The Kookaburra Creek Café Read online

  ‘I was getting him some water. Shadow?’ she called for her dog. ‘Where is he, Mummy?’

  ‘Shadow! Here, boy.’

  Joey appeared beside Alice. ‘He’s probably got a head start on us. Dogs are pretty smart and Shadow’s smarter than most of them.’

  Tammy put her hands on her hips. ‘He wouldn’t go without me.’

  The wind picked up and smoke moved in, wrapping itself around the café.

  ‘He’s probably just making sure it’s safe for you. Let’s get in the car and get going.’ He took Tammy’s hand, but she wouldn’t move. ‘We have to go. Now.’ He picked her up and carried her to the car.

  ‘The school will be safe. It’s the other side of the creek and they’re expecting the wind to shift west soon, and that’ll blow it the other way.’

  Alice looked back to the café as Joey started the engine.

  ‘It’ll be okay. The boys know what they’re doing.’ He tapped the RFS logo on his bright orange shirt. ‘Let’s go, hey?’

  Tammy wound down her window and called for Shadow, each call of his name sounding more desperate than the last. Alice looked to Joey, who frowned. That didn’t alleviate her rising panic.

  By the time they arrived, the school hall on the edge of town was packed, yet eerily quiet. People huddled in small groups, speaking softly. Even Mrs Harris was hushed as she directed her church ladies to hand out drinks.

  Tammy stopped as they entered the room. ‘Shadow’s not here.’

  Alice got down on one knee. ‘Joey’s right, you know? Dogs are smart. Smarter than humans. They know what to do in situations like this. He’s probably found himself a nice place, the safest place to be in all Kookaburra Creek.’

  ‘Then why didn’t we go with him?’

  Alice had no answer to that.

  ‘I need you to be a brave girl for Mummy. Do you think you can do that?’

  Tammy frowned, but nodded.

  ‘Good girl. We’ll find Shadow when this is all over.’

  Clive and Betty sat on old wooden chairs inside the entrance to the hall marking off names as people arrived. Alice looked around but couldn’t see Hattie.

  ‘Ouch, Mummy.’ Tammy pulled her arm away and Alice realised how tightly she was squeezing her hand.

  ‘Sorry, sweetie. Stay with Mummy, okay?’

  Sergeant Carson stood on the stage and tapped the microphone.

  ‘We have two crews already out and Glensdale are sending over what they can. Moretti, your crew can take the North Road. Sam, you boys head to the lower pass. Rev, you’ll be first relief so get some rest now. Mrs Harris, you’ll have twenty hungry, thirsty lads coming back in around six.’

  Mrs Harris nodded. Carson continued to mobilise the volunteers and Alice looked round the room.

  ‘Have you seen Hattie?’ she asked Betty.

  Betty checked her list. ‘She hasn’t come in yet.’

  ‘Sit here,’ Alice said to Tammy, directing her to the spare chair next to Clive and Betty’s table. ‘Remember, be a brave girl. Wait here for Mummy.’

  ‘Stubborn old mule probably thinks she’s impervious. I’ll check with the reverend.’ Betty shook her head. ‘She may have been in the church garden picking flowers.’

  ‘Is anyone else not accounted for?’ Joey asked.

  ‘The Smiths haven’t come in yet.’ Clive checked the list. ‘But they were going away this week, I’m pretty sure. And we’re still waiting on Peter Albert.’

  Betty strode back towards them. ‘The reverend hasn’t seen her.’

  ‘Mummy,’ Tammy said, tugging on Alice’s shirt. ‘Can we go and find Shadow now?’

  ‘In a minute.’ She brushed Tammy’s hand aside. Peter Albert came into the hall coughing. ‘Have you seen Hattie?’ Alice asked him. He shook his head.

  ‘Mummy?’

  ‘Sweetie, Mummy just has to do something important. I need you to be very brave and stay right here till I come back. Then we’ll go look for Shadow.’ Her eyes searched the room. Maybe she’d just missed Hattie in the confusion. ‘Can you do that?’

  Tammy nodded. ‘Be brave.’

  Alice looked to the back of the hall and took a few steps forward, tapping the first person she came to on the shoulder.

  ‘Have you seen Hattie?’

  No. She pushed past him to the next person.

