The Long Way Home by Phillip Overton
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Tim and Gail Anderson had a lovely two story home at Manly, right on the harbour. The house was set on a hill with sweeping views from Manly Pier across to Sydney Heads where the harbour spilt out into the Pacific Ocean. The street they lived in was on a gently sloping hill that skirted the edge of the harbour. Some of their neighbour’s homes had even more striking views being higher on the hill, they could also see over the top of Manly and gaze out beyond the peninsular into the Pacific Ocean. Tim had bought the old brick and timber house shortly after he had married Gail. It only needed a little work done on it, but it was also more than he could afford. His parents had helped him with the purchase of the house as at the time, Tim had only recently finished his internship with Landers, Barber and Willis solicitors and his parents were by no means battlers.
It had already been a week since Simon and his mother had arrived. Simon couldn’t help but wonder at how much bigger his Uncle Tim and Aunty Gail’s house was compared to his own house back in Gosford. Maybe it was only because it had an upstairs and a downstairs, but even Justin’s bedroom was twice the size of his. Aunty Gail had set up the spare folding bed in Justin’s room for Simon to sleep in and there was still heaps of room for the two boys to play with the toys together on the floor. Justin’s bedroom was upstairs on the side of the house with a big window that overlooked the next door neighbour’s garden. Their house looked even bigger.
Right now, the two boys were charging down the stairs from Justin’s room to where everyone was waiting by the entrance to the front door. Tim and Gail had promised Rowena they would treat the kids to an afternoon at the Manly Pier. The pier along with being the terminal for the Manly ferry was also a large amusement arcade and the kids had been looking forward to going on the rides all week.
“About time boys,” Lynnie shouted at her brother and Simon as they jumped the last few stairs and landed beside her.
“Lynette be patient, your brother was hurrying as fast as he could.” Her mother tried to calm her down.
“But Mum he always takes forever and I’ve been waiting all morning to go on the rides.” Lynette was now eight years old and didn’t enjoy being held up by her little brother.
“The rides will still wait for you,” her father said. “We’re going to walk there, so why don’t you just try to enjoy the day with your cousin and Aunt Rowena.”
Uncle Tim locked the door behind them as they stepped outside. Simon walked beside his mother while Lynnie and Justin skipped excitedly along beside their parents as the six of them walked the eight or so blocks to the pier. It was a beautiful summer’s day, not a cloud in the sky and already getting quite hot. Justin’s mother was carrying a beach bag with her, stuffed inside were towels in case the children ended up wanting to cool off in the water. The pier was only six or seven blocks from the Anderson’s house and was the same street that Tim walked every day on his way to catching the ferry to and from the city.
They followed the footpath for a short distance until they were walking alongside the harbour. The edge of the path met a concrete retaining wall that dropped away below them onto a strip of sandy beach that continued on past the pier. Reaching it, they stepped out onto its sturdy timber boards and strode out across the small strip of beach with its gigantic wooden pylons driven down hard beneath the sand.
Ahead of them the pier stretched out into the harbour, its wide timber entrance leading them inside a huge white timber and iron building that dominated the Manly foreshore.
“Now kids, don’t run ahead.” Tim warned. “Let’s all just stay together and no-one will get lost.”
Stepping inside the building was like stepping into another world, only this one was floating on top of the harbour a hundred metres from the shore. In front of Simon was the ticket office where the passengers bought their tokens before boarding the ferry. To the right of him the gangways sat quietly along the empty wharf, waiting for the procession of feet that would scurry down them when the next ferry arrived from the city. To the left were a line of kiosks, a newsagent, a florist and takeaway outlets leading away towards the main building. Beyond lay a world of flashing lights, music and load mechanical noises as the dozens of amusement rides filled with locals and summer vacationers plied their trade.
Simon’s eyes were wide open in anticipation of getting behind the wheel of the dodgem cars as he followed his Uncle into the crowd of people who had flocked to the pier on a hot summer’s day.
“What would you boys like to do first?” Aunty Gail asked Simon and Justin.
“Don’t I get to pick too?” Lynnie complained.
“You can pick the next ride Lynette, let Simon pick first shall we since he is our guest.”
“Cool.” Simon said as he glanced around at all the amusement rides that graced the pier. Then spotting something beyond the merry-go-round sitting in the middle of the complex his face lit up in excitement. “I wanna go on the ghost train.”
“Simon,” his mother spoke up immediately. “Don’t you think you should pick something a little less scary?”
“No I’m not scared, please the ghost train would be fun mum.”
