Kiss On The Bridge (11 page)

Anneli carefully walked over. She stood next
to Wade, staring gob-smacked at the scene. “Nothing has been left
intact. Not one house or building made it through the storm
unscathed. The whole area is a war zone. Where Darwin once stood in
all her splendor has been blown away. Devastation is the only thing
remaining.”

Wade squinted in the sunlight and the dying
wind. He pointed to his left towards the sea where the light
industrial area once stood. “I can see a few fires raging, probably
from broken gas pipes. Anneli, you’re right, there’s nothing left.
I have no doubt this cyclone will go down in history. I can only
imagine what the media will say in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

“The year cyclone Tracy destroyed Christmas,”
Anneli reported.

Wade didn’t respond to her one line
statement, he appeared to be enthralled in the humus clouds. The
sky looked to be an inviting blue.

Anneli didn’t realize Wade focusing all his
attention elsewhere; she busied herself studying the hill. Shaking
her head, she spoke in a whisper.

“Wade, do you have any ideas on how we might
be able to get down?”

“I’m happy you mentioned it. I’ve the perfect
solution,” he boasted looking at her. His grin widened by the
second.

“Let me guess; the long pole you brought
along is part of a flying fox?”

“Not quite. Come on, I’ll show you the
contents of the bag.”

He picked up the long rigid canvas bag, took
hold of Anneli’s hand and carefully led the way over the soft mud
to the only patch of grass left on the hillside. Placing the bag on
the ground he set to work.

The long poles were first out of the bag.

“I don’t believe it!” exclaimed Anneli, her
jaw falling open at his secret.

Wade built an aluminum triangular shaped
frame and tightened the joints using wing nuts. He rolled out the
material, clipping the whole sheet across the back of the
structure. Wade unraveled the straps from around the poles. Next he
tied off the harness.

“You’ve been carrying a hang-glider!” Anneli
shrieked.

“It’s our ticket out of here,” answered Wade.
“I’d planned to ask if you were interested in seeing the sights of
Darwin after climbing down from the radio tower. I didn’t plan on a
cyclone or the hang-glider to be used to rescue us.”

“I’d love to go for a scenic flight. Will it
hold both of us?”

“Sure, it’s not a problem.”

Wade lifted the hang-glider into the correct
position then helped Anneli into her harness. “The only thing we
have to do is run down the hill as one. When you feel the front of
the glider start to lift, I’ll signal for you to jump. Once we’re
in the air, push one leg at a time through the strap behind you.
Lying prone will stop the drag on the glider. I’ll steer for the
thermals. If we need the glider to circle to the left or right the
only thing you have to do is move your hands. Don’t panic over
anything, relax and enjoy the flight.”

“This sounds so exciting,” remarked Anneli,
almost breathless. “I have to confess I’ve never done this before.”
She looked sideways at Wade hoping he couldn’t tell she might vomit
at any moment. She felt scared and excited at the same time.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she tried to dam her adrenaline
rush. Keeping her voice in check she said. “How soon can we
start?”

Wade again searched the sky for an updraft.
He pointed to an eagle gliding close to the hill searching for
food. It slowly circled several times before flying off.

“Now seems to be the perfect time. After
we’re airborne we’ll make our way towards Darwin. The bird’s eye
view will give us a great insight into the damage. Once we’ve lost
some height we’ll make our way to the beach so we can land on the
sand.”

They hoisted the glider onto their shoulders.
In unison they started walking downhill. Even though the warm
breeze seemed to be steadily dropping, it was still strong enough
to make the material of the hang glider thrash about. Anneli tried
to analyze how fast the wind might be blowing when she heard Wade’s
voice.

“Start running.”

Anneli’s legs felt like steel. She needed to
use her entire strength to keep her feet moving. The soft
squelching mud underneath her runners acted as a resistance
hindering their velocity. The ground quickly steepened. The
hang-glider seemed to be growing heavier. In a few more seconds the
mud from the avalanche looked too thick to step into. Panic gripped
Anneli’s mind. Her lungs ached from breathing too rapidly. If she
didn’t force herself to relax she’d start to hyperventilate.

