Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  “It was awful Mum. I was terrified,” Tina confessed.

  “You were very lucky. Maybe you should not go on those expeditions,” her mother replied.

  That thought appalled Tina. “Oh Mum! Fair go! It was just a coincidence.”

  “Well, we will see,” her mother replied doubtfully.

  “But Mum, Navy Cadets is the main thing in my life,” Tina argued.

  Her mother sighed and nodded. “Yes, we know. We wish it wasn’t,” she replied. “We wish you would spend more effort on your school work.”

  That was another worrying thought to Tina. She tried to argue that her marks were good but she knew she could do better. ‘I’m capable of getting ‘Very Highs’, not just ‘Highs’,’ she told herself. To end the discussion she pretended she was tired and closed her eyes. That worked and very soon she actually was asleep.

  *****

  Monday was a school day but Tina felt so feverish that her mother kept her home. She spent a day in bed, mostly sleeping but occasionally walking around the house. Her home was a one-story ‘brick-veneer’ in a suburb of similar houses. It was built off a court so was in a very quiet neighbourhood. The house itself was constructed around a courtyard that her father and mother frequently talked about roofing over to make more covered space. At the front of the house were a car port, lounge room and dining room. Along the east side were the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and two bedrooms. Across the back were two more bedrooms, including Tina’s and her parent’s master bedroom. On the west side, separated from the main bed room by a breezeway leading to a back door, were a store room, laundry and a large open area that was filled with a catamaran on a trailer, a ‘Canadian’ canoe, and a mass of assorted paddles, life jackets, ropes, sails and other similar items.

  The yard was very small, something Tina’s father thought was a good idea as it meant less mowing. The back yard was only five metres wide and part of it, in the corner near the clothes line, was ‘Beaky’s cage. She could see him through her back window when she was sitting at her desk. Directly behind the clothes line and Beaky’s cage, from the corner of the neighbour’s yard at the back, was a shed and then a large aviary that extend right across the back of that property.

  Tina liked that cage because the back neighbours also had pet birds and there were usually half a dozen fluttering around or chirping. Six were sulphur-crested cockatoos and they often squawked with Beaky. Knowing that Beaky wasn’t alone did something to ease the niggling concern that Tina had about keeping a bird a prisoner in a cage. The other birds at the back, in separate sections of the big aviary, were parrots and budgerigars.

  ‘They are lovely birds,’ Tina mused as she sat and did her homework.

  As darkness set in she pulled her thick curtains across and turned on her air-conditioner. It made her very uneasy to have her curtains open at night. Her sliding windows had security screens on them but she was still a little paranoid about prowlers. The thought of a stranger peering in at her from the darkness while she was asleep in her bed was not something she liked to think about. Even the thought that the back neighbours might glimpse her changing or doing something private like looking at herself in the mirror made her feel anxious.

  ‘Not that I ever see the neighbours much,’ she mused. They were a man and a woman in their thirties. There were two children, girls of about seven or eight, but they rarely came into the back yard and were very stand-offish so she had never invited them over to play.

  That night the TV News was full of the drama at Koombooloomba Dam and there was a short clip of the helicopter landing at Cairns Base Hospital and then of the CO of TS Endeavour, Lt Cdr Hazard, being interviewed. A few shots of the dam area followed but it was obvious to Tina that the TV crew had not been there. ‘It is a very remote location,’ she told herself, to excuse this.

  Seeing the pictures and hearing more detail caused her some unpleasant flashbacks ands she found she was trembling and breathing fast. It also made her aware that her wounds were itching and sore. But the best part of the news was hearing that the wounded Ranger was still alive.

  No sooner had the news finished than the door bell rang. Tina’s heart skipped, hoping it might be Andrew, but even as she thought it she knew it was a foolish idea. ‘He is probably still in hospital,’ she thought. The visitors were four girls from the Navy Cadets: Hayley Page, Stella, Carmen Collins and Jennifer Jervis. Seeing Jennifer caused Tina very mixed feelings. Part of her wished her to the devil because Andrew liked her but the other part had to concede that Jennifer was very nice. Tina conceded that she was friendly and helpful and not deliberately trying to attract Andrew. ‘But it would be better if she went back to England.’

