A Town like Alice

Australia because of me?"
    "In a way," she said. "Don't let it put ideas into your head." He grinned. "I'd have done the same if you'd have been an Abo."
    "Well, you're a fine one to talk about me wasting money," he said. "We'd have met all right if you'd have stayed in England."
    She said indignantly, "Well, how was I to know that you'd be turning up in England, and as fit as a flea?"
    They sat drinking their beer for some time. "How did you get here?" he asked. "Where did you come to first?"
    She said, "I knew you used to work at Wollara and I thought they'd know about you there. So I flew from Singapore to Darwin, and went down to Alice on the bus."
    "Oh my word. You went to Alice Springs? Did you go out to Wollara and see Tommy Duveen?"
    She shook her head. "I stayed about a week in Alice, and I got your address at Midhurst from Mr Duveen over the radio, from the hospital. So then I flew up to Willstown-I sent you a wire at Midhurst to say I was coming. But they told me there, of course, that you were in England."
    He stared at her. "Is that dinky-die? You've been to Willstown?"
    She nodded. "I was there three weeks."
    "Three weeks!" He stared at her. "Where did you stay?"
    "With Mrs Connor, in the hotel."
    "But why three weeks? Three hours would have been enough for most people."
    "I had to stay somewhere," she said. "If you go running off to England, people who want to see you have to hang around. You'll probably find the Australian Hotel's full of them when you get back."
    He grinned, "My word, I will. What did you do all the time?"
    "Sat around and talked to Al Burns and Pete Fletcher and Sam Small, and all the rest."
    "You must have created a riot." He paused, thinking deeply about this new aspect of the matter. "Did you go out to Midhurst?"
    She shook her head. "I stayed in Willstown all the time. I met Jim Lennon, though."
    The bell rang downstairs for tea. "We'd better go down, Joe," she said. "They don't like it if you're late."
    "I know." He picked up his glass to drain it, but sat with it in his hand, untouched. At last he said, "What did you think of Willstown, Miss Paget?"
    She smiled. "Look, Joe, forget about Miss Paget. You can call me Mrs Boong or you can call me Jean, but if you go on with Miss Paget I'll go home tomorrow."
    He smiled slightly, "All right, Mrs Boong. What did you think of Willstown?"
    "We'll be late for tea, Joe, if we start on that"
    "Tell me," he said.
    She smiled at him with her eyes. "I thought it was an awful place, Joe," she said quietly. "I can't see how anyone can bear to live there." She laid her hand upon his arm. "I want to talk to you about it, but we must go and have tea now."
    He got up from his chair, and set the glass down. "Too right," he said heavily. "It's a crook kind of a place for a woman."
    They went down to tea and sat at a table together, Joe deep in gloom. When they had ordered, Jean said, "Joe, how long have you got? When have you got to be back at Midhurst?"
    He raised his head and grinned. "When I'm ready to go back," he said. "I been away so long a few days more won't make any difference." He paused. "What about you?"
    "I only came here to see if you were all right, Joe," she said. "I suppose I'll go down to Brisbane and start looking for a boat home next week."
    Their food came, roast beef for Joe, cold ham and salad for Jean. "What have you been doing since you came to Cairns?" he asked presently. "Been out to the Reef?"
    She shook her head. "I went down to Rockhampton once, and I went on one of the White Tours up to the Tableland, and stayed a night in Atherton. I've not been anywhere else."
    "Oh my word," he said. "You can't go home without seeing the Great Barrier Reef." He paused, and then he said, "Would you like to go to Green Island for the weekend?"
    She cocked an eye at him. "What's Green Island like?"
    "It's just a coral island on the reef," he explained. "A little round one, about half a mile across. There's a restaurant on it and little sort of bedroom huts where you can stay, in among the trees. It's a bonza little place if you like bathing. Wear your bathers all the day."
    Jean thought the little bedroom huts among the trees wanted checking up on, but the suggestion certainly had its points. They knew so little about each other; they had so much to learn, so much to talk about. Whatever else might happen if she spent a weekend in her bathing dress with Joe Harman on a coral island, they would certainly come from it knowing more about