Precipice of Doubt

by Mardi Alexander

  Charlie guessed they had to be getting close when exposed granite became more frequent as they walked. They finally broke through onto what they guessed was an unmarked trail.

  Jodi stopped and looked around. “Let’s leave the packs on the other side of that log. I don’t think they’ll be seen if anyone happens to come through.”

  They all shoved their water bottles into the waistbands of their shorts to free up their hands for climbing. Charlie tossed a muesli bar at Pip and took one for herself. She noticed Jodi stuffing one into a pocket as well.

  The climb up the rocks was arduous. Charlie knew she was leaving bits of skin and blood from scraping her knees and elbows against the jagged and scabrous rock surface. She caught up to Pip, who stood in front of the last portion.

  “You okay, babe?”

  Pip sighed. “I really hate to admit this, but I don’t think I can reach that next ledge. You guys go ahead and I’ll wait here.”

  “Not on your life, sweetheart.” Charlie laced her fingers together and crouched next to the rock. “Step onto my hands and I’ll boost you up. I should be able to lift you high enough to get there.”

  “But—”

  “Quit giving her short excuses and arguing with her, Pipsqueak. Come on. The view is amazing up here.” Jodi, having already reached the top, stood looking down at them with her hands on her hips.

  “Tell me again why we’re friends?” Pip frowned at Charlie. “I don’t want to hurt you. Tell me if it gets too hard, okay?”

  Charlie growled at her. “It’ll be fine. Just do it, Pip.” She knew that every minute sitting down here was time lost for spotting Big Bird.

  Pip put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and her right foot in Charlie’s hand. Charlie lifted her easily as she bounced up, grabbed hold of the ledge, and pulled herself up. She received a little help from Jodi, who grabbed the back of her shorts and yanked her up.

  Once Pip was safely on top, Charlie quickly scrambled the rest of the way up.

  “Wow,” Charlie said in between trying to catch her breath. “This. Is. Amazing. I think we can see forever from up here.”

  The day had turned partly cloudy. The sun threw a moving patchwork of cloud shadows over the mountain range.

  Jodi turned to her and smiled. “Welcome to Raspberry Lookout. What you’re looking at is the entirety of the Bindery-Mann Wilderness Area. Pretty impressive, hey?”

  Pip sat down and leaned against a rock three times her size. Charlie crouched next to her. “Hey. Are you doing all right? You look a little pale.”

  Pip rolled her shoulders. “I’m fine. Just out of practice. A bit of food in the old tank and I’ll be right as rain.”

  Charlie pulled the now mushed muesli bar from her back pocket. “Here. Eat mine too. And don’t argue with me.”

  Pip shook her head and accepted the bar.

  Charlie walked over to Jodi, who stood gazing towards where they’d last seen the eagle.

  “See anything?”

  “No.” Jodi pointed downward. “And by the looks of things, we won’t for a while.”

  A heavy morning mist crept slowly up the valley and obliterated any views below. Within minutes the wind brought it to where they stood. Charlie shivered at the loss of sunlight. The muted silence within the cloud felt alien as it engulfed them, isolating them from the rest of the world. She looked over at Pip, aware that their morning of high-energy bushwalking would impact the calculations to her food and insulin routines. “You doing okay?”

  “All good.”

  The swirling mist cleared as quickly as it had come in. The sun’s rays reached down and caressed them and the rock, lighting up two grass trees growing in front of them.

  Charlie welcomed the return of the warmth. She’d heard about Australian bush tucker but up until now hadn’t had much chance to explore and experiment. But here she was now, deep inside a rich national park. Jodi’s example of the grass tree’s flowers had piqued her curiosity. She looked around but nothing appeared edible. “Hey, Jodes, if this place is called Raspberry Lookout, where are the raspberry bushes?”

  Jodi shook her head. “Not raspberry as in food. Raspberry as in the type of spur the Aboriginals and stockmen used in their decent to the Mann River.”

  “Well, that’s not very helpful.”

  “Sorry.”

  Pip softly poked her in the ribs. “Sweetheart, I said I’m fine. You packed us a truckload of food. I’ve got this. Stop fussing.” Pip waved her away. “Go look for your budgie.”

