Puppy Pie (19 page)

‘Yes,' Cha-Cha says as O Solo Mio says, “no”.

‘Well, which is it?' Ma screams. ‘Yes or no?'

‘Close,' brave O Solo Mio says listening carefully, ‘but not close enough.'

‘But it's the right beat, the right rhythm,' Cha-Cha says heatedly. ‘What's wrong with you?'

‘The words,' O Solo Mio says doggedly. ‘They're almost right but, oh, I don't know: they're just not quite right enough.'

Just as Ma is about to give them both a mental slap, they hear a small voice singing at the end of Useless' tail.

‘That's it! O Solo Mio and Cha-Cha yell together.

‘Tiny, come here!' Ma shouts. In no time Tiny, shaking, stands in front of Ma, wondering what she's done this time. ‘Now, sing again,' Ma commands. In a quavering voice, Tiny begins but soon gets carried away until she's singing and dancing happily in time with the rhythm of her song. ‘Well?' Ma says. ‘Is that it?'

‘Yes. Definitely,' O Solo Mio and Cha-Cha sing out in unison.

‘Tiny, who did you bite?' Ma asks.

‘Those new puppies,' Tiny answers, ‘the Argentino Dogos.'

‘Ah,' Ma sighs, as understanding dawns. ‘Of course! Argentinians speak Spanish but Argentinian Spanish. Well done, Tiny,' she says giving her a mental pat. Tiny swells up to twice her size. ‘Oh, and good work,' she says belatedly to O Solo Mio and Cha-Cha who begin preening themselves.

‘I can still hear them,' Tiny says, now back to her normal size.

Ma's senses are picking up some strange disturbance on their host, Useless. ‘That's because they've hitched a ride. They've just passed us heading for Useless' tail. They've given the puppies the flick and they're travelling with us.'

In the distance, the Aussie mites can hear the Argentinians singing in their own language and laughing. Ma wonders:
But why are they here? They have nothing in common with Australia, except for the letter “A” in the alphabet.
She listens to their noisy laughter.
I need to know more. And I need to know now.

* * *

At lunchtime, four weary workers shuffle into the tin shed, joining some of the other workers, and plop down on the hard, concrete floor. The air is stifling inside. Several people lie down while others slowly reach for their lunch.

‘Phew,' Lucy says, lounging beside Gull. ‘This heat is really intense.' She leans across her brothers and grabs a sandwich. Gull doesn't answer.

‘You look done in, Gull,' Jake says sympathetically. ‘And it's only halfway through the day.'

‘Don't want you getting sunstroke,' Lucy says, looking concerned. ‘Yesterday was hot enough but today is really hard work.'

‘Told you there wasn't any easy stuff,' Tom mumbles.

Just then, Harry and Ted wander over and collapse untidily beside the gang. Ted reaches over for some sandwiches and tosses one to a yawning Harry.

‘How's it going, Gull? Keeping up?' Ted asks as he takes a big bite of a devon and chutney roll.

‘Sure,' she says quietly. Lucy looks at Ted and shakes her head.

‘This must be the hottest day we've had,' Ted continues conversationally. ‘Almost over the century mark, the old timers are saying. Here, Gull, have some water,' he says handing her a flask. ‘Just drink it slowly. The heat can really knock you out here.'

‘Not to mention the dust and the flies and the slave drivers we work with,' Tom says wearily. Jake throws a peach at him.

Lucy gets up and wanders over to a basket that has flasks of tea and coffee. Spotting Doris from the CWA, Lucy has a quick word. Doris nods and looks over at Gull. Then, picking up a flask and a few mugs, Lucy wanders back to the group.

‘Gull, I've been thinking,' Lucy says slowly. ‘You know, you're off to the Bank tomorrow for the week. And, as there's nobody to do our chores, and Doris is going back that way, well, I was thinking … '

‘Great idea,' Ted says, jumping in feet first, ‘Gull can go back home with Doris, do all the chores and get your dinner ready. Right Gull?'

Lucy frowns at Ted who doesn't notice.

Gull sighs. ‘You mean I'm useless out here?'

‘No,' he says. ‘I mean you look knackered and that fair skin of yours could burn up, even with a hat. Anyway, we can't send you home to the city a complete mess. Otherwise, you'll never want to come back.'

Gull sighs. ‘What a relief,' and laughs. ‘I
am
wrecked.'

‘Hey, what about me?' Tom says. ‘I'm wrecked too.'

