King Tides Curse Read online

  PRESENT DAY (2020) - BONDI BEACH

  ‘It’s character building,’ Gale repeated his mantra.

  He adopted the pose of ‘hunched over fast-food worker’, scrubbing in a repetitive flow sequence, round and round the tabletop.

  The pungent smell of salt filled the air. Gale packed deep-fried chips into a greasy packet. He flipped salted burgers with unshakable focus. Then he marched to the other side of the kitchen to the stock room and dug through the shelves. Finding the packet of burger buns he took a breather. Keeping an eye out for Greg, he stretched out his back and repeated.

  ‘It’s character building.’

  Gale patted the copy of Tony Robbins, ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ in his pocket. Repeat your goals, visualise them and take massive action was what the man taught, and Gale had a hell of a vision.

  Reality, however, kept getting in the way. This was hour ten of his supposedly six-hour shift. He had planned to meet Ash two hours ago for an afternoon coffee. Before their appointment, before the grim reality of the clinic.

  Gale thumbed the two tickets in his pocket, next to the book, to reassure himself. A faint smile played over his face. He was nearly done with Bondi Big Burger. Uni started in a month. He could deal with his shift, and Greg, for another few hours.

  The deputy manager Greg, an acne covered twenty-one-year-old who was attempting to bring back the ski-jump hairstyle, stalked through the kitchen and cast his disapproving eye over it. He was like a lanky, greasy, hyena dressed up in polyester and a vibrant red cap. Greg hunted for something to criticise, constantly alert for easy prey. Gale had learned early on that the shelves of the stockroom provided cover, like long grass on the Serengeti.

  Bondi Big Burgers tasted amazing, working in their kitchen was, well, character building. Gale had started six months ago, the General Manager had given him a well-rehearsed inspirational speech, then pissed off to his office. This left the kitchen in the wretched hands of Greg. It had been a long six months since he moved back to Sydney.

  He’d been moved back to Sydney by his guardianship board, to one of a long line of foster homes. He’d loved his last job as a jackaroo on an outback station. For a year he’d had the outdoors, the quiet, droving across vast tracts of land. He’d even made a few friends with backpackers on gap years. Plenty of time to read motivational books, to listen to podcasts by people like Tony Robbins, Brene Brown and Simon Sinek.

  Yet he’d been moved on, moved on to a cramped house in the city. They told him it was too much effort to fly him back to the hospital for his clinic reviews. His guardianship board worried about him having an attack out in the middle of nowhere. Panic merchants the lot of them.

  Although he missed the open country, there was a lot more surf in Bondi then out the back of Bourke. That had made things worthwhile.

  So he’d traded in his Akubra and RM Williams for a shiny plastic red cap and a grease-stained apron. Gale had learned the art of looking busy in his first week here. The second you didn’t look busy, you either got given more work, docked pay or you had to have the ‘teamwork speech’ from Greg. But if you looked busy, put on a convincing show, it became reality.

  Gale didn’t like drawing attention. It was amazing how a six-foot guy, a little chubby, could still avoid the eye if you acted the right way. Apart from the tattoo on his left shoulder, which filled him with both regret and joy, there was nothing too memorable about his features. He had brown hair, the sort of pale skin that burned at the drop of a hat and blue eyes.

  The tattoo on his left shoulder twinged and he scratched it. That was what he got for having a cheap tattoo done in Thailand. He’d acted on impulse a year ago, after a few too many drinks. He’d hadn’t planned to, but Ash had convinced him to sneak out of science camp to meet her tour group. They’d both gotten tattoos while roaring drunk. She never even told him what the symbol had meant. She just smiled that impish grin of hers. At least until the morning after.

  Gale walked out of the stock room with burger patties carried like a shield. Greg’s gaze whipped around to track him. ‘Less dawdling Gale.’

  Gale bit down a response. It really had been a long six months. Still, with his overtime, he’d just earn enough money to qualify for a student scholarship. He'd have enough to fund medical school on a shoestring, a very thin, taut, shoestring.

