Đ Copyright Ute Oettel 2006 - 2007
Scrubbashing
This novel was translated by me (and my native language is german) - Please forgive me the typing,spelling and grammar mistakes!
Contents:
South Australia, December 2003
The young student Carrie Duncan survived a bad and deadly car accident in South Australia and had to face a months long hospital treatment. She recovered from her severe injuries but felt how mental strain kept tugging at her conscience. Carrie is sure that only one thing could help her - she had to meet and to talk with the man who had rescued her, who had dragged her out of the burning car while his own wife had died meters away at the same scene. Maybe he could help her to recover, to get rid of the pangs of conscience which tortured her. Carrie packed her bags, left her hometown behind and headed for Tarlington Creek - a little town in the Outback of Queensland. She hoped to find there the help she needed but the things turned out very differently....
Prolog
When you are driving over the endless highways of South Australia to absorb the beautiful landscape then you can hardly imagine that there is something more which could disrupt this idyll.
At first you didnīt see or you ignore them but the longer you drive the more these small iron marks are creeping into your mind; they let you realize that here, on the highways, many tragic cases have taken place. Who or what are they? Small iron rods, not very high maybe only one meter, which were rammed into the ground at this place beside the road. A few of them are painted in black, many of them in red. Small thin white marks on these rods want to tell you something, something which you don't understand at first. These rods escort you on the highways in South Australia; sometimes they stand alone and sometimes there are many, in black and black, red and red or black and red.
And then you suddenly learn of the dark and cruel meaning of these rods. They are telling of car accidents which have taken place here on the highways, they are telling of death and grief. And suddenly you know what the colour means: Black stands for the victims who died in these car accidents and red for the injured people. And the little white marks? They are telling of human lives which have become tiny marks on a bloody road memorial. And everyone who passes them, maybe dozens of them in 100 kilometers, began to think about it. Nobody can keep cool during this drive on the highways and this is the real reason of these rods in black and red. They are memorials, they are telling of the countless casualties, which lost their lives because of the speed, because of the fun.....
Chapter 1
" Stop it! Damn!" Carrie grumbled and tried to push Kevinīs hands back to the steering wheel but in vane. The more she tried the more her own hands seemed to be no longer her real ones. Had she drunk too much? " Whatīs wrong with you, Carrie? In my car, at my side youīre......as safe as could be!" Kevin replied with difficulties and wiped the veil he saw from his red-edged eyes. Somehow he had got the feeling as if he could see less good than hours ago. Ah, nonsense, he scolded in his mind and leant back deep into the upholstery of the driverīs seat of his beautiful four-year-old Nissan.
He took a deep breath, wasn īt this a very nice day? And the coming evening was shaping up well. "Hey, Franny", He turned his head to Mikeīs girl-friend who was sitting beside him on the back seats , or better who was lying with him there. " When do you start?" Carrie hardly listened to Kevinīs voice. She felt sick and the uneven and old roads of South Australia seemed to support this bad nausea. She had given everything to lie in her own bed at this moment, alone, without Kevin, her boy-fried, and only to listen to this dreadful droning in her ears. Her thoughts flew away as she leant herself back into the front passengerī s seat and tried to ignore the needle of the speedometer which seemed to stare at her, which seemed to laugh. Kevin was driving too fast, too fast for this highway......
Today they all had finished their university years, all, this meant the best friends which Carrie could wish to have, and they all wanted to celebrate it tonight. Together with Kevin, Mike and his girl-friend Frances, and the comedian of the university Douglas she had agreed to start their night soon after the graduationī s ball. Kevin had proposed to take a ride on South Australiaīs highway with his speedy car - the destination? It wasnīt fixed until yet. They only wanted to have fun, to feel the freedom in their heart, the freedom of their new life which was lying in front of them all. Kevin, who called very rich parents his own and always came up with brand-new and beautiful cars, had made the crazy proposal to drive southwards, down the highway to Victor Harbor. And who knows, he had said, they would maybe find a pretty nice pub somewhere beside the road where they could have a real binge. Then they had started, southwards, following the highway.
