Needles In The Haystack


Copyright (C) Will Kemp 1993


For reproduction rights see file sp001039.txt


CHAPTER TWO

    "Hey, wake up you two." A gentle voice penetrated the depths 
of their sleeping brains. "Come on, it's time to get up."
    They both woke at the same time, out of identical dreams and 
looked up into  the face of the person who spoke to them.
    His short black hair topped a dark face with strangely blue 
eyes. He looked like he hadn't shaved for a couple of days, and 
there was a joint hanging out of the corner of his mouth. 
but it was his eyes that held their attention. He was smiling and 
there was a friendly look about them, but there was something else. 
The coloured parts of his eyes  had a sort of unreal appearance to 
them - almost as if they were only half there.
    Anton had seen this in people's eyes before, but it was 
something he preferred not to think about, so he looked away. He was 
almost surprise to see the inside of a bus as he lloked around him. 
But he was quickly wide enough awake to remember what they were 
doing there.
    "Oh yeah." Sally mumbled, as she too recognized their 
surroundings. "Is it morning already?"
    "'Fraid so." Hhe man had moved away a bit now and was sitting 
sideways on one of the seats that filled the inside of the bus 
they'd been sleeping in. "My names's Raphael. I got in after you'd 
gone to sleep last night. But Yota told me about you."
    "Oh, that's right." Sally sat up in the confined space she'd 
been sleeping in. "You live here too, don't you?"
    Raphael gave her a look of amused resignation and said "Yeah, 
crazy, isn't it? But anyway, you'd better get up or you'll find a 
herd of screaming schoolkids jumping all over you! Don't laugh, it's 
happened to me before!"
    They both dragged themselves off the floor and out of the narrow 
space between two rows of seats, where they had slept with their 
heads together in the aisle. As they picked up and folded their 
bedding, they both went over the bizarre events of the previous day 
in their heads. They didn't seem to make any more sense now than 
they had yesterday. Especially ending up here!"
    It had begun to get late and there was obviously no hope of 
finding Max that day. Julie said she had to go home as she was 
really tired, but where she lived there was no space of any sort for 
them to stay, or she would have invited them back. They had resigned 
themselves to spending the night on the floor of the alkies shelter 
in the park - the one they'd slept in that afternoon was already 
taken - when Julie remembered somewhere else.
    "It's only slightly better," she'd said, "but at least it's 
inside and off the ground, so you won't get quite so damp. Johhno 
and Tanya moved out of the bus the other day, so there should be 
some space there. The lucky bastards actually managed to find a 
house in the hills. No water, sewage or electricity or anything like 
that, of course. But they've got four walls, a roof and a floor, 
which is pretty good going around here!"
    "A bus?" Sally asked, not at all surprised at this latest twist 
to their lives.
    "THE bus." Julie replied. The local bus. The owner had this 
bright idea of renting it out to homeless people while it's not out 
on the road. Seeing as it only does four hours work a day, he 
thought it could do with a bit more use."
    "Are you serious?" Despite everything else, Anton found this new 
story hard to take.
    "Deadly serious!" Julie grinned. These two really did have a lot 
to learn. It must be a bit of a shock, she thought, migrating to 
australia. After being fed all the bullshit and hype overseas, about 
how it's the land of opportunity, to finally arrive and be hit full 
in the face by reality wouldn't be that easy. Of course, there were 
people that had an easy time of it - the rich ones. But she'd put 
money on it that most of the rest ended up wishing they'd stayed at 
home!
    "There was fice adults and two kids living there before, but now 
Johnno and Tanya have gone there's two less. They'll let you stay 
there for sure. It's not bad really, you just have to get up early 
and get out before the bus goes off on its morning run. It does the 
school run and then goes off to Ningwana Bay and back. Then it does 
the reverse in the afternoon. Four hours is all you have to be out 
for. The rest of the time you can use it as your home.
    A bus as a home! thought Sally. Maybe, if all the seats were out 
of it. But one that was carrying passengers every day would be 
pretty strange. "What do they do with all their things?" she asked.
    "They keep them in the luggage compartment under the bus. 
There's plenty of room there. The only problem is if you want 
anything while the bus is out, you have to wait."
    Anton laughed at the vision of all these people's belongings 
constantly driving round the place without them. It was really 
crazy. His laughter threatened to turn into total deranged hysteria, 
but he managed to stop himself somehow.
    Sally was getting to the point where she couldn't see the funny 
side any more. She just wanted it all not to be happening. But, 
failing that, sleep would be the next best thing. And to wake up in 
the morning and find Max. Then they could begin to get their lives 
in some kind of order and recover from the journey properly. 
"Alright, take us there." she said.

