Forest Secrets (19 page)

‘Yes, well, only the best were chosen for the display you know, but never mind, one day you may become as accomplished as I.'

I noticed Snook's cheeks were starting to burn and that his eyes had taken on that wild warrior look that he gets sometimes. Mr Blowhard's going to have to stop stirring Snook up like this, I thought. It was getting to be a habit.

Gloria had noticed the change in Snook, too. ‘Don't do anything,' she said to him. Then, noticing Jed Turner blowing into his stage microphone as a last test, she said, ‘Look, Snook, there's going to be an announcement. Let's listen.'

G
iving Blowhard one last dirty look, Snook did as Gloria asked and turned his attention to Jed Turner. No longer in his shirt sleeves, Jed was looking quite smart in a jacket and tie. After tapping the microphone a couple of times and giving it one last blow – he'd seen it done before on important occa-sions like this – he started the official proceedings.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys,' he began, in the way he'd practised in front of his wife that afternoon. ‘Good evening and welcome to our West Coast photo presentation night. The judges – that's Fred and myself − have picked a winner, but before telling you who that is, I'd like to introduce you to a very special person, Professor Ian McClelland. He knows all about dinosaurs and old bones. He's a – Jed had practised saying this word all afternoon – palaeontologist.'

‘A what?' Snook asked.

Gloria helped him out. ‘He's the scientist at the lagoon this afternoon. Don't you recognise him?'

‘Oh, yeah, I do now. I didn't at first, all dressed up like he is in his jacket and fancy tie.'

‘Shhh, Snook,' Gloria said. ‘He's about to say something.'

‘Thank you, Mr Turner,' Professor McClelland said. ‘Before the winner of your competition is announced, I have a special announcement to make. Would Snook and Jacinta Kelly please come forward?'

‘Wh-what?' Snook said, immediately stumbling over his words. ‘He wants us … up there? No way!'

‘Go on, you big scaredy cat,' Gloria said, giving him a push. ‘Get a move on. You too, Jars. You're both wanted.'

Snook and I did as we were told and made our way onto the stage. I don't know about Snook, but I could feel every eye in the hall staring at me. I was feeling more embarrassed with every step I took and I could feel my face burning. The crowd seemed as puzzled as I was. There were lots of sideway glances, shrugs and whispers going on.

We crossed over to the professor. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,' he was saying, ‘yesterday, Snook Kelly and his cousin, Jacinta, made one of the most important discoveries of the century. Together, they found a skeleton of a …
a rhotosaurus
, a prehistoric dinosaur that lived and roamed over our land more than one hundred and sixty million years ago. Needless to say there will be a substantial reward for this grand discovery, but more importantly, the Kelly name will now go down in history as the one that found …
Stompy
the dinosaur
.' Smiling down at both of us and grinning widely, he shook our hands and simply said, ‘Well done, you two.'

The hall erupted. The crowd had been listening to the professor's every word. ‘And now,' he said, after waiting for the applause to die down, ‘I would like to share with you something that I have learned about Jacinta.'

I winced. I didn't like hearing my given name; I much preferred plain old Jars. I was still suffering from an acute attack of embarrassment too, the kind you get when you're suddenly surprised. Even though my parents had brought me up to be grateful and to show respect in situations like this, I was finding it hard. I guess it was the feeling of acute embarrassment that was doing that, but some of what my parents had taught me must have rubbed off. My head had suddenly lowered and my eyes were now seriously studying the floor-boards; I was showing respect the Aboriginal way.

Suddenly, I felt better and my embarrassment left. The professor wasn't talking about me anymore; he was saying something about Snook.

‘Last Thursday evening,' he began, ‘Snook Kelly saw an asteroid from the past. It was the biggest and most devastating object from outer space that the world has ever seen and when Snook told Jacinta about his vision – about the asteroid – she believed him. She had seen the same dinosaur.'

I was getting that blushing feeling again. He's going to talk about
me
now, I thought to myself.

The professor must have noticed my sudden discomfort. He squeezed my shoulder in a confidence boosting way, before going on with his address:

‘Jacinta supported him, even when Snook told her about another vision he'd had … of a young boy. It didn't matter that Snook's words appeared to be outlandish, unbelievable, out of this world, she continued to believe what her cousin was telling her. Then the inexplicable happened …
she saw the boy, too.'

At this stage I was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable than before. I glanced over at Snook, but he seemed to be taking it all in his stride.

‘Most importantly,' the professor was saying, ‘the discovery of the dinosaur led to the remains of two human beings being found – Lucy Kemp and Aaron Cooper.'

He waved a hand in our direction. ‘The question now may be asked: why were these two young people shown these things … the asteroid, the young boy, the dinosaurs? I suspect that we'll never know. But, ladies and gentlemen, there are things in this world that perhaps we are not meant to know or understand, as Snook and Jacinta did. So,' he concluded, looking down at us again, ‘thank you both for your magnifi-cent discoveries and thanks for
believing
.' The professor then did a very strange thing. His eyes rolled backwards and his upright, self-assured stance and manner disappeared and his lips started to tremble as if he was in shock … as if he'd seen a ghost. And then, in a faraway, echoing voice, he said:

Aaronnga pula Lucy-nya kuwari kurunpa pukulpa nyinanyi. Ka Stompy-nya kula pukulpa nyinanyi munu pakuwiyarigkulalta ngarinyi.

