|
"DANNY" |
| Copyright Francis Blow, 1980. |
| CHAPTER 2 |
| The sound of breaking glass woke everyone, and they all rushed to the source of the noise. |
| Mr. Nock raced outside and saw a car speeding off, with no lights showing. |
| Inside, Granny told Danny to leave the glass alone. "Helen, fetch the bin, and I'll make the tea. David, you and Danny put on some clothes. I don't want the police to see you running about in your underpants. Don't stand about doing nothing. Off you go, all of you." |
| When he was dressed, Mr. Nock walked to the phone box, but it had been vandalised that night. However, a passing taxi driver offered to radio his controller and ask the controller to call the police. |
| Two constables arrived in a paddy wagon and took the details, and Danny's family were able to return to their beds. |
| At lunch time, the next day, Danny was playing touch football with a bunch of his friends. As he dodged past a group of girls, he went sprawling, tripped by one of them. |
| "What's the big idea, Karin?" He demanded, glaring at the girl, who glowered back. |
| "Think you're the teacher's pet, Mr. Show-off? Well, I'm not impressed. I think you're an idiot. Now you try and make yourself out to be the big hero, but you're not so tough." |
| Unable to do or say anything, Danny stood up, to brush himself off. The girls near Karin Kind stepped away, in case there was a fight, yet Danny only walked away to wash his grazed hands and knee. |
| "What was that all about?" Mel asked. |
| "I don't know, but I've noticed she's been looking at me funny the last couple of days." |
| "It must be love!" |
| "Very funny. That's really dumb. She's fifteen." |
| "Noticed her, have you?" |
| Danny was becoming angry, so Mel stopped making jokes, though he kept the grin on his face. |
| After school, though, some other boys called out "Danny loves Karin!" and Danny turned to abuse Mel, who was nearby. |
| "I didn't start it, Danny. Not me... I guess that true love is obvious to everyone!" |
| Danny rode home in a foul temper, and refused to explain to his family how he got hurt. He stayed in his room and started a school project, even though he had two weeks to finish it. |
| Things grew progressively worse the next day, and at lunch time Karin attacked him again. Danny saw her coming, and dodged her kicks and punches, then wrestled her to the ground. |
| "Are you trying to get us expelled?" He shouted in her ear. "You're an absolute idiot, Karin. What the hell is wrong with you now?" |
| "I heard what you've been boasting about, you pig! I'm going to kill you." |
| "I haven't got a clue what you're on about. The only people talking about you are your own friends. Now I'm going to let you up, but if you try anything again I'll knock your teeth out, girl or not." |
| Carefully, he moved off her, his eyes blazing with anger. Karin's own face was twisted in fury. |
| "Karin, if you even try to come near me again, I promise I'll flatten you. |
| "One day I'm going to kill you." She hissed back. |
| Someone in the growing crowd said a teacher was coming, and everyone began to drift away. |
| Danny was furious, he could not concentrate on anything that day. He left school as soon as he could, collected what bait he had and went fishing. |
| He caught nothing that evening, though he did manage to calm down. |
| Friday came, bringing with it another local paper, and again the Nock family was featured on page three, with details of the attack on their home, and a condemnation in the editorial of the thieves, as well as of the vandals who wrecked the pay phone. |
| Danny was tempted to stay home and say he was sick; yet his self pride made him go to school after all. |
| There was no further trouble from Karin, or from anyone else. In most ways the day was normal, except Danny kept brooding about the cause of his troubles. He promised himself that he would catch the thieves. |
| By the time he returned home his plan was made. |
| "Mum, can I borrow your camera" |
| "I suppose so. Why?" |
| "That boat that sailed around the world, Spray Dancer, is coming in tomorrow..." He trailed off, realising he had almost lied to her. "I want to use it for something tonight." |
| "You and your boats. All right, love. There should be a few unused shots left on the film." |
| "Thanks, Mum. I might be out till late tonight." |
| "I thought all your bait was gone." |
| "I'll get worms or something." |
| "Don't stay up too late." |
| Danny spent the two hours before it got dark collecting worms and saltwater yabbies, then he napped for a while, until nine o'clock, though there were still many people about, even then. |
