Goldenscale

Wednesday 22 March

55

At breakfast, Beth kept her eyes on her cereal. Sam was so downcast and inattentive that Freddy, seeing an opportunity, put his paws up on the table and stole a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

‘You were right. Dogs are in charge,’ Beth said. No response. ‘You need more sleep,’ she said. ‘It’s just a house.’

Sam snorted. ‘Don’t bother, Beth. I don’t need you in my head.’

Beth finished her food, and picked up her schoolbag. On her way out she saw her father. He stood with his hand on the cellar door. As if testing its temperature.

She raised an eyebrow.

‘Warm to the touch,’ he said. ‘The boiler might be playing up — pipes run above this door. Something to do with the tremors.’ He sniffed. ‘And what’s that bloody stench?’

Beth made her way to the front door. Let the dragon do whatever it was that he was doing.

‘I’m getting Barry Stanford in tomorrow to fix all of this stuff,’ he called to her.

‘What’s the point, Dad, if we’re going to be moving anyway?’

‘Because we’re not leaving tomorrow. It’ll take a while to find a new place. And we need the place looking good before we can sell it.’

Walking down Dairy Road towards school, Beth attempted to consider her situation calmly. If Barry the handyman arrived on Thursday, he probably wouldn’t start work until Friday. If he showed up on Friday, he’d work slowly, or not at all. She remembered how long he had taken to renovate the decking in the back yard. With luck, the dragon would burrow out before the cellar was filled in.

She had been useful to the dragon. Perhaps he was grateful, but she had no way of knowing. If the dragon was able to fly free, she would count herself satisfied. He would go away into the wilderness, the hole in the yard would be filled in, the tremors would cease and they could shelve their moving plans. Not only that, but Flack would give up on his obsession with the scale, she would become supremely popular at school, Jo’s father would be acquitted and Lenny would … 

‘Hello there, Beth.’

Flack was waiting by the school gate, grim faced.

‘Beth. The police are here. They want to talk to you.’

She was ushered through into the principal’s office. Her first time on the Captain’s Bridge. Tacky, she thought — the usual cheap potted palm, a fingerprint spotted glass-topped table and a photograph of the education minister. Two officers rose from a cracked vinyl lounge, one of them familiar.

‘Constable Darling.’

The constable smiled, but without warmth. ‘Hello Beth. How’s that eccentric uncle of yours?’

‘He’s left the country.’

‘This is Inspector Craig, up from Marshalton.’

Craig was freckled and red-skinned, face bisected by a clipped ginger moustache. They shook hands.

‘You know why we’re here?’ He gestured at Principal Betts. ‘Mr Crabbit. We understand you’ve had encounters with him.’

Beth almost felt sorry for Lenny Crabbit. A mongrel dad and pokie-addicted mother, and probably beaten regularly for no reason at all. Convinced of the cruelty of life, full of hateful ideas and terrorised at school until he was big enough to turn the tables. He never had a chance. Especially not now. ‘It’s his dad who gave him all these stupid ideas. Why not go after him?’

Betts glared at her. ‘Don’t you worry about Len’s family. Leave that to the police.’

After that, there were many questions about Len and his various outbursts. Beth answered most without elaboration, just wanting to be far away. Principal Betts was obviously glad to see her gone, and could be heard apologising for her as she walked out through the secretary’s office. What did I do wrong? So I couldn’t remember everything — who can? She got to thinking about the dragon and his memory. If he really was as old as he claimed, perhaps he could only remember small portions of his own life, or hardly anything at all.

The lunch bell had obviously sounded without her noticing, for the quadrangle was filled with students playing handball. Jo had one end of a slatted bench, and was eating nori rolls with soy sauce while reading a paperback. She looked up and smiled.

‘Warm, ain’t it? I hear you were being interrogated?’

‘The Lenny saga goes on. Inspector Craig from somewhere, and that maggot Betts.’

‘Aha. And what did you tell them?’

‘About the bike, mainly. And some of Len’s little jibes in class. I ended up feeling sorry for him.’

‘I knew you’d get soft on him.’ Jo’s voice rose. ‘Len isn’t going to thank you for ignoring what he did. No-one is. Betts wants him gone, save the school from any more stuff-ups. I know exactly what he wants to say: there’s no race problem — just one nutcase, et cetera.’

‘I don’t care about Betts. I’m just trying to be fair.’

‘Why be fair? You know what he called me. Was that fair?’

‘I do remember. It’s just …’

‘Forget it, OK?’ said Jo, ‘I hope you never have to do jury duty. Have to wait a month to get a verdict.’ She returned to her novel. Beth waited for the bell, watching students move around the schoolyard. Sarah could be seen in the middle distance, conversing with her supposed friends. Every now and then she glanced surreptitiously towards Jo and Beth.

