The Misfortune Teller by Steven Patrick Wilson
Townsville Train Station
The next day
Katie led Luke to the far end of the platform. She was holding something by her side surreptitiously.
"What's that?" asked Luke, indicating the doll in her hand.
"Watch."
She furtively tossed the doll into the nearby bushes. Soon after the two nearby station porters paused loading the baggage car. "D'you hear that?" said one.
"Yeah, a crying baby," responded the other. They jumped off the platform into the bushes and soon retrieved a baby doll. "Baby Alive," one of them read the label on its back before looking around. "Smart-arse kids!" he spat before returning to loading baggage.
Twenty minutes later Luke and Katie emerged from under a pile of luggage as the train headed north. "That was like awesome!"
"This'll take over six hours. Hope you went to the toilet before."
"Yep," he said, lounging atop a pile of bags, sticking his iPhone earplugs in.
Later that day two Cairns porters opened the baggage car door only to be surprised by two teenagers sprinting past them and jumping off the end of the platform. They peered inside to find Mars Bar wrappers and empty Mother cans. "Smart-arse kids," grizzled one.
An hour later, courtesy of her iPhone Maps App, they were lying in bushes fifty metres from the back of Durant’s Circus spying on the sprawling caravan park that accommodated the odd assortment of circus characters.
"Where do you reckon he is?" asked Luke.
"Dunno. Let's wait until after the show and we'll snoop around."
Just then they saw Mr Sprinkles walking amongst the vans, out of uniform, wearing shorts, thongs and a filthy singlet. The cigarette in his mouth wagged up and down as he spoke. "Hey Vera, we’re open in an hour. Better get your face on."
"Piss off you drunken old fool," replied a wrinkled old crone as she climbed into a caravan adorned with the words The Amazing Allegra, Fortune Teller.
"That's Josh's hot chick?" said Luke.
"Like she must be a hypnotist! ……..Wait! That's it! They've brainwashed him. How else could she convince him to run away?"
“No way!”
“Have a look at her. What do you reckon?”
After a second’s contemplation of the old hag he said, “Yeah, brainwashed.”
Hours later Katie consulted her iPhone, 12:20AM. She shook Luke awake. "C'Mon, let's go." They crept amongst the mostly darkened caravans, not quite sure what to look for. Flickering TV lights and animated conversations issued forth from the occasional van. Suddenly, light shot out from an open door. Katie and Luke scrambled under a nearby van and observed Mysterio, a white apron over his suit, step out of a semi-trailer van carrying a small esky.
"Jimmy, you there?" Gone was the imposing master-of-ceremonies voice, replaced by a drawl right out of an Underbelly episode.
Pyro, dressed in street clothes emerged from the shadows, the whap, whap, whap of his rubber thongs announcing his entrance. "Yes boss."
"Take this to the Airport car park. There'll be a bloke in a red Commodore waiting. Give him this." He handed over the esky. "He'll give you an envelope. Don't open it! Just bring it back to me. Now get going."
“Yes boss,” said Jimmy/Pyro as he disappeared into the darkness. Whap, whap, whap.
Mysterio pulled the door closed behind him and moved off amongst the caravans. As he turned to face the light Katie saw the front of his apron and gripped Luke's wrist.
"Oh my God! Did you see that?" she whispered.
"God yeah."
"He's splattered with blood!"
"D'you reckon...Josh?"
"Don't say it! We've got to like, check inside."
"Are you kidding?"
"Got any better ideas?"
Luke paused, "No."
They crept over to the van door and opened it a little. Katie poked her iPhone through to illuminate the interior. She saw a bloodied white sheet covering a table. When she saw feet protruding from the end she stifled a scream and recoiled from the door knocking Luke over.
"What was it?" demanded Luke.
"A dead body!"
"What? Is it Josh?"
"Dunno. Hope not. The esky. They must be sellin' body parts!"
Lady Gaga's "Mum-mum-mum-ma pokerface!" blared out from Katie's iPhone - Mum it announced. Another light appeared from a nearby caravan door. "Who's there?" said the grizzled voice of Mr Sprinkles.
Luke and Katie dived unseen under a nearby van and emerged running on the other side.
"Let's get out of here and call the cops," whispered Katie.
Another nearby door opened and Elle McBeardson, hair in curlers, glared out at them. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Both kids yelled in fright and sprinted in the opposite direction. More lights came on and half-dressed circus staff stumbled out of their vans. Katie and Luke sprinted down a corridor of vans and were confronted by Thunderball and Rage. They scrambled under another van and as Katie climbed out from the opposite side she heard Luke yell. "I'm stuck." She looked back and saw that his daypack was caught. She desperately tried to free him.
