CHAPTER 27

 

ANXIOUS HOLIDAY

 

For Willy the journey back to Cairns was a time of anxiety and dejection. During the night he slept badly, experiencing dreams of pushing endlessly through scrub and swamps only to always arrive too late. By daylight the Wewak was abeam of Cape Tribulation, having by-passed Cooktown. For the next eight hours Willy grouched and brooded until both his mother and his father separately told him to snap out of it.

“But Mr Jemmerling might beat us to the ‘Beaufighter’ too!” Willy snapped back.

“So what?” his father replied. “Just think of it as a race and enjoy the competition.”

Willy knew that was sound advice but he found it hard to do. At the back of his mind was the constant niggling worry that it would not be a fair competition; that Mr Jemmerling was spying on them. ‘He may even have a paid spy in our ranks,’ he thought unhappily, Stick’s face flitting across his mind.

At 2:15 pm the Wewak turned into the main shipping channel at Cairns. Willy stood with his friends at the starboard rail and watched the city grow larger as they got closer. The weather had been building up and the bow of the barge was thumping into waves continually, making her shudder, as well as roll and twist. That got Marjorie feeling woozy and Stick looked unhappy. For Willy it merely meant hanging on. Now he just wanted to get home.

Andrew came past and smiled. “Won’t be long now,” he said cheerfully.

“Can’t be too soon for me,” Willy said.

Andrew shrugged. “I think it’s great. I’m really looking forward to next week.”

“What happens then?”

“We are taking cargo to Thursday Island,” Andrew replied. Then he grinned and added, “The mate tells me it will mostly be a load of beer. He says the nickname for T. I. is ‘Thirsty Island’.”

Willy knew that both Carmen and Andrew were staying on as crew members of the Wewak. He asked, “Will you be home for Christmas?”

Andrew nodded. “Just. We are due back on the twenty third. That will give us time to do some Christmas shopping,” he said.

“Oh! Christmas shopping!” Willy groaned.

Marjorie squeezed his arm and snuggled against him. “Ooh! I like shopping. What are you giving me for Christmas Willy?” she asked.

Willy felt trapped. He had not yet decided. “What would you like?” he asked.

“You know what I like,” she said with an impish grin.

“Apart from that!” Willy cried. Then he blushed when the others all laughed and teased them. “You know what I mean!” he said in exasperation.

“We know alright!” Stick teased, causing Willy to blush some more.

Andrew shook his head and moved on aft. The conversation moved to what else they could do during the holidays seeing they were finishing the expedition five days early. Carmen came past and heard this. She grinned and said, “You could always go looking for that crashed plane in the jungle up behind Castor.”

This suggestion drew cries of mock horror. More sensible suggestions followed: swimming, picnics, parties, shopping. The conversation continued in a desultory way until the Wewak had passed the main wharves, navy base and bulk sugar terminal. Off the mouth of Smiths Creek the Wewak was met by a tug and manoeuvred so that its bow ramp was placed on a concrete ramp. The tug was necessary as the tidal flow would have otherwise kept swinging the LCT’s stern around.

While this was going on the lashings securing the truck carrying the ‘Kittyhawk’ were cast off. As the driver climbed into his cab Willy’s father said, “He is driving it all the way to Mr Jemmerling’s museum in New South Wales.”

When the bow ramp was lowered the first person Willy saw standing on the shore was Mr Jemmerling. He had several photographers with him and that peeved Willy even more. ‘He is big-noting himself with the press,’ he thought sourly.

The 4 Wheelers and the truck were driven off and then the bow ramp winched back up. The tug, which had been pushing sideways against the stern, tooted and backed away, then the LCT reversed back out into Trinity Inlet. A few minutes later it was heading up Smiths Creek to Portsmith, proceeding slowly against the outgoing tide. As they came opposite the wharf at Portsmith Willy saw Graham, his sister and mother standing there. Graham waved and he gave a half-hearted wave back. The Wewak did some manoeuvring with one screw pushing forward and the other aft until the vessel had done a 180 degree turn and was facing back down the creek. She was then edged in against the wharf and tied up.

