Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  Later she could barely remember the details of the movie, except that it had been too loud and the smell of popcorn had made her feel nauseous. But she was hotly conscious of the fact that as they stood on the footpath afterwards while waiting for her mother to pick them up his hand had touched hers and then he had tentatively moved to hold it.

  ‘He does like me!’ she thought as a burst of joy swept through her. It suddenly dawned on her that Andrew was very anxious and that he might be afraid of her reaction if he did the wrong thing. To help him she took hold of his hand (After a few nervous fumbles). He then stood and looked pleased and she felt even better. It made her feel even more valued when she noted a few others give them glances. To be holding the hand of the most handsome boy around made her feel good!

  To cap her night he nervously licked his lips and said, “Thanks for coming out with me. Would you like another date?”

  All Tina could do was nod and smile she was so happy. Then she squeezed his hand and suddenly got all coy as she realized she had started to snuggle against him. She realized that her right breast was pressing against his left arm. ‘I hope he doesn’t mind,’ she worried. But she kept herself close as it just felt so right and so natural- and also so nice.

  “What about next Saturday night?” Andrew asked.

  Tina began to nod and then remembered a conversation with her father. “Oh! Oh sorry. I’d love to but we are going bird watching at the Mareeba Wetlands and Mitchell River Lake next weekend.”

  “Who is we?” Andrew asked, his face struggling to hide his disappointment.

  “My family and Sarah’s,” Tina replied. “The men want to go fishing as well.”

  “Can I come do you think?”

  That seemed to be a wonderful idea to Tina so she said, “I will have to ask. We can do that when Mum comes to pick me up or you could you come over tomorrow afternoon and we can ask,” Tina said.

  “What about tomorrow morning? I think we are going for a drive after lunch and I have to finish an assignment and do my jobs at home,” Andrew answered.

  “I have to go to church and won’t be home until after eleven,” Tina said.

  Andrew smiled and did not seem to sneer at the mention of church, not in the way she had seen others do when they learned that she actually did go to church. “Then I will call after that,” he promised.

  That really pleased Tina and she beamed her happiness. Then Andrew glanced over her shoulder and grunted then said, “There is that bully Scranton and his cronies.”

  Tina turned to look and saw that Scranton had his arm around Barbara Brassington’s waist. Scranton and his two mates wore tattered jeans and trainers and loose shirts and the girls with them had a distinctly ‘tarty’ appearance. But she had to admit that Barbara looked very attractive and was better dressed than the others. ‘Better than that sour bitch Karen,’ she decided.

  Tina noted that Barbara did not look happy and that Scranton looked annoyed. At that moment her eyes met Barbara’s and she quickly looked away. She held Andrew’s hand tighter and began to discuss the incident of Willy’s zeppelin model. Andrew was not impressed. “Scranton is just a thug,” he said.

  Tina glanced back at Barbara and again their eyes met. This time a distinct look of resentment appeared on Barbara’s face and Tina blushed with embarrassment and again looked away. She decided she did not like Barbara or her friends. But she and Andrew had no further chance to discuss things as her mother arrived and they had to get into the car. Tina was pleased that her mother saw them holding hands and regretted that they had to let go as they climbed in.

  As they drove off Tina looked out at the people still waiting on the footpath and saw Barbara watching them. It appeared to Tina that Barbara was about to burst into tears. ‘She is not happy,’ she thought, then wondered what Scranton might have done to upset her. That opened up a whole mess of speculation and she quickly shook her head and thanked her lucky stars she was with Andrew. She gave him and admiring glance and he turned and smiled at her, making her heart turn over with gladness.

  During the drive to Andrew’s he again reached out and took her hand, sending waves of warm affection through her. His hand felt nice- warm and smooth- and he felt nice and she happily snuggled against him.

  Andrew then asked Tina’s mother if he might join them on the weekend camping trip. She at once said yes, “As long as Tina approves.”

  “What if Dad says no?” Tina asked.

