The Boys from Binjiwunyawunya

by Robert G. Barrett

  The girl on the switchboard just blinked when she saw Les troop past towards the elevator with the three girls. Les winked and gave her a cheesy grin. She tried to smile, but just blinked some more and shook her head.

  ‘Jesus. How good’s this joint,’ said Dixie after Norton had switched on the light and closed the door behind them.

  ‘Somewhere to throw your swag I s’pose,’ he replied casually.

  ‘I’ve heard about this place,’ said Penny. ‘But I didn’t think it was this good.’

  ‘You think I’d bring three good sorts like you back to a shithouse?’ smiled Norton.

  While the girls were gazing around the room, fiddling with the curtains, testing the bed and lounge, Norton got behind the bar. He tuned the stereo to some FM station playing good rock ’n’ roll and brought up some glasses.

  ‘What do you want to drink girls?’ he said. ‘Same as in the pub?’

  ‘Yes. That’d be nice, Les,’ said Dixie.

  ‘Coming right up,’ smiled Norton, rattling some ice into the glasses.

  ‘Here’s what you got for your hundred dollars Les.’ Mia dropped the piece of hash on top of the bar. Norton gave it a cursory glance. It looked like a small piece of pumpernickel that had originally been wrapped in red cellophane, then folded up in glad-wrap.

  ‘Looks all right,’ shrugged Norton. ‘You reckon there’s enough there to get us stoned?’

  ‘Shit. I bloody well hope so,’ said Penny, giving it a little squeeze with her fingers.

  ‘You got a bowl or a plate there Les? asked Mia. ‘I might start rolling up a few joints.’

  ‘Here you are.’ Norton handed her a small plate with St Moritz Motel Melbourne stamped on it.

  While he was making up the drinks he watched Mia sit next to Penny on the ottoman and place the plate on the coffee table in front of them. Mia broke off about a third of the block of hash, held a match over it for a few seconds to soften it, then crumbled it up onto the plate. Penny handed her a packet of cigarettes. She took a couple, emptied the tobacco out onto the plate then mulled it all up together. Being a non smoker, and not all that keen on hash, Norton could see these joints weren’t going to go down all that well and his mouth would probably taste like Aunty Dora’s window box when he got up in the morning.

  By the time Les had made the drinks and handed them around, Mia had rolled two joints. He kicked off his riding boots, changed into a sweatshirt and dimmed the lights while she rolled another, then sat on the bed with his back against the wall. Dixie sat on the corner watching the others. Gangajang was playing on the radio and the drinks were going down quite easily. It was all very, very cosy.

  ‘If you girls want another drink, just help yourselves. There’s heaps there. There’s even a couple of bottles of champagne if you want it.’

  ‘Thanks Les,’ replied Dixie. She turned around and smiled at Norton while she sang along with the music:

  ‘Out on the patio we sit.

  And the humidity, we breathe.

  This is Australia.’

  ‘Check it out, check it out,’ smiled Les back at her.

  ‘Well I might light one of these,’ said Mia.

  ‘Jolly splendid idea.’ Norton moved down the end of the bed next to Dixie. Mia lit the number and went to hand it to him. He shook his head and made a motion with his finger for them to go first. When the joint came around to him he took a couple of tentative tokes. The hash didn’t taste too bad but the tobacco wasn’t the best and it made his head spin a little. It didn’t seem to worry the others, however. They were sucking hungrily at it like it was the last bit of air left in the room. It wasn’t long before it was gone and Mia lit another one.

  ‘It’s not bad Johnny this,’ she said, passing the joint to Penny.

  ‘Yeah. Not bad at all,’ agreed Norton.

  The second didn’t last much longer than the first. Mia stubbed out the roach and immediately attacked the third. Norton declined when it came to him. He wasn’t all that stoned, but the tobacco, apart from making him giddy, made his mouth taste like he’d just smoked an old army blanket. He moved back up against the wall, sipped his drink and watched the girls demolish joint number three.

  Norton closed his eyes for a moment as the music almost immediately began to sound better — deeper, richer, every note crystal clear. The bed seemed softer, even his drink tasted mellower, sweeter. His black eye still felt thick but the pain in his face wasn’t anywhere near as annoying.

