Vanishing Point (24 page)

Jenny covered Katherine and the baby with a clean blanket then called Benjamin who arrived with Karl close behind, like a malevolent shadow.

‘I'll call me son Isaac,' Benjamin said proudly as he took the newborn from Katherine and held him up, still wet from birth. ‘Ya done good, woman,' was the only comment he directed at Katherine, lying still and exhausted.

Two days later Benjamin paid Jenny for her services, gave her gifts of honey and kangaroo skins and instructed Karl to drive her back to where she came from.

Katherine did not see her again in spite of requests to Benjamin. She never got to say thank you.

H
er logical mind wanted to hate the boy, conceived out of fear and loathing, but once she held Isaac to her breast all her venom towards him seemed to flow out with the milk. His eyes looked into hers and she saw him only as a vulnerable child, like Carolyn, dependent solely upon her for life and safety. That unfathomable bond between a mother and the baby was stronger than any potential hatred.

Life at the Factory soon returned to the routine much as it was before Isaac was born. Katherine's remained desperately lonely and she reluctantly came to accept her lot in life. At times she even managed to laugh and share moments of pleasure with Benjamin, telling him of the children's activities.

The old fears emerged only when Karl spent time at the Factory. Since Katherine had submitted to Benjamin and particularly after Isaac was born, there was a distinct change in the relationship between the two men. Benjamin deferred more and more to Karl. It was as though Karl had helped bring God's plan to fruition and teach his woman to be proper wife and now the mother of his child Benjamin was immensely grateful. On each visit Karl's authority grew. While he appeared to be following instruction from Benjamin, Katherine could see that, more and more, he was subtly setting the agenda.

By the time Isaac was nearly two summers old, Benjamin started to call Katherine to his bed regularly once more. She was terrified of another pregnancy, but equally terrified for the children if Karl used his influence. She tried all sorts of stratagems to avoid intimacy with her captor. Most requests came when Karl visited the Factory, leading Katherine to believe that it was he that made the suggestions.

Karl came to her room after the evening meals. He never knocked but the sweet smell of his cigarettes and ‘busy bee' dust clearly signalled his arrival.

‘Ya man wants ya. Better git over there pronto.'

‘I can't. I'm still putting the children to bed.'

‘Well, I'll tell Benjamin ya can't come ‘cause ya have ta spend time with ya kids. Mebbe he'll tell me I could take ‘em with me next trip, give ya that special time with ‘im eh?' Karl blew a cloud of the sweet smoke into the room.

‘All right, I'll go.'

‘I'll walk ya over. Wouldn't want ya to git lost on the way, eh?'

He made sure he escorted her there and, worse, back, his hands frequently moving from the whisky bottle, always in his hand after dinner, to Katherine's body. She was unsure whether she should tell Benjamin. Once she raised the subject and he became angry and suggested that she was at fault. Perhaps it was even she who needed to be punished because she was leading him into temptation. ‘But Karl's me mate. He knows ‘e can't do an' won't do nothin.' So don't ya lie ta me, woman.'

However, after that he always made her wear her kaftan back to her room. That didn't stop Karl's wandering hands. On one occasion when they reached her room he swung her round by her shoulders to face him, slipped his hands under her dress and squeezed her breasts. She threatened to tell Benjamin what he was doing. He sneered as he gave an extra hard and painful squeeze, hoarsely whispering ‘I ain't fucked ya woman, not yet anyways. An' if ya dob me in ta Benjamin'll, ya know ‘e'll go mad, that's even if ‘e believes ya. He reckons women is liars all, an' cause trouble for men. Jusht like Eve an' Adam. Mebbe kill the both of us but sure as ‘ell, I'll kill both youse kids, ‘fore I git outta here. I knows there'sh nobody knows ya here. Nobody'll miss ya or ya kids. They ‘aven't fa five, six years an' they ain't suddenly gunna start now, is they?'

Katherine twisted away and out of reach. She was scared now. ‘You're drunk. And you're going too far, Karl. I reckon if I told Benjamin about you and what you're trying to do, he'd believe me and you'd be out of here. He wouldn't hurt his son and I'm sure he wouldn't hurt me now either. It's not like before his baby was born. Things are different now —'

‘Dream on, ya shtoopid bitch. Ya wanna tesht it? I'se killed more than ‘roos an' dogs before, an' could do it agin, if I ‘ad ta. Accidents ‘appen.'

He trapped her against the wall, with one hand on each side and pushed his face against Katherine, trying to kiss her but she turned her face away as he burped.

‘Go away, Karl. You're drunk. Leave me alone.' Quickly bending her knees, she slipped under his arms and ran into her room. She slammed the door and hoped that Karl would leave. She wished there was a lock.

Katherine breathed a deep sigh of relief as she heard Benjamin and then Karl's footsteps shuffling away across the veranda. She looked at her two children, fast asleep, and wondered what the future held. She had to work out a way to change the situation for the better, for their sakes. She could not understand why Benjamin was falling increasingly under Karl's influence and Karl was drinking more and more heavily. She dragged her bed against the door then checked the sleeping children before fearfully climbing into bed to the sound of male laughter in the distance. Karl's dog gave the occasional bark at the moon.

