Forest Secrets (5 page)

Ignoring the heat and the wind and billowing smoke, the rhotosaurus broke into stride, not stopping until he came to a steep cliff. He drew to a halt and looked over the edge. There was a narrow gorge and at the bottom of the gorge was a river; they looked familiar. Once again he tried to remember, and then, like a slow moving slide show, he saw it form in his mind. There was a place … nearby … a cool, safe place. He was sure of it. And there had been a path that led him there. Willing his tiny brain to respond and swivelling his long neck to the left and right, he scanned the cliff top, looking for the path that would take him to the bottom of the gorge, to the river, to his safe place. He ran along the edge of the cliff, searching, trying to remember. But time was running out.

Then he saw it. His heart thumped. It was just ahead of him – a narrow track winding down to the floor of the gorge. He was safe. So were the other dinosaurs, who'd been pacing backwards and forwards at the top of the cliff; they could now follow him to the river.

They were going to make it, too … hopefully.

I
can't remember what happened after Snook and I saw the kid earlier on this evening. All I know is that I woke up on the lounge room couch across from Snook, who was half lying, half sitting, on one of the lounge chairs. Gloria was there too. She was shuffling back and forth between us, feeling our foreheads, checking our pulses – things like that. And lying on the floor, breathing into my face, was Shadow. His head was resting on his outstretched paws and judging from the heavy breathing, he was snoozing, oblivious to the drama going on around him.

All I can say is that when I woke up, I was in a kind of smoke-screen where I felt only half awake. I guessed that Snook was in one too. I couldn't have been too dopey, though. After blinking a couple of times to clear my eyes, which were still adjusting to the haze, I saw Gloria sidle over to Snook's chair and sit on the arm rest. I also saw her reach over and then hold on to his hand whilst gazing into his half-open eyes. She still likes him, I thought and I knew that Snook liked her; so why don't they both come to a mutual agreement to like each other? Because neither one of them wants to be the first to make a move, I figured.

I shook my head again in an effort to clear the grey film that kept swirling in front of me like a fog, and then I saw that Snook was coming awake too. At least he was conscious enough to enjoy the attention he was getting from Gloria. His eyes had taken on a distant, dreamy look and his mouth had tilted sideways giving him a sort of cock-eyed, half-potty look.

Footsteps in the passage interrupted my snooping.

It was Gloria's dad. He came into the room carrying a wet cloth. Being the closest and seeing that Snook was being attended to by his daughter, he walked over and applied the damp cloth to my head. He told me that another doctor was taking the callout. ‘When I saw you both lying here when I came back earlier,' he explained, ‘I could hardly believe my eyes. You were both in a trance as if you'd been hypnotised. Are you feeling better now?' I nodded. ‘You and Snook were both mumbling something about a young boy. Can you tell me anything about him? If you feel up to it, of course.'

I tried to remember, and in my half-awake state, I told Gloria's father everything that I knew about the kid. I told him that he was about twelve years old, that he was wearing khaki pants, braces and a peaked cap, and that he hadn't said anything but just looked at us with a sad, downcast face – one you'd expect to see at a funeral. I also told him that the kid had left abruptly with a hurried, goodbye kind of smile. I also told him that I'd seen a dinosaur that was more than two storeys high.

Gloria, who was still holding on to Snook's hand, had heard my story too; her blank stare told me that. So did Shadow, who at the present moment, was showing his concern for me by plonking his two front paws next to my nose. He then tried to wash my face with his wet, sloppy tongue. At any rate, my story must have shocked Gloria and her dad; the room fell silent. But Snook broke that. He sat up as if suddenly realising something and then, looking directly at me, he said, ‘You saw it too! You've seen what I've seen!'

With Gloria and her father looking on open mouthed and obviously clueless as to what Snook was on about, I could only stare as he asked, ‘What else did you see? Tell me.'

I told him everything, even down to the smallest detail, such as the smell of the sulphur and the distant rumbling of the volcano.

‘Yeah,' Snook said, when I'd finished, ‘I saw all that. I didn't like the bit when all the dinosaurs were panicking and runnin' for their lives. That was real sad. The big dinosaur, the one that was eatin' the leaves in the forest, looked really scared. I hope he escaped in the end. Did you see what happened to him?'

