The Audrey of the Outback Collection (25 page)

‘Did they adoptinate you?’

‘Sorta. It was lucky they found me. I was young, see. And scared.’

Audrey couldn’t imagine Bloke being scared of anything.

‘I haven’t seen my brothers in twenty years, that’s the noise I’ve got in
my
head.’

Twenty years was a long time. Janet might end up separated from
her
family for that long, maybe forever, if she didn’t get home.

‘We all need someone to help us, sometime or other …’ Bloke didn’t ask a question, yet her words seemed like one.

Audrey rubbed at her arms to smooth out the goosebumps, then scooped up the knucklebones. It was too dark to continue the game and she wanted to go inside.

‘What’s the noise in
your
head, Audrey?’ asked Bloke.

‘Come and get it,’ Mum called through the open window.

Audrey jumped up at the sound of her mum’s voice and held out her hand to Bloke. ‘We have to go in now. Mum’s been cooking for hours.’

Bloke uncurled her legs, groaned, and took Audrey’s hand to steady herself. There were calluses along the base of Bloke’s fingers. Hard little nuts of skin that proved she’d swung her axe many times.

Audrey was glad that Bloke had told her about her family. But she couldn’t confide in her in return. The noise in Audrey’s head—the secret about Janet—had gone from whispers to shouts. But she couldn’t share them. Not with anyone.

Twenty-three

Audrey pushed her large treasure tin back under her bed. It had once contained biscuits. But now it held Audrey’s special things. And until tomorrow morning, it would also hold a lump of roasted kangaroo that she’d sneaked out of the kitchen for Janet. It wasn’t exactly ‘treasure’. Except if you were hungry. And by the time Audrey could sneak to the cubby tomorrow, Janet would be exactly that.

The meat had a strong smell. But Audrey hoped no one would detect it now that it was snugly in the tin with the lid shut. Otherwise, her mum and dad would want to know why she was hiding food. It would be hard to explain without giving away the secret about Janet.

There was a thump on the roof over Audrey’s head, then a scrabbling of little feet. Hot pins and needles ran down her arms. It was only another possum on the roof. They often jumped about up there. But the sudden sound had startled her.

Keeping this secret was like wearing a prickly shirt. No matter how much you wriggled and scratched, it would still be uncomfortable.

There was a lot of noise coming from the kitchen. Bloke’s voice boomed. And everyone else was louder because of it.

Audrey wished she could go to Janet right now, but she knew she’d be missed. So instead, she picked up her letter from Jimmy and carried it through the sitting room to the kitchen.

‘I could have sworn there was half a rabbit left in here,’ said Mum, as she looked in the meat safe.

Audrey stopped suddenly in the doorway. The cooked rabbit had only been a scrawny little leftover. She’d hoped no one would notice it was gone.

She shot a look around the room.

Douglas sat on Dad’s lap, his thumb in his mouth. His eyelids drooped.

Price was stacking dishes on the shelves.

Bloke scrubbed at the roasting dish with a brush. On summer nights, dishes were washed outside. Now, it was too cold at night and washing-up was done in a large metal basin on the bench.

‘Price, did you take that rabbit?’ asked Mum.

‘No!’ He sent her a look that said,
Why would I want half a skinny rabbit?

‘Never mind, Everhilda,’ said Dad. ‘Sit down now. That’s enough work for one day.’

‘I was going to give that meat to Bloke in exchange for the honey.’

‘Don’t you worry about that, Mrs B,’ said Bloke. ‘If I ate any more I’d burst. You’re a bonzer cook.’

Audrey’s mouth felt dry. She called out to distract everyone from the missing meat. ‘Want to hear what’s in Jimmy’s letter?’

All eyes turned her way.

Twenty-four

Dad wrapped his arms around Douglas and stood up. ‘Give us two secs.’

Audrey moved back to let Dad through. She didn’t look at him in case he guessed
she’d
taken the meat.

‘Dontwannagotobed,’ protested Douglas.

But he was quiet after that.

The others trooped into the sitting room.

Audrey’s mum picked up her sewing. ‘Would you like to sit here, Bloke? Beside me.’

