The Boys from Binjiwunyawunya

by Robert G. Barrett

  ‘Yeah,’ added Yarrawulla. ‘And this... this aura of hatred and violence entering right into where we’re pointing the bone. It could bugger things up completely for us.’

  ‘Shit!’ cursed Norton.

  ‘This pointing the bone is a very involved, very complicated ceremony Les. I know we tend to make light of it and make it look easy. But there’s a lot more to it than what you think. There’s a hell of a lot of things can go wrong. And this is one of the worst things that can happen.’

  Norton closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘Shit!’ he cursed again. ‘So what happens now?’

  ‘We honestly don’t know, Les,’ sighed Tjalkalieri, giving his head a bit of a shake. ‘And I don’t want to alarm you. But ... it’s not looking too good.’

  ‘Bloody hell,’ cursed Norton once more. ‘Just my fuckin’ luck.’

  Everyone was silent for a moment. There was just the noise of the wind against the balcony door and the gentle spattering of the rain on the tiles.

  Mumbi rubbed a little warmth into his arms and got to his feet. ‘I’m going to make a fresh pot of tea. We’ll talk about it over a cuppa.’

  Mumbi made the tea and they sipped it slowly while they talked between themselves, mostly in their own language. Les just sat there, cursing himself for going into the RSL in the first place. The boys stopped talking. For a few moments there was complete silence. Then they had another quite excited burst, nodded solemnly to each other and turned to Norton.

  ‘We may possibly have just one card left up our sleeve,’ said Tjalkalieri. ‘It’s a dicey one, but it might work. But if it doesn’t...’ Tjalkalieri shrugged his shoulder at Norton.

  ‘What is it? Tell us.’

  Mumbi shook his head. ‘We’re tired and we’re going to bed,’ he said as they all got to their feet. ‘We suggest you do the same, and we’ll talk about it in the morning.’

  Norton nodded his head and stared disconsolately at the floor for a little while. In fifteen minutes they were all in bed. Despite what Tjalkalieri had just said, the big Queenslander felt pretty ordinary as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling. It was a very worried Les Norton who finally got off to sleep about an hour after the others.

  The rain appeared to have stopped when Les walked out into the main room around seven the following morning. The southerly was still blowing, though not as hard and nowhere near as cold. Through the open balcony door Les could see several small patches of blue in the grey lumpiness of the sky. The empty cups on the table next to the teapot told him the boys had been up for a while. They were stripped down to their tracksuit pants, daubing themselves with ochre and feathers, and while Les’s eyes were grainy and he felt a little tired from not sleeping so well, the others looked fresh and relaxed.

  ‘G’day fellas’ he said with a slight yawn. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Not too bad, Les,’ replied Tjalkalieri. He was standing side on to Norton as Mumbi daubed his back with yellow ochre. The others, who were already painted, gave Les a cheery greeting also.

  Despite their freshness, Norton could detect a very businesslike manner, almost a sense of urgency. He studied them for a moment or two then walked towards the table.

  ‘Any tea left?’ he said, placing a hand on the still warm teapot.

  ‘There might be one cup left in there,’ replied Yarrawulla.

  There was, just, so Norton poured it and took a seat.

  ‘So what’s doing? You want me to go and get you some breakfast?’

  ‘Not this morning,’ replied Tjalkalieri. ‘We might have some fruit for lunch. That’s about all.’

  ‘Whatever.’ Norton took a sip of tea while the others continued to daub Tjalkalieri with symbols. ‘So what’s the story anyway? You said something last night, Chalky, about having one last card up your sleeve. What is it?’

  ‘I’ll tell you in a minute. Just wait’ll we finish doing this.’

  Norton continued to sip his tea, watching intently as Mumbi finished painting a pair of braces in white circles and yellow dots across Tjalkalieri’s back. The others were painted in fairly similar fashion, only in red and brown. All had blood-smeared parrot feathers in their hair and tucked up under their stringy black headbands. After a minute or two Mumbi stepped back and nodded to Tjalkalieri.

  ‘Yeah. I reckon that ought to do,’ he said.

  ‘Right then,’ replied Tjalkalieri. ‘We’ll have time for another cup of tea then we’ll get stuck into it.

