The Boys from Binjiwunyawunya (45 page)

‘So girls,' smiled Norton, ‘you could say between us we lead a pretty checkered sort of an existence.'

‘Yes. We're not exactly what you'd call solid citizens are we,' agreed Penny.

Dixie looked at Norton with a derisive kind of smile. ‘Hey Les,' she said slowly. ‘There's something I've deadset got to ask you.'

‘Sure. What is it?' shrugged Norton.

‘Well, I'll try and be as tactful as I can about this,' she said, running a finger delicately around the rim of her glass. ‘But what happened to your bloody head?' She had to laugh at the grin on Norton's face. ‘No, fair dinkum, Les. Your head's pretty ordinary at the best of times. But at least on the commercial you could look at it without getting frightened too much. But now. Christ! It looks like a kicked-in shitcan.'

‘Jesus you're bloody good,' said Les, trying not to laugh. ‘I shout you drinks. Let you sit and talk to a big star like me, and what do you do? Turn around and insult me. Fair dinkum — are all Melbourne girls as horrible as you?'

‘You're right Les,' nodded Penny. ‘It was a tasteless thing to say.' Then she smiled. ‘But Jesus. It does look rough. I was nearly going to ask you the same thing myself. You look like you've been playing water-polo against a school of piranhas.'

Norton chuckled like a drain. But now it was time for a bit of bullshit he thought. The kerosene heater story's a bit naff. And I can't tell them the truth. Tell them any bloody thing. They wouldn't know the difference.

‘Well,' he drawled. ‘It's a funny bloody story. You know that pub up the road, the Duke of Kent?' The girls nodded. ‘Well I finished up in there this afternoon and I bumped into these girls and they invited me back to their flat for a drink and a smoke.' At the mention of the word ‘smoke'
Penny and Mia's eyes lit up like birthday cakes. ‘Anyway. They had this little bong there. I was half full of drink and picked it up and put a match to it before they packed it. One of the girls in the flat had been cleaning it and it was still full of methylated spirits. The rotten bloody thing blew up in my face. And when I've jumped up like a big mug, with my eyes closed, I hit my head on the door. That's how I got the black eye and the cuts on my face. I felt like a nice wombat, I can tell you.'

Dixie cracked up. Even the other reserved pair had to laugh openly at Norton's ridiculous, but by the look of his face, believable story.

‘Ohh, that's one of the best ones I've heard,' said Dixie.

Norton smiled and nodded his head in agreement as they settled down a bit and sipped on their drinks. He was going to suggest another round when Mia spoke.

‘You don't look much like a dope smoker,' she said evenly.

‘Ohh, I have a puff now and again,' shrugged Norton. ‘What's wrong with that?'

‘Nothing,' replied Mia enthusiastically. ‘In fact I could go one myself right now.'

‘Yeah. Me too,' said Dixie. ‘You... haven't got any smoke on you. Have you Les?'

Norton shook his head.

‘Skinny Jimmy's got some good deals of hash going for a hundred dollars,' said Penny. ‘It's that grouse black putty too.'

‘Yeah. But who's got a hundred bucks?' said Dixie.

There was silence for a few moments as the girls reflected into their drinks. Then Norton spoke.

‘I'll tell you what we could do if you like, girls,' he said.

‘What's that?' answered Dixie.

‘Well you got to admit it's pretty boring in here, isn't it?'

‘Are you kidding,' said Penny. ‘You'd have more fun sitting around watching a plank warp.'

‘Right,' nodded Norton. ‘Well I'm staying at the St Moritz, just up the road. I've got a huge room with a bar stocked full of piss and a stereo. How about I buy one of those deals of hash and we all go back, have a smoke and a few drinks and sit around and have a bit of a mag for a while. It couldn't be any worse than sitting in here. Besides, I'm going back soon anyway.'

The girls looked at each other for a moment. You didn't need ESP to know what was going through their minds.

‘Have you got a hundred dollars Les?' asked Mia.

‘Here you are,' Norton slipped a hundred out of his wallet and palmed it across the table to Mia. ‘Can you get that bit of Johnny?'

‘I'll be back in about two minutes.' She got up and disappeared into the Neptune Room.

‘Well, what do you reckon girls?' said Norton turning to the others. ‘Is it a good idea or what?'

