by Ali Lewis
He nodded when I said the stuff again about the Pommie being useless, like he agreed with me, so I reckoned I was getting somewhere. I said how the Pommie wasn’t much good at anything, which meant Mum spent most of her time checking up on her – like when she put Sissy’s red socks in the washing machine with Mum’s white work shirts by accident. The Pommie said she was real sorry. Mum said she had to pay more attention to what she was doing. Dad reckoned it wasn’t the end of the world. He said we had to give her a chance to settle in. I said he should just fire her, but he held a hand up to me and said, ‘Leave it, Danny – I’ve got enough to think about without you bleating on about the bloody Pommie house girl.’
That night Mum got home from work and found the casserole the Pommie had made for dinner in the oven. That would have been OK, except she’d forgotten to switch the oven on. It took ages for the casserole to cook – it wasn’t ready until real late. That didn’t just annoy Mum – everyone was mad. We were all perishing by the time it was ready. Mum reckoned we were all too tired to eat it. The Pommie was real flustered. She said she was sorry about a hundred times as we ate in silence. No one answered. We were too busy eating. Eventually Mum looked at Dad and said, ‘Well, it’s not the end of the world, I suppose.’ Dad shook his head and said, ‘Not quite.’
I realised living at Timber Creek wasn’t like where the Pommie was from. When she came face-to-face with her first Blackfellas you’d think she’d spotted a spaceship. It was Davy Sugar, with Mick and Gil Smith. They’d called in to see Dad and to pick up a few things from the shop. Mum and Dad run a little shop at the station, just for the Blackfellas to use on their way to and from Marlu Hill and Warlawurru. They sell all kinds of stuff. Dad says it’s just for essentials. They sell cans of Coke, bread, soap, tins of veggies, burgers, ketchup, lollies, cigarettes, bullets, biscuits, toothpaste, toilet paper – just the usual stuff. Anyway, Davy, Mick and Gil were the Pommie’s first customers, and I don’t think they thought the service was that good.
When they all went to the shop, it was locked so they came to the house to find someone to open it. When the Pommie saw them, she didn’t know what to do. I was inside getting a drink of water so I said I’d show her. Mick, Gil and Davy all followed us over to the shop. Gil was a bit like Mick’s shadow. He walked just like his dad and he was about the same size and shape. I guess Mick was a pretty fit, strong fella in his day. Davy looked pretty short and kind of fat next to them.
Mick wore a hat – like a whitefella’s hat, a bit like Dad’s. He had a big, white beard and had a shirt and jeans on. Gil had a hat on too, but not like Mick’s. He was wearing one of those beanies and he had on his usual T-shirt and jeans. It looked like the T-shirt was from an op shop, or something. It was real faded. On the front you could just make out the words Midnight Oil.
Davy was different. He was always scruffy and he smelled funny, kind of like smoke and sweat, or something.
Mick didn’t say much. Dad reckoned Mick was an economical fella. He said Mick didn’t move unless he needed to. I guess he didn’t speak unless he needed to either. Davy was real friendly, but he kind of mumbled, so sometimes it was hard to hear what he said. He always did the talking when they were together. Mick just kept real quiet, except for saying g’day, of course.
Gil nodded at me and asked how it was going. I said I was OK and asked how he was. He walked over to the door and had a look around outside, like he was looking for something. As he walked back to the counter he noticed me watching him and he smiled a real big, toothy grin, so I smiled back. Jonny and Gil had been pretty good mates until Jonny went to boarding school. After that they didn’t see so much of each other – just when it was the school holidays. They’d go off together – I dunno really what they did. Jonny didn’t want me around if Gil was there. I hadn’t seen him for a while. His hair had got long. I could see it poking out from the bottom of the hat, so he looked a bit like a surfer.
Gil nodded at Liz, as if to say who’s the sheila? That reminded me that she was there. I told them Liz was our new Pommie house girl. She held out her hand for them to shake. Mick and Gil didn’t say anything. Davy looked at the Pommie’s hand and then back at her, before he shook it. She said, ‘Pleased to meet you.’ That made me laugh. I dunno why, just that no one else ever spoke like that, I guess. Davy asked if Liz was from London, so she explained she was from somewhere south of London. He didn’t know where that was, so he just got on with asking for what he wanted to buy from the shop.