‘No, I didn't, but I hope he escaped.'

‘Yeah, just thinkin' about it makes me sweat.'

Gloria's father, who was now shaking his head slowly from side to side, interrupted. ‘Okay, you two,' he said, his voice shaky now, ‘I think Gloria and I have heard enough. You're both obviously unwell. Try and get some more rest while we all wait for Snook's parents to come home.' Gloria was looking shaken too. She was biting one of her nails as she watched Snook, her eyes unblinking and narrowed.

I'm not sure why I said it but I found myself saying, ‘Er, when my aunt and uncle do come home, I don't want to say anything about tonight. I don't want to worry them.'

‘Neither do I,' Snook said, agreeing with me. ‘Dad would just tell me to stop dreamin' anyway.'

I looked across at Gloria's father for confirmation, but he was pacing up and down the room, dabbing at his forehead with a tissue and breathing rather heavily. In fact, he looked as if he'd been possessed. ‘Doctor Huntingdale …' I called out. He didn't reply. Didn't even look up.

I was pondering over his sudden nervousness when suddenly and without warning, I felt a tingling feeling sweep through my entire body. At first I didn't know what it meant, but then I knew. I'd had it before. It was the feeling you get when you know something's going to happen but you're not sure what. Then it came … like a dream.

There was a slight breeze blowing, rippling through the leaves of the ghost gums and the man-high spear grass. There was the smoky scent of camp fires too, and I could hear the distant chattering of the women and the men as they went about their business, and I could hear the laughter of the children as they played. And above all that I could see and hear my mother … Minma. She was younger than when I'd last seen her and she was frowning when she told me:

Awa! Palatja kurun-kurunpa ngalya-pitjanyi!

I must have looked different or something because Snook, his face all squished up and frowning, asked, ‘What's up with you? You look like you've seen a ghost!'

Pushing up on one elbow, I whispered, ‘I've had a warning from The Dreaming. A spirit person is coming! Minma told me.'

I
t was Saturday morning and we'd just finished breakfast. Still at the table, Snook was telling his dad what our plans were for the day, and like we agreed, he didn't tell his dad about us going all queer last night.

‘Mmmm,' Snook's dad said, thinking over what Snook had told him. ‘You want to take photos of wild animals? Out by the gorge?'

‘Yeah. I thought the Ghost Mountain gorge area might be the best spot. Jars and I were gonna ride our bikes out there this mornin'.'

‘Right, sounds fair enough to me. And you'll need to ride your bikes, anyway. Your mum and I are off to Queenstown this morning for the shopping.' He then added, ‘Your mum then wants to go back again tonight, to the pictures … to see
Red Dog
. It's supposed to be a real good film. Your mother's been wanting to see it for ages. Anyway, we won't be here when you get home, but your tea will be in the fridge.'

‘She'll be right,' Snook said. ‘Jars and I'll manage.'

‘Isn't Gloria going with you as well?' he asked, going back to our plans. ‘I thought she said something along those lines last night … about Quenton going with you as well. What was that all about?'

Snook looked across at me for help. He obviously didn't know what his dad was on about. His conversation with Gloria had somehow been erased from his memory. Raising my eyebrows and tilting my head a fraction sideways in a sort of half shrug, I tried to tell him that I didn't know what his dad was on about either. I could only put our lack of memory down to the visions; it was as if the kid and the dinosaur had used up all our memory space.

Snook's dad's next words surprised us both. They came out of the blue. ‘Have either of you heard of the spirit monster that's said to live out there … on Ghost Mountain?'

‘The what?' Snook asked.

‘It's a legend about a monster that lives on the mountain. That's why it's called Ghost Mountain.'

Suddenly and without warning, words began to form in my head and then pour from my mouth … over and over again. I couldn't stop.
Awa! Apu mamutjara. Awa! Apu mamutjara. Awa!
Apu mamutjara
.
Snook and his dad, mouths falling open, stared at me. They were probably thinking I'd cracked up. I willed myself to stop as I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. After about a minute, when I'd finally returned to normal, I ended up saying, ‘It's all that talk about ghosts and monsters that made me do that. It must have been.'

