Beyond Carousel (20 page)

At the height of the following day she and Chess made their dash into the terminal.

‘I got here at dusk,' I said, disturbed by her story.

‘You were lucky,' replied Lizzy.

We were siting in a corner of the Qantas lounge that Lizzy had made into her room. It had the long sweep of a cushioned bench for a bed. Two armchairs – one for reading, another for Chess. There was an acoustic guitar and some notepads by the dining table between them. The whole area was partitioned off from the rest of the lounge with the temporary construction barriers that were once used to hide the extension work in the growing airport.

I looked around at her place, then out at the long stretch of the lounge. Its transformation was drastic.

‘When I was in the domestic terminal, it seemed like nobody had been in there since the Disappearance,' I said.

‘Because it's not sealed. The Bulls can get in there,' she replied.

‘Holy shit,' I said.

Lizzy nodded.

‘Lucky for you they get spooked by the aurora jets,' said Lizzy. ‘Sometimes that's how we know one is about to happen. The Bulls start to whimper, or suddenly there's none of them around.'

‘Wow,' I replied.

‘You know we hadn't seen a jet for nearly two weeks before you got here? Bulls have been massing from all over,' said Lizzy.

‘But we can get past them, yeah?' I asked.

Lizzy looked at me closely.

‘I think you better tell me about this Curator business,' she said.

I nodded and thought about where I should start.

‘I was doing a food run in Victoria Park. It's east of the casino. Kind of on the way to Carousel,' I began.

Lizzy fixed onto me and listened as I recounted my meeting with Ed at the hotel. I tried to take it slowly and give her a good sense of the guy. When I finished she sat back and opened a packet of M&M's. She picked out the blue ones and thought the whole thing over.

‘I know it sounds mental. But I just have a feeling he might be right. I really think we should go back there and see,' I added.

Lizzy glanced at me.

‘If you think about it, everything kind of adds up. How those taxis dropped us at Carousel. How we could only get out of there once we finished our projects. How every other Residency we've seen has had power and food and art supplies. It just seems too engineered for it not to have an end point, don't you think? Two years gives Artists time to create something big. Something they might not have done otherwise. It's what residencies are meant for.'

I was rambling now and Lizzy put her hand up for me to stop.

‘Nox. It's cool,' she said. ‘We can go back to Carousel.'

‘Serious?' I asked.

Lizzy nodded.

‘I know Ed. We were on a bill together a few years back. If anybody could figure out what was behind all this it would be him.'

‘Okay great. Thank you,' I said.

‘But we'll have to wait for another aurora jet to get past the Bulls. It's too risky otherwise,' she added.

‘When do you think the next one will arrive?' I asked.

‘I don't know. Nobody does,' replied Lizzy. ‘Kirk says there are usually more jets towards the end of winter than the start. So hopefully it will be soon.'

I checked the date on the barman's watch for the thousandth time.

‘Do you have any idea where Taylor might be?' I asked.

Lizzy shook her head.

‘We had a pretty big fight. All I know is that she was heading to the coast with Sophie,' she replied.

‘Is Sophie the painter from Carousel?' I asked.

Lizzy nodded.

‘I can't believe she found her,' I said.

‘So Tommy told you about the painter in the city too?'

I looked at her and nodded, sheepishly.

‘You two suck,' said Lizzy.

She took a handful of M&M's and tossed the remainder of the packet on the table.

‘Sorry, Lizzy. I guess I just didn't want to rat on her or
something,' I said. ‘I'm sure that wasn't her only reason for wanting to go to the city.'

‘Why wouldn't she tell me? Did she think I didn't want them to get together or something? It's so mental,' said Lizzy.

I didn't have an answer. Lizzy stopped chewing and we both sat in silence for a while.

‘I just can't get it out of my head,' said Lizzy.

‘What?' I asked.

‘When I arrived in the city. After two days locked away in some repulsive toilet block. Then a bunch more racing around trying to find you guys in a total panic. I finally stumbled into the Collective and there was Taylor having brunch with her girlfriend. New jeans. New haircut. She was even wearing makeup. Fucking makeup!' said Lizzy.

