‘Does anyone else spy what I spy with my little eye?’
‘I spy an idyllic south sea harbour of gently waving palms beside an azure sea lapping against pearly white sand,’ Lucky paused, swallowed and yelled ‘AND THE ARSE END OF A FUCKING FERRY GOING THE WRONG WAY!’
The others were silent as they watched incredulously their travel plans being conveyed out of sight. The driver in the meantime, darted nimbly out of the bus and disappeared into what looked like an unoccupied ticket office. Dinah, whose matter was losing the battle over her mind, also left the bus and went and banged on the door where the driver had disappeared. There was no response and waving to the others she went off disconsolately into some trees.
‘Poor old Dinah - I’d forgotten her problem,’ said Min. ‘She has showed true nobility I reckon.’
A pickup truck drove across the road in front of them and the driver tooted his horn whereupon the owner of their bus appeared and leapt into the pickup which accelerated away from their lives.
‘He might have forgotten the keys,’ said Robert drily as he got up to go and find Dinah. He shook his head through the window and the other two looked at each other with a sort of stunned amusement. As Robert was passing the small building another man emerged from the door and stopped in surprise when he saw Robert. They had a short discussion and as he walked away Robert opened his arms in a gesture of hopelessness.
‘I’d say we are marooned.’
‘If only we knew when the next ferry is due.’
When Robert returned with Dinah he told Min and Lucky that the next ferry sailing was about eleven the next morning. For a while they were all enveloped in dismay until Dinah said she’d found a nice little bay area where they could swim and then come back refreshed, to sleep in the bus. Robert said he was ravenous and wondered if there was a shop in the little sealed building. He and Lucky went to see if they could find a way in but it was locked so they all gathered up their belongings and followed Dinah to the small hideaway.
Their spirits rose a little at the sight of the tiny inlet edged with huge rocks which formed a perfect swimming pool. Any fervour that it might have aroused was soon snuffed out by the awareness of the night ahead without food or bedding.
Min asked Dinah where the “powder room” was and they set off for somewhere beyond the rocks at the edge of the sand. When they came back the two men were chatting and Dinah said now was the time for Robert to show his bushcraft.
‘We don’t need any Butlins-type chivvying,’ he said. ‘In fact we’re talking about whether we could sleep here or go back to the bus.’
Lucky thought it would be more adventurous to sleep in the open as long as it didn’t rain, in which case they’d make a dash for the bus.
‘OK,’ said Robert. ‘We need to find dry vegetation to put in small hollows in the sand as far up as we can, to be well beyond the high tide mark.’ They set about finding dried pandanus some of which Min stuffed into her worn and grubby teeshirt to use as a pillow.
Robert announced that he wanted to skinny-dip and Dinah agreed. The water was warm and it was too good an opportunity to flout the conventions which were universal in these islands. While they divested themselves of their scanty clothing, Min and Lucky wandered off to check if there were people nearby or better still, if they could find something to eat. It was several hundred metres to any sort of navigable road and not very long before they found some papaya trees with fruit they could reach. Lucky commented that he had his Swiss Army knife in his pack so they would be able to slice the fruit and dig out the seeds. Min found some long leaves and tried to plait them into a carrying vessel while Lucky commented on the skills of the local people for using renewable materials instead of the ubiquitous plastic that they took for granted at home.
‘The planet would be a lot healthier if we had not industrialised and set our goals beyond its scope. Problem is man’s desire for knowledge might be our undoing.’
‘It’s God’s fault - if he hadn’t made the fruit of the tree of knowledge a forbidden thing we might have been happy to live in eternal blissful ignorance.’ Min tried to knot the ends of the plait and sat back, saying she was to be pitied because she had lost powers of survival and hadn’t replaced them with more sophisticated ones.
‘I’ve always thought I belong in a cave waiting for someone to provide for my basic needs.’ She lay on her back and laughed helplessly at the idea while Lucky said he wasn’t much better.