‘Bloody oath,' nodded Dixie happily.

‘You've got me,' said Penny. ‘Thanks Les.'

‘That's okay. Now why don't you insult me some more.'

‘It's funny you should say that Les,' said Dixie. ‘I was just going to say what a good looking bloke you were.'

They laughed and sipped their drinks while they waited for Mia. She was back in a little over five minutes.

‘How did you go?' asked Les, as she sat back down. ‘Did you get it?'

‘No worries. It's right here in my bag.'

‘Good.' Norton finished his bourbon and Coke and looked around the table. ‘Well. Do you want to have another one here or will we hit the toe?'

‘No. Let's piss off,' chorused the three Melbourne lovelies. They quickly finished their drinks and picked up their bags. The next thing they were out the front of the hotel heading towards the St Moritz.

Mia and Penny didn't say a great deal during the walk back to the motel, still distancing themselves from Les and preferring, it seemed, to keep to each other. Dixie however was all bright and bubbly and appeared to have taken a bit of a shine to him, even slipping her arm in his at one stage on the pretext of helping him along seeing he was all scarred and in pain. Norton was getting a little keen on her too. She had a good sense of humour and wasn't half a bad sort in a pale, punkish sort of way. Certainly different from a lot of other girls Les had met. Pity I couldn't piss those other two off he thought as they got closer to the motel. A man might be a bit of a chance with Miss Footscray once I get a few drinks into her. Can't see anything happening with those other two in the room. Then again my head isn't exactly a Rembrandt at the moment. Oh well, don't really matter. A few drinks and a laugh for an hour or two'll do. I'm starting to feel a bit buggered anyway.

The girl on the switchboard just blinked when she saw Les
troop past towards the elevator with the three girls. Les winked and gave her a cheesy grin. She tried to smile, but just blinked some more and shook her head.

‘Jesus. How good's this joint,' said Dixie after Norton had switched on the light and closed the door behind them.

‘Somewhere to throw your swag I s'pose,' he replied casually.

‘I've heard about this place,' said Penny. ‘But I didn't think it was this good.'

‘You think I'd bring three good sorts like you back to a shithouse?' smiled Norton.

While the girls were gazing around the room, fiddling with the curtains, testing the bed and lounge, Norton got behind the bar. He tuned the stereo to some FM station playing good rock 'n' roll and brought up some glasses.

‘What do you want to drink girls?' he said. ‘Same as in the pub?'

‘Yes. That'd be nice, Les,' said Dixie.

‘Coming right up,' smiled Norton, rattling some ice into the glasses.

‘Here's what you got for your hundred dollars Les.' Mia dropped the piece of hash on top of the bar. Norton gave it a cursory glance. It looked like a small piece of pumpernickel that had originally been wrapped in red cellophane, then folded up in glad-wrap.

‘Looks all right,' shrugged Norton. ‘You reckon there's enough there to get us stoned?'

‘Shit. I bloody well hope so,' said Penny, giving it a little squeeze with her fingers.

‘You got a bowl or a plate there Les? asked Mia. ‘I might start rolling up a few joints.'

‘Here you are.' Norton handed her a small plate with St Moritz Motel Melbourne stamped on it.

While he was making up the drinks he watched Mia sit next to Penny on the ottoman and place the plate on the coffee table in front of them. Mia broke off about a third of the block of hash, held a match over it for a few seconds to soften it, then crumbled it up onto the plate. Penny handed her a packet of cigarettes. She took a couple, emptied the tobacco out onto the plate then mulled it all up together. Being a non smoker, and not all that keen on hash, Norton could see these joints weren't going to go down all that well and his mouth would probably taste like Aunty Dora's window box when he got up in the morning.

By the time Les had made the drinks and handed them around, Mia had rolled two joints. He kicked off his riding boots, changed into a sweatshirt and dimmed the lights while she rolled another, then sat on the bed with his back against the wall. Dixie sat on the corner watching the others. Gangajang was playing on the radio and the drinks were going down quite easily. It was all very, very cosy.

‘If you girls want another drink, just help yourselves. There's heaps there. There's even a couple of bottles of champagne if you want it.'

‘Thanks Les,' replied Dixie. She turned around and smiled at Norton while she sang along with the music:

‘Out on the patio we sit.