As soon as the gangway was in place farewells were said. Willy now felt so ashamed of how he had spoken to Capt Kirk that he avoided him but he did thank the other members of the crew. As he made his way down onto the wharf he hoped his omission had not been noticed but inside he did not feel good. ‘I should have been brave enough to do the good-mannered thing,’ he told himself. Despising himself for being a weakling he made his way back aboard and sought out Capt Kirk.

“Thank you sir, and sorry for my rudeness,” he said.

Capt Kirk gave him a hard look, then nodded and accepted the outstretched hand. “Don’t be so quick to rush to judgement young man,” he said. Then he smiled and said, “See you next voyage.”

Feeling much better Willy made his way ashore. “Hello Graham, how are you? How did your promotion course go?” he asked.

“OK,” Graham replied.

Kylie snorted. “OK indeed! He topped the warrant officers course Willy.”

“Hi Kylie. Well done Graham. How did your mates do?” Willy asked.

“Pete topped the sergeants course; Steve came ninth, and Roger came seventeenth out of two hundred on the corporals course,” Graham replied.

Willy really wanted to ask how Barbara had done but Marjorie had now joined him so he did not dare. Instead he said, “We didn’t get the plane. Mr Jemmerling beat us to it.”

“I know,” Graham answered. “Dad told us.”

The reference to Capt Kirk made Willy feel embarrassed. To keep the conversation going he said, “What are you planning to do for the holidays?”

Graham made a face and so did Kylie. Graham gestured to the Wewak and said, “Acting as voluntary unpaid crew on the Bounty with Captain Bligh,” he grumbled.

Mrs Kirk heard this and said, “Graham, don’t speak about your father like that. You know it is necessary.”

Graham made a wry face. Willy said, “Unpaid?”

Graham nodded. “That’s right. The whole family is going to sea. Mum takes over from the cook and us kids become deckhands. Alex is already at sea on the Malita.”

Willy was surprised. “Is that necessary?” he asked.

Graham’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “Yes. It is the only way dad can afford to allow the crew to take annual leave. It’s getting worse every year. As the roads in Cape York Peninsula get better there is less trade for the coastal shipping. So the family have to help out.”

“But Andrew and Carmen get paid?” Willy asked.

Graham nodded. “Yes, but as apprentices on junior wages.”

“Rather you than me,” Willy said. He was about to add more but was interrupted by a teary eyed Marjorie. “Marj. What’s wrong?” he asked.

M.. Mum. .and (sniff) dad, have (sob) have decided we can go to Brisbane to Aunty Ethel’s (sob) straight away. They said we can (sniffle) l…l..leave the d..d…day after to.. tomorrow. Oh, boo hoo!” she cried.

Willy felt stunned and hurt. ‘Can nothing go right now?’ he thought. Then he gathered his thoughts and said, “Then I’d better get you your Christmas present tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Marjorie wailed. Then she cried, “I want to stay here with you. Oh boo hoo, sniff!”

She flung her arms around Willy and sobbed.

Marjorie’s father called, “Come on girlie! You’ve had a bleedin’ week to do all that. Now let’s get home.”

Willy kissed her on the cheek and gently eased her away. Still sobbing she was led away. Stick gave a wry smile and waved and walked off after them. Willy felt suddenly very lonely. The Becks came and shook hands and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

“See you on the twenty seventh,” Norman said as he left.

After a few more words the Kirks made their way aboard Wewak. Willy sighed and bent to pick up his bag. His father called to him and he followed his parents to where a taxi waited.

He did manage to give Marjorie her Christmas presents the next day, but it was a short meeting. The presents were a silk scarf, a bracelet and some music CDs. All were wrapped in gift paper. “You are not to open them until after Santa Claus has been,” he said.

Marjorie sniffed and said, “Oh poo! And here are yours.” She handed him two quite large cardboard boxes wrapped in bright coloured paper. Then her face crumpled and she dissolved in tears. “Oh! I won’t see you for nearly five weeks!” she wailed.