Alarming thoughts gripped her mind. ‘What if
they fell into the mud before the hang-glider lifted them off the
ground? What if they were running too slow? What if she did
everything wrong? What will happen if she failed to complete the
few basic instructions Wade said?’ She bit at her bottom lip to
mask her feelings of exhilaration and extreme nervousness. Horror
wrinkled her brow. At this critical point why couldn’t she remember
what to do? For the first time in her life nerves got the better of
her. She looked sideways at Wade. His face seemed relaxed. Didn’t
he understand the danger?

The glider’s nose lurched upwards. Anneli
felt the wind move the ends of her hair.

“Now, jump,” insisted Wade.

The tone in his voice sounded totally calm.
He acted like he’d done this hang-glider thing every day for
years.

Anneli felt too nervous to know whether she
completed the command or not and Wade seemed too busy studying the
air to notice her wild gaze glued on him.

The glider’s nose rose steadily.

Anneli pushed both her feet into the loop
made out of the same strapping material which gripped her around
her waist. Watching the mud slip away, she quickly estimated they
were ten feet above the ground and climbing. Starting to relax she
ordered her brain to enjoy the ride, determining next time she’d
insist on her own glider.

“You can breathe now,” advised Wade.

His one line statement shocked Anneli into
breathing again.

“We’re now at a height of twenty feet,”
reported Wade, confidently.

“The breeze feels warm,” whispered
Anneli.

“We’re right in the middle of a thermal.”

The hang-glider rose steadily before leveling
off at one hundred feet. Wade steered out of the thermal,
navigating the glider towards Darwin.

Anneli felt she was looking through the eyes
of an eagle. Staring at the destruction below them, her heart fell
deeply troubled. The enormity of the situation made her feel
helpless.

When the glider approached suburbia they were
close enough to see the grief on the face of a young pregnant woman
who started to venture outside. The longer they floated towards
Darwin CBD the more of Cyclone Tracy’s destructive power became
evident.

Anneli shed a private tear.

Cyclone Tracy successfully wiped Darwin from
off the map. Christmas 1974 will go down in Australian history as
the storm which stopped Darwin from having Christmas.

Small fires were popping up everywhere.
People of all ages were leaving their hideouts, starting to move
about searching the rubble for missing neighbours. In the fifteen
minutes since they left the ground Anneli didn’t see a house still
intact.

“I want to check on Charlotte,” Wade
advised.

Anneli helped change course by shifting her
hands towards the right side of the cross bar. The glider gently
banked. The craft quickly rose to two hundred feet when it entered
another thermal before breaking free and changing direction towards
the sea.

Looking at Anneli, Wade said seriously. “Are
you sure you’ve never flown a hang-glider before?”

She gave a cheerful shake of her head. “No.
Why?”

“The way you handle the craft I thought you
were an expert.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Your words
mean a lot.”

Crossing over the sand Anneli saw at least
two dozen boats of various sizes strewn around the sea. Most were
beached; damaged beyond repair. Tears formed in her eyes when
Charlotte came into view. Her white broadside glistened in the
warming sun. The tip of the mast looked to be buried in the sand.
The Cyclone had left the yacht high and dry. Their cursory study of
the hull revealed she seemed intact.

“Charlotte must be at least forty feet from
the water,” Anneli reported.

“She must have broken free of her mooring,
ending up near the restaurant on the beach. Nice place to eat. They
did have a superb wine list. Margarita’s used to be their
specialty. Shame it’s gone.”

Anneli smacked her lips together. “My taste
buds are craving for a nice wine. I’m sure the liquid will go a
long way to quench my thirst. I’m drier than the Simpson
Desert.”

Wade chuckled. “The idea sounds good to me
too. We’ll land and grab a drink. If Charlotte’s fridge door is
still shut, we’ll have a cold one for sure.”

Anneli’s pupils danced at the thought.
Already she could feel the cool liquid sliding down the back of her
throat.

The sea breeze quickly dropped away forcing
the glider to slowly come back to the earth.

