Crown Park (5 page)

“Who?” asked Emily.

“Chainsaw!”

“I’ll find him,” she said,
taking to the air. “Have no fear while Em is here.”

She circled above the shoreline.
Some of the assembled birds flinched as her shadow passed over, but
soon recovered when they looked up and saw that it was only a kaka.
Her circles got wider until she reached a place where a group of
large, dark-grey birds had the place to themselves. All the other
animals kept well clear of them.

The reason became obvious when
Emily swooped down to take a closer look: two of the birds took a
swipe at her with their beaks. Others screeched in a most
unfriendly manner. Emily turned sharply and raced back to the Luce
Crew.

“He’s with the adzebills!”

“Oh no!” said Lucy and
Godfrey.

Pat popped his head out of
Lucy’s feathers. “They’ll kill him.”

“I don’t think they’ve seen him
yet,” said Emily. “He was creeping around the outside getting ready
to attack.”

Godfrey looked up at Jack. “He
wouldn’t attack an adzebill, would he?”

“He wouldn’t know what they
are,” said Jack. “What
is
an adzebill?”

“They’re killers,” said Lucy.
“The worst we’ve got. They hunt in packs. Their leader is Boris.
He’s the most evil bird ever.” She glanced over to where the
adzebills were gathered. “If your friend gets in amongst that lot,
they’ll kill him.”

“You sure he was going to
attack?” asked Fluoro. “He’s much too smart to go after something
big like them.”

“They’ve got chicks,” replied
Emily. “He was after one of them.”

“Then we’d better go and save
him,” said Fluoro.

As they moved across the
clearing, the other birds moved back to form an avenue. Although
there were calls of support, none offered to help.

The adzebills showed little
reaction. A couple looked up as the Luce Crew approached and gave
them the evil eye before getting back to feeding.

They were big birds, easily up
to Jack’s waist. The charcoal plumage on their backs made them look
like mourners at a funeral. Except they weren’t gathered to bury
corpses, they were there to eat them.

Scattered on the ground were the
bodies of several moho. Purple feathers were being thrown
everywhere by the adzebills’ powerful feet. With the feathers out
of the way, the adzebills then attacked the flesh with their beaks.
These were sharp enough to pierce right through the body cavity,
and strong enough to rip out the guts in one action. Jack’s own gut
tightened as he watched. These were not birds to mess with.

Lucy and Godfrey stood and
watched in shock as the birds they had come to rescue were torn
apart. It took Pat to remind them about Chainsaw. He sniffed the
air.

“The cat’s in that direction.”
His nose pointed to a space between the adzebills and a patch of
trees.

Jack’s eyes followed the line
and found Chainsaw crouching in the grass, ready to attack. His
target was two chicks fighting over a length of intestines.

Before Jack could call out,
Chainsaw had moved. In a flash one of the chicks was trapped under
his paws. He had it in his mouth and was moving away when the other
chick started squawking. Soon all the chicks were at it.

The response of the adults was
immediate and organized. They sprinted to positions surrounding the
chicks. All was done with such speed that Jack suspected they had
done it many times before.

Chainsaw would have had enough
time to get through the ring, except the chick in his mouth still
held onto the length of intestine. Some of it dragged behind,
getting under Chainsaw’s feet and tripping him up. He staggered and
slowed enough to be encircled by the angry birds.

One of the adzebills gave a
harsh call. That had to be Boris, their leader. Instantly the
chicks stopped squawking and ran to hide in the shelter of their
parents. Another call and the circle began to close. A low rumbling
filled the air. It took Jack a moment to realize that it was coming
from the adzebills, sounding like the growling of a pack of
dogs.

At the centre of the circle was
Chainsaw. The chick in his mouth was still very much alive, though
panting heavily. Chainsaw was more wary than frightened. As the
circle tightened, his back arched and he started hissing.

None of this had any effect on
the adzebills — they continued to creep closer. Then Boris gave a
different call. They all stopped. The ring had closed so that the
birds were almost touching each other. Even if Chainsaw had wanted
to run, there would be no way through.

“They want him to drop the
chick,” whispered Fluoro.

“What if he does?” asked Jack.
“Do you think they’ll let him go?”

