Chapter 4

MANGROVE DREAMING
By Kerrie Bygrave

Chapter 4:

The first few weeks in Broome were a bit of a blur for Caitlyn, as she was so busy. The day after her first trip to Town Beach, she started at school. After the first morning meeting where Mr Basil introduced the five new teachers, he went over some details about the upcoming school year. Caitlyn then went to find her class room and set about working out what she had to start the school year off with.
She found that there really wasn’t that much to work with, and when she went to the teacher’s filing cabinet to look up the programs that the previous Year Seven teacher had been using, Caitlyn was disappointed. Apart from some odd student stencils, and a few scribbled notes on some scrappy bits of paper, there was next to nothing. She went to Mr Basil’s office and inquired whether there would be any where else she could look to find resources. Mr Basil directed her to a large box of papers in one of the stationary rooms behind the main office that the previous teacher had left. But after lugging the heavy box marked ‘Year 7’ back to the classroom, she was again disappointed to find that not only was the material highly unorganised, but it was also out of date, and largely unusable.
So Caitlyn spent the next two weeks at school, writing programs and preparing student stencils. She was getting to work at seven in the morning most days and not leaving until six in the evening. She would arrive home at night utterly exhausted. It’s not that she wasn’t used to hard work, but the old air conditioner in the class room, whilst taking the bite out of the heat and humidity, wasn’t really that effective.
After two weeks, the school year started and Caitlyn finally got to meet her students. As it turned out, Sissy was one of her students. In fact about a quarter of the students were indigenous. The school had a policy of helping underprivileged students with heavily reduced school fees. This presented Caitlyn with quite a few challenges as a new teacher, as she had only taught ‘white’ students during her student practicums at University in Perth. Not only were the numeracy and literacy standards of these children significantly lower than normal, but these students often missed days on end of school, as their parents weren’t totally convinced of the importance of getting a ‘white-fella’ education, so the kids found it easy to convince their mums and dads to let them stay home the majority of the time. Every now and again, Mr Basil would visit the parents and remind them that it was now the law that their kids attend school, and suddenly all the kids would show up for a few days, but it never took long for attendance to drop off again. However, Caitlyn found that Sissy never missed a day of school, and it showed in her school work. She was one of the brightest students.
About two weeks after the school term started, Caitlyn’s furniture and personal effect finally arrived from Perth. While she was at University, she shared a house in Shenton Park with some other students, and had managed to accumulate a fair bit of furniture, even though a lot of it was fairly old and tatty, as well as quite a few boxes of house hold effects.
Mr Basil came to Caitlyn’s class at ten o’clock the Friday morning that her things arrived. He watched the class so that she could go home and let the removalist in. As soon as the removalist arrived and opened the back of the truck, she realised that there was no way that everything was going to fit neatly into her small unit. She had the removalists put most of the furniture out on the back veranda, and the boxes were put inside. Even so, there was next to no room to move inside. But once the removalist left again, Caitlyn just left everything where they had put it and went back to work. However, she was able to ride her bike back to school, as it too had been delivered.
After school, she went home and turned the air conditioner on, then started unpacking the boxes inside. As she did so, she kept a couple of boxes aside to ‘repack’ things into that she didn’t particularly want to keep, especially given the lack of room them. She was about half way through unpacking, when in the late afternoon, there was a knock at the door. Caitlyn went to see who it was and found Jolene at the door. ‘Hello, Jolene’, she said, and opened the flyscreen door.
‘G’day Caitlyn, she began. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I thought I might drop in and see how you’re getting on. I remember your address from when we delivered your groceries’.
‘Not at all. Come on in. My gear finally arrived today, and I’m just in the midst of unpacking.’
Jolene must have seen Caitlyn frown briefly, because she said ‘What’s wrong. Is the unpacking that hard?’