A shadow fell across Beth.

‘Hi!’

‘Hi, Hanford.’

She hadn’t really thought of him for days. You’re just too wholesome, she mused, looking up at him.

‘All my friends call me Hans. What’re you two up to?’

‘Melting,’ said Jo, finally looking up from her book. ‘Too hot for much else.’

‘Not for completely everything,’ he said, sitting down beside Jo. ‘A few of us are going swimming by the railway bridge this evening. We’ve all got our gear. You guys have got swimming this afternoon, don’t you? Well, did you want to come down with us?’

Beth nodded. ‘Jo’s not much of a swimmer … ow!’

Beth received another elbow in the ribs, harder than the first.

‘I’ve got my bathers,’ said Jo, ‘just forgot my towel. But I don’t need it.’

‘Cool. What about you, Beth?’

She nodded, amused. ‘I’m in.’

When he’d gone, Beth turned to her friend. ‘I thought you said he had a silly name. And clumsy, you said.’

‘I like clumsy. It’s sweet.’

‘Sweet?’

‘And you’re not snippy with me?’ Jo asked. ‘For liking him?’

‘No. Life’s crazy enough.’

56

Walking slowly on the way to the waterhole, they took off their leather shoes and bathed their feet in roadside dust. ‘Mum had to delay her flight,’ said Jo. ‘The trial was put back another two days, because the case before it went too long.’

‘What do you think will happen? At the trial, I mean.’

‘Who knows? If he’s bought a good lawyer, maybe he’ll be back. Maybe it’s corrupt. Mum always says that you have to know who to pay. And the sooner you pay, the lower the price. That’s just the way it is in poor countries.’

‘I hope she knows, then. The right guy.’

‘Yep. And I hope she doesn’t find about me coming down here,’ Jo said. ‘Boys and girls swimming together — it’s a catastrophe!’

They changed into their one piece swimsuits behind an overgrown willow tree.

They ran the last few metres, throwing their gear under a tree by the bank. Beth was determined to forget the dragon, if only for an afternoon.

‘Where are they?’ asked Jo.

‘Who cares?’ Beth shouted, wading straight in and striking out for the opposite bank. The water was cool and deep, the current strong. Hanford and his mates arrived a few seconds later, and within minutes Jo was making a fool of herself for him (let it be me, a part of Beth cried). She swam and dived with the rest of them, trying to become a part of the moment and admit no speculation or troublesome thoughts.

Clown prince of the year, Damian Ibbot, made Beth try a precarious-looking rope swing. She arced through space, let go and flew, exulting at the sting of water against her body. For a few minutes she was only aware of the blue sky, the current, and pebbles beneath her feet. There was real pleasure in forgetting everything.

The boys decided to climb the railway bridge. One by one they reached the top, launched themselves and slapped back into the water.

‘They’re doing it for us,’ said Beth in mock admiration. ‘All at once. Who’d have thought sheep could climb a bridge?’

They goggled when Steven Facey hung upside down from a girder over the railway line.

‘I’ve seen him do that when a train was passing underneath,’ said Hanford, ‘nearly smeared from Melbourne to Sydney.’

When the others had gathered up their towels and left, he walked them back into town.

‘I’ll bring a few lilos — we can go rafting. Can you come next week?’

Jo nodded emphatically.

Hanford halted at the turn-off to his street. ‘Well then,’ he said, ‘this is going to be a good summer. I can tell.’

‘I know you saw him first,’ Jo said as soon as he was out of earshot. ‘But do you think he likes me?’

‘Does a one-legged Catholic duck swim in the woods? Stop worrying, Aarons. You’re well suited to him. He’s pretty cheesy, though. He’s all Mormon wholesome.’

Jo flicked her damp hair back and smiled. ‘Cheesy beats selfish arsehole.’ In the waning evening light she looked much older. Beth envied her.

‘You know, it’s strange, but I can’t help thinking you’ve already got someone, Beth. You certainly act that way.’

Beth laughed at that comment long after Jo had rounded the corner and vanished from sight. ‘Have I ever,’ she said, cutting through a small park. ‘He’s out of sight a lot of time, hot-headed, likes to sleep in, and a bit of a control freak. But I think he’ll dig himself out of his rut and soon he’ll be up in the air.’

Sam came into the kitchen in time to witness Beth wolfing down cold leftovers from the fridge. Her afternoon’s activities had left her ravenous.

‘You’ll never guess who’s down in the cellar!’ Sam said.

She almost lost bit her tongue. ‘What? No-one’s allowed down there!’ She brushed at her mouth, trying to steady her hand and appear casual.

