in surprise.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” said the man, smiling. “Sounds different, doesn’t it.”

  Different! To Jack it was as if he had just got a new sense. He’d never heard words so clearly before.

  “I can’t believe it.” Even his own voice sounded different.

  “For the first time in your life, you’re hearing the way other people do,” said the man. “You were born with a fault in both ears. A part that we call the round window didn’t form properly. As you grew, it got worse. Then the stress of being asphyxiated stopped it working completely. But it’s all fixed now and you should never have the problem again. That’s as long as you take it easy over the next few weeks and give everything the time to heal.”

  His dad and mum visited him that evening. By then he knew it was Tuesday and he was in Waikato Hospital.

  Dave tried to hide his emotions when he greeted his son, but it was clear that he’d been greatly affected by what had happened.

  “You gave us a bit of a shock, boy.”

  “I thought you were brain damaged,” said Anna.

  “But no more than usual, eh?” said Dave.

  Jack smiled. He knew the joke was his dad’s way of coping with difficult emotions. “You both sound so different. Everything’s so clear.”

  “That’ll make a difference at school,” said Anna.

  “That’s what your teacher said,” added Dave.

  Jack looked up in surprise. “You’ve visited Ms Finch?”

  Dave nodded. “Yeah! Told them what had happened. Had a talk with the principal too. Sorted some things out. Everything’ll be sweet from now on.”

  Jack wasn’t so sure about that. Nothing could be sweet with Liam Bennett still around. But now was not the time to mention that. Instead he asked, “What happened to Fluoro?”

  His parents gave each other puzzled looks. “Who?” they asked.”

  “Fluoro, the man who was in Crown Park with me.”

  That seemed to make more sense to them.

  “Ah,” said Anna, “Professor Rackman.”

  Now it was Jack’s turn to say
, “Who?”

  “Professor Rackman. He was the man in funny clothes. The one you saved.”

  “I saved him?”

  Both parents nodded. “You’re a bit of a hero,” said his dad. “You discovered him lying on the ground and started screaming for help. Don’t you remember?”

  “I remember screaming. But nothing else.”

  “A girl called Melissa heard your screams,” said his mum. “She called one-one-one. Then she dragged you out of the gases, but couldn’t shift Professor Rackman. Luckily the hospital is close, or you could both have died.”

  “Is Fluo … Professor Rackman OK?”

  “Yes. There seems to be no lasting damage. I think he’s already been discharged from hospital.”

  Jack thought about that for a while. How much should he tell them? Not everything. They won’t understand. But there was something he needed an answer to. “Was a cat also rescued?”

  Again his parents gave each other a puzzled look. “A cat? What’s a cat got to do with it?” asked Dave.

  “The professor had a cat,” Jack replied. “A big tabby one like Magic in my book.”

  Anna shook her head. “No one said anything about a cat. Why, is it important?”

  “No,” he replied, quietly. “I just wondered.”

  But it was important, and after they’d left, Jack lay worrying about Chainsaw. While many of the things he remembered were pretty muddled, one memory was clear as anything. That was the image of Chainsaw being dragged away by the adzebills. It still seemed so real. Real enough that he felt sure it had happened. He was certain that his friend was dead. And the only person to blame for that was Jack Stewart.

  Chapter 18

  On Wednesday afternoon, Jack was transferred by ambulance to Taupo Hospital.

  From the nurses he heard that Professor Rackman had been discharged on Tuesday evening. He’d gone back to Auckland where he lived.

  Jack was disappointed. There were so many things he wanted to ask Fluoro. Things that only he could answer. Now that wasn’t going to happen. Jack didn’t want his last contact with the man to be that disastrous attack on the moho. Somehow there had to be more.

  His parents visited him again that evening. It was not an easy visit. Jack couldn’t keep his mind on the conversation.

  “Are you worrying about something?” asked his mum.

  “Is it that cat?” said his father. “The one you mentioned last night?”

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “I’m just worried about him. He was so much like Magic.”

  “Probably the professor took him home.”

  His mother touched his arm. “Would you like to have a cat?”

  Jack nodded.

  “You’d have to feed it and clean up its mess.”

  “And it’ll have to be desexed,” added his father. “Or there’ll be kittens everywhere.”

  Jack burst out laughing. It was just like the conversation he’d imagined Chainsaw having with his mum.

  His parents laughed too. Happy because their son was happy.

  It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon that Jack got some answers to his questions. Melissa visited on her way to work. She sat beside his bed and in a quiet voice told him about the rescue.

  “There was so much steam in the park. It was more than I’d ever seen before. Then I heard these screams. I knew straight away it was you. I had to use the light from my phone to find you because it was so dark in there. As soon as I saw Fluoro I rang one-one-one. By then you’d stopped screaming. It took me three goes to get you out. I kept running out of breath and had to go back up to the top. I tried to shift Fluoro, but he was too heavy. Fortunately the ambulance arrived when it did or he’d have died. One of the paramedics reckoned that you were conscious longer because you were closer to the entrance and could still get a bit of oxygen. Just as well you did or…” She gave a little shiver. “I don’t like thinking about that.”

  “Did you see Chainsaw?”

  Melissa lowered her head. “No,” she whispered.

  “Have you seen him since?”

  She shook her head.

  Jack could tell she was holding something back. “Tell me!” he said.

