Catherine Jinks TheRoad (76 page)

Louise said to Peter, ‘What’s wrong with Mongrel?’

‘I dunno.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t like that Georgie person.’

‘Maybe.’

Mongrel began to bark again, triggering a sudden, violent response from Del. She broke off her conversation with Col Wallace, strode towards her dog, and seized his collar. Then she began to drag him towards her car, as he yapped and whined and struggled.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Peter wanted to know, trailing along behind.

‘God knows,’ Del retorted. ‘Does this sometimes. Going senile, probably – he’s a pretty old dog.’

‘Maybe he doesn’t like that white car,’ Peter observed hesitantly.

‘Maybe. Maybe it hit a fox back there, and this one can smell it.’ With a grunt and a heave, Del forced Mongrel into the rear of her station wagon, slamming the door shut before the dog could come bounding out again. From behind the thick screen of glass, Mongrel’s bark was a good deal less piercing. ‘He’ll quieten down soon enough,’ Del declared. ‘Too lazy to keep goin like that for very long, the old bugger.’

When they returned to the ute, Col was in the middle of a long speech about how he knew this road like the back of his hand, would be able to tell if anything was wrong, and intended to keep going.

‘What you’ve been telling me doesn’t make much sense,’ he went on, in a slow, slightly ponderous fashion, his voice creaky with age, ‘but I’ll take your word for it if I don’t hit Broken Hill in half an hour. Tell you what – I’ll believe you if I don’t hit the back road to Pine Creek in a few minutes.’

‘Back road?’ Ross said sharply. ‘Which back road?’

‘Isn’t there one goes back past Ascot Vale station, comes out down near the bridge?’ Col asked, cocking his thumb. ‘Dirt road. Through a few gates.’

‘Is there?’ said Noel.

‘Brother-in-law told me about it. Years ago. Never been down there myself,’ Col continued, whereupon Georgie suddenly remarked: ‘I have.’

If she had ripped off her top, no one would have been more surprised. The fact that she had actually
spoken
was startling enough; the fact that she had contributed something useful was even more astonishing.

‘I’ve been down there lots of times,’ she said, her eyes still closed. She sounded bored. ‘When I was a kid.’