  The final hour of Gale’s unrostered overtime passed in a blur of monotony. It was broken only by the occasional hysterical customer. Finally, three hours after he was supposed to finish, he pulled off his hat. He removed his grease-stained apron and grabbed his bag to head out. At least he wouldn’t have to work his eighteenth birthday tomorrow. He checked the two tickets in his pocket again, his birthday present to himself.

  He approached the shining light of the exit. The afternoon sun gleamed off golden sand and framed the invitation of Bondi Beach. Then a shadow darkened his path.

  The rotund figure of Greg cut in front of him, barring his way, a clipboard wielded like a shield, a pen in the other hand like a shortsword. The knight of his own little castle. The evil smile of middle management came over Greg’s face as he got his power trip for the day.

  ‘Gale I’ve rejected your last month’s overtime.’ Greg said, he poked Gale’s chest with a pen. ‘Just because you were slacking off and didn’t get your jobs done by the end of your shift, doesn’t mean we should pay you more. Heck then everyone would slack off. You’ve got to think about what’s good for the team.’

  Gale’s face remained an exquisite study in blankness, a self-portrait of neutrality. They’d been understaffed last month, and he bet Greg had rostered it that way to make his profits look good. Of course no-one else tried to claim the overtime, they were all too scared. Greg would just fire them. Gale however needed that extra coin to reach the scholarship threshold for this year. Not getting it would mean having to work another six months to qualify for the payments and his medical degree started in a month.

  ‘Also we received a customer complaint on Thursday about you.’

  ‘What time?’ Gale asked, knowing what was coming.

  ‘From someone you served at 1030pm. They said you were rude.’

  ‘They wanted a free meal for their birthday and all five of their friends. Five friends who also were born on that day. I wasn’t born yesterday, Greg. They were taking me for a ride. Wait…do you mean at 1030pm when my shift finished at 9 pm?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re not going to pay my overtime, but you’re following through the complaint.’

  Greg tapped his pencil on his clipboard, and his grin spread wider. ‘Look we’ve all got to be team players Gale. All of us sacrifice a bit for the greater good.’

  Gale held his tongue, running his hand first over ‘Awaken the Giant Within,’ and then the tickets in his pocket again. He thought of what was a well due night off. He kept his silence by visualising what type of animal Greg looked most like. Probably a koala…no…a mole perhaps? It was definitely something that burrowed. He wanted to say a wombat, but that was being unkind to wombats. Greg was not going to ruin his good mood.

  ‘Oy that little turd stole my burger,’ yelled a lady from the outside tables. A dirty looking dude legged it with a takeaway bag.

  ‘Tell you what Gale, I’m a reasonable man. You catch that thief, and I’ll pay your overtime.’ Greg said, lips curling up in a sneer.

  Gale forced a smile. Greg knew about his condition. Gale darted out the door onto the main strip of Bond. Elegant clothes shops intermingled with cafe’s and surfboard rental companies. The thief shot away up the hill, and Gale raced after him, cursing Greg.

  Gale pounded up the hill, waiting for the onset. Then he felt it, his chest tightened, and the familiar wheezing kicked in. Gale slapped at his pockets. Damn, he’d left his puffer back in the store.

  The thief started getting further ahead. Gale’s chest tightened like a vice, and he fell to his knees in a coughing fit. The thief kept running, getting further away. Gale’
s coughing fit reached its crescendo, he coughed hard, and something clicked in him. A water jug burst off a waiters tray from a nearby cafe and spilt over the pavement in front of the thief. The thief was knocked onto his on his arse.

  The thief slipped, and his legs flew out in front of him. Gale regained his breath, his wheeze lessened, and the vice around his chest relaxed. Gale got up, pushing his hands on his knees and walked over.

  It was just a kid.

  He couldn’t have been more than ten. He was rake-thin and a bit tall for his age, but he couldn’t have been more than ten. The kid looked up him, dazed, with a face barely old enough for acne.

  The bag with its takeaway chicken and gravy roll fell to the ground. The bread soaked in the spilt water became a soggy mess. $9.90 worth of greasy salted chicken became worthless.

  Gale felt a strong sea breeze rise, the taste of salt on his tongue. A sheet of paper, with a soft blue light, flickered into vision around the kid. It swirled around the kid, glowing, pulsing in time to Gale’s heartbeat before vanishing. Gale rubbed his eyes and put it down to stress.