  ‘How are you feeling Les?’ Dixie turned around as she passed the last joint back to Mia.

  ‘Pretty good,’ smiled Norton. ‘Can’t complain.’

  Which was a fair assessment of his condition. He did feel good. Relaxed and in pleasant enough company. The hash may have made him a little drowsy, but that was understandable. He’d been up since five and had had a fairly hectic day. Filming, digging holes, fighting, drinking, etc. He put a pillow behind him and eased further back against the wall.

  ‘If you girls want any more of that Johnny,’ he said, ‘just help yourselves.’

  ‘Thanks Les.’

  The girls whispered a few words between them and it wasn’t long before joint number three was gone. Mia and Penny settled back on the ottoman. Dixie picked her drink up from the coffee table and moved up against the wall next to Les.

  ‘How’s your face feeling now?’ she enquired softly.

  ‘All right,’ nodded Norton. ‘A bit sore. That’s all.’

  ‘I’ve got a tube of lanolin in my bag. Would you like me to rub some in for you?’

  ‘Ohh yeah, reckon. That’d be grouse.’

  Dixie reached into her bag and produced a thick yellow tube of cream.

  ‘It’s getting a bit cool in here. I might turn the heater on,’ suggested Norton.

  ‘Okay.’

  The controls were next to the bed. Norton switched it onto medium and in a few moments the fans on either side of the walls had quietly filled the room with warm air.

  ‘How are you going down there girls?’ he called out to the others.

  ‘Good thanks Les.’ In the soft light Norton could see them both smile and nod their heads.

  ‘Why don’t we get under the doona?’ said Dixie.

  ‘Yeah righto,’ agreed Les. ‘Not a bad idea.’

  He was about to swing his legs straight under when Dixie pulled her jumper up over her head and slipped off her dress and stockings.

  ‘No good crushing up all my good clothes,’ she smiled.

  Dixie may have been a bit pale but there was nothing wrong with her figure. In fact her smooth milky skin seemed to emphasise the light blue matching bra and panties she was wearing.

  ‘That’s a good idea too.’ In an instant Norton had his jeans off and slid beneath the bed cover.

  Dixie eased up next to him, smiled coyly, then squeezed some lanolin out of the tube and began gently massaging it into the burns on his face. ‘God that looks painful,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah. It hurts a bit,’ replied Les. ‘But what you’re doing feels enormous. Thanks Dixie.’

  ‘That’s okay. Now why don’t you just close your eyes and relax.’

  Norton nodded dreamily and did just that. It was like a dream too. A dream Norton could scarcely believe. Wonderful shapes and colours were swirling around in his mind. The music, even though it was down low, seemed to fill the room and Dixie’s gentle woman’s touch was almost as if her fingers were dancing across his face in time to the music. The only difficulty was, as she was moving against him one of her beautiful firm breasts was almost bursting out of the bra as they both rubbed gently across his chest, and against his thigh Les could feel the soft bristle of her ted in the skimpy blue knickers. A noticeable stirring was beginning in Norton’s loins and there wasn’t a great deal he could do about it. Not that he really wanted to.

  Norton slipped his hand up behind Dixie and started gently massaging the small of her back. He had his eyes closed but he was positive he could hear her smile;
he could definitely hear her purr. She turned away from him to put the tube of lanolin down by the side of the bed. Norton was laying back, eyes still closed, half asleep when he felt a lovely, soft pair of lips on his. They were beautiful. Dixie began kissing him, gently at first, gradually becoming more eager, more intense, firmer. Her tongue, the sweetest, pinkest tongue Les thought he’d ever felt, darted inside his mouth and played around the corners. He ran his hand up and down her spine. Dixie sighed and arched slightly. A gentle pressure undid her bra and that same sweet tongue whipped into and around his ear. Norton felt as if he was going to burst into flames. A hand slipped down his Speedos as he kissed her delicate pink nipples and softly stroked her ted. Dixie spread her legs then brought them together as Norton eased her knickers down past her knees and over her ankles. Dixie did the same to him, kissing his neck and mouth at the same time.

