Catherine Jinks TheRoad (74 page)

‘It’s stopping. Look.’

‘Thank God for that,’ someone muttered, as the vehicle pulled up behind Del’s Ford. Everyone rushed towards it. Peter saw now that it was a ute, a Holden, with a bullbar and mag wheels. Peter knew about mag wheels. Henry’s brother Simon talked about them a lot.

‘What’s up?’ An old guy wearing a baseball cap leaned out of the driver’s window. Under the cap, his hair was grey and wispy. ‘You had an accident?’

‘No,’ said Noel, but Del interrupted him. She pushed forward, hiking up her track pants. ‘Where’d you just come from – Mildura?’

‘That’s right. Mildura. At least,
I
did.’ The old man jerked his chin at the two people sitting next to him. Peering through the windscreen, Peter recognised one of them. It was that nasty woman with the nose stud. She sat with her knees up under her chin, trying to avoid the gearstick and handbrake.

Georgie.

‘I can’t speak for these two,’ the old man finished. ‘I picked ’em up on the way. The other one too – bloke bringing up the rear, there. They all ran out of petrol.’

Almost on cue, Ambrose popped his head over the top of the vehicle’s roof, and Peter realised that he must have been riding in the space out back – whatever it was called. The space with the tailgate, where you were supposed to load up furniture and things (not people). He wondered if it was against the law, to ride in the back of a ute like that.

‘Hello,’ said Ambrose, smiling feebly, whereupon Mongrel began to bark.

At first, it crossed Peter’s mind that the dog might have been startled by Ambrose’s sudden appearance. Peter himself had been surprised by it, as he would have been surprised by a jack-in-thebox. So he ignored Mongrel, focusing instead on the old man, who was speaking again, more loudly this time, straining to be heard through Mongrel’s furious, full-throated barks.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve run out of petrol too,’ he said.

‘We have,’ Noel replied. ‘We all have.’

‘There’s something wrong,’ Del added. ‘
Mongr
el! Shuddup!
No one can get through to where they’re goin. Where are yiz headed, anyway – Broken Hill?’

‘That’s right,’ the old man responded.

‘Well good luck, but yiz’ll need it to get there, on this road.’

‘What do you mean? It’s the Silver City Highway. It goes to the Silver City.’

‘Most of the time, yeah. Just lately, it hasn’t wanted to.’