Davey Jones's Locker

by Christopher Cummings

  CHAPTER 22

  OUT!

  For a few seconds Andrew felt alarm. How to say no without Carmen guessing his true motives? But then he remembered his own plan and shook his head. “Yes, but not this weekend,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  “There are a few facts I want to check first, facts that might strengthen our case,” Andrew replied. “I am doing a bit of research and don’t have all the information. I am hoping to get it next week. For one thing we need to be sure that the Deeral really is the AV1313.”

  “Oh alright,” Carmen conceded.

  “Anyway, we are going to see Aunty Jean in Mossman this weekend,” Andrew added.

  So the weekend passed quietly. Andrew did all his chores and even some study for the exams that were coming up in the next few weeks. He also did quite a bit of sleeping, catching up after the exertions of the previous weekend. On Sunday the family drove north to Mossman. Travelling along the Cook Highway beside the sea gave Andrew some sharp memories of when Carmen had been kidnapped by the smugglers in April and he could see she was affected too.

  On Sunday night he was both surprised and delighted when he got a phone call from Muriel. “Oh Andrew, I am so sorry I was mad at you,” she said. “Sub Lt Sheldon explained that it was one of those English tourists who wrote those newspaper articles.”

  Hearing her got Andrew all confused. She sounded all bright and cheerful but he did wonder if it wasn’t a little strained. “Thanks,” he said. “Will you be at cadets next Friday night?”

  “I should be,” Muriel answered. “I just wasn’t very well last Friday.”

  “It has been a long couple of weeks,” Andrew agreed.

  “Can we be friends again?” Muriel asked.

  On hearing that Andrew’s heart leapt with hope. “I’d like that,” he replied. He then talked about cadets, before branching off onto gossip about school. Despite feeling elated he still felt a reserve that kept him from mentioning the wreck and he was careful to keep the conversation light and happy. ‘No point in risking annoying her again,’ he reasoned.

  That night he was happy and slept very well.

  Monday went by quickly. Andrew concentrated on studying for the coming exams. The only unusual thing was that neither Graham nor Amanda was at school. That afternoon he made some discreet enquiries in his research into the loss of the Deeral.

  Next day at school Andrew was still in high spirits. These were dampened slightly when he noticed during Geography that Graham was there, but was sitting on his own and looking very gloomy. Amanda was also looking unhappy and was seated on the far side of the room from him. ‘Uh oh!’ Andrew thought. ‘Something has happened.’ But he did not think it was his business to ask what so he concentrated on his work.

  His concern returned when he overheard Mr Conkey say, “Come on Graham, it isn’t the end of the world. Get on with your work.”

  On hearing this Andrew glanced over his shoulder and was just in time to see a look of bleak misery cross Graham’s face. ‘Definitely something gone wrong,’ he concluded. Further confirmation was added ten minutes later when he looked back and saw Graham looking towards Amanda with a wistful expression on his face. Then Graham glanced around and his eyes met Andrew’s. He hastily looked away but Andrew was sure there was misery and even guilt in them. ‘I hope he isn’t going to have one of his fits of the dejections again,’ he mused.

  But at lunch time, when he meant to talk to Graham, Andrew found himself diverted by another incident involving Willy Williams. Willy was sitting under ‘G’ Block with two of his friends: Stick and Noddy, and was being teased by two Year 10 bullies: Scranton and Carstairs. The cause was a plastic model kit of an aeroplane which Willy was showing his friends.

  Scranton snatched the lid of the box off Willy and looked at the picture of an aeroplane on the cover. “What’s this Williams? Are you still a little kid who plays with toys?” he said sneeringly.

  “Plays with himself more like!” Carstairs added, reaching out for the box. This was held by Noddy and was full of dozens of tiny plastic parts. “Give it to me shitface!” Carstairs snarled.

  Scranton grabbed the box. Noddy tried to pull it away and said no, at which Carstairs hit at him with his other hand. Noddy ducked, but in the process the box was torn and tipped up. The tiny pieces cascaded onto the concrete.