  Dixie was warm, firm and moist and ready for him. She lifted her knees and Les entered her, slowly, gently, then he gave a couple of thrusts and they began making love. Dixie shuddered and moaned in his ear. Norton had to bite into the pillow or he would have screamed out himself it felt that good. Before long they were moving almost as one.

  Stoned or not, it was beautiful love-making. Whereas Mrs Perry the previous night had been a bit on the wild side and could be regarded as just an outrageous screw from out of nowhere, Dixie was sensuous and caring. She genuinely liked Les and he fancied her. It may not have been love, but there was quite a lot of affection there.

  They writhed away beneath the bedcovers. Norton was in ecstasy, completely oblivious to everything around him; he could have been a million miles away when a sudden thought occurred to him. What about Mia and Penny? Taken right away by the smoke and Dixie’s charms, he’d forgotten about them. This could be embarrassing.

  Without stopping what he was doing, Norton slewed Dixie around beneath him to have a bit of a peek over his shoulder to see if they were watching. He managed to inch around to his right a little more when over the music he began to hear this slurping, sucking sound, interspersed with a lot of muffled moaning and groaning. It sounded like someone eating thick soup with a leaky spoon. Slowly, Norton slewed his head around further.

  Someone had turned the lights down a little more and he had a bit of trouble focusing at first. When he did, Norton’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. It looked like one white writhing form on the ottoman, then it began to take shape. He could make out a head at one end with a bum underneath it. And a bum at the other end with a head above it. Legs and feet were going everywhere. Hands and fingers were probing and squeezing. Mia and Penny were entwined on the ottoman, stark naked, having a furious sixty-niner. Who was doing what to who Les wasn’t quite sure. But a burst of straggly pink hair at one end suggested Penny was on the bottom. Norton stared and blinked for a while, out of amazement more than anything else. Then the whole thing dawned on him. Mia and Penny were lovers. Liberated women. Gay ladies. Lesbians. Call them what you like. It was a scene Norton had never come across before. No wonder they seemed to distance themselves from him. But they didn’t remind Les of the horrible-looking hairy-legged crew-cut things in army shorts and overalls he’d seen now and again hanging around pubs in Balmain and Surry Hills in Sydney. Mia and Penny had a certain amount of femininity about them. However, he could understand their indifference towards him. Fair enough. But conservative bloody Melbourne. Pig’s arse. The place is a cesspool.

  Mia and Penny’s squeals and moaning began to grow louder and their probing and clawing seemed to intensify. Beneath him, Les could feel Dixie starting to wind up too. Well he thought, they’re certainly starting to get restless in the mounting yard aren’t they. Oh well. If we’re gonna go off, we all may as well go off together. He stiffened his legs and went for his life.

  Dixie gave a little scream, wrapped her arms around his neck and kicked the bedcover up towards the ceiling. The next five minutes sounded more like a torture session at KGB headquarters than four people having a good time. It ended in a crescendo of screams, howls and writhing bodies, with a final ‘aaahhhh shit!’ from Norton. He rolled off onto his back with his arm around Dixie’s shoulders. She threw an arm over him, dragged the bed cover back over them and snuggled into his chest while they got their breath back.

  After a few minutes or so there was a discreet rustling from the ottoman, followed by a discreet rustling from under the bedcovers as Dixie wriggled back into her underwear. Norton slipped his Speedos back on. The sound of zippers being zipped came from across the room and then Dixie had her clothes on as well. Norton didn’t bother about his. He just lay back with a grin on his face like a crack in a sheet of perspex. Dixie was on the edge of the bed running her fingers through the stubby red hairs on his chest and smiling down at him.

  ‘We might get going soon Dixie. What do you reckon?’ He heard Mia’s voice.

  ‘Yeah righto,’ replied Dixie.

  The two others got to their feet and Dixie joined them. Norton got out of bed and wrapped a towel around himself. ‘You sure you wouldn’t like another drink?’ he said. ‘Or a cup of coffee.’

  ‘No thanks. It’s all right,’ smiled Penny.

  ‘Okay. Suit yourselves.’