  Her mother snorted and then said, “Your father wants to go fishing. Andrew can come,” in a tone that seemed to imply that her father might not enjoy his fishing if he said no. Having watched her mother get her own way many times Tina was not surprised and had to suppress a giggle. Instead she smiled at Andrew and gave his hand a squeeze. He grinned at her and squeezed back.

  She felt so happy that she wanted the drive to go on for much longer. When they drew up to the front of his house and he let go or her hand she sighed with regret. Now she worried about whether he might try to give her a goodnight kiss or not. She would not have stopped him if he had although as a general principle she had decided she would not allow boys that liberty on a first date. There was also the potential embarrassment of such an act where her mother could see to worry her. But he just smiled and said nice things and then thanked her mother before standing and waving as they drove off.

  As they turned the next corner Tina’s mother met her gaze in the rear vision mirror. “Have a nice time Petal?”

  “Yes Mum. He is wonderful. And he wants to take me out again,” Tina gushed. Then a tear of happiness crept into the corner of her right eye.

  “Good. I’m glad. He seems very nice,” her mother replied.

  At home there was pride, embarrassment and irritation. The pride was in having been on her first date and with Andrew. The embarrassment was in talking to her parents about it without revealing all her anxieties or any personal details. The irritation came from teasing comments from little brother Garth, who implied that Andrew needed glasses or his head read.

  Later that night, in her bed, Tina relived the date and then embellished it with fantasies. She even practised kissing, using her pillow to hug and embrace and she gave her own breasts a gentle fondle, imagining that it was Andrew. That caused her some very hot thoughts that she was then ashamed of and she stopped, to drop off into a deep sleep.

  On Sunday after lunch, just when Tina was beginning to think that Andrew had changed his mind, she heard a car pull up out the front. Her mother glanced out and said, “It is for you Petal. It is the Collinses.”

  Tina got up and went to look, anxiously straightening her blouse and patting her hair into place as she did. To her surprise she saw both Andrew and Carmen get out of the car and come up the driveway to the front door.

  ‘I wonder why they are both coming?’ she thought even as she opened the door and smiled at Andrew.

  CHAPTER 14

  SCHOOL GOSSIP

  It was Carmen who spoke first. “Hi Tina! We are going on a picnic. Would you like to come?” she called.

  Tina was thrilled. “I’d love to, but I will have to ask my parents. Where are you going?” she asked.

  Carmen hurried to the door and took her arm. “Only to Ellis Beach. Come on, let’s ask your mum and dad.”

  Andrew was left standing on the doorstep while the two girls hurried in to where Tina’s parents sat in the lounge room. When they learned that Mr and Mrs Collins would be in charge and that Carmen would also be there they had no objection. Tina wanted to be alone with Andrew but was still happy to accept. “Wait till I change,” she said.

  “Oh never mind that. Just grab a towel and a hat and your bathers,” Carmen said.

  “What about food?”

  “We have plenty. We brought extra, just in case,” Carmen explained.

  Young Garth, who had come to the door of his room, asked, “Can I come too?”

  Tina did not want him to and was relieved when Carmen answered. “Sorry. We�
��d like to but we don’t have room in the car.”

  Garth scowled and suggested that they take their own car and come. But Tina’s parents said no. Details of time to be home were agreed and Tina hurried to get her towel and bathers, sunscreen and hat, then went out. A minute later she was saying hello to Andrew’s parents as she climbed into the car. When all were in they drove off with Tina happily squeezed in between Andrew and Carmen.

  After that it was just cheerful chat all the way to the beach. Once there Tina went to the change rooms to put on her bathers and then she nervously joined the others on the beach. She was a bit anxious about Andrew seeing her in her swimming costume even though it was a plain dark blue one-piece. ‘It makes me look tubby,’ she thought, wishing yet again that she had a slimmer waist and smaller behind.

  Andrew did not seem to notice and Tina was almost overcome with love when she saw him in just his bathers. He looked so muscular and attractive she just wanted to hold him. Instead they horsed around and he did not even duck her in the surf. Despite that she was still happy to be there, even though they were not alone.

