Cockatoo

by Christopher Cummings

  Both plane and parachute vanished below the roof tops. Seconds later the crunch of a crash reached their ears. “It’s crashed!” a hundred people cried. Dozens of students, mostly boys, began running along the footpath towards the Esplanade. Teachers shouted at them to stop. Some did. Others kept going.

  Tina felt like she wanted to vomit. She stared apprehensively at the airship, which she saw had now turned and was now heading straight towards them.

  “It’s getting lower,” Fiona said.

  “It might be going to crash too,” Samantha suggested.

  That was a horrible thought. Tina watched anxiously as the airship headed directly for her. The thought crossed her mind that she might be in danger. ‘If it crashes I could be killed,’ she told herself. Through her mind flashed the ghastly images of the famous Hindenburg crash with the explosions and roaring flames. But even as she began to wonder if she should run the airship began to turn. It then headed off to the north. The students all moved out onto the footpath to watch. Barbara saw that the airship was definitely getting lower by the minute.

  When the airship was a block or so away it swung round and headed back towards the school.

  “It’s going to land on the oval!” a boy cried. That precipitated a stampede by a thousand students. Teachers ran with them, shouting for them to stop. Most students just ignored them. Tina allowed herself to be carried along with the rush. She arrived breathless at the oval in time to see that the rumour was true. The airship was going to land there.

  Now the teachers became almost frantic with worry, shouting and pushing to keep children back. Tina found her path blocked by Barbara who was trying to get past Mr Conkey. “Stay back!” he shouted. “It may crash and burn. It is full of gas.”

  Again the Newsreel images of the Hindenburg crash flitted through Tina’s mind, and obviously through that of many others as the students began to back off. She heard the rumour sweep around and the students became manageable. More teachers arrived, including the Principal and Deputy. They managed to get the huge crowd back to the edge of the oval.

  Tina stood beside Barbara and her friends and stared up in amazement. Close up the airship was truly gigantic. It was longer than the football field on which it was slowly settling. She saw that it had propellers in swivelling nacelles on either side of the cabin. She was also struck by how quiet it was.

  “It must have electric motors,” Mr Conkey said to Mr MacLaren.

  Someone pointed and called out. “That’s Willy Williams!”

  Tina felt her heart leap with hope and she stared. She saw that a row of faces was peering out through the windows at the front of the airship’s cabin, and one of them was Willy. Now she was both puzzled and amazed.

  Barbara gasped and said, “Surely this can’t be the airship he was making at his aunt’s farm? Wasn’t he lost in a tree?”

  “He was,” Tina replied. “And it is not his home-made airship. I saw that and it was much smaller.”

  “So how did he get this one?” Sarah asked.

  Tina shook her head. It was a real mystery.

  The huge airship settled gently on the oval, its nose resting on the football goal posts. As soon as it touched down a door flew open and out jumped Graham Kirk, in his cadet uniform.

  Mr Conkey let out an oath then said, “Bloody Graham Kirk! I might have known.”

  Stephen followed Graham out, then Marjorie. After a moment Peter climbed out holding a black brief case. The motors then whirred to silence. Tina could clearly see Willy working at the controls. He was methodically doing things to the control panel. Then he stood up and walked to the door. Very slowly, as though he was reluctant to leave, he stepped down. As cool as could be he began walking towards them, his eyes scanning the crowd.

  Willy stopped thirty metres away and turned to look up at the airship. After a few seconds he smiled and then nodded. Once more he started walking towards where the others were standing with the Principal and Deputy. A great buzz of conversation had broken out but the crowd now fell silent. Tina saw Willy’s eyes searching the crowd and she suddenly realized why. ‘He is looking for Barbara!’ she thought, glancing sideways to see how Barbara was reacting.

