“I promise you, we will make it a night to remember for us all, you especially. Not only will we get the chance to sample Lizzies Luscious Luxuries but we are all looking forward, even more, to sampling Luscious Lizzie herself. I promise you will have an even better night than the one you enjoyed with us in the park all those years ago. This time we are so happy it will be shared between you and four or us not three.
“Today’s visit is just a courtesy call. I just wanted to ensure you are expecting us and are available. If you like I will make a reservation for our future pleasure. I am happy to book a table for the evening or, if you prefer, we can make a booking for your exclusive services for the whole night, if you prefer a formal arrangement. In fact, now we are all well-off business men we are happy to you pay well for these services, knowing that this is the way you now do business; money paid for services rendered. Or we can just turn up if you prefer?”
Then, with a parting wave, he walked out the door. Half way out he paused. “Don’t think about running away again, or trying some other lame excuse. Before I came here I called to your daughter’s school, classes were about to start. Very trusting they are here.
“I told the teachers that I knew you from Sydney, I had just arrived and had yet to get a chance to meet you, but was seeking directions. They introduced me to your lovely daughter, such a sweet little girl, called Catherine. She told me exactly where to come. I would really hate for her and all her friends to find out about your life in Melbourne or even worse for something to happen to your delightful child. I hear small towns can be dangerous places.” He was gone.
Lizzie had not opened her mouth, but she knew her carefully built life had just come apart. At first, when she recognised him, she had felt terror for her own life, along with rising shame and humiliation for what they had done to her.
But, when he threatened her daughter, a burning rage grew alongside this. For herself she could bear this shame, but the threat made to her daughter’s life was different.
She knew that Elena’s Alec kept a gun and she knew where it was. She had never shot a gun, but had seen others do so and it looked easy. In her mind, in a place of flaming rage, she conceived a plan to get that gun and shoot him from behind as he walked down the street, waiting until night fell and no one could see her.
But then, as her rational brain regained control, she knew it was futile. On next week’s aeroplane came these other three men. Killing one was not enough. The others would know it was her, they knew exactly what Dan’s intentions were, not that they would admit their role or motives. So, even if she escaped their attentions or vengeance, she would end up spending her life in gaol and losing her little girl, regardless. Then her daughter, as well, would be at the mercy of these people.
She tried to think of other choices. Could she tell Elena or her other friends? They might believe her, but for the story to make sense she would have to tell all. The telling would spread the shame to Catherine; living in this small town with her mother a harlot and she a bastard.
They all believed she had a dead husband and a legitimate child. She had often thought of inviting her mother to visit, but she knew, if she did this, the lie could not be sustained. So, over the years, while she had sent her mother money and occasional letters she had refrained from giving her the actual details of where she lived and what she did. She had done this to avoid her mother making direct contact, lest in doing so Lizzie’s secret would out.
Now she knew, despite her attempts to keep it secret, that the story of her real life in Melbourne had been passed to her mother. No wonder those occasional letters from her mother had been guarded and less than warm; she had thought the reserve came from her running away rather than trusting in her mother to help. Perhaps it was also her mother trying to protect her.
But until now this town had believed her to be a respectable woman, someone who could hold her head high. And now this man was promising to tell all about this other life, shout it from the rooftops, or worse still, to hurt her girl if she did not give him what he wanted. She knew she could not live with herself if she gave in to them and gave them her body, but she could not fight them either, not in this small town. All these thoughts passed through her head in a minute while she stood there, silent.
She looked around her; the world of this quiet town was unchanged. Alice continued to bustle in the kitchen. But her own world had just crumbled, she had nowhere to go and no other choices but to run again, to get into her car and drive away, taking her small and perplexed daughter with her, ripped from security and friendship yet again.
She could feel hopeless frustration welling up. Why did it always have to end this way? Why was she destined to have every precious friendship and place of security torn away, what had she done to deserve this? She had fled from Sydney; she had fled from Melbourne; now she must run away yet again, this time from here to who knows where.
She could feel her body and mind trembling inside, shaking with a fatigue from this endless fighting, raging against man, raging at god, evil or whatever it was. It was all too hard. For just a second she sat down. She laid her head against the checked tablecloth. She could feel tears in her eyes and starting to flow down her cheeks. She could not do it anymore.
Should she just swallow her pride, accept her status as a fallen woman and let these men have their way and win? Her life would be easier. But that was no choice, not only would it destroy her from the inside, but where would it leave Catherine, living with her mother’s status demeaned, the butt of schoolyard jokes.
So she must keep running, her only choice was to go somewhere even further away, where no one would seek her. She remembered, from a childhood story, that Jesus had gone to the desert, it was his last escape before they killed him. She sensed this was to become her last escape too.
So now, without delay, before this man returned or his friends came too, she must leave this town and drive away, a running coward, going to the desert because there was nowhere else she could think of where she and her daughter might be safe.
