Trails in the Dust by Joy Dettman

Author:Joy Dettman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2019-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

EXPORTING LIVE SHEEP

‘Keep your passport zipped into that inside pocket at all times. At all times, Jen. Never allow it out of your sight,’ Georgie instructed.

Katie had nagged her into buying a new camera, a small digital thing she could carry in her handbag. She’d done her best to talk her into a new mobile. Jenny knew her old phone well and learning to use one new piece of technology was enough for a stressed-out mind to process. She’d bought a new wallet, red and instantly visible when she unzipped the top compartment of her handbag. Her new bank card was red. She’d tested it. It worked in Australia and had been doubly guaranteed by bank staff to access ATMs in any country on her itinerary. She had cash in her wallet, Australian and a handful of alien notes procured for her by Georgie.

Behind the front side zipper, she’d packed Panadol and aspros, lipstick, a comb, a new tube of sunscreen, face cream and a tiny green nylon pouch that unzipped into a shopping bag – just in case she needed it. Her aqua case was bloated. An hour ago, she’d squeezed her laptop into it. So involved now with her Parasite file, she hadn’t been able to walk away from it.

Her nail scissors had to stay in Greensborough, as did Norman’s pearl-handled pocket knife, which she loathed giving up. Since finding it the day she’d helped pack up the railway house, she’d carried his pocket knife in her every handbag.

‘How will I peel an apple?’

‘With your teeth,’ Georgie said. ‘Sharp objects are not allowed, Jen. They’ll X-ray your handbag, find your father’s knife and confiscate it. Do you want to lose it?’

She didn’t. She gave it up.

Seven hours, then six. Five hours, four, then three.

‘Ready?’

She wasn’t ready. She was a danger magnet and shouldn’t have been doing this to the three hundred-odd other passengers. Lightning would strike an engine, or they’d run into a flock of birds, or hijackers would pull out guns and shoot the pilots –

‘Where did you put my sunglasses?’

‘The sun’s gone down, Nanny.’

‘I don’t want to see anything,’ Jenny said. ‘Which pocket did I put them in?’

Katie found them, in the rear zip pocket.

‘You can still pull the plug, mate,’ Georgie said.

‘I’m going. I’ll see the Sistine Chapel.’

They became a pair of dictators during that evening drive to Tullamarine.

‘Don’t allow your handbag off your shoulder when you’re out of your hotel rooms,’ Georgie warned.

‘Don’t leave your chargers plugged in when you pack up your rooms,’ Katie said.

‘Check every bathroom before you leave it, Jen.’

‘And under your bed, Nanny, and keep your mobile charged! I don’t know why you won’t buy a new one.’

‘It works if I charge it every night. Where do I keep the copy of my new will, Georgie?’

‘You’re not taking the shuttle to the hereafter. You’re having a holiday.’

‘Tell me where it is.’

‘In your black concertina file, in the bottom drawer of Amy’s desk, in the slot marked Will.’

‘Keep in touch with Harry and Lila – and Trudy.

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