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| "Laura's Nightmare" Copyright Francis Blow, 1989. |
| CHAPTER 1 |
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| Laura stared at the woman in the car next to her parents' car. |
| Horrified, at first, Laura's memories of the events in Honolulu, more than a year earlier, came back clearly. Death had come so close on so many occasions, Laura still had bad dreams about her biological father and the drug and slave traders he was involved with. Johanna Long was one of the more vicious members of the international crime ring, and made several attempts on Laura's life. |
| The sixteen year old sighed with relief, once she realised the woman was not the same one who had overseen her kidnapping. |
| Her parents and younger brother did not notice Laura's brief shock, as Joey continued talking about their recent visit to Gran's mansion in Sydney. Laura settled back and closed her eyes, grateful that nothing had come of the threats made by the gang of criminals after their arrest. The fact that Johanna Long still eluded the FBI was a worry, though Laura had been assured the real mastermind was in maximum security in the USA. |
| "Tired, Laura?" Her stepmother's voice broke through her thoughts. "Or thinking about your exams?" |
| Returning to the present, Laura opened her eyes. |
| "Not really, Mum. Just remembering about Hawaii. I saw a lady who reminded me of someone. I'd like to go back to Hawaii, to Kauai, some day. Maybe after I get through the HSC, next year. We should all go. You'd love it there, Mum, the people are so nice." |
| "I'll go!" Joey exclaimed. "You can teach me to surf there, 'cos I'll be old enough. You did say you'd teach me when I'm old enough." |
| "I said I'd teach you once you could swim really well in surf." Laura countered, and the discussion meandered from subject to subject. |
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| That evening, at the dinner table, Laura's stepfather leaned back from his empty plate. |
| "You mentioned travelling to the US again, Laura. It might be a good idea, at that. Perhaps we could do it, as a good bye present, since you plan on an airforce career. I have been thinking, though, that you need to broaden your horizons, look at other kinds of employment. You'll need more money than the allowance we give you, if you want to get a car of your own," he waved a hand, apologetically. "I know you've got money put away, but it won't last for ever, and the cost of running a car is endless. Next year you'll be studying much harder, so, why not think about work now?" |
| "I have been thinking about it, Dad. We've been talking about stuff like that at school. Some of the girls plan to start their own businesses. Then again, Doug's boss at the model agency has asked me to do some work for them." |
| "Ooh!" Joey interrupted. "Laura's going to be on TV in her undies!" |
| "Quiet, Brat." Laura glared at him, before facing her father again. "She said she wants me to pose for sportswear." |
| "Is that what you want to do, Baby?" John laced his fingers together on the table. |
| Laura shrugged, looking down at her own hands. "I don't know. Not really, I guess. Maybe if I could wear enough makeup so no one recognises me." |
| "I suppose it is something to think about," Carla agreed. "What about office work? You did very well in that typing course last year. What speed do you do now, eighty words a minute?" |
| "Seventy five. I don't know. Sitting in an office all day..." Laura sighed and shrugged once more. "Unless it's a travel agent." |
| "There's a lot of studying to be a travel agent, Laura. You know Mrs. Fennell? She told me all the trouble she had, and it took such a long time." Carla detailed the problems her friend went through, and Laura listened, depressed. No matter what she wanted to do, there were always things in her way. |
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| Laura did not stay long in low spirits. |
| The next weekend, Doug drove her to her flying lesson, where she realised she could easily fly the small passenger-plane through any of those fluffy clouds on the horizon. She made a textbook-perfect flight, which left her instructor beaming, and the two of them went through the after flight maintenance, talking about places that were fun to fly. When the subject came around to comparing the scenery of home to locations like Hawaii, California and Florida, Laura began thinking that there could be a local market for the kind of tourist flights promoted in the USA. |
| "I'm not so sure, Laura. The numbers locally probably don't justify the kind of big organisations they've got over there. No one would be willing to fork out the kind of money it would involve to put it all together." |
