Chapter 19 LOVE HURTS

[image error] The moment Billy’s foot fell upon the dry sand of the overhang, he felt the warmth of a thousand fires, heard the songs of a thousand Dreamtime stories and stared in awe of the paintings covering every wall. Layer upon layer of hunting scenes invoking success, ceremonial dancers, and the ghosted handprints of travellers paying their respects. Billy stood in silence, humbled to the core. This was more than just an overhang, a cool rock formation or even a grand cathedral.

The spirit of the land had built this place itself.

A sanctuary for all. Forever.

Billy’s brothers had been here too; their foot prints were everywhere — the kangaroo.

He wanted to add his mark, to include his spirit in this special place, but for now, he needed a fire.

He found a spot for his spears, hat, boomerangs and bag. The pups crawled out immediately, the smell of kangaroo too intriguing to ignore.

Billy scrounged around for dry wood but there was only a meagre scattering of twigs and leaves. He did find a few pieces of more substantial wood near the entrance but it was pretty wet. So was his fire starting material that he kept in his bag. The only thing dry was the sand so he rolled everything around in that to transfer the moisture.

When he was absolutely sure that everything was ready, he began with his fire starting sticks. He knew he had to be careful, his hands were soft and pruny after being wet all day. His palms would blister easily or worse, tear. He started slow, getting a feel for the tender spots on his hands. A tiny puff of smoke eventually appeared that filled him with hope — a coal was forming. But he needed a big one to be sure of it igniting the wet tinder so he kept twisting the stick between the palms of his hands, trying to ignore the pain.

He was grateful for Mallee’s attention to detail, rounding and smoothing his fire starting stick. It could have been much worse. Using a stick from the scrub to start a fire was always a gamble. Bark on the wood and the knobs from broken branches always tore at his skin. Once that happened, he had no way of starting a fire.

More smoke now. And it was constant. He knew a good sized coal was forming. Nearly there. Suddenly a flame burst from the base stick between his feet. Yeah! He tipped the coal into a clump of Spinifex and watched with satisfaction as the coal rolled like a stone from the depression in the base stick. It burst into flames immediately.

He piled on a bunch of twigs, almost smothering the flames in his haste. Quickly he gave the coal a gentle blow but the damp twigs were painfully slow to catch. Then he saw the unmistakeably solid flame of a twig, like a candle. Then another and another. He added more sticks, increasing their size as he progressed. The sticks started to crackle, telling him there was enough heat to add one of the wet branches. All it did was smoulder and smoke. He poked some eucalyptus leaves under it which caught alight immediately, their oil spitting and crackling violently in objection to the moisture that had soaked into the leaves. Their flame was hot, which dried the wood quickly and set it alight.

Billy sat back in relief — he had a fire.

The pups were excited by his efforts and crowded around to soak up the warmth. They ended up sitting so close that steam started swirling up from their shivering little bodies.

He watched their eyes to see if they were getting heavy, needing them to go to sleep so he could sneak away and get some more wood. But it wasn’t to be — they were well rested and alert to his every move after spending all day asleep in his bag.

A belly full of food always put him to sleep so he figured it would do the same for them. He broke out the jerky and shared it around but all it did was give them energy. They became playful, nipping each others ears and toes and tails. He was happy to see them feeling better but he wished they’d just go to sleep.

He decided he might as well get some rest himself so he lay down by the fire. The pups saw it as an opportunity to snuggle into his face and lick it. He covered up as best he could and hoped they’d get the message. They eventually did.

Just as he was nodding off, the pups got tired and settled down for a sleep as well. Now he had to wake himself up! Having pets was more work than he expected.

Snores started emanating from the trio which made Billy smile, reminding him of Cobar’s thunderous snoring. He was imagining his family rolling around in stitches after hearing Cobar snoring like a cute little puppy.

He started inching away, trying not to disturb them as he made his escape, but the sand was really noisy. He finally made it to the awning of the overhang with the rain just inches from his face. He felt free again, having abandoned his shorts, less than impressed with the feel of wet pants. He took a deep breath and dove in.

At the bottom of the trail he noticed how it had obviously been too long since a fire had gone through the area. No Aborigines here either, he commiserated. Not only was there a lot of highly flammable undergrowth to fight through, but there was too much dead wood laying about as well. Easy pickings on a wood hunt, he reasoned, trying to remain positive. It allowed him to be selective, collecting only the hardwood that would burn the hottest and the longest. It didn’t take long to gather a large pile, enough to last a few days if he was careful. He needed paperbark too so he tore long lengths up the trunks of many of the surrounding trees.

