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Sally and Anton had hitched over from Goonabah with Julie. She said she had to go there anyway and they might as well come with her and get on the dole, as that was where the local DSS office was.
They'd both completely recovered from the trauma of the journey now, after their second night's sleep on the bus. But Sally thought Anton was acting a bit strange still.
There was definitely something not quite right about him. He was more vague than usual and seemed worried about something and generally preoccupied. It could just have been the change that was affecting him, but she felt she knew him well enough to know it wasn't that. The only thing she could imagine it might be was something to do with his obvious attraction to Muz. The two of them had spent the previous evening engrossed in conversation together. Fuck knows what they were talking about - politics mainly, she thought. Secretly she found it amusing, but she couldn't help feeling a bit disturbed by the thought of complications in their relationship at that particular time.
The three of them walked down the main street of Ningwana Bay. It was a strange place. Quite a lot bigger than Goonabah and very touristy. There were souvenir shops and flashy clothes shops and trendy looking cafes and ice cream shops all along the street. And they all seemed to be doing a good trade.
"It's a busy town this one, isn't it?" Sally said to Julie as they walked past a record shop with loud hip-hop music coming from speakers outside the door.
"Yeah. I hate it!" she replied with a snarl. "It's not so bad out of tourist season, but even then it's pretty gross. You should see it at festival time."
"Do they have a festival here?"
Julie laughed. "You could call it that!" she replied. "It's more like a sick display of drunken insanity! It's incredible really, what they do, you just wouldn't believe it!"
"Try us." Sally was intrigued.
"Well, all the locals save one item of household garbage every week for the whole year leading up to the festival. Then on the last day of the so-called festivities, they all stand on the banks of Federation Lake, which is at the end of this street, and ritually toss it all into the water. While they're doiong this, there's a sort of ecstatic celebration going on. You know the sort of thing, pouring casks of wine down their throats, singing, dancing, fighting - all that stuff. Then..." she paused for dramatic effect, "they all rip off their clothes and dive into the stinking water and swim around in all the garbage!"
"Are you taking the piss?"
"No, honest. It really happens. Look around you, can't you imagine it?"
They did. And they could. The gross commercialism surrounding them, the celebration of the triumph of money and plastic over nature that was everywhere in this town said it all. What Julie was telling them was almost certainly true.
Julie grinned at the disgusted looks on their faces. "The people in the town on the other side of the lake complain about it loudly every year. But the council just tells them 'tough, it's tradition', 'don't worry, there's heaps of water there', and 'what else could we do to have fun?" and they just carry on doing it. It's more a religious festival than anything really."
"Yuk! That's sick!"
"There's a lot of sick things about this town mate. That's only one of them. And that only happens once a year. The rest go on all the time. You should see the poster the local council sticks up in Sydney and Brisbane to attract tourists. It says 'Come to Ningwana Bay - it's where the yuppies stay'!"
They all laughed as they pushed open the door of the DSS.
"There's a tinted photo of the lake on it. I don't know where it was taken from, but somehow they managed to make it look beautiful. And it's the most polluted inland stretch of water in australia."
"Wow! Is this the dole office?" Sally said as she looked round the brightly lit, clean and caarpeted office they'd walked into.
"Yeah, why?"
"You've obviously never seen the dole offices in London! They're nothing like this." She couldn't believe the clean paintwork, the comfortable looking cloth covered seats, posters on the walls and the small numbers of people sitting around waiting. "Over there, there's no carpet, no seats - well maybe a bench if you're lucky - and there's great big glass screens going right up to the ceiling, to protect the workers from the public. And long, long queues. You really feel like you're a second class citizen when you're in one of those places. This is more like a travel agents or something!"
"Yeah, i have actually experienced the joys of the british dole system, unfortunately. I spent a year in London a few years back."
"Really?" Sally was surprised. "Where?"
"Oh, Hackney mostly, Islington a bit, and a couple of weeks in Mile End."
"We used to live around there. Small world, isn't it?"
Julie had to sort out some problems with her sickness benefit and that actually took more time than it took Anton and Sally to get on the dole. They had to go to the CES and register for work first, but still they were finished before Julie.
"What are you on sickness benefit for Julie?" Sally asked as they sat and waited for her to be seen again.
"Drug addiction." she replied casually. "Like half of the rest of the population. Well, it's either drugs or alcohol usually."
"Are you a drug addict?" Sally asked. She noticed that Anton who had been vacantly staring into space before, was not looking at Julie with a strange curiosity.
"Oh, sort of, i guess." she replied. "I'm certainly a drug user, but in a way, to be an addict you have to want to stop, i reckon."
"What drugs?" Sally asked, aware that this wasn't necessarily and acceptable question to ask someone you hardly knew.
"Does it matter?"
"No, i suppose not."
Just then, Julie's name was called and she went back up to the counter.