I watched her and listened.

‘I know she had been looking for us. And that she had only arrived just a day before me with the same smoke inhalation and everything. But seeing her so relaxed and happy like that. Knowing that this was why she wanted to leave the hills. Nothing to do with you or me or the Curator,' said Lizzy.

She stared out the window.

‘I couldn't speak to her,' she added.

‘For how long?' I asked.

‘A while,' said Lizzy. ‘Until just before she left.'

‘What did you say?' I asked.

‘She apologised. Again. Then screamed at me to grow up. I screamed back. I wanted to tell her I forgave her. Or that there was nothing to forgive or whatever. But she called me jealous. So I stormed the fuck out of there, went straight up onto the stage and started playing our new album.'

Lizzy took a breath.

‘We made this pact way back when we were kids. That we would never perform a Taylor & Lizzy song for a crowd unless both of us were playing. Even if it's just some backup vocals or a shaker or something. It always had to involve the two of us. That way our partnership would never be in question. The music would always need both of us,' said Lizzy.

I could almost see Taylor's face looking up at the stage as her sister launched into the album. Eyes wide and resolute. Skin bristling as a crowd began to gather.

‘They left that afternoon,' said Lizzy.

‘I'm sorry, Lizzy,' I said.

She blinked and looked at me.

‘Do you think we will find her in time?'

‘Of course,' I replied.

I don't think either of us felt confident. But at least we were back together.

That night we stayed up late and planned our path to the ocean.

Lizzy and I were packed and ready, but the aurora jets just wouldn't come.

Instead a series of wicked cold fronts blew in from the west, reminding us that winter still held a grip over the city. The temperature in the terminal dropped and the Artists shuffled about beneath coats and Qantas blankets. There was a relaxed, ski-lodge vibe to the place. The days were long and quiet and you didn't see much of anyone as people worked away on their art. But at night candles and voices would spring up throughout the lounge as people welcomed others into their faux lodgings to share food and chat over bottles of duty free.

Lizzy seemed at home there, as she did wherever she happened to be. But I also noticed things about her that I hadn't seen in Carousel. She could talk to just about anyone without even trying. Artists weren't necessarily the best communicators. I had been to a stack of gigs where singers would finish songs full of rhyme and eloquence, then struggle to string a sentence together as
they thanked the crowd. But Lizzy had it down. She was disarming and found a way through to even the most stilted and awkward of Artists in the terminal. With Lizzy they relaxed and became unusually responsive. I wasn't sure if it was part of her celebrity, or the opposite of this. Either way it seemed like she had been here with these people for years, not weeks.

There was one girl – a musician too, I think – that Lizzy seemed to spend more time with than the others. She looked slightly older than Lizzy, and kind of familiar. When I asked Lizzy about her, she shrugged in a way that made me think there might have been something going on between them. But it seemed at arm's length and I noticed that Lizzy still kept a photo of her girlfriend Erica as the desktop background on her laptop. I considered telling her about Georgia at this time, but copped out and kept it to myself.

My presence in the lounge seemed like it was no big deal. People were friendly enough, particularly when they noticed that I knew Lizzy, but mostly they continued with their routines and I kept to myself. I felt preoccupied, and we would be leaving at the first sign of a jet anyway. I found quiet corners and pushed on with the writing I had started at the Collective. The scope of the story felt pretty intimidating. It was interesting and the words came without too much of a fight. But there was no doubting now that what I was writing was a novel. I couldn't help but think that maybe this could be my ticket home once
we got back to Carousel. This scared the hell out of me and I tried not to think about it.

But the waiting was tough. I got bouts of panic over the time we were losing. We would be into August soon and Lizzy had as much of an idea of where Taylor might be as I did. I checked over our bikes and backpacks, and hovered at the windows while Chess looked on anxiously. Lizzy put up with this for a while, but eventually snapped and told me I had to chill. Later that day she took me shopping for clothes to kill some time.

