The Bay (12 page)

‘Sure. Is this unusual? I mean, should we alert anyone?'

‘I don't think it's that unusual. Bonnie often doesn't come home but generally she tells Erica, from what I gather,' sighed Billy.

‘It seems so . . . irresponsible. What is that woman thinking of? Not her daughter, that's for sure,' said Kimberley.

‘She used to be utterly reliable. Bonnie's mother, Erica's grandmother, is a leading social figure in Melbourne. Bonnie is a bit lost and feeling sorry for herself. Trying to recapture something she never had I suspect – freedom.'

‘Maybe we should try to contact Erica's grandmother.'

‘Bonnie would hate that. It's not that drastic, and what's she going to do? We can't interfere.'

‘This isn't interfering?' said Kimberley.

‘This is being a good friend, what towns like this are all about. Looking out for each other.'

‘You're right. I'd better go and turn the TV off and see if there's any homework. Take care, Billy.'

‘I never do homework.' Erica was curled up in the corner of the sofa, her arms folded across her chest. ‘It's so boring.'

‘What about your marks? What does your teacher say?' asked Kimberley, wondering how on earth teachers dealt with such stubborn defiance.

‘Leave it, Mum. Erica's okay. She's so smart. She can do stuff easily without studying, if she wants to,' said Matty.

‘Lucky Erica. Well, you'd better finish your work after dinner. I've made pasta, a salad and a banana cake. All right?'

‘You mean you made it, not takeaway?' asked Erica. ‘I'm so sick of Thai and Indian food from up the road.'

Kimberley left the girls to talk and thumb through magazines while she finished preparing dinner.

‘Mum, can I do a modelling course?' called Matty.

‘Maybe. Is that what you want to do too, Erica?'

‘Nah, I'm not into hairdos and make-up and stuff,' said Erica. ‘I'm a sailor. I want to sail the seven seas.'

‘You will too I bet,' said Matty loyally.

‘Now come and have your dinner.'

‘Aren't we eating in front of the TV?' Erica stopped in the middle of the room.

‘No, Erica. That's a treat on rare occasions in this house.' Kimberley's patience with Erica was wearing thin. If she says ‘boring' one more time, I'll throw the dinner at her, she thought. But Erica surprised her.

‘Oh, cool. We used to eat in the dining room at home before Mum and Dad split. My grandmother makes a big deal about it too. I sort of miss it. I mean not all the time, but . . .' her voice trailed off.

As they ate Kimberley wondered what life was like for Erica in a rundown house with a drifting population. She was sure Erica's grandmother would not approve of the environment her girls were living in.

Erica was silent as Kimberley drove her home. Matty stayed behind to do her homework.

‘What will you do if your mother isn't home yet? Do you want me to call you later to check?' asked Kimberley.

‘Nah. She's probably drinking her way through the cash from the shop. She'll turn up.'

Kimberley didn't say anything at Erica's assumption about the apparent ‘theft'.

‘You must come and have dinner again. I haven't seen you around with Matty's friends much,' said Kimberley as they pulled up in the quiet main street of the little town. Dim red and blue lights shone from behind the blinds and loud music reverberated from Bonnie's house.

‘I only hang out with Matty. She doesn't hassle me,' said Erica, not making a move to get out of the car.

Kimberley didn't want to get into a deep discussion. She peered out the windscreen. ‘Well, someone's certainly home.'

‘Yeah, there's always people here. Thanks for dinner . . .' For a moment Erica seemed about to say something else then changed her mind. ‘See ya.'