  ‘Hattie?’ Her mouth was dry.

  No.

  She pushed between clusters of quietly murmuring people, asking each group the same question. With each ‘no’ her heart beat louder in her ears.

  Where could she have got to?

  Oh, God. If something happened to Hattie . . .

  She reached the back of the hall and turned round, pushing once more back through the crowd.

  ‘You’ve already asked, Alice.’

  Spinning round.

  ‘Sorry, Alice. Still no.’

  To the left.

  A slight shake of the head.

  ‘Alice?’ Joey tapped her on the shoulder and she turned round.

  ‘What’s all the fuss about?’ Hattie adjusted the violet scarf around her neck, standing in front of Alice, not a worry in the world.

  Alice let out a cry and threw her arms around the old woman. ‘Oh, thank God. Where were you?’

  ‘I’m not as fast as I used to be, is all.’

  ‘I’d better get my crew organised.’ Joey rubbed Alice’s arm. ‘You go see if Mrs Harris needs some help. I’m sure she’d even find something for Tammy to do.’

  Alice nodded. She looked over to the desk Betty and Clive had been manning. With everyone accounted for they’d made themselves useful elsewhere. The chair where she’d left Tammy was empty.

  Alice’s heart dropped.

  She pushed her way through the crowd looking for her girl.

  ‘Tammy?’ she shouted.

  She looked under trestle tables. She looked in the bathrooms. She checked the whole hall and Tammy was nowhere to be found.

  Oh, God, where was she? Panic coursed through every fibre of her being.

  Alice ran up to Joey, who was briefing his crew. ‘I can’t find Tammy.’ She grabbed his shirt.

  ‘She probably just found a quiet place to colour.’ He rubbed her shoulders.

  They did another sweep of the hall together.

  ‘She’s not with you?’ Mrs Harris asked and Joey shot her a look. ‘No. I haven’t seen her.’

  Alice’s breathing quickened.

  One of the young school kids pointed to the hall doors.

  Joey grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘Did you see Tammy?’

  The shy boy nodded and pointed again to the doors. Joey stood up, face to face with Alice.

  ‘Shadow,’ they said together and ran towards the hall entrance.

  ‘You stay here.’ Joey grabbed Alice’s shoulders. ‘In case she comes back.’

  ‘No. I can’t.’

  ‘Stay,’ Joey said with such force Alice took a step back.

  ‘He’s right, petal.’ Hattie came up behind Alice and placed her arm around her waist. ‘If she is out there, best to leave it to the professionals.’

  Alice threw Hattie’s arm off. ‘No,’ she growled. ‘If my baby’s out there, then I’m going to look for her.’

  ‘Alice, I really think . . .’

  Her glare stopped Joey mid-sentence.

  ‘Get her some gear, Kirk.’

  ‘What?’ Alice stepped back.

  ‘If you’re going out there, you’re not doing it unprotected.’ Joey wrapped an RFS jacket round her and buckled her in. ‘You stay right beside me.’

  Joey and Kirk led the way, while Alice and Sam followed through town to the outskirts where the eucalypts stood thick.

  Heavy steps. Fast steps. Familiar landmarks were shrouded in grey as they headed towards Dandelion Dell. The smoke was black and thick and the midday sky dark.

  Alice caught a movement to her right.

  ‘Over there.’ She took off.

  A branch exploded
next to her and she fell.

  She tried to stand, but couldn’t. Searing pain shot up her leg.

  ‘Over there,’ she screamed. ‘She’s over there.’

  Kirk ran past her and Joey bent down to help her up. ‘Can you walk?’

  ‘No.’

  Kirk ran back, coughing heavily. ‘There’s no one there.’

  ‘But I saw her.’ Alice gulped.

  ‘Smoke can do things to your vision.’

  Joey’s calm voice irritated her.

  ‘I saw her.’

  ‘Let’s keep moving. I don’t like the look of that wall of flames.’ He pointed just off in the distance.

  Alice tried to step forward, but fell to the ground.

  ‘Sam, you’ll have to take her back. She can’t be out like this.’

  ‘No!’ Alice screamed.

  ‘Alice.’ Joey grabbed her shoulders, hard. ‘It’s too dangerous. You can’t walk. You can’t be out here.’

