Barefoot Kids

by Steve Hawke

  ‘Yes. What are you getting at Janey?’

  ‘Well, if we could prove that there is a burial site, and that he removed the bones so that the Planning Department wouldn’t know it’s a burial site — would that be what you call an abuse of process?’

  Flick’s brow furrows as she thinks this over. ‘Blimey girl! You could have something there. You still need the evidence though. We know he’s done all this stuff, but unless we can prove it, I don’t know that it will make a difference.’

  33

  BUDDY BEATS JANEY and the Pearsons back home, and when they arrive everyone is abuzz with the news of Georgie’s extraordinary intervention, trying to decide what to make of it.

  Flick gives her assessment, plus news of Graham’s gossip from the bankers. Seeing the distress in Buster’s eyes, she tries to talk up the idea of a legal challenge based on Janey’s idea. But Tom is dismayed at the thought of having to give evidence in court, and everyone realises that he would not exactly be a star witness.

  ‘Me and Buddy were witnesses too,’ says Dancer.

  ‘I know,’ Flick says, ‘but — and excuse me saying this, but it’s cards on the table time — his lawyer would roast Buddy in court. What about this Horse character? If I could get him in the witness box, I bet I could break him down.’

  ‘You might,’ says Ally, ‘but he’s a stubborn bugger that one.’

  No-one rules out the idea as a last resort strategy, but nor does anyone feel confident about it. There is also the spectre of a full-on court battle bringing forth charges against Buddy for the fire and Janey for the break-in at the Bay View.

  The talk circles around the resort plans, injunctions and committees, until Teoh Tom interjects, ‘He want them diamonds more’n anythin’. He got that madness.’

  ‘I don’t think he knows we’ve already got them,’ says Buddy. ‘From the way Georgie was talking, he just seems to think I know how to find them.’

  And so it goes, backwards and forwards, and nothing seems right.

  Until Buster speaks.

  ‘You’re all waitin’ for me to say, aren’t you.’ He looks slowly around the circle of faces. ‘I’m s’posed to give the word. Well I don’t know. I’m sittin’ here, listenin’ to everyone, everythin’, every idea, and I don’t know.

  ‘One thing keeps goin’ round and round in my mind. These kids. They’re the ones been leadin’ the way, ever since this all started. Every step. Not me. Not them other lawmen, not you and all your brothers Eddie.’

  He points to Jimmy. ‘Jiir been speak to this one.’

  He puts a hand on Janey’s knee. ‘She’s the one been stand up to Big Al, and she been bring you three in to stand alongside us.’ He nods to the Pearsons.

  ‘Tich and Buddy, they the ones been lead me and Bella to our daddy.

  ‘And this boy Dancer, he’s the rock, he holds them other four together, keeps ’em straight.

  ‘They been singin’ for us, fightin’ for us, leadin’ us every step of the way. I don’t know meself. I can’t say what to do this time. I reckon these kids should say.

  ‘I reckon we should all stop now. Let ’em sleep. Let ’em dream, if any dreams come. Let ’em talk tomorrow, without us mob rumblin’ round ’em like thunder clouds.’

  He looks around the circle again.

  ‘That’s my word.’

  He gets up and walks across the yard to Bella’s house.

  Next morning, Little Joe pulls up at the end of the track. ‘Just check the reception on that phone,’ he tells Janey.

  ‘Three bars,’ she answers. ‘It’ll be okay.’ She puts Flick’s mobile back in her pocket and gets out to join the others.

  The kids have said they need to do this down at the shack. Everyone agrees that with Big Al having made his approach he is unlikely to do anything dangerous this morning, but Janey has promised to ring at the first sign of trouble. Little Joe watches them for a moment as they traipse up towards the shack. ‘Good luck,’ he calls.

  They settle on the verandah, eyes turning to Janey.

  ‘Any dreams Jimmy?’ she asks.

  ‘None that are any help.’

  ‘I had a dream about being in jail,’ says Buddy.

  ‘I don’t see how that could mean anything,’ Janey comments.

  ‘I’m not saying it does. But last night, when I was trying to get to sleep, I kept on thinking about how Georgie said Big Al reckons he’s got evidence against me.’

  ‘We’ve been through all that with Flick,’ Janey reassures him. ‘There isn’t any evidence.’

