18
BINGO AND AUNTY MERLE
Saturday is Nanna’s favourite day of the week. Every Saturday morning, she goes down to the senior citizens’ hall to play bingo. I kick the footy outside. All Nanna’s friends know I’m in town and they stop to say hello.
‘Hello, young Dylan,’ says a little old lady in a yellow dress and bright red lipstick.
‘Hi, Aunty Merle,’ I say, holding my football. She’s not my real aunty, but it’s respect in Aboriginal culture to call elders ‘aunty’ or ‘uncle’.
She smiles at me and grabs my cheeks. ‘You’re not eating enough tucker. If you’re a good boy, I’ll bring you some sandwiches on the way out.’
I thank Aunty Merle and go back to kicking the footy. Bingo starts and I can hear the bingo caller reading out the numbers. It sounds boring-as.
After I’ve been kicking the ball and climbing trees for a couple of hours, the old people start to emerge from the hall. Some have won fruit baskets. One man is carrying a meat tray. And then I spot Nanna. She’s jumping up and down and holding something over her head.
‘What you got there?’ I ask.
‘Tickets!’ yells Nanna. ‘I won us some tickets!’
‘Deadly!’ I say. ‘Are we going to the movies?’
‘No, better than that!’ says Nanna, clapping her hands. ‘Guess where we’re going tonight?’
‘Where?’ I ask, shrugging my shoulders.
‘The circus!’ she hoots. ‘Let’s get home and get ready.’
Nanna’s having a cup of tea and watching the news when I hear her yelling.
‘Dylan, get in here!’ she screams at the top of her lungs. I run into the lounge room and she turns the volume up. They’ve crossed to a newsflash. Erin Molan is standing in front of the Mount Isa rescue helicopter, brushing away flies as she faces the camera.
‘The rugby league world is in shock following the kidnapping of super-coach Wayne Bennett. Coach Bennett and a young boy were flying in the North Queensland rescue helicopter when the pilot made an emergency landing on the Barkly Highway to check on an overturned van. The pilot was knocked out with a sleeping drug and has no memory of the incident. The van has disappeared and police do not know where Coach Bennett and his young companion are. It is believed that Coach Bennett came to Mount Isa to search for one of his most valuable players, Deadly D. The Aboriginal superstar went missing over two weeks ago. Police believe the disappearances of Deadly D and Wayne Bennett may be linked.’
The picture shifts to a blurry shot of a helicopter landing on a shopping centre roof. Erin Molan’s voice-over continues.
‘Two hours ago, a member of the public uploaded this footage to Facebook. You can see a man believed to be Wayne Bennett climbing out of a helicopter and running into a supermarket. There are unconfirmed reports that he purchased three bars of chocolate. I’m not sure if this kind of excitement usually happens in Mount Isa, but it’s getting pretty interesting up here.’
Nan and I watch Coach Bennett climb back into the chopper and fly off into the distance like an action hero. Something tells me that this is all my fault.
‘The police will find him in no time,’ says Nan, trying to make me feel better.
She knows I’m not buying it. It’s not just Coach Bennett I’m worried about. If my instincts are right, Justice is in trouble too.
It’s hard to act excited about the circus when Coach Bennett and my best mate are missing. Nanna has asked Aunty Merle to come with us. We pull up outside her place and I run in and knock on the front door, but we have to wait a while before she comes out.
‘Sorry, Dylan,’ she says. ‘The fella on the TV was giving an update about Wayne Bennett.’
‘Have they found him?’ I ask, trying not to sound too interested.
‘No one knows anything,’ she says. Aunty Merle hops into the passenger seat and I climb in the back. As we drive into town, Nanna and Aunty Merle gossip about bingo and who always wins and who cheats. I tune out and think about my own stuff. Things like:
Why was Coach Bennett here?
Who is responsible for their disappearance? ‘We’re here!’ cries Nanna.
My third question is answered. Nanna pulls into the car park and stops under a sign that says ‘BIGTOP CIRCUS’.