  By now Andrew had seen red. He hated bullies and found this pair more than normally objectionable. Without conscious thought he veered across and stopped beside Carstairs and Scranton. As Carstairs went to stamp on the pieces on the concrete Andrew blocked his leg. Carstairs look at him astonishment, then snarled, “What the buggery are you doing? Mind your own business.”

  “Leave them alone,” Andrew replied evenly. By now his heart rate had shot up and he was scared, fully expecting to be bashed.

  Both Scranton and Carstairs turned and adopted threatening gestures. By then Willy had stood up and raised his fists and both Noddy and Stick reluctantly stood as well. Carstairs snarled, “Bugger off Collins, before we rearrange your ugly face.”

  Andrew tensed, ready for a blow, but then almost laughed because he thought that Carstairs’ tone indicated a degree of anxious bluster. He looked at Scranton and said, “Give Willy back his box.”

  “Get stuffed! Make me!” Scranton retorted.

  Andrew placed his fists on his hips and faced Scranton, then said to Willy, “Willy, pick up the parts before they get stood on.”

  “You’ll get stood on!” shouted Carstairs angrily. “Leave ‘em where they are Williams, or else.”

  Another person came and stood beside Willy. It was Stephen. He took his glasses off and put them in his pocket, then stood blinking at Carstairs, plainly taking sides and ready to fight. That action really sent Stephen up in Andrew’s estimation, although he still thought he was bad influence on Graham. Then another Year 8 arrived and joined Willy. Andrew did not know his name but knew he was in Willy’s class, and he also had a plastic model aircraft kit under his arm.

  There was a minute’s tense stand-off, then Andrew said, “Give back the model kit Scranton.”

  Scranton glanced around and licked his lips nervously, then tossed the box at Noddy. “Here! Take yer stupid toy, little boy!” he cried. Then he quickly turned and walked away.

  Seeing he was left alone Carstairs quickly retreated as well. “We’ll get yez later,” he threatened.

  “I wouldn’t advise it,” Andrew replied. He then turned and told the others to pick up the plastic parts. While bending down to help he said, “What is it a model of Willy?”

  Willy showed him a picture of a World War 2 British aircraft. “A Beaufighter,” he answered.

  “Have you got many plastic models?” Andrew asked.

  “Yeah, about a dozen,” Willy replied. Then he gestured towards the last boy to arrive. “John here has got hundreds. They are great!”

  “I think that is all,” Andrew said, his eyes scanning the concrete for any more tiny parts. “Are many broken?” he asked, studying the pieces piled in the box.

  Noddy shifted a few with his fingers, then shook his head. “Don’t think so. Most are still attached to the spruing.”

  “You shouldn’t bring models to school,” Andrew commented.

  John (John Ruddock Andrew now remembered) said, “That’s what I told them. Stick had one broken last week.”

  “I like them,” Stick defended.

  Willy nodded. “I didn’t mean to. It was in my bag from yesterday,” he explained. Then he looked at Andrew and Stephen and said, “Thanks.”

  Andrew went on his way but by then he had forgotten about Graham and did not remember till later that afternoon. Once at home study and chores then took up Andrew’s attention. He then walked the dog, had tea and washed up, then watched TV. All evening he kept hoping that Muriel would phone but she did not. Still hoping and planning he took himself to bed to daydream and fantasize. Unfortunately the fantasies were clouded by a growing sense of anxie
ty about how he and Muriel might relate on Friday night.

  During school on Thursday Andrew was concerned to note that Graham looked desperately unhappy. ‘He looks really sick and miserable,’ he thought. That made him look around to check where Amanda was sitting. There was no sign of her and that bothered him. ‘I wonder if that is a coincidence?’ he pondered.

  This time Andrew’s concern motivated him to act. When he saw Graham moping along at morning break he joined him. “G’day Graham. You OK mate?” he asked.

  “Yeah, why?” Graham mumbled back.

  “You look a bit down, that’s all,” Andrew replied. He did not want to pry and was feeling quite uncomfortable by this.

