Treasured Dreams (33 page)

Soft sand gave way to thick grass and within metres they were walking along a narrow path through dense jungle. The escalating temperature smothered her more with every step she took. Giant leaves as wide as elephant ears brushed at her shoulders, and thick vines that weaved from one tree to another threatened to take her head off if she didn't watch where she was going.

‘Are you sure this is the right way?' she asked Samson.

‘Yep. It's not far.' He stepped on jagged rocks and slippery tree roots in his bare feet with unerring certainty.

‘How do you know Barney?'

‘Everybody knows Barney. He pays us to bring him stuff we find.'

‘What kind of stuff?' she asked.

He shrugged. ‘Oh you know, guns, helmets, knives … anything from the war.'

Rosalina gasped. ‘Do you still find things?' She glanced about the jungle around her.

‘All the time. The war was big here, you know.'

‘Archer?' She didn't want to look over her shoulder for the risk of falling over.

‘I'm here.' He sounded like he was right behind her.

‘I think we're going to the jungle museum your mum talked about.'

‘I think you're right.'

‘Yes. Peter Joseph's WW2 museum.' The way Samson said it, Rosalina wondered if he knew what the W's stood for.

‘I thought you said his name was Barney.'

‘It is.' Samson shook his head at her and she giggled.

Once again a twist of fate was showing them the way.

The path reached a dirt road and they spread out to walk in a line. Jimmy hoisted George up onto his shoulders and the kid squealed like he was on a rollercoaster ride. Archer, of course, had to do the same for Abraham.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead as they stepped off the dirt road and onto a driveway that was just two tyre tracks that stretched as far as she could see.

‘See his tank?' Samson pointed towards the trees.

Her jaw dropped. In amongst the vegetation, covered in leaves and vines, was an army tank. A white fungus had made the metal its home and the tank was an interesting medley of furry white and gunmetal grey. The gun barrel was tilted downward to the side as if it were bowing out.

‘It's hard to believe they left something like that behind,' Rosalina said to no one in particular.

The driveway seemed to go on forever, and it was an eternity before they finally stepped into a clearing. In the far reach of the grassy expanse was a wooden home. It was a significant building compared to the other shacks they'd passed to get here. The wrap-around veranda, decked out with an abundance of furniture and other bits and pieces, looked like it received plenty of use.

‘Here's the museum,' Samson announced. The building at their left was a ramshackle hut with all manner of rusted war paraphernalia scattered around it. Samson dropped her hand and skipped to a row of fence posts topped with war helmets. He picked one up and stuck his finger through a hole in the front.

‘See the bullet hole?' he said, grinning. He put the helmet on his head and rapped his knuckles upon it.

Rosalina walked to the front of the shed and scanned the collection. There was everything from weapons to personal items. She ran her fingers over an assortment of dog tags tied together with a metal chain. They jingled under her touch. She saw a pair of eye glasses with one of the lenses smashed, little pill boxes, and old-fashioned Coke bottles. At eye level was a selection of knives: cooking knives, pocket knives, machetes and rifles with knives protruding from the ends of the barrels. Her heart nearly stopped at the row of grenades nestled in a wooden ammunition box.

‘Is Barney here?' Archer said.

‘We'll go get him.' The boys giggled as they ran towards the house in the distance.

‘This had to be where Dad went, don't you think?'

‘I think so,' she said. ‘Look at this stuff. There's so much here. Samson told me they find it out in the jungle and Barney pays them for it.'

Archer picked up the collection of dog tags and flicked through them like they were a pack of cards. ‘Japanese, American, Australian.'

The boys appeared again. ‘He's coming.'

Archer ruffled Samson's blond curls. ‘Thanks, mate.'

Rosalina spied a large glass cabinet and eased her way through the bits and pieces to get to it. The glass was covered in fingerprints. Inside was a huge collection of coins with both Japanese and English writing. ‘Hey look, Archer,' she said. ‘Buttons.' The entire top row of the cabinet was filled with buttons of all shapes, metals and sizes.

‘
Halo
.'

Rosalina turned to the deep voice and was greeted by a shirtless man with coffee-coloured leathery skin. Most of his curly hair, as dark as his eyes, was contained in a Nike baseball cap.

