Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  So they did. They visited the Chinese cemetery, which Tina found very interesting, then the main town cemetery and then walked around the old buildings, the 19th Century court house, police barracks and lock-up. The boys enjoyed this and played bushranger games and did a lot of hiding and chasing. Lunch time came and they went to the shop and service station on the edge of town for pies, hamburgers and softdrinks. While they were having lunch Constable Weatherly drove up and told them they could go. After thanking them again he drove off.

  After lunch the group set off for Normanton. It was only later, when they were half way to Blackbull, that a horrible thought came to Tina. ‘If Neville is one of the gang then they will know who I am and where I live!’ That was a truly terrifying thought which slowly grew in her mind until it dominated and gripped her.

  She did consider mentioning her suspicions to her parents but then did not. ‘I have no proof. It might be just coincidence,’ she told herself. The she bit he lip and mentally slapped her forehead. ‘And I have told him where we are going! Oh, what a fool I am!”

  CHAPTER 11

  FISHING

  This fear stayed with Tina for the next four days. It was always there, as insistent as a toothache but much more emotionally draining. This was worst at night but she felt afraid even in places where there were other people. But she made no mention of her feelings to anyone, not wanting to spoil the holiday for the others.

  She suspected that her mother guessed how she was feeling and there were a few emotional breakdowns when the tears just came and she needed to be held. The fact that the police did not catch the smugglers did not help. Knowing that they were at large and possibly hiding somewhere in the district was a cause of nagging worry.

  The families visited Normanton but Tina was not impressed, even thought the menfolk enjoyed good fishing. Apart from the garish, and Tina thought, ghastly, ‘Purple Pub’ the place had little to interest her. It seemed to be a flatter, drier version of Croydon, all spread out in a grid pattern.

  They only stayed there one night and then went on to Karumba, the port at the mouth of the Norman River. Being back where she could see ships cheered Tina up, even if most were only prawn trawlers. Because of the police request they did their fishing off the wharf, the river bank being a dangerous place because of the crocodiles that infested the muddy tidal estuary.

  As she sat there, line in hand, Tina brooded over whether the crooks might seek her out to get revenge. She also thought frequently of Andrew and fretted about what he might be doing. Anxiety over him becoming emotionally entangled with the girls from Townsville added to her distress. Even catching the biggest barramundi caught by anyone in the two families did little to lift her depression. She just wanted ‘it’ over.

  To her it was a relief when they set off back towards Cairns on the Saturday morning. They stopped in Croydon for refreshments and to check with the police. But Constable Weatherly could only shake his head and admit that the smugglers seemed to have slipped the net. No sign of them had been reported anywhere in the region.

  “They either got out of the area before we could set up out road blocks; or they have a secret hideout,” he said.

  Tina was inclined to think that they had a secret hideout. ‘They could fly food in and people out if it had an airstrip,’ she thought. But where? That got her studying what maps they had. She looked for both airstrips and also lakes and large lagoons that a floatplane could use.

  It was just before 1100 that they left Croydon, driving east along the main road. Lunch was in Georgetown and the vehicles were refuelled. Tina had cheered up a bit by then, her thoughts moving back to Andrew and her normal life. The closer they got to home the more her spirits lifted. She began to daydream, constructing romantic fantasies about how she and Andrew might get together.

  By 3pm they were back at Mt Garnet. Tina now began to relax. She was back in familiar territory and that gave her the ‘I’m home’ feeling. But she wasn’t and it took two more hours to drive via Ravenshoe to Atherton. There was a half hour break there for a meal and then another hour and a half to Cairns. It was just after 7pm when the two vehicles parted and Tina’s father turned the Jackaroo into the driveway of their home.

  They were all tired but Tina at once hurried to the back yard to check on Beaky. He was fine and very pleased to see her but while she was talking to him she noted the chatter of birds from Neville’s aviary. She had forgotten about him but now she saw that there were lights on in Neville’s house. ‘Is he home? Or is that his family?’ she wondered. ‘And what type of birds are these?’

