FOLLOW THE MORNING STAR (15 page)

‘Mmm. Seems a pity to throw all that effort and time away when you’re so close. What else would you do?’

‘Something with horses. They really are my first love.’

‘I suppose you’ve always had horses, this isn’t a romantic girlish notion?’

‘TR, please! I outgrew that when I was eleven. I mean I want to get into serious horse stuff.’

‘Hadn’t you better talk to Tango? He’s the one who is in the serious business of horses.’

‘I thought about it but I know he’ll just say I have to stick with it. Especially for Mum’s sake.’

‘Have you talked about this to your mother?’ Saskia bit her lip. ‘Yes. It didn’t go down very well.’

TR looked sympathetic. ‘It’s probably not good timing. I suppose you can blame me for that.’

‘Oh, not at all TR! Everyone says I should at least graduate and I can see that, but I just know I don’t want to be a vet so it seems a waste of time.’

‘Listen, go off and have fun with your mates this weekend and put it out of your mind. Maybe you’ll look at things differently in a week or so.’ TR gave her a smile which was swiftly replaced by a flash of pain. He grimaced and Saskia grabbed his empty cup from him.

‘You all right, TR?’

‘Yes thanks. I get these spasms every so often. Not very pleasant. I’d better rest for a bit. Thanks for coming in to see me, Saskia.’

‘Mum sends her love. Said she’ll be in soon. She’s planning to go over to Cricklewood for a bit. That’s our other property with the stud cattle.’

‘Yeah, I’ve got the picture; not that it means anything much,’ he said with a touch of irritation. ‘I’m sort of concentrating on my own little deal here.’

Saskia nodded, feeling slightly hurt on her mother’s behalf. TR saw the pained expression in her eyes but while he enjoyed the
company of this breezy young woman, Queenie made him uncomfortable. The deep love in her eyes and the fact she was beautiful and sexy, but a stranger, unnerved him.

Saskia drove south down the expressway to Surfers Paradise and along Main Beach until she found the Sunray Motel. The manager gave her a key to their shared room. Already it had the over-occupied look of girls on holiday. Clothes, towels, hair dryers, bags with cosmetics, magazines and hairbrushes covered the beds, table and benchtop in the kitchen. A note stuck to the bathroom mirror told Saskia they’d gone to check out the beach. Saskia pulled on her swimsuit, wrapped a sarong around her waist and headed across the road to the beach. It was hot and the wind whipped the breakers into an unpleasant choppy surf. She didn’t feel like swimming in this and she knew sunbaking would mean being assaulted by stinging windblown volleys of sand.

Everywhere along the beach people were enjoying themselves despite the conditions. A Japanese tour bus waited at yet another photo stop as the passengers picked their way onto the sand in dresses, long pants and shoes to take the group shot on the beach. Saskia wondered why the cameraman kept his back to the sea, posing the group against a backdrop of skyscrapers.

Further along, a beach inspector sped past her in a colourful dune buggy emblazoned with the name of a suntan lotion. Saskia realised she wasn’t wearing a hat or sunscreen
and was annoyed with herself. She was about to turn around and cross back over to the street of shops, when she saw the other girls coming towards her, waving in greeting.

‘You got here. Did you get into the room okay? How’s TR?’ asked Julie excitedly.

‘Fine. In fact he seems much stronger.’

‘No memory yet?’

Saskia shook her head. ‘What are you doing? I’m burning. I’ll have to go to a shop, I forgot to bring a hat.’

‘We were just going over to get something to eat,’ said Sherry, ‘and then we’re going to look around the shops. Let’s go.’

After lunch they wandered around the shops near the beach in their sarongs and swimsuits. They joked about the casual clothes, souvenirs, novelty gifts, sandals, and beach accessories and tried on T-shirts and silly hats. The three girls bought straw hats, fifties-style sunglasses that curved in cats’ eyes studded with fake rhinestones, and ate wildly flavoured ice creams.

‘How can you eat bubble-gum ice cream? You have no class, Sherry.’

‘It’s no worse than the licorice and guava you’re eating, Jules.’

