Catherine Jinks TheRoad (48 page)

‘Stand guard?’ Alec repeated, stupidly.

‘Take the gun, I mean. In case someone starts takin pot shots at us.’

‘Oh. Right.’

‘I hardly think that’s likely,’ Noel objected. ‘I mean, even if the

– um – gunman actually drives past, what would be the point of shooting at us?’

‘What’s the pointa shootin at anyone?’ Del retorted. ‘Makes sense if you’re off your head – which this bloke obviously is, eh, Alec?’

‘Uh – yeah. I reckon.’

‘Oh God,’ Linda moaned. ‘This is just – this is unbelievable. Why is this happening?’

‘Because they don’t lock the loonies up any more,’ Del replied cheerfully. Then she passed her rifle to Alec, who passed his mug to Linda, who took the mug – and her husband – back to the caravan. Del plunged into the rear end of her station wagon, from the depths of which she dragged a beat-up jerry can of faintly military appearance.

‘Got a hose here somewhere, too,’ Del observed, pushing aside vague and shadowy shapes, some of which rolled like tins, some of which clanked like tools.‘Here it is.Thought so.Never go anywhere without anything, that’s what I always say. Torch is in the glove box. So who dja work for, darl? Or are yiz on your own?’

‘Gary Radford and Sons.’

‘Oh, yeah. Heard about that lot. See ’em around all the time. Good place to work?’

‘I guess.’

‘Here – help me with this, eh? No point waitin on that lot. They dunno their plugs from their points.’

Alec hesitated.

‘You can put the gun down,’ Del said kindly. ‘It’s too dark to see much, anyway.’

Alec didn’t want to relinquish that comforting weight, with its warm expanse of polished wood and its reassuringly modern telescopic sight – a Lee Enfield, no less, all sleek and black and businesslike. But what Del said was true: the sun had gone down, visibility had deteriorated, and as long as they all kept out of the high beams they were probably safe from any prowling sniper.

Placing the weapon carefully in the back of the Ford, Alec said: ‘Are you gunna keep headin north?’

‘You got a better idea?’ Del drawled. ‘Here. Take the torch.’

‘If there’s a station, it’ll have a land line.’

‘Yeah. But since we’re about twenty minutes outta Broken Hill, we might as well chase down the coppers ourselves, don’t ya think?’

Alec said nothing. What was the point? No one ever believed him until they’d witnessed the phenomenon for themselves.

He foresaw a long night of driving, with nothing to show at the end of it.