Taking the Chequered Flag (2 page)

On Saturday afternoons, The Moon was alive with the sounds of speed. An old mining dump site, The Moon was a huge area of treeless grey sand, with hills and tracks all over it—perfect for motocross bike riders. Years of use had flattened the sand into a hard, packed surface. If the bikes hadn’t found it first, it would’ve been perfect for a horse arena.

That’s what Angus thought, anyway. He sat on his horse, King, at the edge of The Moon, trying to work out which crazy guy on what crazy bike was E.D. All the bikes looked the same to him; dusty with grey sand. The riders weren’t a lot different, either. They were mainly dressed in black protective gear and their goggles hid their faces. Angus walked King forward a bit and
finally spotted who he thought was E.D.—only because of his battered bike. He raised his hand and the rider slowed, dropping back into second gear to come over to the horse.

King stepped back nervously as the bike approached and Angus ran his hand down the horse’s neck. ‘It’s okay, King. I think this is E.D.’

The rider cut the engine and pulled off his helmet. ‘Hi, buddy. How much horse power you got there?’

‘Very funny, E.D.’

E.D. chuckled and shook his head so that his long black hair flew around his face. ‘Pretty hot out here. All this gear on, and it’s 35 degrees.’

‘You should take up swimming then, like Gabby.’

E.D. grimaced. ‘Mate, I’d rather spend my life stuck in a motorbike jacket than spend one hour in those tiny bathers they have to wear.’ He glanced around The Moon at the bikes speeding past. ‘Anyway, what are you doing here? Not a real good place to bring King.’

Angus shrugged. ‘I won’t stay long. Just checking that you’re serious about this motocross racing.’

E.D. bent down and flicked some dry mud from his foot peg before speaking. ‘I don’t know
that I am, really. I’m just testing out my bike. Tony’s here somewhere. He bought himself a proper racing bike.’

‘Well, that’s okay. He’s got a part-time job; he can afford to buy a decent bike.’

‘Yeah.’ E.D. grinned suddenly. ‘He buys one and I copy it. See? I’ve re-bored the cylinder and put a bigger piston and rings in. Now it’s just like his new model.’

Angus leaned down across the chestnut gelding’s shoulder but couldn’t see anything different. He nodded anyway.

‘I’ll show you.’ E.D. slammed his helmet back on his head and kicked the bike into life. King snorted as the bike swung around and took off into the hills of The Moon.

Angus watched E.D. tackle curves and slopes and straights. The bike looked like it was going well; E.D. handled it like an expert, passing some other kids as they made their way around the worn tracks. Finally, there was just one other bike in the way and it didn’t seem to like E.D. being hot on its tail. The rider kept looking around and speeding up as if he didn’t want E.D. to pass. It’s only a practice track, thought Angus. What’s his problem?

E.D. wasn’t taking a lot of notice of who was in front of him. The bike was going steadily and
the cylinder change meant that it was like riding a 125cc. E.D. was feeling pretty good. So, Tony, he thought to himself, you go right ahead and spend thousands on a new machine because your little bro can make do with a home-made one just as well.

Suddenly a bike was in front of him, slowing down abruptly on a piece of sand that should have been an easy straight. E.D. braked sharply, skidding on the sandy surface, and his vehicle went from underneath him. Bike and rider shot across the surface of The Moon and slammed into a hill of grey dirt.

E.D. stood up quickly and pulled the bike up to check for damage. There was none he could see but it was hard to tell without getting on it. He looked around angrily for the other rider and found him nearby sitting on his lime-green bike, staring at E.D.

‘Sorry,’ said the rider. The voice was muffled behind the helmet and hard to hear, but E.D. could tell that the ‘sorry’ wasn’t a real one.

‘Yeah, you sound
real
sorry,’ said E.D. ‘Just watch it, okay?’

‘No, I think
you’d
better watch it.’ The other rider didn’t wait but revved the bike and spun away.

‘Are you okay?’ said a girl’s voice.

E.D. stopped glaring in the direction of the first rider and turned to see another bike pulled up beside him. The rider was on a Kawasaki, the same model and colour as the bike that had pulled up in front.

‘I’m okay. Don’t know about my bike.’

‘It’ll be right. I’ve taken rougher falls than that.’

