It was 6:30pm on June 12. We’d just had a full day performing four times at the Tennant Creek show in 30 degree heat and we were all looking forward to a big dinner and a long sleep. The sun was just going down and I was in the middle of watching a funny video on YouTube. Sparkie’s snoozing on the end of my bed. Then Freya starts barking. Sparkie wakes up, looking out the door. I figured it was probably one of the many loose dogs wandering past. I headed outside, just to make sure, and there’s this drunken aborigine right in our camp. He was so drunk he could hardly stay on his feet, so he slumped down against the tree about eight feet from the tent, just watching us. I didn’t really have to ask what the plan was. I already knew. Everyone was packing up their rides and the other entertainers had long gone. It was time to move on. I went back into the tent where Jessica was sprawled out on her bed watching Stargate SG-1.
“Jess, we’re leaving,” I said in my best I know something you don’t so forget whatever you’re doing and listen to me voice.
I didn’t have to look at her to know she’d looked up from her movie with a confused look on her face.
“What?” she asked, even though I’m sure she’d heard me the first time.
“We’re leaving. Right now.”
As I talked I exited the now unimportant video and shut down the computer. Sparkie was fully awake now, sensing the sudden urgency.
“Are you kidding me?”
I glanced over at Jessica. She’d had taken her headphones out now and was sitting up.
"I wish I was,” I said, smiling ruefully.
“Whose stupid idea was this?” she asked, but she was already switching off the DVD player and putting away her notebooks.
“Mummy’s,” I told her as I stuffed my jacket into my backpack.
I didn’t want to have to tell her the reason why we were leaving, not with the reason sitting right outside and probably listening to everything we said. But she saw him on the way to the Jumper, and we didn’t have to explain. I took Sparkie out to van and left her on my seat while I packed up my bed. It was intimidating having a drunk guy watching our every move. I was putting my stuff by my seat when I glanced over to the tree and noticed he was gone. You know in the movies when the bad guy isn’t where the hero last saw him, and then he appears behind the hero and attacks him? Yeah. So I quickly looked around, and spotted our “bad guy” standing by the boot like he’s going to hop in or something. Think fast. I patted Sparkie’s shoulder to wake her up and said,
“Hey, look,” which is a command I use to encourage her to bark at something.
It worked, and she barked once. Lassie, tied at the back of van, suddenly realized there was a stranger next to her and she went off. At the front of the van, Freya started barking and inside the van Tess and Sparkie let rip. The aborigine nearly fell over trying to get away. The dogs were going off and he was freaking out. He got out of camp pretty quick and staggered away. We didn’t see him again. At 7:30, we drove out of the showground and headed back towards Queensland. It’d been a record pack down time, and I’d never been more proud of the dogs. They earned their keep in more ways than one that day.
“Jess, we’re leaving,” I said in my best I know something you don’t so forget whatever you’re doing and listen to me voice.
I didn’t have to look at her to know she’d looked up from her movie with a confused look on her face.
“What?” she asked, even though I’m sure she’d heard me the first time.
“We’re leaving. Right now.”
As I talked I exited the now unimportant video and shut down the computer. Sparkie was fully awake now, sensing the sudden urgency.
“Are you kidding me?”
I glanced over at Jessica. She’d had taken her headphones out now and was sitting up.
"I wish I was,” I said, smiling ruefully.
“Whose stupid idea was this?” she asked, but she was already switching off the DVD player and putting away her notebooks.
“Mummy’s,” I told her as I stuffed my jacket into my backpack.
I didn’t want to have to tell her the reason why we were leaving, not with the reason sitting right outside and probably listening to everything we said. But she saw him on the way to the Jumper, and we didn’t have to explain. I took Sparkie out to van and left her on my seat while I packed up my bed. It was intimidating having a drunk guy watching our every move. I was putting my stuff by my seat when I glanced over to the tree and noticed he was gone. You know in the movies when the bad guy isn’t where the hero last saw him, and then he appears behind the hero and attacks him? Yeah. So I quickly looked around, and spotted our “bad guy” standing by the boot like he’s going to hop in or something. Think fast. I patted Sparkie’s shoulder to wake her up and said,
“Hey, look,” which is a command I use to encourage her to bark at something.
It worked, and she barked once. Lassie, tied at the back of van, suddenly realized there was a stranger next to her and she went off. At the front of the van, Freya started barking and inside the van Tess and Sparkie let rip. The aborigine nearly fell over trying to get away. The dogs were going off and he was freaking out. He got out of camp pretty quick and staggered away. We didn’t see him again. At 7:30, we drove out of the showground and headed back towards Queensland. It’d been a record pack down time, and I’d never been more proud of the dogs. They earned their keep in more ways than one that day.