  Charlie sighed deeply. Pip was right. She’d been managing her diabetes for decades. She knew what she was doing. She needed to relax and stop worrying every five minutes.

  “At least she’s little, if we have to carry her out.” Jodi bumped Charlie with her shoulder.

  Pip wagged her finger pointedly at Jodi. “Not funny, Stretch.”

  “Charlie! Look.” Jodi pointed towards the east. The unmistakable form of a wedge-tailed eagle rounded the side of the mountain.

  Charlie stepped forward but wasn’t satisfied. She walked ahead a few steps and surveyed the possibilities. The rock they stood on was adjacent to an even larger one, which seemed to jut out further, and only part of it was submerged into the thick vegetation. If she could get on that one, it was possible the eagle, if it was Big Bird, would see and recognize her. There was only one problem. A deep cleft separated the two rocks. It was less than a metre wide and quite jumpable, although the thought made her heart skip a beat. She walked to the edge and gauged her own abilities. She peered over to see how far she’d fall if she didn’t make it. An empty feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. The thought of falling down there and becoming completely stuck where it narrowed towards the bottom wasn’t appealing at all.

  Charlie swallowed hard and took a deep breath. It was the only way. She backed up three big steps.

  “Charlie, you’re not really going to—”

  “Charlie, no!” Pip pushed herself up.

  Charlie winked and said, “Yup,” before she lost her nerve. She ran at the divide and pushed off as hard as she could with her right foot. She landed safely on the other side and flashed Jodi and Pip a victorious grin.

  While Pip held a hand to her chest, Jodi shook her head and said, “Bloody hell, Charlie!”

  Charlie scanned the sky but it was empty but for the clouds. She strained to see anything in the giant eucalypts where they’d first spotted the bird. At first she thought it a shadow, but when the eagle spread its wings and took flight, her breath caught in her throat. The eagle rose high in a thermal, seeming to avoid the human disturbance. She watched as it circled overhead. The sun’s intense glare made it impossible for Charlie to see if there was a white feather on the eagle’s wing. On a whim, she raised one arm straight up and the other perpendicular to her body. This was the signal she used to give Big Bird to fly to her. She held her arms still and hoped if it was her eagle, he’d remember the sign.

  Jodi watched, completely enthralled by Charlie’s determination. She looked back and forth between Charlie and the eagle. She shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted. Was it her imagination, or did the eagle seem to be flying closer?

  “Well I’ll be buggered,” Jodi said under her breath. “It is him.” She stepped back, remembering Big Bird’s possessiveness over Charlie.

  Big Bird swooped closer, the white feather, the only sign to indicate he’d once had an injury, quite evident now. Charlie didn’t move. He chirped three times and then rose higher.

  Jodi vaguely noticed Charlie swat at her leg before resuming her position. Her eyes were glued to the bird in the sky.

  Suddenly, Big Bird screeched like he did when he objected to someone other than Charlie. He tucked his wings and dove towards Charlie at breakneck speed.

  “Charlie!” Jodi and Pip yelled at the same time.

  It was then that Jodi noticed the huge brown snake lying near Charlie’s foot. It reared back and struck Charlie’s leg.

  Big B
ird pushed his talons forward and dove towards the snake. It seemed like time stood still at that moment. Just as the snake prepared for another strike, it was suddenly encased in Big Bird’s giant talons. It writhed and wiggled beneath him.

  Jodi met Charlie’s terrified eyes. “Oh, Jesus.”

  “Pip. Jodi. Help me!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Pip’s stomach lurched. Her heart beat so hard that stars swam before her eyes. For long moments she stood frozen, staring into Charlie’s terrified eyes, knowing that her own showed nothing but complete fear. If she was going to help Charlie, she had to change that. And now.