E.D. eyed the newcomer. ‘So you’ve done a bit of racing?’

‘I’ve done a lot of riding. I’ve had bad falls—real bad. And I got back up and kept going. No one can stop me.’ The bike revved loudly, and took off to the edge of The Moon, leaving a dark skid mark in the sand.

E.D. shrugged. The world seemed full of angry motocross riders and if that’s what racing was about, he didn’t know if he could be bothered. It was more fun going up through the bush, weaving in and out of trees and minding his own business, but Tony was pretty stoked that his little brother was going to race. The De Lugio brothers had all raced motocross—all except E.D. He’d always been the back-up guy; the one sitting on the sideline waiting to adjust the brake cable or alter the fuel mix or even change the
rear sprocket. He was the one who prepared the bikes for racing and the one who fixed them up afterwards. It was what he did best.

He swung a leg over his bike and kicked it over. The bike started with a roar. It sounded fine; the fall hadn’t hurt it at all. E.D. rode carefully over to Angus who was waiting anxiously out of the way of the other bikes.

‘You okay?’ Angus said.

‘Yeah.’ E.D. looked back at the stream of riders going along the track. ‘There’s one guy with a bit of attitude out there.’

‘Well, he’s got strange tactics. Even I could see that he braked in front of you deliberately. And who was that other guy?’

‘It was a girl, but I don’t know who.’ E.D. sat up suddenly. ‘Check that out.’ He pointed. ‘Over there with Tony and Mario.’

Angus looked around. Mario, E.D.’s oldest brother, had parked the bike trailer at the entrance to The Moon and was loading his new bike onto it. Two girls stood with him; one with blonde hair and one with wild red curls. ‘Gabby and Hannah. They said they might come down and watch you.’

‘I don’t want them watching. Haven’t they got anything else to do?’

Angus laughed at his friend. ‘Come on, E.D. Let’s go over.’

‘You go.’ E.D. revved his bike. ‘I’ll do another circuit.’ He took off slowly and joined the other bikes on the track.

Angus waited until there was a break in the bikes and cantered King across to Tony’s car.

‘Hey, Angus,’ said Tony, raising his hand in greeting. ‘Got the girls helping us.’ He gave Angus a wink.

‘It’s very dusty, isn’t it?’ said Gabby, holding a webbing strap that was draped across the trailer and looking down at her white jeans with dismay.

Hannah shook her head. ‘No kidding, Gab.’ She pulled firmly on the strap she was holding and Tony nodded in appreciation.

‘Good work, Hannah. Hold it there and I’ll get the other one.’ He took the strap from Gabby and passed it to Hannah. ‘Pull now.’

Gabby stepped backwards, brushing her hands together. She couldn’t help noticing the way Tony was smiling at Hannah. Tony looked a lot like E.D., only taller and more handsome. His black hair was cut stylishly and his fringe fell over his dark eyes. He’s actually
really
good looking, thought Gabby, and smiled in Tony’s
direction. But Tony wasn’t looking at her; he was too busy thanking Hannah. With a jolt, Gabby realised that Tony hadn’t even looked at her once the whole time they’d been loading the trailer.

‘Here he is.’ Angus pointed to E.D. who was riding his bike across the grey sand. He pulled up beside the trailer and cut the bike.

‘Going alright?’ Tony asked.

‘Yeah, pretty good.’

‘You’ll be doing the Graveyard next.’ Tony grinned, and turned back to the business of fixing his bike.

‘Yeah,
right
.’

‘What’s the Graveyard?’ said Angus, leaning over King’s neck.

‘A sort of race that only idiots ride.’

‘E.D.,’ called Tony. ‘You want to put your bike on with mine? Mario’s driving me back.’

‘No, I think I’ll ride home. I’ll go the back way through the bush.’ E.D. looked up at Angus. ‘You going home that way?’

‘Yeah, I’ll go with you.’

‘What about you, Hannah?’ said Tony.

‘Gabby and I rode our bikes.
Push
bikes. We’ll be okay.’

Tony lifted his hand in farewell and got in the
car with Mario. They drove away noisily and E.D. shook his head. ‘Need to get that exhaust fixed.’

‘I’m going,’ said Gabby. ‘This place is all dust and noise.’

‘Don’t forget me,’ said Hannah but Gabby had already gone. ‘What’s up with her?’

