The Forgotten Pearl (9 page)

8

In the Mood

The next day a welcome visitor turned up on the Trehearnes' verandah, his best town hat in hand. Honey wagged her tail madly, jumping up into a show-off pirouette. Coco stalked across the verandah, nose and tail firmly in the air, to check out the interloper.

‘Jack,' cried Poppy, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear. ‘What are you doing here?'

‘Hello, Midget,' replied Jack with a warm grin. ‘Mum, Dad and I have come up to Darwin to see off my brothers. Danny and Harry have joined up, now that Japan is in the war. So have most of our stockmen. We're staying at the Hotel Darwin – it's pretty swish.'

Jack stood on the verandah, dangling his hat in his hands. He was tanned a deep brown, which enhanced the startling blue of his eyes beneath his fair fringe. He wore a white open-necked shirt and cream moleskins with polished brown riding boots.

‘Come and sit down,' offered Poppy. ‘When do they leave?'

Poppy and Jack sat side by side in the cane chairs facing out over the view. Jack stooped and picked up a fallen pink frangipani flower and handed it to Poppy with a smile.

‘Their ship leaves for Fremantle tomorrow.'

Honey had rolled over, four paws in the air, exposing her belly for a rub, and Jack obliged.

‘What are you going to do at Alexandra Downs?' asked Poppy. ‘If all the stockmen have joined up, how will you run the cattle?'

‘It'll be just Mum, Dad, me and some of our Aboriginal stockmen. It'll be hard work. The only good thing is that Dad says cattle prices will surge with the army needing all that meat.'

The two sat in silence for a while, Jack rubbing Honey's tummy.

‘How do you feel about Danny and Harry joining up?' asked Poppy, thinking of her own siblings far away.

Jack pulled a face and shrugged his shoulders, slouching down into his chair.

‘Oh, it'll be good to be rid of them for a while,' Jack claimed with false bravado. He paused a moment. ‘Actually, I feel pretty rotten. It'll be lonely without them on the property. To tell you the truth, I'm jealous. They're sailing off tomorrow to new places and adventures, and I'll be stuck at home doing all their chores, as well as mine.'

Poppy giggled, her nose wrinkling up. ‘But not today,' she suggested. ‘What are you doing? Do you want to come fishing with us? I promised to take my friend Maude
barra fishing today. She's never seen a croc, so hopefully there'll be a few big reptiles lazing around.'

Jack sat up straighter. ‘Sounds good. Do you have enough gear? By the way, before I forget, Mum told me to ask all of you to come and dine with us tonight at the Hotel Darwin. She wants to give Danny and Harry a proper send-off. Mum's pretty cut up about the boys going so she needs some cheering up.'

Poppy nodded. ‘My mum, too, about Edward. I'm sure we'd love to come. I'll check with my parents and let you know.

‘Why don't we bike over and pick you up in an hour?' Poppy continued. ‘You'd better get changed, though – we don't want to get your good town duds all muddy.'

Jack smiled. ‘You'd better get there sooner than that if we want to catch the top of the incoming tide. How about asking Daisy if she'll pack us some of her special lemon cake, too?'

Poppy rode to the Hotel Darwin with three fishing rods over her shoulder and a bucket over the handlebars, while Maude carried a thermos of tea, some picnic supplies and pack of lemon cake in a canvas knapsack on her back. Honey ran along behind, her short legs struggling to keep up.

Jack had changed into shorts and an old shirt and borrowed a bike from the bellboy at the hotel. Together they rode out of town towards Frances Bay, bumping off the road and over the fields.

They stacked the bikes together and Poppy tied Honey up to the handlebars. Honey whined pitifully, looking up at Poppy and Maude with round, liquid eyes. Jack bent and scratched between her eyebrows.

‘It's not safe for her to come closer to the water,' explained Poppy. ‘A croc would gobble her up in no time.'

Maude looked nervous, scanning the mangroves for dog-and-girl-eating crocodiles.

‘We'll be okay if we're careful,' Jack assured her. ‘Every year, someone gets taken by a croc, but it's usually out-of-towners or young kids who don't know what they're doing. Just don't wade out into the water, and don't crouch down.'

They hoicked their rods, bucket and knapsack, and picked their way through the mangroves. They forced their way through to where the trees were thickest, a gnarled forest of twisted, writhing roots and salty branches. From the knapsack, Poppy took a folded throw net.

‘First we have to catch some bait,' Poppy explained to Maude. ‘Then we bait up the hooks and see if we can catch some big barramundi. It's the best fish you'll ever taste.'

The three took off their shoes and socks and stood on the bank.

‘There
are
crocs around,' observed Jack, pointing to a wide slide mark in the muddy sand. ‘Crocs are hard to see in this muddy estuary water. They love to hide out of sight, then jump when you get too close. I reckon they'd think you were a perfect, tasty mouthful, Maude.'

‘Thanks a lot! I'll take that as a compliment!'

‘I don't think crocs are that fussy,' Poppy joked, pushing Maude in the side.

‘Who's going to have a go with the throw net first?' asked Jack. ‘Midget, why don't you show Maude how to throw like a true Territorian?'

Poppy rose to the challenge, hurling the net out over the water and hauling it in. In her first cast she collected a baby stingray, a collection of mullet and a small barramundi. The net thrashed and jerked with its catch.