"So what are the other things that go on around here then?" Sally asked Julie as they walked out of the DSS.
"Well for a start, there's the chief of police." Julie paused, as they stopped on the pavement, unsure of which way they were going. "What are we going to do now then? Go back to Goonabah?" she asked.
"I wouldn't mind having a look at the lake." Sally said. "How far is it?"
"Just down the road really, but it's not very nice in the rain."
"Well, we can't get much wetter than we are, i suppose. Do you mind?"
"No, let's go."
"What was that about the police chief?" Anton asked as they started walking.
"It's hard to know where to start, really." Julie began. "He's called Harry Kerr. 'Dirty' Harry Kerr, everyone calls him. He controls the whole of the marijuana trade in this area. Not so much as a leaf comes off a plant without him getting his cut! He owns vast areas of land all around this area and he blackmails local people into growing dope on it for him. Then, when the crop's ready, he threatens to bust them for cultivation unless they act out his sick sexual fantasies with him. And they really are pretty sick, i've heard. Apparently he'll fuck anything that moves, species is no obstacle. And you regularly hear stories about people he rapes in the cells.
"Nobody does anything about it because they can't. He's paying off all the politicians, so they con't sack him. And anyone else who gets in his way, he just kills. He really is a dangerous psycho.
"He's also australia's largest cocaine importer. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, he's also australia's biggest cocaine user. So hardly any of the precious white powder ever makes it onto the market. But 'Dirty' Harry isn't one to let minor considerations like purity, fairness or consumer satisfaction get in the way of making a fast buck. He still manages to sell the same ammount of white powder as he buys. He must be the most succesful sugar salesman on the east coast!"
They walked round a bend in the main street, getting drenched by the rain now, and there in front of them was the lake. The road led almost to the water's edge and at the end, just before it turned into a massive carpark, there was an arch over it. When they got closer, they realised the arch was made out of plastic and illuminated from inside by neaon lights.
Just before the arch, to one side of the road, there were three hideous totem poles. They too were made of plastic and painted a sickening mixture of garish colours. There were little triangular plastic flags hanging in the air averywhere and a big banner across the top of the arch shouted: "You're here! Ningwana Bay's great tourist attraction!"
"I don't really feel like walking under that!" Sally said as they stood there taking in the hideous sight. "I think i might throw up!" She laughed.
"No. Come on, now you're here you've got to see the beach."
The concrete slab was showing through the thin layer of sand in several places, and everywhere there were piles of old cans and plastic bottles. The sand ran out completely before it reached the water, exposing a strip of concrete a good metre wide.
"They bring in more sand from the oast every now and then." Julie told them. "The rain washes it all into the lake, of course. Nice here, isn't it?" she said sarcastically.
The other side of the strip of concrete, there was a ribon of garbage about the same width, floating in the bright green water of the lake.
"Why is the water that weird colour? Or is that a silly question?" Anton asked.
Julie laughed. "You won't believe this," she said, "but the town council had this bright idea to attract more tourists. They reckoned the murky brown colour of the lake wasn't quite the exotic tropical paradise material they would have liked, so they dumped several tons of blue dye into it to give it that 'pacific islands' look. But somehow it didn't quite work out that way. Something in the lake reacted with the dye and it went that flourescent greeny colour. Naturally, the people in the town on the other side were not impressed."
"Come on. Let's get out of here." Sally said, not sure whether to laugh or throw up. "I've seen enough."
*-*-*
"Three middies of Old please." Julie said as the barman grudgingly walked towards her.
"Pots, you mean!" he grunted, glaring at the three of them like it was them, not him, that were subhuman.
"That's what i like about this place." Julie said to the other two. "Everyone's so friendly!" The barman turned towards her and snarled as he poured their beers. He looked like he would have spat in their glasses if they hadn't been watching him.
"We could have got some takeaways." Sally said as they sat down at a table near the window.
"Nah, i like coming in here sometimes. They can't handle it! It's worth it just to know i'm annoying them with my presence." "But why don't they like it?" "Several reasons i guess. Maybe because i'm a woman. They still don't really like women in pubs in this town, even though we've been legally entitled to it for over twenty years! And then, i'm not a redneck like them. You know, i don't hate asians, vote National Party and chop down trees. Also, of course, i'm not an alcoholic, which is almost the worst crime of the lot. They don't know what i am, but they know i'm not an alkie!"
"Hmmm..." Sally was puzzled. "I suppose we have people like that in england, but you don't come across them much."
"They're not as full-on over there either." Julie said. "Like, look at that mob over there." She nodded in the direction of a group of about half a dozen large men, all dressed in dark blue singlets and shorts, with heavy leather work boots on. They all had big beer guts and long hair almost to their shoulders and they seemed to be taking it in turns to stare at the three people by the window. The only parts of them that looked different were their faces. Some had beards, some had moustaches and some were clean shaven. It seemed the only way they knew how to express any kind of individuality.