| He worried that the thieves would not show up, with so many boats coming and going. |
| As he had nothing else to do while he waited, Danny fished, carefully conserving his bait as usual. Unlike his previous fishing venture, he was successful that night, and caught several nice fish; but when the bait was all gone, Danny was still wondering if the thieves would come. |
| He became conscious of a yellow van, which was parked a few hundred metres away, under a street light. Danny was unsure if it was the same as the van the thieves drove; it seemed to be the same shape. |
| Careful not to be seen by anyone, Danny walked quietly along beside the moored boats. His eyes and ears strained for any sign of danger. |
| There was only one vessel left to go, and a faint sound came to him, different from the normal water sounds. Danny stopped near a thick pole and blended into the darkness, to watch. |
| Movement. A hulking, dark shape was doing something inside the cockpit. |
| There was only that one person in sight, and it worried Danny. Surely there had to be more of them. If so, where were the others? Danny felt that if he moved anywhere out of the deep shadows that hid him, he would be seen, so he stayed still, hoping he would appear to be another part of the night. |
| Time passed slowly for Danny, as he watched the furtive figure working aboard the boat. Occasionally, that person would look around, as if expecting someone else to arrive. |
| Danny mostly felt afraid. What could he do if he was seen, or, worse still, caught? The only thing he could think of was to hide in the water under the wharf, or between the boats. |
| A phrase stuck in Danny's mind, words spoken by Granny once when she described her experiences as a nurse during the Second World War. "A hero is someone who puts them self into mortal danger to help others. Sometimes they get thanked, though not usually, but mostly they get dead." |
| It dawned on Danny that he was in the kind of situation that could make him a hero; the usual kind. He decided that he wanted to be the kind of hero that Granny was. Alive. |
| What had started out almost like a game had rapidly turned into a sinister trap, and all Danny could do was watch and hope... |
| The man in the boat stood. He was big, and gave off an air of menace that sent chills through Danny, who pressed himself against the pole. |
| An unearthly light reflected off the man's eyes, turning the face into a hideous mask, barely human. |
| "I know you're there. Come here. Now!" The voice growled. |
| Danny wondered if there was time to run, but another sound behind him startled him, and his knees almost buckled under him. |
| He had been so engrossed in the man on the boat, Danny had not paid attention to anything else. |
| From a few metres away, a smaller figure ran to the boat and reached up to take a box from the man on board, who then jumped onto the ground. The small thief was shoved in the back by a big hand, and both people hurried to the van. The bully sat in the passenger seat, while the other climbed in the back, then the yellow vehicle drove off towards Gosford. |
| Obviously, there had to have been a third person, the driver. |
| Danny sat down and gasped for breath. He was shaking in reaction to so many shocks. Then he realised what he still had to do, and ran to his bike, to begin pedalling madly to the police station. |
| "The boat robbers!" He yelled at the sergeant. "They're driving north on Brisbane Water Drive in a yellow van. I didn't get the number." |
| "Good lad. Wait here." The sergeant strode out of the room and was gone for several minutes before he returned. "Right. Tell me what happened." |
| Half an hour more passed, before Danny started his ride home again, where his father was waiting. |
| "So. You've decided to come home? I'll talk to you in the morning." |
| "Yes, Dad." |
| Danny undressed and slipped into his bed. Sleep was a long time coming, and after he did drop off, it seemed like moments before his mother was shaking his shoulder. |
| "Danny. Get up, son. You've got a visitor." |
| Muddled from too little rest, he found some shorts and a shirt, then followed her to the living room, where Detective Styles was waiting. |
| "Hello, Danny. What have you been up to?" |
| "Did you get the men in the van?" |
| "Unfortunately we didn't have any cars close enough to get there in time. Tell me what happened last night." |
| "I went fishing, but I was hoping to see the boat thieves again." |
| "Your mother told me you took a camera with you." |