And the humidity, we breathe.

This is Australia.'

‘Check it out, check it out,' smiled Les back at her.

‘Well I might light one of these,' said Mia.

‘Jolly splendid idea.' Norton moved down the end of the bed next to Dixie. Mia lit the number and went to hand it to him. He shook his head and made a motion with his finger for them to go first. When the joint came around to him he took a couple of tentative tokes. The hash didn't taste too bad but the tobacco wasn't the best and it made his head spin a little. It didn't seem to worry the others, however. They were sucking hungrily at it like it was the last bit of air left in the room. It wasn't long before it was gone and Mia lit another one.

‘It's not bad Johnny this,' she said, passing the joint to Penny.

‘Yeah. Not bad at all,' agreed Norton.

The second didn't last much longer than the first. Mia stubbed out the roach and immediately attacked the third. Norton declined when it came to him. He wasn't all that stoned, but the tobacco, apart from making him giddy, made his mouth taste like he'd just smoked an old army blanket. He moved back up against the wall, sipped his drink and watched the girls demolish joint number three.

Norton closed his eyes for a moment as the music almost immediately began to sound better — deeper, richer, every note crystal clear. The bed seemed softer, even his drink tasted mellower, sweeter. His black eye still felt thick but the pain in his face wasn't anywhere near as annoying.

‘How are you feeling Les?' Dixie turned around as she passed the last joint back to Mia.

‘Pretty good,' smiled Norton. ‘Can't complain.'

Which was a fair assessment of his condition. He did feel good. Relaxed and in pleasant enough company. The hash may have made him a little drowsy, but that was understandable. He'd been up since five and had had a fairly hectic day. Filming, digging holes, fighting, drinking, etc. He put a pillow behind him and eased further back against the wall.

‘If you girls want any more of that Johnny,' he said, ‘just help yourselves.'

‘Thanks Les.'

The girls whispered a few words between them and it wasn't long before joint number three was gone. Mia and Penny settled back on the ottoman. Dixie picked her drink up from the coffee table and moved up against the wall next to Les.

‘How's your face feeling now?' she enquired softly.

‘All right,' nodded Norton. ‘A bit sore. That's all.'

‘I've got a tube of lanolin in my bag. Would you like me to rub some in for you?'

‘Ohh yeah, reckon. That'd be grouse.'

Dixie reached into her bag and produced a thick yellow tube of cream.

‘It's getting a bit cool in here. I might turn the heater on,' suggested Norton.

‘Okay.'

The controls were next to the bed. Norton switched it onto medium and in a few moments the fans on either side of the walls had quietly filled the room with warm air.

‘How are you going down there girls?' he called out to the others.

‘Good thanks Les.' In the soft light Norton could see them both smile and nod their heads.

‘Why don't we get under the doona?' said Dixie.

‘Yeah righto,' agreed Les. ‘Not a bad idea.'

He was about to swing his legs straight under when Dixie pulled her jumper up over her head and slipped off her dress and stockings.

‘No good crushing up all my good clothes,' she smiled.

Dixie may have been a bit pale but there was nothing wrong with her figure. In fact her smooth milky skin seemed to emphasise the light blue matching bra and panties she was wearing.

‘That's a good idea too.' In an instant Norton had his jeans off and slid beneath the bed cover.

Dixie eased up next to him, smiled coyly, then squeezed
some lanolin out of the tube and began gently massaging it into the burns on his face. ‘God that looks painful,' she said.

‘Yeah. It hurts a bit,' replied Les. ‘But what you're doing feels enormous. Thanks Dixie.'

‘That's okay. Now why don't you just close your eyes and relax.'

Norton nodded dreamily and did just that. It was like a dream too. A dream Norton could scarcely believe. Wonderful shapes and colours were swirling around in his mind. The music, even though it was down low, seemed to fill the room and Dixie's gentle woman's touch was almost as if her fingers were dancing across his face in time to the music. The only difficulty was, as she was moving against him one of her beautiful firm breasts was almost bursting out of the bra as they both rubbed gently across his chest, and against his thigh Les could feel the soft bristle of her ted in the skimpy blue knickers. A noticeable stirring was beginning in Norton's loins and there wasn't a great deal he could do about it. Not that he really wanted to.