| |
Piho wrote a note for Cobb,
Thanks for dinner, mate.
Got thru to Tammy OK.
Randy’s missing, so I’m
off to find him. Sorry I
can’t help with truck. - P
and left it on the table. He was on the road by six. The bush was cool, fresh and quiet. It was a substantial improvement on his previous seventeen mornings in a row waking up in tin shed in Jillaranda Creek listening to Randy grunting in his sleep.
At six-fifteen Tammy and Mr Turinger pulled up in their car. Tammy leapt out, close to tears, and gave him an unexpected hug.
“We haven’t seen him!” she said straight off.
Piho tried to remain calm, “Ah, he’s probably asleep by the road somewhere. We’ll find him.” He got into the car, trying not to reveal how worried he actually was. They drove slowly towards Cunnundrom, windows down, shouting into the bush to either side of the road. Mr Turinger tooted the horn a lot. The road dipped and rose and dipped, all the time gradually descending. There were signs of flooding everywhere. Then they came to a place where the muddy depth markers showed that the water level had reached a whole metre.
“Stop!” yelled Tammy suddenly, “There he is!”
Indeed it was. There, indistinguishable by colour from the flood-strewn background, stood a very filthy Randy Cathro, wavering like a willow in the wind. Tammy ran to him and hugged him mud and all.
“Randy! You’re alright!”
He said nothing, just leaned on her as she helped him to the car.
“Are you hurt?” she kept asking, “Are you alright? What happened to you?”
He waved weakly at the bush and mumbled something about getting shut inside a washing machine, then slumped into the back seat with a gasp of relief.
“Any chance of breakfast?” was all he said.
“Ooooo you stupid boy!” fussed Tammy, “What were you doing hitch-hiking alone at night in a thunder storm?!”
He gave her a gooey look, “Just wanted to be with you.”
“Aww...” Tears came to her eyes. Then she became furious again, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?! Why didn’t you phone me when you got here?!”
“Just wanted it to be a surprise.”
“Aww!” She used her hanky to wipe some of the mud from his face.
Mr Turinger, looking concerned, finally got a word in edgewise, “You okay, kid? Do you need to get to a hospital or anything?”
“No,” he managed to murmur, “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Let’s get you home then.”
At that, Randy quietly passed out.
#
PIHO SAT GLUMLY AT the Turingers’ kitchen table. What with Randy laid up in bed and all, he had the feeling he was once again stuck with him.
“More toast?” asked Mr Turinger from across the table.
Piho mustered a cheerful reply, “No thanks, mate. I’m chocka. Hey, thanks for brekkie and all, and coming out to pick us up and all that.”
“No worries, mate,” replied Mr Turinger, “I’m just glad Randy didn’t go and get himself drowned at the last minute. That was a really dumb thing he did.”
“Aw,” said Piho, trying to think of a positive spin on Randy’s stupidity, “he’d been talking about Tammy ever since we arrived. He’s mad about her.”
“Hmmm.” Tammy’s father thoughtfully finished his coffee, then said, “You know: Tammy’s totally nuts about him too.” He sounded equally mystified.
“Yeah, I know, been like that since ninth grade!”
“Quite an enterprising lad isn’t he?” said Tammy’s father, “Quite smart?”
Piho choked on his coffee, then tried to cover up his reaction. “Ahhh ... yeah, some people misjudge him. But, um, his heart’s in the right place.”
Tammy came in just then and slid into a chair. “He’s still asleep.”
“Oh heck!” said Piho suddenly.
“What?”
“I just remembered. You know Beau?”
“Of course I know Beau!”
“Who’s this?” interrupted Mr Turinger.
“Randy’s sister,” explained Tammy, “She’s a brilliant artist. Won that design contest at school, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Tammy turned back to Piho, “So what about her?”
“She’s coming here today!”
“Whaaaaat!?”
Piho quickly explained the whole situation (leaving out the minor fact that he and Randy had walked out of their 'restaurant training' placement in Jillaranda Creek).
Tammy got very excited, “Hey this is fantastic! I can’t wait to see her!”
“She won’t be here long. Needs to go back to Brisbane for her course.”
“So, are you going with her?” asked Tammy, her voice suddenly going limp.