  In the dark she could not tell but she thought they were rainbow lorikeets. ‘Where did Neville get them?’ she wondered. She knew there were all sort of laws restricting the trapping, sale and ownership of various birds. But she did not know enough and had no idea whether Neville had the required licenses or permits.

  ‘And if he is one of the gang, has he told them where I live? Will they come to get me?’ Suddenly her home ceased to be a sanctuary and became instead a potential death trap!

  A shiver of fear ran through her and she looked anxiously around, then hurried inside, carefully closing and locking the back door behind her. Inside she paused and found she was gasping for breath. ‘Oh no! How long might this go on for?’ she wondered. Then awful thoughts like having to move to another town and even to take on another identity to throw of any pursuers caused her to burst into tears.

  Her mother found her in this state and calmed her and the family then discussed her fears. Garth poo pooed the concept but then looked very anxious. Both her parents were obviously worried but her father said, “But how would these men learn who you are or where you live?”

  That put Tina in a dilemma. She hesitated, then shook her head. ‘I don’t have any proof that Neville is involved,’ she told herself. Knowing she was possibly placing herself at risk and being foolish in the cause of justice she said nothing.

  That meant a night of anxiety and growing terror, once she was alone in her bedroom and the lights were out. Because the house was low level she knew that any prowler could just walk around the yard to her window. The fact that her window had a security screen was small comfort. She felt sure that determined murders would easily find a way to remove it without waking her. The best she could do was close the sliding window and then draw the curtains. That cut off any breeze and made the room hot and stuffy but she opted for that and the fan in preference.

  She had a bad night, and woke feeling drained and afraid. Nor did she feel like going to school. But equally she did not want to stay home alone. She was too scared to do that and yet not brave enough to mention her fears to her parents. So she went about her normal morning routine pretending that everything was well. The only change was to go out and check that Beaky was well. Her real motive though was to see what type of birds Neville now had in his aviary.

  They were rainbow lorikeets and that worried Tina. There were about twelve of the birds- they fluttered about too often for an accurate count- but she was sure that keeping such native birds was illegal. ‘Do I report him to the authorities?’ she wondered. Then she thought, ‘If the police or whoever come then he will guess it was me and if they don’t lock him up he might really do something to me.’

  Biting her lip with anxiety she went back inside, casting anxious glances through the back fence in case Neville was watching. The 7:30 radio news was no help. There was no mention of the police catching the smugglers. Instead it was taken up with details of a murder in the Davies Creek area of some farmer who had been chopped up by a chainsaw. Tina shuddered at the idea and turned the radio off. To divert her mind she focused on plans to meet Andrew. ‘I mustn’t appear at all pushy,’ she told herself. ‘But how do I get him to notice me?’

  Trying to come up with strategies to achieve that aim kept Tina’s thoughts off her other problems for most of the day. Just going back to school helped because there was all the news and gossip to exchange with her friends. S
he was a bit peeved to find that almost no-one had heard anything about the police manhunt in the Gulf Country. But it was not her classmates she wanted to talk to: it was Andrew and his sister Carmen. However she did not see either before classes and Andrew arrived late. So worry about how his holiday had gone gnawed at Tina all morning. All she could do was surreptitiously study Andrew while trying to guess. He looked normal and seemed happy but that equally might mean that he and the blonde had enjoyed a good holiday together.

  It wasn’t until morning break that Tina got a chance to ask Carmen how the holiday had gone. Carmen smiled and said, “Good, really good. We did lots of sailing.”

  Tina really wanted to ask about Andrew and the blonde but could not think of any way to ‘casually’ introduce the topic without revealing her true interest. But she did walk with Carmen when she went over to where Andrew and Blake were sitting with a group of other boys. As they got closer she heard Blake say, “And you really saw the body?”

  Blake was talking to Stephen Bell. Stephen nodded and looked very pale. “Yep. It was really horrible. The chain saw had nearly chopped him in half and one of his legs was cut off.”