‘I can’t fix a car engine I’m ashamed to say.’ Min smiled sympathetically and said testingly,
‘For all I know you can split an atom.’
Lucky threw his head back and laughed in turn.
‘Hardly a survival skill wouldn’t you agree?’
When they got back to their overnight accommodation Dinah and Robert were lying with towels wrapped around them and sound asleep.
‘Room service,’ said Lucky as he prodded Robert with his foot. The latter sprang up at the sight of the fruit and when he saw the army knife he hugged Lucky. Dinah woke to see the three of them slicing the fruit and slurping it into their mouths.
‘Manna from heaven,’ she cried. ‘Keep some for me you lot.’
‘Only if you tell the first story,’ said Lucky as he handed her the knife.
‘OK - you’re on - but I need to feed my habit first.’
Chapter 16
Dinah screwed up her neat nose as she percolated sand through her fingers. Robert had disposed of the detritus of their feast and he was sitting looking expectantly at her; there was a lot that neither of them knew about the other’s past in a different country.
‘OK - you asked for it.’ She smiled to herself and folded her arms around her knees.
‘I remember our Uncle Rudy - more by hearsay than in the flesh because I was the youngest of the family. Anyway - he was a regular visitor who gradually wore out his welcome and his name is never mentioned these days except when the story of my misdemeanour is told for the umpteenth time. Everyone says he was a very vain man who never appeared without his little pork pie hat on and very shiny shoes. He wore a toupee which he was never ever seen without until the day I managed to find it off his head. I was about two and a half and went into his bedroom and found this thing and removed it. I have no recollection of any of this, but I’ve heard the story often enough to vouch for its accuracy.’ She looked around at her attentive audience who murmured appreciatively.
‘Anyway a hue and cry blew up very early in the morning when it was discovered that the precious toupee was missing. Apparently Uncle Rudy was always up and about before everyone else and was booted and spurred when breakfast was ready. You can imagine the shock when he appeared as bald as a badger in a right state - to the point that my brother laughed so much that he had to be put in the woodshed to calm down. The more responsible members of the family set about the hunt. I was no help because I didn’t talk properly at that stage so I just followed everyone around. Finally Linda my sister, found the darned thing in the cat’s box with the cat lying on it contentedly. Uncle Rudy went ape and swore like a trouper - something the family had never witnessed before - and said he’d have fleas for the rest of his life. Tessa made things worse by offering to dust it with flea powder and he lunged at her in fury, according to the story. Well - this episode is given as the reason why the old bugger didn’t leave Mum anything in his will and I always feel so guilty each time it comes up - which it does fairly regularly - that I go out and buy Ma a bunch of flowers.’
There was a light clapping which Dinah acknowledged with a nod of her head before she said,
‘I nominate Robert to regale us with a dark secret from his past,’ but he shook his head saying he couldn’t match such a heinous crime. After some argy bargy between them, Lucky offered to solve the problem and get something equally wicked off his chest.
Dropping his glasses to the end of his nose he gazed around at his audience in an avuncular manner and cleared his throat. He expl
ained first of all that he had been what was currently known as a bit of a nerd at school but at home it was a different matter.
‘You know those reverend brothers wielded a mean cane and I was bloody terrified of ever getting it. I even felt miserable when other kids got it - so you can see I was a wimp. In fact Mum and Dad didn’t approve of corporal punishment so the whole school thing was pretty alien to me, while at home I could afford to be a bit more of a brat I s’pose. However there was one time when Dad was tempted to lay into me and I can’t say I blame him because I effectively wrecked his friend’s car - not any old car but a Daimler no less.
‘I can remember when I was really young having a fantastic ride in the thing and thinking it was like a railway carriage - all spit and polish and leather - you get the picture. Well I was about four or five when Dad’s friend came to see us with a young woman whom he was no doubt keen to impress although it wasn’t the woman he married in the end I understand. Perhaps I had something to do with that;’ - Lucky paused and laughed to himself - ‘anyway, this car belonged to a generation of automobiles which didn’t have locking petrol caps and I can remember seeing this shiny thing on the side of it and I unscrewed it. It couldn’t have been very tightly screwed on if I could do that, come to think of it. The next thing I did, which I don’t remember at all, was pour a watering can of water into this inviting-looking hole. I must have screwed the thing back on because it was in place later when the shit hit the fan.