| Danny felt his face flush. He had completely forgotten the camera, which had been safe in a plastic bag in his fishing sack. |
| "Slipped your mind in the excitement, did it?" The policeman said in an understanding voice. "Never mind. Tell me what you saw." |
| Throughout the story, Danny's father sat silently, Granny mumbled occasional comments, while his mother held Danny's shoulders. |
| "What you did, Danny, was very dangerous. We don't know what kind of people we're dealing with. I'm sure your parents will go into the dangers in more detail. Still, what you told me is very helpful. If you think of anything else, call me." |
| Mr. Nock showed Detective Styles out, then went back to Danny. "You're grounded. I want you home by six every night, and no more fishing in the morning." |
| "Yes, Dad." |
| "That's all I've got to say. I'm already late for work." |
| Danny had tears in his eyes as he watched his father go; he had never seen his father so angry with him. |
| Granny's voice interrupted his unhappiness. "Time for breakfast. I saw some nice fish packed in the freezer that weren't in there yesterday. Cheer up! Things could be a lot worse." |
| "I doubt it. Did you see Dad's face?" |
| "You sure did upset him, there's no denying that, but he'll calm down, soon enough." |
| "What will you be doing today?" His mother asked, to change the subject. |
| "That's right, it's Saturday... There's no bait left, so I may as well get some mussels." Danny did not really feel like fishing, yet he wanted to get away for a few hours. "I might go to the library for some more books on sailing." |
| "That sounds interesting. Don't forget that boat you said was sailing in." |
| Danny brightened, thinking of all the wonderful places his own boat might take him; then he realized that it was only a dream after all, and shook his head. "It's only another boat." |
| Wearing his oldest shorts, and with the inner tube and net tied onto the bike, Danny rode to his favourite shell fish bay. He swam the net out to the submerged bed, where he searched for the mussels with his toes. Mud and an occasional crab or yabby oozed up from his feet, as he groped for the shells. |
| When some people arrived and started fishing from a nearby shore, Danny pretended to be playing; he did not want anyone to know where he found the best mussels. If too many people knew about the place, then it might get used up faster than new mussels could grow, and Danny's family could get no more. |
| Danny looked more closely at the people fishing. |
| There were two men with a woman and a girl. After a puzzled second look, Danny recognised the girl as Karin Kind from school. |
| "Damned troublemaker." Danny began to mutter, until he saw their car. |
| There was a yellow van parked close to where the four were fishing. It was identical to the van that Danny had seen the thieves use. |
| He remembered the first time he had seen the robbers: two large men and a smaller one. The second time he had only seen one big man with the small one. |
| On the shore stood two men who could easily have been the two large thieves, but a sudden realization struck Danny like an electric shock; the third person had not been a small man. |
| It had to have been Karin! |
| He stared at her. In a swimsuit she looked like any other girl, but a loose shirt and trousers would have made her gender uncertain. |
| Danny knew he was guessing, yet he was positive he was right. |
| How to prove it, though? |
| First, however, he would have to get rid of them, so that he could get ashore without Karin recognizing him. |
| He slipped off the floating net and let it go; it would not drift too far in the slow current. Then he began swimming clumsily, splashing and making a lot of noise. Karin's family watched him, and he could imagine their anger. |
| He ignored their yelling, and when he glanced in their direction, they appeared to be talking together. |
| One of the men had a rock in his hand, but he did not throw it, probably because he had been persuaded to fish somewhere else. |
| Danny watched them collect their rods and other gear and they turned towards their van. |
| Unexpectedly, the man spun around, stooped to pick up another rock, and hurled it with tremendous force. |
| Danny dove to the bottom, seconds before the rock struck the surface only a few metres short of where he had been floating. |
| As he came up again, Danny watched the man join the other people in the van. Karin sat in the back on a shapeless pile of things, while the three adults sat in the front. |