Chapter 15 – Running Away Yet Again
Lizzie’s mind felt very muddled. This was not something she had planned for. She had a utility that she had learned to drive. But it was really just a delivery vehicle, to take her goods from place to place. It had a jerry can of fuel and another of water which Alec had insisted she carry for her occasional trips to Derby or nearby stations, lest she break down on the road. But her driving experience was limited; she doubted she had driven five hundred miles outside of Broome town.
She had held off getting a driving license until the end of last year, because she did not want people to know her age and for a license she had to produce something to establish her age. First she had asked Alec for advice on a good reliable car she could use and he had suggested and sourced this one for her. Then he had given her several lessons until she had mastered the basic controls, clutch, changing gears and steering.
Then, when she turned twenty one at the end of last year, she had decided to act on it. A driver’s license was something she needed for her business and the identity papers which went with it were needed for a range of other reasons, such as enrolling Catherine for school at the start of this year.
She had run her own business since barely sixteen. In this town, where everyone knew everyone; they had all assumed she was an adult, in her twenties, when she first came here. She had grown up very fast when she left home, and by the time she came here she had a demeanour and confidence in dealing with others that belied her years.
So, in the end, she had obtained a birth certificate directly herself; filling out forms and sending letters away to the registry of births deaths and marriages in New South Wales. Then, when the certificate had come in the mail, a month after she sent the papers away, she had picked a week when the regular policeman was away and a young replacement from Derby was doing his job. Not knowing her, he had barely glanced at her license form, just ticking a few details in the boxes tha
t confirmed he had sighted a birth certificate and inserting these details onto her license. Then she had driven him once around the block, to confirm that she had the basic skills required.
So now she had her own car and a license to drive it and she could take it where she wanted, though some of her gear changes and take offs were still jumpy. In reality she rarely left Broome, others who worked for her did the longer trips to outlying places. They all seemed to like driving whereas, for her, it was an occasional necessity.
She knew there was a main road that continued on past the turnoff to Derby. It went on through Fitzroy Crossing to Halls Creek, and then continued to Katherine and Darwin. She also knew another road turned off it, somewhere near Halls Creek. It ran down into the desert, going all the way to Alice Springs.
Alice Springs was in the desert and the desert was to be her new refuge. So she now had a destination to aim for. She knew almost nothing about this town except that a man named Neville Shute had written about it in a book called, “A Town like Alice” which she had seen in the local library though she had not yet read it. But it was somewhere in the middle of Australia and there were deserts all around it. These deserts would be her last frontier; past there she could run no further.
Lizzie went to her bedroom and packed a few clothes for her and Catherine. Then she collected a couple blankets and put them in the car too. Her mind was jumping all over the place, her thoughts a jumble. She knew she should plan better, make proper arrangements, but it was hard to think clearly amidst the panic that kept bubbling into her mind.
So, in the end, she just went to the kitchen and told her longstanding friend, Alice, that she must go away for a few days. Lizzie asked her to keep running the restaurant, banking the money and paying the wages. Alice knew how to do this as well as she did. Lizzie could trust her.
Then she scribbled a short note for Elena and asked Alice to pass this on when she saw her.
She remembered that she needed some money. She kept one thousand dollars of spare money in a small safe in the office, so she went and took that out. That would give her some money for petrol, food and other expenses until she got to Alice Springs. After that she could go to a bank to get more when she needed it.
Her final destination was the school. Here she met the principal, told him she had to take her daughter out of school for a few days because she needed to go away on a trip. She imagined that all these people thought she was attending to some urgent family business, catching the aeroplane to Perth, it flew out mid-morning.
Catherine was delighted to see her and seemed unperturbed to come away, babbling happily about her school friends. She thought a trip was something exciting that you did in adventures.
Without further thought or delay she drove out of town. When she came to the main road she turned towards Derby and Fitzroy Crossing. It was just after nine in the morning when she left. The sign read Fitzroy Crossing, 250 miles, She had never driven remotely this far but she felt she could do it, it was just a matter of keeping going at a steady pace.
In the end she made Fitzroy Crossing by three in the afternoon. By the time she bought petrol and some food for her and Catherine the day was getting well on. She considered stopping here for the night. But she had a half formed terror of being pursued. It drove her on. Catherine had got bored, hungry and grizzled in the later stages of the last leg, but after the food she was yawning. Now she might sleep.
So Lizzie pushed on. It was less than 200 miles now to Halls Creek, the next significant town, and she thought they might get there tonight. She decided that, if she got too tired, she and her daughter could cuddle together under the blankets and sleep on the seat in the front of the car.