  Snakebite. Back to the basics. Charlie’s life depended on her ability to stay calm and focused. But she needed to work quickly, being mindful not to increase anyone’s sense of panic, particularly Charlie’s. “Honey. Sweetheart. Look at me.” Charlie’s chest rose and fell as her breathing increased along with her adrenaline and fear. “Charlie. Look at me.” Charlie’s terrified wide eyes locked onto hers. “I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you. Okay? It’s really, really important.” Charlie nodded once. “I need to you lower yourself down to the ground. Slowly. And sit with your back against the rock behind you. Put your legs out in front of you, and then sit very, very still. It’s really important you don’t move, love. Can you do that for me?”

  Charlie stood frozen in place.

  “Honey? I really need you to sit down. Please.” Pip held her breath for several heartbeats until Charlie did as she was told. Pip turned to an ashen-faced Jodi. “There’re rolled and triangular bandages in my backpack. We need to wrap her up and splint her leg as soon as we can, to slow the spread of poison. You’ll be faster than me. Can you scamper down and grab our backpacks and bring them on back? There’s bandages in each of them that will do what we need to do.”

  Jodi spun around. “On it. And I’ve got a satellite alert on my backpack. I’ll trigger that off to get help on its way. I’ll be as quick as I can.” In a blur Jodi took off and scaled down over the edge of the rock face they had not long ago all ascended.

  Pip shielded the bright sun from her eyes with a hand. She needed to keep Charlie calm, yet focused, so she targeted the one thing she knew would tap into Charlie’s shocked thoughts. “Where’s Big Bird, love?”

  Pip was met with silence.

  “Charlie, where’s Big Bird?”

  “He’s…” Charlie licked her lips. “He’s here. With me.”

  Big Bird had landed not far from Charlie. His feathers were puffed out. His stance was exaggerated and upright. He was strung tight as a bow—clear signs of alert and distress.

  “What did he do with the snake?”

  “He dropped it over the edge.”

  “So it’s gone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing. How’s he look? Big Bird. How’s he look to you?” Pip knew she had to keep Charlie busy until Jodi returned.

  “Good.”

  “How good?”

  “He’s bigger. Filled out.”

  “Uh-huh. What else?”

  “He recognized me.”

  “He did, didn’t he.”

  “He came down. To help me. He grabbed the snake.”

  “He sure did. He’s a good bird, that one.”

  “Yeah. He is.”

  Pip noticed Charlie staring off into space. She needed to bring her back. “He looks a bit stressed to me. What do you think?” Pip waited for a response and didn’t get one. “Charlie. Big Bird needs you.” Pip smiled at a flicker of Charlie’s response to her statement. “You need to talk to him. Calm him down.”

  Charlie looked at Pip briefly before focusing on Big Bird. She was pleased to hear Charlie cluck to the eagle, quietly murmuring to him. Slowly she raised her hand and brushed the back of a finger across his chest. Pip had come to learn that this was their kind of hug or cuddle. Ever so slowly the bird and Charlie relaxed in each other’s company.

  Another bird circled high overhead.

  “Hey, babe, I think your giant budgie has a girlfriend.”

  Charlie raised her eyes to the bird lazily looping in the thermals above them. She clucked and rubbed Big Bird’s chest some more. “You got an eye for the cute ones. Just like your momma. Who’s a clever boy, huh?”

  “Keep talking to him. I think it’s working. He looks better, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah.”

  Charlie said a few more things to Big Bird that Pip couldn’t hear, but she knew by looking at them both that their heart rates would have begun to settle.

  Hearing scrambling noises behind her, Pip turned to see Jodi come up over the rock edge, with all three backpacks slung over her shoulder. Her face was grim. “That’s not a happy face, Stretch. Talk to me.” Pip knelt down and started gutting her and Charlie’s bags, pulling out the bandages and putting them to one side.

  “The satellite device I always carry when I go walking…” Jodi’s voice was low and quiet.

  Pip looked up at her, not sure if she wanted to hear the rest of the statement or not.

  “I got it out of the pack a minute ago.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I went to turn it on and it was already going. There’s hardly any battery life left. I don’t have enough charge left to set off and sustain a signal. I don’t understand it—I checked it last night before we left. It was at full capacity.”

  Pip’s mind flashed back to the bags flailing around in the Rover. That was hours ago. “The bumpy car ride in must have activated it. Do you have any spare batteries?”

