Forest Secrets (2 page)

It was a mystery to me though, and everyone else, how Stormy could do that – see out of the back of his head. I'd often thought about it, but up until now I hadn't come up with an answer. At any rate, as always, Stormy was right. Snook
was
slouching. In fact, at that very moment, he was sliding off his seat and disappearing under the desk. Stormy must have heard the slither for at that moment he turned away from the whiteboard and said, ‘What's wrong with you, Kelly? What are you up to now? In a different world, are we?'

As one, the rest of the year 10s turned to see what was going on. They must have wondered when Snook's mouth, peeking above the desktop, began to open and close like a bullfrog. His eyes too, were roaming about his face like a mad man. I thought I'd better say something. ‘He's not well, Mr Winterbottom,' I called out. ‘Perhaps he should go to the sickroom.' It was pretty obvious Snook wasn't well. He
was
in a different world. The blank, vacant stare and the croaking frog noises coming from his throat told me that.

‘Is that right, Kelly? Do you feel sick?'

No real answer, just a slight shake of the head. Shaking his head too, Stormy continued with the lesson. ‘As I was saying,' he went on, ‘the theory is that the dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago.' He looked at his watch. ‘We'll look at the effects of that in the next lesson where I'll explain about huge waves, freak winds, wild fires and exploding volcanoes.' Placing the whiteboard marker on his desk, he looked up. ‘You may go. Have a good weekend.' He glanced over at Snook who was pushing himself free of the desk. ‘And you, Snook Kelly, had better go straight home.'

Gee, I thought, Stormy does care. A little bit anyway. I looked at the clock on the wall out front. It was half past two. He was even letting us out early because of the long weekend.

I caught up with Snook in the hallway, just outside the class-room. He was looking a bit better, but I could see he was still not back to normal. His grin hadn't come back. I had to ask him. ‘What was wrong with you in there? It was like you'd seen a ghost.'

‘Maybe I did,' he said, hoisting his school bag over his shoulder and then walking out into the school yard towards the bus line. ‘It sure felt like it.'

Z
ombie eyes … unseeing, creepy, bulging eyes – no longer drooping or goofy looking but definitely eerie, scary. That's what Snook had now. I first saw the new look when I caught up with him at the bus line, and it was Stormy's fault … or so I thought. All that talk about an asteroid and dinosaurs had really upset Snook and for some reason, seeing him like this had made me feel uncomfortable too … as if an inner voice was trying to tell me something.

I climbed onto the bus and then sat in one of the front seats behind Thommo, the driver. ‘G'day, Jars,' Thommo grinned. ‘Did you bring that good-for-nothing cousin with you?' Smiling back, I nodded and pointed to Snook, who was just getting on the bus.

‘Here he comes, Thommo. He's just getting on board now.'

‘
The Man
,' Thommo said like he always did when Snook got on the bus. ‘How are you …?' He didn't finish. Head down, mouth slack, and dragging one foot after the other up the steps, Snook looked every bit the zombie. Thommo stammered a quick hello, and then turned quickly away, gripping the steering wheel with both hands as he waited for the other students to board.

‘Hi, Snook.' It was Gloria Huntingdale, Snook's girlfriend. She was sitting at the front of the bus across the aisle from me. I watched as she patted the seat next to her, expecting him to sit there as usual. Her eyebrows shot up when all he did was walk straight past without a word, not even a nod. Screwing up her face, she leaned across the aisle towards me and asked, ‘What's going on? He totally ignored me.'

I didn't know what to say so I raised my eyebrows too, and shrugged. Then we peered around the edge of our seats as Snook walked slowly up the aisle, looking neither left nor right. Eventually getting to the back of the bus, he shoved in next to some of the other kids in the long seat below the window. At that moment I felt really sorry for him. He looked like a lost soul, not talking, just staring straight ahead as if in a dream. The other kids were staring too … at him.

