Page 32 of Down the Track

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TYSON: Like sharks on a whale carcase, mate. Flies on a sheep’s arse. Termites on a wet stump. Ticks on a—

Yeah, rightio. He got the picture.

TYSON: And then there’s thatothersecret the journos might uncover while they’re sniffing around …

Hux and Phaedra looked at each other in silence while they contemplated the pile-on that might be headed their way.

‘There’s no reason for me to be lying in a hospital bed like I’m a frigging invalid,’ said Charlie.

‘No reason at all,’ agreed Hux. ‘You can walk out of here whenever you want and I’ll fly you home.’ Not quite true. Hux was expecting to spend the night in the plastic chair next to Charlie’s bed.

‘Sal and the kids have gone home, right?’

‘Unwillingly, but Mum put her foot down. I think Mum and Dad have invited themselves to stay over at your place.’

‘Shoot. Maybe this hospital bed isn’t so bad after all.’

Hux grinned. ‘You must be feeling a little better if you’re back to poking fun at the oldies.’

‘I guess.’ After a pause, during which the only thing going on in the hospital room was the sound of another patient behind a drawn curtain breathing wetly through some sort of contraption, Charlie said: ‘So. A panic attack, hey?’

‘That’s what the doctor reckons. You ever had one before?’

‘Maybe. I think, actually, yes.’

‘You want to talk about it?’

The pause was even longer this time. Hux had his eye on the tea trolley he could see through the door. It had made its way several rooms closer before Charlie started talking.

‘You know how quiet it is out there.’

Hux did know. He really did. Maybe there’d be a scuttle of an insect or dry leaves rustling if there was a breeze, but pretty much the only sound when you were out, alone, in the remote red plains of Western Queensland, was your own breathing. Maybe the tick of your watch, if you had an old-fashioned one. The rasp of grit shifting beneath your boots.

But the silence was huge. You could ask any question and get no answer except for what was already in your head.

‘When it became clear that Dave wasn’t there, and I didn’t know where he was, then I started thinking. Maybe there’d been some signs when I dropped him off that I could have picked up on. Maybe I wouldn’t have dropped him off, you know?’

‘Some signs from him? Like … you think he went out there on purpose to not come home?’ That wasn’t a possibility Hux had considered.

Charlie shrugged. ‘Not at the time, man. I mean, he had two pies with him.’

An odd detail, to be sure, if Dave had been planning to top himself. A totally understandable detail, however, if the guy just fancied eating a pie.

‘There was this big pile of rubble where we were going to meet. I sat on it and … that’s where I think I had my first panic attack. I was, like, out of action, man.’

‘That why you missed the Ferris pick-up?’

‘Getting back into that chopper and flying back to town thinking that I was leaving someone behind—someone who might need me—was about the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was a mess. I shouldn’t have been flying.’

That explained the evidence of poor landing protocol.

‘But you went straight to the police, right? You reported it as soon as you could.’

‘I’m not sure—’ Charlie was rubbing his face, stubble making a rough noise against his hands.

‘What aren’t you sure about? Whatever the problem is, we’re going to work through it, Charlie. I promise.’

‘I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get back in a helicopter.’