  She took a deep breath. “I was worried about him and put a note in the shop window asking if anyone had seen a big tabby cat. Well, this old lady came in yesterday and said there had been one run over on Crown Road. I went and had a look, but by then… Well… By then a lot of cars had run over it. It was hard to tell, but it was big enough to be Chainsaw and the fur was the right colour.” She shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry Jack, but I think it was him. He never was careful when crossing the road.”

  Jack was silent for some while. He’d thought it might be like that. Every time something terrible had happened on one of their trips, something had also happened in real time. It wasn’t strange that Chainsaw’s body would turn up on a road in modern Taupo.

  His thoughts were broken by Melissa squeezing his arm.

  “Well, that’s got rid of the bad news. Do you want to hear the good stuff?”

  Jack forced a smile. “There’s good news?”

  “Oh yes! Very good news.” Melissa paused for dramatic effect. “Yesterday afternoon Dad had some visitors while he was off duty.”

  This time Jack gave a real smile. “The Bennett brothers,” he said.

  Melissa’s jaw dropped. “How did you know?”

  Jack shrugged. “I guessed.”

  “Well then, can you guess what they did?”

  “You tell me.”

  “They dumped five black rubbish bags on the front lawn. The things stank! They’d had them soaking in water. Dad watched them from the window. He expected them to try and run off once they’d dumped the stuff. But they didn’t. They came to the door and rang the bell. When Dad answered, they handed him a box and asked where the treasure was.”

  By then Jack was laughing.

  Melissa turned on him. “You knew this would happen, didn’t you.”

  Jack flicked his eyebrows.

  “Did you and Fluoro set it up?”

  He shrugged. “What happened then?”

  “Well, Dad asked them inside and opened the box. There was lots of crazy stuff inside. Like toy windmills which they’d taken off graves at the cemetery. A Canadian flag from a motel down at the lakefront. Some tee markers they’d stolen from the golf course. And other stuff. A few bits had been reported, most hadn’t.”

  “Was there a GPS navigator?”

  “Yeeesss,” said Melissa, slowly.

  “Fluoro had one,” said Jack. “The Bennett boys must’ve taken it.”

  “That and a Blackberry phone were the only two things of any value.”

  “Did your father arrest them?”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” said Melissa. “He told them who he was, and said he’d be meeting with their parents to discuss what would happen.”

  Jack was disappointed. He’d wanted them arrested and locked up.

  “Dad went and saw the parents last night,” continued Melissa. “And guess what?”

  “They’re going to tell them they’re naughty boys and to never do it again?” suggested Jack.

  Melissa gave a smug shake of her head. “Nope!” Again the dramatic pause. “They’re sending them away from town. Brian signed out of school today. Word is they’re going to Coromandel to live with an aunty who’s going to sort them out.” She gave a big grin. “They’ll be gone by this weekend. From now on Taupo will be a much nicer place for everyone.”

  Jack closed his eyes, breathing slowly and deeply. This was better than being arrested. This was perfect.

  Chapter 19

  That night Jack decided to go looking for Chainsaw back at the time of the eruption. After lights went out in the ward, he lay in his bed emptying his mind of its clutter. There was so much of it: annoyance at Fluoro for not staying around to see him, and fear for Chainsaw.

  Piece by piece the clutter went and a scene formed in his mind.
It was the path beneath the tree, and Chainsaw was being held by the adzebills. But nothing was happening. The image was a freeze-frame. No matter how much Jack tried he couldn’t make the movie play. It was stuck on that one disturbing view.

  In the end he gave up and tried to sleep. That also didn’t work. He had found out that perfect hearing has its drawbacks. Every snore, grunt and gurgle from the sleeping patients came through loud and clear. To Jack it was like being in the middle of a noisy factory. Now, he didn’t want to empty his mind, he wanted to fill it with thoughts to block out the noise. But the only thoughts that came were the ones he didn’t want.

  When sleep did come, it was long and deep. The ward was alive and working when he woke. His father was standing by his bed.

  Jack blinked as if it might still be part of his sleep. “You’re early.”

  “Thought you’d want to hear the news,” replied Dave.

  “What news?”

  “About the truck.”

  “What truck?”

  “I’m buying my own rig.”

  “You’ve got enough money!”

  “No. But Professor Rackman, Mike, is lending us the rest. He came around last night and made the offer. It’s his way of rewarding the family for what you did. He reckons he wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t saved him. So he’s lending us the money at next to no interest.”

  “Does that mean you won’t both have to work all the time?”

  Dave nodded. “Yep! That and many other things are going to change. This is the start of a new life for our family, Jack. And most of it is thanks to you.”

  The stitches under Jack’s ears were removed later in the morning. Then there were some hearing tests. Everything was OK. The doctor told him to take things easy for the next couple of weeks and then signed his discharge. He could go home in the afternoon when his mother arrived.

  After that there was nothing for Jack to do, except lie in bed and try to make sense of all the stuff his father had said. One thing in particular bugged him: if Fluoro was in town then why hadn’t he come to see him? It was almost as if he was avoiding a meeting. Maybe now that he was Professor Rackman, he had no time for a boy. Perhaps he was embarrassed about the things they had done. Jack wished he had some way of contacting the man. Unless they did another trip together, Jack would never know the truth about Chainsaw.