I wondered how I could help. Letting him wander around like some sort of android wasn't an option. Life could turn into an absolute nightmare for him. It was already starting; I could hear the giggles and whispers now, from all corners of the bus, and it'd get worse. His mates would be pulling faces behind his back soon, and then there'd be the staring, the finger pointing and the name-calling. The teachers would talk about him as well … in the staff room, and maybe even after school when they were doing whatever teachers do. And then the principal would find out. He'd contact Snook's parents and so it would go on. No, I couldn't let all that happen to my cousin. Not likely.

I
stepped down from the bus onto the footpath to wait for Snook. Shadow, my German shepherd, was waiting for us as usual. He was the friendliest dog in the world; I thought so, anyway. He used to belong to a ranger friend called Reg Carter, but when Reg had to move interstate, he gave him to me and Shadow and I have been best mates ever since.

Grinning widely, Shadow jumped up and plonked his paws on my shoulders trying to lick my face. ‘G'day boy,' I said, and then added, ‘I see you're in a better mood than Mr Freaky back there. My cousin's had a face like the Cookie Monster ever since we left school. I think something's gone and got under his skin.'

‘I heard that,' Snook said jumping down from the bus carrying his school bag with one hand and brushing his long, fair hair back from his eyes with the other. ‘So you think I've got a face like a Cookie Monster, do you? You'd have never said that when you first came to live with us. We couldn't get you to say boo to a grasshopper then, but you're real cheeky now, ain't cha? You've changed.'

I told him that I didn't mean to be cheeky, that I was just trying to be normal, only trying to fit into my new life. But Snook was right. I don't know about the cheeky part, but I
had
changed; I sort of knew that. I suppose that's what happens when you grow up, or maybe it was the change of environment. I'd been used to the quiet life on the Northern Territory cattle station where I used to muck around with the ringers and station hands as well as the Aboriginal folk who sometimes worked there. It was different here in Tasmania though, where there were towns and cities and schools and lots of people. I guess that's what I was trying to get used to.

Forgetting my philosophising for the moment and after apologising a second time for calling him names and explaining that the monster thing was just something to say – an offhand remark, I also said that I was worried about him. But when I asked him what was really the matter and why was he acting so dorky, he didn't answer. He just shrugged and made for home.

Figuring that I'd broach the subject of Snook's health again later, I hurried to catch up with him. Stealing a sideways glance at him, I couldn't help frowning. He was a right mess, even worse than I had thought before. Shoulders slumped, still dragging his feet and not saying a word; I'd never seen him like this before. And Shadow, probably wondering why we were both so quiet, trotted along behind.

I tried to piece the day together. Tried to make sense of Snook's sudden change from being real bouncy to downright sad. The change had definitely happened during Stormy's lesson. I'd worked that out. The first mention of the asteroid had done it. Before that he'd been normal, the Snook everybody knew, the one who liked to joke and goof around, the one that teachers hated and students reckoned was pretty cool.

‘
Okay,' I asked. ‘What was it about Stormy's lesson that upset you so much?'

No reply.

I kept on at him. He wasn't going to get off that easy. ‘I didn't notice the lesson worrying anyone else,' I said. ‘How come it freaked you out? Did you hear Stormy say something that we didn't?'

Still silence.

‘Mind you,' I persevered, ‘I thought it
was
kind of scary what he was telling us, but after all, it did happen 65 million years ago. All the same, it was interesting. It reminded me of the stories my mother used to tell me, stuff the old folk told her when she was a little girl –
about the Dreamtime and how the world was created.'

Snook said, ‘Yeah, you told me a bit about that before. What was it again?'

Good, I thought, he's talking a bit of sense. He might be coming good. Thinking it might help him a bit more, I told him about The Dreaming. A little bit, anyway. I said: ‘Today, when my people think of The Dreaming, they say
it just is
. But when it's described more fully, we learn how the world was formed … from a nothing sort of place where there were no mountains or rivers or anything, not even a moon or a sun, and the earth was covered in darkness.'

‘You mean there were no people on earth?'

He's interested. Good.

‘Not really, but there were
creators
, a type of being that brought the nothingness to an end, who made the world what it is today.'