“Well it’s all pretty loose at the moment,” Piho answered strategically, trying to find a way that didn’t break her heart, “That was Plan A, but...”
“You guys can stay here if you want,” interrupted Mr Turinger right then, “Won’t exactly be a theme park; we’ll both be working; but I think Randy needs a couple of quiet days before he’s ready to go anywhere.”
“You sure?” asked Piho, not sure he liked the sound of that.
“Yeah, no problem, mate.”
“Okay, ahhhh, thanks.” Piho stood up, very thoughtful. Putting on a brave face he added, “Well, guess I’d better go clean up Randy’s stuff.”
#
HE TOOK THE FAMILIAR yellow bag to the Turinger’s laundry and put Randy’s muddy stuff into the washing machine. Everything stank, but Piho was pretty sure that at least half the nasty smells had gone in before the flood. He found a wooden stick to extract the last of Randy’s radioactive socks, then unzipped the side pocket, extracted all of Randy’s tickets and documents and put them on a shelf to dry.
The bag was still heavy at one end. He unzipped it and found a rock.
“Huh?”
Perplexed, he went outside and tossed it into the Turingers’ wheelie bin, then hosed out Randy’s bag and hung it on the clothes line.
Right about then Beau arrived. He heard the car pull up, then the doorbell ring. Tammy went screaming out and there was a lot of hoo-ha and squealing and general girl stuff. He wandered in, toying with an idea. He had to find some way of putting his plan to Randy’s sister but he’d need a private moment to do so.
Tammy was telling Beau all about Randy’s little adventure. Beau was shaking her head in dismay, but if she felt guilty about it she sure didn’t show it. “That boy can be such a boof-head sometimes!” was all she said.
Tammy looked hurt.
Beau apologised.
“Come on,” said Tammy, getting over it, “let’s go see if he’s awake.”
Everyone went through to the guest room where Randy was laid up. He had developed some very fine bruises, although his cuts and abrasions were looking better. And he was still totally asleep.
They returned to the kitchen.
“Oh it’s so good to see you!” began Tammy again to Beau, “There’s so many art galleries in this area, and that always reminds me of you. Have you ever heard of Jumbuk Bangerreba?”
Beau totally lit up, “The Jumbuk Bangerreba? He lives here?”
“About twenty minutes out of town.”
“I have got to go see that man! He is famous!”
“But don’t you have to get on to Brisbane?”
“I’ve got time. I’ll make time!”
“Alright. I’d love to go too, but Randy...”
“He’ll be fine. Come on!”
Tammy turned to Piho, sort of pleadingly. Piho shrugged. “I’ll watch him.”
“Cool!” said Tammy, bouncing on the spot in that funny way she had. She turned to Beau, “I just remembered: I’ve got some of his works in my bedroom, just prints of course. Dad got them for my birthday. Come see them, come on!”
Piho sighed deeply and went to get his bag from the car in the garage. It was getting hot and he needed to change. In fact he though he’d get in the pool.
Coming into the house again through the internal door, he overheard the girls talking in Tammy’s room as he went by.
“Tams,” Beau was saying, “this might be asking a lot but I’ve got my big Cake Art practical coming up. We’re catering for an event and...”
“Cool! What is it?” interrupted Tammy.
“Oh just some cricket thing. ...”
Piho’s ears pricked up and he paused to listen.
“... Australia and New Zealand are having some big fundraising dinner and my group is doing the theme cake...”
“Cool!” interrupted Tammy again, “Any chance of some autographs?”
“Huh?” said Beau.
“For the boys! They love cricket! They’re going to the big game, you know.”
“Well, bully for them,” sneered Beau, “and no, I’m not going to act like some spotty little schoolboy and embarrass myself asking for autographs.” Beau’s voice dropped a little as she continued, “Look, you know how Randy screws up everything I do? Well I’ve just got this feeling that if he gets to Brisbane before Thursday night he’s going to jinx my big moment...”
“How could he do that?” interrupted Tammy, perplexed.
“I don’t know,” growled Beau, no doubt recalling a previous Randy-induced disaster, “but I really don’t want him there. Not even in the same city! So I’m asking you a big favour, Tams. Can you keep him here till then? Pleeease?”