  ‘Don’t you remember what he did with you? He just made it up about that five hundred bucks. He can do the same thing to me can’t he?’

  This silences everyone for a while, until Buddy speaks again. ‘He’s got no idea how many diamonds there are, does he?’

  ‘Depends how much his father told him,’ Dancer points out.

  ‘Even then, he’d only have a rough idea. You know what we could do. We could give him half of them, or most of them even, but keep some back. I’d be off the hook on the fire, Dad would get the block, plus the reward money, plus the ones we keep. We could do anything. We’d have money to build a house. Your school fees Janey. New cars. Anything. We’d be rich.’

  Buddy is getting excited as he paints this picture in his mind, and it strikes a chord with Jimmy. ‘Just imagine the gear we could get for the band!’ But it fizzles out as he sees the solemn faces of the others.

  Janey brings them back to earth. ‘It’s a great idea Buddy, except for one thing. What about Jiir? Georgie didn’t say anything about him offering to stop the resort. If he did that, he could have the damn diamonds as far as I’m concerned.’

  ‘I wouldn’t trust any deal he makes anyway,’ says Dancer. ‘He’d double-cross us as soon he gets what he’s after.’

  Buddy thumps a fist against the wall of the shack in frustration. ‘It’s not fair. Why’s it all down to us to save Jiir when no-one else can? We’re kids, not lawmen.’

  ‘It’s the purri purri,’ Dancer says quietly. ‘Think about it Buddy. All the trouble those diamonds caused in the past, all the trouble they’re still causing now. That’s what purri purri is. Trouble. And it’s all tangled up together, like Nyami says. Garnet Bay — Manburr’s place — Jiir, the rain dreaming, the diamonds. It was us that found them. We’re tangled up in the middle of it, whether we like it or not now.’

  ‘Nyami didn’t say we’ve got to do anything,’ Jimmy offers. ‘He reckoned we should say what to do. There’s a difference.’

  Every thought they come up with, every idea they explore, seems to run into one obstacle or another that rules it out. Big Al seems to be holding every card except the diamonds, the cursed diamonds.

  They wander down to the beach to sit on the smooth, moist sand left by the receding tide. Staring out to sea, they can feel the clock ticking, the weight on their shoulders.

  With a stick of driftwood Tich begins to trace a line in the sand. She works her way round behind the others, and is coming back to where she started. ‘What are you up to?’ Janey asks in an irritated tone. Tich ignores her, and completes what she was doing, then comes and sits down with them.

  Dancer cranes his neck, then stands up looking at the shape. He sits back beside Tich and gives her a squeeze. ‘What’s that about?’ asks Jimmy.

  ‘It’s Jiir,’ Tich tells him. ‘He belongs to us, not Big Al.’

  Jimmy and Janey get up to look at the huge outline of the eagle symbol, enclosing them there on the sand.

  Buddy hasn’t moved. ‘The bones, they’re the material evidence aren’t they Janey? All that stuff you and Flick were going on about.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘I keep thinking about what Teoh Tom said yesterday. He reckons Big Al wants those diamonds more than he wants anything. And I bet you he’s right. How about this for an idea.’

  34

  ‘I HAVEN’T GOT time to explain, Mrs Pearson. We’ve got to make another call, rig
ht now …

  ‘If it doesn’t work, we haven’t lost anything …

  ‘Please, just tell me, can you do it all, and have it ready by then? …

  ‘Brilliant. Thanks Mrs Pearson, I’ve got to go.’

  Janey checks the time. ‘Eleven fifty. Go Buddy.’ They are still huddled inside the Jiir shape on the beach, although it has been almost obliterated by the tracks they have made, pacing back and forth, working out their plan.

  Buddy punches in the numbers. The other kids surround him, waiting with bated breath. ‘Uncle George …

  ‘Yeah, it’s me. Calm down, it’s still morning …

  ‘No, no, no, no. Hold on and listen will you …

  ‘Did Big Al say anything to you about wells? …

  ‘Wells, with water in them …

  ‘Yeah? Sounds like he’s keeping you in the dark to me.’