With a questioning look and with some hesitation, Snook said, ‘Okay. If that's what you reckon. But what was the language you were spruikin'? It was just gibberish to me.'

‘It was Aboriginal … the Pitjantjatjara dialect.'

‘I didn't know you could speak Aboriginal.'

‘I don't, not really and before you ask, I haven't the faintest idea why I spoke it just then. All I know is I was being warned of an evil spirit who lives on the mountain. I could grasp that much. And as far as the language goes, I learned a little Pitjantjatjara from my mother. She was from the desert country in South Australia and used to speak in her tongue sometimes.'

I looked across at my uncle. He didn't seem at all fazed by my little episode. That's the thing about Snook's dad that I especially admired – his ability to take most things in his stride. Not even referring to my strange behaviour, he said, ‘There's something else you two should know about that mountain. At round mid-afternoon, the gorge that runs through it suddenly goes black. That's when the spirit monster is said to come out, or so they say. You should know all that, he repeated, otherwise the sudden darkness might freak you out.'

Snook couldn't help himself. Pulling his best evil face and waving his arms in the air like a ghost, he put on his best witch's cackle. ‘Hee-hee-hee …Watch ow-ow-ow-out … Mamu's coming to get yoooooo … Watch ow-ow-ow-out.'

Giving Snook the
that's enough of that
stare, his dad asked, ‘I suppose this is going to cost me; so what's the damage?'

‘Ten bucks, but when I win the contest, I'll give it back to you.'

Looking over at me, my uncle asked, ‘What about you, Jars, do you need anything?'

‘No,' I said. ‘I'm just going to be Snook's assistant. You know, help him to spot the animals.'

That seemed to satisfy Snook's dad who was fishing around in his back pocket for his wallet. As he did so, I couldn't help thinking about the evil spirit on Ghost Mountain. I didn't like the sudden coldness and queasy feeling in my stomach that had come over me either. It was as if I was getting another warning.

Snook brought me back to earth. ‘C'mon, Jars,' he said, waving his newly acquired ten-dollar note in the air. ‘Let's go down to Sam's and give 'im this. Then we can take off for the mountain.'

Yes, I thought, where an evil spirit might be waiting …

S
nook and I parked our bikes against the wall of Sam's shop. Shadow, who'd run alongside us for the short journey, lay down in his usual spot on the pavement. ‘Are you meeting Gloria here?' I asked. ‘Your dad seemed to think so.'

‘Dunno. I can't remember what was said, not exactly. I was hopin' she'd give me a ring this mornin', but she hasn't.'

‘Why don't you call her on your mobile?'

‘I don't like to. She did say earlier, before you and I had that funny turn, that she was goin' in the competition with Quigley, so that kind of leaves me out of it. That's what I think, anyway.'

Leaving the subject of Snook's love life closed for the moment, we pushed the shop door open and walked inside. Snook crossed over to Sam, who was stacking shelves at the far end of the counter. After the usual greetings, the two of them got into what sounded like a serious conversation. I could hear them from the other end of the counter. ‘Don't forget,' Sam was saying, ‘when you've taken your pictures, bring your camera back here. We'll run the prints off using my computer gear.'

‘Thanks, Sam,' Snook said. ‘That's wicked seein' as Mum and Dad haven't bought a computer yet. They're still makin' up their minds. I think Mum wants one, but Dad reckons the old way of doin' things is good enough.'

Nodding that he understood, Sam started to explain about Monday's presentation night, when we were distracted by a loud, blaring noise coming from outside. We all turned to look and then scurried over to the window to get a better view.

Parked outside was the glossiest, shiniest, cleanest camper-van that I'd ever seen. I couldn't see a spot of dirt or dust on it; even the wheel hubs shone. Its outside bits and pieces were not to be sneezed at either: a row of spotlights ran across the width of the cab, and below them were two long, retractable rear-vision mirrors. Dozens of
Places I've Been
stickers were stuck above the rear mudguard, and in large, black letters printed across its side and facing us were the words, TYRANOSAURUS REX. To cap it all off, mounted on the roof was the source of the noise – a large speaker.