After Ariel: It started as a game

AFTER ARIEL

It started as a game...

By

Diana Hockley

© Diana Hockley 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Other books by Diana Hockley available on www: amazon.com

THE NAKED ROOM, 2011

THE CELIBATE MOUSE, 2011

Short stories:

The Metamorphosis of Troubadour Merriwether

The Cloud

Frisbee, Rat Detective

Christmas with Snoz

An Honourable Man

Requiem for a Lost Youth

Diana Hockley’s Amazon page:

www.dianahockley.webs.com

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All characters and events in this publication are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead or any events past or present are purely coincidental.

© Diana Hockley 2014

Dedication:

For Andrew and our sweet Inky, now at the Rainbow Bridge.

Acknowledgements:

Retired Detective Senior Constable Melanie Mather, Friends and fellow writers: Mar Preston, Gillian McKee, Susan Fleet and Martin Line, Photographer Peter Truer, Retired Senior Sergeant Pat Ritter and Nigel Munro-Wallis. Also Senior Sergeant Peter Boyce, Doctor Nat Sheehan, friends – Pam, Jo, Andrea, Felicity and Margaret, all who have put up with my whining at some stage. A special thank you to my friend, Barbara Dykes, who went through this book for typos and dramas!

Thank you to Kings River Life Magazine for allowing your title to be used in this novel.

NOTE:

This book is written in ‘Australian English’ which, of course, is a slightly bastardised version of Queen’s English! We use‘s’ instead of ‘z’  ‘our’ instead of ‘or’ and in the case of one of those things which moves your car – ‘tyre’ instead of ‘tire’   J

We also have a plethora of ‘Aussiespeak’ which we use with impunity and a certain amount of smugness. Here is a dictionary for those of you who think we are quite mad. Of course, we are not.

GLOSSARY OF AUSTRALIAN/BRITISH SLANG     

4WD: four wheel drive vehicle, SUV.

Arvo: afternoon

Arse: butt, bum, ass

Awesome: this word is frequently used by teens indicate that something is pretty good.

Berk:  fool.

Bikies:  bikers.

Bloke: man, guy.

Boag: dude.

Bolshie:  cranky, feisty.

Bollocking: scolding.

Bonkers: mad, crazy.

Boot:  when related to the car, this refers to the ‘trunk.’

Brick wall you-know-what: The person is built like a very large, indestructible toilet block. Usually said in a coarser manner!

Bull-dusted:  Bull dust is a fine red dust out west of NSW in NT, QLD and Western Australia.

Bum/Arse:  bottom, fanny, butt & ass

Bung: put

Cattle grid:  nickname for the turnstiles inside the foyer of police HQ in Brisbane.

CBD: Central Business District.

Chateau Cardboard:  wine in a box with a tap attached. Natural habitat: backyard barbecues.

Chooffed (off): went away, trundle off – a slang term for someone walking away.

Chooks: chickens

City Cat:  Catamaran connecting points of the city via the Brisbane River.

Classic Drive: Program of classical music played in the afternoon, about the time people drive home from work.

Cobbler’s Peg: a small single sticky burr which drives you crazy picking millions of them out of your socks before the wash. Also known as Farmers Friend, Beggars Ticks, Spanish Needle, Black Jack and formally, Bidens Pilosa.

“Could have fooled me”:  Sarcastic Aussie saying, meaning you
haven’t
fooled me one little bit!

Cop shop: police station.

Cracking hardy: pretending nothing is wrong, being stoic.

Cranky: irritable/ angry but not toweringly mad.

Docos: documentaries.

Doolally:  mad, crazy, bonkers.

Doona: eiderdown, duvet.

Driz-a-bone (dry-as-a bone):  a heavy duty, almost canvas, oiled all-weather coat.

Drongo: idiot 

Drop of a hat: do something immediately without planning.

Dymocks: major booksellers.

Fisted: bunched hand into a fist.

Flat:  unit or apartment.

Galah: a pink, grey and white parrot who doesn’t mind making a fool of himself. A term also used for youths who are doing just that.

Go mental: get really angry.

Granny Smith:  a large, green crunchy apple used copiously in pies and crumbles. Used in this context as “the apple of his parent’s eye” meaning he can do no wrong.

‘Hairy one’: difficult or dangerous one.

Hunk: handsome man.

Kip: nap, sleep.

Kipling’s Bandarlog:
In Hindi,
 
Bandar
 
means "monkey"

Knock off: kill, or leaving work, e.g. “knock-off time”

Knocking off: Youths or uncouth oafs referring to having sex. “Jeez, I’d like to knock
her
off, mate!”

Lift: elevator

Lift: ride as in picked a person up to give them a ride to somewhere, e.g. “Do you want a lift to work?”

Lorikeets: brightly coloured (red, green, blue and yellow) small Australian parrots. Nasty, greedy, noisy little thugs, much given to chasing other birds away from the seed feeders.

Lug: drag

Macca’s: McDonald’s eateries.

Manky: scruffy, ill-kempt

Message stick: USB stick

Mobile phone: cell phone.

Mock Orange: sweet smelling blossom.

Muso:  musician.

My bad: sarcastic acknowledgement of wrong doing accompanied by sanctimonious eye rolling, expertly performed by teenage girls.

NAFIS: National Automated Fingerprint Identification Service.

On about: what he or she means when they’re talking about something incomprehensible. E.g. “What are you on about now?”

Parka: anorak, puffy waterproof, hooded jacket.

(A) Pretty good fist of it:  a very good effort.

Pub-light: the gleam in the eye of a thirsty man heading off to the pub for a beer after work.

Pud: pudding, dessert.

Red Ned: red wine, quite often an inexpensive brand of Shiraz, Burgundy or Rosé.

Rooster:  in this context, a young, lusty man.