E.D. shrugged. ‘Who would know? But you’d better hurry if you’re going to catch her.’

Hannah mumbled something that no one else could hear and headed after her friend.

King fidgeted sideways as some bikes roared past.

‘I think I’d better get this horse out of here,’ said Angus, and swung King around. ‘Coming, E.D.?’ He didn’t wait for an answer but started off down the rough bush road that led to the back of their home town, Teasdale. King was eager to get away and pulled on the reins until Angus let him break into a canter. He could hear E.D. behind him, following at a safe distance, and turned in the saddle to see where he was. Suddenly, he felt his horse tense. Angus turned back in time to see a motorbike cross the path in front of him. He pulled King up quickly but the motorbike had stopped. The rider didn’t seem to have seen him but was looking back at another bike parked on the side of the road, its rider casually leaning against it.

‘It’s been okay for you!’ screamed the first rider, a girl. ‘But things are going to change. You promised! From now on, things are back to normal. Okay?’

The stationary rider just shrugged, which seemed to make the girl angrier. E.D. pulled up beside King just as the first bike took off in a scream of dirt and rocks. ‘What was that about?’ he yelled at Angus.

Angus told E.D. what he’d heard. E.D. looked over at the rider standing on the side of the track but he couldn’t see who he was. But the bike gave him away—it was one of the twin Kawasakis.

Angus let King trot on and E.D. paused before going after him. The rider leaning against his bike hadn’t moved but E.D. could feel him watching. I’ve got a strong feeling, he thought, that this guy’s trouble.

The noise was deafening but Gabby kept going. Inside, the garage was gloomy and smelt strongly of oil. She walked past a car covered in an old sheet and finally found E.D. kneeling beside his bike, revving it hard and listening intently.

‘Hi,’ Gabby yelled over the noise.

E.D. lifted his head and noticed Gabby but didn’t say anything. He looked like he was thinking of something far away. Gabby waved a hand in his face and he let the throttle go. The noise died away.

‘Sounds better, doesn’t it?’ he said.

Gabby looked around. ‘Better than what?’

‘Than it did before. I changed the spark plug. It’s heaps better now.’

Gabby smiled uncertainly. ‘Well, that’s nice. It’s got to sound right, hasn’t it?’

E.D. looked at her and stood up. ‘It’s got to sound
beautiful
.’ He paused. ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’

Gabby crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Thanks, E.D. Can’t I come and visit you when I want to?’

E.D. blushed. ‘Sorry, Gab. But I don’t think you ever have before; without the others, I mean.’

‘Emilio!’ said a sing-song voice from behind them. ‘Don’t keep Gabby out there in the dirty shed! She’ll get filthy!’

E.D. smiled. ‘It’s okay, Mum. Gabby doesn’t mind.’

Mrs De Lugio came bearing down on Gabby and gave her a hug. ‘I haven’t seen you for so long! Are you coming to see my clever Emilio at his work? He is brilliant, a brilliant mechanic.’

‘Mum…’

‘I know he’s clever, Mrs D. We’ve been watching him with his motorbike.’

‘Motorbikes, cars, lawn mowers; he can do anything! He is
brillante
.’

‘Mum’s favourite!’ Mario stepped up behind his mother. He was grinning. ‘We always knew it, didn’t we, Tony?’

Tony emerged from the shadows. He laughed at his mother who was shaking her finger at Mario. ‘Mario,’ she sighed, ‘always teasing. You know my boys are
all
my favourites.’

Gabby couldn’t help smiling. Mrs De Lugio was a slim woman with lustrous dark hair that fell around her shoulders. She looked tiny standing amongst her three sons, even more so when Mario and Tony draped their arms around her. The boys were tall and strong, and looked very much the same. But Tony is the gorgeous one, Gabby thought.

‘So did you fix it?’ Mario said to E.D.

‘Yeah, I took that plug off the old Yamaha…’

Mrs D turned to Gabby again. ‘You don’t want to stand here in this shed for boys. You come and have a cup of tea with me.’

‘Thanks, Mrs D, but I have to go home. I just came to ask E.D.—I mean, Emilio—if he wanted to go to a party with me on Saturday.’ Gabby looked at E.D. ‘A friend of Mum and Dad’s is celebrating his fiftieth birthday. I thought you might like to go. It’s not far from here.’

