The bus’s headlights bobbed up and down on the road made so wet it looked like a narrow river.
It slowly came to a stop at the base of Hayden’s driveway.
Being too narrow an entrance for the bus to navigate between the ring of tightly knit Cyprus trees, Barry pulled up as close as he could. ‘Sorry I had to go this way, Hayden, I’ve got to go back into town so I dropped Monty off first. You look like you need some sleep.’
Hayden nodded. He’d actually forgotten it was Friday night.
The weekend was something to look forward to.
Raising his blazer’s collar up over his neck as the doors swung open, with a reluctant smile and a final look back at Barry, he leapt down the steps and ran as quickly as possible through the darkness and up the crunchy gravel drive to his front door.
On the dry porch he paused and imagined how wonderful it would be if his mother and his father greeted him. Shrugging that thought off, he opened the door and stepped inside shaking his head, rainwater flinging from his hair.
He greeted his mother warmly as she sat at the kitchen table peeling potatoes with a welcoming smile. Dropping his school bag, he hung his wet blazer on a brass coat hook by the door. Leaning against the wall he took his shoes off by pressing down on the heels with the toes of the opposite foot, not bothering to unlace them. The house was warm and comforting, the last of the week’s wood burning in the large lounge-room fireplace.
Moving swiftly across the room Hayden kissed his mother warmly on the cheek. ‘What would you like for dinner, sweetheart?’
‘I’m not hungry - I think I’ll just go to bed,’ he answered dejectedly as he knelt to the floor and pulled the books out of his damp school bag.
‘Is everything okay? You’re normally super hungry after school. Did you eat in town?’
‘I’m really tired, Ma. I think I’ll just do my homework then go to bed.’
He was very tired. The torrent of info he’d spewed forth in class, the altercation with Scott and the concentration and disappointment in the arcade had taken a lot out of him. He knew she’d worry that he wasn’t eating though. ‘Maybe some toast up in my room?’ he requested as he trudged slowly up the old stairs.
Amy looked at him worriedly. ‘Are you sure you’re ok?’
‘I’m fine,’ he called back once he’d reached the upper hallway and opened his bedroom door. ‘Just tired.’
Arranging his books in an orderly stack on his desk, just the thought of doing his homework made him sleepy let alone trying to finish the book he was reading. He sat on the edge of his cozy soft bed and pulled the thick bedding back. Looking out into the darkness through the small window above his bed, he reached over and drew the curtains closed. Hearing the rain swirling about in the icy wind, he was glad to be inside in his warm little bed in his warm bedroom in his warm little house.
He stared up at the stick-on glow stars dotted across the ceiling and closed his eyes.
Hayden was curled up on his bed, half under the covers and still in uniform fast asleep when his mother arrived shortly afterward. She placed some toast on his desk along with a large mug full of hot chocolate, fully aware that he probably wouldn’t wake in time to drink it warm. She pulled his bed cover over him, wiped a few stray hairs from across his brow then kissed him goodnight lightly on the cheek. Backing slowly out of the room she closed the door softly then crept back down the lightly creaking stairs then into the cozy, book filled lounge. She took a book from a shelf and sat in her old oversized club chair next to the warm crackling fire. Reaching for the stereo’s remote control beside her, she pressed the on button and began to read as panpipe music his father had played and recorded wafted softly over her and up through the vents and into her son’s room.
*
Hayden dreamt he was flying through space. Stars and planets rushed past him at a speed so frighteningly fast he felt he was in a tube of streaking, rotating coloured light then suddenly he was floating high above a strange planet. White clouds caressed its atmosphere like wispy fingers and he could see mountains, canyons, fields, lakes, rivers and oceans below them. It was beautiful and strangely familiar and he wanted to fly closer but he couldn’t as there was something powerful stopping him. Looking down, an enormous shadow moved like dark ink in water over the horizon and as Hayden watched, it gradually turned the orb into a dreary swirling mess of black and grey. A wave of fear swept over him. Soon, barely distinguishable from the blackness of space beyond but for the staccato glows of lightning that made it look as if something was trying to escape, battering against the atmosphere from beneath. The force that was holding him suddenly eased and he floated freely above the chaos far below. Where am I?