Carrie jerked of a sudden when Kevin slammed on the brakes and the Nissan dared to swerve. "Damn!" Kevin moaned. "Whatīs the matter?" Carrieīs veiled glances - she had drunk too much Vodka this came suddenly clear to her mind - were wandering through the windscreen. It had became dull outside and it wouldnīt last long until the sun would disappear behind the horizon of the sea, but her eyes couldnīt see anything strange. "\ Hey, Kevin, whatīs the matter?"' "There was an idiot who turned off without a signal!" " Yeah and Kevin has nearly crashed into this car." It giggled from the back seats while Mike tried to close Francesī mouth with his hand. " Turn the radio on, more music, please, Kev! " Hummed Douglas and squeezed himself through the front seats so that the bad smelling reek of Vodka urged Carrieīs stomach to rebel further on. "O.K., here comes the music!" Kevin nearly shouted to drown out the moderatorīs voice. He let the steering wheel off again, fumbled with one hand at the radio while the other was rummaging in his pocket to search for his cigarettes. Only his thighs were pressed at the steering wheel and it really seemed as if they were driving.
Douglas leant further forward and had difficulties to hold balance. That was all she really needed, she thought, when this fat boy was falling upon her, so nice he sometimes was, Carrie had never been drawn to this loudmouth. "What is?" She hissed and tried to ignore each pothole which shook her stomach. "Iīve got an idea. What do you think of celebrating the whole night long until tomorrow. Isnīt it your...!" He spied to his watch but Carrie doubted if he could see anything in this dull light, ".....birthday in.....6 hours?" "Yeah, but I donīt know. I wanna go home. I donīt feel well!"Whatīs the matter?" Kevin, who had at least one hand at the steering wheel turned to her and narrowed his red eyes: "You donīt feel well?" "Maybe sheīs worried that sheīll become an old woman in 6 hours. In an age of 23 youīre reaching soon the age of 30, though!" Franny laughed but nobody listened to her. "I feel sick. And apart from that youīre racing like mad!"" Iīm racing? Havenīt you seen Douglas in his car?" Kevin burst out laughing and stroke her thigh whereby his hand was gliding upwards.
" Let it be!"" Have you forgotten the scrubbashing events in the Outback? I thought that youīve loved it to race through the scrub". "This highway here ainīt the Outback? Oh, come on, shut up!" Meanwhile her friends got on Carrieīs nerves. They had got their diplomas and they had celebrated in a pub near Adelaide, but this should last. Kevinīs words returned to her mind. Yes, she loved to race with a Pick-up through the Outback, she loved to feel the freedom when the hot wind was blowing through her hair - but this highway was neither the lonely Outback where she had been born, nor was it a racing-course. Scrubbashing was one thing, racing on a highway another one.
Carrieīs thoughts wandered back to her hometown Taylorīs Crossing, 400 kilometers north-east of Adelaide; a village with a population of only 600 people somewhere at the edge of the hot and dusty Outback. There she had been born and grown up until her parents had sent her to the school in the big city Adelaide. She loved the loneliness, the Outback and the friendly people and she had always loved the strange events which took place in the dry hinterland. Scrubbashing - how often she had joined it, this illegal event of her hometown, to see the people racing through the scrub. Each year in her holidays she had nearly longed for it, for the exciting tension, for the huge Pick-ups and Utes and the cheering and shouting of the spectators. A smile slipped from her lips when she recalled the faces of the two police officers of Taylorīs Crossing. Had they really been ignorant about this event or had they always turned a blind eye? Nobody would be in danger, the race was usually using the scrub and not public roads.
