Twenty Eight

 

Brooks

 

 

To say Jo was surprised to hear from me was an understatement, especially when I told her to contact everyone she could get a hold of to convene a special meeting. When I walk in to the lounge room at her place, I’m not surprised to feel the temperature drop in the room.

“What’s she doing here?” Sam asks, obviously not caring about the fact that I can hear him.

“Just, hear her out,” Jo says.

“Why should we? She’s the one who wanted out.” Sam crosses his arms and looks away. It hurts me just a bit that he’s angry with me, but I can’t think about that right now.

“I need your help,” I say.

Albie protests but Jo stops him. “Just listen to what Brooks has to say and then we can decide what we want to do.”

I can see she’s definitely in charge now and as much as that annoys me, I really do need their help. I think about what are the most important parts to tell them. The ones that will get them angry and wanting to do something. “A dog destroyed a heap of turtle eggs on the island last night. Hundreds of them probably. A dog that Scott Fisher allowed to be on there when he told Rosie straight to her face that his security wouldn’t have dogs.” I can see I’ve got their attention. “If he lets that slip through, what else is he going to do? Ignore the part in the plans that says he can’t build closer than fifty metres off the dunes? Or the one where he’s not allowed to clear random trees?”

“What do you want us to do?” Sam asks.

“I’m not sure yet. That’s why I came to you. I thought we could come up with something that would really show him that we’re not just a bunch of kids making trouble.”

“We could blockade the barge and stop more machinery getting across,” someone suggests.

“That will just slow them down and won’t really make any difference,” Jo says.

“What difference does it make? Scott will be so busy with the Minister on Monday he probably won’t even notice,” Albie says from where he’s standing in the back.

Jo and I both look at each other and it seems by the smile she gives me, the exact same thought has just occurred to us both.

“We’re going to take this to the next level,” Jo says. “We’re going to disrupt the Minister’s visit.”

“How?” Albie asks.

“We’re going to get across to the island and chain ourselves to the machinery,” I say.

“I love it,” Sam says. “Only one problem. I reckon Scott will have ramped up his security ready for the Minister, so how do we get in to the site without anyone noticing?”

“And how do we not get arrested,” someone else asks. “My parents would kill me if I get arrested.” There’s a murmur of agreement around the room.

“Yeah,” someone else says. “I don’t want to do anything illegal.”

“Like sabotaging the barge wasn’t illegal?” Jo asks.

“Are you going to be doing it with us, Brooks?” Albie asks. “Because you’ve been noticeably absent the last couple of protests. How do we know that you won’t organise all of this and then let us do it and end up in the lock up?”

I don’t have time to argue with them anymore. I just want to make Scott Fisher pay, and if I have to do that by myself, then I will. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly before I answer. “You know, what? I don’t care if you don’t want to help. You lot have gone on and on over the last few months about making a difference and standing up for what’s right. Now you get the chance to do something more than just sabotage a barge or stand out the front of an office with signs and you don’t want to do it? Well, fuck you guys. I’ll do it myself.” I turn to leave and walk straight into Riley.

“Whatever it is you’re planning,” she says, “I’m in.”

 

After the meeting, Riley and I are standing out the front of Jo’s house, and she tells me about her dad saying she couldn’t see me anymore and I feel really bad about dragging her into the middle of our fight. “It’s okay if you don’t want to do this,” I say. “I mean, it might take a few months to calm down and then we can maybe sneak a few late night visits in or something when the dust settles.”

Riley takes my hand. “This is important to you, so it’s important to me. Besides, I just don’t think Dad gets what you’re saying. Maybe if I protest with you he might pay more attention.”

“So what are you going to do now?” I ask. “He’s going to try to keep you at home. He might even change the locks on the guest house so you can’t get out.”

Riley laughs. “He’s not that bad. He’s just angry, that’s all. Besides, I don’t think I want to go home yet. I don’t have a clue what I’d say to him.”

Before I can even think about what I’m doing, I say, “You can stay at my place. We have to get up early on Monday morning anyway to get across to the island, so it would be easier for us to leave from my place rather than you trying to sneak out without your dad or Julie seeing you.”

“That’s a great idea,” Riley says, smiling. “I’ll have to see if Jason can bring me some clothes though. Somehow I don’t think a sun dress would be appropriate attire for chaining myself to a tree.”

I laugh and squeeze her hand. Jo comes outside, and I can see her eyes drift down to my hand holding Riley’s but she doesn’t say anything. “So we’re all organised?” she asks.

“Yeah. We’re just about to head off actually.”

“Okay. Well,” she says, looking just a little uncomfortable. “I guess I’ll see you Monday morning then.”

“I guess so.” I hand Riley the spare helmet and she jumps onto the scooter behind me. “See you on Monday.” As I drive off, I glance in the side mirror. Jo’s still standing in the driveway watching us. I feel a twinge of sadness for her, but then Riley’s arms wrap around me and I feel her rest her head on my back and I forget all about Jo.