‘Sorry,' Ted says, shaking his head. ‘Only one wreck per season. Anyway, you're a farm boy: you're supposed to be wrecked.'

Tom subsides into incoherent mumbles. Just then, Doris appears smiling. Gull slowly gets to her feet and staggers over towards Doris and her car. Waving goodbye, she slides into the hot car and breathes a sigh of relief. Doris grins at Gull and Gull smiles back happily.

As soon as Doris drops her off, Gull trudges into the house and upstairs for a shower. A while later, a clean Gull saunters down to the kitchen, grabs a Granny Smith apple and walks over to the computer in the lounge room, switching it on.
Wonder how many new hits I've got
, she thinks as she opens the Folly website. ‘Wow! Two more with emails,' she beams. ‘Wait 'til I show the gang.' She browses through the Internet idly for a few minutes. Then her attention wanders as she looks around the room. Forgetting about the Internet, Gull gets up to peer at the books on a shelf by the door.
Think I'll read for a while until the heat dies down. Something light
, she thinks to herself. ‘Ah, the perfect thing', she says grabbing a handful of the twin's comics. Mmm, “Ginger Meggs”. That should do for a start,' she adds as she settles herself down onto the couch with her bitten apple.

* * *

Biting Useless on the rump, Ma steers him towards the house. Her senses are alert.
Somebody's in the house
, she thinks to herself. Gently guiding Useless through the kitchen, she steers him into the lounge room. Useless stops at the couch and sniffs at the half-eaten apple lying on the floor: Gull is fast asleep.

Ma listens intently. Through her body, she can feel an electrical vibration.
Good
, she thinks,
that girl's left the computer on. And that's exactly what I need: the Internet. Now, if only I can use the mouse
.

Investigating the area with her senses, Ma picks up on erratic movement to the left of the computer desk. Tom's mouse, Curious, is running around her cage bored. With her well-honed skill, Ma directs Useless in that direction. He sits down near the cage. With her nose pressed against the side of the cage, Curious comes over to Useless and timidly sniffs him. Trusting this mission to no one else, Ma jumps skilfully onto Curious who now runs around her cage in excitement. As usual, Tom has left the cage door unlocked. Useless nudges it. Curious peeks out. Goaded by Ma, she scuttles out of her cage and onto the desk. Then she scampers onto the computer keys.

Hardly able to believe her luck, Curious travels lightly all over the keyboard, investigating every nook and cranny. Ma waits patiently for the little white mouse to become used to her new environment. Finally, Ma guides the little white mouse onto particular keys. Satisfied with her handiwork, Ma waits for Curious to settle down again before the important final step. Eventually, after many tries, Curious jumps onto the mouse pad, wiggles onto the hairless “mouse” and jumps up and down. Only then does the search engine begin its methodical rummaging for information.

Useless noses over towards Curious: they sniff each other. Seizing her opportunity, Ma jumps back onto Useless, leaving Curious to dart harmlessly among the keys.

* * *

Gull wakes up with a start. She glances at her wristwatch. ‘Oh, no! It's after five o'clock. It can't be. I must have dozed off. And I haven't done anything.' Bounding off the couch, she rushes out to the kitchen and grabs a large cane basket.

She runs out to the vegie patch and hastily starts picking a variety of vegetables. Then she races over to the chicken coop and collects the eggs. Making sure the chickens have enough water, she dashes back to the house. In no time, Gull boils eggs, makes a huge salad, sets the table with an array of food and races back to make sure the horses and puppies have clean straw and plenty of water.

Rushing back into the house, she heads straight for the lounge room and the computer. Just then, she hears the ute outside and darts back into the kitchen without checking for hits.

Lucy sings out, ‘We're back. Where's the food? We're starving!'

Useless barks loudly in anticipation of scraps from dinner. With a flourish, Gull shows them the table groaning with food.

‘Where's Harry? Working late?' Gull asks as she dishes out their favourite tomato and onion salad.

‘Yup,' Tom says with a full mouth. ‘Arp wites,' he mumbles as he crams another mouthful in.

‘Egg whites?' Gull asks confused. ‘No, I did hardboiled eggs. Here you are,' she says handing him the bowl.

‘He means arc lights,' Jake interprets. ‘On the hemp that's still standing, they're using arc lights at night to harvest. But that's all finished now. So, they're using arc lights where they're scything.'

‘Harry is?' Gull asks astonished. ‘Isn't that too dangerous?'

‘Why?' Jake asks.