Wade expertly navigated the glider parallel
to the water’s edge. He waited for a clear stretch of flat sand
before slowly dipping the nose.

Anneli felt slightly disappointed their
flight ended so abruptly. She’d certainly treasure the journey in
her heart till the day she died.

Wade brought the hang-glider in for a
graceful smooth landing. They came to a stop thirty feet from
Charlotte.

CHAPTER TEN

ANNELI’S STEPFATHER cautiously crept out from
under a food preparation bench. He’d successfully argued they
should take refuge in the kitchen, not the dining room.

Thirty of the group strongly disagreed.

Several strangers who appeared to be on
Darryl’s side were ushered by the hotel staff into the kitchen. If
nothing else the fighting will be over.

At the height of the storm the morning chef
ran for the knives, throwing them into the dishwashers for
safety.

In his haste he’d missed seeing the steak
knife. When the window shattered the wind picked it up, tossing it
through the air. The sharp point embedded into one of the patron’s
forearms. The elderly man crumbled to the floor clutching his arm.
A brave young lady reached out pulling the knife from his flesh,
jamming it into a cupboard door. Seconds later the hotel’s roof was
torn away. In one devastating attack the wind picked up the
building and dropped it. Every window in the place blew out. A
small fire erupted from a severed gas pipe under the kitchen bench.
The chef ran to the gas metre, turning it off. He dived for a fire
extinguisher to douse the flames.

At the conclusion of the first half of the
cyclone the small group ventured outside to view the damage. Three
sides of the hotel were cracked from top to bottom. The fourth wall
facing north looked ready to collapse.

Meredith’s voice sounded no louder than a
mere gargle. “The dining room has only one remaining wall.”

Darryl hid her eyes from the massacre. He
turned, herding his daughter back inside the kitchen.

The eye of the storm gave the survivors only
a few minutes to check on how secure their new hiding place might
hold up before the wind restarted.

It gave no warning when it returned to finish
off what it began. It seemed hell bent on showing off its power by
destroying whatever still remained standing by devouring everything
in its path.

One minute Darryl stood staring out of the
glass free window in the kitchen, the next second, he was being
sucked out of the window, feet first.

“Help, can any of you grab hold of me. Dirk,
anyone, I need help.”

Darryl looked up at the cellar door. The gap
between his hand and the handle couldn’t be any more than a few
inches. He loosened his grip to get ready to reach for the handle.
Instantly he started to be sucked backwards, his feet slipping
through the open window.

“Hey, anyone in the cellar, I’m almost at the
limit of my strength. I’ll be sucked outside if nobody comes to my
rescue.” Closing his eyes from the wind, he gritted his teeth.

Concentrating his entire strength Darryl
managed to pull one foot through the window. Again he stretched out
his hand towards the handle of the cellar door. Two strong hands
grabbed Darryl by the wrists, pulling him to safety. He heard the
door being slammed shut then locked from the inside.

“Thanks for saving me,” puffed Darryl between
breaths. “I thought I was a goner.”

The chef slapped him on the shoulder. “Not
problem. In my youth I had been wrestle champ of college.”

The man’s broken English helped Darryl to
relax. He shook the man’s hand to cement the fact he felt grateful
for being saved.

For the next twenty minutes the group sat in
the dark listening to the wind.

Eventually the wind fell silent.

The chef unlocked the door to allowing the
group to follow him out into the warming sunshine. “The cyclone has
gone,” he announced.

The sun slowly seeped out from behind the
clouds. Darryl noted the wind quickly abating into no stronger than
a stiff breeze. He looked over his shoulder at the once beautiful
hotel. He knew the smoldering wreck couldn’t be saved.

“So much for elegance,” he mumbled.

About seventy feet above the ground a shadow
slowly circled the area for several minutes. It resembled a
prehistoric predator stalking its prey.

For a lone time Darryl stared at the shape.
“What a large bird!” he joked.

The concierge stepped up behind him,
straightening his tie. “If you take a closer look, the large bird
is actually a hang-glider. You can plainly see there are two people
hanging from underneath. One is a young woman, the other, is a
young man.”