                                *

    "Fares please." The driver smiled at his daily joke as they 
finished packing their sleeping stuff into the compartment under 
the bus.
    "This is Sally and Anton." Raphael itroduced them to the driver.
    "Arthur." He smiled and shook their hands. "I suppose they told 
you, it's two dollars a night each and there's a toilet and a small 
kitchen in that shed over there, which you're most welcome to use. 
Pretty reasonable, i think!" He didn't sound like he thought so at 
all, but he didn't really seem like the sort of person who enjoyed 
making money out of other people's homelessness.
    "Oh, we won't be staying long" Sally said, handing Arthur four 
dollars. "We're going to stay with Anton's cousin Max as soon as we 
find him. Maybe you can help?"
    He couldn't. He didn't know anyone fitting Max's description, 
but he told them he'd ask all his passengers for them.
    They stood and watched the bus drive off with a strange feeling 
of insecurity. All their bedding and most of their possessions were 
on board. It was almost like getting off a bus and leaving your bag 
behind.
    "Coming up the Starlight for a cup of coffee?" said Yota. And 
they joined the rest of the residents in a straggly procession up 
the road.
    Living on the bus with Yota and Raphael, who was usually known 
as Rafa, was a woman called Muz who was in her mid twenties and 
dressed in a vaguely hippy style, with lots of different couloured 
patches on her clothes and long hair dyed a bright pink.
    "You wouldn't get into the pub on two counts!" Anton had said to 
her as she was getting dressed.
    "Three, actually!" she'd replied with a grin. He was mildly 
shocked by her apparent pride in having lice, but he tried not to 
show it. And to resist a strong temptation to scratch his head.
    Along with the three adults was a five-year-old boy called 
Caradoc, who had jumped all over Anton as soon as he'd met him, and 
a two-year-old girl called Rainbow. It wasn't immediately obvious 
who the kids were with - if they were with anyone at all - as the 
three adults all seemed to treat them in the same way.
    The seven of them managed to squeeze round a table in the 
Starlight after ordering coffee and things to eat for breakfast. 
Anton was relieved to see the skinny man who had served them 
yesterday wasn't there this morning. He said so to Muz.
    "Neville the dirty devil, you mean? Yeah, he's a miserable old 
bastard. And don't let him get to close to ya, he's not particular 
about who he gropes!" She nudged him in the ribs and winked at him. 
"Know what i mean?"
    Anton had taken an immediate liking to Muz and he was pleased 
that she seemed to like him too. He gave her a friendly smile as she 
nudged him, which didn't escape Sally, even though she was absorbed 
in conversation with Yota.
    "You talk funny!" Caradoc said to Sally. He was sitting next to 
her and staring intently at her face as she told Yota about her 
first few days in australia.
    "That's because she's english, Cara." Rafa said to him.
    "You a pom?" the little boy chirped as soon as he heard this.
    Sally turned and smiled at him. "That's right." she replied.
    "Rafa's spanish!" he said with a serious look on his face. "He 
comes from spain!"
    "Really? Do you know any spanish, Cara?"
    "Si. Rafa taught me. 'Cara' means face in spanish." He looked 
pleased with himself as he picked up his curried lentil pie and took 
another bite.
    "So how did you manage to get permanent residence here?" Yota 
asked Sally, who had just been telling her why they'd decided to 
come. "It's pretty hard getting into australia, isn't it?"
	"Anton's father's australian. His family were dutch 
migrants, but he ended up going to live in england where he met 
Anton's mum. So he's an australian citizen as well as a british one. 
That's why we chose australia to come and live in. I had to marry 
him so i could get in too. It would have been possible to come on 
the grounds that we'd been living together for over two years, but 
getting married seemed like it would be a lot easier. They like 
their official bits of paper in government departments!
    "Max is Anton's aunt's son and he came to stay with us when he 
was visiting england last year. It was partly because of him that we 
decided to migrate here. And because he said we could live with him 
for a while we came to Goonabah. But, of course, he's nowhere to be 
seen!"
