Audrey wasn’t sure if her dad really wanted to know or if he was trying to stop everyone talking about teeth-pulling.
‘Few days. Till the wind changes.’ Bloke folded her hands over her round tummy. Unlike Mum’s tummy, there was no baby in there. But there was certainly a lot of stew. Bloke pushed it in fast because she didn’t waste time chewing. She just sucked at the meat, bounced it around on her gums for a while, then swallowed.
Thinking of tummies made Audrey wonder when her mum would come back inside. Audrey’s eyes slid towards the closed kitchen door.
Douglas patted the last of his stew with his spoon. Gradually the pats became smacks. Drops of gravy splashed up onto his cheeks.
Dad reached over and took the spoon from him.
Outside, one of the camels bellowed. They were tethered away from the house, behind the vegetable patch. Had the camel bellowed because it was bored, or because it sensed something strange hiding in the darkness?
‘Dad!’ said Audrey. ‘Someone should go and get Mum.’
Ten
Early the next day, Audrey strode out. She was determined to go all the way to her cubbyhouse. The bush seemed unusually quiet, the sky wider than it should be. Gum trees cast twisted shadows.
‘It’s all right, Stumpy,’ she whispered. ‘Monsters don’t come out in the daytime.’
Audrey thrust both hands in the pockets of her oversized trousers. The fingers of her right hand closed around the boiled egg that her mum had given her. It was still warm.
As she thought of her mum, Audrey’s stomach tightened, just as it had last night when Mum was alone outside. She’d come back inside and told them all not to worry. But once people started worrying, it was hard to stop.
‘Mum didn’t see anything scary,’ Audrey told Stumpy. ‘But I did. I know I did.’
Stumpy told her that he believed her.
That made Audrey feel a little better.
‘Let’s be pirates today, Stumpy, then we can go to our cubby ship.’
Stumpy liked playing pirates.
Quandong stones dangled on strings around her hat-brim. They kept the flies away from her face.
Stumpy ran alongside her on the track. Spinifex and grey saltbush grew on each side of it.
A kangaroo bounded out of the trees. It stopped when it saw Audrey, twitched its ears, then took off in the other direction. Its tummy was fat and, just for a second, Audrey saw little feet sticking up from its pouch. She wondered if the joey got dizzy, hanging upside down, while its mother bounced.
Mum’s baby was upside down too. When it kicked, the top of her tummy fluttered. So it must be standing on its head. But at least Mum didn’t bounce like a kangaroo. She didn’t even run.
At last, Audrey spied her cubby through the trees.
But as she came closer, her steps slowed. ‘Stumpy! Something’s wrong.’
Tingles ran from Audrey’s neck down to her arms.
Eleven
‘It’s the door.’ Audrey’s voice was as soft as the faintest breeze.
Whenever she left her cubby, she dragged some brush in front of the opening. The branches were always at the top, with twigs and leaves at the bottom. At home, her family hung a branch upside down like that to show when someone was in the dunny. Now, her brush cubby-door was the other way round.
Audrey sneaked closer. Her heart beat faster.
She’d taken a lot of care building this cubby. The branches and leaves for the walls were as thick as she could stack them. It was half-round, like a giant ant hill.
Through the gaps in the leaves, Audrey spotted something lying on the ground inside the cubby. But she couldn’t see clearly enough to know what it was. Her heart beat even louder. It echoed in her ears.
No animal could drag aside the brush door, go inside, then close it behind them. Even Stumpy would find that hard.
‘That lump in there isn’t moving,’ she whispered. ‘Reckon it’s a swag?’
Stumpy didn’t know.
‘It’s not Bloke’s swag. Although she’s only camped a mile away.’
Audrey looked down at the red sandy soil and saw footprints. One shoe print, and a bare footprint with little toe-marks. Audrey put her own foot next to the shoe print. Her boot mark was slightly bigger. Whoever was in the cubby was a child.
Why didn’t they call out? Were they sick? Or worse, what if they’d died in the cubby?
She wasn’t sure whether to peek inside or run away.
Tingles ran from Audrey’s neck down to her arms.
