Thursday Brew with Gwen: Unmasked - A Short Story

UNMASKED

 A Short Story

by Gwenneth Leane

The match flared into life and Jacki McIntosh pushed it into a pile of leaves and twigs.  Blue smoke lazily drifted upwards, she coughed;

‘Come on, burn,’ she cursed leaning down blowing into the smoking debris.  She coughed again to clear her lungs. A flame licked up through the sticks and flared into a blaze; she piled on more wood to feed the hungry flames.

Jacki stood, her breath caught in awe, as the last rays of the sun turned the salt lake into a sheet of orange fire.

‘Come on, girl. Don’t stand there dreamin’,’ the old man growled.  ‘It’ll be dark soon.  We gotta get the camp set up before dark.’

‘OK Dad,’ Jacki turned to the Toyota truck and hoisted out their swags. Next came the folding table and chairs and finally the esky with the foodstuffs. She glanced toward the lake; the brilliance was dying just like her hopes of getting a life for herself. She glanced back at the sand dunes.  They too, were a fiery red lit by the last of the sun’s rays.  A lone dingo stood sentinel on top of the highest dune. His yellow coat burnished gold. Jacki marveled at the magnificent creature, its head raised proudly as its nose studied the air.

‘What’s got into you, girl,’ the old man grumbled. ‘I gotta mend the fence before that dingo gets through.  Heaven knows how many others have gone through.  Get the damper made and the stew heating while I check the fence for holes up ahead. I should shoot the bugger to make sure he doesn’t get through the fence.’

‘Yes, Dad!’ Jacki sighed.  It was easier to acquiesce, than to fight his authority. For as long as she could remember she had lived with the old man.  He was a boundary rider along the dog fence that ran five thousand kilometers across Australia providing a barrier between the dingo and the flocks and herds of landholders.  According to the old man, as she thought of him, her father had given her to him to look after until he returned from shearing in Queensland. But her father had never returned. She supposed she ought to be grateful to the old man for giving her food and clothing, even if it was boys’ clothing.  She had never worn a dress in her life.  Everyone thought she was a boy.  The old man said it was safer that way and she had accepted what he said.

The lake was no longer on fire but a dull grey. Like my life, she thought.  If only…what did she long for? The emptiness of her life stretched before her.  The teachers of School of the Air urged the old man to let her go to University and study but he refused on the pretext her father might turn up looking for her.

The fire had died into a pile of fiery coals. The damper in the camp oven was under the coals; the stew was simmering on a grid over the embers. The evening hush was broken by the howl of dingoes in the sand dunes, sending shivers up her spine.   The girl lit the tilly lantern and a pool of yellow light ballooned around her, making the night even darker. 

Where was the old man? He should have been back by now. She stirred the stew and took the damper from the coals.  The odour of baked damper filled the night air and Jacki felt ravenous. Breaking off a piece, she dipped it in the stew and ate the morsel.  It was delicious, she wanted more but decided to wait until the old man returned.  Unease filled Jacki over the failure of the old man to return.  She climbed the nearest dune to see if there were headlights flashing but the night was dark and silent. Returning to camp she built the fire into a huge blaze so the old man could find his way if the vehicle had broken down and he was on foot. Time passed slowly and still he hadn’t returned. Taking up the lantern and a gun, Jacki set out on foot along the fence-line after the old man.  Her heart racing, where was he?  What had happened to him?  Had he ran off and left her alone?  Jacki began to wonder what she would do without him.  She realised he’d been a buffer between her and loneliness.  She’d been wrong to want to get away from him he was her safety net.

Jacki called out, her voice echoed across the desert.  A dingo howled close by and she put the lantern down and fired at two eyes.  The shot filled the night and then became lost in the vast silence. Picking up the light she started to run calling the old man’s name.

Was that a voice up ahead?  Jacki tried to remember what the land would look like in daylight.  She called again. Yes, that was a voice. It was weak and held fear. Hurrying as fast as she dared, Jacki came up to the Toyota. Jacki could see where the fence had been mended and where the old man had walked on ahead checking the fence but where was he.

