The Outback (12 page)

Chapter 14

Rhett displayed all of
his usual charm when he picked up the team on the Monday morning following the
party. They all decided it best not to mention the firewood shortage to him.
Instead, they thought that by discreetly taking just a few logs each day they
could accumulate enough during the week to last them over the weekend.

The plan was successful
to begin with. Every time that one of the group came across a log of the perfect
shape and size, they would put it to one side to be retrieved later. Each of
them was bringing a small rucksack to work, which had ample room to stash a
handful of small logs inside of it.

It was on the fourth day
that the plan started to go awry. Rhett unexpectedly decided to make a change
to the way that he organised things by switching Niall with Colin on the clean
up duty. They assumed that this was just to give people a more varied job, but
what they did not realise was that the Australian had a very different motive
for bringing in Colin to work more closely with him.

‘How are you both
finding life at the caravan park?’ Rhett asked.

The three of them were
gathered around a large stump, the roots of which extended a good distance into
the ground and therefore required digging out with shovels. The Australian did
not usually attempt small talk and both Colin and Stephen were instantly
suspicious.

‘It’s bearable,’ replied
Colin. ‘After finishing work, we eat, sleep and then the next day we repeat the
whole process again.’

‘You must find some time
for a bit of fun though.’

The old man was acting
increasingly out of character, which the Irish pair found most unsettling.

‘We maybe enjoy the
occasional drink every now and then, but who doesn’t, eh?’

‘I didn’t see any of you
in the pub at the weekend.’

‘We just stick to the
beer that we can get at the caravan park. We’re all on pretty tight budgets, so
the pub is a luxury we can’t always afford.’

‘Is it just a drink that
you enjoy, because if you wanted more than that I may be able to help out?’

The two Irishmen
exchanged nervous glances.

‘I don’t know what you
mean,’ replied Colin, trying to concentrate more fervently on his digging.

‘There’s no need to play
coy with me,’ said Rhett. ‘I know that your friend here likes a good smoke.
Everyone in that camp does. That pommie guy named Ben could not get enough weed
and I know that he was passing it on.’

Stephen rammed his
shovel into the ground, where he then left it before wiping the sweat from his
brow with the back of his gloved hand.

‘You were Ben’s dealer?’
he asked.

‘There’s no need to put
a name on it. I simply supplied him with what he needed. I’d be happy to offer
the same courtesy to you. Just let me know how much you require and I can
guarantee a better price than either of you will ever have paid in the city.’

‘We’re okay for the time
being,’ replied Colin. He then looked to Stephen for support. ‘Don’t you still
have a bit left over from when Ben was here?’

‘Yeah, when the others
left they gave us all of their weed as they said they could replace it more
easily when they got to the coast,’ confirmed Stephen.

The Australian did not
seem wholly convinced, but he did not push the matter.

‘Fair dinkum, just
remember that the offer stands for when you do need something. I’d hate to
think that you were stupid enough to let yourselves get ripped off by one of my
rivals.’

‘Don’t worry,’ assured
Colin. ‘Yours will be the first door that we knock on.’

‘
I’m
not
worried.’

The emphasis Rhett
placed on his words gave the pair the distinct impression that they were the
ones who should be worried and they were. The Australian did not seem like the
kind of man that it would be wise to get on the wrong side of.

***

‘They are all shit
today,’ announced Jonas.

The group had worked
their way towards the far end of the field and the amount of wood to be cleared
was sparser than in the centre. It was also composed mainly of simple twigs and
leafy branches. There was little to nothing that would be of any use as
firewood.

‘It’s no big deal,’ said
Jenny. ‘We have a small stock at the camp now.’

The German was
frustrated.

‘I feel like it is my
fault that we ran out,’ he said. ‘I will find some more for us today.’

The dedication and the
determination that Jonas showed to right what he perceived as being his wrong
made Jenny smile. She had been smiling a lot recently. This was owed in no
small part to Matt. He had been placed on wide duty for the day, but she did
not mind as they would be able to spend plenty of time together in the evening.

