enjoy your trip. The boys are fine. Gotta go.’
This time, when Brad rang off, he’d given Nina the Kiss of Life. She paid for her provisions with shaking hands and skipped back to the RoadMaster. Meredith and Annie read the newsprint thrust under their noses.
‘So, this Cheyenne creature . . . was she telling the truth or not?’ demanded Meredith.
‘Who cares? Doesn’t matter,’ said Nina as she bit through the dark chocolate into a bounty of ripe sugary cherries.
‘But she’s like some sacrificial lamb. It’s not really fair . . .’ Annie complained.
‘Hello? It’s football,’ exclaimed Nina, ‘not tiddlywinks! There’re millions of dollars at stake here—and my sons’ education. You come between a footballer and a premiership and this is what happens. Shit is what happens. Maybe she’ll have learned her lesson and get herself a nice panel beater.’
Nina joyfully revved the engine and roared off towards the Pacific Highway. She didn’t tell them about Brad’s oath to get Corinne. Who knew what he might come up with? The spectacle would not be for the faint-hearted.
Just up the road they sped past the iconic Big Oyster. It was no longer a restaurant, sadly, and now loomed over a used-car yard. ‘Pick up a pearler of a deal!’ Annie read aloud from the painted sign.
‘It looks like a set of false teeth. So ugly!’ Meredith physically recoiled from the window.
‘The locals call it the Big Dentures,’ laughed Annie, reading from one of her brochures.
Like every carload of tourists that ever drove past the massive concrete mollusc, they entertained themselves with a list of the Aussie Big Things they’d heard of: the Big Merino, the Big Avocado, the Big Potato, the Big Pineapple. The Big Dugong, Cod, Blue Heeler, Gumboot, Mosquito, Pelican, Earthworm.
‘Why do people do it? What’s the point?’ asked Meredith. ‘They should at least make them something most Australians can relate to around here—the Big Melanoma, the Big Cigarette Butt, the Big Police Speed Radar, the Big . . . Mac.’
‘There is no point . . . and that’s the point,’ Annie patiently explained. ‘You haven’t been on a holiday in Australia unless you’ve had your photograph taken in front of a Big Thing.’ They all vowed to pose in front of the Big Prawn at Ballina, just south of Byron Bay.
‘So, how long will it take us to get to Byron?’ asked Annie.
‘We’re right on schedule to land on Monday morning.’ Meredith checked her travel diary. ‘The wedding’s on Tuesday, on the beach at dusk.’
‘It’s an odd day for a wedding,’ said Nina.
‘That’s what I thought,’ replied Meredith. ‘Just another part of the mystery, I suppose. But I’m so looking forward to seeing Jarvis.’
The names Donald and Sigrid were notable by their absence.
Thirteen
It was mid-afternoon when the redoubtable RoadMaster pulled in to the Scotts Head Reserve Trust caravan park. This time Annie was nominated to front the site office. She jumped from the coolness of the air-conditioned cabin to the sandy path and was surprised to find the afternoon air so warm and oppressive. Thunderclouds were piling on the horizon—plump grey pillows arranged at the bedhead of bright blue sheets of sky.
A weary young mother with a sleeping baby in her arms and a pink bunny rug flung over one shoulder was behind the counter. As Annie handed over her credit card, she could see directly into the lounge room beyond, to where a television blared with cartoons. Two small children in school uniform sucking on icy poles were splayed on piles of dried laundry. The floor was an obstacle course of plastic toys. Annie could smell onions and garlic frying.
This unselfconscious view into the banality of family life fascinated Annie. Most of the houses she found herself in were empty or carefully tidied for public inspection. The casual scene in front of her was an aspect of humanity that was never on show in her modern apartment block in Port Melbourne. Were there any children in her entire street? She’d never noticed. Once more, Annie thought that she might have barricaded herself against the realities of life.
When the van was parked—close to the gas barbecues and near a small red-brick toilet block—Meredith and Nina busied themselves setting up the table and chairs in the sun. Annie noticed that the people at adjoining campsites were entirely oblivious to the fact that they might be observed. Folks lounged in swimsuits, poring over crossword puzzles; they emptied buckets of soapy dishwashing water onto the grass, towelled naked children. Human flesh was