Carrieīs parents were still living in Taylorīs Crossing and also her brother with his wife and the two children. She turned her head aside and tried to focus on the landscape around which was passing in a hasty speed. The soft, red light of the sinking sun dipped the hills at her side into a golden shimmer and the sky above them into a grey one. Not a cloud could be found at the sky - it was a very beautiful day. Carefully Carrie opened the side window and stretched her head a little bit out into the wind. The cool but still agreeable breeze from the hinterland caressed her face and took the nausea away. What could be more beautiful than to feel the wind around her face and to enjoy the sunset of a day in summer. The murmuring of her friends she hardly heard and also the nerve-racking music from the radio seemed to be miles away. Carrie closed her eyes and began to dream. What kind of life was lying ahead? Soon she would be 23 years old, she had studied art history and journalism and had gained a very good diploma. She could take the world by storm, the whole life was lying in front of her. Maybe she would marry Kevin in a few years, the boy she already knew and loved for long 8 years. A house somewhere in the hills from Adelaide, a good job and kids. A contented smile spread out on Carrieīs face when she thought about it. Maybe she would return to Taylorīs Crossing one day, but to live there? No, she preferred the city life. The love to the Outback had ebbed away during the time she had lived in Adelaide. Was it only because she had seen it so seldom? The life could be so wonderful, she mused, maybe too wonderful to be true? Carrie roused up from her dreaming and didnīt know what it was but suddenly it seemed as if all this was only an illusion, a pipe dream. The interior of the car seemed to be gloomy and cold, her friends were only ghostly figures in the coming dark of the evening. She shook her head and felt her hot face. She would never again drink so much Vodka, she swore, but an ominous tension stayed in her heart, something which she couldnīt extinguish....
Nick McKinleyīs hand was tapping at the steering wheel but he didnīt noticed it. The quarrel with his wife had spoiled himself the whole day - a quarrel which had started so trivial. His hand was running through his short, dark hair before he took heart and switched the radio off. "Can we talk about it like reasonable people?" He looked at Nicole, his wife, on the front passengerīs seat beside him who had laid her legs upon the dashboard. Her arms embraced them. Among this soft dull light of the sunset she was looking beautiful, Nick thought and recalled the visions of their wedding five years ago. It had also been a nice day in summer when they had changed the rings and promised to be together forever. But meanwhile insignificant things had interfered their family life so that Nick wasnīt able to say if their life could be rescued. Actually there was nothing what was worth to be having a row about it. They were living in a little village called Tarlington Creek in the Outback of Queensland, a spot on a roadmap with almost 1000 residents; they ran a little garage and in addition Nick often worked as a helicopter pilot on a nearby cattle station to raise their in come. Melanie, their four-year-old daughter was healthy and loved the Outback - why he and his wife had drifted apart? When it had started? Nick had tried to revive their married life with this short holiday trip to the coast of South Australia - far away from Tarlington Creek and only them, without Melanie. But it had failed. He and Nicole had messed it up again. And he knew there was no return. As Nicole didnīt replied to his question and kept staring out of the window, he grunted and shook his head: " Letīs finish this day peacefully, O.K.?"" I havenīt started!" Nicole grumbled and smoothed invisible creases in her Jeans. She stretched out her left leg and touched the windscreen. " Iīm sure that we should finish it!" What?" "Our marriage life!" Nicole murmured and watched how the sun touched the ocean.
Nick breathed hard and looked at her in curiosity. How stubborn this woman was, he thought and shook his head: "Why arenīt you belt up? You know that the police here......" Nicoleīs eyes flashed in anger: "Iīm talking about our marriage life and you? The police doesnīt matter me. I donīt like the belts and you know it." She hissed and kicked at the dashboard: "Letīs go back to our life. Itīs done....Nick!" Her voice became low and her hand ran through her long hair. "Weīve known each other too long. Two Outback children who promised themselves to marry when they were old enough, but, Nick, this will never work." (......)
Part 3 comes March 2007/ Part 4 comes April 2007 / Part 5 + 6 come May 2007 / Part 7 + 8 come June 2007 / Part 9 + 10 come July 2007 / Part 11 + 12 + 13 come August
Please email me your comments or wishes!
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Đ Copyright Ute Oettel 1997 - 2007