Davy asked for everybody jam, but he had to say it a couple of times because we couldn’t hear him. The Pommie had found out what everybody jam was after she set fire to the kitchen, so that wasn’t any trouble. Then he asked for four cigarettes. The Pommie gave him four packs because she didn’t know we sold them separately. Davy got scared he was going to have to pay for four packs, but I sorted it out. Then he asked for a tin of mince, but the Pommie thought he said dinner mints – whatever they are. Then he wanted some bread and a kangaroo tail. The Pommie thought that was a joke until I showed her where we keep them in the freezer.
Davy said they’d stop off to see Dad and the fellas at West Rise. That was the water hole they were working at. Gil nodded at me as they left and said, ‘See ya around, Danny.’ They all got back in Mick’s beaten-up, old red saloon, which was covered in dust from the desert. The exhaust threw loads of black smoke out as they drove away, making us cough a bit.
When we walked back to the house the Pommie made such a fuss about them, I asked her, don’t you have Blackfellas in England? She said they did, but not like ours. She said the ones in England originally came from Africa or Jamaica – something to do with slavery. She said in England they had Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Africans, Arabs, Thais, Turks – everything, except Aborigines. I guessed that was what Bobbie meant when she said England was pretty crowded compared to Australia. That must have been why no Aborigines went there.
The Pommie asked me about Mick and Davy, so I told her about when Dad was a kid he used to go off with them, hunting kangaroo. I liked those stories. She was amazed by all that. I told her how Davy and Mick sometimes stayed at Cockatoo Creek Dam when life wasn’t Aboriginal enough in Warlawurru and Marlu Hill. Dad said he didn’t mind because they were decent fellas and the station’s sixteen-hundred square miles of desert, so there was enough room for us all. He put a water tank out there for them once, but one night they got real drunk and shot holes in it, so all the water ran out. The dumb Pommie smiled at that, but no one else thought wasting water was funny. I told her Dad was real angry about it, he didn’t speak to Mick for a while after that. Then one day Mick showed up at the station. He’d been out in the desert, hunting or something, and he’d noticed we had a problem with one of the boreholes. I had to explain to the Pommie how we get water from under the ground by drilling boreholes – we pump it out for the cattle. Anyway, if there’s a problem, it can be real serious. Dad didn’t know anything had gone wrong, so he was glad Mick had called in. Mick reckoned he’d give Dad a hand to fix it and afterwards they had a couple of bottles of the home brew in the garden together. I guess they were mates again after that. I liked Mick.
The Pommie and me were back inside the house then. As she got out the ironing board, she said, ‘So Mick’s a neighbour too?’ I told her the Crofts were our neighbours, not Mick. Mick just hung around in the desert when he got sick of things at home in Warlawurru. He didn’t have a house in the desert, so he wasn’t really a neighbour.
Sometimes Gil came with his dad. When Gil was little, Mick brought him to the station to play with Jonny. Mum reckoned Mick only did it because he wanted someone to baby-sit Gil. She said she felt sorry for Gil, being dragged about the desert with his dad and the other Blackfellas. Gil’s mum wasn’t around. She’d been killed in a car crash when Gil was little. Gil was in the car too – Mum reckoned it was a miracle he wasn’t killed as well. The car hit a tree a few yards off the Tanami Road. No one knows how it happened. Maybe a big red ran
out onto the road, or a wild horse, or something. Gil doesn’t remember it – he was too little. Anyway, I reckon that’s why Mum let him come to play.
I tried to remember when I’d last seen Gil. I reckoned it was probably during the Christmas holidays when he called in a few times. Last I heard, he’d got a job at the shop in Warlawurru.