Willy did not know quite how he felt about that. Part of him felt relieved but he had to admit he liked to be with her. ‘And I’ll miss the cuddles,’ he admitted. All he could do was whisper nice things and hope she was satisfied.

Then the meeting was over and he was whisked away by his mother to do more Christmas shopping. That night he felt quite depressed and more lonely than he cared to admit. It brought home to him that most of his friends at school and Air Cadets were really only acquaintances. The people he really felt more in common with were Andrew, Peter and Graham.

For three days Willy did chores at home and went shopping with his mother. He saw almost no friends and got quite lonely. Work on plastic models did not hold his interest and he had bad dreams about dead bodies in the sea. Most of all he fretted about Mr Jemmerling beating them to the second plane.

This last concern was only slightly eased on the fourth day when they visited the Becks to deliver some Christmas presents and Mr Beck told them that Mr Jemmerling had flown south in the Pterodactyl. “He’s not the only one with spies,” Mr Beck added sagely.

At that Norman scoffed and said, “Oh baloney Dad! I was told that by the mechanic at the airport. He said that the ‘Catalina’ badly needed an overhaul and was being taken to Sydney. He added that the work could take several weeks.”

“So we still have a chance!” Willy cried. It was the first good news he had received and it cheered him up enormously.

From the Becks the Williams family went to Aunty Isabel’s farm near Davies Creek. They stayed there for the next four days, only going back to Cairns on Christmas Eve. Aunty Isabel went with them.

Once at home there was a flurry of shopping, putting up of decorations and present wrapping. Willy relaxed a little and made himself enter into the spirit of the occasion. When all his presents to others were wrapped and labelled he placed them under the tree. He then went to bed feeling some of the excitement of his younger years. It had been some years since his parents had snuck in to his bedroom after he was asleep to place a pillow case full of presents on his bed so he did not try to stay awake.

For once he slept very soundly. When he woke on Christmas morning Willy was both amused and pleased to find a pillow case full of presents on his bed. It made him feel very valued and loved and he felt quite emotional for a few minutes. Then he explored the pillow case. The presents were nothing big or expensive but he enjoyed the thought that people loved him and cared.  There were small chocolates, several comic books, a pencil sharpener shaped like an aeroplane, some toy cars and a small plastic kit of a ‘Hurricane’.

His mother looked in and smiled, then came to kiss him. She then told him to get up and moving. After a shower, shave and dressing Willy had a good breakfast and then sat in the lounge room, waiting impatiently for the other members of the household to finish whatever they were doing so that the presents could be opened. Willy then acted as courier and one at a time handed the presents to each person.

For his father Willy had purchased a tool kit with an electric drill attachment. That was accepted with pleasure. To his mother he gave a craft kit that had embroidery and also a weaving frame and coloured yarn to thread through it. Lloyd was given golf balls with his name on them and three music CDs.  Aunty Isabel got a book on Australian native birds and that caused her face to light up with pleasure. Willy felt he had done well.

In return he got a nice dress shirt from her. Lloyd gave him a 1:72 scale plastic model kit of a PBY 5 ‘Catalina’. Marjorie’s present was another 1:72 scale plastic kit, of a Dutch Dornier Flying Boat. With it was a note saying ‘Sorry. I couldn’t find a ‘Catalina’. ‘This is even better,’ Willy thought, studying the picture on the front of the box with great interest. There was better to come. His mother gave him a digital camera and his father gave him a voucher for a 2 hour ultra-light flight from Mareeba.

“These are great!” he cried, smiling happily around at them all. Then he studied the brochure with the ultra-light voucher and wondered if he could get them to take him to places he wanted to see. ‘Like Mt Mulligan,’ he thought.

It was a very happy Christmas and was followed by a huge roast meal: chicken, turkey, roast potato, vegetables, gravy; all followed by cheesecake, ice cream and chocolates. It was a happy boy that slipped between the sheets that night. As he drifted off to sleep the thought uppermost in his mind was that the second expedition, the one to find the ‘Beaufighter’, started in less than 36 hours.

