Lost Girls (24 page)

He remembered
giving her the card with his mobile, this Post Box address and with
the name Mark Butler on it. So she had come to find Mark Butler at
the only place she knew.

He had known
all along she was resourceful. Somehow he was not surprised she had
tracked him down even if she had crossed the country to do it. He
looked her over. She had cleaned herself up, cut her hair and was
now wearing a nice dress and sandals; she actually looked good,
easy on the eye. He felt a wave of affection for this girl; she had
started off hard with a tough life so much like what he had lived
as a child. So if she had come looking for his help he would help
her gladly.

He sat down on
the step next to her. “Well, fancy finding you here, not by chance
on the other side of the country, I assume.”

She sat up
straight and smiled at him, an almost dazzling smile. Then she
said. “I wondered whether you would remember me, or if you did
whether you would even speak to me. Part of me thought it was a bad
idea. But then you seemed to like me and be kind. I thought,
Sometimes you just have to go for the things you want.

“So I tried to
ring a couple times and you did not answer. I thought then my best
bet was to come here and wait until you showed. I have only been
here for three days so far. So, all in all, that is pretty good.
Plus, as a city girl, I wanted to see this place called “The
Outback” that you kept telling me stories about. It took four days
of hitching from Sydney but here I am and here you are.”

Mark stood up
and reached out his hand for her. She took his hand and he pulled
her up. “First things first, I don’t know if you still have that
great appetite from last time I saw you. But I am famished. I
decided to call here before I went up town to buy breakfast. That
way I could sit and read my mail over a cup of coffee. So I am
hungry for a big plate of bacon and eggs, what about you? After we
eat you can tell me your news.”

Josie nodded.
“That sounds real good Mister.”

Mark looked at
her and smiled again. This girl brought up a kindness in him.
“Josie, my name is Mark, please call me Mark, that is what my
friends call me, or sometimes MB or Mark B, but none call me
Mister.”

“OK, I will try
and remember to call you Mark.”

Over breakfast
Mark told her his news. He had spent three weeks working in central
Queensland fixing up broken houses in an aboriginal community, then
a week at a mine in Tennant Creek. He had arrived the night before
last. Then he looked at Josie, “Your turn now.”

She said, “When
you told me that story of how you made good it got me to thinking.
I realised that I don’t need to run and hide from my Mum anymore.
Sure she made me do some real bad stuff, but now I can look after
myself.

“So I moved
back with her, except I don’t do the men things for her anymore.
But, at least I can take some of her social security money each
week, buy food and cook it for us both, and there still is some
money for her grog and other things, no point me trying to stop
that.

“So I started
to look for some courses I could do, like you said, TAFE courses
and get a proper job, where I have money for myself without being
on the game. That way I don’t have to do the sex stuff with men
except those I like. I even used some of the money you gave me to
buy new clothes.

“Then I found a
fashion course that I want to do, like in TAFE but in a private
college. It starts in a bit over a month from now. Only trouble is
it costs ten thousand dollars and I don’t have ten thousand
dollars. Sure I could make it on the game but I don’t want to do
that anymore either.

“So that is
when I remembered about your promise to help me, just to lend me
the money until I can pay it back from a real job. So I tried to
ring you. Maybe I should have sent a text or left a message, but it
was from my mother’s phone and I didn’t want her knowing or her
getting her claws into you, she would try if she thought you had
money. Her phone almost never has credit, but I bought twenty
dollars and for two days she did not notice as it had been left in
the drawer. Then on the third day she found it and used up the rest
of the credit so I could not ring again.

“So I thought
that, rather than keep trying to ring you, it was better if I came
and found you at the place where your card said. I did not know it
was so far and a few times I felt a right dork for coming. But once
I started I could not bear to go back without trying. So here I
am.”

Mark laid his
hand on her arm. “Of course you must have the money for your
course, I am happy to give it to you to keep, but if you prefer it
to be a loan that is fine too. I am glad you have gone back home
though I think you might be better off if you rent a place of your
own. It might be hard to study if you are staying with your Mum and
she gets drunk. So how about I organise to rent a small flat for
you, somewhere not too far from where your Mum lives? You can stay
there until after you have finished your course and can decide what
you want to do from there.”

Josie nodded,
“That would be real kind, Mister, Mark”

With breakfast
finished Mark told her he had to do a bit of business in the town.
He asked where she was staying.

Josie looked a
bit shamefaced. “Well I used up my money getting here, so the last
couple nights I just found a place down on the river. There were
some abos camping there. They shared their food with me and let me
sleep near the fire. They even gave me an old blanket to cover me
so I could take my dress off, cause I only have the one good dress
and did not want to get it dirty before you met me.

Mark found
himself amazed at the pluck of this girl, to travel across the
country with almost nothing; it was foolhardy, but admirable. He
looked at her; she had an awkward shy smile as if waiting to see
what he said. He patted her arm again. “Josie, you did great. I am
so proud of you.”

She beamed with
pleasure, realising she had done alright.

Mark said, “OK
now I need to take you shopping. There is a spare bedroom in my
flat. So you can stay there for the next couple nights while I am
in town. And we must buy you some more clothes. I don’t know much
about women’s clothes but there are quite a few shops in the main
street so I am sure we can find somewhere to help.”

By lunchtime
she had a new wardrobe, and he brought her back to the flat,
showing her to her room and also where other things were.

Then he said,
“I have to go out for a few hours but I will be back before
dark.”

He gave her a
key and told her directions to the main street where the shops
were. Then he gave her $100 and told her to spend it on anything
she needed as there was not much in the flat. He suggested she make
herself at home, she could even think about something for dinner if
she wanted, though he was happy to eat out.