Just as he was finishing up, he heard the whimpers of the pups. Damn. So close. He couldn’t see them through the rain blanketing his vision, but he could tell they were working their way down the trail.

One emerged through the haze like the sorry soul of a ghost. His ears hanging low and looking like they were weighing down his head. It tore at Billy’s heart to see him in such a state of distress so he crouched down to greet them all. They climbed up, burying their noses deep into his belly with all their strength. He tried to comfort them, but all they could do was cry.

Their desperation shocked him. He’d never felt such love. Such powerful love. He hugged them close, trying to absorb their pain.

He had to get them out of the rain. It was relentless. He tried to put them down so he could gather an armful of wood and then balance them on top of that, but they were clinging to him like glue. In the end he just grabbed a few logs and carried the pups back up the path.

He stoked the fire and sat down with them, trying to figure out what to do. He knew they’d follow him again if he left to get the rest of the wood. They looked so weak. Sopping wet and heart broken. One of them was standing back, looking at him with a very stern face and grumbling, not growling or barking, it was as if he was rousing on Billy, telling him that he shouldn’t have left them. Billy really did feel like he’d been told off.

“I’m sorry little, fella. I won’t leave you again.” It was the alarmist. Billy reached out to offer him an apologetic pat. He hesitated for a tiny moment and then came straight over for a snuggle.

There was nothing else Billy could do, he’d just have to put them into his bag and carry them. That is what kangaroos did, after all.

They spent a while drying off and settling down. Then he loaded them up and began what would turn out to be one of the most arduous tasks of his life.

He travelled up and down that trail more times than he could count, each time with as big a load as he could carry and always including the pups. Then there were the awkward trips carrying the long wind–break poles, managing only two at a time while negotiating the many twists and turns of the path.

Billy finally collapsed by the fire, relieved to be done with that part of the job.

The pups scurried straight out of the pouch and sat all over him, trying to stop him from escaping again.

While they settled down he tried to work out how he was going to construct the wind–break. It would have to be really solid so it would survive the storm. He stared at the raindrops disappearing into the grey, and then disappear altogether into an inky black night as the sun gave up hope of maintaining a day. All he could think about was how vulnerable the pups still were.

He turned his attention to the interior of the overhang and noticed how the colours of the sandstone had taken on a dramatic new appearance. The glow of the night–fire bringing out all the drama. Soft reds blending with golden yellows. Characters in the paintings dancing to the flicker of the fire. Songs of ceremony drifted into Billy’s mind so he sang along, acknowledging the spirits of the cave. It lifted his own spirit, giving him the energy he needed to erect the wind break.

The pups whimpered in objection as he got to work, tangling themselves around his legs and sitting on his feet whenever he stood still. He told them he wasn’t going anywhere, but they remained unconvinced.

He wedged six poles from the floor to the roof and used his supply of twine to tie horizontal poles as high as he could reach. He put it all to the test by climbing it like a ladder and adding more horizontal poles all the way to the roof.

The pups climbed it too, surprising Billy with how clever they were, until they kept getting stuck because they couldn’t climb back down again. He patiently carried them to the ground and did his best not to tread on them. They eventually decided that they could guard him just as well from around the fire, until a puppy’s need for sleep became stronger than their will to stay awake. One by one they nodded off into a restless sleep — their fear of abandonment plaguing them with nightmares. They kept waking with a whimper and periscoping their sleepy little Bull terrier heads in search of their hero. He was busy weaving paperbark in and around the poles like wallpaper.

The windbreak ran for about three metres, a third of the way along the face of the overhang, with the fireplace sitting just beyond the end of it. Billy was able to sit out of the wind and still poke at the fire with a stick, creating a cosy, smoke–free cave, perfect for the four of them.

He prepared a small pile of wood within easy reach of his bed to throw into the fire through the night, welcomed a weary yawn, snuggled the pups in close and then fell into a deep sleep.

******************************************************
Don't forget, please "Like" my Facebook page and "Share" these chapters with your friends to help me spread the word. Gary Taaffe (author page) https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gary-Taaffe/212091488802148?fref=ts
All my books are available here:www.BunyaPublishing.com