‘I’m right, thanks, Mrs B. I’ll head back to camp soon. Might just hear the news first.’ Bloke shuffled from one foot to the other. Her huge body made the sitting room seem smaller.

Dad came back and turned up the lamps on the side table and mantelpiece. Ignoring his tattered but comfortable armchair, he sat beside Mum on the sofa and fingered the shirt she was taking in for Price. ‘That was a good shirt. Had it for years.’

‘It might have been good once,’ said Mum in the voice she used when she was being teacher in the mornings. ‘But it’s seen better days.’

‘Did I look like a sweaty horse in it?’ Dad grinned wickedly.

Mum lightly smacked his hand.

‘What’s in your letter, Mum?’ asked Audrey. She wondered if her voice sounded squeaky.

Price sat in Dad’s armchair and stretched out his legs.

Audrey decided against the rug where she usually sat in the evening. Instead, she moved to stand next to Bloke, with her back against the wall.

‘I had a letter from Mrs Paterson,’ said Mum, with a smile. ‘She’s offered to come and help when I have the baby.’

‘Mrs Paterson’s not as bad as she looks, is she? She’s got a bigger good side than anyone thought,’ said Audrey quickly, glad Mum seemed to have forgotten about the missing rabbit meat.

Then there was a silence that Audrey immediately tried to fill. ‘Price, what’s in
your
letter from Jimmy?’

He slipped down in the armchair. ‘Some bloke called Mawson went to the Antarctic.’

‘Is that near Adelaide?’

Wood crackled on the fire, hissing sparks.

‘See what happens when you skip out on lessons, Audrey?’ Mum paused, with the needle and cotton firmly between her finger and thumb. ‘The Antarctic is a long way south of Adelaide. Right at the bottom of the world.’

A gust of wind blew down the chimney and the fire burned more strongly. Wind was nature’s bellows, Dad sometimes said.

‘Mrs Paterson says in her letter that she wants to give me something,’ said Audrey. ‘It has four legs and barks.’ Normally she would’ve been more excited, but tonight her mind was on other things.

‘A new dog! Can we, Dad?’ Price sat up straight in his chair. He suddenly looked like a boy again.

‘Don’t see why not.’

‘And Jimmy sent me a picture from the newspaper.’ Audrey handed it to Bloke first. ‘This lady’s called Amy Johnson and she flyded a plane from Britain to Australia. All by herself. It took
nineteen
days.’

‘Now that
is
remarkable.’ Mum smiled. ‘But I believe the word is
flew
.’

‘She
flewed
the plane.’ Audrey looked again at the newspaper cutting in Bloke’s hands. Amy Johnson had shiny eyes and a determined mouth. Her eyebrows were long and thin, like someone had drawn them on her face with a pencil. Her fur collar went right up around her face. And she wore a tight cap with goggles on top. If Janet could fly a plane she could get home quick smart.

‘Listen!’ said Price.

Audrey held her breath. Was it a car?

No. It was rain on the roof. Gentle and steady.

Dad’s nose hadn’t smelled
this
rain. Or, if it did, he hadn’t let on.

Audrey worried again about Janet out in the cubby. It was solid, but the roof wouldn’t keep out
all
the rain. Janet would be wearing the red cardigan, and huddling under the thin old blanket. Cold water would be dripping on her. She could get sick. Then Audrey would have to tell her parents about Janet and why she was hiding.

But if Audrey did that, she’d be breaking her promise to Janet. She hadn’t spat on her hand and promised to get warts. Janet hadn’t asked her to do that. But breaking a promise was like lying. And Audrey didn’t want to imagine what her parents would say if they found out that she’d let Janet hide in her cubby and sneaked her food from the kitchen. Janet might not be the only one to get into trouble.

Janet limped up and down.

Twenty-five

Audrey looked back at her footprints and frowned. Last night’s rain had washed away traces of her old footprints. But it had made softer soil for new ones.

There were other marks in the ground. One footprint and one small hole; then another footprint and small hole. Audrey smiled to herself. She knew just what had caused those marks.