As he went to
leave he called back. “Josie, don’t run away on me now. I am
looking forward to our dinner and you telling me more of your
plans.”

She smiled and
waved and even blew him a playful kiss.

As Mark drove
away, he had to head down to Mataranka for the afternoon, he found
himself wondering about the way this girl had just breezed into his
life. She was an enigma, both shy and confident. There was a hard
edge to her which he had yet to plumb but there was also a
kindness, particularly for someone who had grown up on the wrong
side of the street. He really wanted to help her make a new and
good life, it was as if he was acting like the uncle she had never
really known and giving her a leg up. She was also much prettier
than he had first realised, not quite beautiful, but with a lovely
smile which lit up her face. He realised he actually liked having
her around. Never before had he allowed anyone into his place and
yet he had given her the keys with no restrictions and without a
second thought.

It was strange
to trust someone he did not really know, but then in a way he felt
he had known her all his life, like a kid sister who had come up
the hard way, just like him.

The next two
days passed in domestic harmony. Josie cooked meals and went out
around the town during the day and came back with both food and
other little treasures with which she decorated the flat, some
flowers, a painting from someone in the street who was trying to
support themself, some brightly coloured stones which she put in a
bowl in the middle of the table.

He found he
liked having her around, she was good company and easy to talk to
now that she had relaxed in his company. Now that she had nice
clothes and made herself up, she was also seriously sexy, she knew
she was aware of that part of herself and was enjoying him becoming
aware of it too. He tried just to think of her as his kid sister,
but it was getting hard.

On the third
night, he fell asleep in his chair after dinner, tired after a long
day out. She woke him up after a while and took his hand and led
him into his bedroom. She climbed in beside him, taking off her
clothes as she did, and then unbuttoning his shirt and undressing
him too. In that way they become lovers, and it was surprisingly
good. She was not the soul-mate that Belle had been, but joining
his body to hers felt good and she was experienced in many ways to
pleasure a man.

He also
marvelled at her creative flair. She had taken to drawing pictures
and she had a real gift for it, mostly of beautiful ladies with
beautiful clothes. She bought fashion magazines and improved on the
pictures she saw there. She had also started to make little things
out of pieces of fabric, mixing colours and shapes into exquisite
little objects, some clothing like, some decorative. He gained a
strong impression that this girl could go far, she had such an
obvious flair for colour, design and creating beauty from whatever
was to hand.

So he stayed
for an extra two days in town enjoying being with her. It was in
his mind to give her the money she needed and send her on her way
to get on with her life in the city. He felt she was a city girl at
heart and needed to return to where she belonged. On the fifth day
he brought her into the bank, set up an account in her name and
deposited fifteen thousand dollars in it, along with an instruction
to transfer five hundred dollars a week, for a further year, from
his funds into her account. He figured that would give her enough
to allow her to live comfortably for the year and it was better to
give her the money in a steady stream lest her mother somehow got
hold of it, if it was in a lump sum.

As they walked
outside the bank into the hot Katherine midday sun, she thanked him
with tears in her eyes, saying, “You are the kindest man I have
ever met. I really want to stay on here in Katherine with you, not
to go back to Sydney, don’t you like me staying with you.”

Mark put his
arm around her shoulder; he felt great affection for this waif of a
girl. “Josie, I can’t pretend I don’t like having you around and
particularly sharing my nights with you. You are really something,
and with so much ability that needs to be given the chance to grow.
You are like the kid sister I never had, and I so much want to see
you get on with your life, to see you succeed and still stay the
best of friends.

“But I am a boy
from the bush and you are a city girl. There is nothing for a girl
with all your ability out here. I really think you should grasp the
opportunity to make a new life in the city, go to fashion college,
get a qualification, then get a job that pays good money and get on
with living.

“I will look
forward to coming to see you every time I get the chance to visit
the city. In time you will meet a man who is much better for you
than I could ever be, get married, have children and live in a nice
house. You can have all this if you set your mind to it and work
hard.”

As he spoke
Mark could see a hurt look come into Josie’s eyes, a wild animal
look, as if that trusted hand that fed it had now rejected her.

She replied,
“Could I not just stay on here for a while, I know you need to go
bush and do work and I would love to come out with you and see
these outback places, maybe even help you. The rest of the time I
would be happy just to stay here, make your house nice for you,
cook you nice food, and give you pleasure in the nights.”

Mark glimpsed
this pain in her face; she was getting in too deep, getting
attached to him. He liked her and wanted good things for her. But
he was not ready to share his life with her. She was too like him,
a wild animal, used to treating life as an adversary and dangerous
if she did not get what she wanted. He knew that her idea of living
here with him would not work. In a month, or two, or three, it
would become boring. She needed to take the chance he offered and
make good.

He said,
“Josie, it just would not work, you staying on here. I am almost
never at home; these last five days are the longest I have spent in
this place in more than a year. I would come and see you more in
Sydney than if you stayed here, and you would be learning there,
using all your creative flair to make a life that you like and find
interesting.”

As he spoke
this time it was as if shutters came down over her eyes, she had
offered herself to him on any terms he would take her and now she
understood he did not really want her at all. She pulled herself
together, trying to cover the hurt, stood straight and smiled
brightly. “Well at least you must to take me bush for a few days
before I leave. Having come all this way I still want to see the
outback. I will not get in the way if you let me come along for a
few days.

Mark thought,
what the hell, she was good company and he liked being with her. He
was due out to the southern VRD, doing work on Wave Hill and
Kalkaringi for four days before he headed up the Duncan Highway
through Rosewood Station and on to Kununurra for two days before he
came back to Katherine for a night before heading down to the
Gulf.