    "Yeah, it's a bit of a worry that one, eh? I've been around here 
for a while now, but i don't know anyone who fits that description. 
He'll probably turn up sooner or later but. And in the meantime, you 
can stay with us as long as you like. I talked to the others on the 
way up here and they don't mind. Uh-oh, here comes the rain again! I 
thought it was too good to last."
    Neither Sally nor Anton had really noticed the rain had stopped, 
but everyone else seemed acutely aware of the sudden dry spell. Now, 
as suddenly as it had stopped, it started again. And the whole mood 
of the town changed dramatically, influenced by the sound of heavy 
rainfall on tin roofs. It filled every corner and space and 
penetrated into the darkest depths of every building. After it had 
been raining for a while, you stopped hearing it, but when it first 
started up it dominated all your senses and those of everyone else 
in town.
    "I thought it rained a lot in england!" Sally remarked. "But 
it's got nothing on this place. I feel like i've seen more water in 
the last twenty four hours than in the whole of the rest of my life!"
    They sat in the Starlight for well over an hour, talking to each 
other and everyone else who came in. The people from the bus had 
taken up Sally and Anton's quest with a vengeance and they didn't 
need to ask anyone if they knew Max that morning. It was all done 
for them.
    They watched the place gradually fill up as they sat there. All 
sorts of people came in in that first hour or so. Some really 
straight looking types were among them. A few with spikey, coloured 
hair and torn clothes. People with dreadlocks of all sorts - some 
dyed, some natural, some real, some extensions. A couple of people 
looked like they'd gone to sleep in the hippy years of the early 
seventies and had just woken up. There was a lone skinhead. A couple 
of women with tattoos, bleached, shoulder length hair and 
sunglasses. In fact, a surprising number of people were weraing 
sunglasses, considering it was pissing down with rain.
    There were people of all appearances and age groups in there 
that morning, and they all seemed to know each other. But despite 
the friendly atmosphere, there was a really strong feeling of 
tension and anticipation in the air. And everyone seemed vaguely 
distracted - like they were waiting for something.
    Both Sally and Anton felt strangely out of place in there with 
that crowd. It was almost as if there was something going on that 
everyone knew about except them. Neither of them could work out if 
it was real or if it was just their imagination and the fact that 
they were new to the town. But Anton had a strong feeling, which he 
tried to ignore, that he knew what was going on in there. He'd felt 
that same atmosphere lots of times and he'd been trying to forget 
about it for years.
    His suspicions were made stronger when the cafe suddenly 
emptied. It went from packed to almost empty in the course of ten 
minutes. And they were just about the only ones left in there.
    Raphael looked up at the clock and stood up. "I'll see ya's in a 
while." he said absently, and walked out.
    A few minutes later, a loud whistle preceeded the sound of the 
train as it chugged its slow and rattling way into town.
    "We should do some shopping i reckon, Sally." Anton said, "At 
least buy a bit of food. There's no point waiting till we find Max, 
he might not show up for week the way things are going!"
    "Don't say that!" Sally frowned. "I bet we find him today. But 
you're right, we better get some food just in case. Anyway, we 
haven't really had a look at the town yet. What there is of it!"
    They said goodbye to the four people they were sitting with and 
walked out towards the rain.
    It really wasn't a very big town. There was one main street with 
a couple of dozen shops in it and that was about it. The railway 
station was at one end, the park at the other and the pub was in the 
middle, across the road from the Starlight cafe. All along both 
sides of the street there were wide, flat awnings above the shop 
windows. These had looked really odd when they'd first seen them in 
Sydney, but they were beginning to get used to them now. They were 
great for keeping you dry in this weather, anyway.
    As they walked along the street, looking in all the shop 
windows, they talked about how different and, at the same time, how 
similar things were to britain. This somehow made them feel suddenly 