By this stage Piho was glued. Slipping through the open doorway into Randy’s darkened room, he kept listening.
Tammy was speaking, “Look, I’ll let you into a little secret: Dad wants them to stay with us anyway, then we’ll all going down to Brizzy this Friday. Take the boys to Movieworld Saturday then the Big Game on Sunday. But don’t tell them. We want it to be a surprise.”
Beau’s voice relaxed, “Great! Fantastic! Your dad’s the greatest. Now, if we’re going to get out to this gallery we’d better get a wriggle on.”
“Okay. I’ll go tell Dad.”
Tammy hurried past as Piho slunk further back. Beau followed, glancing at her watch and probably calculating her remaining available hours with the rental car. And Piho so wanted to be in that car! He so wanted to be gone from all this!
Right then something touched him on his shoulder. He leapt in fright.
#
IT WAS RANDY, STANDING there in his undies. “So what’s happening, man?”
“Don’t do that to me!”
“Do what?”
“Nothing, just that creeping-up-on-me thing.”
Randy didn’t seem to be listening, ““Where’s Tammy?” he asked.
“Ah, she’s going out with Beau, to some gallery thing.”
“So Beau’s here already?”
“Yuh.” Piho had to distract Randy from wanting to know too much. He glanced down at the bag in his hands. “Hey, I’m getting in the pool. Wanna join us?”
“Yeah.” Randy started straight for the door.
“Dude, you’ll need pants!”
#
RANDY ONLY MADE IT as far as the deck chair by the pool and collapsed noisily into it. He lay like someone totally exhausted, which he was. That was until he spotted his bag drying on the clothesline. He sort of screamed.
“Arrrgh!”
He sprang up and rushed to the bag, fumbling at the end pocket. It was empty. He went into a complete flap, “Where is it? Where is it?”
“Where’s what?” asked Tammy, rushing from the house as if interrupted halfway through getting changed. It barely distracted Randy for more than five seconds.
“Err... nothing. Just a souvenir I picked up. Just a ... a rock.”
“Oh that,” drawled Piho from behind him, “I chucked it in the bin.”
Randy was getting quite frantic, “Where? Where? Which bin?”
With a tired sigh Piho took Randy to the wheelie bin around the side of the house. “In there.”
Randy immediately flipped up the lid and leaned in, frantically rummaging.
“Randy!” said Tammy crossly.
Next thing he had the bin lying flat and had virtually crawled right inside. Five seconds later he emerged triumphant with his rock, plus a bonus layer of garbage flakes and a few maggots.
“What’s the big deal about that?” asked Piho curiously.
Like always, Randy seemed momentarily lost for an explanation, then, like always, his mouth opened up and a stream of words spilled out, “It’s just ... um, special to me. Last night – you know when I nearly drowned; well when I finally got out of the flood this was the first thing I touched. It ... it ... like it sort-of saved me, y’know? Like when I touched it I knew I was going to live again and, and, and that I'd get to see you and Tammy and everyone and get home and all that. So, ah,” he shrugged, “so I had to keep it, eh.”
“Aww,” said Tammy, “isn’t that sweet.” She wrapped his fingers around it like she had seen people do in the movies and gave him a kiss on his fuzzy teenage cheek, despite the stench of garbage, “Treasure it always,” she whispered.
“Um, yeah. But I ... uh, I treasure you even more.”
“Aww,” she said again, mushily.
Piho turned away, privately sticking two fingers into his mouth and making a vomiting noise. He nearly collided with Beau. Glancing back to check that Randy and Tammy were totally distracted with each other (which they were, totally) he caught Beau’s sleeve and said, “Uh, can we have a word, in private?” He glanced towards the house.
Beau raised one quizzical eyebrow. “What about?”
Piho lowered his voice as he kept moving away from Randy and Tammy who were still making gooey eyes at each other by the rubbish bin.
“You’re driving back to Brisbane this arvo, right?”
“Yes,” answered Beau suspiciously, “And?”
“Well I was wondering, like, if I could get a lift with you. Just me. See, ah, Randy’s sorta got Tammy, and he’s still pretty wrecked from that flood thing and all, so I though he should stay here. But me, well I’d just like to sorta grab a few days to myself in the big smoke.”
