Westpoint Tales- Jon & Bobby's Tale, 2

“Hey. No need for that, Brother,” said Billy. “Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t make him a weirdo.”

“He is fucking weird. Everything about him is weird – walking around with all his stuff in the rain.”

“He can’t help it if it’s raining, can he? Lay off, Bobby. I think that you need to apologise.”

“Apologise? What the hell for? I’ve done nothing.”

“I’ve done nothing? You started it. He said that he wanted to see the seals and you started on about how horrible they are.”

“Well excuse me for breathing! So I’m not allowed to have my own opinion about anything now. Is that how it goes?”

“Don’t be stupid. Of course you can have opinions, but you don’t have to force them on people and get upset when they don’t agree with you.”

“I wasn’t forcing anything on anybody. I was just saying what I think. He’s the one who got all personal.”

“He was not. He just told you about seals, he obviously knows more about them than you do”

“Obviously? Screw you! What are you taking his side for? You’re supposed to be my brother.”

“Of course I’m your brother. So what? Doesn’t mean that I have to agree with every stupid thing you say.”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you too, o , actually – not!”

“Ha Ha. Tell me when to laugh.”

“I wasn’t being funny and neither were you, Dickwad.”

“Wanker! I’m outa here. Enjoy your new friend.”

Bobby got up to walk away and they exchanged some more insults until Jon got to his feet and shocked them both into silence by yelling, “Shut the Fuck up! Shut up, the pair of you. Bobby, you stay right where you are.”

“Screw you too, Weirdo.”

“Shut up! Sit down, both of you. Sit down or I’ll knock you down.”

Bobby and Billy sat down where they were. A bit nervous now, they looked at the strange kid.

“That’s better. Thank you. Now you listen to me. Don’t, either one of you, don’t ever let anyone or anything come between you and your brother.

I had a brother and now he’s gone. Paul was my big brother, he was my role-model, my protector and my best friend. He was my only friend. I wasn’t always nice to him. Sometimes I was a right little shit, and sometimes he was mean to me, but mostly we were tight.

I loved my brother. I didn’t realise how much I loved him until I lost him, and now it’s too late. He’s dead and gone forever, and I miss him SO much! I would give anything, anything! I would give my right-hand, if only I could have my brother back, if only for an hour. I would give everything I own.

I would even top myself if I could be sure that I would be with him again. Are you hearing me? Billy? Bobby? Don’t ever let anything; don’t ever do anything that would separate you from your brother. Absolutely nothing and no-one else matters. Your brother is your best friend and your friend for life. Don’t lose him. Believe me, it hurts. Are you hearing me?”

“Yes, I’m hearing you,” said Billy. “Sorry, Bobby. Please don’t walk away.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry too; I love you, Billy. Thank you, Jon.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Billy agreed. “I love you too, Brother.”

“That’s better,” Jon aid. “Don’t ever forget it. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be.”

The three boys looked around at the speaker. A curly-haired teenage girl had walked up to them unnoticed.

“If yelling is what it took to make them listen, then you yell loudly! Don’t be sorry. I heard what you said. I don’t have any brothers but I’m sure-as-hell going to tell my sisters that I love them.”

“Dee! Gidday,” Billy smiled. “You’re exactly right too. Jon, this is Dee Jamieson-Carter. Dee, this is Jon, he’s new in town.”

“Welcome to Westpoint then, Jon. It’s the coolest town but we can always do with more people.”

So, Dee sat down and joined in their conversation. Despite their three-way barrage of questions, they weren’t able to get much more information out of the new kid. He wouldn’t say what his name was, or what it used to be, or where he came from. He just said it was a farm, on an island and isolated.

He did tell them his age, but none of them believed that this smooth-faced boy was ‘nearly 18’.

There were no taxis in Westpoint.

When the rain stopped suddenly, Jon packed up his gear, closed the pack and bag and stood up. “Well, people, it was nice to meet you. Now the rain’s stopped, I’d better be going. I’ve got a long way to go. I hope I’ll see you again sometime.”

“You’re going back to the I-Site?” asked Billy.

“No. I don’t need to now. You guys have already told me all that I need to know.”

Bobby said, “You don’t seriously think that you’re going to walk all the way out to the Cape, do you?”

“Sure I am. There’s no other way to get there and I’ve got nothing else to do. I’ll get there, one step at a time.”

“With all your luggage? And what are you going to do when it starts raining again?”

