Brownsville Tales, Jayden & Cade, 7

The car stopped, he got out and stood there looking in unbelief. “But. But where are they? What happened? Dad? Mum? Where's Jayden's house?”

“Not here, obviously,” his mother replied. “We've been gone a long time, Cade, and life goes on. Changes happen all the time.”

“But houses shouldn't disappear!”

His dad got out and stood up. “Maybe not, but this one did. From the look of that old tree at the side there, I'd say that there's been a fire here. The house probably burnt down years ago.”

“Burnt? No! What about Jayden? Where's Jayden and them?”

“Cade, we don't know any more than you do. There's old Perc Cutbush, mowing his lawns. He probably knows; go and ask him.”

“Mr. Cutbush. Yeah, he'll know. I'll ask him and he'll tell me.”

He hurried next-door, jumped the front fence and stood waiting for the lawn-mower to come back. Mr. Cutbush walked up, stopped, turned the mower off and lifted the ear-muffs from his head. He hadn't changed, he looked just the same as Cade remembered – maybe a little older and a little smaller and he was still not smiling. Still a grumpy old man then.

“Mr. Cutbush?”

“Yes? Can I help you?” he frowned. He obviously didn't know him.

“I hope so. What happened to Jayden and his family? Their house has gone. Was there a fire?”

“The Curtis's?” He looked at the section next-door. “Oh yes, there was a fire all right – a huge fire. It's a wonder it didn't burn my place down too, it blistered my paint and I had to replace all the PVC spouting along that side. It melted in the heat That was a while ago. It must be 4 years already.”

('About when Jayden stopped writing!')

“But what happened to them, to the family, were they all right?” Cade was so worked-up he was almost hyper-ventilating.

“Settle down. You'll blow a gasket. They were all fine. They weren't even home at the time – away on holiday or something.”

“But where did they go?”

“They're still around. I see them sometimes. They bought a place out at the south end of town,. Somewhere past South Beach.”

“South Beach? We drove in through there. I didn't see anybody.”

“Not surprising, is it?” Mr. Cutbush looked over at the car. Cade's mother had got out of it too. “Wait up. Ian Caldwell? It is! Good Lord, are you Cade Caldwell?”

“Yeah, that's me.”

“I can see that now. I didn't know you. Boy, you've grown! How old are you now?”

“I'm nearly 15.”

“The years go by. You've got so big! Are you back on holiday?”

“No, we're back for good. Dad's got a job at the mine and he's bought a house.”

“Fancy. I thought you'd gone forever. Well, welcome home. Stay out of my fruit trees. You're far too big to be climbing them and stealing plums now.”

“We . . umm.” Cade remembered and blushed. “Oh yeah, we did that. Did you know?”

“Of course I did. I always knew. You could've come and asked and I would've given them to you. But it was more exciting to pinch them, wasn't it? I was a boy once too you know.”

“I guess you were. Well, thanks, Mr. Cutbush. I'll find them soon.”

“You will. It's not a big town. Tell your parents welcome back and, if you want any plums, come and ask.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

He went back and climbed into the car. His parents got into the front seats and turned around to look at him.

“You were right, Dad. Their house burnt down. No-one was hurt, they were away on holiday. They bought a new house, somewhere out at the south end of town.”

“That's unfortunate,” his dad replied. “Our place is 9 miles out in the opposite direction. You won't be walking around the corner to see your friend again.”

“I guess not. But we'll work something out, if I've still got a friend.”

“If? Why wouldn't you?”

“I dunno. Like you keep saying, it's been a long time and people change. We haven't been in touch for years. Jayden's probably got a new best friend by now. He might not even remember me.”

“People don't change that much!” His mother said. “Of course he'll remember. You two were like Siamese twins.”

“Were.”

“You'll find out. But not now – tomorrow, maybe, or when you start at school, next week. We've mucked around enough for today and time is getting short. We need to buy some food, and then we'll go and find our house and sort out some beds for the night.”

“Right,” Ian agreed. “There's work to be done, so we'd better get started.”

The Supermarket was still there, in the same place where it always had been, but it had grown – it was twice the size that it used to be. She didn't buy a lot of food. Just the bare essentials and enough for a day or two. Then they started the last leg of their journey.

They went down through the town, by-passing the main streets, crossed the bridge over the river and headed north.

Lance spoke up. “Dad, why do you keep saying 9 miles out of town? Shouldn't that be 17 kilometers?”

“It probably should be, but the area is known as the 9 Mile. There's a series of landmarks going up the Coast Road and they're called the 9 Mile, 10 Mile, 12 Mile etcetera. That's what they've always been called and always will be, I suppose.”

It was an ordinary-looking suburban type house, not new but not old either. From the highway, it looked neat and tidy with well-mowed lawns and a concrete driveway. The green lawns and thick and lush, clean and green shrubbery, were a welcome contrast to WA's dusty landscape.

There was even a white picket fence along the road edge of the property. But this was no urban suburb – there were only a few houses, mostly hidden in the trees, strung along the west side of the highway with tangled rainforest on the other side, rising steeply to the nearby broken mountains.

There would be spectacular seaviews from the back of the house. The beach was not far away – just behind the house and about 100 meters, straight down. They were on the crest of a hill, on top of a cliff.

The big container, full of their furniture and effects, was a welcome sight, sitting outside on the driveway in front of the three open-fronted garages. They'd have their work cut out, unpacking and sorting everything out, but at least it was there waiting for them.