‘Watch out for the stingray's tail, Maude,' warned Poppy as she carefully opened the net to examine her haul. ‘They have a nasty barb.'

‘Not bad, Midget,' observed Jack. ‘We'll keep the mullet but let the other two go to grow up.'

Jack had a throw, catching some more mullet for their bait bucket, then helped Maude try. Her first two attempts were clumsy, but in her third throw she also hauled in a few small fish. When the bait bucket was full of wriggling mullet, they baited up the hooks and cast out.

Maude was first to have a bite, the fish nearly ripping the rod out of her hand. Jack had to help her reel it in slowly and carefully, a little at a time. Finally, Maude hauled it up on the bank – a perfect barramundi, nearly a metre in length, its scales sparkling silver in the sunlight. Maude held it up by its jaw, admiring it proudly.

Jack whistled. ‘It's a beauty.'

‘Well done, Maude,' Poppy congratulated her. ‘It's nearly as big as you!'

Half an hour later, Poppy's rod jerked violently as a barramundi swallowed the bait whole. Poppy pulled back, regaining her balance, then concentrated on reeling the fish in slowly. Poppy was just about to haul the fish onto the bank when it jumped out of the bay, followed by the huge
body of a saltwater crocodile. The reptile was massive – nearly six metres long – and it leapt clear out of the water, crunching the barramundi in its jaws.

Maude screamed and jumped backwards. Poppy was jerked forward by the line and nearly dragged into the water after the beast. Jack lurched forward, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her back up the slippery bank.

The prehistoric reptile thrashed and rolled, taking Poppy's fishing line with it.

‘That was
my
barramundi,' Poppy complained loudly. ‘And
my
fishing line.'

Jack laughed. ‘Better he eats your barra and line than
you
, Midget!'

The crocodile sank below the muddy water, just a flick of his knobbly tail showing where he lurked.

‘My heart is thumping like crazy,' confessed Maude. ‘That's one of the scariest things I've ever seen! I think I've had enough fishing for one day. Can we get out of here?'

The others agreed, letting the rest of the bait fish go and packing up the remaining rods, all the while keeping one eye out for the huge predator.

‘I was thinking we should go to Mindil Beach for a swim and a picnic,' suggested Poppy as they picked their way back through the mangroves. ‘It's much prettier on the ocean side.'

‘Great idea,' agreed Jack. ‘Did you bring the lemon cake?'

‘Yeees,' Poppy replied, smacking Jack on the shoulder. ‘I'm sure the only reason you came today was to get your hands on Daisy's lemon cake.'

‘Nooo,' said Jack in mock horror. ‘How could I refuse the invitation to go fishing with two gorgeous girls and a fish-stealing croc?'

Poppy tossed her head and then busied herself making a great fuss of Honey, who was jumping up and down as though she thought she'd never see any of them again.

Jack rode his bike through the potholed streets of Darwin, carrying the metre-long barramundi by its jaw with one hand. They received plenty of jokes and calls of congratulation. A Chinese cafe proprietor offered to buy it from them.

At the beach, they gathered a pile of firewood, which they set alight on the sand under the shade of the palms. While the fire was burning down to form hot coals, they all dived into the water to wash away the sweat of the muggy afternoon. They jumped, chased and tackled each other, splashing and falling in the small waves. Honey raced back and forth along the water's edge, barking.

Exhausted, they swam in to check the fire. In the knapsack was a bag of flour that Poppy and Maude mixed with water to form a dough, then Jack carved the big fish into thick fillets. Poppy laid them straight on the coals, together with the damper. The fish charred, filling the air with its fragrant aroma. They had to go for another swim to take their mind away from the food while it cooked.

When Jack and Poppy agreed it was ready, they sat cross-legged in the sand around the fire in their swimming costumes. Each one took a hunk of damper and a chunk of fish, scraping the ash and coals off it, then squeezing a slice of fresh lemon over the top before tucking in.

Maude looked at it doubtfully, trying to flick tiny grey ash out of her bread with her fingernail.

‘Stop fussing, Maude,' advised Poppy, when she'd swallowed a large bit of fish. ‘It's delicious, I promise you.'

Maude wrinkled her nose and then took a tiny, tentative nibble. Honey came over and sat up on her hind legs, begging, her pink tongue hanging out. Maude laughed and fed her a chunk.

‘Mmmm, that is good.' Maude took another bite. ‘How did you learn to cook that?'

‘Daisy showed me,' said Poppy, feeding Honey another morsel, ‘although Daisy normally stuffs hers with leaves she picks from the swamp.'

Jack lay back in the sand, hands behind his head.

‘You just can't beat swimming in the sea and eating outdoors, can you? That was great, thank you. I'm full.'

‘Aaaah,' teased Poppy, leaning over to the knapsack. ‘Then you won't want any lemon cake? I'll feed yours to Honey.'

‘Not so fast, young lady,' Jack retorted, grabbing her hand to steal the cake. ‘Honey's not getting any of
my
cake. I didn't come all the way to Darwin to miss out on that.'

After the sticky, bittersweet dessert, they all lay back in the sand resting, then had another swim to wash off the crumbs, sand and ash. Finally, they dressed, covered the fire with sand, and packed up for the short bike ride back to Myilly Point.