  Yarrawulla went to the bathroom as Mumbi put the kettle on and Tjalkalieri walked over to Norton.

  ‘Righto, Les,’ he said, ‘I’ll try and give you an idea about what’s going on. We’re going to have to chant like buggery today. All day. Probably right up till about five. Then we’ve got to be left alone in the room for about an hour while we go into a trance and summon up the serpent spirit.’

  ‘The serpent spirit?’

  ‘That’s right. And I’m not even going to bother trying to explain it to you.’ An air of brittle politeness crept into Tjalkalieri’s voice. ‘In the meantime, you’ve got to arrange a confrontation with Kilby for us. Can you do that?’

  ‘A confrontation?’

  ‘Exactly. And not in his office, and not right up close to him. It’s got to be about twenty feet away. Can you arrange that?’

  Norton took another sip of tea. ‘I’ll have to won’t I,’ he shrugged.

  ‘If you want this to work you will.’

  ‘When do you want to see him?’

  ‘About an hour after we finish our trance. Say six thirty. But no later than seven.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll work something out.’

  Yarrawulla re-entered the room just as Mumbi finished making the tea. He gave the others a cup each and looked at Les who shook his head.

  ‘Now you got all that?’ said Tjalkalieri. ‘We have to front Kilby no later than seven. And it’s absolutely vital that we do.’

  ‘As a bean,’ nodded Les. ‘I’ll sort something out.’

  ‘Good on you. Now,’ Tjalkalieri turned to the others, ‘Kilby and Frank are in their office. We’ll finish our tea then I think we’d better get stuck into it.’ The others nodded in agreement.

  Norton got up from his seat, walking across to the open glass door and looked out over the balcony. There didn’t appear to be any cars or movement around the AWEC office. He scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment and turned to the others. How would they know if Kilby was in his office yet or not, he wondered. I still don’t know about all this bloody mental telepathy bullshit. And what’s all this about summoning up the serpent spirit? Norton shook his head. If you ask me, this is turning into one big shemozzle all around. Why did I open my big mouth in the first place?

  He sat back down on the lounge chair and let the others move to the balcony door. The bone was on the floor wrapped in the cotton sheet. Tjalkalieri picked it up, handed it to Mumbi, who had slipped on the Kurdaitcha shoes, then after nicking all their arms with the sharpened piece of quartz and bleeding onto the bone they started chanting and dancing once more; Mumbi with the bone in his left hand and the hair chord in his right playing it towards the AWEC office.

  Deep in thought, Norton watched them from his seat, pondering how he was going to organise the confrontation with Kilby, and with him somewhere in the background. It was a bloody tricky one again, and no Eddie to help him this time. It was nine-thirty and each of them had taken a turn on the bone before Les made a move. He picked at his chin, nodded to himself, checked his pockets for change and went down to the yellow phone in the foyer.

  When the phone rang Percy Kilby was sitting in his office feeling angry, ill and completely mystified. He was angry because of what had happened to Frank the night before. His illness, although nowhere near as bad as it had been, had started not long after he walked into the office. Which was why he was mystified. How could you feel like a million dollars all weekend, then feel like a shithouse as soon as you start work? This had to be the weirdest case of fl
u, or whatever it was, he’d ever had or ever heard of. He was definitely going to see a doctor that night. Kilby was crook all right. But he didn’t feel anywhere near as bad as Frank, who was sitting opposite him, looked.

  His lieutenant’s mouth was puffed up and full of stitches. There were stitches in his cheek and a large portion of hair was missing just above his forehead, where the nurses at Prince Alfred had shaved it to add a few more stitches. Frank felt like he had more stitches in him than a wedding gown. And his two mates hadn’t fared that much better. One had a broken jaw. The other had about the same amount of stitches in his mouth as Frank, and all his front teeth were gone. Frank’s larynx wasn’t in the best of shape either, from where Norton had tried to tie a Windsor knot around his throat with the towel. Which was why Kilby, sick and all as he now was, had to answer the phone. Frank’s voice sounded like a Sydney silky with bronchitis. His discomfort, however, was matched by his hatred for Norton. And his hatred was matched equally by his fear. Frank had met some tough boys in his time, in the ring, in the street, and on the football field. But he’d never come across a punching machine like Les. No one could possibly fight like that. Nevertheless, it was quite a different version of the battle in the Redfern RSL men’s room that he’d related to his boss.