Kimberley couldn't shake Erica from her mind. While Matty vacillated between brimming cockiness and childlike sweetness, Erica was tough one minute, needy the next. She certainly had problems. Kimberley wished Matty hadn't befriended her, then felt guilty for thinking that. Matty, while highly impressionable, wasn't silly. Why couldn't they just have harmless teenage fun together? She recalled now that Matty had told her that many of the girls at school were ‘depressed'. Kimberley had figured that simply meant they were upset because they'd been grounded, had privileges removed, a tiff with a friend. But with Erica it was something deeper and she had good reason to have major worries. Bonnie was so wrapped up in whatever misery she was going through that she didn't see the effect it was having on her fourteen-year-old daughter. Billy was right, if Matty was in deep trouble Kimberley would appreciate someone being concerned enough to ring her.

When she got home she went into her bedroom and rang Matty's teacher, glad they were on a friendly footing and Kimberley wasn't worried about her calling this late.

‘Sylvia, sorry to bother you . . . no, no not a problem with Matty . . . unless
you
think so . . .' Kimberley listened to the cheerful report on Matty from her teacher before cutting in, ‘Actually, I'm ringing about Erica Bitternden. I know you can't discuss another student, but it does involve Matty –'

‘Oh dear, are they in trouble? Erica hasn't been at school for two days, is she all right?' Sylvia replied.

‘She's fine, she was here for dinner tonight . . . it's her mother, she wasn't around and I'm a bit concerned about Erica's influence on Matty. She seems a rather disturbed child.' Kimberley was trying to tread carefully.

‘She is, I'm afraid. And with good reason. Several reasons,' sighed the young teacher. ‘Her mother . . . heavens, when I first met her she was so proper. She's been in such a spiral. Erica has always been difficult I suspect. And different.'

‘Oh, in what way?'

‘She is extremely bright, way above average. Bordering on gifted.'

‘She seemed so . . . disinterested, bored with school. I hope that doesn't rub off on Matty.'

‘She's typical of what we now call “star” or “new” kids. We are just realising that the boredom, their arrogance and aggression are because they are bright, not because they've a deficiency –'

‘You mean like attention deficit disorders?'

‘Yes, where the tendency has been to put them on medication, which in Erica's case could be highly dangerous. Do you think she is exposed to drugs at home?'

‘Sylvia, Matty tells me drugs are available around the school. I assumed it was pot, surely not hard stuff.' Kimberley was finding this a painful conversation.

‘Drugs are everywhere. We all have to watch for the signs. It would be helpful if you could keep an eye on Erica when you can. For Matty's sake as well.'

As Kimberley put the phone down all the accumulated tensions associated with being a single mother with a vulnerable teenage daughter seemed to break out of the corner of her mind where they'd been painstakingly confined. She felt fear clutch at her heart. She knew that she and Bonnie had similar problems, both were struggling to cope. Seeing Bonnie wallowing so desperately undermined her own shaky confidence. Thank God for friends like Mac and Billy. As Kimberley poured herself a coffee she thought of all the other good friends she had in The Bay and felt comforted.

When Matty went to bed, Kimberley gave her a long hug.

‘What's that for, Mum? Are you upset?'

‘I'm just glad you're you. You will come to me if ever you have a problem, won't you, Matt? No matter how bad you think it is. I'm here for you, not to judge you, to help and love you. You know that, don't you?'

Matty leaned over and hugged Kimberley. ‘I know, Mum. And I'm here for you, too.' She kissed Kimberley's cheek and snuggled down in bed.

Kimberley pulled Matty's door closed, her eyes blurred with tears.

Erica was trying to sleep, and she refused to cry. She squeezed her eyes shut as they burned with unshed tears. She was stuck on the sofa again, some couple had crashed in her bed. She didn't know where her mother was. What had happened to her life? In Melbourne her mother was at least at home every night. Watching TV. Sure, with a drink. But she was there, nicely dressed, in a nice house. Everything was always neat. Sometimes Erica despised The Bay. Maybe she should run away. She could go back to Grandma's. No, she'd hate that. She tossed under the cover. Besides, she couldn't leave her mother. Bonnie was racing downhill out of control. Erica had to be there to pick up the pieces. And there were still times when they could laugh together. At least in the beginning The Bay had made her mum lighten up. But dark clouds were on the horizon and Erica was scared. For her mother. And for herself.