“Here we are then. Welcome Home, Kids.” Ian pulled in off the road and parked next to the container.

It was not a big house – single storied, (of course), and just a couple of rooms deep, but it was okay. It was in a great place, between the highway and the and the cliff to the beach.

There was an open-plan kitchen/living area and just 2 bedrooms in the house, but there were lots of outbuildings, a triple garage, sheds and a two-bedroom cottage/sleepout next to the driveway. The parents and Angel would sleep in the house and the boys got the outside rooms. Choice! Their own private space!

Angel worried about where she was going to keep her pony, but her dad said, “There's a paddock down the road, at the foot of the hill, and that's ours too. There's lots of room, but we might have to build a shelter-shed down there.”

As soon as they got a chance, Mrs. Caldwell was left on her own and her helpers were out of there. Ian and Angel went down to find the horse-paddock and the boys found their way down the steep and narrow track to the beach.

It was just a small and narrow beach with gray sand and big waves.

“Can we swim in there?” Lance looked dubiously at the surging surf.

“Maybe if we wear lifejackets?” Cade replied.

“Could be. Maybe it's better when the tide is out?”

“Maybe. It must be high-tide now, we'll come back and look in the morning.”

“Yeah, we'll do that.”

Cade looked up at the steep hill. “Now we've got to go all the way back up there.”

“Yeah, let's. I'm hungry.”

“Always are.”

“So are you. I'll race you to the food!”

Most of Sunday was spent unpacking and sorting things out. Mrs. Caldwell supervised her three strong helpers and everything had to be moved and moved again before she was happy with where it all was.

There was only 1 TV channel, dammit. But their dad said not to worry. “As soon as we get the internet and Sky connected, you'll have all the channels you could want.”

“Well, good!” Lance said. “I can't live without at least one sports channel. Will we have cellphone reception here?”

“I don't know. I hope so. You could go and ask the neighbours, they'll know.”

“I just walk up and ask them?”

“Why not? We'll need to get to know them anyway, so you be nice.”

There was just an old couple living next-door. They had no kids and were glad to get some for neighbours. Yes, they had cellphones.

By the time they were free of their slavedrivers, it was high-tide again. So they didn't go down to the beach – they just looked down from the top of the cliff.

“A Hang-glider,” Lace said. “We need a hang-glider. Then we could jump off and fly down.”

“Still have to walk back up,” Cade replied. “And that's the hard part. A parachute would do the same job and it'd be less to carry back up.”

“Probably. Let's check-out the neighbourhood and see where the Ladies are!”

“I don't like your chances.”

“Neither do I.”

There were about a dozen houses in the vicinity. Theirs and the old neighbours' were the only ones visible from the road. The others were all screened by shrubs and trees, some at the top of the hill, more down at the bottom on the flat ground.

Monday, Ian went to work at his new job. The others all went into town to sign-up for the schools and sort-out uniforms and stuff. Lance had to start in the Primary School, with the little kids, because of his age. He was not impressed, but no-one expected that he'd be there for long – he was a bright boy.

When they were done with all that, Mrs. Caldwell said that she needed a coffee and she headed for the nearest cafe. Angel went with her, the boys wandered off to check-out the main streets.

They didn't stay together for long; Lance was only interested in scoping-out the Ladies, Cade wasn't. He was looking around in case Jayden might be in town. There were quite a few kids wandering the streets, probably because it was the last day of the holidays and they were making the most of it.

He recognised a few people, but only the oldies – they don't change much in 5 years, but the kids do. He didn't see any kids he knew at all. That was a worry.

No-one recognised him either – well, they wouldn't, would they?

Then, when he was just about ready to give up, he saw him. Or, he thought he did, he wasn't sure but it might've been him.

A pack of teenagers came out into the MacDonalds' carpark up the road, and headed for a big old car there. There were 7 of them, 3 girls and 4 boys, and they were joking and fooling around as they walked. Well, most of them were.

There was one couple, a boy and a girl, who were only interested in each other. They were kissing, groping and all-but undressing each other. It was pretty obvious what they'd be doing as soon as they got somewhere private.

Cade stood in a vacant shop's doorway and stared. They all piled into the car, the couple were last because they were busy. The car started, circled around and came down the street towards him.

They didn't see him there, standing in the shadows, but he saw them clearly as they cruised past. It was him. He was sure of it – the boy who was snogging the girl was Jayden. He'd changed. He'd grown, with wide shoulders and a slender waist, (no fat belly now!), and his hair was long and shaggy. He was very good-looking. He was gorgeous. Cade had never seen a better-looking boy and he'd looked a lot.

What was he doing with a girl all over him? (She was sitting on him in the back of the car – face to face). No, it was obvious what he was doing. Cade's hopes and dreams crumbled to dust.

Jayden was not like him. Jayden liked girls. One girl anyway. Dammit.

He was so let-down and disappointed that even his mother noticed it and asked him what was wrong, on the way home again, and she was not the most observant person in the world.

His answer, of course, was “Nothing.” She didn't push it, she was an experienced mother.

As soon as they got home, he locked himself in his room and sat on his bed to think. It'd be so easy to cry, but he wasn't doing that. That would be dumb.

Why was he so upset about seeing Jayden was not the same as he was? The chances of that were never good. And, how could he love someone when he didn't even know him and hadn't seen him for 5 years? That was way stupid.

But – he did. So what was he going to do? He didn't know.

He wished that they'd never come back.