In the end she just kept driving. Finally she saw the lights of the town at about eight in the evening. She realised that she had driven well over four hundred miles in this one day, probably as far as all her out of town driving before. It had not been too bad. Her arms ached from the heavy steering and the shaking of the car on the corrugated bits had seemed to go for ever. But Alec made sure the car was serviced and it had a good engine, so it kept going without any hesitation. She had gained a growing sense of confidence in her ability to drive anywhere as she drove along.
She got a room in the hotel and the owner cooked them a hot dinner. She had met him a couple times in Broome. Now he seemed like a friend in this company of strangers. He asked her what had brought her to this out of way place. Not wanting to reveal her destination in the desert she said that she was going on to Kununurra and Katherine, she was to meet other family members there, they were visiting the Northern Territory. It sounded reasonable and was suitably vague. People in these places just accepted the need to make long trips driving on bad roads, so no more questions were asked.
That night she and her daughter both slept soundly. Next morning, after they had both eaten a good breakfast, she went to the garage. She asked the man to fill the fuel tank and also to check the petrol jerry can and top it up if needed. She saw that the man also checked her engine oil and radiator, and felt pleased that this was taken care of. For some reason she did not check the water, she just assumed this jerry can was full as she had never used any, and had once seen Alec top it up.
She did not want to ask at the garage for directions as that would give her destination away. So far the signs had been good and obvious, so she thought she could just follow the signs to Alice Springs. Last night in the hotel she had talked to a man who had driven through from Alice Springs. He had told her about a fuel stop half way and said the road was not too bad. So she was confident that she had enough petrol, and that there was also a place where she could get something to eat and drink which was within a day’s drive. As an afterthought she bought two packets of dry biscuits, one of crackers and one of wheatmeal, a packet of lollies and a block of cheese, along with a half gallon plastic bottle of water which she put in the cabin. This would give Catherine something if she was hungry and stop her grizzling too much as they drove.
She headed out, feeling better about herself than yesterday. She knew Alice Springs was between six and seven hundred miles away, not too much further than she had come from Broome. Lizzie was confident that two more days of steady driving would see her there.
Chapter 16 – Only the Desert Remains
Lizzie drove out of Halls Creek following signs for Kununurra and Katherine. After a few miles a sign came up for a turn to the right for Alice Springs. The sign said it was six hundred and fifty miles, much as expected. There was also a new looking sign, hand painted, saying “Fuel and Accommodation at Rabbit Flat, and a number which looked like 198 miles, though it was hard to read as someone had shot holes in it. That must be the place she was told of last night.
So Lizzie turned down this road. At first it was a good road. A couple times station roads turned off it, with signs pointing to them, one was named Gordon Downs. Lizzie drove on steadily. The road was getting much less travelled. She passed one car going the opposite way after she had come about twenty miles.
When her speedometer said she had come sixty miles from Halls Creek she came to a place where there were two roads and no signs. There was a big wide graded road running dead straight and heading off at an angle to the right and a smaller road which went straight ahead, but was not much more than a set of wheel tracks.
Lizzie was unsure but she thought that the main road must be the bigger one; the smaller road must just be a station road that had lost its sign. Both roads were obviously used but neither had signs of much recent use. So, after stopping at the junction for a minute, Lizzie turned onto the bigger road and drove along it looking for any signs or landmarks.
At first it ran over dry stony plains with short grass and a few cattle seen in the distance. Then it started to come into sand hills. Lizzie had driven another thirty miles by now. The road was definitely getting worse, now mainly sand. It seemed to be solid, but once or twice she felt the car sliding and the wheels spun a bit. She concentra
ted on driving carefully. Another twenty miles passed.
Now it was just endless low scrubby desert sand hills that the road crossed. It was really just a graded path between them which occasionally crossed a small ridge sometimes of gravel, sometimes of sand, once or twice there was something resembling a creek but with no sign of water anywhere and very few animals seemed to live in this desolate place.
She was watching her speedometer, so as to keep track of the distance. She realised she had followed this track for over fifty miles since the last major turnoff. A bigger rocky ridge was coming up in front of her, and she welcomed the relief that it gave to this dreary and monotonous landscape, even though the ridge was not really high. She changed down a gear as the car climbed this hill, hoping to see something significant from its crest. She decided that she would have a break at the top of this hill, and turned to the side of the road as they crested the rise.
Without thinking she turned off the car engine when she stopped. She got Catherine out to stretch their legs. They walked around for five minutes. The view was just endless sandy ridges, seeming to get bigger as they stretched towards a horizon in the south. She wondered if she was foolish heading into such a barren place, perhaps she should go back towards Halls Creek and then head for Darwin rather than take her chances in this endless desolation.
She was starting to regret her decision to come this way, there seemed to be a lot more cars on the main road to Kununurra and Katherine, and despite the corrugations that road was better. She had a growing anxiety that she had come a hundred miles south of Halls Creek into the heart of the desert and no one knew she was here. On reflection it seemed a foolish thing to do, and particularly to bring her six year old daughter.
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