  “I’m alright,” Graham replied without looking up. The pair walked in silence for a few minutes, Andrew feeling even more uncomfortable. To escape he pointed to where a group of Year 8s led by Willy were running in circles pretending to have ‘dogfights’ with model fighter planes.

  Andrew gestured towards them. “Silly little buggers. I told them the other day they will get into trouble bringing model planes to school,” he said. When Graham just grunted and did not respond Andrew became irritated and gave up. He peeled off and went over to talk to Willy. This meant admiring half a dozen plastic kit aeroplanes. All were 1:72 scale and most were very well put together and painted. “These are really good!” he said, studying Willy’s model Spitfire. And he was sincere. They were good.

  Andrew studied a German Me 109 held by Noddy then asked, “Do you make ones that fly?”

  Willy shook his head. “Not yet, but we are working on that.”

  By the time Andrew had looked at all the model planes he saw that Stephen had joined Graham and that the two were talking. With that he shrugged and went off to the library. Study and schoolwork took his focus away from Graham and his problems for the remainder of the day. At home that afternoon he had afternoon tea and then settled to reading the ‘set’ novel for English. In the evening he sat studying or watching TV, all the while hoping that Muriel would phone. She didn’t and he was left feeling flat but relieved.

  On Friday at school Andrew was again made anxious about Graham but this time he tried to find out what had happened. While placing his books in his school bag after class he noticed three of the girls glancing at Graham and whispering. They were obviously discussing him. One was Gwen Copeland, who was in most of Andrew’s classes. Andrew liked her and had a healthy respect for her intellect and her personality. So, when Gwen detached herself from the others and came walking towards Andrew, he took the opportunity and held up his hand to stop her.

  “Excuse me Gwen. It’s none of my business really, but I’m worried about Graham. Do you know what has happened?”

  Gwen glanced back at Graham and then shook her head while tut-tutting. “I don’t know any details,” she said. “Rosemary and Louise both say that he and Amanda Howley were being very... er.. very naughty on Saturday night at the movies and again at the swimming pool on Sunday. Apparently they both went off together and the girls were sure they were going to try to.. to ..er... to have a ..a.. you know!”

  Andrew did and he blushed bright red. “So what happened? Obviously something has gone wrong.”

  “We don’t know. But Amanda hasn’t been at school for four days and the word is she has gone to another school. Louise heard she’d been sent to a convent.”

  Andrew was astonished and could only speculate. “If that has happened then her parents must know about it. Were they caught in the act?” he suggested.

  “Probably,” Gwen agreed. “Well, serve her right, if she is going to behave like that.”

  That opinion made Andrew feel uncomfortable but he nodded. “Thanks,” he said, and walked on, deep in thought. ‘If Graham has done something he shouldn’t have to Amanda and her parents know about it, then he could be in deep trouble,’ he mused. Concepts like police, court and jail all flitted across his mind although he was quite unsure what really might occur. ‘No wonder he looks unhappy!’ he thought. That got him wondering if there was any way he could help Graham, and even if he should.

  At home that afternoon after school Andrew tried to study but was unable to settle to his homework and could only sit and brood, trying to work out what to do about the wreck and how to win back Muriel’s affection. He became more and more anxious as the time for cadets drew closer. The situation was made much worse when his father came home from work. He called both him and Carmen in and said,

  “I’ve checked with the Port Authority. The Deeral was the A. V. one three one three. They even gave me the manufacturer’s number of her diesel engine.”

  Andrew felt a spurt of satisfaction, rapidly succeeded by one of anxiety as it could mean trouble with Muriel. At his father’s request he went and found his notes and they compared the engine number he had written down while diving on the wreck. The numbers were identical. Seeing them line up like that caused Andrew a chill of dread. ‘It means something really odd has happened,’ he thought.

  But what to do about it? He put this to them and Carmen said, “Nothing yet. Wait till I have finished some research Mum and I are doing tomorrow.” She would not explain what this was saying that, if it turned out to be wrong, then speculating about it beforehand could prejudice people.

  That was very unsatisfactory but Andrew had to leave it like that. He went to have his shower and to get ready for cadets. Once again he took particular care with his personal hygiene and appearance, hoping that Muriel would be there.