Ruckus:  commotion.

Scallywags:  naughty. If a bloke or a child is a “scallywag” then he or she is naughty but not really bad. (Scottish)

Scoffs: eats rapidly, like a wolf!

Scrub up: tidy up, to make oneself look nice.

Scrubber: a ‘loose’ woman.

Shearwater: medium-sized, long-winged seabird.

Shire Council: local government body, e.g. county.

Shonky: suspect, suspicious.

Sig Event:  Significant Event Report. Copspeak.

Sig other: significant other – lover, man friend.

Size twelves: the size of his shoes.

Skellums: Idiomatic Shona term for minor criminals.

Solicitor:  No, he’s not trawling for business – well – a lawyer! May I refute that first statement?  J

Spot on: accurate, correct.

Sprung: caught.

Super: Superintendent, as in police rank.

Sussed out: discovered/cover blown as in undercover investigation.

Tafe: Technical and Further Education College

‘Talked for the Olympics’: A saying which means the person talked so rapidly and copiously that he or she was Olympic standard.

Tanti: short for ‘tantrum’

Takeaway: a meal ‘to go’

Thick: in this instance, ‘stupid.’

Tubby: chubby, a little overweight.

Unit: apartment or flat.

Vanity: bathroom cupboard, frequently a repository for the washbasin and if wide enough, makeup and miscellaneous clutter necessary to women!

Wanker:  idiot, fool.

‘Who’s who at the zoo’: Australian police term for the villains in the community.

Witter:  babble, talk nonsense.

Wonkus: faint, wobbly.

Wonky: wobbly, skewhiff.

Yabby: freshwater crayfish.

Yonks: ages, a long time.

Music mentioned in this novel.

Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeos and Eurydice.

Haydn: Concerto for Flute and Piano

Mozart:  Concerto No 20 in D Major.

Mozart:  Clarinet Concerto, First Movement.

Schubert: Shepherd on a Rock.

Jeffrey finds the Shoe

Saturday, 8AM

‘Jeff-reeeey!’

He shook his head and tugged harder.

‘Jeffrey? Jeffrey, where
are
you! Here, boy!’

Jeffrey, who had failed Obedience School abysmally, ignored his master’s call. He pulled harder. The object, caught under a sharp twig, suddenly freed from the pile of branches, landing on the grass in front of him, sending Jeffrey back onto his haunches. The call came closer. Torn between his natural inclination to disobey and a vestige of training left in his frivolous brain, Jeffrey hesitated.

‘Jeff-reeeeeeeeeey!’  The voice rose to a screech.

He stared at the pile of branches and weeds, yearning to investigate further – the smell was so enticing – then picked up his prize and galloped the twenty metres separating him from his master. His tail wagged furiously.
Look what I’ve got!

‘Not again, Jeffrey, you stupid animal! Why did I have to get a Labrador with a “shoe fetish?”?’

 His master reached down, grasped the sandal and twisted. Jeffrey resisted until the shiny leather straps were decidedly the worse for wear, before surrendering his trophy. ‘Let’s hope the woman who owns this isn’t looking for it, mate, because it’s ruined now.’ His master turned the sandal around, frowning at the teeth marks marring its red patina.
Some silly drunken cow playing in the park...

Sighing, he tucked his finger under the heel strap of the drool-covered sandal and headed for home, keeping it well away from his trouser leg. Jeffrey paused to glance back toward to the pile of branches, gave a mental doggy shrug and followed. He would get breakfast when he got home and maybe investigate the pile of branches if he was lucky enough to get an evening walk.

*

CHAPTER 1

The Pickup.

Friday, 3.51PM

He shouldn’t have squeezed the baby. He had known that for his adult life, an eight year- olds recollection. His mother’s voice returned, a fragment from a radio play – ‘You must always be gentle, darling,’ – words imprinted on his mind to surface when he least expected, bearing no relationship to any of the bizarre events which regularly coursed through his REM sleep.

He jerked into wakefulness, momentarily disoriented until he got his bearings. The plane bounced in an air-pocket. Piercing ring tones flared from the seat opposite. His brow crinkled in momentary annoyance.

Her clear, bell-like tone took him by surprise; he hadn’t figured her for refined. He closed his eyes, allowing her words to wash over him before he focused on her face. Small, dainty and dark-haired, with “Bailey's Irish Cream” complexion and velvety skin, she personified all that he was attracted to. He wasn’t too charmed by the ring in her nose, but the multi-coloured beads shimmering in her ears reminded him of glow-worms. He wanted to skim his fingertips over the bright buttons, to glide across the soft, milky skin of the back of her neck. Her spicy perfume wafted across the aisle.

  ‘I missed the bus, so I decided to fly... No, they don’t know. Dad would go mental if he knew...Yes, on my way home ... No, I’m going to be on my own tonight, because they want me to be there to look after the house and answer the phone, but thanks lots. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

The elderly woman sitting next to him by the window hissed disapproval, but he’d caught the most important part. She’d be home alone.

She snapped off her mobile and thrust the plug of her iPod past the dangling trinkets into her ear, then pulled a lurid-looking paperback from her tote bag. She stuck her little pink tongue out, moistened the tip of a forefinger and flicked the pages until she found her place. He watched through half-closed eyes as she became engrossed in the story, her foot tapping in time to a silent rhythm.
Wonder if she’d like company tonight, but would she want to play the games he had in mind?
 He was on for play anytime, anywhere...

Had he spoken his thoughts aloud? He shot a sidelong glance at the fat man sitting in the window seat shuffling to get comfortable. Perhaps, like himself, he’d had to get somewhere at the last minute and copped “cattle class.” His attention snapped back to the dark-haired girl who had taken her iPod plugs out of her ears and was speaking on her mobile again.