CHAPTER SIX
The clock radio read 07:45 in large flashing red digits as the alarm started to buzz loudly. Hayden stirred and kicked his left leg in frustration at the disturbance. Eyes closed, he reached out and whacked the top of his bedside table with his palm and the clock radio toppled to the floor. Sweet silence.
Pursing his lips before swallowing, he could feel the dryness of his mouth and realised with surprise that he was still dressed in his uniform. Finding the energy, he swung his legs around for momentum and hauled himself out of bed. He unruffled his shirt that had twisted round him then smiled at the sight of the now cold hot chocolate and the toast. Picking up the plate and mug, he left the room, accidentally letting the door close with a bang, he winced as he hoped he hadn’t woken his mother who slept in the bedroom opposite. He navigated carefully down the staircase, again wincing each time they creaked.
Wandering into the kitchen, he saw that a hot breakfast had been thoughtfully prepared for him and he smiled broadly at his very much awake mother. Amy was standing across the room by the front door and was smiling back at her son. He yawned a long yawn. Hayden placed the plate in the sink and poured out the drink into the sink. He took a glass from the cupboard above, filled it with water, the old plumbing creaking like the stairs as he did so and drank quickly. He squinted at the bright morning sunlight streaming through the window but could happily see that the rain had stopped, the morning sky was clear and the ground again was covered in a fresh blanket of snow.
Amy moved to the heavy steel kettle that had just at that moment finished boiling and uneasily lifted it from the stovetop. Why she wouldn’t buy an electric one had her son baffled.
Hayden ran some very cold water over his face.
‘I had the strangest dream,’ he murmured from under the tea-towel he was patting his face dry with. ‘I was flying through space and there was this weird stormy planet and...’
Crash!
His mother had dropped the kettle and very nearly scalded herself. Hayden gallantly leapt across the room to help.
‘I’m alright, sweetheart. You needn’t worry.’
He picked up the kettle and placed it back on the bench using the towel in his hand to wipe the steaming wet floor then wrung it out in the sink.
‘Go on, your dream?’ His mother pursued.
He almost forgot what he was saying. ‘Oh, it was nothing,’ he said before a ponderous pause. ‘At school we’re learning about the solar system so it’s probably just that. You know how that happens? You spend time concentrating on something and then you dream about it.’ The more he tried to explain, the more his mother looked confused.
‘Dreams can mean something,’ she said convincingly.
Hayden scratched his head. ‘This one was really weird. It was all stormy, you know? There was thunder and lightning and stuff. Kind of exciting really.’
He sat down and ate his scrambled eggs on toast.
*
It was Saturday and every Saturday in winter for as long as Hayden could remember, weather permitting, his uncle Jonah would come over and help him chop wood for the fire for the rest of the week, more if they could manage it.
Three sharp raps at the front door then another two.
Right on time. Hayden thought as he moved eager
ly toward the door but before he’d arrived, it flung open and there stood his uncle tall, proud and with a grin on his stubbly face.
He came inside with three powerful steps, reached out and messed up Hayden’s hair for the kid he was, then shook his hand for the man he would be. He waved casually to his sister.
‘I believe we have some work to do today, young fellooowww?’ He bellowed eccentrically in mock poshness, looking over his nephew to make sure he was dressed and ready. ‘But if you want to come with me today I’m sure you’d be more comfortable out of your school uniform.’
Hayden looked down with a little embarrassment then raced up the stairs to change. Amy looked at her brother and he caught her gaze, he smiled at her again but she only stared at him. Looked him directly in the eye then she smiled an uncomfortable forced smile then turned away. Jonah stopped smiling and was about to say something when Hayden leapt down the stairs in his jeans and a heavy woollen top, ran to the door and put his steel capped work boots on.