‘You seem very cheerful
today,’ commented Rose. ‘Let me guess; you are thinking of lover boy over
there.’

‘I am not.’ She blushed.
After a short pause; she added, ‘it is good though, isn’t it? I mean, being
able to find someone out here in the bush. Surely you must feel the same with
Colin.’

‘Colin makes me feel a
lot of things, but I am under no illusion over where our relationship is
heading. Once he gets back to civilisation he will soon forget about me. Your
boy Matt will be exactly the same; trust me.’

She heard the words that
her sister was speaking, but Jenny attached no importance to them. Right now
was all that mattered and that was going very well indeed. As long as her
thoughts kept her occupied at work, she was happy. When they all broke for the
end of the day, she saw Jonas run off to the side of the field. He spent a few
moments scrabbling about in the bushes before re-emerging with his hands full.

‘What is that lunatic up
to now?’ asked Rose.

‘Don’t be cruel,’
replied Jenny. ‘He is just getting us some more firewood. Look what he has in
his hands.’

The German was cradling
a veritable log in his arms. He slowly hauled it back towards the bus, as
running with such a burden would be nigh on impossible. Once he got there he
began to haul his prize through the retractable doors. This soon garnered
attention from an unwanted quarter. Rhett was quick to pick up on what the
young German was doing and he marched towards the bus with menace in his
stride.

‘What the fuck do you think
you’re doing?’ he snarled.

Jonas was taken aback
with shock, as was everybody. They had all been in no doubt that their boss
would be capable of exercising his temper when necessary, but this was the
first time that any of them had witnessed it firsthand.

‘What’s the problem?’
asked Stephen, who was the largest and most strongly built of the group and
therefore had no hesitation in standing up to the malevolent Australian.

‘What’s the problem?’
Rhett echoed. ‘This bloody idiot dumping waste on my bus is the problem. Where
exactly do you think you are taking this trophy of yours anyway?’

‘It’s j-just for
f-f-firewood,’ stammered Jonas, who turned a deathly shade of pale with the
threat of Rhett looming over him.

‘Firewood?’ Rhett pushed
past Jonas and snatched hold of the offending log. ‘I’ll show you what the
fucking problem is with firewood.’

He raised the wood high
in the air before swinging it forcefully down to the ground. Jonas
instinctively drew back from the path of the log, but he was not the intended
target. The wood came to a crashing halt against the hard step of the bus
doorway. As it did so, it broke in two, revealing a brittle centre. The step
was covered in what appeared to be tiny white ants.

‘Now can you all see
what the problem is?’ asked Rhett, who was more composed, but still visibly
angry.

‘What are they?’ asked
Niall.

‘Termites,’ answered a
voice from behind.

The speaker was Sam. The
group had not noticed him arrive, but the moment that Rhett lost his cool, the
Aboriginal elder had lent his presence to prevent things from getting out of
hand.

‘Exactly,’ said Rhett,
somewhat frustrated by the indigenous man’s presence. ‘They’re fucking
termites. Anyone dumb enough to introduce those little bastards to the caravan
park is going to have a lot of explaining for Joe when he comes back. There’ll
also be a hefty fumigation and repair bill, which I will most definitely not be
paying, do you understand?’

‘S-sorry,’ said Jonas.

The rest of the group
nodded to indicate their understanding.

‘Is this the first time
or have you been taking wood before today?’ asked Rhett.

Nobody answered him and
the lack of a response from the dumbstruck backpackers told him everything that
he needed to know. He picked up the broken pieces of timber and threw them to
the side of the road before brushing the insects from the steps of the bus.

The inside of the
vehicle was silent on the way back to the park, but not for a lack of people
having things to say. Everyone had an opinion on what had just happened, but
none were brave or suicidal enough to air those opinions in front of Rhett. Not
one word was uttered throughout the duration of the journey home.