“So you hate each other again, right?” said Beau knowingly.
“Aw no, it’s not that, it’s just... yeah.”
Beau laughed. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”
“Yeah, it’s what I want.”
She looked at him hard for a few seconds. “Are you jealous of Randy and Tammy by any chance?”
“No!”
Beau just said, “Okay, whatever.”
But she knew. She knew. Piho was jealous, big time!
#
RANDY, SOMEHOW RE-ENERGIZED by his bout of bin-diving, saw Tammy off on her little jaunt with Beau, then went indoors to take a shower. While in the bathroom he gave the fossil a quick scrub with someone’s toothbrush and then crept out to spy out the house. No-one was around. Piho and Mr T were out by the pool, talking.
He took the cordless phone from the kitchen and retreated to his room. Digging Klaus Reinhold’s plastic business card out from under his pillow he wiped it clean then carefully keyed the lengthy number into the phone.
It barely rang once. “Ya?” answered Reinhold.
“Hi,” said Randy, “is that Klaus Reinhold?”
“Ya.”
“Remember me? You picked me up last night.”
“No.”
“Yes you did, remember? At Charlie’s place. He was in your car and he gave us a beer and he was celebrating ‘cos he’d just sold you a fossil.”
Silence. Randy thought the phone had gone dead.
“Who are you?” said Reinhold suspiciously.
“I’m Randy. Remember, you picked us up last night...”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright. So how do you know about the, uh, rock.” Reinhold’s voice grew angry, “Did Charlie tell you!?”
“No, no, no, I just figured it out for myself.”
“Who are you? Who do you work for?”
“I’m Randy. You picked me up last night. And I don’t work for anyone. Listen, I’ve got a fossil you might be interested in.”
“What sort of fossil?” He was still very suspicious.
Randy lowered his voice, “A dinosaur egg.”
“Hah! Listen kid, I’m not fooled that easy. So Charlie got drunk last night, eh? He told you, eh? Then you think you can sell me some random rock, eh? Well listen kid, I know how to identify fossils. Been doing it since I vas your age. Goodbye.”
The phone went dead. Randy hit redial, and the moment Reinhold answered he very quickly said, “There was a whole nest of eggs. Even had a little dinosaur guarding them.” Silence again, a very big, very interested silence, then Reinhold spoke again.
“Where are you?”
“Do you know Cunnundrom? Not far from Charlie’s place.”
“Ya, ya, of course I know. Listen I’m busy for a few days. I’ll call you Monday. And listen Rondy, you tell no-one about this. You understand? No-one.”
“Sure. Understood. But I’d better call you or someone else might answer.”
“I got your number right here...”
“No! I’ll call you, no problem. Eight o’clock, okay?”
Silence, but Randy could still hear the sound of the open line. Why was this guy being so difficult?
“Okay,” said Reinhold finally, “You call me Monday, eight o’clock. Maybe I look at your egg.” Then the line went dead for the second time.
Stiff, tired but very happy, Randy returned to the kitchen to replace the phone. He had barely got it down before Mr Turinger hove into view.
“Randy, heard you were up. How’re you feeling?”
“A bit sore.”
“Well you don’t have to go anywhere in a hurry, mate. We’ve talked things over with your sister and you can stay on till Friday.”
Randy lit up. “Fair go?!”
“Yep, now what do you want for lunch? Kangaroo, crocodile or camel?”
“You’re joking me.”
“Nope. You can get them all here. But if you’d rather have a steak...?”
“Steak, definitely! I don’t want to eat some animal!”
#
MR TURINGER WENT OUT shopping for the barbecue, leaving Randy alone in the house with Piho. Randy went to lie down in his room but he couldn’t relax. The secret of the egg just seemed too much to bear alone. Finally he couldn’t stand it any longer. Picking up the fossil, he went straight to the lounge where Piho was sprawled in a big padded leather swivel chair beside the bookcase reading a science magazine.
“Hey, Piho.”
Piho didn’t even look up. Randy waved the egg left and right, trying to attract his attention. Finally Piho looked up, annoyed. “What?”