“I don’t know if you’re old enough for a ride like that Simon.” Aunty Gail joined in. “It could be a little too scary for you.”
“Please can I?”
“Well I’m not scared.” Lynnie declared.
“But you’re nearly eight Lynette.” Her Dad tried to reason with her.
“I don’t want to go on it Dad.” Justin now spoke up. “It’s too scary.”
“Well I’ll tell you what we can do.” Tim suggested. “That’s if it’s all right with you Rowena, how about we let Lynette take her cousin on the ride.”
“I guess that would be okay.”
Simon’s face lit up.
“C’mon Simon, I’ll go on the ghost train with you.” Lynnie said.
In a few moments, Simon was climbing into the front seat of one of the carriages on the ride next to his older cousin. Ahead of them a teenage couple sat in their carriage, the ride attendant came and closed the safety bar and a moment later they lurched forward towards the painted black doors that led into the haunted house. The doors swung open, they disappeared inside and abruptly the doors closed behind them with a bang. A second later, he could hear them scream from somewhere inside.
A steel clunk made Simon jump in his seat as the ride attendant came and closed the safety bar on their carriage.
“You kids sit tight okay, keep your arms inside the carriage and we’ll see you back here soon.” The attendant had said before the carriage lurched forward.
Simon looked across at his cousin as he gripped the safety bar with all of his might. She was casually waving at her parents. His heart however was beating madly, and as their carriage bumped the painted black doors open and he stared at the darkness that waited for him inside, he had just a split second to think that maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. He wanted desperately to get off, and when the doors banged shut behind him it was only fear itself that kept him paralyzed in his seat and unable to move.
Rowena stood with Gail, Tim and Justin in front of the haunted ghost train ride and watched as Lynette and Simon climbed into one of the carriages.
“Do you think they’ll be fine?” Rowena asked.
“Of course they will.” Tim reassured her. “Just look at Lynette.”
Lynette was waving excitedly from her seat next to Simon, all four of them waved back at her as the ride began and the carriage lurched forward. Lynette continued to give a casual wave as the carriage traveled about five metres across the front of the attraction before disappearing inside.
“They’ll be fine.” Tim added.
Immediately a scream followed, a high pitched squeal immediately recognisable as that of a young boy whose courage had just deserted him. It was followed by another shriek of fright, a louder more terrified scream that gained a few chuckles from passers-by. Another joined this time by a girl
Some curious onlookers who had stopped in front of the ride now moved on, smiling and amused. Others upon hearing the two children scream so loud from inside the haunted ghost train had joined the queue, eager to experience it for themselves. Gail and Rowena both rushed over to meet the two shaken children who had been helped from the ride by the attendant.
“Sweetie are you okay?” Gail fussed over Lynette. “Mummy is so sorry she let you go on that ride.”
“Simon it’s alright, it’s just a silly ride. Nothing was real, it’s all pretend.” Simon just sunk into his mother’s arms, still getting over the tears.
“Tim, you should be ashamed!” Gail chastised him. “I shouldn’t have listened to you.”
“I’m sorry kids.” Tim said as he crouched down to Lynette and Simon’s level. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good ride after all. How about we go and get an ice cream, dry those tears away and find a nicer ride for you all to go on together?”
“Okay.” Simon said. Leaving his mother’s side, he took his uncle’s hand and walked with him over towards the ice cream parlour.
Gail followed behind Tim still consoling Lynette while also holding Justin’s hand. Rowena was left to follow on her own. It was good that her sister and brother-in-law had opened up to Simon in the wake of her divorce, but it was also beginning to rub her the wrong way. They were bordering on treating her with disdain when it came to parenting issues. It was her job to comfort her own son and Tim had just stepped in again. It was becoming so typical of the two of them she thought. If she wasn’t good enough as a parent in their eyes then why didn’t they just come out and say it. To make matters worse, at a time like this when a parent should be the one to make their child feel safe again, Simon had just chosen Tim over her she thought as she watched her son walking hand in hand with his uncle.
The rest of the day went without a hitch. After an ice cream, Simon and Lynnie forgot all about their ride on the ghost train. Along with Justin, the three of them had ridden on the merry-go-round and had later gone on the dodgem cars with the grown-ups. Simon worked the steering wheel, always trying to bump his Uncle Tim’s dodgem car while his Mum took care of the accelerator pedal as he couldn’t reach. Lynette won a soft toy puppy playing one of the arcade games even though her Dad helped her. They had fish and chips down on the beach before spending the afternoon swimming beside the pier, finally returning home in time for dinner.