‘A friend always leaves a trail.’
‘Eh?’ Cameron threw a puzzled look in Jamie’s direction.
‘I read that in the book we’re studying for English at the moment. It’s an old Aboriginal saying.’
The evening was cool and the creatures of the desert were feeding. Everywhere they looked there were signs of activity. A clicking here, a stirring in the spinifex there. Not a breath of wind ruffled the bushes, as they walked in silence.
The afternoon had gone quickly. Cameron had stayed out of the hut as much as possible, preferring to continue his war with the dashboard. Jamie had finished the harness and packed for the walk. They needed to take the food, the first-aid kit, the torch and, of course, the girl. He’d decided to wrap her up in the old blanket and to place her in the bottom of the pack, under the food, so they wouldn’t need to disturb her again.
At first he’d been nervous at the prospect of handling a skeleton but his anxiety soon fell away. The bones were dry and bleached after so long in the desert air. He was reminded of the skeletal remains of the old boat. Gathering them together on the blanket, he stacked them neatly, careful not to leave anything behind, and then wrapped the faded blue and white cloth around them. He used another old piece of material to protect the skull. Jamie had weighed it in his hands for a couple of minutes, holding it with his arm extended and staring into the empty eyes. It seemed so fragile and delicate – as thin as eggshell – difficult to imagine as a living, breathing person. He wrapped it carefully and placed it in the backpack.
The pack was heavy, but it felt light on his back as Jamie walked beside Cameron out into the evening desert. There were three of them, not two, making their way out to face the ordeal of the desert. The girl’s presence filled Jamie. She’d been watching him, helping him, calling him, ever since the moment he’d stepped off the bus and into Port Barren. Now, even though she was nothing more than a fragile pile of bones, Jamie was carrying her home. It was a thought from which he drew comfort.
As the sun touched the horizon, the desert seemed to grow cooler; a wave of darkness swept across it. Around them, the evening erupted into a joyous explosion of sound – clicks and buzzes. Again Jamie was picked up and carried by a feeling of belonging. Of oneness.
Cameron pointed at a finger of red rock that reached skywards, breaking the smooth curve of the horizon ahead of them.
‘We’ll head for that pinnacle out there. Should be able to see it pretty clearly, even in the dark.’
The ancient stone glowed a fiery red in the last rays of sunset. In the gathering twilight it was hard to tell the distance to the pinnacle, but Jamie would have guessed it at two or three kilometres.
Behind them, the two huts of Flaherety’s Curse were already fading into the gloom of the evening. To their left the dying sunset stained the horizon a bloody crimson. Jamie was pleased to be getting away from the close, tense atmosphere inside the huts. He thought of Cameron’s theory about places absorbing positive and negative energy from the people inside them, and wondered about Flaherety’s Curse. If Cameron was right, then what spirits had they left behind in those old prefabricated shacks, and what were they taking with them?
The night grew darker and stars appeared over the eastern horizon.
‘How are you feeling?’ Cameron didn’t break step, but shot the question sideways as he trudged through ankle-deep sand.
‘Okay. Pretty good actually. What about you?’
‘This thing weighs a ton. It’s gonna be a long night.’
‘We can swap if you want.’
‘No thanks. I’d rather . . .’ The sentence remained unfinished. Jamie knew what was on Cameron’s mind.
‘It’s not all that bad, you know.’
‘What isn’t?’
‘Carrying her. It’s not like you’d think.’
‘It’s not that. I just . . .’
‘Listen,’ Jamie said. ‘You know that time you were talking about energy, places being haunted and that?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, think of it that way. We’re taking her away from one of those negative places. Releasing her, if you like. She’d be grateful.’
‘I guess.’
The effort of dragging the water stopped the conversation, but Jamie could tell that Cameron was turning the idea over.
After an hour or so of walking, the rock pinnacle still seemed a long way off. They stopped for a drink and something to eat.
‘Apples again?’
‘Last two. They’ll go off if we don’t eat ’em.’
The moon was yet to rise and the faint starlight cast an ethereal glow across the stark landscape. The apples were floury, but both boys were starving, so neither complained.
‘How far off do you think that rock is?’
‘Dunno. Hard to say.’
‘I think we’re probably about halfway there.’
Jamie thought they were a lot less, but decided not to argue the point.
‘Let’s keep movin’ then.’
They refilled their canteens, to lighten the load in the jerry can. Jamie went to pick up the backpack, but Cameron stopped him.
‘You mind swapping for a while?’
‘No worries.’ Jamie grinned in the darkness.
They pressed on. The moon stayed below the horizon and their eyes slowly adapted. Even with the padding, the waist and shoulder straps of the harness bit deeply into Jamie’s flesh. His legs soon ached from the constant strain of pulling the load through the soft sand. Gradually the pain spread from his calves into his thighs and lower back and up into his shoulders.
Cameron had obviously experienced the same thing during his time in the harness.
‘If you want to take a break or anything, just say so. It’s pretty heavy work.’