  “Yeah. Back in the truck.” Jodi pulled at her hair and looked to the sky, obviously berating herself.

  “Okay.”

  “What do you mean okay? It’s not okay. I fucked up.”

  Pip stuffed the bandages and a food parcel all into one backpack. “No, Bowman. You did everything right, but sometimes shit just happens. We’ve all just had a small moment of being horrendously human. So we now move to plan B.”

  “And what the frig is that?”

  “We’re still gonna wrap Charlie up. That hasn’t changed. And then we work out how to get her off that rock. Then, plan B.”

  “Which is?”

  “You get to enjoy another hike back to the car and set off your device thingy. Charlie and I will follow you, somewhat more sedately. And then we wait for help to arrive.”

  Pip eyed the backpack contents strewn across the rock face. Both she and Jodi had a small length of rope in the bottom of their bags. A jumper. Jodi had a small roll of fluorescent tape. Her mind began ticking over.

  “And I suppose we sing camp songs and tell jokes while we wait?”

  Pip recognized an edge of hysteria to Jodi’s words. She needed Jodi now more than ever. “No. Not you. I’ve heard your singing. You suck. You’re only allowed to tell jokes.” She stood and faced her friend. She held her steady with her gaze. “We got this, Jodes. But we need to work together. And fast. You with me?”

  Jodi closed her eyes. Pip imagined she counted to ten before staring back at her. “Sorry. I’m being an arse. Talk me through the plan.”

  “We need to wrap and splint Charlie’s whole leg. Get her off that rock and somehow make some kind of travois. Once we do that, you head off back to the car. Mark the trails as you go and we’ll follow as best we can so we’re closer to help when it arrives.”

  Jodi looked at the bag contents Pip had laid out and then over to Charlie. “One small problem. Or, rather, one large, feathered problem.”

  Pip grimaced. “I know. I’d love it if you could think of another easier solution but we don’t have time. I gotta get over there. Now.” Pip hefted the backpack of bandages onto her back.

  Jodi stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Do you want me to do it?”

  “No. I need you to tell me to get my arse over there. Then really make tracks to get help if the budgie rips me to shreds.”

  “Shit.”

  “I know. Once I’m over there,
can you scout around and see if you can find some branches that we can tie together somehow? You’re much cleverer than I am at that sort of thing.”

  “Okay. Will do. Good luck. Now go rescue your girl.”

  Pip swallowed once and ran at the rock face. She leapt into the air before her courage gave out. She held the jumper in front of her and tossed it over Big Bird’s head, just as she landed right next to the angry and very, very protective screaming eagle.

  Charlie must have tweaked to her plan. She reached over and snared the eagle to her side, effectively securing him, talking to him all the while. Pip mouthed, “Thank you.” She knew if Big Bird heard her voice at this moment, that not even Charlie would be able to hold him. So she made as little sound as possible. She was vaguely aware of Jodi scrabbling back over the rock, intent on her own part of the mission ahead.

  Pip whipped the backpack off and tipped out the contents. Grabbing a pocketknife, she slit Charlie’s pant leg all the way up to her hip, revealing the bite and giving her maximum access to her limb. She unlaced Charlie’s boot and took it off, throwing it in the now empty bag. She grabbed a wide, heavy cotton bandage and, starting at Charlie’s toes, wrapped, in firm concentric circles, all the way up to where she had been bitten. She put a light piece of gauze pad over the wound and continued wrapping, leaving one corner of the pad sticking up, like a marker flag, indicating the bite site. When she ran out of bandage, she grabbed another one and wrapped all the way up to Charlie’s thigh. Three bandages in total encased her limb. Next she unfurled a SAM splint and immobilized Charlie’s limb by securing it to her other leg.

  Finished, she sat back on her haunches and breathed heavily, shaking with the effort of staying calm. It was done. She had slowed the poison down and bought Charlie some much needed time.

  Cole fed the baby joeys their lunch and late afternoon feeds, with all going smoothly in the process. In between feeds, she and Chilli took several strolls around the grounds. When she came across Lucille’s garden, she picked some flowers and laid them on the granite stone that bore Felix’s name.