"Aaaahhh, they've got me!" he screamed as two powerful arms dragged him backwards toward the other side.
"Luke!"
"Run!"
Hearing footsteps running toward her she sprinted into the bushland at the rear of the circus, blood beating in her ears, branches grasping and tearing at her. She hid amongst the buttress roots of a giant rainforest tree, gasping for breath. She could hear angry voices behind torch beams piercing the darkness and remained dead still until they gave up. About half an hour later "Pokerface" startled her - Luke.
"Where are you?"
"I'm like, locked in some sort of office. They're callin’ the cops,” he whispered. “Should I tell 'em about the semi-trailer?"
"They won't believe you. Wait - I've got an idea. Sit tight." She hung up.
Mysterio met two young constables at the circus entrance as they pulled upon their patrol car. "What's the problem sir?"
“Caught some young runaway breaking into our caravans.” Mysterio’s melodious tone had returned. “His accomplice, a girl, escaped."
"Where's......" Their heads snapped around at a girl's screaming in the distance. "Heeeeelp! Someone's trying to kill me! Heeeelp." They sprinted off in the direction of the screaming.
Furious, Mysterio turned to Thunderball and in a deep, measured voice said, "Terry, grab Phil and meet me at the semi-trailer, now!"
Katie, standing atop the semi-trailer, saw lights come on everywhere and circus staff appear. She threw herself flat and waited, unseen, until the police arrived. She peered over the edge when they arrived and was about to call out to them when, to her horror, she saw Thunderball punch one in the side of the head and Sasquatch grab the other around the throat until he passed out.
"D'you want me to toss 'em in the van Boss?" asked Sasquatch.
"No, you idiot! The Police'll notice a couple of cops missing in a flash. Right - Clarry, Darryl, Phil, Terry." Mr Sprinkles, Julius Von Adler, Sasquatch and Thunderball gathered around Mysterio. "Take the van out west, to the last place we used. Get rid of the cargo and dump the semi somewhere else. Make sure you torch it."
"What about the cops?" enquired Mr Sprinkles.
"Leave them here. I'd rather get done for assaulting police than murder. Now get going!"
Twenty minutes later a terrified Katie was holding on for dear life atop the speeding semi-trailer wondering what to do next. She heard "Pokerface" over the noise - Luke. "What's happening. Have the cops caught 'em?" he asked.
"They've bashed them up. They're gonna get rid of the bodies in the truck before more cops turn up."
"What? Where are you?"
"On top of the truck. I think we're headed west."
"I'm callin' th...."
"Luke?"
No signal appeared on her iPhone.
"No, no, nooooo!"
An hour later the semi turned off the highway and made its wa
y along a dirt track for another half hour. Katie was covered in bulldust and tree branches constantly flayed her. Eventually the truck stopped and, in the glow of the headlights, she saw the four men walk over to a clearing and commence digging a large hole, all the while swearing and cursing their luck. Thirty minutes later they downed tools and made their way to the rear of the truck. Katie had to do something. She stood up and yelled, "I know what you're doing and I've called the cops!"
The foursome looked up and saw a silhouette against the night sky. A torch beam revealed a ghostly apparition on the truck roof covered in bull dust and torn clothes.
"That's the one that got away," said Sasquatch.
Called the cops eh missy?" growled Mr Sprinkles. "Nice try. Bet there's no reception out here."
The others started laughing. He turned to Von Adler. "OK Australia's most daring trapeze artist.......go get her down."
Two minutes later
"You kids just don't listen, do you?" said Mr Sprinkles as he raised the shovel like a baseball bat. Katie raised her arms and clenched her eyes shut.
"Police! Hands up! Don’t move!" blared a loudspeaker from the night sky. A helicopter searchlight pierced the darkness. Thunderball and the clown dropped their weapons and ran into the bush. Seconds later two police Landcruisers pulled up and constables took off in pursuit.
"Katie!" yelled a voice from one of the vehicles.
"Luke! How'd you find us?"
"iPhone app. We tracked you down when you got reception back."
They briefly embraced before recoiling from each other. An awkward silence followed.
"Um....let's find Josh!"
"Er...yeah!"
They followed police officers into the van and found Josh and two other boys strapped to gurneys, unconscious, with drips in their arms. They tried waking him. “Josh, Josh!”