It would seem that, in spite of his apparent anger and blaming her for leading Karl on, something must have registered in the back of Benjamin's mind because, after her revelations that she thought Karl was trying it on with her, Benjamin never left Karl in charge of the Factory when he went to Perth. Instead, he made sure that his trips away were just before, or just after, a visit by Karl. These were particularly lonely times for Katherine. She missed so many of the things that she once had taken for granted. Her memory played tricks on her. She longed for simple things, like the distinctive smell of fresh rain on hot bitumen after a scorching day. Here it was just red sand and the bush.

In a strange way, she began to appreciate the beauty of the desert, stark though it was. After the rare falls of rain, masses of small flowers appeared and covered the sand with a carpet of colours. Katherine took it as a sign that even in the most arid life, beauty and hope can flourish.

Once, while alone in the compound, she heard an aircraft in the distance and, thinking it might be a low flying geological reconnaissance plane, or government survey, she rushed out and made a huge S O S out of boxes. She could see the plane clearly. However, the plane droned across in the middle distance.

I
reckon this could be my last trip over east,' Petri was telling Shelley as they waited for Alec.

‘Oh! That's a real shame. Why?'

‘There's not much more I can get from research. Now it's the proof of the pudding time with some more work in the field.'

‘We'll miss your visits. I guess we'll have to make a trip over to Perth.'

Petri noticed she used ‘we' and not ‘I'. As the relationship between Alec and Shelley had prospered, he found it difficult to suppress feelings of jealousy towards Alec. Everything about Shelley made her seem like the woman he would like to be with for life. But Petri did not let it come between the friendship the two men shared.

‘So things are getting serious between you and Alec?'

‘Absolutely. There is the issue with Katherine though. He is finding it really hard to forget her. I wouldn't want him to but he finds it difficult to even date me at times.'

‘It must be hard for him. For both of you.'

‘It is. I'm not sure where it will go though. I would like a family and I'm not getting any younger. Unfortunately, women have this biological clock. We want everything: career, marriage, family. It's tricky to fit it all in.'

‘Alec's a great friend. I feel he is almost like a brother. But sadly, I also like you a great deal! Strange to think we've known each other only about four years. It feels like for ever.'

‘Why ‘sadly,' I thought you were a friend too?'

‘Of course, but you must realise I am in a difficult position. I would love to be the one dating you but there's no way I would even think of it while Alec and you are an item.'

‘Oh! Petri. I hate these triangles. I love both Alec and you, but in different ways. I want both of you as friends forever but Alec is the one I've really fallen in love with.'

‘As Ned Kelly said, ‘such is life'!' Petri laughed.

The conversation, moving into quicksand territory, was fortunately ended by the arrival of Alec.

‘Sorry I'm late. Good to see you, Petri.' He greeted Petri while kissing Shelley's cheek. ‘So what's the plan? We have to do something special before Petri goes.' He referred to the fact that Petri had finished a week of research in Melbourne and was due to return in the morning.

‘Tra-ra!' Shelley held up three tickets. ‘All organised: MSO tonight for an evening of music. And good seats too.'

‘Great! Dinner first at our favourite restaurant in Lygon Street. Let's go.'

* * *

A few weeks later Petri was back in the desert of Western Australia putting into practice the results of his research. The area he had to cover was huge. With just one man it was going to take some time. He had been in the field for a couple of weeks and now was gratefully heading home. The Toyota travelled comfortably westwards and Petri relaxed. He knew this road well.

Suddenly conditions changed. As Petri rounded a corner he slammed on his brakes. The truck skidded wildly across the gravel road. He fought to regain control, cursing himself for not concentrating. He brought the sliding vehicle under control and relaxed. Almost in the centre of the road was a battered yellow Holden utility, surrounded by a group of men. Wearing jeans and singlets or check-patterned shirts, they were standing around looking at the vehicle. Petri stopped and reversed back, angry at their choice of parking place.

‘What kind of a dumb place is that to stop?' he angrily asked the group.

‘Sorry, mate. We broke down an' bin trying ta git it off the road when youse come along too fast,' answered one of the men, cleverly shifting the onus of responsibility on to Petri.

Petri didn't rise to the bait. ‘Well, I don't see much moving. Anyway, which way are you heading?'

‘We from Cundeelee. Trying ta git back there from Kal when the bloody ute broke down.'

Although he'd never been there Petri was vaguely familiar with the existence of the Cundeelee Mission north of the main east-west Trans-Australia Railway line.

‘Okay. You want me to have a look?'

‘Yeah, thanks mate. But reckon it's serious.'

Petri, although competent at carrying out minor repairs, was no expert. He looked under the open bonnet. With the amount of oil that had seeped into the sand, the smell of burnt grease and the apparent crack in the head, Petri knew it would be nigh on impossible to get the utility going again. The radiator cap was off and there was no water in the radiator.

He looked up, ‘Too bloody right, mate! It is serious. This ute isn't going anywhere.'

‘Can youse give us a lift?'

Petri did a quick mental calculation. He was about a hundred kilometres from the mission, in the opposite direction to Kalgoorlie. It would be at least two hours to the mission, and then about the same to get back to where he was. By then it would be dark and he still had to find a suitable campsite.

‘There's no way I can fit all of you in my Tojo, too many.' He looked around the dejected group of ten. ‘Anyway I'm heading the other way. To Kal.'