  The girls discussed the weekend in detail and the others fussed over Tina, making her feel very special. The visit certainly helped calm her down so that she slept better, with only one bad dream where her canoe was being dragged by a strong current towards some unnamed but dreaded danger.

  When Tina woke in the morning she felt much better. There were still a few minor aches and pains but she felt well enough to go to school- and wanted to, in the hope of seeing Andrew and also to discuss the adventure with her friends. Whistling happily she got out of bed and went to the window. As she drew the curtains she stretched and noted it was a bright sunny day.

  To herself she said what she often did on such mornings: “The sun is shining; the birds are singing!” As she said it she picked up her hair brush and looked out at Beaky and the other birds. Some of these were indeed singing. Smiling and chirping along with the birds Tina began to brush her hair.

  Then she stopped and frowned. Something was different but it took her a few minutes to work out what it was. Then she shook her head in puzzlement. ‘All the cockatoos from next door are gone,’ she thought. ‘But when were they taken?’

  CHAPTER 5

  ANNOYED

  Tina turned away from the window feeling both suspicious and a little puzzled. ‘Why did the neighbours take all cockatoos away? And when?’ she thought. She was sure that the birds had been there when she went to bed. ‘I wonder if someone stole them; or left the door of the cage open?’

  Then she shrugged and decided it was none of her business anyway. So she busied herself getting ready for school. This promised to be something of an ordeal as she had not done her homework and there would be all the social pressures. ‘Everyone will question me about what happened,’ she worried. And there was concern about Andrew and the Wildlife Ranger. ‘Is the ranger still alive?’ she worried.

  To try to find out she made a point of listening to the radio news while she had breakfast. As this was something she normally never did her mother was surprised enough to comment. Tina replied, “I feel involved Mum. I helped save him so I care what happens.”

  “Good. That is a normal and healthy reaction,” her mother answered. “Now hurry up and finish your breakfast.”

  “Can you write me a note to explain why I haven’t done my homework please Mum?” Tina asked.

  Her mother frowned and hesitated but in the end she did. That eased some of Tina’s anxiety. But all her normal anxieties remained as she prepared for school. Near the top of these was her appearance. ‘I must look really freaky,’ she thought. ‘My bum is too big; and my waist is too thick; and my boobs are way too big. Oh, I wish I was more shapely!’

  But she knew it was no good voicing these ideas to her mother. She had in the past and all her mother had done was tell her to have some sense. ‘You have a pretty face and a lovely personality and that is more important; and you can’t change things anyway so make the most of what you’ve got,’ she had said.

  What niggled at Tina was the somewhat depressing thought that she was doomed by genetics to end up looking like her mother. As her mother was quite short and stout and had enormous breasts she felt quite anxious. But she also knew she was strong and healthy. The fact that she felt fit and well after the weekend attested to that.

  Tina caught the bus to
school as usual. Her little brother Garth, a Year 8, traveled with her. And as usual he acted the fool with his friends, to the annoyance of both Tina and the bus driver. She found it a relief to reach school. But then it was a sobering experience as she found that almost no-one at school knew she had been involved in the incident at Lake Koombaloomba. Being naturally a shy person Tina did not mention it but it hurt her feelings a bit to find people did not know or seem to care.

  The one person who did was also her best friend, Sarah. But that was because Sarah had been with her in the same canoe and had been equally terrified. The two girls hugged each other and then sat in their usual seats under the school.

  Tina studied Sarah’s face and saw that she looked pale and tired. “Are you alright Sarah?” she asked.

  Sarah nodded but then trembled. “Yes, but I haven’t slept very well for the last two nights. I keep having a bad dream about trying to paddle a canoe to get away from horrible men but the water seems like treacle and then I lose my paddle.”

  Tina nodded and managed a smile. “I’ve been worrying about that ranger who got shot,” she said.