"They're sedated. Wait until the Paramedics get here," ordered one of the officers.
Later Katie and Luke saw Thunderball, Von Adler and Sasquatch get bundled into the back of a paddy-wagon, the latter two with neck braces. In unison they glared at Katie and Luke. Katie was reminded of the common ending to Scooby Doo, the vanquished, evil grownups declaring, “If it wasn’t for those meddlin’ kids…”
They climbed into the ambulance with an unconscious Josh and were almost back in Cairns when “Pokerface” announced - Josh.
"Who is this?" asked a puzzled Katie into her iPhone. She suddenly went pale and put her hand to her mouth, stifling a scream.
A rasping voice on the iPhone declared, "I'm not done with you kids yet!"
About the author
Steve is a Townsville based writer of fiction in the field of action/adventure. This is his first novel. He is currently a HR Manager and has previously served in the Australian Army for 21 years. He took up fiction writing in 2011 and won a local short story competition followed by a winning entry in the National Year of Reading 2011 Short Story Competition for unpublished writers.
The Return
March 1945. Tom Mueller, a POW in Nazi Germany, finally makes a "home run" after four long years in captivity. His London debrief retells his amazing odyssey of capture, escape and heartbreaking recapture. He astounds everyone when he agrees to lead a covert team back into Germany to carry out a desperate rescue mission. Tom’s return to Nazi Germany in its dying days reveals a hidden agenda.
The Tin of Secrets
Old Arthur is a cleaner at Sydney’s Central Railway Station. One of those invisible people who carries out the thankless jobs that make our lives that little bit easier. You know, keeping public spaces clean, replacing our toilet paper rolls and removing smudges from the restroom ceramic and mirrors. He keeps to himself and no one can remember the last time he had a sickie. In fact no one knows much about Arthur at all and that’s just the way he likes it. But that’s about to change when his past finally catches up with him.
Served Cold
Ali Ahmad had brought his family to Australia to escape the horrors of the Iraq civil war. He’d worked hard to be a good citizen and establish a small business in order to pay his own way in his new homeland. What he didn’t expect was to have his family kidnapped. What the police didn’t expect was a bizarre ransom demand to be played out on national television. And what the television networks didn’t expect were to be pawns in a twisted game of revenge.
Visitors
Geoff Rankin, a returned serviceman, just wants to get away for a quiet weekend up in the tablelands. When he encounters what appear to be visitors from another planet, he deals with them the only way he knows…violently.
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The next day
Katie led Luke to the far end of the platform. She was holding something by her side surreptitiously.
"What's that?" asked Luke, indicating the doll in her hand.
"Watch."
She furtively tossed the doll into the nearby bushes. Soon after the two nearby station porters paused loading the baggage car. "D'you hear that?" said one.
"Yeah, a crying baby," responded the other. They jumped off the platform into the bushes and soon retrieved a baby doll. "Baby Alive," one of them read the label on its back before looking around. "Smart-arse kids!" he spat before returning to loading baggage.
Twenty minutes later Luke and Katie emerged from under a pile of luggage as the train headed north. "That was like awesome!"
"This'll take over six hours. Hope you went to the toilet before."
"Yep," he said, lounging atop a pile of bags, sticking his iPhone earplugs in.
Later that day two Cairns porters opened the baggage car door only to be surprised by two teenagers sprinting past them and jumping off the end of the platform. They peered inside to find Mars Bar wrappers and empty Mother cans. "Smart-arse kids," grizzled one.
An hour later, courtesy of her iPhone Maps App, they were lying in bushes fifty metres from the back of Durant’s Circus spying on the sprawling caravan park that accommodated the odd assortment of circus characters.
"Where do you reckon he is?" asked Luke.
"Dunno. Let's wait until after the show and we'll snoop around."
Just then they saw Mr Sprinkles walking amongst the vans, out of uniform, wearing shorts, thongs and a filthy singlet. The cigarette in his mouth wagged up and down as he spoke. "Hey Vera, we’re open in an hour. Better get your face on."
"Piss off you drunken old fool," replied a wrinkled old crone as she climbed into a caravan adorned with the words The Amazing Allegra, Fortune Teller.
"That's Josh's hot chick?" said Luke.
"Like she must be a hypnotist! ……..Wait! That's it! They've brainwashed him. How else could she convince him to run away?"
“No way!”
“Have a look at her. What do you reckon?”
After a second’s contemplation of the old hag he said, “Yeah, brainwashed.”