‘It’s not that. It’s just that now that everything has arrived, I realise I don’t have enough room in this small unit for everything, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Not only is there all these boxes of stuff in here, but there’s also all my old furniture that I’ve had to put on the back veranda, that I don’t have room for’
‘Mmm, that is a dilemma’ said Jolene, before lapsing into silence and watching Caitlyn empty out the bottom of one of the kitchen boxes. Suddenly she piped up again ‘Hey, I know, why don’t you have a garage sale.’
‘A ‘what’ sale?’
‘You know’, said Jolene. ‘A garage sale. It’s where you put everything you don’t want out on the front lawn on a Saturday or Sunday morning, and people come around and if they want your stuff, they pay you money for it. You just put a few signs on the main road to tell people where to come.’
‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard of them. I saw the occasional road sign where I lived in Perth. Do you think people would go for that idea up here’
‘Are you kidding, of course they would. Haven’t you seen all the signs on the corner of Fredrick and Hamersley streets on a Saturday morning. There’s normally at least five or six, if not more.’
‘Well, not having a car, I don’t really go into town a lot, although I do like to go to the Courthouse Markets on a Saturday morning. But I’ve never really noticed the Garage Sale signs.’ Caitlyn paused thoughtfully, then continued. ‘Mmm, might be worth trying I guess’.
‘Oh this will be really cool.’ said Jolene. ‘I’ll come and help you if you like, it’ll be fun. We can sit and talk and gossip and stuff, while we do it.’
‘That sounds alright. You can come if you want. But it will take a bit of organisation, so I might leave it till next weekend. I wouldn’t be ready to do it tomorrow. But what I was planning to do is go fishing off the Jetty. Would you like to come?’
‘Sorry no can do. Fishing really isn’t my thing. I can’t stand the smell, the slimy bait, or the slimy fish. And besides, I work every second Saturday, and tomorrow is my rostered day on. But go ahead, enjoy yourself. Do you fish much?’
‘No, I’ve never fished before. But my Auntie Tara who has lived in Broome for years, has taken me to her favourite fishing spot a few times, but I normally just sit and talk to her or read a book while she fishes. She’s such an old hand at it that I didn’t want to embarrass myself by trying to fish in front of her. Of course, she has offered to teach me, but I feign a disinterest in it. My plan is to take myself down to the tackle shop in town, buy a fishing rod and then head to the jetty and have a crack at fishing by myself. Then I might muster up the courage to fish with my auntie when I can make the impression that I half know what I’m doing.’
‘Well good luck with that, but like I said, it’s not my thing. Hey, but I am going to the pub tonight at the Roey. Do you want to come with?’
Caitlyn smiled at Jolene ‘It’s nice of you to invite me but, I’ll say no this time around. I feel quite exhausted to tell you the truth. I’ve had a busy week at school, and having done all this unpacking, I’m likely to fall asleep by eight o’clock, so I’d only be a drag if I came. Maybe next time?’
‘Yeah sure. I go every Friday pretty much. I love it there. Especially now, the last few weeks, there has been the cutest guy there with his mates. I haven’t actually met him yet, because every time I muster up the courage to go over to him, I turn around and he’s already left, even though it’s before ten o’clock. Speaking of which, I might head off now. I’m going to go home and have a nanna nap before I go out tonight. That way, I’ll have plenty of energy to dance the night away to the live band.’
‘OK, well have fun tonight. Good luck with your cute guy.’
‘Ah thanks. See ya.’ And with that Jolene left and Caitlyn shut the door behind her. She wanted to try and do more unpacking, but decided she would eat first. She’d had her Auntie Tara over for dinner the night before, and there was left over pasta and sauce in the fridge. Now that her old but trusty microwave was here, she grabbed the plastic container of pasta out and put it on to heat for a couple of minutes, poured a glass of juice and then sat down on the old cane lounge to eat.
The mere act of sitting and eating made Caitlyn realise just how exhausted she really was. But she was determined to do a bit more unpacking before going to bed. So she put her dishes in the sink and started unpacking some of the boxes lying around the lounge room, then she put the empty boxes and used packing paper in the car port. It was now six forty-five, and she decided that she was truly done for.
