Red Hot (37 page)

Hamilton Valley was evolving, and hopefully this would help craft a new beginning for the people in the fruit growing area after the disasters of the previous years.

A reprieve had been granted to the Hamilton Valley residents. Had the firebug finished with them?

A newcomer arrives in the valley. Who is she? Why is she there?

What is it that Grandma Emmie has secreted away for so long that could change the lives of the people she holds so dear?

The once tranquil valley had endured the unimaginable. The lives of the locals were almost destroyed at the hands of someone with bitter revenge and deep hatred foremost in his deranged mind.

Is there more in the pack of cards held by their tormentor?

Come with us into PART TWO of RED HOT to see what the lunatic has masterminded.

The sun shone brilliantly, while the wind sighed softly as the train rattled to a stop at the Albury Railway station. Stepping down from the old train, the pretty young woman looked around. She didn’t expect to see anything of significance, yet she had a strong feeling that she was where she belonged. Smiling to herself, she walked towards the taxi rank.

Albury railway station was opened on 3
^rd
February 1881, coinciding with the opening of the Gerogery to Albury extension of the great southern line from Sydney. The broad gauge line from Melbourne reached Albury in 1883. NSW railways were built to standard gauge which meant that all travellers in either direction had to change trains at Albury. A very long railway platform was needed to accommodate that move and the covered platform provided was one of the longest in Australia.

***

‘Where to, lassie?’ asked the driver.

‘I’m not sure. I need to find somewhere to stay,’ she answered uncertainly.

‘New to these parts, are we?’ The driver asked, striking a conversation.

‘Yes, I just got off the train. I’ve been travelling for a while.’

‘Well, the place I’d suggest would be Hilary’s. You’ll be in good hands there. She’s a good ole bird, our Hilary.’

‘That sounds good to me,’ she replied, falling quiet, thinking about her reason for being in Albury. Thoughts of her mother drifted into her mind and she felt tears sting her eyes.

The driver interrupted her thoughts to tell her they were travelling down Dean Street, the main street of Albury. He also pointed out a striking building high up on the hill at the very end of the main street. The stunning white creation gleamed in the sun, standing tall in all its glory, looking down onto the township.

‘That’s called the Monument, girlie, the memorial for our soldiers who fought to save our country. It’s a mighty fine buildin’, don’t you think?’

‘Yes, it certainly is. You must be very proud of it!’ she agreed, blinking back the tears. The taxi slowed and came to a stop in front of a huge old house surrounded by a thick green hedge. The window frames and shutters were painted federation green, highlighted by white eaves. The young woman thought how homely it looked and liked it immediately.

‘Well here we are, this is Hilary’s boardin’ house and we’re in Thurgoona Street. At least you’ll know your address, love.’ He carried her suitcase to the front step.

‘Now you go on in an’ tell Hilary you need a room and she’ll take care of you.’ She paid and thanked him, turning to ring the doorbell above which was a sign that read ‘Welcome, Please Ring.’

***

Monument Hill is on the western hill at the end of Dean Street, Albury. In 1925, the war memorial titled The Monument was opened on Anzac Day by General Paine. The beautiful tower was designed by Louis Harrison and built by Tom Bartleson to memorialize
our fallen soldiers. The visibility of The Monument was seen as a vital part of its meaning when the site for it was selected in 1915 by a visiting town planner, Charles Read. It is regarded as one of the best known memorials in Australia.

***

‘Just look at this place; isn’t it something!’ Tammi turned a full circle, gazing around the auditorium of the Valley Sports Club.

‘Yes, but it feels weird knowing that Father Damien slept in this very room. Gives me the creeps a bit!’ Kathy pulled out a chair and sat down at the table reserved for them.

The Valley Sports Club was hosting its opening night dance and, judging by the crowd already filling the auditorium, it was going to be very successful. Certainly, the building had a different look from when it had been the Divine Word Seminary and when Father Damien had lived there. Word had got out that the church had sent Father Damien to Africa to work in a missionary as well as selling off the building and all the land to the club. Across the road from the old seminary had been turned into a sports arena and cyclists were already training for bicycle races on the new veladrome.

‘Look.’ Tammi nudged Kathy and gestured towards the door. ‘Here comes Dot.’

Kathy followed Tammi’s gaze as Dot breezed into the auditorium followed closely by three handsome young men.

‘Not bad sorts. Wonder where she picked them up!’ Kathy whispered.

Dot paused just inside the door and her eyes swept the room, coming to rest on Tammi and Kathy.