Once the backpackers had
disembarked from the bus it would be usual for Rhett to leave. Instead of doing
so, he turned the engine off and dismounted from the driver’s cab.

‘I want you to gather up
all of the wood and dump it in the field outside,’ he demanded

They were made to remove
everything and not just what had been taken from the harvest site during the
week, as an infestation could spread quickly. Once they had piled up the wood,
Rhett doused it in petrol from one of the canisters that they used at work and
set it ablaze. In spite of his foul mood, the old man still elicited a gleeful
smirk as he watched the wood disintegrate amongst the flames.

‘Where’s the monkey
that’s supposed to be looking after this place at?’ the Australian then
demanded.

Heads turned towards
Celeste.

‘I think he means
Pierro,’ said Niall.

‘What are you saying?’
she asked. ‘Pierro is no monkey.’

‘Never mind that now.
Can you just get him, please?’

Colin and Matt were both
laughing at her reaction, but Stephen was solemn. He had no sense of humour
when it came to his rival. Celeste indignantly stamped off to the dining block.
She knew that Pierro would either be in the kitchen preparing dinner or
relaxing in his attached bedroom. When the Canadian returned with her boyfriend
in tow, Rhett had quite a few things to say to him.

After scolding him for
allowing the others to do something so stupid right under his nose, Rhett
ordered the Italian to spray the exterior of the caravan against which the log
pile had rested to stave off any threat of infestation.

Pierro did not offer any
protest no matter how humiliating and demeaning the dressing down he received
became. The Italian may not have mixed socially with the group, but he did have
the courtesy to allow them enough space to do as they wished. He did not view himself
as an authority figure as to do so would imply responsibility, which was
something that he could most definitely do without.

Before getting back on
the bus and leaving, Rhett turned to address the group one more time.

‘It’s quite clear that
bozo here is not capable of looking after you lot, so from now on I will call
in every so often to make sure that you haven’t destroyed the place. Do not let
me find anything like this again.’

After issuing his orders
the Australian was gone. He had, however, made one thing perfectly clear; the
camp would no longer be the safe haven from work and place of relaxation that
it had once been. Just as things were starting to look up, life in Birribandi
had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Chapter 15

Morale amongst the park
residents had hit an all time low. Even dinner was not its usual celebratory
affair, with nobody bothering to hang around for socialising afterwards. There
was a definite mood of despair in the camp and it was affecting everybody. The
idea that Rhett could turn up unannounced at any time had them all on edge. For
Colin though, there were even more pressing troubles to be contended with. He
sat in his van with Rose discussing the worst of those potential problems.

‘Rhett tried to sell you
drugs; are you sure?’ she asked.

‘He left no room for
doubt; trust me.’

The Irishman lay on his
bed, whilst Rose sat cross legged on the floor plucking her eyebrows. Seeing
the concern in her boyfriend’s features, she put her beauty regime on hold.

‘And he also claimed
that he was supplying Ben and the others?’ she asked.

‘That’s what he said.’

She got up from the
floor and started to rummage through Colin’s personal effects on the bedside
cabinet. After several moments fumbling, she took hold of his mobile phone.

‘How do you check the
pictures on this thing?’ she asked.

He took the device from
her.

‘The police reports; I
totally forgot about those. They should be able to tell us what we are dealing
with.’

He scrolled through the
pictures, but the reports were unreadable. It was a cheap, basic model of
phone. The display was too small and the handset lacked adequate zooming
capabilities.

‘It’s no good,’ he said.
‘I’ll have to upload them onto a computer and have a closer look then. I’ll
take it to the library at the weekend.’

She sat down next to him
on the bed and placed her arm around his shoulders.

‘You aren’t worried by
this, are you?’

‘Maybe, I dunno. The way
he was talking seemed really creepy, like there was an underlying threat to it.
He definitely made it clear that he won’t stand for us buying from anyone
else.’