‘Because Harry could fall asleep and cut himself really badly on a scythe.'

‘No, no,' Tom answers breezily. ‘He doesn't fall asleep when he's scything. Only when he's on the Harvester.

Suddenly, all eyes are on Tom. ‘What?' he asks in the middle of a mouthful.

‘Wait a minute,' Lucy says. ‘That must mean that whatever is affecting the hemp is no longer in the lying-down hemp.'

‘Yeah,' Jake says jumping up, ‘because the lying down hemp is already infected and whatever it is … '

‘ … Is only going to be interested in getting the hemp to lie down,' Gull adds excitedly. ‘Its job is done. The “still standing” hemp must be safe now.'

‘But why aren't Ted and Jimmy and the other drivers falling asleep like Harry?' Gull asks perplexed.

Everybody falls silent looking puzzled.

Suddenly, Lucy jumps up. ‘Of course! Everyone's got a Harvester with a cabin except for Dad. So he's affected because he's nearest the hemp with no barrier in between.'

Then there's dead silence. ‘So where do we go from here?' Jake asks. ‘I suppose we could always put a watch on the standing hemp and see if we can catch whatever it is that's knocking it down.'

‘Great idea,' Tom says. ‘What if we had a really big camera to film the crops all night and all day, then maybe we'd find out who or what's doing this?'

‘And what?' Lucy asks, shaking her head. ‘Rig it up from the moon? I mean, you'd need a huge camera to cover all the crops.'

‘Hey,' Tom smiles, ‘I like that. A camera on the moon doing surveillance on Getalong's hemp crop.'

Lucy groans.

‘I'm getting dizzy,' Gull says, shaking her head.

‘Probably too much sun,' Tom says shrugging.

‘No, I mean we just seem to be going around in circles. Can we have a break for a while? Maybe talk about something else for a change?' Gull asks plaintively.

‘You're right,' Lucy says. ‘Working hard all day and worrying all night isn't healthy. So, everybody, what will we talk about instead?'

Gull says, ‘Let's check on “Puppy Pie”.'

‘I thought you'd done that,' Jake frowns. ‘That's one of your chores, isn't it?'

‘No, I mean the other “Puppy Pie”,' she grins. ‘Come on.'

Grabbing a last mouthful, the cousins follow Gull into the lounge room. Gull, over the moon about the increasing number of hits on “Puppy Pie” walks backwards in to the lounge room, saying as she does, ‘You won't believe what I've got on the computer.'

At the lounge room door, Gull's cousins stop dead in their tracks. Lucy does a double take as the twins collapse on the floor in hysterics. Gull spins around to see what all the fuss is about. She stares open-mouthed: Curious is sitting on the computer mouse cleaning her whiskers.

With her cousins laughing too hard to help, Gull gingerly moves towards Curious and picks her up. The little white mouse sits in Gull's open hand, explaining excitedly how she was the one who used the Internet; what fun it was to jump from one key to another, and how simple a computer is to use. As Gull doesn't speak “mouse”, the conversation is lost on her. She simply shakes her head, nods, smiles at Curious and hands her to Tom where Curious runs happily up and down his arm squeaking excitedly.

Gull sits patiently at the computer waiting for her cousins to recover. Finally, grinning from ear to ear, they saunter over to her.

‘So, what's your next trick?' Jake asks grinning hugely.

‘I didn't have anything to do with the mouse on the, er, mouse.'

‘Well, who else, Gull? I mean, it wasn't one of us. We weren't even here,' Tom grins.

Gull looks sternly at the happy mouse and frowns. ‘I think we've got another mystery on our hands.' Idly, Gull moves the computer mouse around. ‘Now, everybody watch this!' she says hitting a key. The screen lights up. Immediately, a small map of South America appears in a corner next to a larger, highlighted map.

‘What's this?' Jake asks. Argentina? Why'd you get that up?'

‘I didn't,' Gull says bewildered.

‘Sure!' Tom the unbeliever scoffs.

‘See? More magic! Even without the magician knowing,' Jake adds laughing.

‘Well, seeing it's here,' Tom says, ‘what about a guided tour? Let's see now,' he says scrolling down the list of topics: ‘Art: that's one for Lucy; Cattle, Climate, boring, boring. Ah, Cooking: that's one for Jake. Right, now what else?' Tom starts skipping through, picking topics at random while Gull sits back bemused. He reads, ‘Crops, Finance, Geography, Tourist must-sees …'