On Boxing Day Willy became even more anxious and excited. ‘Nearly time to go,’ he thought. He felt driven to try to find the wreck before Mr Jemmerling. During the day he had to go with his parents to visit relations, notably Aunty Mary, who was actually a 92 year old great aunt. She was a real old dear so Willy didn’t mind too much but he was glad to get home so he could start packing for the trip.

This time the trip was to be longer, at least an extra day each way just travelling, and they were warned to prepare for two weeks away. That led Willy to pack some books and notepaper as well as his normal camping gear. Remembering the thirst problem from the previous trip he added an extra water bottle to his belt and also some packets of glucose lollies. By bedtime he was packed and ready.

That night Willy was very restless. He had frequent and vivid dreams. These were half nightmares and half erotica. The nightmares always had mangled bodies and sharks in them and he kept seeing grinning skulls under the sea. The erotic dreams always began with some silly problem from Air Cadets. He was on the promotion course and the Passing-Out Parade was forming up and he couldn’t find his boots or trousers. Then Barbara appeared and his mind struggled with the fact that she wasn’t an air cadet so could not be there. However she was smiling and warm and willing. But when they began to embrace and kiss she somehow changed into Marjorie!

Willy woke on the 27^th feeling both tired and excited. He had a tingling feeling of adventure and felt sure that this time they would be successful. This time his mother was not going, which Willy regretted. She had a medical conference to attend. Lloyd was also staying at home. So it was a slightly emotional farewell at the wharf. Willy’s mother drove them there but did not stay.

“No tearful farewells on the jetty for me thanks,” she said.

But Willy did feel a bit tearful. He also felt that this trip would be different. ‘To begin with we have a somewhat different team,’ he thought as the Becks arrived. Now he really missed Stick and Marjorie. In their place were Graham and his sister Kylie. Andrew and Carmen were both there and again would be acting as crew on the Wewak. The old LCT was at least familiar and Willy half viewed her with affection.

Cargo was still being loaded by mobile crane when they arrived so Graham, Kylie and Capt Kirk were already hard at work. Andrew and Carmen hurried to join them. Mrs Kirk took charge and ushered the group aboard and allocated bunks. This time Willy and his father were given bunks in the saloon on the dining benches. Mrs Kirk had the cook’s cabin and Graham and Andrew had the deckhand’s cabin and the Becks the spare cabin on the bridge deck. Kylie and Carmen shared the bosun’s cabin. Thus nobody had to bunk out on the open deck.

When all the gear was stowed Willy went out to watch. He found that the tank deck was full of tractors, two trucks, boxes, fuel drums and an assortment of general cargo such as coils of fencing wire, steel pickets, tools, timber and corrugated iron.

It was not until 11:30 that all the cargo was loaded and made secure, with tarpaulins lashed over most of it.  Capt Kirk then called a halt for a wash and then lunch. This was cold meat and salad and was eaten with a great deal of cheerful chatter. As the saloon could not seat them all Willy took a sandwich and moved to sit out under the awning with Graham and Andrew.

During lunch Willy listened to Graham and Andrew tell stories about their voyage to Thursday Island. Andrew described the thousands of cartons of beer that they unloaded. “Thirsty Island alright!” he said with a laugh. “And I gather half this load is more beer- for New Year celebrations.”

“Will we get there that quickly?” Willy asked.

Graham nodded. “Yes, just. We are scheduled to arrive on the afternoon of the thirty first. We will just drop you off on the way and keep going.”

“Aren’t you coming ashore to help look for the wreck?” Willy asked.

Graham shook his head. “No. Sorry. I’d love to but Dad is short handed. I will see it on the way back when we pick you up again.”

On learning that neither Carmen nor Andrew would be coming ashore either Willy felt quite put out. The expedition had shrunk to very few and he realized he would have no friends his own age on shore. Somehow it did not seem quite as much to look forward to. ‘But I still want to help find the wreck,’ he thought.

At 13:30 the Wewak cast off and slid almost silently down Smiths Creek to Trinity Inlet. Willy stood at the port rail and felt his excitement grow. ‘We are on our way!’ he thought happily.