She lent her head on his
shoulder.

‘You aren’t though, are
you? You had your stash with you when you came, so he isn’t exactly losing out
on business, is he?’

‘I wish it was that
simple. The problem is that Rhett is not only in charge of us at work, but he
is now going to start poking his nose into this place. If he wants to make
things tough for us, he will.’

There was a knock at the
door.

‘Who is it?’ Colin
called out.

‘It’s me; Stephen. Are
the pair of you decent or should I come back later?’

‘Very funny,’ replied
Colin, getting up to let his friend in.

Stephen did not take a
seat, but remained standing in the doorway.

‘I was wondering if you
fancied a smoke,’ he said.

Colin looked to Rose and
she merely waved him on.

‘You two boys go and
feed your sordid little habit. I’ll still be here when you get back.’

He exited the van and
the pair met up with Niall outside. They went to the far side of the park
amidst the empty vans where they hoped that they would not be disturbed.

‘Is there any word on
Pierro?’ asked Colin.

‘According to Celeste,
he is seriously pissed off,’ replied Stephen. ‘There is no love lost between
him and Rhett, but he is still blaming us for what happened.’

‘Do you think he will
give us any trouble?’

Stephen shrugged.

‘Who knows? I wouldn’t
be surprised if he was still smarting from his humiliation at the party. After
this second incident he is likely to be baying for blood.’

‘Brilliant,’ said Colin.
‘If having Shawshank on our backs was not enough, he now has his own mini-me.’

The comparison was
enough to elicit a smile from Stephen.

‘Thankfully, I don’t
think that Pierro is quite in the old man’s league when it comes to
intimidation. Although in terms of physical proportion, you may be onto
something with the mini-me idea. The Italian is a short arse.’

Colin detected something
more personal than mere dislike in his friend’s words. He discreetly glanced to
Niall in order to see if he had picked up on this too. The third man returned
Colin’s look with an equal measure of concern.

‘That isn’t jealousy I’m
hearing, is it?’ asked Colin.

‘What do you mean?’
replied Stephen.

‘It’s just an
observation,’ said Colin, holding up his hands to indicate that he meant no
offence. ‘I am just a little concerned that you may be getting attached to a
certain someone in the camp.’

Stephen screwed up his
face to show that he found the suggestion ridiculous.

‘Who me?’ he asked. ‘The
way I see it - if anyone here is getting too attached, you should be taking a
long, hard look at yourself.’

‘Okay, okay,’ replied
Colin. ‘Forget that I said anything.’

The Irishman knew that
he had hit a raw nerve, but he decided to leave it at that. Stephen was smart
enough to take care of himself and who he chose to get involved with was
nobody’s business but his own. Colin had enough to worry about as it was. No
matter what anybody said he knew that the Rhett problem was not about to go
away anytime soon.

***

Matt had just been in the
shower and was on his way to Jenny’s van when he passed Hiro. It was often hard
for him to gauge the Asian’s mood and he was keen to find out what the Japanese
man made of Rhett’s behaviour towards Jonas earlier.

‘I hope the old man
didn’t worry you today,’ he said.

Hiro pulled a confused
face.

‘Worry; me?’

‘I mean Rhett; when he
threatened Jonas. That was pretty scary, eh?’

‘Ah, Rhett - yes; very
scary,’ agreed the Japanese man. He then added, ‘Facking termites,’ in a
remarkably accurate imitation of the curmudgeonly Australian.

Humour and music were
the only two ways that Hiro seemed able to communicate with his fellow
travellers and Matt thought it ironic that after struggling with the basics of
English for so long the Asian had mastered the intricate subtleties of the Ocker
Aussie accent. He shared a laugh with his eccentric friend before carrying on
and entering Jenny’s van. She was lying on the bed waiting for him. Whatever
trouble was brewing with Rhett, neither of these two saw themselves as being in
the firing line and they were determined to make the most of their precious
time together.