Take Cover from Tracy

"I hate to think what it might be like in 40 years' time from now," said Beryl.

Abbott, who was deliberately taking as much time as possible to retrieve the spare key to Room 13 in an effort to annoy his parents, looked at his sister's dog, which set back its ears and cowered as thunder was audible from outside, and the radio made a crackling noise.

"Your dog is a wimp Sheryl, scared of a bit of thunder like that," Abbott laughed.

"Oh shut up Abbott, he's not a wimp," retorted his sister.

"Yeah he is. I think he's a poofter, even a poodle is tougher than him."

"You don't know what you're talking about Abbott, you cretin," said Sheryl, as her brother went to retrieve the key. The young woman looked puzzled as she continued to observe her dog. "Buster isn't normally scared of storms. He was acting all nervous this morning, it was strange. The cat too. She hid behind the couch and wouldn't come out."

"Our chooks were playing up this morning, acting all mental," said Meryl. "Isn't that right Larry?"

"Yeah," Larry agreed, not looking up from his newspaper.

"We saw something odd when we were in the pool," said Jessie. "Thousands of seagulls in a flock, squawking and carrying on."

"I've never seen anything like it before, it was actually quite eerie," said Jake.

The others all looked puzzled as Abbott returned with the spare key and the song on the radio changed. Bing Crosby's lyrics of a white Christmas seemed out of place in the tropical surroundings of Darwin but it was a nice tune nonetheless.

"Here's the spare key," said Abbott, going to hand it to Jake but as he did so, Bing Crosby's wonderful voice stopped abruptly and was replaced by a far less pleasant sound. The sound was a high pitched siren, sounding in several short bursts. Everybody stopped short. None of them had any difficulty recognizing the emergency warning siren.

A formal-sounding male voice came from the radio. "This is a community announcement for all Darwin and Palmerston residents on behalf of the Bureau of Meteorology. A cyclone is imminent. We repeat, Tropical Cyclone Tracy is expected to make landfall and you must take immediate precautions to ensure your survival, safety and minimize property damage. Secure all of your communications, and ensure you have a transistor radio with working batteries. Fill bathtubs and containers with water. Any loose objects on or around your property must be secured or brought inside. Remove all pictures from walls and ornaments from tables. Lock up pets and livestock ..."

The list of cyclone precautions continued in the serious voice, advising listeners of what to do when the cyclone arrived. The eldest of Sheryl's daughters turned to her mother, clearly un-nerved by the emergency siren that had sounded over the radio followed by the warning. "Mum, I'm scared of the cyclone," she said.

Sheryl gave her daughter a reassuring smile. "Don't worry sweetie, we've been told that there were cyclones coming before. Remember a few weeks ago? Nothing happened."

"Your mum's right," Beryl said to her granddaughter. "You don't need to worry about silly old Cyclone Tracy when it's Christmas. There just might be a bit more rain than usual, but nothing more."

Abbott laughed and pointed at his sister. "Last Christmas, it wasn't Cyclone Tracy we had to worry about it was Cyclone Sheryl." He put his hand under his armpit and to make a flatulent noise, and again laughed. Younger brother Dwayne joined in the laughing but nobody else did, least of all Sheryl, whose face went as red as her hair.

"Shut up, Abbott!" she fumed. "That was your fault, putting the water from the flower vase in my drink. I was sick for a week thanks to you."

"Yeah, but it was a funny prank, you should have seen your face after you drank it." Again Abbott laughed.

"You moron Abbott, was it funny that your sister spent all of Christmas with her head in a bucket, sitting on the toilet or both at the same time?" snapped Beryl.

"Not when I had to go in the bathroom to take a piss right after she'd been in there," laughed Abbott, waving his hand under his nose in an attempt to embarrass and irritate Sheryl even further.

Beryl threw up her hands in despair and turned to Jessie and Jake, who were watching in bemused silence, trying to listen to the conclusion of the cyclone warning, advising people to keep tuned to radio and television broadcasts at a quarter past the hour for further updates throughout the afternoon, with other advice to be issued at other times if the situation changed.

"I'm writing a book in the New Year," said Beryl. "It's called 'How Abbott Wrecks Christmas'. Last year's little stunt with his sister was just one chapter, I could go back years."

"I didn't do nothing wrong the year before that, I gave my cousin's kids a Frisbee for Christmas," complained Abbott.