Hours later Katie consulted her iPhone, 12:20AM. She shook Luke awake. "C'Mon, let's go." They crept amongst the mostly darkened caravans, not quite sure what to look for. Flickering TV lights and animated conversations issued forth from the occasional van. Suddenly, light shot out from an open door. Katie and Luke scrambled under a nearby van and observed Mysterio, a white apron over his suit, step out of a semi-trailer van carrying a small esky.
"Jimmy, you there?" Gone was the imposing master-of-ceremonies voice, replaced by a drawl right out of an Underbelly episode.
Pyro, dressed in street clothes emerged from the shadows, the whap, whap, whap of his rubber thongs announcing his entrance. "Yes boss."
"Take this to the Airport car park. There'll be a bloke in a red Commodore waiting. Give him this." He handed over the esky. "He'll give you an envelope. Don't open it! Just bring it back to me. Now get going."
“Yes boss,” said Jimmy/Pyro as he disappeared into the darkness. Whap, whap, whap.
Mysterio pulled the door closed behind him and moved off amongst the caravans. As he turned to face the light Katie saw the front of his apron and gripped Luke's wrist.
"Oh my God! Did you see that?" she whispered.
"God yeah."
"He's splattered with blood!"
"D'you reckon...Josh?"
"Don't say it! We've got to like, check inside."
"Are you kidding?"
"Got any better ideas?"
Luke paused, "No."
They crept over to the van door and opened it a little. Katie poked her iPhone through to illuminate the interior. She saw a bloodied white sheet covering a table. When she saw feet protruding from the end she stifled a scream and recoiled from the door knocking Luke over.
"What was it?" demanded Luke.
"A dead body!"
"What? Is it Josh?"
"Dunno. Hope not. The esky. They must be sellin' body parts!"
Lady Gaga's "Mum-mum-mum-ma pokerface!" blared out from Katie's iPhone - Mum it announced. Another light appeared from a nearby caravan door. "Who's there?" said the grizzled voice of Mr Sprinkles.
Luke and Katie dived unseen under a nearby van and emerged running on the other side.
"Let's get out of here and call the cops," whispered Katie.
Another nearby door opened and Elle McBeardson, hair in curlers, glared out at them. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Both kids yelled in fright and sprinted in the opposite direction. More lights came on and half-dressed circus staff stumbled out of their vans. Katie and Luke sprinted down a corridor of vans and were confronted by Thunderball and Rage. They scrambled under another van and as Katie climbed out from the opposite side she heard Luke yell. "I'm stuck." She looked back and saw that his daypack was caught. She desperately tried to free him.
"Aaaahhh, they've got me!" he screamed as two powerful arms dragged him backwards toward the other side.
"Luke!"
"Run!"
Hearing footsteps running toward her she sprinted into the bushland at the rear of the circus, blood beating in her ears, branches grasping and tearing at her. She hid amongst the buttress roots of a giant rainforest tree, gasping for breath. She could hear angry voices behind torch beams piercing the darkness and remained dead still until they gave up. About half an hour later "Pokerface" startled her - Luke.
"Where are you?"
"I'm like, locked in some sort of office. They're callin’ the cops,” he whispered. “Should I tell 'em about the semi-trailer?"
"They won't believe you. Wait - I've got an idea. Sit tight." She hung up.
Mysterio met two young constables at the circus entrance as they pulled upon their patrol car. "What's the problem sir?"
“Caught some young runaway breaking into our caravans.” Mysterio’s melodious tone had returned. “His accomplice, a girl, escaped."
"Where's......" Their heads snapped around at a girl's screaming in the distance. "Heeeeelp! Someone's trying to kill me! Heeeelp." They sprinted off in the direction of the screaming.
Furious, Mysterio turned to Thunderball and in a deep, measured voice said, "Terry, grab Phil and meet me at the semi-trailer, now!"
Katie, standing atop the semi-trailer, saw lights come on everywhere and circus staff appear. She threw herself flat and waited, unseen, until the police arrived. She peered over the edge when they arrived and was about to call out to them when, to her horror, she saw Thunderball punch one in the side of the head and Sasquatch grab the other around the throat until he passed out.
"D'you want me to toss 'em in the van Boss?" asked Sasquatch.
"No, you idiot! The Police'll notice a couple of cops missing in a flash. Right - Clarry, Darryl, Phil, Terry." Mr Sprinkles, Julius Von Adler, Sasquatch and Thunderball gathered around Mysterio. "Take the van out west, to the last place we used. Get rid of the cargo and dump the semi somewhere else. Make sure you torch it."