“Get wet, I suppose,” Jon replied with a little grin. “A bit of water never killed anyone. Not rainwater anyway. See you Guys.”

“Wait a minute, Jon,” said Dee. “You can’t walk all that way. I’ll take you out there, I’ve got Mum’s car. Sharon Hartigan was supposed to meet me here, but it doesn’t look like she’s coming. Come on then, the car’s just around the back.”

“But. . I. .” He looked ruefully up at the dark sky. “Okay. Thank you, Dee. I would love a ride. I can pay you for the gas.”

“There’s no need for that. Mum’s paying anyway, though she’ll never know it. Come on then, it’ll be something to do. Are you two coming as well?”

“Us?” said Billy and Bobby together.

“Of course, you. There’s no-one else here, is there? You two can be the chaperones in case Mr. Almost-18 here starts getting frisky.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Dee.”

She looked him up and down and grinned. “No, I didn’t really think you would. Bugger it. I was just joking. Come on then, let’s do it before the rain starts again.”

They went down and around to the street behind the grandstand and got into Dee’s mother’s small car. Luggage went in the boot, ‘twins’ in the back and Jon in front, next to the driver. Dee drove them out of town, through the large suburb of Carver’s Beach and on out to the Cape.

Luckily, when they arrived, it was still not raining. They left his luggage in the car and the four of them walked up the short track to the lookout above the seal colony.

Dee was panting as they climbed. “Damm. I wish they’d put the road up here. This was where Superboy first showed his true colours – well, around the other side that is, on the track up from the Star Tavern carpark.”

“Superboy?” Jon queried.

“Yeah. Mum’s friend, Justin. Don’t you know about Superboy? Hang around here and you will. Superboy owns Westpoint.”

“Superboy owns Westpoint? Really?”

“No, not really. He doesn’t actually own it, but he might as well. My Uncle Justin is the main-man around here.”

“You can stop name-dropping, Dee. He’s not impressed. Besides, Superboy’s everyone’s friend, not just yours.”

“I know that, but he’s MY uncle. Well, kind-of he is. Here’s the seals, at last!”

They stepped up to the fenced-off viewing area looking down at the seals on the rocks below. Dee, Bobby and Billy had all been there before and were not that interested. They just watched Jon to see what his reaction would be, and they were not disappointed.

He stood quietly looking down at the seals; there must have been 40 or 50 of them, at least. Cows and calves and big old bulls were lying around on the flat rocks. As he stood watching them, a smile spread across Jon’s face, and what a smile! All white teeth and sunshine, his face was radiant with joy.

Three pairs of eyes watched him intently. Three hearts were melting.

After a couple of quiet minutes, he climbed up and stood on top of the security fence.

“Jon! What are you doing?” Dee exclaimed. “Be careful. You fall down there and you’re dead.”

“I’m always careful, Dee,” he replied. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled a long, loud, penetrating whistle.

What they saw next was something that none of the handful of people there would ever forget. All movement stopped on the rocks below them and the seals, who normally ignored the humans observing them, all turned and looked up at the boy up on the fence high above them. Then they started barking, loud persistent barking like a hundred dogs gone wild. Even the youngest of the pups were doing it and the old bulls were making deep-throated roars.

Jon climbed down, on the outside of the fence, and looked at Dee and the boys. “I’ll be back soon. If you get tired of waiting, just leave my bags in the carpark.”

He disappeared from sight, rapidly scaling down the cliff face. After a couple of minutes, he appeared again, down below them as he walked out to the front of the rock ledges and he was naked! His pale, white, body was completely naked, not a stitch on him. He stood on the front of the rocks and then dived into the surging water.

Every seal there followed him into the water in a series of lunging waves and, within a few seconds the whole area below them was completely deserted, no sign of life anywhere.

“Wow!” said Dee. “What just happened down there?”

“Who knows?” Bobby replied. “You don’t think that they’re going to hurt him, do you?”

“Nah. Doubt it,” Billy said. “He seems to know what he’s doing.”

“What is he doing?” said Dee, looking at the surging water.

“Well, I don’t know.”

“There he is!” Bobby pointed excitedly as a white-haired head broke through the surface.

They could see his ear-to-ear grin from away down there. He rolled over and, with a flick of the feet, he was gone again.

Other heads, seals’ heads, were continually surfacing and then diving again. Dee thought she saw Jon again, but she wasn’t sure.