"Yes, and you told them it looked like a UFO, and told them all about UFOs and aliens and they couldn't sleep for a week and had nightmares for months," Beryl said. "And that was intelligent compared to what you did the year before."

"I wasn't even there for Christmas that year, I was in hospital," said Abbott.

"And whose fault was that, Abbott?" demanded Beryl. Once more, she turned to Jessie and Jake and pointed at her son. "This idiot climbs over a fence and waves a red towel at a water buffalo."

"It was the farmer's fault, he shouldn't have made the fence where the water buffalo was kept so easy to climb over," Abbott grumbled.

"Yes, but it wasn't so easy getting back over it when the water buffalo charged, was it?" snapped Beryl. "It's a pity the doctors couldn't have given you a brain transplant while you were there. At least there was no repeat of the disaster you made of Christmas 1971."

"I thought Sheryl's kids would like a blow up crocodile," complained Abbott.

"Yes, a blow up crocodile was a good idea. What wasn't a good idea was for you to jump out of a darkened room with it and roaring at them," said Beryl. "That's why there will be less opportunity for you to stuff things up this year. Your father and I will be going to Sheryl and Mike's this afternoon and staying overnight. You and your brother will be staying the night here, then drive up tomorrow morning for lunch, after which you will return to Darwin in the late afternoon. Is that clear Abbott? Christmas 1974 will not be ruined by you."

"Yeah, I'm heartbroken at spending so little time in the northern suburbs," said Abbott.

"What's wrong with the northern suburbs?" Sheryl asked defensively.

"It's so boring out there, nothing interesting ever happens," said Abbott. "Tonight in Darwin's northern suburbs will probably be the most boring Christmas Eve in the history of the world."

"There will probably be a huge party because you're not there," said Beryl. "Who knows, even the Prime Minister might attend."

"What is this, pick on Abbott day?" the young man grumbled.

Beryl turned to her daughter. "Have you started to defrost the turkey yet?"

"I got it out this morning, I think it will take a while it's a big bird," said Sheryl. "With Mike's parents coming too, we needed it."

"Just make sure you have something different for Abbott," said Beryl. "Your brother eating turkey would be cannibalism."

The whole family laughed except for Abbott, who sulked and failed to see the funny side.

"So what are you doing this Christmas Eve?" Beryl asked Jessie and Jake.

Jessie and Jake looked at each other. "We're not sure," said Jessie.

"The pub across the road always has a really good Christmas Eve party," said Beryl. "Try there, it's a lot of fun."

"We'll keep it in mind," said Jake.

More thunder sounded from outside, and Beryl turned to her sons. "Abbott and Dwayne, I want you to go and put all the pool furniture away in the shed."

"Why, when nothing is going to happen from this cyclone just like the last one?" complained Abbott.

"Just do it, Abbott," said Beryl.

Meryl looked at her husband. "Larry come on, we need to get home and make sure the chooks are locked away."

"Yeah," Larry agreed, he and Harry standing up in unison.

Meryl laughed. "When the last cyclone was supposed to come through Larry and me were rounding up the chooks for about an hour, and it was just a waste of time. Still, better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, better safe than sorry you don't want your chooks flying away down the street," said Beryl. "But I heard them say on the news yesterday Cyclone Tracy is only pretty small. What's the worst that could happen? A few fences blown down, a couple of sheds damaged. It couldn't do any worse than what the Japs did to us in the war."

Sheryl's daughter still looked nervous. "Grandma, are you sure that we'll be okay from the cyclone?"

"Of course we will sweetie," Beryl reassured her granddaughter. "The man on the radio, he just makes it sound worse than it is. Me and Grandpa and your Aunty Meryl and Uncle Larry will be coming to your house tonight to spend Christmas Eve with your Mum and Dad, Santa will come overnight and tomorrow will be the best Christmas Day ever. I promise."

"Actually Mum, about Santa ..." Abbott began with a devious grin on his face.

"Oh, shut up Abbott, can't you stay quiet for once in your life?" screeched Beryl. "Bloody hell, I sometimes wish there was a goanna sitting there instead of you. It would be more pleasant and more helpful than you, that's for bloody sure!"

