The Boys from Binjiwunyawunya by Robert G. Barrett Read Free Book Online

‘Hey?’ he said curiously. ‘You’ve... ah... already set the table for eight.’
    Tjalkalieri smiled and the Aboriginal men had a bit of a chuckle amongst themselves. ‘We knew you were coming about four hours ago. Good thing you didn’t shoot that old black dingo, he’s a mate of ours.’ Tjalkalieri ignored the look on Murray’s face. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Grab a seat.’
    Murray sat down opposite the others and next thing Numidi placed a tray of icy cold beers down on the coffee table. Fourex for Murray and three bottles of Stag Lager for the others.
    â€˜Cheers anyway, fellas,’ said Murray, raising his bottle.
    â€˜Yeah. Cheers Murray. Good to see you again.’
    They all took a healthy pull on their bottles and started talking amicably amongst themselves while the girls fussed around in the kitchen to a Warumpi Band tape playing softly on a large ghetto blaster.
    About a dozen or so beers between them later, the light, fairly breezy conversation began to drift off and there wasa noticeable silence; within a few seconds Murray could feel three pairs of electric-blue eyes studying him closely. Tjalkalieri shifted his gaze to the kitchen and the girls turned the cassette off and disappeared into another room, leaving the food simmering. Murray looked down the neck of his beer bottle, and as the eyes continued to stare at him intently he sucked in a deep breath and stared back at them for a moment before speaking.
    â€˜Well,’ he said, easing back a little further into his chair. ‘These beers are okay, but I suppose it’s about time we got down to business.’
    â€˜Yeah,’ replied Yarrawulla. ‘Why don’t we?’
    â€˜Yes Murray. Tell us why you’ve travelled all this way out here — almost surprising us. And what this little earn is you may have for us.’ Tjalkalieri settled back a little further on the lounge next to Mumbi who still didn’t say anything.
    â€˜I was nearly gonna ring you up before I left,’ chuckled Murray, ‘but I half-pie tipped you’d know I was coming.’ He paused and studied his bottle of beer absently once more. ‘Anyway, I’ll try and get straight to the point. It’s Les’s idea. He rang me about it yesterday morning.’
    â€˜Ahh bloody Les,’ laughed Mumbi. ‘And how’s he going, down in Sydney?’
    â€˜He’s goin’ all right.’
    â€˜That’s good. Give him our regards next time you hear from him.’
    Murray shrugged and smiled. ‘You might be seeing him yourselves before long — with a bit of luck.’
    Murray began to tell the boys what Les had told him over the phone about Percy Kilby and the trouble he was causing Price Galese. He stressed that Kilby was a bit of a no-good egg and getting rid of him would be absolutely no skin off anybody’s nose. He then explained Les’s plan and emphasised that if they were interested they would have to be prepared to leave early Thursday as there was a time factor involved. He didn’t say how much Les was offering them through his boss, wanting to see if they were interested first. When he’d finished the boys were still staring at him but the intense, probing looks had now turned to one of gradually increasing amusement... almost laughter.
    â€˜So,’ said Tjalkalieri, a chuckle rippling through his body. ‘You want us to go down to Sydney and sing this Kilby fella a bit of a song, eh?’
    â€˜Yep, that’s right. Les wants you to go down and singhim to death. Point the old bone at him. You’ve done it plenty of times up here. Do you reckon you could do it in a big city?’
    â€˜Can a duck quack?’ asked Yarrawulla.
    â€˜Fair enough.’
    â€˜I hate to sound mercenary,’ said Tjalkalieri. ‘But we do have to eat. How much is Les prepared to pay us to do this? If we should all