Fluoro shook his head. “I doubt
it. I don’t think you mess with them and get away with it.”

“What can we do?”

In answer, Fluoro let out a
mighty roar, taking a couple of steps forward. Jack moved to
support him. Lucy and Godfrey hesitated, unsure about risking their
lives for a furry thing. In the end they stayed put.

A couple of adzebills glanced
up, wondering what the noise was about. They saw no threat and
returned to staring at Chainsaw.

Fluoro let out another roar,
waving his hands around wildly. Jack joined in.

Again this had little impact on
the adzebills. But Chainsaw must’ve thought that Fluoro’s anger was
directed at him. He opened his mouth and let the chick fall to the
ground. It took a couple of gasps of air before staggering across
the gap to join the other chicks.

Now there was no reason for the
adzebills to hold back. On a call from Boris, four of them began
moving in. Chainsaw crouched down and began flicking his tail
warily.

Fluoro and Jack shouted as loud
as they could. Lucy and Godfrey joined in. Soon the noise was so
loud that Jack had to cover his ears. Louder and louder it got
until even the adzebills had to take notice. The four attackers
left the cat and rushed back to the others who were now huddling in
a group, as scared as all the other animals around.

Chainsaw waited only a moment
before taking off towards the trees where he disappeared into the
shadows.

Jack stopped his screaming. But
the noise didn’t lessen. It kept getting louder. Soon everything
was shaking with sound. The whole world seemed to be falling apart.
Jack dropped to the ground and rolled himself into a ball. His head
felt like it was going to split open. There was a flash of bright
light, followed quickly by another. After that there was only
blackness.

Jack opened his eyes. The noise had
stopped, but the flashing light was back. It was caused by the
gentle breeze moving a tree back and forth across the sun.

He was lying on the ground next
to the lounger in Fluoro’s shelter. Chainsaw had gone. Fluoro was
lying back in his recliner. He was staring at the iron roof, as if
expecting something to happen.

Something did!

The noise came back. Although
not as loud as in Jack’s dream, it was almost as scary. This time
he recognized what it was. Someone was running a stick back and
forth across the corrugated iron.

It stopped long enough for a
voice to yell. “Come out, Freakhead!” Another lot of banging. “Now!
Freakhead! Now!”

The noise stopped again.

Fluoro said something that to
Jack sounded like “him be seals”.

“What?”

“Imbeciles,” repeated Fluoro.
“Birdbrains, morons, idiots. Take your pick”

“Do you know who it is?”

Fluoro nodded.

“They’ve been before. There are
two of them. Brothers, each as moronic as the other.”

“Have they gone now?”

“No. They’ll be climbing down
the bank.” He pushed the lever until the La-Z-Boy was upright. “Let
me handle them. You can hide down the back if you want.”

But Jack wasn’t going to hide.
Instead he sat on the box alongside Fluoro.

They didn’t have long to wait
before the brothers were standing in front of the shelter. The
bigger of the two had a stick.

Jack’s body stiffened. It was
the Bennetts.

“Well, well, well,” said Brian.
“Freakhead Fred has found a little friend.”

“Spewit Stewart,” said Liam.
“What are you here for, Spewit?”

“He’s come to cry because we
teased him,” said Brian. “Haven’t you, Spewit?”

Jack remained silent.

“What do you want?” mumbled
Fluoro.

The Bennetts turned to him.

“You know what we want,
Freakhead. Money! All that money you get for mumbling.”

“That money keeps me alive,”
said Fluoro.

“Not all of it,” said Brian.
“Liam says you get hundreds of dollars at a time.”

“Liam is a liar.”

Brian took a step forward.

“No he’s not! You’re one of
those old people who hoard money and never spend it. Everyone says
you’re rich.”

Fluoro put back his head and let
out a mad cackle. Jack looked at him in alarm. The man seemed to be
losing it.

“Listen, Freakhead,” yelled
Brian. “I’ve had a gutsful of you.”

He raised his stick and moved
forward.

“No!” yelled Jack, rising from
the box.

“Stay out of it, Spewit,” said
Liam. “Or you’ll get damaged too.”

Jack sat down.

