Vanishing Point by Alan Moore Page A

so the van faced into the scrub and said to Katherine, ‘D’ya think ya can hold it on course until we’re into the scrub? I’ll leave it there an’ go back for me trailer.’
    â€˜Yes, I think I could manage that. I’ll give it a try. Why into the bushes?’
    Benjamin gave no reply, walked away and resumed his seat in the Land Rover. With a grinding of the gears, he pulled the two vehicles over the ridge at the side of the track and into the scrubby bushes to the south. He towed the Kombi in about thirty metres while Katherine gamely struggled to keep the vehicles in line. When the brake lights came on she breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank goodness for that. I thought he’d never stop! I thought he might be trying a short cut to Ceduna!’ She shook her arms by her sides to take away the strain.
    It was dusk by the time Benjamin had undone the tow rope and driven his vehicle back to the track. By then Carolyn was crying continuously.
    â€˜Time for a feed,’ Katherine said to herself. She called across to Benjamin, ‘I really need to feed Carolyn.’
    â€˜No worries,’ Benjamin shouted back as he went about cutting down a few bushes and stacking them up against the Kombi.
    â€˜Why are you doing that?’
    â€˜Coupla good reasons. It’ll keep the van from getting too hot tomorrow an’ it hides it from the track jist in case a bunch of abos come this way. They don’t call ‘em ‘borrow-johns’ for nothin’, ya know! If they found this they’d help themselves to everythin’ in sight.’
    â€˜Borrow Johns?’
    â€˜Yeah, ya know, abos, boongs, Aborigines.’
    Katherine didn’t argue though she was surprised at his comments. After all, growing up in Adelaide, her experiences of Aborigines were mostly from a few documentary films she’s seen at school. Perhaps this derogatory view of them by Benjamin was fair comment. Somehow, they seemed to be an invisible group or just non-people in the Australian landscape and not even included in the census. She knew from her school days that the Australian Constitution treated them differently from other Australians. In spite of her limited knowledge she knew there was a strong movement to change this and there were some discussions that a referendum on the issue might be held in the near future.
    â€˜I’m goin’ down the track to pick up me trailer,’ Benjamin called as he walked back to his vehicle. ‘I’ll be back pretty soon.
    If ya like ya can make a fire an’ cook up some tea. I’ll leave some stuff.’
    â€˜Okay, but don’t worry about the food. There’s still some in the Kombi and we can use that.’
    Benjamin didn’t answer. He just dumped a box on the sand and pointed to it. He was about to say something when Carolyn’s crying increased to a crescendo and Katherine turned back to the Kombi. As she picked up the baby and soothed it over her shoulder, instinctively feeling to see how wet she was, she heard the diesel engine start and the increasing change of engine tempo as it drove away. Very soon the silence of the outback encompassed her once more. She sat on the edge of the Kombi’s open side doors, unbuttoned her shirt and fed her baby. In the peaceful quiet that always accompanied feeding time she suppressed any unbidden thoughts that she might be putting herself in a dangerous position.
    Light was fading fast so, as soon as she finished feeding, she hurriedly collected firewood for the second time that afternoon. By the time the last rays of the sun disappeared and the soft light of dusk heralded the end of the day she had enough to start a little fire.
    As the silence of the night fell Katherine’s fire burned brightly. A billy of boiling water was ready for tea or coffee, as was some cooked damper and stew. Confident she would be in Ceduna later that night, Katherine extravagantly used