Caitlyn headed inside and turned her TV on. One of the removalist men had been nice enough to set it up for her and tune it in. The picture was a tiny bit fuzzy, but after weeks of not having a TV at all, it was a nice change to be able to watch it if she wanted. Her two seater cane lounge, wasn’t really big enough to lay down on, but she found if she put a pillow length ways over the cane arms, she could sort of rest there. So after turning off the lights and locking the doors this is what she did. She intended to watch the end of the news, but before she knew it, Caitlyn had fallen fast asleep. She woke up slightly disorientated. It was eleven o’clock, and the TV glowed softly in the dark. She went to get up, but felt a cramp in her neck from sleeping in an awkward position, so she eased herself up more slowly, grabbed her pillows and turned the TV off. It was only after doing so, that she realised how dark it was. She groped her way back to her bedroom, bumping into the occasional packing box. When she reached her room, she turned on her bedside lamp, changed into a night shirt and got into bed. She turned off her light and promptly fell asleep again.
The next morning, Caitlyn woke up just after eight. She was very surprised and considered this a huge sleep-in, as she was normally awake by six most mornings, even on weekends. Because she got up at six to get ready for school, when it came to Saturday and Sunday, her body-clock pretty much dictated that by six it was time to get up.
When she realised how late it was, she leapt out of bed and discovered that she felt quite refreshed. She thought to herself that she should try to sleep in on a Saturday more often, but doubted if she would manage it. She never was one to be self indulgent.
She quickly had a shower, and threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She brushed her shoulder length brown hair and pulled it back into a pony tail at the nape of her neck. She grabbed an apple to eat on the way, a bottle of water from the fridge, and some sunscreen. She shoved them into her backpack along with her purse and keys, picked up her bike helmet from near the door, and then let herself out. She unlocked her bike and headed into town.
Even though it was still the end of summer and the weather was still hot, there was a slight breeze making the ride more bearable. Before she knew it, she had reached the tackle shop. She locked her bike up on the veranda and headed inside. There were no other customers inside, so she wandered over to a rack of rods and reels and had a look. It wasn’t long before she realised that she had absolutely no idea what to look for in a fishing rod.
From the other side of the shop, the salesman watched her browsing. Being a fishing tackle shop, females didn’t come in that often by themselves. They were usually with their boyfriends or husbands. Frank watched her with curiosity. She must have been a few years older than his own daughter. She was a pretty girl, though he supposed she was more of a woman than a girl. She wasn’t the sort of looker you would expect to find modelling on the cover of some fashion magazine. She had more of a classic beauty, like Grace Kelly. It was if she radiated a secret, natural attractiveness, and yet she seemed totally oblivious to her own good looks.
Eventually, Frank made his way over to her, and said ‘Is there anything I can do for you, love? Are you looking for something in particular? Perhaps a present for your boyfriend?’
Caitlyn laughed ‘No, there’s no boyfriend. I’m actually here for myself. I thought I’d try some fishing at the jetty today, but I don’t have any fishing gear. Can you suggest anything?’
Frank thought for a moment. ‘So, you’ve not been fishing before, I take it?’
‘No, I’ve seen my auntie fish a few times, but this will be my first time’.
‘Alright, well since this is your first time, we won’t get you to buy an expensive rod.’
‘Why, how expensive do rods get.’
‘Well, pretty expensive, if you get right into fishing. For example’ he went and picked up a rod a few feet away and returned to her, ‘this beauty costs about six hundred and seventy dollars.’
Caitlyn tried not to baulk ‘Just for a rod and reel, it cost that much?’
‘No, love. That’s just for the rod. The reel is another five hundred and eighty. Then this thirty pound fishing line we put on it is another eighty five dollars.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding. Who pays that kind of money.’
‘Well to some people, fishing is a deadly serious sport, and if you consider that to buy fish at the supermarket, you can pay up to twenty five dollars a kilo, then when someone pulls in a thirty kilo fish, they only have to catch two or three of those type of fish and the rig has pretty much payed for itself.’
