Into That Forest Page 3

  The tiger dropped the bird on me lap. It were bloody and its head chewed, its belly tore open. I knew it were a present. Thank you, I said, and I swear, I swear on me mother and father’s heart, that it knew what I said cos it kind of nodded as if saying Eat it and trotted outside. The bird felt warm when I touched it and I dipped me finger into its bloody chest and licked the blood off me finger. It tasted rich like molasses. Becky made disgusted noises. It’s not cooked, she groaned. I told her I remember me father telling me stories ’bout how he ate snakes and cockroaches, so a bird were fine to eat. I were starving and the taste of blood made me feel even more hungry. I tried to pick at it with me fingers but I couldn’t get any flesh so I bit at its chest til I got some flesh and then chewed it. It felt sort of cooked cos it were still warm. Ugh! Ugh! Becky kept on saying, but it were fine to taste though hard to chew. I could feel the blood dribbling down me chin and for some reason it made me happy - I could feel me tummy filling up a little and that felt good. I gave the bird to Becky, who knocked it away. I picked it up and wiped the dirt from it. I told Becky she had to eat, but she shaked her head something frightful. As I chewed up more of the bird, pulling out feathers from between me teeth, Becky called me a cannibal. Aye, I am a cannibal, I grinned. Well, that were more than she could put up with and she skedaddled out of the cave on her hands and legs.

  I ate some more and then crawled out of the den. Becky were sitting between the buttress roots of one of the two trees eating some grass and leaves. She were looking at her mother’s cameo and she were murmuring to herself words I did not hear. I thought I would play a joke on her, you know, make her laugh, so I silently crawled up behind her then made snuffling noises like a tiger. She jumped in fright. I laughed and she slapped me across the face. It stanged like mad. What was that for? I cried. She snarled like an animal. You sleep with them. You make noises like them! All I could say were that I liked the tigers and they didn’t hurt us. You like them more than your mother and father? she sneered, her words stanging me again. She jumped up like a Jack-in-the-box and said, I’m going home. She asked me if I were coming. I were still angry with her and shaked me head. She walked off in the direction of the setting sun, which I thought were the wrong way cos home were in the east. I knew that cos me father had teached me about the compass needle and where home were just in case I got lost. You’re going the wrong way, gink! I called out. She began to get smaller and smaller. I were cold and lonely so I crawled back into the cave wondering what to do. I knew Becky were going the wrong way but I had no idea where I were either. I gave up worrying cos I were still hungry and I started to chew on the bird again. Then after a time, oh, I don’t know how long, I heard a noise at the entrance of the cave. I thought it were the tigers but I seen it were Becky, her teeth chattering with the cold. Without a word, she crawled into the hole and sat against the wall, hugging herself, watching me eat the rest of the bird.

  Me and Becky must have been dog-tired cos we slept through the night. Becky were so tired she did not notice that she were sleeping with the tigers and were cuddling up to them. We needed them; they were warm and our dresses were thin. In the morning I woke up first and seen her sleeping with the tigers. It were then, like I were whacked over me head, that I realised just how large the tigers were compared to us. Aye, I thought, they could eat us but they weren’t going to. I seen the female tiger’s belly and it had swollen teats that were leaking milk. I felt sad for her.

  Becky woke when she heard me crawling outside. The tigers stirred and then, as if awful weary, stayed dozing when Becky followed me outside. It were a warm day and I drunk some water. I just lapped it up and Becky got annoyed with me saying I were drinking like the tigers - but it were quicker, I said back to her. She said, No, we drink like this and she cupped her hands and drank like from a mug, but I knew that licking it up were quicker and I didn’t get water all over me dress.

