Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  “Not this Saturday night. I’m already going out then,” the red-head replied.

  “Oh! Er.. Well. What about some other time?” Willy asked.

  Seeing his embarrassment but also his determination Tina admired him even more. Then she saw a large Year 11 lad named Scranton stride across behind Willy. Scranton reached out and grabbed Willy by the collar with one hand and by the waistband of his shorts with the other. Before Tina’s astonished gaze Scranton reefed upwards, lifting Willy off the ground and giving him a ‘wedgy’ when the shorts were pulled tight up into his crutch.

  Scranton was bigger than Willy, and obviously stronger. Willy was lifted off the ground so that his feet scrabbled to touch. He struggled and tried to turn but was propelled along past a line of laughing faces. It was obvious to Tina that Willy was humiliated.

  At the corner of the building Scranton let go and pushed hard. Willy sprawled on the concrete path, skinning both knees and an elbow. Instantly he sprang up, tears in his eyes and anger on his face. Tina expected him to run away when he saw Scranton but instead he put up his fists and lashed out.

  Scranton knocked Willy’s blow aside with ease, grabbed his shirt front with his other hand, then struck him hard in the face. He snarled loudly, “Barbara doesn’t want to go out with you, Shithead. She’s going out with me. Now piss off before I make that ugly face of yours even uglier!”

  Willy struggled to free himself. He tried to break the older boy’s grip and was punched again. He tried to duck but couldn’t. His head jerked back, to thud into a concrete post.

  Despite this Willy lashed out again. But it was no good. Scranton was a head taller and his arms longer and Willy could not land a single punch. Willy was hit again, then abruptly pushed. He stumbled, fell heavily on his bum and landed flat on his back. Scranton tried to kick him but he managed to roll aside and scrambled to his feet. By then Tina was on her feet, sickened by the unequal fight and the unfair fighting. She moved to intervene.

  Scranton shook his fist in Willy’s face and snarled, “Piss off Williams, or I’ll knock your block off! And keep away from Barbara or I’ll mash your nuts to pulp.”

  Willy sprang clear of another blow. “I’ll talk to who I like, you bloody bully!” he shouted. He charged forward, fists flailing.

  Thump! Whack!

  Willy reeled back from two hard blows, one to the left side and one to the head. He gasped in pain but raised his fists to attack again.

  A boy stepped in the way. “That’ll do Scranton. Pick on someone your own size,” he said. Tina recognized Peter Bronsky, one of Graham’s mates in Year 10.

  Scranton hesitated. “Mind your own business. He was annoying my girl.”

  Willy looked hurt but he shouted back angrily, “She can go out with who she likes. If she doesn’t want to go out with me she can tell me herself.”

  “Keep away from her, you little turd. If I hear you’ve been bothering her you’ll be sorry,” Scranton threatened, adding, “Besides, she prefers real men!”

  With that cruel jibe Scranton turned and walked back under the building. Willy stood, shaking and rubbing his bruised face. Tina stopped and stood uncertainly. It appeared that the ugly incident was over. She heard Peter ask Willy if he was OK and then advised him to wash the gravel rash. As he did a voice called, “Hey Willy! Come on!”

  Tina saw that a Year 9 boy was waving from the veranda of the main building in front of the science lab. At that the two boys turned and walked away across the quadrangle towards the main building.

  CHAPTER 13

  FIRST DATE

  Tina walked back to her seat, noting that Scranton was talking to Barbara. Squeezing back into her seat beside Sarah Tina whispered to her, “Who is that red-head?”

  Sarah curled her lip and whispered back, “Barbara Brassington, a Year 9. I’ve heard she is a real tart.”

  “I don’t like that Scranton either,” Tina said, noting the Year 11 boy walking away. “He is a real bully.”

  “It certainly wasn’t a fair fight. That poor Year 9 kid was in trouble then,” Sarah agreed. The two fell to discussing the incident and its main players. Tina decided she did not like Barbara at all and that she did like Willy. ‘He’s got guts,’ she thought.