That night, while Mum was in the dining room, looking at the books for the station, I asked her why we needed the Pommie when she didn’t know anything about anything. Mum just said the Pommie would be fine once she’d got the hang of it. I asked how long that would take, but Mum didn’t know. I said I reckoned it would take for ever and that we should just fire her, like when Dad fired Olive Fish. She was the old govvie we’d had before Bobbie came. Miss Fish didn’t last long. She didn’t like us kids one bit – especially Jonny. She said he was a hooligan. We all reckoned she had a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock. I told Mum I reckoned the Pommie was the same. That was when Mum lost her rag and shouted, ‘For God’s sake, Daniel. Enough. Can’t you see I’m busy?’ I went to my room and decided I’d have to teach the Pommie a lesson.
Eight
Not long after that we found a mulga in the school room – that’s a kind of poisonous snake, some people call it a king brown. It was only a baby so Bobbie got a spade and hacked its head off. Afterwards, we all had a good look at it. It was only small, but it could kill you. After it was dead I picked it up and asked Bobbie if I could keep it. Bobbie asked what for, but I just shrugged, I didn’t want to give the game away. I guess Bobbie didn’t care what happened to the snake after it was dead, so she told us all to sit back in our places and get on with our work.
I reckon the whole of the Territory heard the Pommie’s scream that night, when she pulled back her sheets and found the headless mulga in her bed. We all ran out of the house to see what had happened. The Pommie was pressed up against the wall inside her room, scared to death, shouting, ‘There’s a snake in my bed!’ Bobbie was there. She took one look and knew straight away what had happened. Dad, Elliot and Lloyd were all ready to kill whatever it was they thought was attacking the girls. Dad had his pyjamas on and was carrying a rifle. Lloyd was only wearing his boxer shorts, but at least he had a baseball bat. Elliot must have been asleep when the Pommie screamed because he was holding a boot – I guess it was the first thing he’d found in the dark. When they realised what had happened Lloyd and Elliot shook their heads and wandered back to their demountable. I guess they didn’t know whether to be annoyed about being woken up, or glad they hadn’t come face to face with a mad axe murderer.
Dad looked at the Pommie and then at me and said, ‘Is this your handwork?’
I nodded and laughed real loud and said, ‘Gotcha, Liz!’
The Pommie was still pretty freaked out I guess. She was holding her chest and shook her head. Dad picked up Emily and carried her back to the house. Mum reckoned we’d had enough excitement for one night and we all had to go back to bed. She said, ‘You OK, Liz?’ as we all left. The Pommie nodded, but I could tell she was scared. I wondered how long she’d stick it at Timber Creek. The next day at brekkie we all laughed about it. I couldn’t believe it when the Pommie smiled. She said she reckoned that while she was at Timber Creek, she’d have to learn to sleep with one eye open.
A couple of days after that, the fellas were working near the station, castrating some bulls so I was real pleased. It meant I could have a ball fight. I went on my motorbike with a bucket to get some of the balls. They were pretty squishy, kind of horrible, like something out of a horror movie. I picked up almost a whole bucketful. Elliot helped me. He’d joined in with me and Jonny once when we had a ball fight at the yards. It was the best.
I drove back to the station with the bucket hanging from the handlebars. My hands were real sticky. When I got back to the house, Emily was in the garden, I could see her running around on the other side of the washing line where there were a couple of sheets hanging out to dry. It was perfect – the sheets meant she might not see me coming, so I could throw a couple of the balls at her without her even knowing I was there.
One hit her on the chest, leaving a real ugly, bloody mark, like she’d been shot, or something. She looked down and after the initial shock she laughed and pretended to collapse onto the ground in pain. We both laughed at that. She chased after me and tried to grab some of the balls. We chased each other round the garden, throwing the balls. We hid behind the washing on the line and jumped out at each other, I used one of the plastic chairs as a shield when I ran out of ammunition. I held it over my head as I searched the ground looking for balls we’d already used, so I had some to throw back at Emily.
Playing with Emily wasn’t as good as it was with Sissy or Jonny. She didn’t throw very well and she couldn’t run very fast either, so it was easy to get her. I’d just made a perfect shot, which hit her right on the back, covering her in blood and slime, when the Pommie came round the corner from the side of the house. We hadn’t heard her coming so when she shouted, ‘What happened?’ It took us a minute to understand what she was talking about. I guess seeing Emily and me covered in blood was bad enough, but then I noticed we’d accidentally got a bit on some of the washing too. ‘Look at what you’ve done!’ she shouted. Emily and me were laughing at first, but then I guess we both knew we were in trouble.