  “Oh yes! How is he, do you know?”

  “Still alive, Mum said,” Tina answered. Then she voiced an idea she had been nursing for a few hours. “I was thinking of going to the hospital to see how he was this afternoon.”

  “That’s a good idea, but are you allowed?” Sarah queried.

  “I haven’t asked my mum but I will,” Tina answered.

  As the girls talked Tina kept watching other students as they arrived at school and she was again slightly miffed that barely any one even glanced at her and she was sure that not one in a hundred associated her with the weekend drama. Even the girls in their class did not seem to know. Nor did they care, beyond a certain level of curiosity. The only other student who seemed to know and care was Carmen Collins. As soon as she saw the two friends Carmen hurried over to ask how they were.

  Carmen’s concern touched Tina but it was not Carmen Collins she wanted to talk to but Andrew Collins. “How is Andrew?” she asked.

  Carmen smiled. “He’s fine. He is at school today. He’s a typical boy and thinks it was all a big adventure.”

  At that Sarah shook her head. “Not me! I was really scared. Sorry I let you all down,” she said.

  Tina reached across and squeezed her arm. “You were acting normal. It was all such a surprise none of us knew what to do. I mean, it isn’t every day you get a man with a gun trying to shoot you.”

  “No, and I hope it never happens again,” Sarah answered. Then she made a face. “Mum said she didn’t know if she would let me go on any more canoe trips.”

  That was bad news to Tina. She said, “But what about next weekend? Are you still allowed to come with us?” Her family was planning a camping trip to the Gulf Country over the coming Easter Holidays and Tina was really looking forward to it. And she did not want to go with just her own family. ‘That won’t be much fun with just Mum and Dad and ‘Toad Face’ little brother,’ she thought.

  Sarah again shook her head and said, “I will have to ask.”

  “Where are you going?” Carmen asked.

  “Out to Croydon and Normanton,” Tina answered. “My dad and Sarah’s want to go fishing.”

  “Oh you lucky things! I have never been out there,” Carmen answered.

  “Neither have we,” Tina replied. “I’m not sure if I am looking forward to it though. I hear it’s an awful lot of nothing much, you know, long, boring drives just so the men can go fishing.”

  Carmen laughed and said, “I wish I was going! I like fishing. And I’ve heard that the barramundi fishing out that way is great. Anyway, here’s Andrew.”

  Andrew came over to them, smiling and apparently none the worse for the adventure. He looked from one to the other and asked how they were.

  Tina smiled back and shrugged but felt her heart beating faster than normal. “I’m alright. How are you?” she replied.

  At that moment the bell for classes went so Tina got no chance to talk to Andrew. He just grinned and said, “I’m a bit sore, but the doctor said I will be OK.”

  Carmen made a face and added, “His thick skull and tiny brain saved him from serious harm.”

  Sarah looked surprised. “Oh Carmen!” she cried.

  Carmen laughed and said, “See you later.” She hurried off to her class and both Tina and Sarah stood up and followed Andrew as he walked towards their first class. As they walked Tina noted that he had several dark marks on the back of his neck and on his left arm. Closer inspection revealed these to be small scabs with a circle of antiseptic on the skin. She badly wanted to check that he was alright but was afraid the other girls would tease her so instead she chatted happily about nothing much while they walked.

  At the classroom they separated and Andrew moved to sit with his own friend Arthur Blake. Blake was another navy cadet and was a leading seaman in the same watch. He had been in another canoe on the weekend so was quite concerned about how they all were but his queries were cut short by the arrival of the teacher.

  The lesson was Maths A with Mr Maclaren. He was a dry stick with a very pedantic manner and the nickname ‘Sylvester’ (After the cartoon cat). But Tina did not mind being in his class and she liked him even more when he came over to where she and Sarah sat and asked how they were. His concern was genuine and he asked several very sensible questions about what they had done when confronted with the emergency.