I could see Snook was a little confused. Scrunching up his face, he asked, ‘What's that got to do with what Stormy was on about – giant asteroids?'

‘Lots of people believe that the asteroid led to the extinction of all the dinosaurs, but here's the thing. I don't think they died for nothing, 'cause in their own way they'd helped to make the world what it is today … like the creators did earlier, you know, like they did in The Dreaming. They sort of paved the way for all the other species – like man – to evolve or to be made. That's why I think the extinction of the dinosaurs meant something.'

‘Eh?'

I didn't answer. I'd seen something else. ‘Look, there's Quenton Quigley on the other side of the road talking to your girlfriend.' I couldn't help adding, ‘I'd watch him if I were you.'

Snook's glare was enough to shatter glass, and for a moment I was worried that he might do something he'd regret later, but in the end, he said, ‘You're right, that fink Quigley's probably filling her head with all sorts of rubbish, but don't worry, I'll watch him all right – especially after what happened last night.'

‘Last night?' I grabbed Snook's arm. ‘What happened last night? You didn't say anything this morning.'

‘I made a complete fool of myself, that's what happened.'

We came to our front gate. Pushing it open, we cut across the squelchy strip of couch grass which was our lawn – where you sank down to your ankles every time you walked across it – to the front door. ‘C'mon,' I said, opening the door. ‘Let's go inside. You can tell me all about last night.'

W
e dropped our school bags just inside the front door next to where we generally leave our shoes and other outdoor gear. Snook headed for the lounge room. After fetching a couple of cool drinks from the fridge for us, I joined him. Handing him a drink, I asked, ‘So, what happened last night? How come you made a fool of yourself?' I settled back into one of the lounge chairs, took a sip of my drink and listened. Not wasting any time, he began to tell me what happened.

‘I saw somethin' that was real queer. When I woke up this mornin', I thought I'd had a bad dream but now I know that it wasn't a dream. It was somethin' else. It was as real as you and me, I know that now. It was about nine o'clock when I saw it. I was tryin' to say goodnight to Gloria – properly I mean. Not a kiss, if that's what you're thinkin', just a plain old
see ya
type thing. I'm not inta kissin'. Gloria wouldn't like me doin' that.'

I tried not to smile. Snook could be really naïve at times.

‘So there I was,' he went on, ‘I was just standin' there, wonderin' how to do that, say goodnight that is, when I saw somethin' real peculiar.'

‘How do you mean?' I asked.

‘I had a kinda vision.
I saw a kid, who looked like a ghost.
He was about ten or twelve years old. He seemed to float out of the darkness like some sort of spirit or apparition until suddenly he was standin' right there in front of me and Gloria. I didn't know what to say or what to do, so I just stood there, paralysed … I can tell ya, I was ready to freak out big time. Anyway, the only other thing I remember is that the kid, or ghost, or whatever, was dressed in long khaki pants, braces and a peak cap.'

‘In old-fashioned clothes?'

‘Yeah, sort of. Not too old-fashioned, though. Just a bit behind the times. Anyway, the funny thing was that he just stood there starin' and not sayin' anythin'. Not a word. He was as quiet as a … as a snake just before it has a go at ya. It was dead set scary.'

‘What did Gloria do? She must have been terrified.'

‘Nah, she wasn't frightened at all. For some reason I can't explain, she didn't see a thing. The kid was invisible to her. All she saw was me standin' there lookin' clueless.'

‘What happened next?'

‘The kid left. He turned on his heel and disappeared back into the night.'

All through Snook's story, I'd been watching his eyes; there was a real intensity about them that told me he was dead serious. He wasn't playing games like he sometimes did. I sat back, thinking about what he'd been telling me, but he hadn't finished.

‘What happened next was the really upsettin' bit,' he continued. ‘It's probably the reason why Gloria's talkin' to Quigley and not to me.' He paused for a second, and then added, ‘I can't say I blame her.'

I was certain Snook's thinking was a bit off here so I thought I'd better set him straight. ‘It's the other way round, Snook. From what I saw,
you're
the one not talking to her.'