  Janey glares at him, scared he might be stirring his uncle too much. He waves her aside. ‘Now listen carefully. Ring up Big Al. Tell him he was looking in the wrong well …

  ‘Don’t worry, he’ll know what it means. Just tell him that, and ask him if he wants to do a deal. I’ll ring you back in half an hour.’ He hands the phone back to Janey and she turns it off.

  ‘Hey,’ says Jimmy. ‘What if Flick wants to call, or one of the others?’

  ‘They’ll have to wait. Georgie’s got this number now. We’ve got to call the shots if this is going to work. Come on guys,’ she says, springing to her feet. ‘Let’s do it.’

  Within five minutes of Buddy coming up with the germ of the idea, Janey had it all worked out in her head, and then laid it out and explained the details to them. It was crazy, but it had a crazy sort of logic to it as well. If he took the bait, they might be able to catch him.

  ‘Just imagine it when Flick hits him with all of that,’ Jimmy chortled.

  ‘Not Flick, Jimmy. Us. I’ll just ask her if I’ve got the details right, and to get the paperwork ready.’

  ‘You’re joking!’

  ‘I’ve never been more serious in my life. Flick’s great, but I don’t want her bargaining with Big Al. It’s not up to her. We’re going to face him down, once and for all.’

  ‘If he goes for it,’ Dancer reminded them.

  ‘He will,’ said Buddy.

  ‘Are you sure about this Janey?’ Jimmy was still wavering. ‘Cos I’m not.’

  ‘It’s scary,’ said Tich. ‘But it’s good.’

  Jiiirr. Jiiirr. The five of them looked up at the call of the sea eagle as it soared out over the water, and that settled it.

  Now the wheels are in motion. Janey has written the note. Tich has brought a bag of pebbles up from the beach and poured them into an old milk tin with a wire handle that was until now Buddy’s snare drum. Just as Buddy is about to hammer the lid back on Tich has a thought. ‘How is he going to know we’ve really got the diamonds? He might think we’re making it up.’

  Janey had not taken this into account. ‘Wait here,’ says Buddy. He darts into the bushes and comes back with a diamond held between thumb and forefinger. ‘I was going to keep one for myself,’ he says sheepishly. ‘I stashed it the morning we found them.’ Seeing the look on Dancer’s face, he flares up. ‘There aren’t any more. It’s the only one. Anyway, it’s just as well I did, isn’t it.’

  Janey hastily adjusts the note, which then goes into the tin. The diamond is put on top of the note, and the lid is hammered on.

  ‘Dancer?’

  ‘What Tich?’

  ‘If those diamonds have got purri purri like you keep saying, is it all right to pass that on to someone else, even if it is a devil like Big Al?’

  ‘I’ve been worrying about the same thing myself. I don’t know. But I can’t think of any other way round it.’

  ‘It’ll serve him right,’ says Buddy vehemently.

  Dancer gets a handline from the shack. It takes some careful manoeuvring, but he manages to rest the tin on the jutting rock inside the well.

  ‘Yup,’ Buddy tells him. ‘Handle’s still sticking up. It’ll be easier for him than it was for us.’

  ‘We’re not trying to make it hard for him Buddy,’ Janey reminds him. ‘Not this part. It’s time for you to make your call.’

  They huddle around Buddy again as he dials. It is answered straight away. ‘Yeah, it’s me. What did he say?’ They all jump as Buddy’s voice rises edgily. ‘No! I don’t want to speak to him … No … No, I’ll hang up.’ Janey shakes her head urgently at Buddy, holding out her hand for the phone. He gestures her away. ‘Okay, you going to listen to me now Uncle George? … Tell him there’s an old well at our shack. It’s been covered up for years. That’s all.’

  Buddy shudders as he hands the phone to Janey, who immediately switches it off again.

  ‘I told you he’d be there with him,’ says Janey.

  ‘Yeah, but I didn’t think Georgie’d hand the phone to him. It freaked me out.’

  ‘Well that’s step one,’ says Janey, rubbing her hands. ‘If he goes for it, he’s not going to waste any time.’

  They leave the handline by the well and head up to the bushes on the dune overlooking the shack. It is the same spot from which Buddy spied on Big Al the morning he did his runner; well concealed, but with a clear view. They settle down and wait.

  After five tense minutes, Jimmy whispers to Janey, ‘What are we going to do if this doesn’t work?’

  ‘It’s too late to worry about that.’