‘Well, if you put it that way…’ and her voice drifted off.
Frank noted the look of alarm on her face, and laughed before quickly adding, ‘But don’t worry. We can get you rigged up for a lot less than that.’
‘How much less? She said doubtfully.
‘Oh I reckon if we get you this little rig here,’ he replied picking up a smallish rod from near the front of the shop ‘which is only fifty eight dollars, with the reel as well mind you. Then get you a few bits and pieces of tackle, a small knife for cutting bait, and perhaps a small tackle box from over here, that ought to about do it.’ He took the various items that he’d collected from the store back to the cash register and rang them up. ‘All together, that comes to ninety six dollars and sixty five cents. How does that sound? I’ll even throw in a packet off bait for free’
‘Much better, thankyou.’ and she dug some money out of her purse.
‘Now before you go, can I just give you a few pointers, this being your first fishing adventure and all.’ Caitlyn shrugged and then listened attentively. ‘Since your planning to fish at the jetty, I suggest you put a heavy sinker on. The incoming and outgoing tides can be pretty strong out there, and you don’t want your line to run out too much.’
‘Well, how do you do that?’
Frank grabbed the knife back out of the tackle box. “Let me show you. You’ll need to know how to tie hooks on the line anyway.’
Once again, Caitlyn looked a bit bewildered. ‘But if you put the new sinker on, I should be right, shouldn’t I?’
This made Frank chuckle. ‘Not necessarily love. A fish might swallow your hook or your hook may get snagged on a rock. Don’t worry, I’ll show you a nice simple knot, that you can do if you need to.’
He patiently showed her how to cut the line, thread on a sinker and do a basic knot to put the hook back on. ‘And that there’s called a blood knot.’
‘Thanks.’ said Caitlyn. ‘I better get going before it gets too hot to cycle out to the jetty. And with that she let herself back out the shop, put the tackle box in her backpack and used her jockey strap to tie her fishing rod onto the rack at the back of her bike, before setting off for Frederick Street.
Caitlyn was fairly fit, so the thirty minute ride to the jetty was not really a problem, although she did not enjoy it when the big cattle trucks lumbered past her on Port Drive, leaving her in clouds of choking red, Kimberley dust.
Once at the jetty, she locked her bike up again, grabbed her new rod and headed out to about half way down the jetty, walking slowly down the side walk and taking note of all the people who apparently had the same idea about fishing off the jetty that she did. She managed to find a spot where no one was particularly close to her, so she set her things down, retrieved the sunscreen from her backpack and liberally applied it to her face, legs and arms, noting that she already had a very slight red tinge to her arms and legs from the bike ride.
Next she grabbed the packet of bait out of her tackle box. It was still pretty much frozen. She read the label. “Squid” it said. She grabbed her new fishing knife and opened the pack. She managed to prise off one piece of squid. She thought it looked way too big for the hook that was on her line. So she cut a small piece off, then picked the hook off where the guy in the tackle fish had hooked it onto one of the rings on her rod. She went to try and put the bait onto the hook but managed to prick her finger with the hook instead. She tried again and got one end of the bait onto the hook, but it hung loosely off the hook. She was about to try and cast the rod out anyway when Sissy and her brother walked past carrying a bucket with three fish in it and a couple of handlines.
‘Morning Misses’ said Sissy.
‘Morning Sissy, Morning Jack’
The kids stopped walking, and looked at the bait hanging off the hook. They burst into a fit of laughter.
‘What’s wrong’ Caitlyn said.
‘Misses,’ said Sissy breathlessly when she finally managed to stop laughing. ‘That bait’s gonna come off as soon as it hits the water. You’ll never catch a fish with that.’
‘What have I done wrong’.
Jack put down his own fishing gear and picked up her hook. He started doubling the bait over on the hook another two times as Caitlyn carefully watched.
Sissy explained ‘You can’t have bits hanging too far off the hook Misses. Even if it doesn’t come off the hook when it hits the water, if it hangs off, the fish will just nibble on the end of the bait and they won’t take the hook.’ Sissy said it as if everyone knew a simple fact like that
‘Ah, got it.’ replied Caitlyn. ‘I think I’ll be right now.’