Jamie managed a nod in reply, all his energy concentrated on the task of keeping his legs moving.
Progress was slow. Like the night Jamie had woken up in the desert and tried to get home, it proved impossible to travel in a straight line. They kept having to divert around thickets of spinifex and scrub. Several times they needed to carry the water can across dry creek beds that were littered with rocks and stones that would have punctured or cracked the brittle plastic. By midnight they were both exhausted. The rock peak still seemed a long way off.
‘Bloody thing’s not gettin’ any closer.’ Jamie collapsed onto the sand.
‘It is. Just slowly. It’s bigger than we thought.’
The moon had risen some time during the last couple of hours. Jamie hadn’t even noticed. He’d been concentrating so hard on putting aside the pain in his body.
‘You think we’ll get there tonight?’
‘Yeah. I reckon in another hour or so.’
Moonlight made their progress slightly faster. Small paths and trails between the bushes became easier to see. They spotted obstacles earlier and set their course to avoid them. At half past one they finally arrived at the base of the pinnacle.
‘We’ll take a longer break here, eh?’
‘Yeah, good idea.’ Jamie shrugged off the harness and sat with relief on a nearby rock, examining the tower of stone that rose above them into the silver sky.
‘Pretty amazing.’
‘Yeah.’
The bottom of the pinnacle was littered with small boulders and rocks. Out of this the rough sides of the granite column climbed almost vertically, probably seventy or eighty metres into the night. Even in the moonlight, small fissures and cracks in the surface of the rock showed clearly.
‘You reckon it’s climbable?’
Jamie stared in disbelief.
‘You’re kiddin’ me. You’ll kill yourself.’
‘If I can get up there, even just a little way, I can probably pick our next navigation
mark.’
‘You’re doin’ it on your own then, mate. I’m buggered.’
‘Yeah, fair enough. We’ll swap loads again for the next bit.’
Cameron walked up and down thoughtfully at the edge of the rocks.
‘I reckon I can get at least a little way up.’
‘Just don’t break your leg.’
‘I’ll be careful.’
Cameron’s silhouette moved carefully over the scree that littered the base of the monolith, and slowly worked its way upwards and around the side of the rock, until it was hidden from view. Every now and then Jamie would flinch as a loose rock tumbled down the side and thumped into the sand. He was exhausted, almost too tired to think. He felt sleep starting to worm its way into his body.
‘Jamie!’ Cameron’s voice floated down from somewhere in the darkness above him, waking him.
‘Yeah?’
‘Take the torch and go a few hundred metres back along the path, then shine it this way.’
‘How come?’
‘I can’t see the mine site, so I need something back that way to take a bearing from.’
‘Hang on.’
Even the effort of climbing back to his feet was painful. How he was going to manage two or perhaps even three days of this was a mystery. Still, he dug around in the bag until he found the torch, trudged back along the trail left in the sand by the water can, and waved the torch towards the rock.
Cameron yelled something but the words were muffled by distance. Jamie held the torch for another minute or so before picking his way back to where they’d left the gear. Cameron was already down and refilling the canteens.
‘There’s a dark patch a few kilometres ahead that I think might be a clump of trees. It’s in the right direction and we should be able to get there before sunrise, easily.’
‘Let’s wait a bit longer first.’
Cameron was clearly impatient to get moving again, but he agreed to sit for another ten minutes. The rock was still slightly warm from the day’s sun and felt pleasant against Jamie’s back. He closed his eyes. While they’d been walking he hadn’t noticed how cool the evening had become.
‘Don’t fall asleep.’ Cameron’s voice jolted him back into wakefulness.
‘I wasn’t.’
‘You ready?’ Without waiting for an answer Cameron leapt to his feet and started to secure himself into the harness. Jamie hauled himself up and hoisted the backpack onto aching shoulders.
The slow haul through the night seemed to stretch on forever. At about four the moon sank back below the horizon, and soon after the first hints of dawn appeared. Jamie was alarmed to see the horizon growing light almost directly ahead of them.
‘We still on course, do you think?’
Cameron looked concerned, but tried to hide it.
‘Yeah. This time of year the sun’s moving further north.’
He didn’t say anything more, and Jamie’s silence suggested that he’d accepted the explanation. In his mind, though, the feeling of belonging and peace had given way to a growing sense of doubt.
During the long hours of the early morning the scrub grew slightly less dense and it became easier to walk in a straight line towards their destination. For much of the hike they were able to travel two abreast. For reasons he couldn’t explain, the gradual change in the landscape bothered Jamie.
By five the sky had lightened considerably and the clump of trees they were using as a guide was only about another kilometre away. Off in the distance behind them the pinnacle of rock glowed an iridescent red as the first rays of sunlight struck it. They stopped to look for a few seconds, and Cameron’s gaze fell to the ground behind them.
‘Shit!’
‘What?’
‘Look.’
Stretching back towards the pinnacle, a dark smear in the sand marked their path.
‘The water!’