  Then Willy saw her and he stopped. Tina saw Barbara was staring back, mouth half open and her face all tense. Tina expected him to come forward and kiss Barbara or something. Instead Willy sighed and shook his head and turned away. He walked over to Marjorie and embraced her. Before the eyes of the whole school they kissed. A great roar of approval went up. Willy was the hero of the hour.

  Tina felt an up-welling of emotion that brought tears to her eyes. She was thrilled by the sheer drama and romance of it. And she was jealous. ‘I wish (She had to pause to move Graham’s face and name out of her mind) Andrew would do that to me!’

  Then she remembered Barbara and looked at her. She saw that Barbara was also on the edge of tears and that she looked thoroughly miserable. ‘Willy has chosen Marjorie! He has rejected her!’ Tina thought.

  But Barbara’s problems were forgotten as Graham and his friends walked in their direction. Once again Tina had to suppress an urge to rush over and embrace him. But he saw her and detoured over to stand in front of her.

  For a few moments Tina stared into his eyes and she felt such a mix of emotions she became very confused. “Hello. What happened?” was all she could croak.

  Graham grinned, “What a thrill! I thought our goose was cooked when that bloody plane began trying to shoot us down,” he said.

  “So did I, but how did you get aboard this airship?” Tina asked.

  At that moment Mr Conkey appeared next to Graham. “Office!” he ordered.

  “Yes sir. Tell you later Tina,” Graham said. He gave her another winning smile and began making his way through the crowd towards the office. Peter and Stephen followed him, then Willy, Marjorie and Principal. The Deputy Principal began ordering the students to move to class.

  Andrew pushed his way through the milling throng and took Tina by the arm. “I’ve been looking for you,” he said. But as he did he turned and his eyes followed Graham.

  Tina felt a surge of guilt which was almost immediately replaced by anger. ‘Why should I feel guilty?’ she thought. ‘I haven’t been cheating on him.’ But she could tell that Andrew was both worried and jealous. ‘Good! Now he might lift his game,’ she told herself.

  They turned and began walking back towards the school buildings. Tina felt another niggle of annoyance but she tried to control this. “How was your weekend?” she asked.

  “Oh, alright,” Andrew replied in an offhand voice.

  His tone stirred up her own doubts and jealousies and that caused her to ask, “Did you see that blonde in Townsville?”

  “Er.. er yes,” Andrew admitted.

  Now Tina felt really threatened and she snapped, “Did you and her do anything?”

  “No!” Andrew retorted in an angry voice. “I just met her when we went canoeing on the Burdekin.”

  Tina had heard of the Burdekin and vaguely knew it was a big river. Feeling quite hurt she said, “And did she take her clothes off?”

  This time Andrew went bright red and Tina guessed that something had happened. Andrew shook his head and said, “It was.. a family outing. That’s all.”

  They walked in silence for a few paces and then Andrew spoke again. “How was your holiday? Did you go anywhere?”

  Tina felt quite shocked. ‘I told him I was going camping with Sarah,’ she thought. “You don’t listen to what I say,” she said, her anger still taking control of her tongue.

  “I do!” Andrew cried, looking both hurt and baffled.

  Tina relented a little and began to relate the events of the weekend. This kept them talking all the way to the classroom and once there the tension eased a little.

  Classes began but the whole school was in a disturbed mood because of the airship incident. The unrest was maintained because of the physical presence of the giant airship. It was so large it
was visible from much of the school Tina could actually see the top half of the airship looming above the buildings across the quadrangle and rumours kept sweeping the class. These were added to by the passing of various teachers, students and official looking people.

  The period before morning break was English with Mrs Standish and after it Tina joined her friends down near the oval to gape at the airship. The oval had all been roped off by the police and safety people and the rumour went around that all the people in the light aircraft, and the man who had parachuted into its propeller, were dead.

  Noddy Parker gave them his version. “They went splat into the mudflats off the Esplanade,” he recounted with sound effects and hand gestures.

