Kakadu Calling (4 page)

By the time Bulak had returned with the knife, Namanji had found some soft wood from the hibiscus tree and some hard wood from the casuarina tree. Namanji shaped both pieces the way his father had taught him. First he carved out a hollow in the hibiscus wood, and made a small v-shaped cut in the side of the hollow. Then he laid the hibiscus wood on the ground, and with his foot keeping it steady, he placed the casuarina stick in the hollow and began rotating it swiftly between his hands. Before long the sticks had heated up
enough to create a smouldering ember. The ash from the ember fell down onto the grass and lit the fire.

‘First we'll cook the fish,' said Namanji. The day before they'd buried the fish in the wet sand to keep them fresh. ‘They still smell okay', he said.

After cooking the fish in the hot embers, they built up the fire again and added more wood. Then they piled the green leaves onto the burning wood to make lots of smoke. Someone was sure to see the smoke and come looking.

All morning the brothers took turns keeping a lookout for a smoke signal from their island. At mid-day, Namanji decided to go and hunt some mudcrabs for their lunch. He followed the tide out, searching the flat rock beds. With Bulak's spear he was able to catch a couple of good-sized mudcrabs swimming in a shallow rock pool. They cooked the crabs on the fire, and then once again, built it up with wood and green leaves.

Some time had passed when Bulak shouted to Namanji, ‘I can see smoke on the island! They're coming for us!'

The boys waited anxiously before they finally saw a motorboat heading towards the island. They sprinted down to the beach and saw that it was their father steering. They waved excitedly and as the boat pulled up, the boys went splashing into the water and hauled themselves up to give their father a hug. Their father took a good look at them and when he was satisfied that they were both all right, he dropped the boat's anchor. He jumped into the water and together they went back up to the beach to sort out the fishing gear.

Before they left, they pulled the canoe high onto the beach, way beyond the high-tide mark. They would return another day to pick it up. For now, the boys were keen to get home and see their family. As they motored back to their island, they could see all their family and friends gathered on the shore to greet them. Everyone was happy to see the two boys and they wanted to know what happened.

‘It's a long story,' said Namanji. ‘Bulak and I will tell you later.'

Visit to the City

M
ardjibi lived with her family on a remote outstation about twenty kilometres from Oenpelli, a community in the Northern Territory.

One day, Mardjibi's father had an accident while he was working. He had broken his leg and because there were no doctors or nurses on the outstation, he had to be flown to hospital in Darwin by the Royal Doctor Flying Service.

Darwin was the nearest city to their home and it was nearly 300 km away. Mardjibi and her
mother, and the baby, Gillie, were allowed to go too, but Mardjibi's older brothers would have to stay behind with their uncle.

This was to be Mardjibi's first ride on an aeroplane. When her mother strapped her into her seatbelt and the plane engines were starting, she became very frightened. Her mother held her hand and told her that everything would be all right. When the plane sped down the runway and took off into the air, it made Mardjibi's stomach very fluttery and she squeezed her eyes shut. After a while, when she heard her mother and father laughing together, she began to relax. She even felt brave enough to look out the window.

Way down below, Mardjibi could see beautiful billabongs with waterlilies and lots of birds swimming on the water. There were wild buffaloes too, and from so high up in the sky, they looked like small insects. Further on she could see anthills
of all different shapes and sizes. Their strange shapes made them look like people dotted across the country.

It wasn't too long before her mother said that they were about to land at the Darwin airport. Mardjibi looked down and saw tall buildings and roads, and cars going this way and that way. She closed her eyes, and clutched the arms of her seat as the plane flew down from the sky and landed on the runway with a big bump. They sped along and the plane finally came to a stop. Climbing down off the plane steps onto the airport tarmac, the ground felt hard and hot. Mardjibi was used to dirt under her feet, not this hard ground.

An ambulance was waiting to take her father to the hospital, and Mardjibi and her mother and sister caught a taxi to their auntie's house.

Mardjibi's mother had to do some shopping while they were in Darwin, as they all needed new clothes and thongs. The next morning they rode to the big shopping centre in a taxi. When they got to the sliding doors at the entrance, Mardjibi was very surprised to see the doors open by themselves. As they walked through, she got frightened that the doors would close and she would be crushed, so she let go of her mother's hand and quickly ran through.

The shopping centre was freezing cold and so were the floors. Mardjibi couldn't believe her eyes when she saw people sliding up a big stairway and others sliding down. Her mother called it an ‘escalator' and she told Mardjibi that they too had to ride the escalator to get to the shops. Mardjibi
was terrified that her toes would get caught, but she leapt onto the moving steps and held firmly on to the rails.

There were people everywhere. Mardjibi had never seen so many people in one place. They all seemed to be very busy and many of them were rushing in and out of shops holding bags and pushing trolleys. Mardjibi made sure that she was holding her mother's hand tightly, just in case her mother got lost.

They went into a shop that sold clothes, so Mardjibi was able to get some dresses and a pair of thongs. At first the thongs were hard on her feet and kept slipping sideways, but she slowly got used to walking in them.

In the afternoon, they caught another taxi to the hospital to see Mardjibi's father. This time a door opened by itself and people stepped into a tiny room! It was called a ‘lift' and Mardjibi's stomach
hit the roof of her mouth when it started to go up. She was terrified, but before she could get the words out and tell her mother, the lift stopped and the doors opened.

She looked around and happily she saw her father in a bed opposite. He had a big, white leg and it was raised up off the bed. It looked so funny that Mardjibi asked her father why the doctor had given him one white leg and one black leg. Her father laughed and told her that it was called a ‘plaster'. He explained that when his leg was better, they would take the plaster off and he would look the same again.