‘Hello.' Archer offered his hand and the man took it with a smile. ‘I'm Archer. Are you Barney?'

‘Yes, I am. What would you like to know?'

‘You have quite a collection here. The kids said it was all found in the jungle.'

‘Correct. And on the beaches. Some in the water, too. It's everywhere still, even after sixty years.'

‘Hi, I'm Rosalina.' She stepped forward and offered her hand. Barney gripped it within his calloused fingers and tapped his other palm on the back of her hand. ‘Why did you call this the Peter Joseph Museum?'

‘I named it after the first dog tag I found. Mr Peter Joseph Palatini, American soldier.'

She nodded, acknowledging how respectful that was.

‘There are so many things here,' she said wistfully.

‘They fought on this island for three years; over 38,000 people died. This battle was one of the turning points of the war because the Japanese retreated.'

Rosalina covered her mouth at the horror of it.

‘They abandoned nearly everything when it was over.' Barney removed his cap, wiped sweat from his forehead and placed his hat back in place. ‘Do you know much about the war here?'

‘Not really,' Archer said. ‘But we'd love to know more.'

‘It'll cost you.' Barney's cheesy grin lit up his whole face.

‘Sure, how much?'

Barney waved his hand. ‘I don't want your money. How about you join me for a drink on the deck? I was just about to have one.'

Archer's eyes dashed to hers and Rosalina nodded. ‘We'd love to, but we didn't bring anything.'

He shrugged. ‘That's okay; if you give Samson some money he can buy a few drinks.'

Rosalina wanted to object that Samson was way too young to be purchasing alcohol, but by the look that crossed between Samson and Barney this was an arrangement they'd had many times over.

Archer fished out a bundle of notes that he'd taken from the ATM machine when they'd first arrived at the port and handed a few notes to Samson. ‘Buy yourself a chocolate while you're there, and some for George and Abraham too.'

‘Gee, thanks.' The boys dashed off giggling, and Barney turned and walked towards what Rosalina assumed was his home.

‘Come on, Jimmy.'

Rosalina looked over at Jimmy. He was investigating an enormous gun that was elevated above the ground by a three-pronged frame.

‘Where we goin'?' Jimmy said.

‘It's beer time.'

‘Right.' Jimmy dropped his hands to his sides and strode forward. He caught up with them in no time.

‘Excuse the mess,' Barney said as he directed them past the front door and straight onto the veranda. He indicated to a long wooden table and two bench chairs. ‘Sit. I'll be back in a sec.' Barney disappeared through a doorway, and Rosalina tried to make herself comfortable on the hard bench seat that looked to have been homemade with a chainsaw, hammer and nails. Barney returned with a bucket with four beers and a bowl of brown nuts.

‘You're in luck; I had four beers left. The boys won't be long though.' Barney opened the first beer.

‘Thank you,' Rosalina said as the first beer was handed to her. Barney opened the remaining three beers and handed one to each of the men.

Barney sat opposite her and pointed the open bottle at her before he took a long swig.

Their conversation was easy; Barney had a lovely welcoming way about him, and every one of their questions was answered with Barney's own twist on the story.

‘We dived on the plane wreck out in the lagoon today.'

‘The Kawasaki Ki-56.'

‘Yes, that one. It's in excellent condition, considering it crashed.'

‘The plan was hit with a round of bullets. But after he was hit, the pilot tried to limp back to the airstrip, so he was fairly low when it actually struck the water.'

Archer's eyebrows shot up. ‘Did he survive?'

‘Sure did.'

Rosalina sat forward and put her elbows on the table. ‘What happened to him?'

‘Not sure what happened to him after that.'

The kids returned with beer and a block of fruit-and-nut chocolate, and by the amount of chocolate over their faces they'd devoured at least one of their own chocolate blocks on their journey back. Samson presented his shopping purchases and handed the change to Archer.

‘You can keep it, buddy.'

The boy's eyes bulged. ‘Really?'

‘Of course. Thanks for your help.'

‘Thank you.' Samson squealed and ran off with his two friends chasing after him.