  Kilby reluctantly looked at the ringing phone for a few moments before finally reaching over and picking up the receiver. ‘Yeah hello. AWEC’, he growled.

  ‘Is Percy Kilby there?’ Norton crossed his fingers on his end of the line and hoped the plan he had in mind would work.

  ‘This is Percy Kilby.’

  Norton couldn’t help but hesitate for a second or two before he answered. ‘My name’s Les Norton. I work for Price Galese.’

  There was a shocked pause for a moment, then Kilby exploded. ‘What? he roared. ‘You — you cunt. You’ve got a fuckin’ hide ringing me. After what you and your mates did to my assistant last night.’ Kilby put his hand over the receiver and looked at Frank. ‘It’s that prick from last night. Les Norton.’ Frank gave a double blink. ‘I can’t believe your front ringing me after what you and your team did to Frank. What do you want anyway? You arsehole.’

  ‘What did your mate Frank say happened to him last night?’

  ‘You and a couple of other clowns jumped him outside the RSL when he was half full of piss and gave him a kicking.’ Kilby stared over at Frank, who swallowed hard and looked away.

  Despite his apprehension Norton couldn’t help but chuckle to himself: he hadn’t been too far out in his summing up of Frank. ‘Is that what he told you, is it? I think you’d better pull him aside later and find out the truth.’

  ‘Ohh look, don’t start coming on with that shit.’ Kilby dismissed Norton’s last statement with a contemptuous wave of his hand. ‘Anyway, what do you want, you flip?’

  ‘I want to see you. I want to have a word with you.’

  ‘You want to see me, do you? Well I don’t particularly want to see you. You cunt. And you can tell that old prick you work for, Galese, that the price has just gone up to $650,000 too.’

  ‘That’s what I want to see you about,’ lied Les. ‘Price has agreed to your offer.’

  There was a sudden pause at Kilby’s end of the line. ‘He has?’

  ‘Yeah. Look, what happened last night was just a mistake. But Price is prepared to give you $250,000 tonight. And another $250,000 next week. I’ll have to get back to him about the other $150,000 though.’

  Kilby drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment while he had a think. Coming on top of what happened to Frank, this took him completely by surprise. ‘So you want to give me $250,000 tonight?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘What’s wrong with bringing it round here? Right now.’

  ‘No. It has to be on neutral territory. And there has to be other people around. We’re talking about quarter of a million dollars you know.’

  Kilby’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t know. This all sounds a bit funny to me.’

  ‘There’s nothing shifty going on. I just don’t trust you in your office — that’s all.’

  ‘Ohh don’t give me the shits.’

  ‘Look,’ said Norton. ‘What about I meet you up in the RSL tonight? I’ll be on my own, and I’ll have the money in a blue overnight bag. I’ll put it on the bar and order a drink. What can possibly go wrong?’

  ‘I don’t know. It just don’t seem right to me. You could have a bomb in the bag.’

  ‘Ohh don’t be stupid. You can open the bloody thing in front of me. And you can have as many mates with you as you like. But don’t get any ideas in your head about giving me a serve, cause you won’t get the rest of the dough.’

  Kilby thought about it for a few seconds. What could go wrong? Norton would be on his own in a crowded RSL. And he’d make sure Frank and some of the boys were around. There’d be no point in giving Norton a serve over Frank and bombing the other $250,000. Plus possibly the extra $150,000. Fuck Frank if it came to that, anyway. Norton was right. What could possibly go wrong?

  ‘Yeah all right,’ agreed the AWEC boss. ‘I’ll see you up there when we finish here. About five.’

  ‘I can’t get there before six-thirty, seven.’

  Kilby tapped on the desk for a second. ‘Yeah righto. But no later than seven. I’m not too good and I want to get home to bed.’

  ‘You’re what?’ Norton couldn’t hide his surprise.

  ‘I said I’ve had the flu or something the last few days. And I want to get home to bed.’