Somewhere during the hours of the early morning, something, a rock perhaps, had dragged against the side of the water container, splitting it open along the seam where the two halves were moulded together.
Both dived for the jerry can, but to their horror only about half a litre remained slopping around in the bottom. The rest had leaked out and soaked into the thirsty red sand.
‘What do we do now?’
Cameron shook his head, fear now obvious in his eyes. ‘Might as well get to the trees for a start.’
They carried the container upside down between them, preserving the last few precious drops. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the shade.
From a distance, the trees had looked green and inviting. Up close they were nothing more than a scraggly bunch of sad-looking shrubs, slightly bigger than those in the desert around them. The boys collapsed onto the sand beneath them.
‘Should we go back?’
‘Where?’
‘To the mine.’
‘And then what?’
Cameron was right. It made no sense to retrace their steps back to Flaherety’s Curse. There was no water there, and no hope either.
‘What do you suggest then?’
Cameron searched the surrounding horizon desperately.
‘We rest up here for the day. Tonight we keep heading north. We should hit the highway sometime tomorrow morning.’
‘What about water?’
He shrugged. ‘We’ll have to ration what we’ve got.’
There didn’t seem much else to say. Cameron settled himself in the deepest bit of shade he could find, and Jamie did the same.
twenty-six
The day wore on and the sun grew more and more intense. Jamie and Cameron lay in the shade and slept.
Cameron was the first to wake, late in the afternoon.
‘Jamie!’
Slowly, reluctantly, Jamie came to. His body felt like it was on fire. Every muscle ached and his legs and arms were stiff.
‘I feel like crap.’
‘Me too. At least you’re not burned.’ During the day, Cameron’s patch of shade had gradually disappeared, leaving him sleeping in the direct rays of the afternoon sun.
‘Mate, you look like a light bulb.’
‘Thanks. I feel like one.’
Jamie stood up, stretched some feeling into his numb limbs and shook the sand out of his hair and clothes.
‘More sand inside my shirt than outside.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘Pass the water.’
‘Don’t have too much.’
‘She’s right.’ They had decanted what little water was left into the canteens. Jamie took a small mouthful then handed it to Cameron, who did the same.
‘Hungry?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Here.’
Jamie caught the muesli bar that flew his way.
‘Thanks.’
They munched for a few minutes, the dry cereal absorbing the little remaining moisture in Jamie’s mouth. He longed for another drink, but wouldn’t let himself ask.
‘We should’ve had the drink second.’ Cameron’s voice was muffled by the food.
‘Yeah.’
The small meal was enough to take the edge off their appetite but was hardly satisfying. Cameron, however, was already picking up the pack.
‘It’s late, we’d better get a move on.’
‘I’ll take the bag first if you like. You’re pretty burned.’
‘You sure?’
Jamie didn’t answer. He took the bag from Cameron and shrugged it over his shoulders. Cameron looked to where the sun was dying in another spectacular display of red and orange light.
‘Off that way, I’d say.’ He gestured in the general direction they’d been headed the night before. Ahead of them, the desert plain st
retched featureless, except for the sparse patches of scrub.
‘What’ll we aim for?’
‘There’s nothing really out there.’
‘We’ll just have to take a guess at it.’
Cameron started out, but Jamie held back. It had been bad enough walking out into the desert from the mine site. Leaving the security of the trees with no fixed point to aim for made him even more nervous. He called after Cameron.
‘Hey, Cam—’
‘What?’ Cameron sounded irritable and annoyed. Not like the easy-going guy Jamie had come to know.
‘Nothin’. Don’t worry about it.’
That night seemed much longer than the previous one. With no visible destination in sight, it was harder to keep moving at a reasonable speed. At least before they’d had goals to achieve, some end to the drudgery of walking, and this had been a source of motivation. Now, trekking through the featureless plain, time seemed to crawl along.
When they stopped for rests there was no conversation. Each sat alone with his thoughts and pain. Not only had the landscape changed but the surface underfoot had altered too. The soft red sand slowly gave way to harder, rockier, gravel-like ground with less and less vegetation. The upside of this was that it became easier to walk, and without the load of the water container they moved much faster. In the early hours of the morning, as they sat by a small clump of bushes, Cameron broke the silence.
‘At this rate we’ll hit the highway later today for sure.’ Jamie detected a hint of the old optimism back in the other boy’s voice.
Dawn approached bright and clear, with neither highway nor shelter in sight. They took a new bearing off the sunrise and altered their course a little. At eight o’clock Cameron stopped.
‘What do you reckon?’
‘We’d better find some shelter soon.’
‘Not a lot around.’
They surveyed the landscape. The patches of bushes and vegetation were now so few that Jamie felt as though he were standing on the moon. Off to the right something grabbed his attention.
‘What about over there?’
Perhaps a kilometre away something broke the smooth curve of the horizon. It was nothing more than an uneven patch of ground that might have been a small outcrop.
A New Kind of Dreaming Page 15