‘Dad?  Where are you,’ Jacki hadn’t called him Dad in ages.

‘Here, girl quick! I’m about done.’

Jacki lifted the light in the direction of the voice, there was the old man only his head could be seen, he was hanging on to a bush trying to stop himself from sinking into a morass of mud left in a floodway by the last storm. Horror gripped Jacki and she just stood frozen.  Mud was seeping into the old man’s mouth as his lips formed ‘Help.’

Fear galvanized Jacki into action.  She turned the Toyota around to give more light, and then grabbed a rope from the back of the truck. Coiling it into a noose she cast it at the old man’s head, tightening it as much as she dared with out choking him, hoping to keep his head up.  Then searching the shadows for logs, she carried several fallen trees and laid them over the mud.  With the help of the rope tied to the truck, she edged along the logs towards the old man, hoping to get the rope around his shoulders to be able to pull him out. He was very still and hadn’t spoken. Eventually she reached the old man and wiggled the rope over his shoulders tightening it so it wouldn’t slip off and choke him.  She slithered back to the Toyota and started the motor, reversing it slowly, hoping to be able to drag the old man out. Slowly the mud gave up its trophy and the old man lay on solid ground. He was still. 

She became aware they were surrounded by several sets of eyes shining on the edge of the light.  ‘You bloody killers,’ she shouted and picked up the gun and fired at the nearest set. There was a scream. Quickly the eyes vanished and a body thrashed in the bushes in its death throes. ‘Got ya,’ she muttered.  She couldn’t stop to think about being afraid, she had to save the man who had saved her.  She owed it to him. She took the last of their water and washed the old man’s face. It was deathly pale.  She cleaned inside his mouth and dribbled water into it, he gave a feeble swallow, she was heartened and rinsed out his mouth again dribbling more water in, a stronger swallow, he opened his eyes and looked at her.  She put her arms around the filthy form and hugged him. Tears of thankfulness dripped onto the mud-caked face.

‘Come on, we’ve got to get you into the truck and get help for you.’

‘I’m OK.’

‘No your not!’

The sky was lightening in the east it would be dawn soon as Jacki dragged the

old man to the truck and eventually bundled him into the vehicle

From out of the gloom another Toyota appeared. ‘What’s happened here?’  Jacki recognized him as the young roo shooter, Snow Costello. He stared in disbelief at the mud caked man and bedraggled girl.  A girl! What’s she doing out here? He registered.  He had not realized the old man’s off-sider was a girl.  He was gobsmacked.  How had the old man kept the girl a secret for so long? Her name – of course – Jacki, it could be a girl or boy. Under all that mud she would be pretty.

‘What’s happened?’  Alarm threaded through his voice as he took in the situation anew.

‘Dad was fixing the fence when he slipped and fell into the quicksand in the wash away.’

‘I’ll call the Flying Doctor on wireless radio to meet us at the homestead.’ Snow took control as he climbed from the vehicle. Together, he and the girl hefted the old man into the passenger seat of their own Toyota.

‘Are you up to driving to the homestead?  It’s only a couple miles away.  I’ll follow.  Gotta get my quota of carcasses into the chiller before they go off.’  Snow explained.

‘I can drive.’  Jacki was defensive. ‘Do you think Dad will be all right?’ she added in a subdued voice.

‘You bet. He’s a tough old geezer.  The Doc will fix him up’ Snow looked at the girl again,

‘ So, you are a girl?’  Snow challenged.

‘Dad didn’t want anyone to know I was a girl because I wouldn’t be safe.’

‘What was he going to do when you grew up?’

‘I dunno.  I wanted to go away and get a job somewhere.  I hate it out here.’

Just as they took off towards the homestead the sun broke across the sand dunes and as they crossed the Lake again, the salt encrusted surface had been turned into apricot brilliance.   It was a new day. 

Had Jacki but known, it was the beginning of a new life for her. 

The subterfuge was over.