“This time we’re going to get rich!”
Piho sighed tiredly and rolled his eyes, “Okay, what is it this time: Dinosaur Poop? ‘Great for the garden! Just wait a million years!’ Sure.” He went back to his magazine, at which point Randy tossed the fossil into Piho's lap. Piho folded up like a jack-knife, “Ow! Why’d you do that for!”
In a rage, Piho seized up the egg and made to throw it into the fireplace.
“No!” squawked Randy, trying to intercept, “It’s a fossil!”
Piho didn’t throw it but he still held it ready, just out of Randy’s reach.
Randy belatedly got the message, “Ah, yeah, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to hit you exactly right there.”
Piho scowled at Randy, shaking his head slowly as if to say, ‘Why do I bother?’ then turned his attention to the rock. He turned it over twice then shook his head again. “Nar. It’s just a bloody rock mate, like what’s in your head.”
Randy looked hurt.
“Look,” said Piho with strained patience, “could you please get off this dream of getting rich quick. I have had it up to here with your schemes!” He gestured with his hand just above his eyes.
“Well this isn’t going to be like the other schemes,” said Randy coldly, “This time it’s going to be different. And you know: I wanted to cut you in because you’re my buddy. But, if you’d rather not...”
Piho lifted his eyes and met Randy’s gaze with an equally chilly stare, “Yeah, well actually I’d rather not.”
“O-kay,” replied Randy stiffly, “Suit yourself. Now if you don’t mind I’d like my fossil back.”
A twinkle developed in Piho’s eye. “Come and get it then.”
Under any other circumstances, seeing as how Randy was stiff and sore and had cuts and bruises all over his body, he wouldn’t have bothered. But this was for money, not love. He lunged at Piho. The chair swivelled suddenly and tipped over and they both crashed into the bookcase. The impact caused several dozen books and magazines to slide onto them from their untidy stacks.
Randy crawled from the mess, having succeeded in forcing the fossil from Piho’s laughter-weakened grip.
When Piho finally got up he noticed Randy staring fixedly at the cover of a National Geographic magazine. Piho leaned over his shoulder and took a look too.
“This,” said Randy softly but dramatically, tapping the magazine, “is just the proof I need. You’ve got to believe me now.”
On the cover, photographed with clever coloured lighting, was a tiny baby dinosaur curled up in an egg-shaped rock. Piho was about to snort again when he noticed that Randy was holding his own rock right beside it with its slightly broken side facing up.
“Look,” whispered Randy as if he were actually only seeing it for the first time, “doesn’t that look like a little eye hole? Isn’t that a skull?”
“Bloody hell,” whispered Piho.
#
PIHO GRABBED THE MAGAZINE and started reading. Randy peered over his shoulder, complaining when Piho turned the pages too soon. Piho finished the article first and Randy took it and went back to catch up on all the bits he had missed. Impatient, Piho went to the kitchen and returned with a pack of toothpicks. He began clearing away some of the softer dirt-coloured rock from around the tiny skull. When Randy finally noticed he leapt across the room. “Stop!”
“I’m being careful!” snapped Piho defensively, “And we want it to look good.”
“’We’?” said Randy coldly, “What’s this ‘we’?”
“Ah come on, man, I was only saying that because I thought you’d just found some old rock. I mean, you can’t make money from a rock.”
“Yeah, but it isn’t a rock, is it? It’s a fossil! A real live fossil!”
“Sure looks like it!”
“And I’m going to be rich!”
“Ah: we. We’re going to be rich.”
“There’s that funny word again,” said Randy unpleasantly.
“Ah come on, man,” pleaded Piho, suddenly turning on all his charm, “I was only kidding. I’m in with you, mate. You need me.”
“Oh I don’t know,” huffed Randy, “I think I’m doing pretty well already.”
“Aww yeah?” sneered Piho, “Well, what have you done so far? I mean we’re going to have to move butt on this one! Gotta get onto that museum guy before he leaves the country! But first we’ve gotta get back out to that Charlie dude’s place to get his number...”
“I’ve already got the number,” interrupted Randy smugly, “And I’ve already called him.”
“What? Really! What did he say?”
