SOMEDAY SOON by David Crookes Read Free Book Online Page B

usually familiar voice
sounded different. Faith wasn’t quite sure if it was him. She made
no move to open the door or lower the gun.
    There was another rap on the door. ‘Please,
Faith. Let me in.’
    Still unsure if it was Koko outside, Faith
was about to go and wake Joe when her brother appeared in the
kitchen beside her.
    ‘Someone’s outside,’ Faith whispered. ‘He
says he’s Koko.’
    Joe took the pistol from Faith’s hands and
went to the door.
    ‘Koko?’
    ‘Yes, Joe, it’s me.’
    Joe quickly unbolted the door and opened it.
Koko stepped in from the night.
    ‘Joe…’ Koko’s voice was shaking. ‘They’ve
killed Aki.’
    ‘What are you saying, Koko? What do you
mean?’
    ‘It’s true, they’ve killed my mother. I found
her body when I went home from the boat. They…’ Emotion choked off
Koko’s voice.
    Faith put a match to a new candle. Koko’s
face glistened with sweat. His shirt and shorts were caked with
dirt. There were nicks and cuts on his hands and knees. His eyes
were wide with fear. Joe steered him to a chair at the table; then
he and Faith listened in horror and dismay as, struggling to hold
back tears, he told them of the terrible circumstances in which he
had found Aki.
    ‘And I was so afraid,’ Koko said after
he had told them the worst. ‘I knew there would be people who would
have seen Faraway sail back
into the harbor last night—people who hate my mother and me only
because we’re Japanese. I was afraid they would come for me before
I had a chance to bury her properly. I had to dig and scrape with
my bare hands. One day, if they don’t kill me first, I will go back
and bury her properly.’ Koko buried his face in his hands. ‘I’m
sorry Joe. But I had to come here. There’s nowhere else I can
hide.’
    ‘You did the right thing, Koko. And no one is
going to kill you.’ Joe tried to sound reassuring. He glanced at
Faith and from the look on her face he knew he hadn’t.
    ‘Sergeant Maxwell won’t let that happen,
Koko,’ Faith said quickly.
    Koko lifted his head from his hands. ‘How can
he stop it? After what the Japanese have done to Darwin, I wouldn’t
even be safe in jail.’
    ‘The jail’s empty.’ Faith said. ‘All the
prisoners have been set free. Sergeant Maxwell told me he’d have to
hand you over to the Army for your own protection.’
    Joe shook his head. ‘From what I’ve seen of
the provosts here today and after what’s happened to Aki, I don’t
think Koko would be safe anywhere in Darwin, not even here in this
house.’
    No one spoke for some time. Joe stared
thoughtfully into the kitchen table pondering the situation.
Eventually he looked up and said:
    ‘ Look, Koko, I’ve got an idea. I don’t
know if it will work. I’ll need more time to think about it. But
for now, nip over to the boat while it’s still dark and lay low.
I’ll see you down there first thing in the morning.’
    *
    In pale moonlight Koko ran all the way
to Faraway, keeping a sharp
lookout for anyone along the way. Intending to swim out to the
ketch, he waded knee-deep into the water before he saw two telltale
beads gleaming in moonlight at the edge of the mangroves. Koko knew
the eyes of the submerged crocodile would have been on him since
before he entered the water and that the reptile was patiently
waiting for the best moment to strike.
    Knowing a hasty scramble back to the shore
would only draw a swift attack, Koko began retreating very slowly.
But the primal instincts which had allowed crocodiles to survive
since prehistoric times detected Koko’s defensive movement
immediately and the beast attacked. It swam through the water at
incredible speed, then noisily splashed and padded it’s way up onto
the shore. Well aware of the saltwater crocodile’s speed on land as
well as in the water, Koko ran for his life. It was only when he
reached the railway line that he dared to look back, and with his
heart bursting in his chest he was relieved to find the