‘When poor old Dave - I think his name was - hopped into the car with the girlfriend to go somewhere to further the relationship, the engine refused to fire and it was some time before the awful truth dawned on anyone. In the meantime I was tucked up in bed and unavailable for comment. They had to drain the petrol tank and go for a can of petrol several blocks away. I must remind you that we didn’t have a car at this time, so that would have been the end of any romantic developments I imagine, by the time the problem was solved. According to Mum I was lucky that Dad’s fury had dissipated somewhat by the next morning and I can remember the defence she offered was that I had not been malicious. It was the first time I ever heard that word and whenever I hear it now I remember the story and feel sort of guilty - perhaps because I wasn’t walloped at the time. Anyway I never saw that car again so that was a sort of punishment pr’haps…’
Lucky propped his glasses back and looked thoughtful. For a moment Min wondered if his emotions might spill over but he winked at her and said ‘Beat that.’
The audience applauded lying on their backs and Robert commented on the early signs of mischief that the two Aussies showed.
‘Let’s wash away our sins,’ chirped Min, ‘before the sun goes…’ and Lucky sprang up in agreement and slid into the water. They sculled around as the rocks turned deep red in the sun’s last rays and Min said her story was about a childhood sin too which would be seen these days as a bit of mischief laced with enterprise.
‘It’s what we have in common,’ laughed Dinah, ‘and why we’ve ended up right here - wouldn’t you agree?’
One by one they climbed out of the water and slowly dried themselves with sandy towels. It was dark now and the makeshift beds looked inviting.
After a brief nestling into the leaves and a muffled ‘goodnight’ the only sound was the gentle lap of the water.
Chapter 17
Lucky lay awake thinking of the “aitu” which were for the local people a frightening aspect of the night.
‘If I stay in this country long enough I might start to fear ghostly presences too,’ he thought. There was something about the spirit of the place which could challenge the rational mind but so far, he remained in his usual mental space which was full of the existence of the heavenly bodies, so clearly visible in the absence of ambient light.
The moon in its third quarter was now positioned against the galactic clouds and his mind turned to the vast Pacific where ancient mariners had sailed their craft, by the patterns of the heavens towards new lands. He thought about how modernism had masked the genius of these early explorers whose powers of observation and oral recording were staggering.
The sea, like a great planetary thorax evoked the eternal as it rose and fell remorselessly, eroding – depositing – destroying - feeding the land masses around its edge. Its power both lured and terrified humans like a frontier everlastingly present and mysterious. Lucky began to feel drowsy as he thought of the swell, rising and falling…
Some time later Min was woken by something moving in the vegetation behind their small encampment and she tensed, listening. She gave a little cough to see if anyone else had heard it but her companions were unaware and were possibly traversing some earlier event in their lives at that moment. She felt very alone. To take her mind off the sensation, she tried to imagine a mirror creature somewhere in infinite space, contemplating and puzzling over its limitations just as she was. But she would never know and nor would they - if they existed. She felt cold and exposed longing for the luxury of a warm comfortable bed. How much longer would it be before the sun rose and made her long to be cool again?
The next thing she knew it was daylight and she heard Robert and Dinah moving around in the water. She wondered if they were making love so she lay still and waited until she heard them speak. She sat up and saw that Lucky had disappeared.
‘Guten morgen,’ called Dinah. ‘Our scout has gone to look for food perhaps.’
Min stood up and stretched her limbs which were aching. A swim might be the best way to relax so she asked about the water temperature.
‘A bit cooler than last night…’
‘But very refreshing,’ said Robert encouragingly. ‘Get your gear off and join us.’