I smiled at his words which said to me and to Snook, ‘Aaron and Lucy are now happy in spirit. Stompy is happy too and is finally resting in peace.'

J
ed took the microphone and thanked Professor McClelland who was thumping the side of his head with the palm of his hand as if his ears were full of water. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,' Jed said, as though he hadn't seen the professor's strange behaviour or heard the inexplicable words coming from his mouth. ‘Like I said, the judges – that's me and Fred – will now announce the winner of the photo comp.'

On cue, Fred came out of the side room near to the stage carrying a large sheet of cardboard under his arm. He took it with him onto the stage and walked over to Jed. Shouldering him aside, he grabbed the microphone in both hands and held it to his mouth.

‘In the judges' opinion, the winner of the photo competition was spot on and really deserved to win. The photos show in a really good way what's important for us here on the west coast. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I can announce the winner as none other than our local girl … Jars Kelly.'

The crowd roared once again, cheering, hand clapping, feet stomping, whistling and, for good measure, a few thumbs up from my school friends. It was amazing. The noise died down at last, giving Fred a chance to hold the sheet of cardboard, with my photos displayed, high above his head.

The crowd erupted once more and I thought they'd never stop, but there was something else about the applause this time. There was a lot of laughing going on; I couldn't understand it; everyone was in fits. Even the Coopers were laughing out loud. I could see them sitting up the back, still holding onto each other.

Fred, standing on the tip of his toes, was holding the cardboard sheet with my photos on it even higher. He'd even taken to jumping in the air and wiggling it up and down, and my eyes started to well with unshed tears when I thought about how it had all started:

Tjukurmanany …
The Dreaming.

No one noticed the lone figure pushing his way towards the exit, his face twisted with rage. Nor did they hear his almost silent words of anger as he mumbled, ‘I've never been so insulted in all my life. I led those little monsters to the dinosaur. It should be me up on that stage. Humph, the sooner I leave this place, the better. Yes, that's what I'll do –
Rex
and I we'll leave and find another town, one that's friendlier.'

The crowd, still smiling, laughing, and digging one another in the ribs, filed past my photo display – propped up at the front of the stage – about the escapades of Mr Reginald Blowhard during his stay at the gorge camping ground. I had wondered about showing Blowhard in these compromising situations and had nearly
not
given the photos to Sam. Sam had convinced me in the end. ‘Show them,' he'd insisted. ‘Blowhard's brought any shame that he feels on himself, and in a way he's done good, brilliantly in fact. He's now helping to protect the bush and its wild life.'

The crowd continued to chuckle and ponder over the captions as they filed past and as they did I could see that Sam's advice had been sound. Lots of people were pointing out the captions to others, many of whom were nodding as though agreeing that yes, the bush should be looked after. I was pleased. Blowhard's encounter with the snake, his problems with the fire, his meetings with Charlie the possum, and his adventure with the flood, had all been valuable experiences, not only for Mr Blowhard but for others to share as well.

S
ometimes Shadow and I go wandering in the countryside that surrounds Cray Bay, and sometimes our walks take us back to the gorge camping area near Ghost Mountain where so much happened over that long weekend in March. It's then that we walk along the bank of the fast flowing river or beside the winding Snaky Creek, and sometimes we even wade through the shallows of Mucky Lagoon or climb the mountains. I especially like to climb Ghost Mountain; it reminds me of Mamu, the evil spirit who's said to live there, and it's then that I wonder if he was real. I also wonder if it
was
Mamu who pushed poor Lucy Kemp and Aaron Cooper off the cliff and into the river so many years ago.

When Shadow and I walk, listening for the solitary, drawn-out caw of the currawong or the finch's chirpy song, we can feel the wet grass under us and the wind and sun in our faces; we can see every rock and every tree that we pass and we can smell the airy wetness of another Tasmanian day. That's when I know that I am not alone.

I think of my family then and how they were killed by the buffalo in the Northern Territory and I remember my mother, who talked to me just a little while ago. I think of the
phantom
kid, and Stompy, and all the other dinosaurs that perished because of the monstrous asteroid.

And that's when I know I am in The Dreaming.

‘Laing has a deft ability to insert just what his young readers will find interesting … Definitely not to be missed, excellent third book in the trilogy.'

—T.D. McKinnon. Goodreads author and reviewer, Indies Unlimited staff member

‘It's the best book ever. I love your books.'

—Jack, 8 years old

‘I believe this novel will have the potential to showcase aspects of Indigenous Australia in a positive light in the Australian context.'

—Paul Eckert, author of ‘Wangka Wiru'

‘I am pleased to give [David] my full support.'

—Emeritus Professor Paul Hughes AM, FACE

David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research. S.A.

‘[David's] characters are well-drawn and believable; the settings are beautifully presented, so well done in fact that I could imagine myself there.'

—Linda Parkinson-Hardman, Reviewer, Dorset U.K.

‘Really a great read.'

—Mary Hawkins, author ‘Return to Baragula'