  The girls were still gossiping about the fight when another even more dramatic incident suddenly unfolded. The girl next to Barbara suddenly grabbed her arm and pointed. “Oooh! Look!”

  Tina stared in the direction the girl was pointing. She saw that up on the veranda of the main building a large group of students had gathered. Among them she noted Peter Bronsky and his friends. Then she saw what had excited the other girl’s interest. A huge, grey, sausage shaped object about 3 metres long had appeared out of the door of the science laboratory and was floating above the heads of the crowd.

  “What is it?” Sarah asked.

  The girl next to Sarah cried out, “It’s Willy Williams’ model of a German zeppelin.”

  “What’s a zeppelin?” the girl next to Barbara asked.

  “One of those giant airship things they used in World War One,” the other girl explained.

  Tina knew that. She had seen photos of them at navy cadets. There was one of the cruiser HMAS Sydney firing at a zeppelin. Now she stared in amazement. The model looked to be about three or four metres long and was actually flying over the heads of the people on the veranda. She could hear the buzz of tiny motors, even from across the quadrangle.

  Holding the nose of the model to keep it under control was Willy. Another student Tina recognized as being the long skinny kid nicknamed ‘Stick’, held the tail. Stick’s little sister Marjorie, a Year 8 with freckles and big boobs, was jumping up and down excitedly beside them.

  As Willy tried to walk along the veranda towards the office Tina saw his path blocked by another student. It was Scranton. As soon as she recognized him Tina felt a stab of anxiety. ‘Oh no! What is he going to do now?’ she wondered.

  What followed was hidden from her by the other students crowding on the veranda but she heard later that Scranton took out a cigarette lighter and flicked it on. The result was all too evident, even at fifty metres. A flicker of flame engulfed the model. There were loud cries and then the whole centre section of the model exploded with a loud ‘whoof!’

  Willy shouted, then hurled the blazing model out over the railings. Tina let out a cry of concern and ran out onto the grass with the other girls to watch. The model spiralled down, a ball of flame, to crash onto the lawn. Within seconds it was just burning embers.

  Tina was torn between watching the model and the fight that erupted on the veranda. Willy was obviously furiously angry and was shouting at Scranton who had his fists up. Tina saw Mr Feldt, the senior Chemistry teacher, push between them and point towards the office. Then there were gasps from the other girls and Tina even heard Barbara say, “Oh no!”

  She saw that Willy had started to collapse but had been grabbed by Mr Feldt. The teacher then helped Willy along the veranda. Stick’s sister held him up on the other side. “Willy is hurt,” someone cried.

  ‘Oh poor Willy!’ Tina thought. ‘He didn’t deserve that!’ She turned and looked at Barbara and was mollified slightly by seeing the look of genuine concern on her face. She and her friends hurried off. Tina and her friends sat down and burst into chatter about the incident.

  It at least gave Andrew a reason to talk to her in the next class. He had not been a witness to the scene but Peter had and he provided the details. Willy had burns to his hands, arms and face.

  “Are they serious?” Tina asked.

  “Don’t think so but his parents have taken him away,” Andrew answered.

  “What about that Scranton bully?” Tina asked.

  “Don’t know. He was sent to the office,” Andrew answered. He then said, “I wonder why Scranton did it?”

  Peter answered that. “Willy had been trying to chat up Scranton’s girlfriend and he objected.”

  “Who is his girlfriend?” Andre
w asked.

  Again it was Peter who supplied the information. “That red-head Barbara Brassington in Nine ‘B’.”

  “Her!” Andrew cried. “I’ve heard she is a real moll.”

  That comment bothered Tina, making her wonder how Andrew knew Barbara and about her reputation. All she could say was she thought it was a terrible shame that the model had been destroyed.

  Andrew agreed. “You are right there. It must have taken Willy hours and hours to make a model like that,” he said.

  Peter nodded. “And all gone in a flash,” he added.

  Tina found it all very sad and was not impressed with Scranton or Barbara. Now that she knew who she was she learned a lot more about her. Later when the boys weren’t there Sarah explained, “She is two-timing. She is going out with Scranton but during the lunch breaks she is sneaking off with Nigel Cressly and going for drives in his sports car. The word is that they go parking and have sex.”

