Geoffrey Cousins - The Butcherbird

He turned away, peering into the soft green light, trying to control his breathing, trying not to imagine the pain of his fist crashing into jawbone. The sweat on his back was cold now and he shivered as a light breeze arrived with the setting sun. Louise wrapped her arms around him, not for warmth. ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re fine. Just get us back to the fire before nightfall and I promise ecstasy will overcome anger.’

‘I’m lost.’

‘I know, darling. I was so bloody mad when I first heard about it, I could have killed someone. But we move on.’

‘No, I’m really lost. I forget how we get up from here. There’s no track markers through the stream. There used to be an arrow cut into a tree on the other bank, but I can’t find it. It’s years since I was down here.’

She pulled back from him. ‘You’ve heard of the agony and the ecstasy? The former is appearing more likely by the minute. Gird your loins, part the bubbling waters, get us to the fire. The alternatives lie starkly before you.’

When they finally climbed wearily from the taxi, the only taxi in the Blue Mountains it seemed, there was a fire alight in their cabin at the resort to ward off the unseasonal chill. Finding the track had been the least of their challenges. The climb out of the valley had been much longer and harder than Jack remembered and they were less than halfway before the light failed. The track was indistinct, rocky, treacherous. It grabbed at their ankles, tried to twist them into hollows and ditches, threw up tree roots to up-end them, left patches of loose shale where a firm foothold was needed. By the time they reached the car park above the valley, they hated the track and swore at it as if it was a live and vicious animal.

But the next problem redirected Louise’s venom immediately. This was not the car park from which they had set off, where their car conveniently awaited. It was three kilometres to the nearest main road and a long wait for the elusive taxi before a bath and wine eased the tension. They’d barely spoken on the trek out, more from tiredness than from any rift between them, and thoughts of sexual activity other than a cuddle by the fire had disappeared on a lonely road under an avenue of eucalypts rustling in the chill night air.

When they were finally sprawled together on cushions by the fire, too tired to bother with eating, Jack spoke. ‘I can’t do it any longer. I’m not going to have my family subjected to this harassment. Particularly the kids. I don’t care anymore what these people have done or haven’t done. I’m out. I’ll tell Hedley Stimson on Sunday and that’s the end of it.’

She pushed away his comforting arm and turned on him like a female lion snarling at an intruder. ‘The hell you will. You mean I go through the humiliation of all the snide rumours about you and other women, the kids have to put up with stuff they barely understand, but they wear it because they love their father, and it’s all for nothing? It’s too hard for you to bear? How is it too hard for you? You’ve forgotten about us, have you? You’ve forgotten about all the little people who are getting ripped off by these greasy pirates lining their own pockets. It’s all difficult now so Jack’s picking up his crayons and running off to draw nice pictures where it’s quiet and easy. That’s the idea, is it? The hell it is. You’ll fight this thing to the end, whatever end it may be, if I have to drag you through the courtroom door.’

He hated it when she was like this, even while admiring the fierce spirit. He hated it being directed at him. He knew she’d defend him with the same courage and passion, take the bullet if she had to, but when she attacked him, she diminished him in some way. He’d always looked for her approbation, always placed the plans under her eyes for praise, always checked to see if she was watching from across the room at a party, without wanting to know she was focused on him. He knew she would forgive him many things, but never weakness of spirit.

‘I’m not concerned for me-I’ve put all that aside a long time ago. But I can’t put our whole family life at risk on some unproven matter of principle, can I?’

She stood over him. ‘Really? And do we have any say in this? You decide to enter the battle, you decide to abandon it. We just stand around and provide sustenance for the great warrior when he needs it. You think that’s the deal? Who am I then, Maid Marion? Bullshit. I’m a fucking Amazon and I ride in front. We fight together or we’re not together.’

She saw the shock and fear on his face and waited a moment before she knelt and held his head in both hands, looking straight into his eyes. ‘You’re my man. I’m your woman. Nothing can change that, nothing can hurt us, or our family, unless we damage ourselves. We can’t lose against these people. Whatever happens, we win because we fight. You see?’

Laurence Treadmore sat, at dawn, in the study of his apartment and watched the sun rise over the palm groves of the Botanic Gardens. He normally rose promptly at eight o’clock and the romance of early morning light was entirely lost on him. Indeed he stood and closed both the louvres and the thick curtains over the casement windows. The dark room was now lit only by a desk lamp. Sir Laurence reached behind him to one of the twenty-two filing cabinets and withdrew a thin white folder. He’d already taken two phone calls, one from London, one from Geneva, and although these had been the purpose of his early rising, now that he was up there was no point in wasting these unwanted hours.

He looked at the name on the folder with some distaste. It was one of the burdens of his life that he had to deal with, even to promote, people of such undistinguished character. Sometimes it was necessary in order to resolve-or create-an intricate dilemma, but one hoped that one could redress the balance at a later time. How any person with a name like Popsie could expect to be taken seriously was beyond him. Of course, as the file demonstrated, she appeared not to have any desire to be taken seriously-just to be taken. She was an opportunist with money problems, some of which he’d helped to alleviate, briefly. It wasn’t a recipe for admiration, but it was for usefulness.

He read the document carefully, then wrote a name and a phone number on a notepad. He replaced the folder, opened the second drawer and removed a similar, but much thicker, file. As he slowly leafed through the file, a steady stream of entries flowed into the notepad. Nearly two hours had passed by the time he’d read and re-read the document and then distilled his note-taking onto one page. It was eight o’clock and Mavis would be bathing downstairs. She’d be surprised if he didn’t emerge shortly from his quarters, showered and dressed, and he never liked to surprise Mavis. He was unaware that he had done so many times in their early years, but not for a long time now. He rang his office number in order to leave a message for Mrs Bonython to make separate appointments for the two people he’d just been reading about. He would see them later in the morning. And he had no doubt they’d be there, even the second one. Proud, and a stiff neck he might have, but he’d be there. But first Sir Laurence would breakfast at the club. Eggs, he felt like scrambled eggs. The croissant on his desk could sit there or Mrs Bonython could have it for her dinner. On a day like this, Sir Laurence Treadmore would eat eggs in the main dining room at the Colonial Club, cholesterol be damned.

He arrived at his office only five minutes before the first of the two appointments. Mrs Bonython became flustered when told to remove the newspapers from the desk and take the croissant home. Sir Laurence was a man of strict habits and any interruption to his rituals was unusual and disturbing. As was the appearance of the woman who arrived promptly at ten o’clock. She was not the sort of person who usually entered these austere and sombre rooms, dressed expensively but showily in a frock more suited to a romantic picnic than a business meeting with a Knight of the Realm. It was also unknown for Sir Laurence not to keep a visitor waiting, but there he was at the door to his office calling, ‘Come in, dear lady, do come in,’ before Mrs Bonython could reach for the intercom. If it had been any other employer she might have thought Sir Laurence was engaged in a liaison of dubious nature, but some things were not possible.