"The Doogan brothers." Julie continued, as all of them turned round to stare now, a cold hostility in their faces as if they sensed they were being talked about. "They're banana farmers from up in the hills. After alcohol, their favourite kick is sniffing banana chemicals, which sends them into a sort of zombie-like trance, where they think they're a bunch of green bananas hanging on a tree. They don't really change much but.
"And every full moon, they get totally and berserkly drunk and smash the window in the police station for a laugh. But the cop doesn't mind, because they spent their money in his pub and the state pays for a new window anyway."
"Hey, there's Muz!" Anton said, snapping out of a daze and banging on the window. Sally frowned without knowing she was doing it.
"G'day!" Muz walked into the bar and smiled cheerfully at them.
"Wow! What did you do to your hair?" Sally asked, surprised at how different Muz looked. Her long, bright pink hair was now lime green and cropped short.
"Oy!" the barman shouted. Everyone in the pub turned and stared at them. "You know you can't come in here looking like that! Youse can all get out now." He walked around from behind the bar as he was speaking and stood over them with a half poured beer still in his hand. They sat at the table looking at each other, not sure how to react.
Somehow they all felt that if they didn't get up and go, the rest of the pub's contents would have loved to help them on their way. They tried not to laugh too much.
"I guess we'd better go then, eh?" Julie said sarcastically, and gave the barman a sickly smile. "What a shame, i love this place so much!"
"I'm sick of those fucking arseholes!" she snarled as soon as they were out of the door. "I'm going to get them for that somehow."
"Oh, it doesn't matter that much Jules." Muz said. "Don't let the prick get to you."
"I'm sick of it! Who the fuck do they think they are? I'm going to put a brick through that window tonight. That'll make them think!"
None of the others really knew how to take this. It seemed like she was over reacting a bit, but they felt like it themselves in a way.
"What about the cop?" Sally asked.
"What about him?" Julie replied. "If he hears the window break, he'll hide under the bed and come downstairs two hours later to find out what's happened."
"Are you really going to?" Muz laughed. She knew Julie well enough to know that she probably would do it. It wouldn't be the first time Julie had bricked a window, but in the city it was different. This town was a bit too small for that sort of thing. Everybody would know who'd done it somehow.
"Yeah. You wait till after closing time!"
*-*-*
A peaceful silence had just descended on the bus, as its inhabitants settled down to sleep off a day of strangely mixed experiences. Anton and Sally had seen the sights of Ningwana Bay and got on the dole. Then, along with Muz, who'd spent the day cutting, bleaching and dyeing her hair, they'd been thrown out of the pub.
Caradoc had almost been run over by a goods train loaded with chemical-soaked bananas from Doogan's banana plantation and Rainbow had almost swallowed a gram of hash that Raphael had inadvertantly dropped on the floor.
And as for Raphael and Yota, well you'll find out what happened to them soon enough.
Suddenly there was a crash as the door burst open and a body threw itself into the dark interior of the bus.
"What the fuck? Ow!" Sally banged her head on the seat as she sat up, suddenly wide awake again.
"Shh! Don't turn the light on!" came a loud whisper from the front of the bus. It was Julie.
"He was in the fucking bar and he chased me down the street." she added, still whispering, as she crawled up the aisle to where Anton and Sally were lying. "Let me hide behind one of you. He's sure to look in here."
"Who?"
"Shh. Here he comes now."
They heard the policeman panting before they heard the sound of his feet. He could almost have been running, but not quite.
"Hello!" he called out, not very loudly between gasps for air, and knocked on the door of the bus.
"Who is it?" Anton shouted.
"Er..." He paused, "Um, it's the police!" The last bit was meant to have an air of authority, but it didn't.
Anton got up off the floor and walked slowly to the door, turning the front light on when he got there.
"What's up?" he asked, a little irritably, as if he'd just woken up. "What's all the noise about?"
The policeman seemed quite taken aback at Anton's casualness. "Oh..." He frowned. "Did you see anyone run past here?"
"How could i? I was asleep. Until you woke me up."
"Anton!" Caradoc was awake now and the policeman looked shocked as he crawled out from under a seat.
"Now you've woken the kids!" Anton glared at the embarrassed policeman, who mumbled an apology and quickly disappeared.
"Shit!" Julie exclaimed, with obvious relief, once the cop was out of earshot. "Thanks Anton, you were wonderful."
Anton groaned and crawled back into bed. "I suppose you bricked the pub window." He started laughing now, relieved that it had been so easy to deal with.
"Yeah, i got it right smack in the middle. He must have shit himself!" Everyone else in the bus started laughing at this. "I bet he was so pissed he'd gone to sleep in the bar. I'd better keep out of his way for a couple of days, eh?"
click here to go to chapter four