  ‘He is interested because he is an officer in the Army Cadets,’ Tina thought. It was another reason that she tolerated the teacher’s mannerisms and foibles. Her school was one of the very few in North Queensland that had an army cadet unit at it and the army cadets were both the navy cadet’s friends and their best rivals.

  But Tina’s next teacher had no interest in cadets of any sort and did not even seem to be aware that anything had happened to the girls. Miss Massey was a formidable woman with huge, jutting breasts. She taught Commerce and her nickname, because of her huge bosom, was ‘Massive’. Tina did not like her at all and even feared her. But she knew her job and taught the subject very well so Tina also respected her.

  A period of English followed and the teacher was another officer in the army cadets. Mrs Standish was a lieutenant and Tina often wondered what she might be like in uniform because as a person she came across as being very warm and caring and gentle She was very ‘arty’ and full of poetry and quotations.

  Mrs Standish demonstrated this at once by asking how the girls were and then for details of the incident. They had to show their shotgun pellet wounds and that made them both feel quite special as others in the class looked at them with a mixture of interest, admiration and envy. The jealousy particularly came from Jessica and Nicole but that was no surprise to Tina as the girls had clashed often over the past few years.

  ‘And we will clash some more if that sneaky bitch doesn’t stop making passes at Andrew,’ Tina thought, watching with a chill in her heart as Jessica touched Andrew’s wounds and oozed sympathy and interest all over him. To add to Tina’s concern Andrew smiled back and chatted cheerfully with Jessica.

  Morning break was next but it was equally as frustrating because Andrew and Blake went off to sit with a group of boys under another part of the school. Tina could only sit with Sarah and Lynn and watch wistfully from a distance as the boys talked, joked and skylarked. She was too far away to hear what they were saying but knew from other times that it was mostly good-natured teasing from the boys who were in the army cadets or air cadets, with a few crude jokes and typical ‘boy’ language thrown in.

  The boys in that group were mostly Year 10s with a few Year 9s on the edges. There were other groups of boys who clustered together because they were cadets with age and year level the main determinants of who ‘belonged’. It was a much more obvious grouping for the boy than it was for the girls and Tina always felt slightly annoyed and jealous when she thought about it. ‘I wish I was part of a big gr
oup of cadets,’ she thought. That was because being a cadet of any sort was not considered ‘cool’ and people who were cadets came in for a good deal of teasing and even taunting abuse.

  Two of the male army cadets particularly held Tina’s attention; one because he was so good looking and the other because he was so nice. Graham Kirk, a corporal in the army cadets, was the most handsome youth Tina had ever seen. He was fit and tough and had a reputation for being very brave. She also knew he was very loyal and good to his mates. In appearance Graham matched Andrew with fair hair and bright blue eyes but his hair was more ‘mousy’ than blond and he had a good sprinkle of freckles on his face. Graham was also shorter and had much broader shoulders.

  The other army cadet was in her own class. He was Corporal Peter Bronksy and he was the ‘brain’ of 10A. Peter had plain looks and dark eyes and hair but he was a very kind and considerate person and was Graham’s best friend.

  Graham had two other friends, neither of whom Tina particularly liked. Stephen Bell, another Year 10 and also an army cadet corporal, was a thin, freckled youth with glasses. He had a real reputation for being good with the girls but Tina could not see why. From what she had seen he was fairly coarse and she did not trust him.

  The other boy was Roger Dunning, a Year 9. He was only tolerated in the Year 10 group because he was one of the four members of the ‘Hiking Team’. Roger was chubby and cheerful and frequently the butt of jokes or teasing.

  But at the moment Tina could see that it was several air cadets who were the target of the jibes. She nudged Sarah and said, “Who is that boy talking to Graham Kirk?”

  Sarah looked and then smiled. “That is Willy Williams, the ‘Mad Professor’,” she answered.

  On hearing that Tina remembered several stories about Willy. “He is an air cadet isn’t he?” she asked. Willy was famous around the school for his gadgets: the rocket which exploded, the radio controlled plane which had buzzed the army cadets Passing-Out Parade, the man lifting kite which had crashed off the roof, the giant catapult.