As soon as I saw her I was gone. She wore a yellow jumper pressed into the curves of two oranges. She was standing on a platform before the tent.
‘A quid if you can kiss her on the lips,’ yelled the spruiker beside her.
She looked over the heads of the crowd as if they weren’t there. Away back somewhere she was looking—over the show arena, over the stiff, parading cattle, past the hills that stretched behind the town. Animals in cages look like that.
Kiss her? I’d kiss her!
Her lips were as red and full as a tomato. She stood firm on a pair of legs that quickened the beat in me and dried my voice so that it came thirsting from my mouth—‘I’ll take her on.’
She looked at me then. Her eyes moved over me, cool as shade. They were dark and when they paused a moment on mine they narrowed at what she saw behind my glance.
‘Come up on the platform,’ said the spruiker. He lifted his megaphone and bawled across the ground. ‘Can your local lad kiss Princess Nava on the lips? Nava, the unconquerable. The most skilful female ju-jitsuist in the world today. The beautiful Nava against this powerful male opponent. Can he kiss her on the lips in two three-minute rounds of furious action?’
The crowd grew. Upturned faces—gazing—gazing. Disdainful, contemptuous, eager, hungry for sensation. . . . What did I care? They were strangers to me. I was on the road. Here today and gone tomorrow.
It was spring and the wattle was out along the tracks. My veins were full as the creeks I had passed.
To hell with the faces! It was her I wanted. Not for the moment . . . For always. She shot warmth like a coal. I could feel her there, breathing beside me.
I’ve been with women. I’ve kissed them and left them. This was different. I just knew she was the one I had been looking for.
Through the side of my mouth I said, ‘I’m not kissing you for a quid. I’m kissing you for keeps.’
‘You’re not kissing me at all,’ she said.
Her voice was low. It had a bloom on it like a peach.
‘This is no life for you,’ I said. ‘Come away with me. I mean it. I’m on the level.’
‘I’ll put you there again when we get inside the tent,’ she said.
‘. . . One shilling admission: children half price,’ yelled the spruiker. The contest of the day. Form a queue and don’t push. There is room for all. Nava, the irresistible; the ruthless, the genius in self-defence.’
‘I can take it—from you,’ I said.
You’ll get it,’ she said. She was smiling.
‘Inside now,’ said the spruiker.
The girl dropped to the ground at the rear of the platform. She lifted the flap and disappeared into the tent. I followed with the spruiker.
‘Are you a wrestler?’ he growled.
‘No,’ I said.
He looked relieved.
‘Take it easy,’ he said, shortly. ‘Give them a run for their money. And no funny work with the dame,’ he added through his teeth, suddenly showing his hand.
‘What’s she to you?’ I snarled back at him.
‘I heard you throw your stuff,’ he said. ‘Lay off her or I’ll fix you.’
‘Like hell, you will,’ I said.
He drew a breath. I thought I was for it and stiffened, ready. But he turned away.
‘Get back to the canvas. Stand back, please.’
The crowd formed a ring. I took off my coat and waited.
After a spout of talk from the head, the girl appeared. She was in bathing togs.
‘Right,’ said the boss, looking at his watch.
I didn’t waste any time. I closed with her. She slipped through my arms like an eel. She slammed a grip on me that came from nowhere. She heaved with her shoulder. I went clean over her and landed flat on my back.
The crowd roared.
We got going again and I mixed it. I didn’t like squeezin’ her too hard. She was sorta soft. Then she put the Indian death lock on me. She wasn’t so soft. I forgot I was there to kiss her. I fought to get away from her. I broke it and grabbed her round the neck. I had all the strength, but I didn’t know how to use it.
I panted in her ear, ‘Meet me to-night, will you? Where are you stopping?’
She threw me.
At the end of the round she had me thinking twice at once.
Next round I pleaded in her ear. ‘Meet me to-night. I’m on the level, I tell you.’
But no good. She fought me off. I gave her all I had, but I didn’t have enough. . . .
When the time was just about up, I got her in a headlock. Her face came back. She was mine. My cheek was near hers.
‘You’re done,’ I whispered. ‘But I’m not forcing a kiss. Where will you be to-night at eight?’
‘I let you get this grip,’ she gasped.
I kissed her—hard and long. She came up to my mouth.
The spruiker grabbed me by the shoulder and jerked me back. She was free.
The crowd cheered.
I stood back while they filed out.
The spruiker thrust a quid into my hand. ‘Hop it,’ he snapped.
I walked to the opening. The girl came after me with my coat.
‘I’m stopping at the hotel. Nine o’clock,’ she whispered rapidly.
I went outside. I was walking on air.
That night we stood in the shadow of a shed at the rear of the pub and I told her I loved her. I put it right.
I meant it. And she knew it. She gradually shed her reserve, her disbelief. We seemed to have known each other a long time.
‘How can you keep me?’ she said at last. ‘You haven’t got a job.’
‘I’ll get one,’ I said. ‘I’m making for one now. A cove I know in Wagga wants a truck driver.’
She put her hands on my shoulders then looked into my eyes. I met her look. I had nothing to hide.
She was satisfied. She looked at the ground and, with a sudden distress in her voice, said, ‘What about him? He’ll follow us.’
‘You’re not married to him,’ I said.
‘As good as,’ she whispered.
‘What of that?’ I said. ‘I’m not worrying.’
‘He said he’ll kill me if I ever double-cross him.’
‘They generally say that. He’s yellow. You will be all right with me.’
‘If I only knew . . .’
‘Do you love him?’
‘No. No. I hate him.’
‘Then hop in and pack your things. I’ll wait for you. We’ll get married in the morning. Come on.’
‘No. Wait.’
‘Why?’
‘I want to go with you. You don’t know how much I want to,’ she cried. ‘But . . . See . . . I—I—am afraid. He can be terrible. Say if he found me.’
‘Look at me,’ I said.
She raised her eyes. I held them.
‘You need never be afraid of him again.’
She moved close to me. I kissed her and held her tightly.
He came treading softly round the corner. I pushed her back and faced him.
‘Get inside,’ he said to her. His voice was hard and came from him like a thrown knife.
He had no time to say anything else. I drove at him. I didn’t get him square and he smashed two into me before I got my balance.
He could scrap. But I can rough-house with the best. We grunted in the dark and blood warmed my fist. There was no sparring for position. It was flat out from the start.
I could feel her there standing silently against the wall, watching. It steadied me. I got him with my left, then hooked him with my right before his head had finished its jolt.
He just lay there. I turned to the girl.
‘Hop in,’ I said. ‘Hurry. Get what you want.’ She sped away.
In a moment he sat up. I leapt at him and flung him back to the ground. I jammed my knee on his chest and wrapped my fingers round his throat.
‘Feel this,’ I said and I crushed his windpipe.
His eyes stood out. His face swelled. I let up on him.
‘That’s a taste of what I’ll give you if you ever come nosing round her again,’ I said. ‘Get me?’
I tightened my grip.
‘Yes,’ he gasped.
I left him lying there. He had enough to think about. I got my swag and met her at the door. She had a small suitcase. I took it and we set off down the road.
I put my arm around her. She smiled at me. She was beautiful there under the stars.
‘Tomorrow we will get married,’ I said. ‘Tonight I will fix you up a bed in an old shed about half a mile further on. Do you love me?’
‘Yes.’
I stopped and took her in my arms. We kissed and it was as if we had never kissed before.
I did not even know her name.