She couldn’t leave someone in trouble.
‘H … hello?’ Her voice wobbled.
There was no answer.
Audrey clenched her fingers into fists at her side and swallowed hard. ‘I’m coming in!’
Twelve
Audrey grabbed the brush door and dragged it back.
Inside the cubby, a girl sat up.
Audrey squeaked.
The girl stared at her. She was Aboriginal, with large brown eyes and short curly hair. Dressed in a pale smock-dress, she wore a fawn cardigan over the top. She had a small nose and thick eyelashes. The girl pulled in her bottom lip and pinned it with her front teeth.
‘Hello,’ said Audrey.
The girl said nothing.
‘I’m Audrey Barlow. I live in the little house with the noisy goats over that way.’ She waved one arm.
The girl looked past Audrey into the bush.
‘I came to play.’ Audrey took off her hat and held it with both hands. ‘This is my cubbyhouse.’
Silence lay between them as thick as dripping on bread.
Maybe the girl didn’t understand.
Audrey knew only two sorts of words: English and camel. Well, Stumpy camel, anyway. He understood everything she said. And much that she didn’t. Maybe this girl had her own words for things.
They were a long way from any other houses. How did the girl get out here?
There was a brown lace-up shoe on her left foot, but not on her right. Her ankle was badly swollen. It looked like a paddy melon with a foot on the end of it.
‘Oh, you’ve hurt yourself.’ Audrey stepped towards the girl, squatted down beside her and dropped her hat on the ground.
Instinctively, the girl moved away. She whimpered, her eyes watering.
Once, Audrey had sprained her wrist sliding down a sandhill on a sheet of tin. She’d cried and cried. Even Mum’s scones hadn’t stopped her tears. The girl’s puffy ankle would be just as painful. Her eyes were huge and she hardly blinked.
Audrey hesitated. She thought as hard as she could. But she didn’t know what to do. The girl’s ankle might be broken.
‘I’ll fetch my dad,’ Audrey told her. ‘He can help you.’
The girl’s hands flew to her face. ‘No! They’ll get me.’
Thirteen
Audrey threw a look over her shoulder. Thoughts of min min lights and bunyips raced through her mind.
But all she saw was Stumpy. His long legs were trembling and his eyes were as wide as the girl’s.
‘Who’ll get you?’ Audrey asked.
A small silence stretched into a long one. Maybe the girl didn’t want to talk about what scared her. Sometimes when you gave a name to something that frightened you, it came looking for you. Audrey remembered old Mrs Paterson saying, ‘Speak of the Devil and in he walks.’
‘You said words, so I know you can talk,’ said Audrey.
‘I talk good. All the time.’
‘Me too. My dad says I could talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles. I don’t know if that’s true because our bath is so small my legs hang over the side.’
The girl glanced at Audrey, then away again.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Janet.’
‘I’ve got two names. Audrey and Two-Bob.’
‘I got two names, too. Janet, that’s the name they call me. My other name, my family gave me.’
‘What is it?’
Janet beck
oned Audrey closer.
Audrey crawled over. It was only a little way and the sandy soil was soft.
Janet leaned forward, put one hand up to Audrey’s ear, and whispered. Then she sat back. ‘No one can call me that name till I get back home. First person gonna say it again is my mum.’
‘Your real name sounds nice,’ said Audrey. ‘How old are you?’
Janet shrugged.
‘Don’t you like to say how old you are?’ Audrey crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees.
‘Maybe this many.’ Janet held up eight fingers. Then she held up seven, changed her mind and made it six.
Outside the cubbyhouse, a kookaburra called out. It sounded like loud laughter.
Instantly, Janet grabbed hold of Audrey’s wrist and squeezed tight.
Audrey hardly dared to breathe.
Fourteen
Audrey hardly dared to breathe.
She listened for any sounds that didn’t belong in the bush. Anything which might suggest someone was out there. But there was just the wind and the crows, then the kookaburra again.
Stumpy, his lower jaw moving from side to side, stood outside the doorway.
With her free hand, Audrey put one finger to her lips, reminding him to be quiet.