Beneath the lounges was a corridor lined with the regular airport shopping outlets. Lizzy seemed familiar with the place and led us over to a surf store and Country Road outlet. She started browsing and building a pile of stuff for me to try on. The stores were stocking mostly spring lines at the time of the Disappearance, so the selection wasn't great. In Country Road Lizzy found me some jeans and a few t-shirts that were okay. Then we moved over to the surf shop to look around for jackets.

‘Do you think I should tell everyone here about the Curator?' I asked.

‘I did already,' replied Lizzy.

I looked up from the jackets.

‘What did you tell them?'

‘Pretty much what you said to me. And that we would be leaving during the next aurora,' she replied.

‘Did they say anything?' I asked.

‘Different things. A couple of people had heard about it already,' said Lizzy.

‘Do you think many of them will go back to their Residencies?' I asked.

Lizzy thought it over.

‘It's hard to say. I believe you because we have history. But people talk a lot of crap these days. Especially at the Collective. That place was like junior high,' said Lizzy.

‘What if it's true and they miss the deadline?' I asked.

Lizzy shrugged despondently.

‘Did Ed mention anything about that?' she asked.

I shook my head. ‘I don't think he knows.'

I felt a growing weight on my shoulders. The Artists at the terminal seemed like genuinely good people. I hated the idea that they might miss their portals and be stranded here forever.

Lizzy seemed to notice my stressing.

‘I'll talk to them again tonight. Maybe I can convince a few more,' she said.

‘Thanks,' I replied.

We shifted along to another rack of jackets.

‘How about this?' I asked, holding up a terrible denim fur combo.

Lizzy smiled.

‘That's actually pretty cool,' she said.

‘Serious?' I asked.

‘No, Nox,' she replied, deadpan.

I put it away and we kept looking.

‘Although it does kind of go with that new watch of yours,' said Lizzy.

‘This watch totally saved my life in that casino,' I replied.

‘Serious?' asked Lizzy.

I showed her the light.

‘Oh neat,' she replied, sarcastically.

‘It's weird how people seem to like you here?' I joked. ‘Do you think it will change once they get to know you properly?'

Lizzy feigned some laughter and shifted to another rack.

‘What was it like living next to Rachel?' she asked.

‘It was actually fine. I mean, she is a total bogan, but behind all the bourbons and the swearing, she's a good person. I was a bit of a mess when she found me in that gaming room.'

Lizzy nodded.

‘She didn't find her kids or anything?' she asked.

‘Nope,' I replied.

‘Did you tell her about the Curator?' she asked.

I nodded.

‘She didn't care?' asked Lizzy.

‘She has a guy that visits her in the spring,' I replied.

‘Shut up,' said Lizzy.

‘Serious. He's a fisherman. They hooked up last year and made plans to meet up once he's back from his fishing or whatever,' I replied.

Lizzy was wide-eyed in amazement.

‘This fucking city,' she whispered and shook her head.

I laughed a little.

‘Hey did you know Cara Winters is still stuck in her Residency at the Collective?' I asked.

Lizzy nodded. ‘It's tragic. She's going crazy in there.'

‘Ed said that's what used to happen sometimes. In the original competition,' I replied.

‘Art has a messed-up relationship with sanity,' said Lizzy.

I looked at her and tried to understand what she meant. She held up a navy parka with red chequered lining.

‘Here. Try this,' she said.

I pulled it on and looked at my reflection in one of the mirrors. Lizzy stood in the foreground and nodded.

‘Come on. You can help me find a camera next door. I want to get some photos of this place before we leave,' said Lizzy.

We found some bags and packed away the clothes to take back upstairs.

‘Hey I've been meaning to ask you something about the auroras,' I said.

Lizzy glanced at me.

‘When that jet landed I got this weird slideshow of memories. Stuff I remember happening, but I hadn't thought of for ages. Kind of like my mind had discovered a missing roll of film somewhere,' I said.