Riding the Black Cockatoo by John Danalis

Author:John Danalis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: HIS004000
ISBN: 9781741763560
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd
Published: 2009-05-31T21:00:00+00:00

Mary lay in my studio under the house. Since bringing him home, I’d kept him in a hard black Pelican case – the kind photographers use – with the cockatoo feather headdress sitting on top like a sentinel. With careful hands I put the headdress to one side, took Mary out and wandered into the back yard. The moon was shining through the canopy of native trees I’d planted when we moved in ten years ago. It was very late and the neighbouring houses were all dark and still. I held Mary towards the moon and whispered, ‘This is it, Mary, your last night in Meanjin.’ (Meanjin is the traditional name for Brisbane.)

We stood near my favourite tree, an eight-year-old lemon-scented myrtle. A breeze wafted up from the gully and through the tree, bathing us both in citrus perfume. I’d been wondering what to wrap Mary in for her journey home – bubble wrap seemed so twenty-first century. Now I knew. I took Mary back inside and returned to the tree; thick waves of citrus filled the night as I snapped and tore off armfuls of foliage. I made a bed of leaves and sprigs in the case and sat Mary upright with the headdress propped up behind him against the open lid – it looked as though he was wearing it. Then I placed the whole arrangement near the window; I’m not exactly sure why, I didn’t think, I just acted naturally, like a child. I switched off the lights, and then, just before leaving the room, turned to look back at my old friend. Moonlight spilled through the window and draped its lacy veil across Mary and the headdress.

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