Jack picked up his stuff again, and they continued on their way. When their giggles had faded and Caitlyn was sure they were no longer throwing glances over their shoulders, she walked over to the rail. She figured that she wouldn’t have to try and cast out, she would just let her bait drop straight down beneath her. She held her rod out over the side and pushed the metal bar on her reel over tentively to allow her line to run free. The hook, bait and sinker started hurtling towards the water ten metres below her. She heard a soft splash as it hit the water. The water was fairly clear, and she could see the bait and sinker for the first few metres before it became blurred beneath the surface and disappeared. Even though there was a heavier sinker on the line, there was a strong current created by the outgoing tide, and the line started rapidly drifting out. As soon as Caitlyn realised this was happening, she flicked the metal bar back over, and her line came to a sudden stop.
Then she played the waiting game. It took about ten minutes of just standing there before she felt a tight tug on her line. She hadn’t been concentrating, and nearly thought the rod was going to go over the edge of the rail into the water. She quickly tried to get her wits about her, and started reeling her line in as fast as she could mange. An gentleman in his mid fifties happened to be walking out towards the end of the jetty and queried whether she had a fish on the line, but Caitlyn was only able to reply that she wasn’t sure. The gentleman stopped to watch as she kept reeling her line in. Suddenly the tension on the line lightened. She realised that her she had nearly wound her line in the full way, and that her sinker and hook were out of the water. The gentleman who had stopped to watch continued on his way, but she could him making a sympathetic ‘tck, tck, tck’ sound as he left.
Caitlyn felt a bit despondent but decided to try again. She cut off another piece of bait and put one on the hook, then started to try and double it back over as she had seen Jack do. After pricking her finger a number of times, she finally managed to do it, but it looked no where near as neat as the one that Jack. She guessed it was something that you got better at with practice. She never really took much notice of when Tara put her bait on a hook, but she knew it seemed like second nature to her Aunt. There was still a small ‘tail’ of bait, but she decided to cut it off rather than risk pricking her finger once again. She put her line back into the water and waited again. This time, it only took a couple of minutes before she felt a tug on her line. She went to reel her line in, but suddenly her line went tight, and she was unable to reel any line it. She tried pulling on the actual fishing line with her hand, but to no avail. The same gentleman came walking back past and again stopped to watch.
‘I must have something on my line.’ Caitlyn said. My line isn’t budging a bit.
‘Um, I don’t think you have a fish, I think your line is snagged.’ he replied.
‘How do you tell the difference?’
‘Well, if you had a fish on the line, the fish would be swimming somewhere, if not towards you, then away from you. Your line is just plain snagged, probably on a rock or something.’
‘So what do I do now?’
‘You could try and pull your line about and hope that it comes free, but chance are it won’t. If I were you, I’d just cut the line and put some new tackle on.’
‘Oh. Yer. Well thanks. I’ll do that.’ Caitlyn got her knife out and cut the line. This was the bit she’d been dreading. She sat down and started digging through her tackle box for a sinker and hook.
‘Excuse me’, interrupted the man again. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, but you look like you’re a bit new at this. Would you like me to put a new sinker and hook on for you?’
Caitlyn debated with herself whether she should try to do it without help, but decided she would accept help while she could.
After the man had rigged up her line, he headed off again. Caitlyn cast her line out again. But this time waited for fifteen minutes without feeling a thing. She finally reeled her line in only to find that she had no line on her hook.
Caitlyn debated whether to put more bait on her line and try again, but decided against it, and thought to herself that maybe she just wasn’t cut out for the sport of fishing. She packed up her gear and headed back to her push bike. She stopped along the way and offered her left over bait to a couple who were fishing just down from where she had been.
She felt that at least she could say she tried it once, and decided that she would add her fishing gear to her garage sale next weekend. With that she got on her bike and started pedalling back home.