| Despite the pilot's misgivings, the germ of an idea started to take form in Laura's mind, and it was her preoccupation that led her to unintentionally insult Doug. She had finished cleaning up, stuffed her overalls into her duffle bag, and went to where Doug was waiting near his Landrover, in the small airport's car park. He asked her if she had reached a decision on working for the modelling agency. |
| "They couldn't get a better sportswoman to show off sports clothes," he prompted her. "People will remember you breaking the Olympic record for the five kilometre run." |
| "Don't be silly, Doug. That would never qualify as a record! It was all downhill, almost. Besides, I don't really want people to recognise me as someone who has to earn money that way." |
| "Well thanks very much!" Doug's cheeks went red with anger. "There's nothing wrong with what I do." |
| "I'm really sorry, Doug," Laura could have kicked herself for her careless remark. "I didn't mean it that way. What I meant was...well..." |
| "Yes? What was it you meant?" Doug's mouth was a tight line, as he waited. He folded his arms, and still Laura could not put her thoughts into words. "I guess now I know what you really think of me, Laura." |
| "No, Doug!" She put her hand on his arm. Unfortunately, no matter how she tried to explain away her words, Laura only made it worse. During the long drive back home, a wall of cold silence separated the two young adults. They parted in Laura's driveway, with Laura asking if she would see him the following day. |
| "Maybe we should let things cool off for a while. Maybe we need a break." Doug's words fell on Laura's ears like a goal sentence. She waved as he drove away, but Doug did not acknowledge her. |
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| Carla was surprised to see Laura run upstairs, hands pressed to her face, and she followed her daughter, to find out what happened. |
| Laura was lying face down on her bed, tears streaming. Gently, Carla coaxed an explanation out of the girl. |
| "I know he'll never want to see me again." Laura sobbed. |
| "I doubt it's all that bad, Laura. People in love often have little tiffs and misunderstandings." Carla paused for a moment, considering her words. "How much do you love him, exactly?" |
| Laura turned her face away from the tear-damp pillow, blinking as she let her mother's question sink in. |
| "I do love him, Mum." She let her sentence hang, almost a question in itself. |
| "But? I sense some reservation. Let's drop the mother to daughter routine, and talk woman to woman. What do you really feel for Doug? I know you two have been petting, or whatever you call it nowadays. Has your relationship gone beyond that?" |
| "No." Laura wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist, and sat, feet curled beneath her, and staring at her small bear in its grass skirt. "A few times we almost got carried away, but, no, it never got out of control. It's been really, oh, frustrating, you know? Then I think how it would stuff up my future, like some other girls, and I stop. I know Doug gets really unhappy about it." |
| Laura glanced up at her mother, and a hint of humour turned the younger woman's lips up. |
| "I take lots of cold showers. I guess there's more companionship and unfulfilled lust than real love. And, you know what else? He was right about how I feel about his modelling. I do not want other women drooling over the sight of my man in his underwear, and it's not prudishness, it's jealous ownership, if anything. I won't share a prospective husband with anyone else. The only problem with that, is that I think I helped talk Doug into taking the job as a model." |
| Carla nodded. "Go on, Laura, follow that line of reasoning. If you did not mind him being a model, but you don't want your partner to be a model, then what message are you sending yourself?" |
| "Right." Laura, sighed, and idly picked up her Hawaiian teddy bear. "Doug's not the one, but I still like him." |
| "Tell me, are there any other men in your life?" |
| "Lots want to go out with me, even Tony, the son of the school principal. It can be a pain, really, because I haven't got enough time for everything I want to do." |
| Carla chuckled. "That's the way life is, young lady. Do what the rest of the grown up world does, and budget your time. Everyone has exactly twenty four hours in each day, so you have to decide what is important and what can be dropped. It's pretty cold blooded, true. None of us have any other options, it's just that different people have different priorities. What are your priorities, Laura?" |
| "You sound like Gran, Mum. I'm going to Mars, and I'll do anything within reason to get there, but I still want to enjoy myself." |