Amber loved her early morning jog and swim. On weekends she went to Mighty Beach, during the week she stuck to Ten Mile. At eight o'clock she had to go up to the farm to see to her mother.

This morning was misty, threatening rain. Mount Hazard was obscured by cloud. The water was blissfully warm. As soon as she dived through the curling waves she felt relaxed and peaceful, yet energised. There was something about being in the sea, and this part of the ocean more than anywhere else, that gave her a sense of connection. What with she wasn't sure. She loved the feeling of being wrapped and nurtured by the soft water, and gazing at the beautiful beach with some old holiday houses screened behind the dunes and the mysterious mountain range with the distinctive peak of Chinamans Hat. But greater than any of the pleasurable sensations there was an overwhelming pull that dragged her into the water. A feeling of purpose, or some need. She couldn't put her finger on it, so she simply surrendered to her instinct and stayed in the water longer than she should.

Most week mornings this part of the beach was empty. Sometimes a long way up there would be someone doing yoga, or skinny-dipping. But this morning, when Amber finally left the ocean, she saw a woman further along the sand wandering towards the water, staggering rather than walking. She hadn't noticed her before, she must have been stretched out or sitting on the sand. There was something odd about her gait that made Amber pause as she towelled her hair. It was too early to be drunk.

The woman was wearing a kind of sarong, more like a sari, wrapped around her body with one end trailing over a shoulder. She stopped, doubled over for a moment, appeared to sway, straightened, then walked into the water. She didn't pause, didn't turn. As if hypnotised she steadily waded deeper. Amber dropped her towel and took a few steps, mesmerised by the scene unfolding. The woman fell into the rip and, without attempting a stroke, was dragged out.

Amber broke into a run, certain now that she knew what the woman was doing. By the time she had run up the beach and started into the surf, the woman was floating, seemingly unconscious, and was being tossed around by the breaking waves. Amber put her head down and swam hard, but when she next looked from a wave the woman was nowhere to be seen.

Trying not to panic she trod water for a moment until she saw a length of red fabric drifting near a dark brown shadow.

She reached the cloth, reeling it in until she felt the weight of the woman and saw her bunched up against something solid in the water. As Amber reached her she saw that the woman had, by design or accident, butted against one of the piles of the old jetty. At very low tide its few broken teeth jutted out of the water.

Amber grasped the unconscious body and began striking out for shore. But within a minute the woman began gagging and started to struggle, trying to push Amber's arm from across her chest.

‘It's all right, just relax. Relax,' Amber shouted, trying not to sound as desperate as she felt. The weight and strength of the fighting woman and her wet sari could drag both of them under. But then Amber felt her feet touch the sand and soon she was able to pull the woman onto the beach. She collapsed beside her, panting with exertion for a few seconds.

She rolled the woman's head to one side and immediately she coughed, vomiting water, then began spluttering.

‘You're okay. You're safe,' Amber shouted, making sure she understood. ‘Don't worry about the vomiting. Get it up, get it out, okay.' She glanced quickly up and down the beach but there was no one in sight to give a hand. The spluttering gave way to crying, and the woman's eyes opened to stare at Amber in disbelief.

Amber hugged her and smoothed her hair back. ‘It's okay now. You'll be all right.'

The woman had another burst of coughing, then took several slow, deep breaths and regained her composure, managed to sit up and leaned her head on her knees.

Amber put her arm around her shoulders. ‘How do you feel now?'

The woman took a breath and lifted her head to reveal a tortured face. ‘I wish you hadn't done that.'

‘I could say the same to you,' said Amber. ‘Do you want to talk about it? Did it just come over you . . . or have you been planning this?' She studied the woman who must have been in her mid forties and looked vaguely familiar. She'd seen her around The Bay but Amber couldn't place her.