  After a swim they all sat on rugs in the shade and had cold cordial, cake and biscuits. Tina sat next to Andrew and kept surreptitiously studying him, noting the fine, tanned skin, the good muscle tone, the laughing eyes and the straight nose. ‘He is just so good looking!’ she thought. Even with his windswept, uncombed hair he looked handsome.

  Then she noted Carmen staring out to sea with a pensive look on her face and she suddenly felt anxious and self-conscious. ‘Poor old Carmen. She must be having flashbacks,’ she thought. She said, “Are you remembering those horrible crooks?” she asked. The previous year, during a Navy Cadet sailing weekend, Carmen had been taken hostage by a gang of crooks who were waiting at the beach to collect a shipment of drugs that had been smuggled in. She had been released after the crooks pirated another yacht and left her and the family from the yacht adrift in the disabled Navy Cadet motor launch. Tina had been in another sail boat with Leading Seaman Hayley Page and Anthony Simmonds. She had only witnessed the start of the incident from a hundred metres away and that had been enough to leave her shaken.

  Carmen gave a wry smile and nodded. “Yes. I sometimes worry that some of those pirates that got away might come back for revenge.”

  ‘Come back for revenge!’ thought Tina, a chill stabbing into her as she remembered the bird poachers. ‘Oh, I hope not!’ “They won’t,” she said. “They will be on the other side of the country now and lying low,” she said, trying to reassure herself as well as Carmen.

  Carmen smiled her gratitude at the attempt to cheer her up and then said, “Never mind that. Let’s make sandcastles. I’ll bet we can make a better one than Andrew.”

  They did, but Andrew denied it and protested that it took two girls to make one castle whereas he had to work on his own. His was actually more technically correct but the girls made a more spectacular ‘pile’- until the sun dried the sand and it began to crumble. But theirs outlasted Andrew’s. He built his close to the sea so as to allow a moat with water in it and a small harbour for ships but the incoming tide soon began to wash it away.

  As the first wave washed part of the sand castle away he laughed and did not seem to care and without thinking he reached out for Tina’s hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. “Another swim,” he said, indicating the sand sticking to his arms and legs.

  They ran into the waves together and Tina thought she would swoon with delight. She would happily have held his hand all afternoon but he let go and then pushed her over so that her head went under. She came up spluttering but happy and laughing. A water fight erupted and the others joined in until Andrew was driven off by sheer weight of numbers. He swam further out until Carmen warned him not to be silly and to remember there were sharks in the Coral Sea.

  That worked but also made Tina very anxious. Andrew swam ashore and Tina joined him. They rinsed the salt off under a freshwater shower near the kiosk and Tina went to change back into her clothes. As she peeled off her bathers she fantasized that it was Andrew undressing her and that got her all hot and horny and then ashamed of her wicked thoughts.

  It was a very happy girl who was delivered home late that afternoon. She hummed and sang as she fed the birds and other pets and then she lay on her bed and listened to music and daydreamed. To her it seemed that all he wishes were starting to come true.

  During the whole of the school assembly that was held every Monday morning Tina was given another idea. The principal spent some time reminding the students that the school fete was coming up. The fete was held over two nights; Friday and Saturday. .As the fete was a major fund raising activity as well as an important social event he asked for classes and interest groups to make a special effort to run stalls or other money making activities. That got Tina thinking about the school dance. This was a traditional activity held on the Saturday night after the main activities of the fete had concluded.

  Into Tina’s mind leapt an image of her walking in on Andrew’s arm to a triumphant greeting by the school. For a few minutes she fantasized about the looks of malicious envy that would appear on the faces of girls who did not like her. She had an uncomfortable belief that others considered her to be ‘frumpy’, ‘dowdy’ and a tubby ‘square.’ ‘Walking in with Andrew will show them that I am not,’ she thought. Then another worry surfaced. ‘But I have to get him to take me,’ she mused. But how to do that? She did not want to ask him outright and knew she would have to drop some subtle hints. ‘But not too subtle- he’s only a male!’ she thought.