The Pommie threw the laundry basket she was carrying on the ground. As she got closer to the white sheets and had a good look at the dirty marks she said, ‘Is this blood?’ She noticed one of the balls on the ground then and bent down to look at it. That’s when she said, ‘What is this?’ Emily told her it was a ball. I reckoned the Pommie was probably thinking we meant a cricket ball, or something, so I said it was a bull’s ball, just so she understood. She looked real shocked then and said, ‘A what?’ Then her face changed again and she smiled and said, ‘Oh no. No way – nice try, but you’re not going to get me this time. Very funny. Not falling for it, though.’ She reckoned it was another joke.
Emily looked at me and then back at the Pommie like she’d gone mad. I opened my sticky hand and showed the Pommie the ball I was holding. I pointed at a few of the others on the ground around us and said I’d been to get them because the fellas were castrating bulls. I guess the Pommie still wasn’t sure but she came closer to where I was to get a better look at what was in my hand. I guess then she knew we were telling the truth. Her eyes filled up with water and she shook her head. She said something like disgusting … but I guess she didn’t know what to say next because she just turned round and walked away. Emily ran after her and I heard her say, ‘Are you crying, Liz?’
The Pommie started to run then. I looked at the bed sheets and the bloody marks on them and I felt kind of funny. I didn’t know what to do. I guess we’d made a load more work for her, but there was no need to cry about it. It was just ball blood.
The fun had kind of gone out of the ball fight then. I went into the kitchen – there was no one around, so I reckoned I’d make myself a beef sandwich. I carried the plate into my room so no one would see me eating it. Mum never liked us eating between meals. When I opened the door to my room I saw what the Pommie’d done to Jonny’s stuff and that’s when I really kicked off.
She’d been cleaning in our room.
Nine
Mum had told the Pommie to wash my bed sheets that morning at brekkie. Mine. Not Jonny’s. But she was so stupid – she’d stripped and washed them both! Not only that, she’d pulled everything out from under Jonny’s bed too. She’d taken all the books he’d slipped under there just before he switched the light off to go to sleep, and put them on the shelves with the others. She’d reorganised the plastic boxes of cars and games so the lids clicked shut. She’d even swept all his soldiers – the ones he’d painted – off the top of the night stand where he’d left them to dry. I dropped the plate I was carrying and it broke. The beef sandwich landed upside down and left a greasy skid mark on the floor. I hadn’t had chance to touch Jon
ny’s picture that morning. Things always went wrong if I didn’t touch it.
I ran back into the empty dining room and looked out of the glass doors. That’s when I realised the sheets outside covered in ball blood were ours. Both sets of sheets were fluttering on the line. They looked pale in the bright sunshine, the brown, bloody marks all over them from the ball fight made them look like injuries, or something. I pushed the doors open and felt the heat of the afternoon steal my breath. I ran straight out into the garden and grabbed at the sheets. I yanked them off the line, dragged them into the house. I could hear a tap running in the bathroom, so I went in there. That’s where the Pommie was, leaning over the sink, splashing water on her face. My face was burning and my chest felt tight, even when I breathed out. When the Pommie realised I was stood behind her, I started to shake. I had all sorts to say, but everything I needed to tell her felt feathery, flying round in my head. She’d ruined everything. She had no business touching Jonny’s things. No one was allowed to touch them. It all had to stay exactly where he’d left it. But when I opened my mouth, all I heard was, ‘You stupid cow, you washed Jonny’s sheets!’
She looked at me, with the water dripping off her chin and a look on her face like I’d got a kangaroo loose in the top paddock. That’s when I realised she didn’t even know who Jonny was; no one had bothered to tell her. So then I hated Mum and Dad for forgetting about him, as well as her for ruining our bedroom. I started to blub a bit and as I ran to my room, I hoped Jonny couldn’t see everything from heaven.