  Tina realised with a shock that Stephen was talking about the murder she had heard about on the radio. But it was Carmen who asked, “Were you there Stephen?”

  Stephen replied, “Yep. Me and Willy Williams and Stick Morton and his little sister Marjorie.”

  “Where was this?” Blake asked.

  “Davies Creek. Willy’s uncle’s farm,” Stephen answered.

  “What were you doing there?”

  Stephen laughed and pushed his glasses up his freckled nose. “Willy had secretly made an airship, a huge bag of balloons with a bicycle slung underneath and we went there to try it out. His parents didn’t know and he and Marjorie nearly got killed when it just took off.”

  “What happened?” Andrew asked. He glanced up and his gaze met Tina’s eyes and he gave a brief smile before looking back at Stephen. Stephen explained the construction of the ‘airship’ and then Blake asked about the murder again.

  Stephen said, “It was the middle of the night. We went with Willy’s dad to see where his Uncle Ted had gone and we found him down at the creek with a huge tree on top of him, all chopped up.” He then described some of this and Tina felt quite ill at the images it conjured up.

  Carmen frowned and said, “Do they know who killed him?”

  Stephen shook his head. “Nope. The cops reckon there must have been at least two guys and they drove off across the creek in a 4WD before we got there.”

  When he said that Tina had a vivid image of two men in a 4WD and she was suddenly seized by frightened curiosity. She said, “Do they know why this man was killed?”

  Again Stephen shook his head. “Nope. Uncle Ted apparently heard noises down the creek, the chain saw Willy said, and went to investigate. The cops thought that maybe the men were stealing rare orchids or perhaps wildlife or growing drugs.”

  ‘Wildlife!’ Tina thought, her heart hammering with anxiety. She swallowed and said, “Do they know if it was wildlife, birds or whatever?”

  “Nope. The cops searched the creek banks for kilometres, looking for marijuana crops or things like that but they didn’t find any.”

  “Was there any bird netting?” Tina asked, remembering the mist nets at Koombooloomba Dam.

  “Nope. The only theory they had was that the men were after rare plants, orchids and things. I mean, why else would they cut down a big tree in the middle of the night?”

  None of them had any idea but it certainly provided Tina with food for thought. ‘Are they the same men? Was it Marco and Danny?’ she wondered. She could imagine both of them committing murder and now death by chain saw was added to her mental list of possible endings. It was so horrific to contemplate she thought she was going to be ill.

  Luckily the bell went and they went to classes. Andrew walked with her part of the way but they barely exchanged a word. So her plans were no further ahead. To help quell her frustration she immersed herself in her schoolwork. But even that did not fully work as in English they began drafting their essays, the topic being an account of their holidays. Just jotting the facts down as notes caused Tina severe flashback and she became all anxious and teary and suddenly couldn’t hold back the sobs. Sarah joined in and then Gwen Copeland. It took quite a while for Mrs Standish to calm them and to extract the reason. She was then all sympathetic and agreed they could choose another topic.

  But that wasn’t much help as Tina had no idea what else to write about so she resolved to go on with the same subject. The only good thing to come out of it was seeing Andrew cast sympathetic glances in her direction. He was at least interested in her story of the smugglers, particularly when he learned they were the same men who had shot him.

  That at least got him talking to her during the lunch break. He followed her out to the port racks when the bell went. As he packed his books away he asked her about the trip. After she had outlined the main events he frowned. “And you believe they were the same blokes?” he asked.

  “Positive,” Tina replied, looking into his eyes and wanting to melt. ‘Oh! Why doesn’t he notice me?’ she thought. But he seemed more interested in the mystery floatplane and while Tina was glad the topic kept him in conversation she really wanted to scream with frustration. But again shyness held her back from hinting or flirting and she could only inwardly sigh and keep on hoping.

  School soon settled into its grind until by the end of the day it seemed to Tina that there had not been a holiday break at all. She found it a relief to go home- until she remembered Danny’s threats. That made her even scared to go into the back yard to look after the pets but she nerved herself to do it. Then she sat and did her homework and daydreamed about Andrew.