  We sat in the shade of the two trees and Becky sighed a lot. She were full of sadness and despair. They aren’t going to take us home, Hannah, she said. This is their home so why would they take us back to our home? It made sense, but what could we do? I didn’t know me way back to the Munro River and we had no way of finding our way back. If we stay here, then someone will find us, I said. But she were in a bitter mood and shook her head. No, we are lost. We are gone forever, she said real quiet, and cos her words were so certain I thought that she were telling the truth ’bout our plight and she were right. I heard her stomach rumble something fierce - I told her she should have eaten the bird with me. Pooh, she said and walked to a bush that had red berries on it and gobbled some. I were hungry but I lost me pangs when Becky started to vomit. Up they came, all the chewed berries, and she hugged her stomach and moaned and groaned in pain. I didn’t know what to do and I were afeared she might die. The female tiger came out of the cave and sniffed Becky as she were curled up in pain between the buttress tree roots. Then the tiger looked at me with her glowing eyes and went back inside the den. I felt better cos it seemed to me that the tiger had sniffed the pain and decided Becky were going to be all right.

  And she were right as rain after a couple of hours. We were outside talking ’bout what we should do for food when I felt something touch me arm. It were the female tiger nuzzling me. The male tiger came out of the den and walked down to the creek to drink, then the female followed it. They looked like wolves made out of gold when the setting sun stroked their fur. After drinking some water they both stared at us - as if they were asking a question. The bitch made a noise like it were a cross between a man’s deep cough and a bark. Then the male tiger made a coughing bark at us. I thought this were funny, so I made a coughing bark in return. Then the two of them started to head off along the creek. I knew in me heart that the bark were kind of a signal, so I got up and joined them. Where you going? I heard Becky cry. I knew she were too scared to stay behind and I soon heard her hurrying up to join me.

  We followed them along the creek, then across some rocks and into the deep tara territory. I hadn’t seen such weird green countryside, all tree ferns and moss and lichen on the rocks. The sun were washing itself across the trees and ferns - it were like the countryside had become more mysterious and beautiful. We got to a clearing where the tigers were waiting for us. I don’t know why I did this, but the male tiger’s tail was right next to me, so I grabbed it. It felt hard like a stick. The tiger spinned round and its jaws opened wider and wider like it were yawning so that its jaw were going to break til I thought it were going to swallow me, then suddenly, quick as a flash, it nipped me. I yelped and let go of the tail. I looked at the bite. It were a tiny thing, but Becky said, real nervous, Did it hurt? I told her the truth that, no, it didn’t hurt much. The tiger looked at me straight in the eyes like it were giving me a real stern lesson and I knew never to touch its tail again. Cos I didn’t want it to think I were upset or frightened, I opened up me jaws like it did. I tried to open them as wide as they could go, til I felt I were going to break me jaw. It must have been the right thing to do cos the tigers stepped away as if scared of me. Then they came forward. Becky did a big yawn and they backed off again. We laughed and the tigers moved right away from us. We were still laughing at them when they suddenly went all frozen. Their ears turned towards a sound they heard. The male tiger stood on his hind legs, like it were a human or a roo, so he could see over the high grass and ferns. Then without looking or coughing at each other they ran off. I felt this bolt of excitement flow through me and I found meself running after them, so did Becky. We got to a clearing and we seen a whole mob of wallabies in a right tizz. They were scattering everywhere. Thump, thump, thump, they went like the earth were a drum. The tigers picked on one and chased it down. The female rounded in front of the frightened thing, so that it spun round and hopped back towards us. Becky jumped away but I ran at it, trying to catch it. I were all excited, all hot and bothered, and were crying out, Catch it, catch it! I set off after the tigers who ran past me after the wal
laby. It were mighty swift, I can tell you. I ran and fell and ran and fell after it. But it hopped faster than the tigers could run and soon it was gone, just a dot hopping away through the giant tree ferns. I fell down exhausted and heard meself, like I were an animal, screaming to the sky in disappointment. I dearly wanted to catch that wallaby for I were hungry, very hungry. Becky came up to me as I were lying on the ground and I took out me gall on her. Why didn’t you help us, I cried. And she looked down at me with a face full of shock and surprise and then horror. You’re becoming one of them! she spitted on me and walked off.

  The tigers didn’t find anything to kill that night so Becky and I ate pinkberries. I gave some to the tigers, who must have been very hungry because they ate them too. On the way back to the den or is it lair - I get mixed up - I said to Becky that we should give the tigers names. She were in a right sulky mood and said she didn’t care, so I named the male tiger Dave and the female Corinna.