more sane. Almost as if they'd woken up out of a nightmare. This was 
the sort of thing you should be doing when you came to another 
country for the first time. Not all that deranged running around 
that they seemed to have had to do since they arrived. It was 
probably partly the jetlag wearing off, but the crazed confusion of 
yesterday quickly disappeared into the past.
    "It's a bit disappointing coming to another country and finding 
everything's written in english, isn't it?" Anton said as they 
looked in the window of the hardware shop.
    "They're really into all this 'australia' stuff, aren't they? 
'Aussie' this, 'australia' that, everywhere you look. It's almost 
like they're afraid they'll forget where they are if they don't keep 
reminding themselves!"
    "G'day. Been shooping?" They looked round from the window at the 
sound of the familiar voice. It was Julie with a man they hadn't 
seen before.
    "This is Phil." she said, "he's a pom too, but he can't help it!"
    "Alright?" He smiled, showing a mouthful of crooked teeth, with 
three or four missing. He looked about thirty and had short, vaguely 
spikey bleached hair which seemed to be thinning out a bit at the 
temples. There was a safety pin through his left ear.
    "Do either of you play an instrument?" he asked, but they both 
shook their heads. "I'm trying to get a punk revival band together. 
But it's really hard to find any musicians that want to play in it."
    "It'll come together in the end." Julie said to him. "Where are 
yas going with that shopping?"
    "Back to the bus, i suppose." Sally answered. "We still haven't 
found Max."
    "That's a drag. I'll walk down there with you, i want to see 
Yota, anyway."
    "See you later on." Phil said, turning to cross the road.
    "Catch you later Phil." Julie replied. "Don't forget what i told 
you now!"
    "He makes me laugh!" she said, as they walked down the street. 
"He thinks he's still a punk from 1977! He's a really nice man, but 
it's like he get stuck in this time warp in London twelve years ago 
and can't get out of it. He's always talking about King's Road and 
playing at the 100 Club and all that stuff."
    "This is where we get wet!" Anton said as they stopped just 
before the end of the awning. The bus was parked down a side street, 
near the railway line and it meant a hundred metre dash in the 
pouring rain. Beyond the shelter of the awning, just in front of 
where they stood, it was almost like a block of solid water that 
they had to dive into. Past the edge of the pavement, the gutter was 
full, almost to overflowing, making a lake nearly a metre wide of 
muddy brown water.
    "Here goes!" Anton was the first one to run down the street, 
with the other two following close behind. It wasn't really worth 
running, you couldn't get any wetter if you walked. But it did get 
you out of the rain quicker, anyway.
    In the bus, Yota, Muz and Rafa were all sitting on the back 
seat, leaning on each other, with their feet up on the back of the 
seats in front. They had their eyes closed and looked about as 
relaxed as you could get on the seat of a bus.
    The kids were playing with some toys under one of the middle 
seats and Caradoc poked his head out as soon as they came in. A few 
seconds later, Rainbow crawled out into the aisle and looked up at 
them.
    "G'day Anton!" Caradoc shouted. "G'day Julie! G'day Sally! We're 
playing greenies against the loggers! And i'm winning. I'm a greenie 
and Rainbow's a logger."
    The three on the back seat had opened their eyes now and they 
said g'day to the others, but didn't move from their huddled, 
relaxed position. Julie went off to make some tea.
    Shit! thought Anton, they're all stoned! Why do i have to end up 
staying with this crew? He and Sally sat down on the back seat next 
to them.
    "Have you two done anything about getting on the dole yet?" 
Julie asked as she walked up the aisle with a pot of herbal tea and 
some cups.
    "No." Anton replied, a bit puzzled. "I suppose we should though."
    "We've got a bit of money saved." Sally said. "Enough to 
probably last a month if we don't have any big expenses. But we're 
not really used to how much it costs to live here, so it's hard to 
know for sure."
    "Well you should get on the dole before you're desperate." Julie 
sat down on the edge of the seat in front of them and put the cups 
on the floor. "You never know how long they'll fuck you around for 
before they pay you."

				  ***