  There was an awkward silence for a moment. Mia and Penny certainly didn’t know what to say; they were certain Les had seen what was going on and weren’t certain what he thought of them. Not that it would have worried them all that much what he did. Norton sure as hell didn’t know what to say. It was definitely a new one on him. Though somehow a joke or a flippant remark didn’t seem appropriate. He decided to keep his mouth shut and just smiled at them.

  ‘Well,’ he finally said. ‘It hasn’t been too bad a night I s’pose.’

  ‘No. It was good,’ said Penny. ‘Thanks for the drinks. And the smoke.’

  ‘That’s okay. It was a pleasure.’

  Mia looked at him for a moment. ‘Hey...ah, Les,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Do you think we could have a little piece of that Johnny. For a smoke when we get home.’

  Norton glanced over at the piece of black hash sitting on the coffee table. ‘Take the lot with you,’ he said. ‘I don’t really want it.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Mia sounded genuinely surprised.

  ‘Yeah. Go for your life.’

  ‘Gee, thanks Les.’

  Norton smiled and shrugged a reply. Mia and Penny shuffled towards the door and Les opened it for them.

  ‘We’ll wait for you down in the lobby,’ said Penny, turning to Dixie.

  ‘Righto. I won’t be long.’

  ‘Well girls,’ said Norton, framed in the light from the hallway. ‘Don’t know when I’ll see you again. But it’s been nice to meet you.’

  Mia and Penny stood in the corridor looking evenly at Norton for a few seconds, then their faces burst into a grin.

  ‘Hey Les,’ said Mia. ‘You’re all right you know.’ Both of them then grabbed him round the waist and kissed him on the cheek.

  ‘Yeah. I s’pose there’s worse blokes round than me.’ He grinned.

  ‘And it doesn’t worry you about us at all. Does it?’ said Penny.

  Norton gave his shoulders a nonchalant shrug. ‘Well, some girls I know in Sydney reckon lesbianism leaves a nasty taste in their mouths. But it’s never bothered me.’

  Mia and Penny shook their heads. Mia punched Les lightly in the stomach. ‘Dixie was right. You are a cheeky big mug.’ They tossed a grin each over their shoulders and skipped off down the hallway, leaving Dixie and Les alone. She moved into him and Les put his arms around her waist.

  ‘Well Dixie old mate,’ he said awkwardly, ‘I don’t know when I’ll be seeing you again.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose there’s much chance of you coming to Melbourne for a while, is there?’

  Norton smiled down at Dixie, unable not to feel a little sad. She might have been a bit of a rough diamond, but there was no doubt she was genuine and had a good heart. Someho
w the little Melbourne punk had managed to pluck at the big Queenslander’s heart strings.

  ‘Hey just hang on a sec,’ he said.

  Les broke away from her, went across to his overnight bag, shuffled around for a biro and something else then came back.

  ‘Here,’ he said, handing her a piece of paper. ‘This is my phone number in Sydney. Ring me. Reverse the charges. And if you can find the time, come up for a few days. I’ll pay your air fare. And you won’t need to bring any money with you either. And here. Stick this in your kick too.’ He pushed a hundred dollars into the front pocket of her recycled jeans skirt. A bit of a frown crossed Dixie’s face. ‘Now don’t go getting the wrong idea. You’re battling and I just got a big earn down here. You take it.’ He stepped back a little from her and grinned. ‘Even if you don’t buy any food or clothes with it. At least buy a couple of cook books. Do Melbourne a favour.’

  Dixie shook her head at him. ‘God you’re a cheeky boof-headed big bastard.’ She then threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that nearly took his face off. Norton immediately started to get ideas. ‘You just stay near that phone Les Norton,’ she said. ‘You never know when it might ring.’ Dixie kissed him again then danced off down the hallway.

  Well bloody well beat that one thought Norton as he closed the door and came back inside. Does it ever bloody stop down here. I miss out on Pamela, and I get her. I think I prefer oP Dixie too, just quietly. He pulled a can of VB from the bar fridge and sucked on it lustily. Feeling sweaty and sticky he got under the shower, taking the can with him. He was still laughing about the night’s events when he got out, towelled off and remade the bed.