‘A party? Saturday night? With you?’

Gabby frowned. ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Ah.’ E.D. wiped a grubby hand across his face. ‘No. Yes. I mean, I don’t mind going with you. But a grown-ups’ birthday party? I don’t know. Can I think about it?’

Mario leaned forward and whacked E.D. on the shoulder. ‘Think about it? How could you turn down a date with a beautiful girl like Gabby?’

There was an awkward silence as E.D. glared at his brother.

‘Come on, Gabriella. Tea.’ Mrs D was scowling at all of them.

‘Thanks, Mrs D. But I’ve really got to go. I’ll catch you tomorrow, Emilio.’ Gabby quickly hurried out of the garage, but was still close enough to hear Mrs D berating E.D. in loud Italian and his brothers joining in with hoots and laughs.

Gabby got on her pushbike and pedalled down the street. Her house was on the other side of town…and it was hot. I shouldn’t have bothered, she thought angrily. I should have known that he wouldn’t come with me. That’s the first and last time I ask him to
anything.

She came to the top of a hill and stopped pedalling to glide down. The wind cooled her face and she felt better. By the time she reached the bottom of the hill, she was even smiling, thinking of the way E.D.’s mum had been telling him off and the ribbing he was sure to get from his brothers. Whenever Gabby had been to E.D.’s, his brothers had usually been there, mucking around with cars or helping their father in his vegetable patch or just lazing around the kitchen while their mother baked. It was a warm and happy place. Gabby couldn’t help but compare it to her large, neat house containing just her and her parents. Her house was always quiet and if you stood at one end you wouldn’t hear a thing from the other. It was completely opposite to how E.D. lived. Gabby shook her head—part of her would have liked to have a brother or a sister; the rest of her liked being an only child.

After another ten minutes, Gabby had cycled past the last lot of houses that constituted the town and reached the grassy paddocks that led to her house, and to Angus’. Angus lived with his dad, who was a racehorse trainer. Their place was a run-down house surrounded by horse yards. Sometimes she could see Angus riding his horse
around the paddocks. He often took King out along the stretch of common grassland that ran along the Teasdale Creek.

Gabby suddenly looked up in surprise to see a chestnut horse that looked a lot like King coming along the grass. But Angus would never ride King like this horse was being ridden. It was racing flat out along the edge of the creek, head high and awkward. That horse looks frightened, thought Gabby, and she stopped her bike to watch. It
is
frightened; it’s bolting! And it
is
King!

The horse came closer and Gabby could see Angus, sitting straight in the saddle, trying to slow King down. But it was no wonder that King was galloping so hard; a lime-green motorbike was behind him, revving noisily and skidding its back wheel on the trail, spraying dust out left and right.

Gabby dropped her bike and ran towards the creek just as Angus managed to turn King into a wide circle. The motorbike slowed for a moment and then took off down the path and away from the panicked horse.

‘Angus!’ screamed Gabby.

Angus was too busy trying to calm King down to answer her. He kept his horse turning
into ever smaller circles until King slowed to a canter, then a trot and finally to a walk. Angus stroked his sweaty neck and walked over to Gabby.

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘I don’t really know,’ said Angus. ‘I was just riding along the creek and suddenly the bike was behind me. He got so close that his front wheel touched King’s tail.’

‘Do you know who it was?’

‘I didn’t even see the bike. Did you?’

‘Yeah.’ Gabby was quiet, stroking King’s soft nose. The horse snorted, spraying Gabby with dribble, but for once Gabby didn’t notice. ‘It was a green motorbike. It looked a lot like those bikes we saw at The Moon when E.D. was practising.’

‘Oh, them.’ Angus shook his head, looking worried. ‘Look, Gabby, I’d better keep walking King. I reckon we’ve galloped nearly two kilometres and he needs to walk it out now otherwise he’ll be stiff and sore tomorrow.’

‘You don’t need to tell me anything about exercise,’ said Gabby, smiling. ‘I know all about it.’

‘Sorry, Miss State Champion Swimmer!’

‘You go. I might catch you later.’