  Now where did I get those names? Well, I think Dave came from me uncle Dave and Corinna from me aunt. He were thin as a stick and she were big like Sam. They came to visit us once before they went to South Africa to search for gold. He were a funny man and she were strange cos she had a moustache. A real moustache like she had a black caterpillar on her top lip. Me mother said to stop staring but I were a kid - who wouldn’t stop looking at it? It were like when I saw a pure white wombat, what’s that called? An albino. I couldn’t stop staring at the moustache cos it were so different. So I guess that’s where the names came from.

  When we got back to the den I seen Becky sitting outside peering into the night at the distant hills all pale with moonlight and I asked her what she were looking for and she said her father. She said he’d be searching for us through every nook and cranny of Tasmania. I said, That’s blather, it would be me father doing that, and she snarled like some animal, You are a gink, Hannah. Those tigers are making you stupid like them. I hit her and went inside the den to sleep with the tigers cos dawn were coming up and I heard her yell after me, They’re dead. It was then she told me, in a rush of hatred, that she had seen me drowned mother stuck in a tree - like she were tied to a mast - floating down the Munro to the sea. I said she were lying, but she said she weren’t and that in all possibility of fate me father were drowned too and we now had to depend on her father, her father who loved her and would search for her for all time.

  I were very cut up about what she told me and I put me hands over me ears and I sang a song real loud as she told me again and again what had happened to me mother and father. I weeped long and hard and went inside the den abusing her something bad. The tigers were scared of me loud singing and me tears. I plopped down on the fronds and were in misery. Corinna curled herself next to me and I found meself sucking her nipples, like it were the most natural thing in the world. I filled meself up to brimful with her warm milk and it made me less sad and less feeling misery for meself. And I remember that as I fell asleep - the memory is still as sharp today - I felt myself to be an orphan now and alone. I did not like Becky for telling me what she seen, but deep down I knew she were telling the truth. That were a heavy burden for a girl me age.

  Becky may have been picking on me, like a real gink, but she snuggled up with the tigers too, cos they were cosy to sleep with. We sleeped through the day and woke up near dusk and all our bellies were grumbling something terrible. The sun were warm outside and we followed the tigers through the bush hoping that they’d get some food. We were starving. ’Bout half an hour into our hunt the tigers went all still and their noses sniffed the breeze. They made a snuffling noise to each other and I knew that they had smelled prey. And I have to say me heart leaped up with joy, cos I were so hungry. The tigers ran through the bush into open country and there were before us a pack of wallabies contentedly eating grass. When they seen the tigers, and us behind them, they scattered in all directions; a willy-willy of fright. The tigers set after a small wallaby which hopped for its life. Dave circled in front of it, while Corinna chased behind it. Then Corinna stopped, turned and did a coughing bark back at us. I knew what that meant and, you know what, so did Becky, cos I seen her eyes light up too.

  I raced to the other side, just in case the wallaby circled back round Corinna and as I am running I am so excited that I run into a damn tree and I bounce off - a real whack to me forehead and I fall to the ground. I heard Becky, all tizzy, laugh like I were a clown at a circus. I were a bit confused cos the tree hit me so hard. Becky ran past me, offering no hand to help, shouting at me, Come on, gink! Here! Round it up! So I jumped up and seen the wallaby turning round cos Dave had headed it off. I seen out of the corner of me eye the bitch tiger coughing at us, knowing we were in the hunt too. It were like she were giving orders and both Becky and I knew which way to go to cut off the wallaby’s escape. And, you know, both Becky and I were coughing barking too in all the excitement. Trying to escape from the tigers the wallaby found itself hopping towards me and Becky and we ran towards it, spaced a yard apart so it couldn’t squeeze between us. It seen us, done a sort of a backflip and hopped back towards Dave, who jumped on the wallaby. His jaws were open so wide I thought they would break and he gripped it round the head. I heard, oh, maybe from a distance of thirty yards, the crunch of tiger teeth into the wallaby skull and I felt not disgust but joy. We all caught it! Holy Moses, oh me, oh me heart is going ten to the dozen just thinking about it, remembering that first time.