While they were limbering up in the water Lucky reappeared with the news that there was a village not too far away where they could buy some food. He and Robert set off to negotiate while Dinah and Min removed the traces of their makeshift beds.
‘It’s called unmaking the beds,’ laughed Dinah as they sat down to wait for the food.
This could have been a moment to exchange confidences but neither of them was inclined to chitchat, so their conversation turned on the experience of living close to nature.
‘Coming from Queensland, I’m fairly used to walking around scantily clad but I don’t suppose it’s the same for you.’
Min agreed but said she was quickly getting used to stripping off because she found the heat oppressive. She suggested that along with the clothes perhaps one stripped off inhibitions and Dinah said that was not a bad thing.
‘Just mind you don’t go troppo though. It’s been known to happen. They say there’s an old bloke in the hills who’s forgotten where he comes from and is as wizened as a nut.’
It was some time before the two men returned looking gleeful with a pandanus kit which contained some banana leaf packages of still warm food.
‘Anyone for eleni?’ Robert teased Dinah knowing how much she loathed it.
‘You know I hate the stuff you smart devil,’ said Dinah making a grab for one of the packages. She recognised it as palusami which she had acquired a real taste for. After a comic little skirmish Robert handed her a package and there was silence, except for a smacking of lips.
‘There is nothing that humans will not eat,’ said Lucky between mouthfuls, ‘given a sufficient degree of hunger.’
‘Rats!’ said Min.
‘Is that an uncomely refutation of my statement or the naming of an edible commodity?’ Lucky looked pompously over his glasses.
‘Both.’
‘It’s just that you’ve never been sufficiently hungry - only peckish,’
pronounced Robert.
‘Look - I’d rather die than eat a rat.’ Min was passionate.
‘What if you ate it by mistake? I know it’s unlikely where you come from - but say you were in a yert or something and had to accept hospitality yert-style - or appear rude - what would you do?’ asked Dinah. ‘I do know what you mean tho
ugh,’ she added kindly.
‘What about Catholics who weren’t allowed to eat meat on Fridays? If they were invited somewhere and meat was dished up by the well- meaning heathens what did they do?’
‘They either piously announced that if they ate the meat they would commit a mortal sin, (which was always a good party opener) or, they nibbled away at everything on the plate leaving the sin-making flesh to one side.’ Lucky’s face was doctrinal.
‘“I’ll have the ratatouille without the rat,” is what you say,’ advised
Robert.
‘I’ve never been able to understand what the difference is between meat on a Thursday as opposed to a Friday anyway,’ said Dinah.
‘Or the difference between meat and fish for that matter - they’re both paid-up members of the animal kingdom and jolly good protein. By the way - here’s an interesting question. For ten free trips on the ferry - why is tinned corned beef called “pisupo”?’
Lucky, the quizmaster, peered at his audience. ‘D’you give up?’ They gave up.
‘Because - the first tinned food to come here from overseas was pea soup - translated as pisupo - and the next lot was corned beef from New Zealand and because it was in tins it was also called pisupo, which had become a sort of generic term for food in tins.’ Lucky wiped his hands on some big leaves. ‘Sorry about the free trips. Better luck next time.’
‘Well, I never…’said Robert as he reached for the last little package.
Chapter 18
There was a sigh of relief once the four weekenders were aboard the ferry because at one moment it had looked as if they were to be stranded for another night. The protocol around getting aboard was something they had not expected.
After clearing up the little beach which they were almost reluctant to leave, they had walked to the wharf to check at the ticket office (which was now manned) as to exactly how long they would have to wait. Being reassured that they had at least two hours, they had set out to walk in the opposite direction to where they had spent the night.
The sun had some way to go before reaching its zenith but they were careful to stay in the shade under the trees which bordered the unsealed track. After a short time, they met a young man coming towards them with a wide smile indicating that he was not shy of strangers and they greeted him in the local language. It was a surprise to hear him ask them in perfect English, if he could help them. Lucky explained how they came to be there and the young man laughed when he heard about the missed ferry.