  She was, and she smiled, but the smile did not seem to reach her eyes. It was immediately apparent to Andrew that something fundamental had gone out of their friendship. There was a wary barrier of reserve, and not all on her side either. All he could do was act light-hearted and to chat about anything but the wreck. But avoiding the topic seemed to make it loom even larger in his mind and, he suspected, in hers. It was a relief to be separated during the lessons and drill.

  During the dismissal parade Lt Cdr Hazard again reminded them about the courses camp in Mackay, and about having their Permission Forms and Next-of-Kin Forms returned beforehand. He added that, as far as he knew, the plan for them to travel on the HMAS Tobruk was still going ahead. That was really good news to Andrew and he hoped that nothing would come up to cancel it. Travelling on a ship had infinitely more appeal than going by coach.

  After being dismissed Andrew plucked up the courage to go and speak to Muriel. “Can I see you this weekend?” he asked, fearful of being told no.

  Muriel looked unhappy and that worried Andrew even more. ‘She is trying to find a way to say no without lying,’ he thought. She then shrugged and said, “We are going over to Grandma’s for the weekend.”

  “Could I visit you there?” he asked.

  She looked even more doubtful and then, after biting her lip, said, “You couldn’t stay, not a sleepover.”

  “No. Just a short visit,” Andrew replied. “We could sail over and just meet for a little while.” He wanted to say an hour or so and suggest they might go for a walk together but could not find the courage to say it.

  Muriel nodded, but then looked him hard in the eyes. “Only if you promise not to ask my Grandad any questions about.. .about what happened.”

  That was an awkward one. Andrew realized that that was one of his main motives for wanting to go to Bosuns Bay. Reluctantly he nodded and said, “No. I won’t.” ‘If that is the price of her friendship, I will pay it,’ he decided. But having decided he knew he did not feel good about it. Somehow it seemed both a lie and a betrayal.

  They said goodbye and Andrew went to join Carmen. Their mother picked them up and drove them home. On the way Andrew put to Carmen the idea of sailing to Bosuns Bay. Carmen nodded but said, “Have to be Sunday. Mum and I are going to the university tomorrow afternoon and we have chores tomorrow morning.”

  “And you have study for your exams,” their mother added.

  Later, when they were out of hearing of their parents, Andrew
turned to Carmen and said, “Are you going to come in to the house when we visit Bosuns Bay?”

  “Yes, why not?” Carmen replied. “I don’t feel like twiddling my thumbs on the beach for a couple of hours while you pursue a lost cause.”

  That comment hurt but Andrew ignored it. He said, “Because Muriel asked me to promise that if I visited I wouldn’t upset her grandfather by talking about what happened to the Deeral.”

  Carmen shook her head and curled her lip. “Boy! Has she got you twisted around her little finger! I would have thought your own family was more important.”

  “If that is how you feel then I will go on my own,” Andrew replied angrily.

  “OK, keep your shirt on!” Carmen answered.

  “If you come I want you to agree not to raise the subject,” Andrew said firmly.

  “Yes, alright.”

  It was an anxious boy who took himself to bed an hour later. He knew he should be happy but inside he felt a sense of gloom and a nagging feeling of things not being right. This stayed with him all of the next day. There was also a feeling of mild envy, knowing that the army cadets were taking part in a weekend ‘bivouac’. ‘I wish the Navy Cadets did more weekend camps,’ he thought. He tried to study for his exams but found it hard to concentrate.

  There was also curiosity over what Carmen was researching at the university. Their mother was doing a part-time course in Business Studies so they had access to the library but Carmen had made no explanation. When she arrived home Andrew asked if she had found what she wanted.

  Carmen nodded and said, “I think so.”

  “What was it?” Andrew asked.

  “Tell you when I have all the facts,” Carmen answered. “If I tell you now it might make you angry.”

  That didn’t help. It just made Andrew more anxious and curious but Carmen would not relent. He went to bed feeling mildly unhappy. His main worry was over how the social meeting with Muriel and her family might go.