| When the yellow van drove away, Danny resumed collecting enough mussels to make a meal for his own family, then he made his way home. During that time by himself, however, his brain reeled with thoughts about what he had seen and guessed. |
| After changing into dry clothes, he went out again, to the library and selected some books to borrow. Danny was his normal self by the time he got home for lunch. |
| A glass of homemade lemonade washed down his vegemite sandwich, and Danny used the ancient rotary mower to start cutting the front lawn. He kept wishing that they could afford a petrol mower, or that they would turn the front into a vegetable garden, like they did with the backyard, where azaleas mixed with carrots and daisies under the old lemon and gum trees. |
| The mowing was finished long before Mr. Nock cycled home, so Danny took one of the sailing books to read in the shade of a gum tree. |
| Even the training book started him daydreaming of adventures under full sail. |
| "What're you doing, Danny?" His father's voice brought him back to Woy Woy. |
| "Just thinking. How was work?" |
| "The same as always. It doesn't change much. Move a few tonnes of brick, mix some cement. The usual." |
| "Dad... What did you want to be when you were my age?" |
| "A fireman... But when I tried to join up, I couldn't pass the test, so now I hump bricks for a living, and for a treat, I'm sometimes allowed to lay bricks. It's really... Never mind, mate. You study as hard as you can and you'll get what you want. But if you let yourself be as stupid and useless as me, then you get to eat other peoples' dirt." |
| "Dad, no! You're not stupid or useless." Danny was very upset. His father had changed so much from the day before. "Don't say things like that. Please? It's not true. You work so hard!" |
| "Yeah. I work hard for peanuts. In a few years I'll be too old to do labouring, and there's no superannuation or anything. All I'll get is a Thanks Dave, but we're letting you go. Here's an extra couple of weeks pay to last you the rest of your life." |
| "Oh, Dad." Danny hugged his father. "It won't be like that." |
| "No, son. You get stuck into those books if you want to become anyone." |
| "I promise." |
| "Look, Danny. I'm sorry I said those things this morning.. I was just so worried about you last night. Forget I said what I did, just be more careful, and don't go near people like that again." |
| "Okay, Dad." |
| A wide, beaming smile brightened his father's face, and Danny felt as if a great weight was gone from his shoulders. |
| There was something else, too; some subtle change in the way he saw his father. Even though his father was no longer invincible in Danny's eyes, he was no less Danny's hero. |
| A man had to be somebody very special to endure what his father had for so little reward. |
| "Dad, if I ever get a boat, will you help me sail it?" |
| "My oath, son! Now let's go see what the ladies are doing." |
| The next morning, after they got back from church, one of Danny's friends, Jason, came and asked if Danny wanted to go to the beach. Danny changed quickly, and the other boy's mother drove them to one of the beaches not known to tourists, but popular with locals. Only a quarter of the sand was covered with bodies, and Danny and Jason found a place to throw down their towels. |
| Just beyond the shallows, the water was cool and green, but the tide and currents were safe, and both boys made the most of the acceptable waves, body surfing and horsing around. |
| Danny received his biggest surprise of the day after he collided with a boogie board and started to untangle himself from its rider. He found himself staring into Karin Kind's face. |
| "Oh. It's you!" She exclaimed, then she grabbed her board and swam away. |
| Danny was tempted to call out and tell her that he knew she was one of the boat thieves, yet his promise to his father kept him quiet. |
| Later, Danny saw Karin's own father yelling at her; then she sat hugging her legs, with her face buried in her knees. Danny guessed that she was crying. |
| Karin and her family left the beach a little later, while Danny and Jason were there all day. Jason's mother smothered them with sun cream every few hours so they would not get burnt. |
| On his way home, Danny started to reconsider his decision not to tell Karin what he knew. He had no proof she was involved, but he felt it was more important that the stealing might stop if Karin knew she had been identified. |
| The more he thought about the idea, the more he liked it. He would confront her at school in the morning. |
