Rocks had become; not until they had taken her along this dusty old track, their car bumping and pitching until Desi’s head throbbed. At one point, an emu had run out of the bush, its long neck twitching, startled eyes registering them, before it bolted away, two bandy-legged youngsters scrabbling in its wake. From that moment they had Jackson’s approval in the bag, but Desi regarded the empty landscape with dismay. The only redeeming factor was the beach – an endless stretch of unblemished white sand in both directions.
She remembers how her mother put an arm around her, while Desi tried hard to keep the tears at bay. ‘There will be a house by the time we get here. Your dad is making a tidy profit on the boat. It will be much bigger than the shack.’
‘I love the shack.’
Hester sighed. ‘And you’ll love it here, I promise, when we’ve set up the campsites and the holidaymakers arrive.’
‘I’ll be trapped, so I guess I’ll have to.’
‘Perhaps you could stay with Rebecca now and again,’ Hester said.
Desi had looked hard at her mother. Was she really that naive? Whenever they saw Marie nowadays, she barely said a word. And she wouldn’t sit still, always jumping up to make tea or clean up, even in other people’s houses. Although Desi hadn’t witnessed any more violence, now and again she couldn’t miss the bruises, concealed beneath sleeves that were repeatedly tugged down. Since Desi had given her word, she and Rebecca had never spoken openly of Rick’s temper. However, to keep her dreams alive she would have to find somewhere to stay in Two Rocks, because she needed to be close to Atlantis.
Atlantis Marine Park had opened to huge fanfare in the early eighties, and quickly garnered a reputation as one of the state’s premier attractions. It had transformed the town from a sleepy fishing village to a hub of bustling tourism. It had won awards and drawn numerous celebrity visitors, from Rolf Harris to Torvill and Dean. It had an aquarium, a boating lake, a huge novelty clock and a seal show, but that wasn’t why it held Desi in its thrall. She had been working in its fast-food kiosk for a while now, but she cared about nothing except its dolphins.
There were three males – Rajah, Frodo and Nero – and four females – Mila, Rani, Lulu and Karleen. These seven dolphins were the undisputed stars of the park. Desi had followed their progress from the moment they arrived, driven one by one to their new home, in specially designed slings on the flatbed of a ute. They had been caught locally, and her father had been commandeered to help as they were lowered carefully into the water. Desi had gone to numerous shows, sitting first at the poolside and later in the grandstand, as the costumes, the tricks and the backdrops became increasingly elaborate. She had been invited to stroke their streamlined bodies, finding them like wet silk, and had gaped awestruck as they leapt through metal hoops that were raised higher and higher, sailing straight past one another, always perfectly centred. One dolphin could swipe a ball so hard with his tail that it flew over the top of the grandstand, out of sight. Together, they took paintbrushes in their mouths and daubed primary colours on canvases. If conducted, they sang strange squealing songs in chorus into a microphone. They danced on their tails, their gleaming bodies shimmying above the water. They played catch, and put hoops through their beaks and towed boats carrying children. The trainers could even hold on to their fins for a ride, and as a finale the prettiest girls would stand on their backs and wave as the dolphins swam around the pool. They were incredible, and Desi longed more than anything to be part of their lives.
She had kept her plan secret, because she knew her father had other ideas for her. When they had visited Lovelock Bay that first time, he had taken her down to the beach and pointed to a short rock that jutted from the water, at least five hundred metres away. ‘You can practise swimming there and back,’ he said, ‘and when you’re quick enough we’ll get you in a pool.’ Desi had been swimming in the ocean for almost five years. She was already strong and fast, but there was no sign that Charlie was planning to start driving her on the eighty-kilometre round trip to the