"Come on kids, let's go and collect Dad from work and then we'll go home and Grandma and Grandpa will come over," said Sheryl, herding her kids from the motel reception before her stupid brother managed to ruin Christmas for her children.

Sheryl pulled on the dog's lead, but the blue heeler remained nervous, resisting the young woman's attempts to take him outside before complying and reluctantly walking outside with her. Jessie and Jake left the office at the same time, watching the dog's intense fear with some disquiet.

"I don't like the way that dog's acting," said Jake. "It's like he knows something we don't."

"Animals are often nervous when there's bad weather about," said Jessie. "Like the seagulls, and they were talking about the chickens and the cat."

Jake opened the door to his motel room and put on a shirt, then returned his key to the office.

"What do you normally do on Christmas Eve?" Jake asked Jessie when he came back.

"Well, if I was at home in Perth I'd be going to midnight mass with my family, but as I'm not at home and it looks like being a wet and stormy night, I don't think I'll be making the trip into town. What do you think about going to that Christmas Eve party at the pub?"

"Yeah, it could be a bit of fun," said Jake. "As long as they don't cancel it because of the cyclone."

Jessie laughed good-naturedly. "You don't know much about Territorians. They won't let a little thing like a cyclone stand in the way of a party, especially at a pub when there's a lot of booze."

"No I guess not," said Jake. "What would you like to do for the rest of the day?"

A lightning strike flashed through the dark Darwin skies and there was an immediate roll of thunder. "I think going for another swim is out," said Jessie

"Yeah, I think we'd better play it safe," Jake agreed. "We could see if there's anything good on the television, there might be a movie worth watching."

"Or we could sit in front of the television and stare at the blank screen hoping something good magically comes on," laughed Jessie.

"I wish we'd been able to film what went in the office with Beryl and her family when we were just over there," said Jake, laughing at the recollection. "That would make for a good TV show."

Jessie also laughed. "Or they could take it on the road as a stage play. I'd go the theatre and see it, that's for sure."

Jake turned on the television, and an old Christmas movie was just starting up. It was in black and white but as television in Australia was black and white anyway, this was not of any consequence to Jessie and Jake as they sat on the edge of the bed watching the film.

Jessie felt her heart aflutter at sitting next to a guy who certainly roused her feminine desires. It felt a bit like the time she had a crush on a boy she had met when on a holiday with her family as a teenager. She wished that Jake would reach out and they could sit holding hands.

Next to her Jake likewise felt a bit like a teenager who was sitting next to the prettiest girl in school. He thought about how much he would like to be holding hands with Jessie, but wasn't sure how she would feel about this. Maybe she just wanted to be friends, and trying to hold hands with her would scare her away? Jake didn't want to take the risk.

The dated film was on the dull side and tended to drag at times, but even if it had fully captured Jessie and Jake's imagination they would have had a hard time watching it. The stormy weather conditions caused the picture to go fuzzy at times, and all throughout the afternoon newsflashes kept coming across the screen, warning Darwin residents of the approach of Cyclone Tracy which was expected to make landfall during the evening some time. At other times the movie cut away to the studio with the announcer giving further cyclone warnings.

"I feel like we should be doing something," said Jake, as he and Jessie walked outside when the movie finished, the rain continuing to fall steadily.

"There's not really much we can do given we're staying at a motel," said Jessie. "I saw the boys putting the loose stuff away, there's not really more that can be done." From where they stood they could see some of the houses across the road. At one house, the family was working hard in the rain to secure their property, but at the next house this family was sitting on the porch while their kids played around in the rain, cars left in the open as was their children's trampoline and paddling pool and several sheets of corrugated iron.

Jessie and Jake's attention was diverted by Beryl's shrill voice as she got into the front passenger seat of the car driven by her husband. "If you could try and make sure that the place remains standing while we're away overnight, it would be very nice Abbott," she said to her elder son, before Harry drove away with Beryl giving Jessie and Jake a friendly wave as they went past.

As soon as their parents' car had vanished into the rain, Abbott turned to his younger brother. "You want to open the big tub of ice cream and the assorted cream biscuits?"

"Fuck yeah!" exclaimed Dwayne, following his brother inside to accompany him in gorging himself on sweet treats.

Jessie and Jake had an hour or so to kill before the Christmas party in the pub started, and watched the news, which was dominated of course by cyclone warnings. A Christmas Eve party in a Darwin pub was hardly a formal occasion, so Jessie wore her summer dress and sandals, while Jake wore a tee-shirt, shorts and sneakers.