  ‘Don’t do this, Joey.’

  ‘I’ll bring her back. I promise.’

  He kissed her forehead.

  ‘Get her out of here,’ he barked at Sam.

  Sam heaved Alice onto his shoulder and started trudging back in the opposite direction.

  ‘Tammy!’ Alice continued to shout, as they headed back towards the hall.

  Sam dropped Alice on the steps to the hall and Hattie came running out with water for them both.

  The men in their RFS jumpsuits were climbing into trucks, Carson making sure each knew their job, Clive grumbling as he tried to move through the press of people, delivering water on Mrs Harris’s order. Inside the hall Betty wrangled the schoolkids and their siblings – the toddlers thought it was all a great adventure, but the older kids were hushed, sensing the gravity of a situation they didn’t quite understand.

  Alice sat on the steps, watching for any movement in the distant smoke. Then an orange blur appeared from the haze, floating down the street.

  She turned to Hattie. ‘Help me.’ The old woman put her arms round Alice’s waist and they shuffled towards the figures approaching.

  She saw Tammy resting in Joey’s arms, her head nestled into his chest, the threads of her headband sparkling. Behind him Kirk followed, carrying Shadow.

  ‘Tammy!’ Her little girl was safe. As she got closer, she could see a bunch of dandelions clutched in her girl’s tiny fist. ‘Sweetie?’

  As soon as they were clear of the smoke, Joey fell to the ground. Kirk placed the whimpering pup on the ground and tore off his RFS jacket and laid it on the road. Joey placed Tammy on the jacket and put his hand on her chest.

  ‘One, two . . .’ Joey counted.

  ‘Breathe.’ Kirk put his hands over Tammy’s face.

  ‘What are they doing?’ Alice cried.

  ‘Maybe we should wait here.’ Hattie’s voice was soft.

  ‘No.’ Alice broke free of Hattie’s hold and launched herself towards her girl, falling to the ground, crawling the rest of the way.

  Joey and Kirk continued their disjointed movements, speaking words to each other she couldn’t hear.

  Reverend Harris appeared beside Alice, holding her hand gently, as Doctor Knight raced up and came to a sliding halt beside Tammy. Kirk fell back, shaking his head. Doctor Knight put his face close to Tammy’s.

  They continued, pushing and breathing and pushing and breathing.

  Again and again and again. Then they stopped.

  Joey slumped back on his heels and Doctor Knight touched Tammy’s forehead and closed his eyes.

  ‘No!’ Alice screamed. ‘Keep trying!’

  Joey lifted Tammy into her arms.

  ‘No,’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m sorry. I was too late. She was already . . . the smoke was so thick.’

  ‘No.’ Alice’s tears fell on Tammy’s perfect serene face. ‘Wake up, sweetie. Wake up. Please.’ She brushed Tammy’s ash-covered cheeks, smearing her beautiful girl grey.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ Joey’s voice sounded far away.

  ‘No.’ Alice shook her head. ‘Wake up, Tammy. Wake up!’ she screamed, shaking Tammy’s tiny body. The dandelions fell on to the road. ‘No, no, no, no.’

  Alice rocked back and forth, holding Tammy tightly to her chest. She tried to breathe in the vanilla scent of her hair, but the bitter stench of smoke filled her nose.

  And time ended.

  Kookaburra Creek, 2010

  y the water, the residents of Kookaburra Creek gathered, dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, a dandelion each in their hands. Reverend Harris spoke quiet words of loss and hope that Alice couldn’t hear.

  She stood, supported by Hattie and Carson. If they let her go, Alice was sure she would sink through the ground. She closed her eyes, but opened them again, the image of Tammy’s lifeless body persistent, haunting her behind her eyelids. The phantom smell of smoke, smoke that stole her little girl, always mocking her when the image returned.

  Whispers of ‘such a sweetheart’, ‘saving her Shadow, bless her’, ‘best friends till the end’, floated on the air as one by one people stepped forward and tossed a dandelion seed head into the creek. Some silently, some with prayer.

  Hattie led Alice to the water’s edge and handed her a stem. Alice knew she should’ve been grateful to Hattie for this small gesture and for organising the whole day, but there simply was no gratitude in her heart. There was nothing but pain. She turned and limped through the crowd, which parted as she stepped through. Except for Joey, who stood in her way at the back of the group. Shadow lay at his feet, the dog’s dark eyes looking up at her.