Bennett held the stick over
Fluoro’s head. “Where’s the money?” he shouted.

“There is no money,” said
Fluoro. “But I can help you with your anger problem.”

Bennett growled like a cornered
beast. He was about to bring the stick down when another voice
screamed out, “Stop!”

He spun around as if expecting
an attack. There was none. It was Melissa from the takeaway shop.
She was holding a mobile phone out at arm’s length.

“One move, Brian Bennett,” she
said, “and I’ll press this button. There’ll be a squad car here
within seconds.”

Bennett recovered quickly. “No,
there won’t.”

Melissa gave a little smile.
“Don’t believe me?”

“Nah! The cops never move that
fast.”

“They do for me,” said Melissa.
“My Dad’s a policeman. Everyone in the family has police protection
at the push of a button.” She turned the phone around so that he
could see the screen. “You want to find out how quickly it
works?”

Doubt crossed Bennett’s face. He
turned and snarled at Fluoro. “You’ll keep, Freakhead.” He then
swaggered off in the direction they’d come. “C’mon, Liam,” he said
over his shoulder. “Let’s get away from this freak house before we
get infected.”

Liam Bennett didn’t want to give
up so easily. He turned to Jack. “I’m going to destroy you,
Spewit,” he said. “When we get back to school, I’m going to tell
everyone that you spent the weekend blubbering to Freakhead Fluoro.
They’re going to love it. By the time I’m finished, you’ll be
begging to go to another school.”

“Go!” shouted Melissa.

Liam puffed up his body and
glared at each of them before following after his brother.

For a time Melissa stood staring
at where he’d disappeared. Then she brought her hands to her face
and began breathing deeply.

“I gather there is no special
button,” said Fluoro.

Melissa shook her head.

“Then our thanks must be all the
greater, for that was an outstanding performance.”

She uncovered her face and gave
a weak smile. “You think so? Then the drama classes at school
must’ve done something.”

“How did you know we were in
trouble?” asked Jack.

“I was crossing the park on my
way to work when I heard Brian. I’d know that voice anywhere. He’s
always yelling like that at school.

“Is your father really a
policeman?”

“Yes.”

Fluoro leaned forward. “Then I
suggest that you tell him about this. Those two are likely to seek
revenge.”

Melissa gave a little shrug.
“Maybe.” She turned to Jack. “Are you coming by later to feed
Chainsaw?”

Jack’s heart gave a flutter at
the mention of Chainsaw.

“We gave him some sausages
earlier,” said Fluoro.

“OK,” said Melissa, looking at
her watch. “I’d better be off then. See you later.” With that she
was gone.

“You worried about Chainsaw?”
asked Fluoro.

Jack gave a little nod.

Fluoro also nodded. “Mmm, I have
no idea how it worked, but it seemed to me that we really were back
at the time before the eruption. I gather it felt that way to you
as well.”

“Could Chainsaw have got trapped
back there?”

“I can’t see how,” said Fluoro.
“I don’t think our bodies went back in time. Only our minds did.”
He paused, thinking. “It can’t be real, Jack. Animals can’t talk.
It was just part of a dream.”

“Then where is Chainsaw?”

“Ran off most likely. Any animal
would take off with the noise those two morons were making.”

Jack was unconvinced.

Fluoro saw this and said, “But
we can go back if you like. That’s if you don’t have to go home
yet.”

“No. There’s nothing to go home
for,” replied Jack. “But I need to go to the toilet first.”

“If it’s just to pee,” said
Fluoro, ‘then go around the corner there and fertilize the
bushes.

Jack headed around the corner.
The steam was getting thicker as the afternoon got colder. Several
vents at the bottom of the cliff were oozing vapour. Jack found a
sheltered spot and began to relieve himself. As he sprayed, he
moved the stream around. That’s how he found a vent that was giving
off gas but without the steam. He aimed directly at the hole only
to have the stream deflected to one side by the steady flow of
invisible gas.

When he returned to the shelter,
he told Fluoro about it.

“Carbon dioxide,” said the man.
“It’s coming out of all the vents with the steam, but sometimes
that vent gives pure carbon dioxide.”

“Is it poisonous?”

“No, but it can asphyxiate
people if there’s too much in the air.”