With a smug look on her heavily made-up face, she sauntered across to them. The three young men coolly swaggered along behind her, following her swaying backside.

‘Hi girls,’ she said, eyeing them up and down.

‘No Eddie, Kath?’ Spite glinted in her eyes as she waited for Kathie’s reply.

Smiling, Kathy ignored the question, asking instead, ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us, Dot?’

Dot’s face went red as she made the introductions. She introduced the young men as Darcy, Daryl and Barry Burke. They had only recently moved to Albury from Newcastle to take up work at the abattoirs.

Without waiting to be invited, Dot pulled out a chair and sat down, inviting her friends to do the same.

‘Dot, those seats are all reserved,’ Tammi said shortly.

Dot took no notice of her and persisted with quizzing Kathy about Eddie.

Finally, Kathy gave in and told her Eddie was out of town for two weeks. He had three weeks holiday and was spending two of those weeks in Wagga with his mates.

‘So he pissed off and left you home alone!’ Dot smiled, revealing red lipstick-smeared teeth.

‘Hell, Dot! Give it a break, will you!’ Tammi butted in angrily.

Before Dot could retaliate, Darcy leant forward and asked if anyone would like a drink.

Kathy rolled her eyes at Tammi and the subject was dropped. As it was obvious that Dot had no intentions of moving, Kathy suggested that Daryl and Barry find some more chairs for the rest of the people who were still to arrive.

The auditorium was filling up rapidly. Johnny Hansen and his band were playing for the opening night. His band was extremely popular and, after tonight’s gig, he would probably be employed by the club to play each week.

Francis and Eileen arrived with a group of others and joined the table. Johnny and the band appeared on the stage and the buzz of conversation ceased. He introduced the mayor of Albury, Alderman Bunton, who stepped up and spoke into the microphone.

He praised the workmanship put into transforming the seminary into a club, and welcomed everyone, along with Johnny and his band. He went on to talk about the sports arena, the benefits it brought to the area and the athletes who would be training there.

After thanking everyone for attending, he declared the Valley Sports Club officially open.

The drums rolled, guitars twanged and Johnnie’s voice filled the room as he belted out Tom Jones’ song
She’s a Lady
. The dance floor filled. Francis grabbed Kathy by her hand and pulled her out to dance. Kathy easily followed Francis’ lead and they received many admiring glances as they jived to the beat of the music.

Daryl asked Tammi to dance and Dot grabbed Darcy before he could open his mouth to ask anyone else.

Eileen leant across to her friend and whispered, ‘This song certainly doesn’t apply to Dot.’

‘Yeah… Darcy seems a nice enough guy, too. Wonder where she met him?’

Barry overheard Eileen’s friend and he moved seats to be closer to them.

‘We met Dot in town the other night. She was standin’ on the corner near the Albury Post Office. We were just drivin’ up and down Dean Street fillin’ in time, checkin the place out and every time we went past she’d smile, so Darc ended up stoppin’ and we got talkin’. We all went for a drive. Dot showed us around the place a bit.’

‘Really?’ Eileen smirked. ‘Sure that’s all she showed you?’

Barry grinned and asked Eileen to dance.

***

‘I wonder how the kids are enjoying the new club,’ Win commented from where she was relaxing in an oversized armchair.

‘Judging from the amount of traffic passing, I’d say it is going to be one hell of a good night!’ Ellie replied.

‘You know, we really should get dressed up and go see for ourselves,’ she added.

Win pondered the idea, standing up and looking out the front window at the passing traffic.

‘Well, I suppose we could. Dig’ll be tied up with till goodness knows when. I could leave him a note.’

The two women looked at each other, a spark of mischief in their eyes.

‘C’mon, what are we waiting for?’ Ellie grabbed Win and steered her towards the stairs.

‘We’ll put a few bob in the pokies too.’ Ellie laughed

***

‘There’s a fair bit of work to do, mate!’ Dig was standing legs apart, arms folded, talking with Karl in the orchard.

Karl tipped his felt hat back on his head, his brow wrinkled in a frown.

‘Yeah, I know. Sam said Des and Eric’ll lend us a hand. No use botherin’ Arthur; he’s right into his religious thing out at Culcairn!’

‘What’s with this religious stuff anyway? He’s gone a bit mad over it, don’t ya think?’ Digger leant against a tree.

‘Huh! …Bastard’s gone troppo if you ask me!’ Karl scowled.