Archer pushed the beers towards Barney. ‘We heard there was a tuna boat that was hit by a bouncing bomb near the end of the war.'

‘Yes, it's off the main port. The position she's in made her too hard to salvage. Not that anyone would, I suppose. She'd been in port for the day to offload the cargo and was due to go again the next day when she was hit, so there was nothing on-board worth salvaging anyway. She's probably got a hole in her the size of a tank. Lucky she only had a skeleton crew on board when she was hit; no one survived.' He cocked his head. ‘Why you interested in that old rust bucket, anyway?' Barney finished off his beer and reached for one of Archer's.

Archer shrugged, and when he drank from his beer, Rosalina knew he was stalling until he'd formed his answer.

‘We heard it was in really close to the shore and thought it might be excellent diving.' Rosalina gave Barney a lingering smile.

He waved his hand. ‘You're getting it mixed up with the Kari Maru. It's farther away, north side of New Georgia. It's a Japanese freighter that was also hit with a bouncing bomb. That one just listed sideways and sits in about fifteen metres of water. It's really beaut diving. Covered in clams. The tuna boat though, it's sitting up on its tail like a rearing horse.' He stiffened his hand and pointed his fingers at the table, demonstrating the boat's position in the water.

‘I'm so glad we asked you.' Rosalina took a timid sip of the bitter liquid.

‘Ask me anything—I've been here my whole life. Know this place like I know the smells of my mama's cooking.'

Rosalina giggled at that. She felt exactly the same with her Nonna's meals.

It was only once they'd finished all the beer that Archer readied to move. ‘We better get going.' He eased his legs over the side of the bench seat. ‘Thanks for the chat.' Archer tucked a few dollars beneath the ice bucket and Barney looked away as if embarrassed.

‘My pleasure. Anytime.' He reached across the table and shook hands with Rosalina, then Archer, then Jimmy.

Jimmy led the way across the clearing, and as soon as they reached the museum hut the three boys appeared again.

Samson slipped in to take Rosalina's hand. ‘We'll show you the way back.'

‘Thank you.'

‘Did you have fun looking at all the war stuff?'

‘I did. There's so much there.'

‘The Japanese are crazy.'

Rosalina resisted a laugh. ‘Why do you say that?'

Samson shrugged. ‘That's what Mama says. Keep away from the crazy Japanese.'

She did laugh at that. ‘Why does your mum think all the Japanese are crazy?'

‘Not all the Japanese,' said Abraham. ‘Just the crazy Japanese man who lives on Headhunter Island.'

Puzzled, Rosalina looked at him to see if he was kidding. It was hard to tell; a cheeky grin was permanently etched on his face. ‘There's an island called Headhunter Island?'

‘Yes, you can see it from our place. He has skulls there.'

Archer spun around. ‘What did you say?'

‘He does. That's what Mama says, anyway.'

‘Sounds fascinating,' Rosalina felt the need to protect the boy from Archer's leering. ‘You'll have to show us the island.'

‘Sure.' Samson let go of her hand and skipped ahead.

‘You don't really think it's the Peking Man skulls, do you, Arch?' She stifled a giggle.

‘Don't laugh. Any Japanese man rumoured to be holding skulls would pique my interest.'

Chapter Thirty-Six

Jimmy was in a hurry and Archer agreed with his impatience. It was like the taste of gold was right on the tip of his tongue. All the clues were beginning to add up. As soon as they pushed the three boys off in their little canoe, they informed Helen, Ginger and Alessandro of what they'd discovered.

‘Do you really think the Japanese guy could be Hiro or Kimoda? That would make them … how old?' Ginger rolled her eyes to the ceiling as if it would help her calculate.

‘He'd be at least ninety years old,' Alessandro finished.

Archer held his hands apart. ‘It's not impossible.'

‘It would be a miracle,' Rosalina volunteered.

Archer clasped the gold pendant around his neck. ‘Remember when my pendant opened up the secret compartment in that tomb? You said that was a miracle, too.'

The silence hummed between them.

‘I told you, Rosa, we are this close.' He held his fingers an inch apart. Her eyes met his and by the look of her, she was a long way off convincing.