  Gale shrugged and helped the kid up to sitting. The waiter with the spilt jug fussed around them, sweating bullets, probably freaked out about getting sued.

  Gale checked the kid over. He’d done some shifts of Saint Johns ambulance work to build his resume. He quickly checked the pupils and neck. The kid seemed okay, just bruised. His clothes hung loose and worn through, either second hand, or a lot of weight lost recently.

  So he’d caught the thief, what to do now? He could turn him in, get paid his overtime, make his Centrelink threshold for university…or do some good. There was no way he could afford university without that Centrelink payment. Put himself first or do some good. What would his dad have done?

  He took a deep breath.

  Gale looked the kid square in his eye. He pushed down the nausea in his stomach and the tightness in his chest and pulled out a ten-dollar note and scribbled an address down.

  ‘Go to this address they’ll make sure you get a feed.’ The kid nodded.

  Gale reached into his pocket and pulled out his copy of ‘Awaken the Giant within’. ‘Find a copy of this at the library, read it, it’ll change your life.’ The kid shrugged and stumbled off.

  Gale took off the Bondi Big Burger cap he was still wearing and decided that he would deal with work tomorrow. He flipped a middle finger towards the restaurant. He had an appointment to keep.

  Gale walked further up Bondi Hill as he headed towards the new hospital. He had a gorgeous view of the golden sands of the beach and the clear blue water. The sounds of tourists on the piss already filled the balmy afternoon air. He dodged around a swarm of sunburnt English backpackers, already burnt to a crisp at one in the afternoon. No respect for the Australian sun and it was a scorcher today. It was only Spring, but the heat was already coming in. The sort of heat that got sweat in your armpits and glued your shirt to your back.

  Gale walked past the familiar, brightly coloured letters of the Bondi Children’s Hospital and turned to face the plain grey sign of the Bondi General. Gale paused on the border of the two hospitals. I’ll just catch my breath from the hill, he thought. Then I’ll go inside. Gale pulled out a sheet of well-crumpled paper from his pocket. He re-read it and smiled. Do some good, get paid doing it, he thought.

  ‘Protecting our sea critters protects us as well,’ said a tinny voice behind him. Beaming, Gale turned to see Ashley.

  With a mischievous smile plastered on her face, Ashley was slightly shorter than him at 5’10. She had just turned eighteen last week and had rubbed it in ever since. Her blonde hair was drawn back in a ponytail. Overly large black-rimmed glasses framed her almond brown eyes on a cute, heart-shaped face. Today Ash was dressed in jeans and a shirt that said showed a Trex curled up in bed having a ‘dino-snore’.

  She was holding an old toy Aquaman with a pull string in front of her. Gale snatched for the Aquaman toy, but Ashley danced backwards.

  ‘Nuh-uh,’ she waggled a finger and held the toy out of reach. ‘Remember the clinic rules, not within two feet of each other at all times.’

  Ash laughed with her hands on her hips until a coughing fit shook her. She hunched over and pulled an inhaler from her bag and took a puff. Damn, how did she manage to look good while using an inhaler?

  ‘Ash.’ He said. Come on, compliment her, Gale thought. Tell her she’s looking fit. Too much? Or maybe tell her she looks nice in that top? Yeah, that was a good one. Girls loved compliments like that, right?

  ‘I see that you’re fitting well into that top.’ Gale said.

  Bugger.

  His cheeks went bright red. Planning was meant to be his thing. Why could he never plan a good compliment?

  Ash chuckled, ‘We’ll work on that, can’t have you going off to Uni unable to flirt, can we? That’s what are mates are for.’

  She turned towards the grey features of Bondi General. ‘Different isn’t it’ Ashley said, her grin slipping away. They stared in silence at the grey sign, their clinic due to start in five minutes.

  ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but the swell was absolutely rolling in on the beach.’ Ash cast a sly eye at Gale.

  ‘This first clinic is vital to transition your care to an adult team. This appointment is an opportunity you need to take, even if it just for show.’ Gale said. Ash rolled her eyes at him.

  ‘But if you’re going to make that face I might as well come…to keep an eye on you.’