  It were stone dead and Becky and me looked at each other, feeling we were like true hunters. We were panting as much as the tigers but I could see in Becky’s eyes and in the tigers’ eyes that we were all over the moon. Becky flopped onto the ground even more knackered than me or the tigers cos she hadn’t had food or milk for some time. But she were happy and she lied on her back and stared up at me, saying, We did it. And indeed we did and I were proud too. I were hungry and moved to the dead wallaby but Dave opened his mouth with a real big yawn of threat so I jumped back. He gulped down the brain and ate bits of the heart and guts and then left the rest of the carcass for us. I jumped in to take me meal but Corinna nipped me on the back of me leg - I knew the nip meant Wait your turn! But before the tiger could eat her fill Becky suddenly threw herself on the wallaby. The bitch bit her too. Becky yelped and ran back a few yards to rub the teeth marks on her leg but then she did a thing I didn’t think were in her. She began to crawl towards the wallaby, inch by inch, knowing the female tiger were sneaking glances at her as she ate but Becky didn’t care. The tiger nipped her again. Becky did not yelp this time but stood her ground. The male tiger, he did nothing but watch what was happening with a sort of curious expression as if interested in how the duel would turn out. Then Becky jumped up, pushed the bitch out of the way and buried her face in the wallaby’s bloody insides and, like she were a devil, she tore at it with teeth and fingers. She ate in a fury of hunger and growled when the bitch got close. I were amazed. I had never seen this part of Becky before. She were always a tame girl. I never seen her act like that; it were with such wildness. I were bug-eyed. She were braver than me too.

  Becky stuffed herself. I tried to join her but she growled at me, warning me away. When she packed full her belly she sat in the grass, her mouth and face shiny red with blood. The female tiger then took her turn and I waited til last and I ate what were left. I were so hungry I didn’t care what I ate, so I gutsed meself. When I were stomach-packed I sat in the grass feeling woozy with food. Becky and I didn’t care we ate raw meat. Just goes to show you what hunger can do to a human. I watched Becky try and wipe her face free of blood with large dock leaves. She looked funny with a wet red face. I laughed and she did too. I were happy, as were the tigers who licked their chops free of blood. I realised that I had seen something of Becky that were new to me - she were really stubborn if she wanted something. She were brave, she were stubborn, she were smart, she were tough. A devil came out of the long grass walking that funny way like it were a rocking horse. It snorted and growl
ed at us but we didn’t care. Then it gnawed and teared its way into the carcass til it had its full too.

  That night, well, it were really a couple of hours before dawn, when we got back to the den we sat outside in the warm moonlight … all four of us. We were full as googs. Becky were thoughtful and touched her mother’s cameo a lot like she were thinking of home. I were yawning and thinking of going to bed when she noticed something. Hey, where’s your shoes? I forgot I had taken them off during the hunt. They hurt, I said. Becky looked at her own shoes and I knew she were thinking that she might take hers off, but she didn’t. I think she were afeared she would become like an animal and stop being a human. She heard an owl hoot. We have a barn owl at home, she said, and sounded very lonely. The female tiger got up, and as she were heading inside the cave, she rubbed herself against me, sniffed me face and licked me hand. She were saying in her own lingo, We are all in this together.

  It sounds foolish, but when you are so close to some creature like a tiger you get to really know them and that’s what Corinna were saying to me - We are a pack. I followed her inside, leaving Becky out in the night gazing face full of sadness at the moon, the owl, the cameo, like she were possessed by thoughts of home. I would have thought of home but I were dead beat and besides - did I have a home to go back to? Me mother were dead - that much was certain cos Becky told me. But what about me father? Maybe he were out with Mr Carsons searching for us. Becky prayed for this. Sometimes I’d see her by herself kneeling in the ferns, her hands pressed together, mumbling her prayers and looking at the sky as if her father were going to come down like manna from heaven. She were a bit older than me in age but she were much more older than me in many other ways, so she had this burden or sense of responsibility and I were the biggest burden of them all, she said to me more than once. She feared I were becoming an animal but I knew that without the tigers there were no food for us, no warm bodies to sleep with, us four snuggled like a bundle of fleshy yarn in each other’s embrace.