‘Let’s go down to Cavill Avenue and look at the posh shops.’

‘Not dressed like this!’ exclaimed Sherry.

‘Of course we can. Anything goes here,’ said Saskia.

Sherry looked doubtful. ‘We can’t afford them. They’re all European designers for the Japanese tourists.’

‘We can look,’ said Julie.

‘Later, later. Let’s go take a siesta,’ suggested Saskia.

They flaked out across the beds in their room with the door open allowing the wind to cool them, and gossiped. Saskia was tempted to share her misgivings about her career choice, but decided not to get heavy. Besides, the times when she had mentioned her dissatisfaction to her friends they’d all declared it was normal, everyone went through that stage.

They opened a packet of biscuits bought at the motel store, boiled the electric jug and made tea and coffee with the instant packets provided, and began to primp, shower and change for the evening. The plan was a Mexican meal, a band at the Beachfront Hotel beer garden, then on to one of the discos with the hope of meeting some attractive guys.

It was a weekend when a lot of young people had a similar idea and the three attractive girls quickly met up with four boys at the Beachfront Hotel — two brothers from a property near Winton and two mates on holiday from Cairns. They’d avoided the southern slickers and found these boys good company. They headed for the disco and danced there for a while, then someone suggested they go to the casino.

‘Let’s pool our resources and tackle the blackjack or roulette tables, ten dollar limit,’ one of the boys suggested.

The casino was a multilevel black glass cube with a gold awning stretching over its
entrance. It was set back from the highway in movie-set grounds and Saskia was tempted to feel the plants to check if they were real or plastic. The lobby was filled with peach upholstered furniture, pearl shell vases and matching pot plant tubs and the sound of the chatter, laughter and groans of the gamblers. Car attendants in white uniforms with gold trim and pearl shell buttons supervised parking, and arriving and departing tour coaches. Coffee shops, restaurants and cocktail bars fanned off the lobby and the mezzanine floor. Escalators as well as lifts travelled to the ritzier upper gambling floors.

The evening passed swiftly. Saskia began to get a little bored and handed the last of her chips to the other girls. ‘I’ve kept a couple of dollars for the taxi home. You carry on, I’m going to have a look around then go. See you.’

She took the escalator to the upper level where the serious players gambled. The atmosphere was muted here and people were dressed more formally — ties were required for the men and the ladies were not permitted to wear trousers. There seemed to be more security people wandering about as well. Saskia strolled around, taking a glass of champagne off a tray a waiter offered her.

Bored, she was about to leave when she noticed a small crowd gathered around a roulette table, watching a game where several players had monumental stacks of chips in front of them.

The croupier was sharp eyed but an even more alert supervisor was at his side. The
croupier deftly spun the small ball around the wheel. ‘No more bets ladees and shentlemen.’ Why the fake French accent? wondered Saskia. He looked like a surf-lifesaver.

There was a minute of tension, all eyes on the spinning wheel and ball. The ball spun into a numbered slot. ‘Trente-neuf. Thirty-nine.’ He raked the chips off the table, swiftly counting the lone winner’s chips and pushing them across the baize. A very large pile of blue chips was joined to similar piles and a murmur of envy went around the people watching. Saskia looked at the small fortune in front of the player and caught her breath. The woman was expensively if flashily dressed, large glittering diamond earrings sparkling against her dark hair. She began counting out more chips, placing small piles on red numbers on the table.

Saskia studied her. She hadn’t changed too much. She was still very glamorous in a soap opera star way. The light was soft and flattering and her make-up thick but carefully applied, but her sex appeal was undiminished. There was no mistaking her. Aunt Andina.

Saskia waited till she’d placed her bets and edged around behind her, then bent down. ‘Hello, Dina.’

Dina spun around and looked blankly at the lovely young girl before her. She was familiar. God, whose daughter was she? They all grew up so quickly. ‘Hello, darling, how are you?’

Saskia realised she couldn’t place her. ‘It’s Saskia, your niece. Queenie’s daughter. I thought you were in Europe.’ As Dina blinked
in surprise Saskia asked hesitantly, ‘How’s Uncle Colin?’