‘I’m sure you’re aware we had a decent covering of snow early this morning young lad?’ Jonah informed as Hayden pulled his thickly insulated dark blue coat from the rack and put it on.
Pecking his mother lovingly but hurriedly on the cheek, he stepped outside with his uncle into the brisk morning air where they made straight for Jonah’s old beaten up sky blue truck and jumped hastily inside to escape the cold.
When the engine started, a plume of steam mixed with spent engine gas shot from the rusted exhaust as the wheels spun, losing traction on the long icy gravel driveway as they jolted forward and drove away. Hayden waved to his mother through the fogged up rear window and she waved back before hastily shutting the door and returning to the warmth inside.
He was sure that she looked worried about something.
‘We’re headed to the boundary fence,’ his uncle said over the engine noise. ‘There’s a small stand of trees that’s grown too close to the fence line right at the edge of the mountain.’ He pointed vaguely in the direction they had to go. ‘They need to be cleared.’
Hayden nodded, still looking out the rear window as they drove down the gravel driveway and passed the cypress trees that were so large they blocked out the views of the valley and only the top of the mountain could be seen from ground level.
He remembered his mother saying once that if they ever had to move away and sell the place, they could say the house had wonderful views of the Milky Way.
Hayden turned and watched the warm glow of the morning sun soften the harsh winter landscape as they emerged beyond the cypress barrier.
It looked so perfect that he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
*
Jonah applied the brakes very gently and the old truck slid to a stop metres from their work zone. Opening the heavy doors and jumping out, they walked around the back to the tray.
‘Uncle Jonah?’
‘Yes, oh favorite nephew of mine,’ he joked as Hayden was his only nephew.
‘I couldn’t help but notice that -’
‘That that sister of mine looked a little worried?’
Hayden was always amazed at how observant his uncle could be. ‘Why do you think?’
Unclipping the black vinyl tonneau cover, Jonah reached in and pulled out a long handled axe and held it aloft, the honed blade glinting sharply in the sun. He let the polished handle slip through his grip until the axe head was at his face level then ran his index finger across its cutting edge. Reaching in again he pulled out another, though slightly smaller but no less potentially dangerous, axe and handed it to his nephew.
‘Now, if you were a mother and you sent your son out with someone-even as experienced as me, to chop down trees with razor sharp axes, would you be worried?’
Hayden could see how she would be.
‘Now, she has nothing to worry about right?’ Jonah asked quite sternly.
Hayden knew well this way his uncle had in getting the message across. ‘No, uncle Jonah. She’s got nothing to worry about. I’ll be careful.’
‘No, Hayd, you’ll be very careful.’
Hayden looked at the silvery razor sharp blade edge against the red of his uncle’s axe-head. ‘Just make sure you are too!’ he commanded.
Jonah pointed to an already felled tree. Hayden shuffled over to it and promptly started vigorously chopping.
‘Slow and steady, Hayd. Conserve your energy as we’ll be out here for a while. Healthy body, healthy mind,’ Jonah called. ‘It’d be quicker, but you’d get nowhere near the workout with a chainsaw.’
*
After almost a solid hour of hard labour Hayden took a break and he leant against the fence and looked at the work they’d done.
Eight trees had been felled and neatly chopped and packed into the truck. His uncle kept chopping away on one of the last five bigger trees left standing closest to the boundary, the snowy ground around the truck and them now trampled to muddy slush with dense scatterings of woodchips and pine needles.
Hayden, now a bit bored, was staring at a small pile of these woodchips and just as he was about to look away something odd happened, he felt a small rumbling from the ground and he saw that the chips moved slightly. ‘Did you feel that?’
‘Feel what?’ His uncle answered with not much interest.
‘It felt like an earth tremor.’ Hayden looked toward the mountain top expecting to see dislodged rocks tumbling down toward them. Jonah was about to say he hadn’t noticed anything when suddenly he felt it himself. Not very distinct, but a slight pulsation rose up through his boots and his legs. He looked at Hayden and then he too looked up at the mountain.