"What about the cops?" enquired Mr Sprinkles.
"Leave them here. I'd rather get done for assaulting police than murder. Now get going!"
Twenty minutes later a terrified Katie was holding on for dear life atop the speeding semi-trailer wondering what to do next. She heard "Pokerface" over the noise - Luke. "What's happening. Have the cops caught 'em?" he asked.
"They've bashed them up. They're gonna get rid of the bodies in the truck before more cops turn up."
"What? Where are you?"
"On top of the truck. I think we're headed west."
"I'm callin' th...."
"Luke?"
No signal appeared on her iPhone.
"No, no, nooooo!"
An hour later the semi turned off the highway and made its wa
The foursome looked up and saw a silhouette against the night sky. A torch beam revealed a ghostly apparition on the truck roof covered in bull dust and torn clothes.
"That's the one that got away," said Sasquatch.
Called the cops eh missy?" growled Mr Sprinkles. "Nice try. Bet there's no reception out here."
The others started laughing. He turned to Von Adler. "OK Australia's most daring trapeze artist.......go get her down."
Two minutes later
"You kids just don't listen, do you?" said Mr Sprinkles as he raised the shovel like a baseball bat. Katie raised her arms and clenched her eyes shut.
"Police! Hands up! Don’t move!" blared a loudspeaker from the night sky. A helicopter searchlight pierced the darkness. Thunderball and the clown dropped their weapons and ran into the bush. Seconds later two police Landcruisers pulled up and constables took off in pursuit.
"Katie!" yelled a voice from one of the vehicles.
"Luke! How'd you find us?"
"iPhone app. We tracked you down when you got reception back."
They briefly embraced before recoiling from each other. An awkward silence followed.
"Um....let's find Josh!"
"Er...yeah!"
They followed police officers into the van and found Josh and two other boys strapped to gurneys, unconscious, with drips in their arms. They tried waking him. “Josh, Josh!”
"They're sedated. Wait until the Paramedics get here," ordered one of the officers.
Later Katie and Luke saw Thunderball, Von Adler and Sasquatch get bundled into the back of a paddy-wagon, the latter two with neck braces. In unison they glared at Katie and Luke. Katie was reminded of the common ending to Scooby Doo, the vanquished, evil grownups declaring, “If it wasn’t for those meddlin’ kids…”
They climbed into the ambulance with an unconscious Josh and were almost back in Cairns when “Pokerface” announced - Josh.
"Who is this?" asked a puzzled Katie into her iPhone. She suddenly went pale and put her hand to her mouth, stifling a scream.
A rasping voice on the iPhone declared, "I'm not done with you kids yet!"
About the author
Steve is a Townsville based writer of fiction in the field of action/adventure. This is his first novel. He is currently a HR Manager and has previously served in the Australian Army for 21 years. He took up fiction writing in 2011 and won a local short story competition followed by a winning entry in the National Year of Reading 2011 Short Story Competition for unpublished writers.
The Return
March 1945. Tom Mueller, a POW in Nazi Germany, finally makes a "home run" after four long years in captivity. His London debrief retells his amazing odyssey of capture, escape and heartbreaking recapture. He astounds everyone when he agrees to lead a covert team back into Germany to carry out a desperate rescue mission. Tom’s return to Nazi Germany in its dying days reveals a hidden agenda.
The Tin of Secrets
Old Arthur is a cleaner at Sydney’s Central Railway Station. One of those invisible people who carries out the thankless jobs that make our lives that little bit easier. You know, keeping public spaces clean, replacing our toilet paper rolls and removing smudges from the restroom ceramic and mirrors. He keeps to himself and no one can remember the last time he had a sickie. In fact no one knows much about Arthur at all and that’s just the way he likes it. But that’s about to change when his past finally catches up with him.
Served Cold
Ali Ahmad had brought his family to Australia to escape the horrors of the Iraq civil war. He’d worked hard to be a good citizen and establish a small business in order to pay his own way in his new homeland. What he didn’t expect was to have his family kidnapped. What the police didn’t expect was a bizarre ransom demand to be played out on national television. And what the television networks didn’t expect were to be pawns in a twisted game of revenge.
Visitors
Geoff Rankin, a returned serviceman, just wants to get away for a quiet weekend up in the tablelands. When he encounters what appear to be visitors from another planet, he deals with them the only way he knows…violently.