The croupier was spinning the wheel; Dina turned her attention back to the table. ‘Just a minute.’ She sipped a glass of Chivas Regal at her side as the ball rattled, then jumped into a black slot. Dina sighed as her chips were swept away, then turned back to Saskia.

‘I lost.’

Saskia thought there was a faint accusing note to her voice. ‘Looks like you’ve been winning though. Is Colin here?’

‘No. He went home.’

‘Home?’

‘We’ve just moved up here, my father is living at Broadwater. How is your family?’ Her voice had the steely quality Saskia remembered.

‘We’re managing. TR is in hospital; he had a bad riding accident.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’ Dina lowered her voice. ‘Saskia, I’d love to chat but this is not the place. Here, give me a call some time, we are still getting settled.’ She pulled a small embossed card from her purse and scribbled a phone number on the back, smiled briefly and concentrated on the numbers once more.

Saskia moved away and turned over the card which read,
Camboni Constructions
with an address in Southport. Printed below it was
Alfredo Camboni, Chairman
and an address at Bali Hai Towers, The Waterways.

Saskia was thoughtful as she waited for a taxi at the front of the casino. She bet her mother didn’t know Colin was back in Australia. Why
did he continue to cut them out of his life? From what Saskia had heard about the Camboni in-laws, they wouldn’t be her first choice to throw in her lot with. However, Millie had always told Saskia that Dina ran everything, including Colin.

Her mother had never told Saskia the full story of the family rift, only saying there was little point in dragging up painful memories. Things had worked out happily in the end — despite Colin. But knowing he was so close kindled her curiosity and Saskia decided she would make contact and depending on how — if indeed he agreed to see her — she was treated, she might or might not tell her mother.

She had just fallen asleep when the other girls came in, giggling and whispering. The bathroom light went on and Sas was prodded. ‘Hey, Sas, you awake?’ said Sherry.

‘Of course I am, who can sleep with you belting me up. What’s happening?’

‘We won three hundred dollars!’

‘Great! You guys get to buy breakfast.’ Saskia rolled over and was asleep before the other two were ready for bed.

Saskia rang from a public phone box and was a bit taken aback when Colin answered the phone.

‘Er . . . Hello, Uncle Colin. This is Saskia. How are you?’

‘Saskia?’ He sounded completely surprised.

‘Yes. I ran into Auntie Dina last night, and she gave me this number.’

‘You saw Dina last night? Where?’ He still sounded very surprised.

‘At the casino. I was there with some girlfriends. Didn’t Dina tell you?’

‘Er . . . no. She’s not up yet. Where are you?’

‘In Surfers, just for the long weekend.’

‘What are you doing with yourself these days? God, you sound so grown up. I’m sorry, that’s a terrible thing to say. I’m just trying to come to grips with the little kid I last saw on a pony now swanning round a casino on the Gold Coast.’

They both laughed.

‘Listen, why don’t you come over tomorrow? Dina’s arranged some lunch do, a buffet on the terrace, but you’d be welcome. Bring your girlfriends if you’d like.’

‘They’re busy,’ said Saskia quickly, then on the spur of the moment added, ‘but I’ll come. Where and what time?’

Colin gave her the address and hung up. He had no particular interest in socialising with a niece with whom he’d had no contact for years, but this was Queenie’s child and instinctively he felt Saskia could prove useful. If he couldn’t get at Queenie directly, he might be able to get at her through her daughter.

‘Oh I wish I hadn’t said yes. What am I going to wear? I’ve got nothing flash,’ Saskia wailed as they bobbed in the surf later in the day.

‘You could cancel it,’ said Sherry.

‘No, he’d know I was making an excuse and was chickening out. Or worse, he might think my mother told me not to go.’

‘Hey, buy a new outfit in one of those cool shops in the arcade,’ said Julie.

‘I can’t afford those places,’ sighed Saskia.

Sherry and Julie whispered briefly then Julie said, ‘We’ll buy you something with the money we won’.