She came around a thick cluster of trees and saw Janet standing by the cubbyhouse, with a thin branch propped under one arm. She wore Audrey’s red cardigan over her own fawn one. It was too big for her so she’d folded back the sleeves.

‘G’day,’ called Audrey.

‘I been waitin’ to show you … look!’ Janet limped up and down, as though she was a guard on sentry duty in front of the cubbyhouse. But it was a big limp. She was almost hopping, and her mouth was tight. Each step was obviously painful.

‘You’re
walking
,’ said Audrey.

‘I been practising.’

‘And you look pretty in the red cardigan. But can we sit down now? I walked real fast.’ Audrey figured that Janet would sit if
she
did. ‘And cop this!’ She held up the lump of roasted kangaroo meat.

‘You gonna wipe your feet away?’

Audrey glanced down at her laced boots. ‘They’re joined onto my legs.’

‘Your feet. In the ground.’

‘Oh, you mean my
footprints
.’

‘That’s what I said. Get some of that brush over there. Wipe your feet back to that rock. We’re done walking for now, so we should take those prints away.’

Audrey hadn’t thought of doing that. She handed over the kangaroo meat. Then she grabbed a piece of broken brush and swept it, left and right, across the ground. The footprints disappeared.

Behind her, Audrey heard Janet, hopping and
ouch
ing into the cubby. Then there was a loud grunt. She guessed that was Janet lowering herself to the ground.

Backing up to the cubby, Audrey made sure all traces of their footsteps were gone. Then she lifted the brush door into place.

‘Some people, if they’re sneakin’, they walk backwards. Looks like they goin’ the other way. But tracker would still find them.’

‘Why did you want me to sweep away our footprints then?’ Audrey crossed her legs.

Janet looked at Audrey from under half-closed lids. ‘Not everyone’s a tracker.’ She lifted the kangaroo meat and began to nibble at it.

Audrey looked down at the notebook and pencils. The book lay open on the ground.

‘Oh, you drew a picture.’ Audrey pointed to the book. ‘It looks nice.’

Janet paused between bites. ‘I drew a
story
. About me and you. See?’

Audrey picked up the notebook. The patterns on the page were pretty. There were circles and lines, grouped around a larger ring in the centre of the page. ‘This line of marks here, that looks like footprints.’

Janet kept chewing, but nodded.

There was a second line of markings. A footprint then a dot, a footprint and dot. ‘That’s you! Your foot and the stick.’

Janet looked pleased.

‘Um. This one with all the little lines, that has to be rain.’

The pictures
were
telling a story.

‘I know this one. Bet that’s emu footprints. Seen
them
lots of times.’ Audrey studied the page, seeking more clues. ‘Is that one a bush?’

‘Those bushes out there.’

‘What are these little circles?’

‘Ants.’

‘Plenty of them around here. More than you could shake a stick at. And this one?’ Audrey did a ‘Dad’ squint. ‘What’s that?’

‘Possum feet. He runnin’ all over the top last night. Noisy fella.’

‘
We
had a possum on our roof last night.’

Janet rested the remaining meat on her left knee. She rubbed her hands together. ‘You sure that was just possum?’

‘Sounded like a possum to me.’

Janet leaned forward to whisper, ‘Spirit, maybe.’

‘Why would a spirit play on the roof?’

Janet looked around as though she expected a ghostly figure to pop up beside them in the cubby. ‘They do what they want, spirits. Who gonna tell ’em not to go up there?’

Audrey nodded, then flipped through more pages in the notebook. Janet had sketched as though she was lying on a cloud, looking down. The symbols were flat, like patterns.
Familiar
patterns.

‘This here …’ Audrey traced a path with her forefinger. ‘This is a square like our house. And that could be the tank stand. That one’s like the dunny.’ She looked up.

Grease glistened on Janet’s chin.

‘This
is
my house!’ cried Audrey. ‘How do you know what it looks like?’

‘Been there. I seen something. A big light and it moved out the back of your place.’

Shivers ran down Audrey’s spine. ‘I saw something too. And it was out the back. It was sort of pale and it moved above the ground. If you saw it too, then it
is
real.’