‘Who’s there?’ hissed Janet.
‘Just my camel. He’s called Stumpy. I don’t think anyone else is out there. Do you?’
Janet let go of Audrey’s wrist and looked at the open doorway of the cubby. ‘That camel, he your family?’
‘He’s my friend. He’s got four legs and a big mouth. He doesn’t spit though, and he doesn’t smell like other camels. And he has beautiful big eyes. Most people can’t see him.’
The two girls exchanged understanding looks.
‘I reckon you could probably see him,’ said Audrey. ‘You’ve got the right sort of eyes.’
‘He’s yours. My family, we got kooka burras.’
Audrey shifted and felt the boiled egg in her pocket. ‘Are you hungry?’
Janet’s eyes flashed.
Audrey reached into her pocket, took out the egg and offered it to her.
‘Half each?’ suggested Janet.
‘I’m not hungry. You have it.’ Audrey’s stomach rumbled. She hoped Janet hadn’t heard it.
Janet took the egg, smacked it between her hands, then peeled it. Pieces of white shell fell on the red sandy soil.
‘What happened to your ankle?’ asked Audrey.
‘I was runnin’ and my foot went down a rabbit hole.’ Janet’s face crinkled, as though she was going to cry. Instead, she pushed the egg into her mouth and began chewing. Yellow yolk-crumbs fell onto her dress. She picked them up between two fingertips, the way Douglas sometimes picked up ants. Then Janet put the crumbs in her mouth. That was also what Douglas did with ants.
‘Men in a car, they takin’ me from the mission down to Quorn. They said they’d give me lollies. They told me that before, long time ago, when they took me from my family, first time. But there’s no lollies. They said they’d take me back home.’ Janet had a faraway look, as though her eyes were seeing into forever. ‘They never gonna do that.’
‘What men?’
‘Police, I reckon. They got buttons here.’ Janet ran one finger from her neck down to her waist. ‘Those men got bad faces.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘When they first take me and the others, we hear those cars and we run. My mum hid me in the bush. But the men found me. I been at the mission, learning school things and washin’ floors. Now they saying some woman in Quorn looking for a girl to work in her kitchen. Or wash clothes. Or somethin’. I don’t care if it’s kitchen or clothes. All the same to me. I don’t want to go.’
Little girls helped their mums. But they didn’t go out to work. At the Barlow house, Monday’s washing was hard work. It took all day, even when there were several people to help. Audrey couldn’t lift a wet sheet by herself. It was too heavy. Dad or Price lifted the sheets now that Mum wasn’t allowed, in case the baby didn’t like it.
‘Tyre on the car went bang when we were going to Quorn. They was tryin’ to fix it and I ran into the bush.’ Janet wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. One last yellow crumb fell. She pinched that up too and popped it in her mouth. ‘Did all right till I twisted my ankle.’
‘There’s plenty of bushes around here to hide in,’ suggested Audrey. ‘And you can stay in my cubbyhouse until your ankle’s better.’
‘They might get a tracker. His eyes will be like an eagle’s. Good tracker, he could tell those men how tall I am, if I’m carrying somethin’, how long before I left foot marks in the sand.’
‘My dad could …’
‘No. Those men will make him give me back to them.’ Janet’s eyes widened. ‘I’ll never get home. My mum and my aunties, they calling my name every day. I hear them.’
Audrey felt hot stinging behind her eyes. It was horrible to even think about men with too many buttons snatching her away from her family. She imagined what it would be like, stuck in the bush with an empty stomach and a swollen ankle.
‘I’m goin’ home.’ Janet’s eyes flashed again.
Audrey believed her. A girl with eyes like that could do anything. Audrey looked down at Janet’s puffy ankle. Janet’s heart was bursting to get home, but her leg might not let her.
‘I’ll lean on a stick,’ said Janet.
‘That’s a good idea. But your ankle will have to get a bit better before you can use a walking stick.’
Janet’s face fell.
‘We’ve got a billycart at home!’ said Audrey. ‘Dad made it and it even works. It’s wood and it’s got wheels. There’s a rope on the front for pulling it. You could use that and you wouldn’t have to walk.’
