The colour of kerosene - Page 3
From Griffith REVIEW Edition 22: MoneySexPower
© Copyright Griffith University & the author.
Written by Cameron Raynes
HE WAS THE FIRST ONE UP. He went for a walk, past the pines and towards a small rise to the west. Stunted eucalypts all around him. Luke remembered the first time he'd seen this landscape, how he thought that they must all be young trees, saplings. ‘Where are the old trees?' he'd asked his dad as they drove east into the scrub on a disastrous family ‘holiday'.
His dad had camped them beside a murky, mosquito-infested waterhole and had spent three days criss-crossing the ground with a hired metal detector, searching for gold, finding nothing but the bottle-tops and ring-pulls left by the campers before them. On the fourth morning, on seeing her third ‘holiday' snake, as she called them, Luke's mum had shut them all up in the car and tooted the horn until his father, grubby with dirt and frustration, had relented and packed up his gear.
Walking back to the homestead, Luke found the diesel pump near the first gate, behind a water tank. The padlock's shackle was as thick as his finger. He kept walking.
Jess was on the veranda, her head sticking out of a bundle of blankets. Her face tried a smile, gave up and fell back on itself. He stood in front of the veranda. Her eyes were the colour of kerosene. He couldn't hold her stare.
ater, the men came out with plates of bacon and sausage. Jess cooked some for Luke and he sat there with them.‘He'll be here soon,' said Pete.
Luke said nothing, ate everything on his plate and then put it down beside him on the veranda. He watched as the Greek got the cards out again, cut them, shuffled and placed two cards in front of him, picture-side up.
‘Double or nuttin'?' asked the Greek. Luke knew this game, In-Betweens or Stupid, as it was sometimes called. It was one of the simplest games.
‘Okay,' said Luke. It was a generous offer. He had a king and a four in front of him and had just been offered double or nothing on one hundred and fifty dollars that the next card the Greek turned up would land between them. But the Greek drew the four of hearts. He shook his head. ‘Your luck will change,' he said, dealing him another hand. This one was even better. A king and a two. Luke looked at him.
‘Okay,' said the Greek. ‘Hey, we like you. You're a good boy. Same as last time? Double or nuttin'?
Anything other than an ace, a two, or a king and his debt would dissolve and they'd still owe him the fare. Luke nodded. When the Greek turned over the two of spades, it was like everything in his life had been building towards that one moment in time and he just kept nodding.
‘Looks like we're just about square,' said the Greek. He wouldn't look at Luke, and Luke could see Pete out of the corner of his eye, grinning. Annabel stifled a laugh. Luke got up from the veranda and walked over to his car and then just stood there, leaning against the driver's door.
IN THE LATE AFTERNOON, sitting in his car, he felt something drop into his lap. He looked up. Jess's dirty blonde hair and tired face peered over his right shoulder.
‘I'm coming with you,' she said.
He looked down. There was a key in his lap.
‘I seen them both go out the back, down to the dump. I dunno what they're doin'.'
Luke sat there. He had the vague feeling that he was being set up.
‘I seen them go,' said Jess, a note of urgency in her voice.
They pushed the car over to the pump. Jess filled it as Luke sat in his seat, fingering his keys. She jumped in next to him. The car exploded into life and Luke gunned it, dust pouring out behind. He pointed it at the track, nearly hit the gate, and then they were through.
‘Those boys are too screwed up,' said Jess when they were clear of the station. ‘Didn't let me sleep hardly at all last night.'
‘Who's with who?' asked Luke.
Jess shrugged. ‘Don't ‘fink it matters. Pete says for men it's like lancing a boil or somefink,' she said. She moved in her seat, adjusting her skirt. ‘Says you gotta' get the poison out before it drives ya' crazy. Says he's gotta' do it every day.'
Luke looked at her legs, looked back at the track.
‘He'd prob'ly do it with the Greek,' Jess said. ‘If there was no one else around.'
‘He's your brother?'
‘Step,' she said. ‘Same mum. Different dad. But mine didn't hang around either. Mum never had no luck wiv' men.'
‘Where's Frank?' Luke asked as they turned onto the main highway.
‘Frank's dead.'
Luke nodded, humming a tune to the sound of the wind rushing by. She started telling him how she'd been abused by her stepfather, a fisherman her mother had taken up with after her own father had wandered off.
‘I'm sorry,' said Luke. ‘I don't want to hear that.'
‘Saved your life,' she said. ‘You owe me.'
She stretched out her hand and rested it lightly on his thigh. Her left leg was turned towards him, resting on her right knee. He could see the ‘
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