  That made Tina feel awful and she tried to imagine such a horrible death. Andrew joined her and they moved back to the school buildings to eat and talk. Tina related how she had seen the home made airship with Roger on it and then how she had met Graham, Peter and Stephen at the Search HQ. When she mentioned Graham’s name she noticed a distinct tightening around Andrew’s mouth and eyes. ‘He is jealous,’ she decided. ‘It has got him worried.’ She considered that to be a good thing and quite deliberately mentioned Graham’s name a few more times, just to check Andrew’s reaction.

  To her own surprise she found herself thinking about Graham and she looked around, hoping to see him. But he was no longer at school. He and his friend had been taken away by police and parents while the extraordinary events surrounding the huge airship were investigated. The wildest rumours went around the school: that Willy had stolen the airship to escape a gang of crooks; that the crooks had tried to murder him and his friends; that Graham had saved Willy from being murdered.

  “Graham is a real hero,” Tina commented, deliberately saying it to test Andrew’s reaction.

  His response was to grunt and look unhappy. That caused the conversation to flag and Tina found it a relief that the bell went and they had to return to class. It was a thoughtful and slightly unhappy girl who sat down to Maths A. ‘Andrew hasn’t asked me for another date,’ she mused. In her dejection she could only surmise that he had regretted taking her out or now found her unattractive.

  At lunch time they met again and then listened to the latest rumours. But Andrew was in a bad mood and Tina felt quite distracted and also intensely interested in the airship story. After school there was a suggestion by Blake that they go down to the Esplanade to watch the police trying to retrieve the crashed plane and the bodies from the mudflat. Tina was both appalled and fascinated but could not bring herself to do that. Instead she went home. After a snack she went to feed the birds. Then she sat in her room, her homework open in front of her but not done as she pondered who she loved and who loved her.

  In her mind the image of Willy kissing Marjorie kept forming and she sighed every time, wishing she was the centre of a great drama and romance. ‘Oh! I wish that was me!’ she thought.

  For the first time she began to consciously consider a relationship with Graham. ‘He is certainly a hero. And he seems more interested in me than Andrew is,’ she told herself. But she felt guilty for having what she considered such disloyal thoughts- until she thought of the blonde in Townsville. Then the worm of doubt squirmed in her gut and all her fears and jealousies swam to the surface again.

  It was a thoroughly miserable girl who tried to pretend she was happy and normal when her parents came home. The topic after dinner was the airship and Tina was able to add all the little details from the incident at school. (For the full story read Airship over Atherton by C. R. Cummings). Tina tried to hide her unhappiness but she suspected that her mother had noticed, just by the looks and little comments she gave.

  That night sleep would not come and Tina relived the dramas of the last few weeks and found herself thinking seriously about Graham. Those thoughts made her feel guilty and disloyal but also aroused her anger. ‘Andrew hasn’t said he loves me or that he is my boyfriend,’ she told herself. ‘So why shouldn’t I?’

  The following day Tina found her emotions under stress once more. Graham was back at school and during morning break, while they made their way from the classroom to downstairs she asked him what had happened on the weekend. Graham walked with her right across to where Tina usually sat with her friends and then he sat beside her and continued with his story. Tina found that both embarrassing and enjoyable. She noted the glances other girls cast at them and it made her feel good.

  Then the situation took an unexpected turn when Graham suddenly said, “You are beaut Tina. I would like to take you out. How about it?”

  For a few seconds Tina was too flustered to answer. She was both delighted and flattered but was also assailed by guilt. But even so she gave an ambiguous answer. “Er.. thanks. I er.. when did you have in mind?” she stammered, aware that she was blushing and that her emotions were possibly clouding her judgement.

  “How about Saturday night?” Graham suggested.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Tina replied. She was very tempted but images of Andrew came to niggle at her conscience.

  Graham looked her in the eyes and even as she marvelled at how blue they were he said, “Are you worrying about Andrew?”

  “Yes,” she replied. The thought that he must have read her mind while he gazed into her eyes came to her but she tried to shrug it off as ridiculous.