  She left the assembly feeling that her love life was definitely moving in a positive direction. But if hers was it was obvious that for others it was the reverse. During the lunch break Tina sat with Sarah and looked wistfully across the quadrangle to where Andrew sat with his friends. She would have loved to go and sit with him but was still very unsure of her position and did not want to offend him. ‘If I embarrass him in front of his mates he might not like me, or I might scare him off,’ she told herself.

  While she was thinking how to move their relationship forward she noticed Barbara Brassington walk past and sit down nearby with her friend Gillian. They were discussing something and kept glancing across the quadrangle as well. This got Tina’s attention so she followed their gaze. She saw that the object of their attention was Willy Williams. He had not been at school on the previous Thursday or Friday, having suffered burns in the incident but Tina now saw him talking Stephen Bell. As Tina watched she saw Stick’s little sister run over to ask Willy how he was. From across the quadrangle Tina could see that Willy’s hands were bandaged.

  At that moment Barbara’s other friend Karen arrived. Barbara stood up to greet her. She nodded towards Willy. “Who’s that girl talking to him? The blonde with freckles whose brother is in our class?”

  Karen looked then said: “Marjorie Morton. She a real little prick teaser. Never mind her, come and talk to the Year Twelves.”

  ‘Marjorie,’ Tina thought. ‘I knew that.’ Then she saw David Scranton approaching Barbara so she sat quietly and listened in. She didn’t have to eavesdrop as they all spoke so loudly. Scranton pointed towards Willy and said with a sneer, “Bloody Williams is a poof. He’s wearing make-up.”

  “Oh he is not,” Barbara replied.

  “He is so. You go and look. It’s a wonder he hasn’t got a handbag. I’ll bet he goes in the Gay Mardi Gras.”

  “Oh don’t be awful David,” Barbara said. To Tina she did not look amused. Scranton shrugged and swaggered off towards Willy. ‘Oh dear! I hope he isn’t going to cause more trouble,’ Tina thought. She felt sorry for Willy. ‘He is an odd-ball but he is also nice.’

  Scranton was. Tina watched and saw Scranton standing with his hands on his hips while sneering down at Willy as he spoke to him. After a minute Scranton stepped closer and raised his fists. Tina found her heart beating very fast with concern. ‘Scranton is a real bully,’ she decided. Feeling u
nhappy and somewhat helpless she watched as Scranton pushed at Willy as he stood up. Willy put up his bandaged hands to defend himself.

  Tina was sure there was going to be another fight but to her relief she saw Graham Kirk, Peter Bronsky and Stephen Bell, walk over and speak to Scranton. Whatever they said caused Scranton to scowl and walk away, calling taunts about homosexuality as he went. This was echoed by Martin and Larry. It all made Tina feel quite upset.

  She watched with distaste as Scranton walked off, pointing to Willy and telling groups of boys, who all went to look, then to jeer and laugh. Then she heard Barbara ask her friend Fiona, “What’s it all about?”

  Fiona, who had just joined them, answered. “Willy’s eyebrows were burnt off in the fire and his mother put false ones on with make-up. Now those horrible boys are all teasing him and calling him queer.”

  “Oh he is not!” Barbara cried.

  “How do you know?” Karen teased mischievously.

  Barbara snorted. “I just know. He asked me out. Oh, poor Willy!” She looked very annoyed with Scranton who was walking around obviously spreading the story. Tina also felt annoyed as she could see that Willy was getting teased and was plainly upset.

  But worse was to follow at lunch time. Once again Tina sat with Sarah in their usual seats. They quietly ate their sandwiches. Then she saw Barbara walking towards her usual seat. Then she stopped and looked anxiously around. Tina heard the Year 9 girls who sat to her left whispering and overheard the names Barbara and Scranton several times, and then the word sex. That got her interested but also made her feel uncomfortable. It was obvious that Barbara was the object of the gossip.

  While Barbara stood on her own, apparently deep in thought, Willy appeared and walked over to her. Tina was just too far away to hear what they said but she got the distinct impression that Willy was apologizing. To begin with Barbara gave him a cool stare but then she smiled. Willy listened to her, nodded and then walked away, looking a bit happier.