  Sarah blushed and giggled and was obviously very interested in sex. So was Tina but she did not want to admit it. Nigel Cressly was one of the school leaders, a prefect in Year 12 and owner of a red sports car that made him a very desirable catch in some girl’s eyes.

  Over the next two days Tina had opportunities to observe Barbara and what she saw did not impress her. ‘She is a flirt and a bitch!’ she decided. Then she modified that and observed that Barbara did not appear very happy.

  It all helped fill in the time until the weekend. At last Friday came. Friday night meant Navy Cadets and that gave her several chances to be with Andrew, even if it was in a group. She did not dream of doing anything at cadets as the officers were very strict about ‘fraternization’ and she did not want to cause any trouble. ‘And I would like to be promoted!’

  So Tina was just happy to be near Andrew and to be aware that he had noticed her. She was sure he would not want their relationship to become public knowledge at cadets as others would tease and make comments so she was careful not to say anything that might lead to such a conclusion.

  The training that evening included preparation for the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and for the tri-service exercise. Those going on the D of E expedition sat through a period on expedition planning. Part of this was a discussion of when to do the practice expedition and when to do the real thing.

  They soon agreed that the weekend 23- 24 May, three weeks from then, was suitable for the practice as all of the groups and some of the officers were able to go then.

  Lt Cdr Hazard faced them and said, “Now we need to choose a period of at least three days for the actual expedition, four days for the ‘Gold’ team.”

  Blake studied the calendar and said, “What about the Queen’s Birthday long weekend?”

  Sarah at once vetoed this. “I couldn’t go then. My family have booked a holiday site up at Lake Tinaroo.”

  “Surely you don’t have to be with your family on holidays at your age,” Blake commented.

  Sarah looked hurt and said, “I do. My mum will be very upset if I am not there.”

  Tina spoke next. She wanted to soothe the situation. “What about the last few days of our camp in the June holidays. Could we do it then sir?”

  Lt Cdr Hazard thought for a moment and then nodded. “Probably. In fact the promotion training and testing only takes four days so you could do that. We will look into it.”

  So the second week of the June school holidays was tentatively pencilled in as the time for the test expedition. Then there was a signals lesson on Morse code for those who intended to go on the field exercise. The last period was on boat maintenance during which they sorted, checked and cleaned all the parts of one of the ‘Corsairs’, the small sailing craft the unit used. Tina enjoyed all of these activities and was glad she had volunteered.

  After dismissal parade Tina got another little boost when Andrew walked with her to her parent’s car and stood talking to her. A few others noticed this and she saw a few raised eyebrows and knew that gossip and speculation would now start to circulate. For her sake she did not mind, being glad to have her name linked with Andrew’s. She just hoped he did not get hurt by it.

  When Carmen came over to say to Andrew it was time to go home she gave Tina a quizzical glance. Tina was both thrilled and puzzled. ‘Surely he has told his big sister?’ she thought.

  But he hadn’t. Carmen only learned when Andrew said in front of her, “See you tomorrow night then Tina. Sleep well.”

  “Tomorrow night?” Carmen queried with a raised eyebrow.

  “We are going to the movies,” Andrew explained as he turned to walk away.

  Carmen gaped and then nodded. As she also walked away she looked over her shoulder at Tina and winked. Tina blushed with happiness at this gesture of approval and knew she wanted to go home with Andrew. As she stood and watched Andrew walking away she hummed and grinned and just could not help herself. Her mother also smiled and called, “Come on Petal. Tear your eyes from Prince Charming and get into the car.”

  “Mum!” Tina cried, blushing even harder but quite unable to stop smiling.

  “I just hope he doesn’t break your heart. He’s only a boy you know,” her mother replied.

  Tina did not believe that. ‘He is the most wonderful man in the whole world,’ she told herself as she climbed into the car.

  But the waiting hurt!