‘It’s Dr Graydon. He says you invited him.’

‘Graydon is in the cellar? Now?’ She ran down into that hot, dry room and smacked into her father.

‘Oof. Signal before overtaking.’

‘Hi Dad. Sam said …’

‘Have you met Dr Graydon?’

‘Of course she has,’ Graydon said, his voice muffled. He was working in shorts and a T-shirt, sweating in the heat and his head was halfway into the hole.

Get back! He could kill you in a second!

‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea,’ she said.

‘Half a mo’,’ came the doctor’s muffled voice. ‘I’m getting sulphur readings, and traces of a lot of other things. Methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen disulphide … extraordinary.’

He stood up, beaming and brushing dirt from his hair.

‘Welcome, Beth. There’s regular venting of gases, though this area isn’t supposed to have any geothermal activity. Unless there’s a burning coal seam somewhere down there. But there are no known coal deposits in this valley.’

‘Is that possible?’ Nick asked. He seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘Or maybe a break in the local sewer? Part of a cave system?’

‘All possible,’ said Graydon, looking like he hoped all options were true at once.

‘It’s dangerous,’ Beth broke in. ‘the gas, I mean. Knocks people out. Remember Len?’

‘Maybe. We don’t have enough data.’ Graydon started to pack away his equipment. Sam bumped into Beth, trying to get a better view.

‘I’ll be back in tomorrow,’ Graydon said briskly. ‘I’ll bring a little fibre camera to poke down into the hole. See how far it goes. Might shed some light on this, ha ha.’

‘Are the vapours dangerous?’ Sam asked.

‘Not yet. Just smelly. They won’t build up too much — it’s fairly well ventilated down here. You children should stay out, though.’

They trooped upstairs and lingered while Dr Graydon washed his hands in the laundry tub. Nick offered him coffee.

Sam sat and made a show of surfing on his iPad, but Beth could tell he was listening not playing.

‘Just glad Beth mentioned this to me.’

What would poking the camera down there reveal? His eye? His teeth? ‘No,’ she muttered fiercely and the others looked at her. ‘Freddy,’ she said, ‘he wanted to go outside.’ The camera wouldn’t matter — for surely the dragon would melt it before it came anywhere near him.

‘I’m ringing Barry and delaying him for a day or two,’ said her father. ‘This is worth finalising now.’

When Graydon had gone, Nick walked back up the drive with Beth, scratching his head.

‘Pinch me! Volcanic gases in the cellar? I think I preferred subsidence.’

‘Graydon’s not such an expert, you know,’ Beth said. ’Or why would he be working in Goolgoorook?

Nick laughed. ‘That applies to me too, you know.’

‘I didn’t mea—’

‘I know. You just want to keep the cellar for yourself. For ages I thought it was Sam going down there. He’s got form. But now I think it’s you.’ He bent to pull a weed from the side of the driveway. ‘I’m not upset. You like to figure things out.’

‘I don’t want to move, Dad,’ said Beth

‘Even I know that,’ he said. ‘But I’m afraid that the secret of marriage lies in compromise.’

‘What if we could prove that there would be no more earthquakes? And no more fumes?’

Nick shrugged. ‘Maybe.’ He smiled. But I have no idea at all how you are going to do that. Unless the non-expert Dr Graydon comes up with something.’

Beth made a face.

They took seats on the wicker lounge by the front door.

‘Guess I’ll have to explain Graydon’s visit to your mum, too. Any suggestions?’

Abbie was surprisingly calm at the news, relayed to her in the lounge. ‘I don’t care anymore,’ she said, taking Nick’s hand. ‘We’re selling.’

‘We can’t go!’ Sam insisted, ‘not from our home!’

‘We can be at home somewhere else, darling. In a lovely house.’

Beth frowned. ‘But this is the only place he’s ever lived in.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Beth! Grow up! We’re even staying in Goolgoorook. In the area, at least.’

‘If we can afford it,’ Beth shot back. ‘But I don’t think that’s the issue for Sam.’

‘What issue? He’s had a good childhood!’ Abbie snapped. ‘You both have. People move houses all the time!’

’I’m going to bed, Mum. ’Night, Sam.’

He mumbled something to her, but didn’t raise his head.

Nick caught up with her on the stairs. ‘I’m the other half of this decision, OK?’

‘I’ve got to do an assignment, Dad.’

‘Right. You don’t seem too committed in that department recently.’

‘Flack said something to you,’ said Beth. Trying to get at her through her parents. ‘I have to go, Dad.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Be unfair. Go hide in your burrow.’

She slammed her door and leaned on the other side. Opening a textbook and starting an assignment was unthinkable. She paced for a few moments, fell onto her bed.