  Norton’s face broke into a grin. Kilby had been crook the last few days. Maybe this thing was working. ‘No worries mate. I’ll see you there about six-thirty. Seven at the latest.’

  ‘Just make sure you are. And on your own. Or you and Galese can shove your money and I’ll go straight to the papers.’

  ‘Sweet as a nut. I’ll see you up there.’

  Kilby hung up abruptly.

  Well thought Les, gazing absently through the door of the foyer in the direction of the AWEC office. That’s that. I just hope to Christ I’ve done the right bloody thing. He sucked in a breath of air and let it out again. I think I have. Oh well. Too bloody late now. An way, I’ll go and get that fruit, then I s’pose I’d better tell the boys what’s going on.

  In room 9, Tjalkalieri, Mumbi and Yarrawulla were chanting away like there was no tomorrow. They didn’t stop or even turn around when Les walked in, so he guessed they didn’t want to be disturbed. He placed the fruit on the table, and still feeling a little tired, walked quietly into the bedroom and lay down staring up at the ceiling. Even though a multitude of thoughts were swirling around in his mind, the steady, low buzz of the boys chanting seemed to relax him as it drifted through the open door. It wasn’t long before he’d dozed off.

  He came to with a bit of a start just before twelve. Shit! What time is it? He blinked groggily at his watch, stretched, then went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. Back in the main room the boys were still chanting and dancing away steadily. He peeled and spread the fruit out on the table, then sat down on one of the seats and watched them. Before long it was afternoon and they abruptly stopped.

  ‘Ohh shit!’ said Tjalkalieri, flopping down on the seat nearest Les, while the others almost collapsed on to the settee. ‘I’m buggered.’

  Norton could see from the flushed looks on their faces and the trickles of sweat beneath their headbands that they were obviously quite exhausted. ‘Hard work eh?’

  ‘It is this time,’ said Mumbi. ‘We’ve really got to concentrate.’

  ‘Yeah. I understand.’ Norton felt more than a little self-conscious because it was mainly his fault. ‘I’m sorry about last night.’

  ‘That’s all right’ said Yarrawulla. ‘You couldn’t help what happened.’ The little Aborigine tilted his head back and closed his eyes. ‘Listen Les. What about making us a cup of tea. We’re dead-set too fucked to move.’

  ‘Yeah, sure mate,’ replied Norton
, getting to his feet. ‘There’s fruit on the table too if you want it. Do you want me to run out and get you something to drink? Some orange juice, or lemonade or something. What do you want?’

  ‘Just a nice cup of tea’ll do, Les,’ said Tjalkalieri. Like the others, he had his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

  Norton made a pot of tea and after the first cup they seemed to have freshened up a little, so he poured them all another and made a fresh pot. While the kettle was boiling he told them about his phonecall to Kilby and what he’d organised. He hoped it suited them because if he had to ring Kilby back and change the arrangements there was a good chance he’d smell some sort of a rat and back off.

  ‘Meeting him up the RSL was about the best thing I could think of fellas.’ Norton threw the tea leaves in the pot, poured in the boiling water, then folded his arms and looked hopefully at them while he waited for it to draw. ‘If I’d have arranged to meet him somewhere where there was no-one around, and I walked in with you, or you were already there, he’d get suspicious. He’s a real shifty bastard.’

  Tjalkalieri gave Norton a tired wink. ‘Actually that’s perfect, Les.’ Which cheered Norton up immeasurably. ‘It’s best there’s some people around. Even though what’s going to happen will be over in a matter of seconds. With people around it will help to hide it. A small group, or one or two people would take notice. In a crowd there’ll be confusion. No-one will be sure what’s happened. You’ve done well, Les. It’ll work out good.’

  ‘Just what is going to happen?’ asked Norton.

  Tjalkalieri looked earnestly at Norton, looked for a second at the others, then back at Norton.

  ‘Les,’ he said slowly. ‘What you’re going to see briefly tonight... No white man in Australia, or the world for that matter, will have ever seen before.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘We’re going to fleetingly make contact with the Otherworld tonight Les. We can’t, and we won’t, explain it to you. But you must swear you’ll never, ever, tell a soul what you’ll see tonight. If you’re quick enough to see it.’