Randy tried to shrug nonchalantly but couldn’t keep the big smile off his face, “Aw, he’s interested. I’ve got to call him back again later.”
“Uh uh!” said Piho firmly, already taking charge, “You leave that strictly to me. You are such a sucker at making deals.”
Silence. Then reluctantly Randy admitted, “Yeah, well that’s why I wanted to cut you in. Because I know that you’ll keep everyone honest.”
Piho broke into a big smile and shook Randy’s hand, “Thanks, mate, buddy, old pal. We’ve got to stick together, eh? Now,” Piho picked up the toppled chair and sat in it again, “I’ll let you into a little secret. That prospector dude spilt the beans to me the other night. He didn’t exactly say what he’d sold, but he told me how much he got for it.”
“How much?”
Piho said the words slowly, “Twenty. Thousand. Dollars.”
“Holy moly!”
“Yep. And I reckon we can get the same for this.”
“You’re joking!”
“Not joking, dude! Didn’t you read that article? Dinosaur eggs with little skeletons in them are worth a fortune!”
“Then let’s go for fifty thousand!” shouted Randy.
“Yeah,” said Piho, nodding thoughtfully, “why not?”
“No let’s go for a hundred!” said Randy, a wild gleam in his eye.
“Hmmm...” Piho sounded a bit doubtful now, “...yeah, that could be our opening bid. Then he’ll laugh it off, then we’ll let him know that we know a lot more than he thinks we know about dinosaur eggs, then...”
“Then money,” finished Randy dreamily, “Lots and lots of lovely money.”
“We can do this, man,” shouted Piho excitedly, “we can really do this!”
“Yeah!”
“We can get rich.”
“Yeah!!”
“Not a word to Tammy though,” warned Piho.
“Oh, absolutely not.”
“Total discretion. Okay?”
“Oh yes, agreed.”
Then Randy’s face went very peculiar. His mouth fell open. He started to making tiny choking noises in the back of his throat. It was as if his last three brain cells had finally died and nature was taking over – reverting him to ape-stage. No, further than that. He was reverting right back to the fish stage of evolution.
Piho sat and watched all this without any alarm. He had seen it before. It was normal. Randy was just thinking so hard he’d forgotten to breathe.
“What’s up, pal?” asked Piho after a while, “Another money-making brainwave?”
Randy nodded, still speechless.
“Well let’s just get this one stitched up first, then we can ...”
“No, no, no,” gasped Randy, “same scheme, only bigger.”
“What? Sell photocopies of the egg?”
“Other – eggs – ” Randy managed to choke out.
Piho was getting impatient, “What other eggs?!”
“I... I didn’t tell you. Wanted her to be a secret.”
“Her? What have you been up to, man?! Sheesh! Tammy is gonna rip your guts out if you’ve been...”
“No no no no no. Nothing like that.” Randy started gasping like a fish again, “Oh man! This is big. Really big!”
“What is big?! What are you blathering about?!”
Randy suddenly went insane. He turned to Piho and grabbed him by the shoulders, “Piho! You’re my only hope! Where did you find me?”
“Under a cabbage,” answered Piho tiredly, “The fairies put you there. You were not actually human; more a sort of mutant troll. I’ve waited 10 years to tell you because I knew it would come as a shock.”
Randy spluttered into eloquence himself, “Thank you Mr Sarcastic! Listen man! There’s an absolute fortune out there!” he pointed vaguely out the front door of the Turinger’s house, “I found it after the flood, but I’ve got no idea where I was on that road. You’ve got to help me find it again!”
Piho slowly leaned forward, then swiftly seized Randy by the T-shirt and dragged him closer. “Listen,” he snarled impatiently, “exactly WHAT Did You FIND?!”
“A... a fossil,” spluttered Randy, “A ... a ... a complete little dinosaur fossil, sort of guarding her eggs.” He waved his arms to indicate the size.
Piho slowly eased his grip as he meditated upon this new information for several long seconds, then he whispered, “You beauty! You absolute bloody beaut!”
“So, like, how much do you reckon it would all be worth then?”
“I don’t know,” murmured Piho, sitting back and shaking his head in disbelief at this glorious bit of news, “a million, maybe. A million for both of us? Who knows?”