  ‘Alice?’ Joey didn’t try to hide his tears. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get to her in time. I . . .’

  Alice looked up, shook her head and stepped round him, dropping the stem at his feet.

  The bell above the café door echoed through the empty dining room. It had remained closed this past week, and the room felt stale, cold. Alice couldn’t bear to be in there so she went back outside and dragged herself up the stairs to the apartment. She tore off the dress Hattie had forced her to wear to the funeral. She slipped into her pyjamas and laid herself on Tammy’s bed. The sweet vanilla scent of her hair lingered on the pillow and Alice buried her face deep into it, searching for any sort of comfort.

  Hattie knocked on Tammy’s bedroom door before opening it. ‘I thought I might stay over. Just in case you need anything.’ She waited for a response. ‘The couch will be fine,’ she continued. ‘I’ve slept on worse in my time.’

  Alice rolled over, her back to Hattie.

  ‘Right, then. Let me know if you need anything.’ She pulled the door to, not quite closing it.

  Alice could hear Hattie’s soft, rhythmic snoring coming from the living room. She sat up in bed, her knees held tightly to her chest, watching the clock. It had taken Hattie one hour and twenty-seven minutes to finally fall asleep.

  In the distance Alice could hear thunder rumbling. Closer and closer.

  Tap, tap, tap. Loud drops on the tin roof.

  A flash.

  A rumble.

  Then the rain came down, but it was too late. For Sam, who’d lost his shed. For the RFS, who’d lost two trucks fighting the blaze. For Betty’s young nephew, now lying in hospital with first-degree burns to thirty per cent of his body after he tried to save the trucks.

  Too late for Tammy.

  As the sky lit up with jagged flashes, Alice stood. She slipped on her dressing gown and opened Tammy’s elephant money box and took out some coins. Tiptoeing past Hattie she stepped out into the wet night.

  Outside the post office stood an old phone booth. Alice fumbled in her drenched dressing gown pocket for Tammy’s coins.

  Rain fell on her shoulder through the holes in the booth ceiling. She dialled the number, not knowing if he would answer.

  ‘Hello?’ His deep, familiar tones caused Alice to gasp. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Dean?’ her voice rasped.

  ‘Pond? Is that you?’
r />   Alice sobbed into the handset.

  ‘Pond? What’s happened? Where are you?’

  All she could do was cry. No words were adequate to tell him his daughter was dead.

  ‘Christ, Pond. You’re scaring me. What’s going on?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she cried. ‘She’s dead.’

  ‘What? Who? Talk to me, Pond.’

  ‘I’m so, so sorry.’ She held the receiver to her heaving chest in a futile attempt to muffle her sobs.

  ‘Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you.’ Alice could hear his distant words.

  She raised the receiver and paused.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Pond!’ she heard him shout before she hung up.

  Sliding down the glass wall, Alice sank into a pool of water and dirt. She dropped the piece of paper she’d kept all this time and watched it soak into the mud. She closed her eyes, letting herself slip into the vast, empty Nothing where she now belonged.

  Glensdale Hospital, 2018

  tanding outside the ICU, Alice took deep breaths and closed her eyes before entering. She wouldn’t ever get used to the sight. The room was dark, with only a lamp in the corner and the blinking lights from various machines offering illumination. Bandages covered Joey’s eyes and dressings covered his left arm and shoulder and upper torso. The burns would heal in time, the doctors had said with confidence. There was no way to avoid scarring, but it could have been much worse. His sight would eventually get better, too.

  They were not so confident about his heart, though. The strain of the rescue, the smoke, the burns – it was all too much and Joey had suffered a heart attack. Everything else would heal. As long as his heart could recover.

  Alice stepped closer and adjusted the oxygen tube that had come loose from his nose. His heart monitor beeped quietly and Alice looked at the numbers. She’d learned very quickly what the data meant, had bugged the nurses until she knew almost as much as them.

  With the specialist passing through Glensdale tomorrow they’d decided not to send him to Sydney. Being around people who loved him was more important, they said. Alice wasn’t sure she found that comforting. When the specialist came she’d make sure she was there to get to the truth of it.