Nona and Me by Clare Atkins

Author:Clare Atkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Schwartz Publishing Pty. Ltd

24.

2000

I get off the school bus at Nona’s house. Guḻwirri and a group of ladies are sitting down the side of the house, playing cards.

I approach and ask, “amaḻa, is Nona here?”

She shakes her head. “Bäyŋu.”

“Mum said she was back from Bawaka …”

“Yo … she’s around …”

“Well, do you know where she is?”

Guḻwirri shrugs. Her eyes don’t move from her hand of cards. She’s changed since Bolu died. She’s quieter. More abrupt. Mum says she’s stopped going to work.

I say, “If she comes home, can you tell her I’m looking for her?”

“Ma’.” Okay.

I walk along the road and down the hill. I check our usual spots. The oval. The sport and rec shelter. The shop. No sign of Nona. I stop in at the art centre. Mum hasn’t seen her either. I grab my bike from home and do a lap of the community. I see the smalls and Nona’s friends from Top School outside the red house on Marrakulu Road. There’s a small crowd gathered. I gesture Yumalil to my side. She tells me someone found a pair of boxing gloves and everyone’s been taking turns for the last two days. It’s the type of thing Nona would usually love. She’s always been able to sniff out what’s happening in the community. But today she’s not here.

There’s only one other place I can think of where she might be. I ride to the boat ramp, park my bike in a hibiscus bush and walk down to the shore. I leap from rock to rock, making my way around the small headland. There’s a crocodile that lives here, so I keep well back from the water. I pass a few houses as I round the corner to a small, protected beach. We celebrated our joint eighth birthday here. The party had a pirate theme, and Mum hid chocolate coins in the rocks, like secret treasure. We slid on boogie boards down the sand dunes, and played pin the tail on the parrot.

I look up at the dunes. Sails of golden sand and blue sky. And then I see her, sitting on the highest peak, staring out at the ocean.

I call, “Nona …”

She sees me, but doesn’t smile. I climb up towards her, my feet sinking into the warm sand with each step. I plop down beside her. “I was looking for you everywhere.”

Nona shrugs. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to talk, so we sit there in silence. I scan the flat grey ocean, looking for dolphins. There aren’t any today.

The sky turns pale and milky. Heat starts to leach from the day. I smell campfires and the waft of people cooking dinner. Mum will be wondering where I am.

I say, “We should head back.”

She tucks her knees up to her chest. “Just a bit longer.”

There’s another long silence, then I hear her voice, barely a whisper. “What do you think happens when you die?”

I know she’s thinking of her dad.

I say, “I don’t know. What do you think?”

She picks up a small round rock and rolls it between her pale brown fingertips.

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