  Ash grinned, and they turned their back on the hospital. Their concerns behind them, Gale basked in the mid-afternoon sun, drinking in the warmth. He let the crisp sea breeze blow over his skin.

  They paddled out at Bondi and stayed out surfing all afternoon amongst the crowd. Gale found he never wheezed out on the ocean. He guessed the sea breeze was good for him.

  The afternoon passed in a blur of waves and paddling. Life was good. Not perfect, but good. The sort of good that came with a gorgeous beach, seeing a happy puppy or winning the meat raffle at the pub. Little joys.

  Near dark, the waves became choppy, and he figured it was time to call it. Most other surfers had headed in. The sunburnt tourists had stumbled across to the pub for pints and parmies. The lifeguards had packed up the flags.

  A hint of a dark shape flickered beneath Gale’s board. Gale swivelled around on his board and searched for a fin. He saw no sharks, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. A trick of the light? His left shoulder started aching, his tattoo itching. Must’ve overused it paddling. He signalled to Ash, and they paddled in, keeping eyes on the water.

  Gale grabbed his towel and dried himself off. Dark storm clouds rolled in from the northeast as Ash emerged from the water. Gale threw Ash her towel, and her eyes flicked to the side, looking away.

  ‘What’s up?’ He asked. She seemed off, none of the pumped-up energy she usually had after a surf.

  Ash paused, staring out at the storm clouds building.

  ‘Listen, Gale, did you…feel something…out there?’ Ashley asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Gale asked, ‘Might have seen a shark and I’m busting for a piss.’

  Smooth.

  Ash shifted from side to side, looking around them. ‘Probably nothing.’ Huh, maybe she needed to pee also. Did she go while out in the water? Gale had done that a few times, someone had told him it drew in sharks though. It was alright though, surely no one could tell. Could they? Gale dunked himself back under the shower one more time to be sure.

  Gale finished getting changed. Ash was allowed to be a bit weird at times. He’d known her long enough.

  ‘So…are we doing anything for your birthday?’ Ash asked.

  Gale played dumb. He’d been working on this surprise for months. Ash had always encouraged him to live life to its fullest. He scratched subconsciously at the tattoo on his left shoulder. When he’d gotten the tattoo in Thailand, it’d been his first time drinking, and he’d turned seventeen that night. He’
d woken to what he’d thought was a tremendous hangover. It turned out it was a minor earthquake with flooding. Thankfully, no one had been harmed although much of the town was underwater for days. Gale had stayed off the turps after that. He figured he’d give it another go once he turned eighteen.

  Gale had kept studying hard. He had worked for years to get his grades in a position to get into medical school. He spent all his free time building his resume or earning savings, which was why he was so excited about the tickets in his pocket.

  First he showed her the letter he’d been reading over and over again since it arrived.

  ‘Accepted into medicine, that's fantastic.’ Ash said.

  ‘Do some good, maybe get paid doing it.’ Gale shrugged.

  ‘If your parents were here…I know they’d be proud.’ Ash said.

  Gail looked down at his feet and shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Sorry I know you don’t like to talk about them.’ Ash said.

  Gale’s parents had died when he was just a newborn. His dad had sacrificed himself to save his mom during a robbery. The coroners report had said his dad jumped in front of a bullet, the noble bastard. His mum had disappeared a few days later, leaving him behind. She’d left him a single note for him.

  Do the world some good.

  Their passports had turned out to be fakes, their names John and Jane Knott were pseudonyms. He’d kept the name Knott though. It seemed as good as any. He’d been unable to find anything more about them. The Knotts were ghosts.

  Without any relatives he’d been left in the care of a guardian board and a series of foster homes. He’d shifted around a lot, moving towns. The one constant was the clinic appointments for his lung disease, the monthly appointment where he’d see Ash and the other kids. Over the years he’d watched as the others got worse, their lungs growing weak. He’d never got a name for his condition. He fit a weird niche of fibrosing lung disease, idiopathic they said.

  The constant moving around, the guardianship board, that all changed once he turned eighteen tomorrow though. He’d be in charge of his destiny, and he had such a vision for his future. Although right now, his vision included finding a bloody bathroom soon.