Janet thought for a moment. ‘But who’s gonna pull that rope?’
‘Oh.’ Audrey blew air into her cheeks. ‘I forgot about that. And sometimes, if the sand is soft, the wheels get stuck.’
‘I’ll have to walk. Unless I ride an emu.’ Janet chuckled.
‘Wouldn’t you be scared?’
‘I could hang on to his feathers.’
Audrey nodded. ‘It’d be hard getting him to stand still while you climb on though. Our camels hate it, even though Dad rides them all the time and he’s got a saddle …’
Hope shone in Janet’s eyes.
Audrey spoke first, ‘A camel … you could borrow one of Dad’s camels.’
Then Janet’s shoulders slumped. ‘Can’t tell your dad about me.’
‘But Dad’s a nice man …’
‘No!’ Janet’s eyes widened. ‘Grown-up people bring back other kids that run away. I seen it lots of times. Always, they bring ’em back. Those kids cryin’ when they come back … and they don’t go out again.’
Audrey stopped arguing. Janet’s mind was made up. There was no changing it. ‘We can’t borrow a camel without telling him.’
‘I’m gonna walk, soon as I can. Got here, didn’t I?’ Janet shook her head.‘Promise you won’t tell about me?’
‘I promise.’
It was one thing to say that. But keeping Janet a secret from Audrey’s family would be much harder.
Fifteen
‘Audrey!’
She flinched and looked up, her pulse racing.
Her mum stood at the corner of the house, a bucket of water in her hand. She leaned slightly to one side. Either the bucket was heavy or her gammy leg was playing up.
‘Are you all right, dear?’
‘Mum! You scared me.’
‘I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. You look as white as a sheet. Are you feeling sick?’
Mum’s face didn’t have much colour either.
Audrey bounded towards her. ‘I was thinking and my head was loud. I didn’t hear you coming. Dad said you shouldn’t carry heavy buckets.’ She grabbed the handle of the bucket. ‘I’ll help, then we’re only doing half each.’
She thought of Janet, offering to share half of the egg.
Mum smiled and her eyes crinkled. It was a nice crinkling though. Mum had pretty eyes. Audrey’s eyes were the same colour, but she didn’t think she’d ever be as pretty as Mum. Audrey wondered if Janet looked like her mum.
As they stepped out together, water slopped over the top of the bucket.
‘Let’s slow down, shall we?’ said Mum. ‘We’re not on our way to a fire.’
Audrey matched her steps to her mum’s. The bucket wasn’t big, but the handle dug into Audrey’s palm. Water was tricky. You could see right through it, but it was as heavy as anything.
‘Your dad and Price have gone looking for the camels.’ Mum sighed. ‘They got loose again.’
Audrey felt her back stiffen. What if the camels ran towards her cubby, and her dad and Price saw Janet? Janet might think Audrey had broken her promise and told her family she was there. What would happen to Janet then?
‘I don’t know why we bother tethering the camels,’ said Mum.
Crow noises from inside the house told Audrey that Douglas had woken from his afternoon nap.
Audrey and her mum stopped at the kitchen door. It was only wide enough for one person to enter at a time.
‘I’m big enough to lift the bucket inside.’ Audrey tried to make her voice firm. The way Dad sometimes did when his mind was made up. But it didn’t come out that way. Audrey simply sounded as though she had a sore throat.
Mum let go of the bucket and held open the kitchen door.
The bucket of water pulled on Audrey’s arms and neck. The handle dug further into her palms. If Janet had to work in some woman’s kitchen, she might be carrying many heavy buckets like this.
Audrey made it into the kitchen, spilling only a few drops.
‘Leave the bucket on the floor. Dad can lift it up onto the table when he gets back,’ said Mum.
Audrey rubbed at her palms, but the red handle-lines stayed on her skin.
‘Cuppa?’ Mum picked the billy up from the bench. ‘I’m as dry as a bone.’
‘Can we have bread too, with lots of jam?’
‘You must have walked a long way today,’ said Mum.
The Audrey of the Outback Collection Page 16