Lizzie's Tale

by Graham Wilson

  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 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. By the time she came here she had a demeanour and confidence 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 came in the mail, a month after she sent the papers away, she picked a week when the regular policeman was away and a young replacement from Derby was doing his job. Not knowing her, he barely glanced at her license form, just ticking a box that 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 she had the basic skills required.

  So she had her own car and a license to drive it. 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 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 had a destination to aim for. She knew almost nothing about this town except 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.

  In the end she went into 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 trusted her.

  Then she scribbled a short note for Elena and asked Alice to pass this on when she saw her.

  She remembered she needed 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 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 that 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 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 check it and 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 part 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.