‘What on Earth do you think that could be?’ he asked but now with some concern. Jonah leaned forward onto his axe handle and stood silently waiting for it again but heard nothing.
Straightening his back, he’d just lifted the axe above his head when they both felt it again. It was longer this time. Three or four seconds. ‘Could be blasting for that new tourist trail?’ his uncle suggested looking up at the mountain top.
There were no explosive sounds, no echoes and no falling rocks.
In all his life in Armadale and surrounds Hayden had never felt anything like it and it was only a few minutes later that they felt them again.
‘But we’d hear the blasting wouldn’t we?’
Jonah sniffled in the freshness of the morning air. ‘Maybe not.’ He wiped his nose with his gloved hand. ‘There’s funny acoustics on this mountain.’
Three definite earth tremors. Two short and one long drawn out one of about three or four seconds.
‘Regularity!’ Hayden exclaimed looking back at his uncle as he ran further along the fence line of the property. Now he was completely fixated on the mountain top as wispy clouds sailed past its peaceful looking snowy peak. ‘That is regularity,’ Hayden repeated. ‘Three distinct shudders. That’s not natural.’
‘It’s too early to tell,’ Jonah called out, failing to curtail his nephew’s enthusiasm.
‘Well, what do you think it could be then?’ Hayden called back.
‘Blasting?’ Jonah repeated then shrugged and continued to hack away at the larger bent tree trunk that he’d just felled. His axe expertly and powerfully chipping large wedges from the top of it sending them falling to the ground to join the rest.
Something was happening on that mountain and Hayden was most determined to find out just what.
*
They’d been chopping the wood for over two hours since the tremors and no more had yet occurred. Hayden, quite easily distracted with anything interesting, was only half concentrated on the task at hand and stopped his work to again stare up at the mountain. Jonah placed his axe by another log he was working on and walked over to him.
‘Hayden?’ he shouted and his nephew looked around with a startled expression. ‘You know, if you had to do something urgently - like move from point A to point B you’d be fine unless there was a book or anything remotely interestin
g half way.’
Jonah took a very deep breath. Then he said something that really surprised Hayden. ‘Why don’t you go up and investigate?’
‘You know Ma wouldn’t allow me up there since she’s probably felt what we did. Could’ve shaken the house down for all we know.’
‘I think your place is too far away for that.’ Jonah paused then he smiled the wry smile he smiled when he was up to mischief. ‘You don’t have to tell my sister everything, you know.’
‘Great!’ Hayden laughed. ‘You could’ve told me that the time I smashed the tail light backing the car out of the garage!’
It was odd that his uncle would suggest going up to have a look. It could be dangerous.
‘How about you ask that sister of mine if you can stay over at my place tonight? Bring your thermal stuff and we’ll take my camping gear and head up the mountain. What do you think of that idea?’
Hayden hadn’t been camping for a few months and thought it could be a great idea. He just wasn’t sure if the chance to go camping again would outweigh his wariness of the mountain at that moment. ‘Don’t you think it could really be dangerous?’
‘Doubt it,’ Jonah assured. ‘As I said before, there might be a bit of blasting going on for that new trail. We’ll stay on this side of the mountain to be safe, and stay away from any exploding rock.’
‘Sounds like a plan then,’ Hayden answered.
No one knew the mountain better than Jonah and Hayden trusted his word despite the remote possibility of exploding rock blasted his way.
Over the next hour they threw a couple of months worth of cut wood into the back of the truck and drove back, swaying and drifting on the icy track. Upon their return and after they’d stacked all the wood neatly into the woodshed behind the house, the two set their plan into motion. Hayden asked his mother if he could go over and stay at his uncle’s. After a little while and to his relief, she said it was fine then most embarrassingly asked him to take his thermal underwear and remember his gloves if he went outside.
The Blake Equation- Discovery Page 4