‘He was.’The smile was brief, but the hole in his chest was endless.
‘Was?’
Stone shuffled in his seat.‘Two-stroke died just over a year ago.’He took a deep mouthful of his beer, desperate to get rid of the foul taste brought on by the vivid memory of a nightmare.
‘What happened?’
He shook his head.He couldn’t share that with her.
But then her hand rested on his, her eyes focused on him, and he was swimming in a world of trouble.
‘Tell me.’
He was helpless to resist her.‘A croc got him while we were egg collecting.He had unclipped himself from the sling, despite me telling him not to.’It had been horrific, watching it all from above—even now it was vivid in his mind’s eye.The powerful knock-‘em-down wind gusts had swept across the plains, flattening the grasses to expose more than one crocodile.
‘There was a field of them.And Two-stroke was smack in the middle of it.The mother lunged at him and he threw the egg case at her to stop her.I yelled at him to get the clip back on, but it felt like hours before he managed it.As soon as he gave the thumps up, I lifted him out of there.But then the water exploded.A second crocodile—a monster of a thing—launched from the shallows.Not the female.Bigger.Heavier.Two-Stroke was still swinging midair when the croc latched onto his leg.’Stone clasped his hands over his head, squeezing his eyes shut.The screams had been horrific.Even now he could hear them.
‘What did you do?’
‘Lifted them both.’
Her hand covered her mouth to hide her gasp.
‘I had to.I couldn’t land there.All of that long grass would’ve bogged up the chopper’s blades, in a swamp full of water, where those crocs would’ve torn him apart, so I had to fly Two-stroke out… Two-stroke fought hard, but that mongrel croc had his leg.I thought it would’ve torn off at the hip.But when I slammed that croc into a tree, he let Two-stroke go.’
‘What then?’
‘I landed in the nearest flat space and wrapped his leg as much as I could to stop the blood.It was everywhere.’Stone looked at his hands, forever stained from that day, his clothes soaked through with blood and sweat.He’d never forget the sharp, metallic scent of blood, mixing with the raw stench of fear and sweat.He’d done everything he could, tightening the tourniquet to stop the bleeding from Two-stroke’s mauled leg—where shattered bones were barely held together by skin and sinew.Blood soaked into the passenger seat, pooling on the helicopter’s floor.It was everywhere.
‘Did you take him to the hospital?’
‘As fast I could fly.The engine was screaming from me pushing that throttle so hard, but it still wasn’t fast enough, because we were miles away from anywhere…’
Stone sighed, barely louder than a whisper, the words heavy with pain.‘Two-stroke died beside me in the cockpit.’He felt cold, as cold as when he’d felt his best mate’s skin on the longest flight of his life.
‘If only Two-stroke had taken our usual number of eggs… we would’ve been fine.If only he hadn’t unclipped himself.’
‘Chook said that’s dangerous.’
And Stone had seen how dangerous a stunt it was.‘Two-stroke had wasted precious seconds trying to get his clip back on, for me to pull him free.After all our trips together, he goes and does that.’
‘Why did he unclip himself?’
‘Two-stroke was getting married, and he wanted to give his bride everything.In the end she got nothing.No insurance company covers our job, it’s too risky.But I paid for Two-stroke’s funeral.Helped his family the best I could.’
He exhaled heavily to rake his fingers through his hair.‘And after the official coroner’s inquiry the Territory Government decided to put a ban on sling work.So, yeah, like you I felt the heat from my peers for making them change their ways on how to collect their crocodile eggs.’
‘That wasn’t your fault.’
‘It was.I should have checked out that area more carefully and been more persistent about Two-stroke hooking back onto the line.But he wouldn’t do it, not until he got the eggs.’And he’d replayed that awful scene countless times, but it always had the same ending: the death of his best friend.
‘Besides our trip the other day,’ Romy said, ‘have you collected eggs since?’
‘Only alone.And only on this property, to keep the numbers down.Until Finn found me.’
‘Oh, really?’She shifted in her seat, as if shifting gears to listen.
‘Finn knew my story and asked me to join his team.’Stone remembered the day the tall guy, covered in tatts, sat beside him at the bar—where he was elbow deep in beer, once again—to offer him a job.