  ‘Car coming,’ Dancer hisses. ‘Four-wheel drive. Everybody shut up.’

  A few seconds later the others hear it too. With hearts pounding they listen as it pulls up at the end of the track.

  Big Al appears on the footpath carrying a torch, a shovel and a crowbar. He pauses and looks around suspiciously, but the kids can see his eyes are drawn irresistibly to the jumble of timbers and the open well.

  He pokes at the handline with a boot, and again peers around suspiciously, but only briefly. He shines his torch down the well. The kids can see the tight, excited smile on his face.

  Tich shakes Janey, pointing at her own neck, then at Big Al. He is nervously fingering something hanging at his neck. It is a shell pendant.

  He picks up the handline. He tests the strength of the knot securing the hook, and seems satisfied, then dangles a short length of line to test that the weight of the sinker is enough to hold it straight. Then he lowers the line slowly down the well.

  At any other time it would be funny to watch: the sight of the big man crouched over the well shaft, torch in one hand, the other delicately working the line, trying to jag the handle of the tin.

  They see the grin break over his face. He puts the torch aside, and with infinite care hauls up his catch.

  Big Al holds up the tin, examining it closely from every angle before putting it down at his feet. Kneeling over the tin, he pauses. He looks like a man at prayer.

  He prises the lid off the tin. They can’t see his face now, but they can imagine the look of triumph as he plucks out the diamond. Then the puzzled look as he takes out the note.

  Janey can’t help herself. She murmurs the words as he reads it. ‘Sorry to play tricks like this, but you can’t be too careful. If you want the rest, meet us here at five o’clock. Bring the bones. Bring the shell with the bird pattern. Bring the title deed for Andy Jirroo’s block of land. And bring Georgie Jordan. The Barefoot Kids.’

  Big Al is dumbstruck as he kneels there by the well looking from the single diamond he is holding in one hand to the note in the other, and back again.

  He peers into the tin, stirs its contents with a finger, then pulls out a beach pebble. He upends the tin and scrabbles through the mound of pebbles. His face begins to twitch as he gets to his feet. He looks as if he might explode.

  The kids are all holding their breath.

  With a mighty swipe of his boot he scatters the mound of pebbles and sends the tin flying through the air.

  They can see him taking deep breaths, ma
king a visible effort to control his rage. He puts his hands on his knees and glances at his watch. They can see him mouth the words, ‘Five o’clock.’ He pulls out his mobile phone and starts punching in numbers as he heads back towards his car.

  They are too scared to move until they hear the car pull away. Once it does, Janey rolls over on her back, sagging with relief. The other kids get shakily to their feet. They are grinning triumphantly, but they are also completely drained by the tension of the last few minutes.

  ‘Step two,’ says Janey, as she turns on the mobile and dials home.

  35

  ‘NYAMI SAID IT was up to us,’ Janey tells her mother, with her hands planted on her hips and a defiant stare.

  ‘True,’ Eddie agrees dryly, ‘but there’s a bit of a difference between working out what you want to do, and starting World War Three.’

  ‘It’s too late to stop now anyway. He’s going to be down there at five o’clock. You saw him say it, didn’t you Dancer.’

  ‘Yep,’ Dancer looks up from his conversation with Buster to confirm this.

  ‘Maybe so girl,’ Ally says unhappily, ‘but by God, you’re stretching the limits. What I want to know is if it’s got any chance of working. What do you reckon Flick?’

  Flick shakes her head. ‘I give legal advice Ally. I’m not a diviner. I’ve drawn up a couple of deeds that’ll do the job. They’re on my laptop. Mind you, I’ll have to make a couple of changes now. I didn’t exactly get the clearest of instructions.’ She gives Janey a sharp look. ‘But as to whether he’ll sign them, I’ve got no idea.’

  ‘What about the affidavits?’ Janey asks her.

  ‘Give me a break. I’ve just finished drafting the deeds.’

  ‘I’m sorry, but it’s half past one. We’ve got to be down there and set up by half past four. There’s not much time. I’ve got to do mine. Dancer, why don’t you sit down with Tom and Buddy and start writing yours out. Just stick to the main things that happened. Me and Flick — I mean Mrs Pearson — can check it and type it up, and then you three can sign it.’