  Tuesday and Wednesday were boring re-runs with more frustration and tears for Tina. By Thursday she was so exhausted from not sleeping properly that she felt ill and exhausted and her mother was worried about her. But she went to school anyway. One reason was the school Anzac Day ceremony. This was scheduled for a special assembly on the Friday and the cadets of all three services were to take part in uniform. On Thursday there was to be a rehearsal and she did not want to miss that.

  To her disappointment she was only placed as part of the tri-service group along one side of the hall. There was a tri-service ‘cenotaph guard’ of five, plus two navy cadets who were tasked to be the flag orderlies. Carmen was chosen for the guard along with an air cadet flight sergeant and two army cadet sergeants and an army Cadet Under-Officer. Cadet Petty Officer Gordon and Cadet Able Seaman Luke Karaku, a Torres Strait Islander, were chosen to do the flag duty. To her delight Tina found herself standing next to Andrew, who was the ‘right marker’ for the small group of five navy cadets who stood, by custom, at the right of the parade. On her left were Blake and Sarah and then young Recruit Milson, a Year 8. The next group to her left were the army cadets. There were about forty of them. Their right marker was Graham Kirk and next to him Stephen Bell and Peter Bronsky. The air cadets stood at the left of the parade. They were only a small group as well and Tina was interested to note that Willy Williams was there along with a couple of others.

  For a few moments she studied Willy, knowing that he had attended his uncle’s funeral the previous day. ‘Poor boy,’ she thought. He looked wretched. With him were ‘Stick’ Morton and another Year 9 boy. ‘That silly ‘Noddy’ Parker,’ she remembered.

  Capt Conkey did the organizing and led them through a full rehearsal. This included the school captains and band and choir. Tina enjoyed it all as a welcome break from classes and also as something that was a bit more real to her.

  But the next day she was all anxious as she wore her best white uniform to school and she felt very self-conscious. This was partly because many students jeered at cadets and called them names or derided them. But the other cause had to do with the way the white uniform shirt seemed to emphasis her bust. ‘Heavens, it m
akes them look big!’ she thought, glancing down and blushing. Then the wicked thought crossed her mind that maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. ‘Andrew might actually notice me,’ she told herself.

  And during the day she was sure he did. Both before and after the ceremony she several times noticed his gaze flick to her bosom and then quickly away when he saw that she was looking. He even coloured a bit around the neck and ears and that caused her a secret smile. ‘Good, he has noticed, and he is embarrassed being caught looking,’ she thought. Then she got all ashamed at being so ‘forward’. A niggling feeling of guilt bothered her, along with an entirely feminine concern that he not view her too much from behind. ‘I don’t want him thinking my bum is too big,’ she thought. She was very conscious of how tight the trousers felt across her bottom.

  ‘But how can I get him to notice me and ask me out?’ she fretted.

  CHAPTER 12

  BREAKTHROUGH

  Friday night was Navy Cadets and during the evening Tina continued to study Andrew while puzzling over how to attract his attention. ‘I don’t want to be so pushy as to have to ask him,’ she thought. Then an opportunity arose which she instantly grabbed at, even though she wasn’t all that interested. Immediately after First Parade Lt Cdr Hazard ordered all the cadets to be seated in the lecture room. Once they were ready Lt Cdr Hazard moved to the front to speak.

  “Five things,” he said. “First is Anzac Day. We will spend the remainder of the evening practicing for that. Second is a challenge from the Army Cadets and Air Cadets to take part in a tri-service weekend field exercise. This will be in eight weeks time so we have a chance to do some training for that. The third is a call for volunteers to do the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme.”

  Tina listened with some interest to the plan for the Tri-service exercise- Army Cadets versus Air Cadets with the Navy Cadets as the umpires and safety signals network. But she wasn’t at all interested in trying to win a Duke of Edinburgh Award until Lt Cdr Hazard said, “We need teams of four for each level. Four is the minimum number for safety on the expeditions which are part of the award. Now, who might be interested?”