Gabby watched as Angus took King back the way he’d come, walking the big chestnut steadily along the grass. For no real reason other than to watch Angus, Gabby went to the edge of the creek itself and leaned on a tree. The creek was dry and would be until winter, but the grass next to it was still green. Angus finally disappeared around a bend and Gabby stood up to go back to her pushbike. There was something green on the path nearby. She sauntered over to it and picked it up. It was a small plastic ear-piece, a bit like the one her father used in the car so he could take phone calls without having to hold a mobile phone in his hands. It looked like it had just been dropped because it wasn’t dirty yet. Gabby slipped it into her pocket and made her way back to her bike and home.

Hannah was waiting at the front door as Gabby pedalled down the driveway.

‘Where have you been? It’s too hot to go for a bike ride.’ Hannah stood with her arms folded; she looked cross, like she so often did.

Gabby rested her bike against the front verandah. ‘Hope you brought your bathers,’ she said, deliberately not telling Hannah where she’d been in case she asked how E.D. reacted to being
invited to a fiftieth birthday party. ‘I really need a swim.’

‘I can swim in my shorts—they’re okay.’

‘I’ll just get changed. You go around.’

Gabby went in the front door as Hannah walked around the back to the pool. Gabby ran up the steps to her room and changed as quickly as possible. From the window, she could see Hannah standing tentatively on the top step of the pool, testing the water. Gabby smiled. There was nothing particularly brave about Hannah, but she was a good friend. They’d known each other since pre-school and even though they didn’t go to the same school anymore, they still spent a lot of time together.

Then Gabby remembered the way Tony had looked at Hannah and not at her. She shook her head at the wave of jealousy that swept through her. Tony was 16; he wouldn’t be looking for a girlfriend who was in Year 7! She must have been imagining it. Feeling angry with herself for being jealous of her friend, she grabbed her towel, ran down the steps and out the back door to the pool.

‘Last one in’s a rotten egg!’ she screamed, startling Hannah and making her fall clumsily into the water. Gabby jumped in after her.

The water was just the right temperature. They spent ages in the pool, sometimes splashing furiously, sometimes floating around on big fat lilos. Gabby did a few laps and Hannah climbed out to watch her. She spread her towel next to Gabby’s and waited until Gabby had finished a light workout before sitting next to her, squeezing water out of her long hair.

‘What’s this?’ Hannah asked, handing Gabby the small green ear-piece.

‘Oh, I was going to tell you about that. I found it next to the creek.’ She filled Hannah in on the motorbike incident with King and Angus.

‘That’s a really weird thing for a motorbike to do. Are you sure it was the same person that we saw at The Moon?’

‘I think so. I rang up Angus when I was getting changed to check that the ear-piece wasn’t his. He wants me to take it round to show him.’

‘You’d reckon we’d know them.’

‘Maybe they’ve just moved to town. Or maybe they’ve just got the motorbikes.’

Hannah was so quiet that Gabby looked over at her. ‘And the motorbike rider dropped that?’ Hannah said finally.

Gabby laughed and lay back on the towel. ‘I don’t think motorbike riders wear ear-pieces to talk on mobile phones. Someone else must have dropped it. Anyway, I said I’d give it to Angus.’

Hannah shrugged. She took the ear-piece again and looked at it. It sure was a nice looking piece of technology. It was more than just an ordinary ear-piece. On its underside, a series of small terminals had been added on—you could tell by the different coloured plastics. ‘I’ll take it home first to check it out.’

Gabby nodded lazily.

Hannah slipped the ear-piece into her pocket. ‘Gabby?’

‘Hmmm?’ Gabby had her eyes closed.

‘Have you ever wanted to learn to ride a motorbike?’

Gabby shook her head slowly.

‘Well, I have.’

‘Why don’t you, then?’

‘I guess I could ask E.D. to teach me.’

‘Yeah, ask Mr Motocross. He’ll teach you.’

‘I don’t know that he’d be the best person to teach me. He’s a bit…laid-back.’ Hannah rolled onto her stomach and put her head on her arms so that Gabby found it hard to hear.

‘What did you say?’ Gabby sat up.

‘I could ask Tony to teach me. I reckon he would. Hey, what’s the matter?’

Gabby had stood up. ‘Nothing. I think I might do a few more laps.’ She plunged into the water and began a furious freestyle.

Hannah shrugged. Tony might teach me, she thought. It was suddenly the best thought she’d had in a long time.