‘Yeah, gave us all a real sermon Thursday night. Hell, we don’t want to be preached to the way he was goin’ on. Poor old Emmie looked quite upset,’ Dig added.

Karl spat tobacco on the ground as he rolled a cigarette.

‘I know she was upset and she didn’t want to let on to us. Strewth, we don’t have to have it shoved down our throats the way he was goin’ at it. If Dad was alive, he would’ve told him straight.’

‘It’s this new fan dangled modern religious stuff they’re on about these days, isn’t it? I heard that bitch Ivy Geldin’ is right inta it too.’

‘Yeah, and that’s bullshit. It’s not the same with all that yellin’ an’ clappin’ an’ stuff. Give me old fashioned
normal
religion any day.’ Karl spat again.

‘Well, he’s hooked for who knows how long and it won’t help us with all this prunin’. C’mon, let’s head off home. It’s gettin’ too dark now. We’ve a bloody mountain of work ta do tomorrow.’ Digger turned in the direction of Kia-Ora.

They had a huge job in front of them. It was time to prune the fruit trees and their orchard was a vast one. Each tree had to have the middle cropped out to enable it to spread out instead of growing vertical. By doing this, it made it easier for the fruit pickers to get the fruit off when picking season came around. Also, they had to cut off the new buds because if they allowed too many new shoots, then the trees would be overloaded with fruit and it would only drop off and rot on the ground. Then there was the spraying of each tree to rid them of insects. Ted was in charge of this job but Karl and Digger liked to be there to keep an eye on the older man, especially since the accident when Ted got bowled over when someone tore through the orchard scaring him senseless and causing a nasty knock to his head.

‘Looks like we’ll get a good season outta this lot.’ Karl nodded at the trees.

‘I reckon it’ll be the best one yet. No friggin’ crazy bastard lightin’ fires to worry about either!’ replied Dig.

‘Don’t even mention that bastard, Dig. After the hell he put us all through, I’d kill him if I got my hands on him.’ Karl’s face was set with fury at the mention of the firebug.

There hadn’t been any more fires since the grisly dummy that the firebug had strung up in the Kurrajong tree at the end of 1965. Throughout the early part of 1966, the community remained alert in case the firebug was laying low, waiting for the opportunity to strike as soon as they had let their guard down. However, as the months had gone by and all remained quiet, the locals all assumed the firebug had left the valley. They began to rebuild their properties and their lives. Who the firebug was, and who had protected him, remained the talk of the valley and suspicion still hung like a dark cloud over some once very close friendships.

***

‘This is terrific, Win!’ exclaimed Ellie. ‘It really
is
something!’

‘What a great job, it looks fantastic!’ Win answered, her eyes darting around as they entered the foyer of the new club.

‘Listen to the music. I love this song.’ Johnny was doing a rendition of a Platters’ song. Ellie took Win’s arm, swaying to the music. ‘C’mon, let’s go in and have a look.’

They crossed the foyer and entered the dimly lit auditorium. Neither one noticed the man leaning against the bar. His cold grey eyes looked them up and down.

‘
Well this could be me lucky night. They’re out on the town without the blokes.
Yessiree, this could really be me lucky night,
’ he thought, smirking.

He placed his glass on the bar as thoughts raced through his mind. Crossing the room, he threaded his way through the crowd until he was closer to Win and Ellie.

‘Can you see Kath and Tam?’ Win asked, looking around the room.

‘No, but they’re probably out dancing.’

‘S’cuse me.’

Win turned as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked into the bearded face of a man.

‘Would ya like ta dance?’ he asked, looking her up and down.

‘Aah… No, no, thank you.’ Taken by surprise at the sudden appearance of the man, Win stumbled over her words. ‘No thank you, I’ve just got here.’

Johnny Hansen was singing a Johnny O’Keefe song
and the dance floor was quite crowded.

The stranger wasn’t deterred and continued with conversation.

‘Do ya live local?’ he asked in his gravelly voice.

Win tried to look disinterested, casting her eyes around the room for the girls. She answered vaguely, telling him that yes she was a local. She felt uncomfortable and a little edgy as he moved closer to her. She looked into his eyes and shivered; he had the coldest piercing grey eyes. Win felt he was looking straight through her. A feeling of unease snaked down her spine.

‘I’ve found Kath and Tam, they’re over there.’ Ellie pointed to a table not far from where they were standing.

Win moved closer to Ellie. ‘Is that Dot McClaron with them?’ she asked, keeping her gaze straight ahead and trying her best to ignore the man who still stood beside them.