  Graham looked serious and said, “Is he taking you out?”

  Tina shook her head and muttered no. Graham seized on this and asked, “Are you going steady?”

  ‘I wish we were,’ Tina thought. But she was too unsure so she shook her head and said, “Not really.”

  “Good! Then you can go out with other people. You aren’t married to him and you won’t be cheating or two-timing or anything,” Graham said.

  The word married caused Tina a few mental twinges as she had thought about it but she had to concede Graham was right. Graham persisted by adding, “If he still likes you it might make him pull his socks up. You are too attractive to be left unguarded. So, if he is fair dinkum about you he will lift his game.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Tina replied.

  “Thanks,” Graham replied. He stood up and walked away.

  As he did Tina noticed Andrew. He had been standing near the army cadet Q Store watching. Now he walked towards her. Not wanting the other girls to overhear any more of her private life Tina stood up and went to meet him.

  As they met Andrew gestured in the direction Graham had gone. “That looked very matey. What was he saying?”

  The tone and the implication annoyed Tina. Her mind raced and she thought, ‘We need to settle this. I am not going to waste my time on a boy who doesn’t like me.’ So she said, “Graham was telling me about their airship adventure but then he asked me for a date.”

  “Oh did he!” Andrew growled. “And you said no I hope.”

  “As a matter of fact I didn’t,” Tina replied angrily.

  “So you are going to go out with him then?” Andrew said in a challenging tone.

  “Why shouldn’t I? You don’t own me,” Tina snapped back.

  Andrew looked upset but then replied, “You’ll be sorry. He is a real fast operator with the ladies; besides, he already has a girlfriend.”

  Both comments worried Tina, the second more than the first. “Who?” she demanded to know.

  “That little tubby girl in Year 8, Margaret Lake,” Andrew answered.

  Tina felt a surge of relief, tinged by sadness. “She likes him but he doesn’t take her out or anything.”

  “So you are going to go out with him?”

  “Yes.”

  At that Andrew spun on his heel and stalked away. Tina watched him go with very mixed emotions. She knew she had been hasty and still believed that she really loved Andrew; but there was also the excitement and thrill of the new situation. ‘I will go out with Graham. Oh. I hope I haven’t been a very silly girl,’ she thought.

  Map 3: Cockatoo

  CHAPTER 32 />
  GRAHAM

  Later that morning Tina met Graham between classes. He smiled and said, “Have you made your mind up?”

  “Yes. I will go out with you, if my parents agree,” Tina answered

  A grin lit up Graham’s face and he said, “What would you like to do? Do you have a favourite place to go?”

  That touched Tina. ‘He is allowing me to choose. That’s nice.’ But she said, “You decide. Will your parents let you go out?”

  Graham nodded. “No problem. They trust me. Besides, my dad is away at the moment.”

  Tina knew that his father was a ship’s captain and that he was often absent. They discussed possible venues and then went to their next class. During the lesson she spent most of her time daydreaming, feeling the thrill and anticipation of what was to her a daring new romance. One result was that she did very little work and was several times spoken to by the teacher.

  After school Tina wanted to speak to Graham but as it was the ‘Home Training’ parade for the army cadets she only glimpsed him from a distance. Even so she found the look of him sent a little pulse of excitement and admiration through her. She had often seen him in his uniform before but now she found him particularly handsome.

  Once she got home she had to nerve herself for the bigger challenge of asking her parents for permission to go on the date. As both worked and did not get home for another two hours she had plenty of time to work herself into a state of nervous anxiety. Then, when they were home, she found herself so afraid of them saying no that she had trouble brining up the subject.

  Finally, after the evening meal and washing up she broached the subject with them, having waited until Garth was in the bath and therefore out of earshot.

  “A date?” her father queried. “Who with?”

  That really put Tina on a spot. She went red and bit her lip and shook her head. “Er..With Graham Kirk.”