When very small, she would lie quietly on her bed, pretending to float. The pale white ceiling would become a cloud filled sky, or a galaxy thronged with stars bright as cracked quartz. Tonight, the roof was just plaster and paint.

57

She woke without needing an alarm, as if part of her mind had been counting the hours. On her way through the house, Beth collected a bottle of chilled water from the fridge. The cellar was even hotter than it had been in the afternoon. The dragon started talking the instant she descended the cellar stairs.

‘Your science is coming for me, Beth.’

‘Dr Graydon, you mean?’

‘He was down here, too near. His machines smell me.’

She frowned. ‘You’re wrong. He thinks the tremors are natural. He has absolutely no idea that you are down here.’

‘Yes, yes. Am I not natural, Beth? That is what you said the other day. Do you think I am a machine, a piece of metal like his cold little tools? Do you think he will not smell me?’

‘Of course he won’t. He was only measuring the air.’

‘He smelled with a thing that is not a nose. Perhaps it can see me, know me …’

‘No. Machines are not intelligent.’ she said. ‘Not very, anyway.’

‘He will be coming back, no? You must stop him.’

‘Come off it, will you?’ She forced her voice down. ‘I have no control in my own life, let alone over anyone else. He’s an adult, and I’m just a useless kid.’

‘Not useless. But if you cannot stop him, I will hurt him.’

She hesitated. ‘We only have to wait two days, and you will be free.’

‘I do not want your science to see me. Bringer of death, singer of oblivion.’

‘It’s not my science. It’s just a way of looking at things.’

‘Then don’t look at me!’ he growled, his voice filling the space until she felt she was swimming in sound. ‘Look elsewhere and let me go free.’

‘I want you to be free. To fly. You know that.’

He quietened. ‘I know. You are an honest creature.’

She looked down.

‘I want to see you fly,’ she said quietly.

‘Indeed. When I am abroad, perhaps I shall fly past. Let you see the wings of the dragon. In payment for what you have done. The difficulties I have created for you.’

‘I’ll stand on Mount Jugamai at midnight,’ she said, ‘on the next full moon. And wait for you.’

‘Yes. I will be there.’

Right.

‘These men,’ said Beth, ‘want to help my father. That’s all. If you leave them alone, your moment will come.’ She felt a fraud. ‘Just trust me, can you?’

He was silent now. ‘Dragon?’

She could hear the house ticking as the gutters contracted in the cool of the night.

‘Yes, Beth?’

‘What is it like to live forever?’

‘I haven’t lived forever. Nothing is eternal.’

‘You know what I mean. Not to become old.’

‘Each cycle, my body wears out. When I return, I am reborn.’

‘Like a phoenix,’ Beth mused. ‘It’s still the same you, though. Same memories.’

‘In a way, yes. But I feel just as precarious as any other living thing. The future is as uncertain for my kind as for you. We are almost all gone now, whereas you are so many. Perhaps it is you who will prove immortal. As a group, if not individually.’

Beth made a noncommittal noise. ‘That’s not very comforting for me. I’m frightened of dying.’ She smiled. ‘Can I tell you a joke?’

‘That is one thing dragons and humans have in common.’

‘It’s not really a joke,’ said Beth, ‘it’s just something someone wrote. He said that rather than achieve immortality through his work, he’d prefer to do so by not dying.’

‘I think I understand,’ said the dragon, after some hesitation. ‘He sees through the lies humans tell themselves to make death seem less final. That somehow achievements during life will give you an presence beyond it.’

‘Something like that,’ Beth said.

You are a very strange creature, Beth. Like a child in some ways, but sophisticated. How odd to think you have only seen ten and four summers.’

‘But there aren’t so many more summers than that for any human,’ Beth said. ‘Doesn’t it seem pointless working with us? We’re gone in an eye blink.’ Beth took another sip from her bottle.

‘A life’s worth is not based on its length, Beth. As long as I live, I’ll remember a girl with courage enough to face the unknown.’

‘Aw shucks,’ said Beth, but she blushed anyway.

Once more the cellar filled with a million scents, and Beth knew that those she was able to detect were vastly outnumbered by those she could not. It is his song, and I can only hear the odd note.

‘So when does this new life begin?’

‘Perhaps two nights? It is already happening. I am not in full control of the process. But I will warn you, I know what I owe.’ The house groaned overhead as if it was a ship slowly scraping past an iceberg. Beth suddenly felt a chill radiate out from her core, as if her heart had begun to pump liquid helium in place of blood.

‘I thank you for that, Beth. I hope to see you tomorrow night.’

Friday night. God, so soon! Her family would be out for dinner, out of town, out of danger — if she had an ounce of cunning in her body.