  That night she could not sleep properly and tossed and turned on the edge of wakefulness, her thought a swirl of romantic fantasies. In the morning she felt tired and fidgety and just wanted the day to end. But it didn’t and she was set to work on chores. Beaky’s cage had to be thoroughly cleaned and the bird’s wings clipped. It was only while doing this and seeing the lovely Rainbow Lorikeets in the aviary over the back fence that her suspicions and fears returned.

  Other chores and homework assignments helped fill in the day but there still seemed to be long periods of itchy impatience. Then it was tea time and time to get ready. By then the impatience had been replaced by ever increasing anxiety of the ‘What if he finds I am boring? What if he thinks I am ugly?’ type. Tina showered with particular care, not wanting to smell wrong, and then she added dabs of her favourite perfume and powder. As she did she gently fondled her own breasts. Holding them both she studied them in the mirror.

  ‘They are big,’ she mused. ‘But I like them- and I hope Andrew does too!’ She noted with pleasure that they were still firm and had not yet begun to sag. Again she squeezed and stroked them, enjoying the sensation and wondering if Andrew would try to play with them. She knew from overheard conversations and ‘girl talk’ that males were generally fascinated by them and that they had strong urges to touch them and to play with them. ‘Will I let him if he tries?’ she thought. But she knew she would, her real doubts being about how gentle he might be and what he might think of her if she let him.

  That led to another worry when she was dressing- how much of them to show. ‘Do I cover them up or wear something revealing?’ she wondered. After some thought and more study of herself from various angles in the mirror she decided to cover up. ‘I have attracted his attention, now I want to make him enjoy the chase,’ she thought, smiling at the fantasies that conjured up. So she dressed in a button up cotton blouse and wore a print skirt and casual shoes. It was not a dressy event and she wanted to save her better dresses for other, more worthwhile events.

  Having done that she again fretted in front of the mirror, turning this way and that and critically examining her shape from all angles. ‘I hope he doesn’t notice that my bum is a bit big,’ she worried. By then she was almost trembling with nervousness. Thinking that what she had on was not right she considered changing. But a glance at the clock told her she did not have time and then her mother called and told her it was time to go.

  ‘Oh, I hope he likes what he sees!’ she thought.

  Her mother did. When Tina came out into the lounge room her mother smiled and nodded with approval. “You look lovely Dear, and just right for this sort
of a date.”

  “Thanks Mum. I just.. just..” Tina said.

  “Stop worrying Petal! We all do that. It is natural. I’ll bet Andrew is a bundle of nerves right now as well. So let’s go and pick him up and put him out of his misery.”

  So Tina gathered up her handbag and then stood for her father to look at her. She half expected him to say something about behaviour but all he did was smile and say, “You look beautiful Princess. Have a nice time.”

  Tina and her mother then drove over to Andrew’s. As they did Tina hoped that Andrew would be waiting outside as she did not want to add to her nervous stress by having to talk to Carmen or their parents. Luckily he was and her heart warmed to him. It also broke into a rapid pitter-patter when she saw how handsome he looked. He wore a smart casual open necked shirt with short sleeves and a neat pair of long trousers. It made him look a cut above the usual scruffs she saw around the town and confirmed her opinion that he was worth the effort.

  After that the evening went well, but not as well as Tina had hoped. Andrew acted the complete gentleman. He opened doors for her, complimented her on her dress, said nice things to her and about her and looked at her with admiring eyes. But he did not whisper that he loved her and he made no move to even hold her hand, much less try to put his arm around her or kiss her. As they sat in the darkness of the movie theatre she felt quite peeved and curiously let down by his good behaviour.

  ‘So much for worrying about what bra to wear!’ she thought. When he made no overt moves she began to worry. ‘Is there something wrong with me?’ she thought. ‘Am I unattractive? Or does he now regret having asked me and is just being polite until it is all over?’ A hundred anxious thoughts crowded her brain: whether she smelt or whether she had said or done something to offend him; or whether his friends or his sister had teased him over taking her out.

  ‘No, Carmen is too nice to do anything like that,’ Tina told herself in an attempt to reassure her sinking confidence.