The rain was getting heavier with the approach of nightfall, and now the wind was making its presence known too. Eerie flashes of lightning and the roll of thunder continued from the ominous dark clouds overhead. It was clear that Darwin was going to be in for a rough Christmas Eve.

"If I put up the umbrella I'll be carried away over the rooftops like Mary Poppins," said Jessie, a gust of wind hitting both of them in the face as they exited the motel room. "We need to run, and fast."

Both naturally athletic, Jessie and Jake made it at speed across the road and into the pub out of the rain and wind and into the noisy Christmas party, the bar decorated for the festive season. The juke box was playing mainly Christmas tunes, with some popular music by modern groups such as the Bay City Rollers, Jackson 5 and emerging Swedish group ABBA thrown in to appeal to younger patrons.

It was fairly crowded, and the beer flowed in abundance. One popular competition seemed to be standing on a chair and drinking a schooner of beer without stopping. A muscular guy wearing a singlet, shorts and a red Santa hat was first to complete the challenge, followed by a young guy with long hair and a big moustache wearing flared trousers and an unbuttoned shirt. Next person to complete the challenge with absolutely no problem was a young slip of a girl who looked no older than 18-years-old.

The over-worked pub staff were setting out trays of finger food, and when Jake went to the men's room Jessie noticed a tray of prawns sitting on a counter, blow flies wasting no time acquainting themselves with the seafood, before the flies were shooed away and one of the girls from behind the bar brought out the tray for people to eat. The girl stopped for a moment and scratched her backside through her skirt and panties, before deciding that the prawns were not properly arranged on the platter and using her bare hands to move them around then going back behind the bar.

Jake returned from the men's room, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the seafood, which he had obviously not enjoyed in months thanks to living miles inland. "Prawns!" he exclaimed, going towards the seafood before Jessie stopped him.

"You don't want to eat the prawns," she said.

Jake looked puzzled and disappointed. "Why is that?"

"Just trust me, you don't," Jessie assured him.

Jessie and Jake were not big fans of drinking to excess, so retreated to a table to one side, Jessie sipping a glass of white wine, and Jake drinking a small glass of beer, eating some snacks that were least likely to lead to them getting food poisoning.

The drinking game continued across the room, the latest person to attempt the challenge an elderly man who looked old enough to have had his first Christmas when Darwin was part of the colony of South Australia. Despite his infirmity, the old man climbed up on the chair and drained the schooner of beer in seconds to loud cheering and applause from onlookers. The old timer then climbed down and headed for the bar to purchase even more beer, his legs more unsteady than usual.

Outside the wind was picking up in force and intensity, and a large gust blew the rain against the window adjacent to where Jessie and Jake were sitting, followed by more thunder. "It sure is a wild night out there," said Jessie. "I feel for the guys out on the patrol boats tonight."

"It must get rough out at sea on the ships," said Jake. "You don't get seasick out there?"

Jessie took a sip of wine. "I wouldn't know about that. I'm not allowed on the Navy ships. None of the women are."

Jake looked surprised. "I thought they'd changed that now?"

Jessie shook her head. "No, they haven't. Things are changing a bit now, married women can be in the WRANS which they weren't until a few years ago, but there's a lot of men who think that women shouldn't be in the Navy at all."

"You're kidding. They still think that?"

"Unfortunately yes," said Jessie. "Not all the men, but some of them think that. Even when I first arrived earlier this year, they said I wouldn't be up to working at the base, that I wasn't strong enough. And you know what happened?"

"No what?" asked Jake.

Jessie laughed. "Three days after I arrived I got the worst dose of flu I've ever had. I was off sick for over a week, and felt like crap for about two weeks about after that. It looked like those guys were right for a while there."

"That's bad luck," said Jake. "It was a similar thing for me at the station. A week after I got there, I got bitten by a redback spider. I couldn't work for a few days when we were really busy, and the guys weren't exactly welcoming so you can see how that looked."

"That spider bite must have killed," said Jessie sympathetically.

"Have you ever been stung by a paper wasp?" asked Jake.

Jessie nodded. "Yes, when I was a kid I was helping Dad in the garden and I got too close to a nest and one came out and got me."