Blue's Black Book

The trail of red dust billowed plumes of crimson smoke from behind the old beat-up falcon Ute. Blue was sitting shotgun in the passenger seat, his snout poking out the open window, endorphins invigorated by the wind. His best mate Josie was driving east, toward the desert. It had been a long time since they had taken this trip and Blue was in his happy place. A trip like this usually meant new smells, new places to explore and Josie was calmer, more relaxed, had time to share a pat and just sit with him. They’d sleep out under the stars in the back of the Ute and he’d get to feel like the protector he was born to be.

Blue’s a four-year-old Black and Tan kelpie, he came into Josie’s life when he was eight months old, after being tossed around from home to home, then to the pound and then finally to a dog refuge. He was unruly, loud, obnoxious, and exactly what Josie needed right then. You see, from what Blue could gather Josie had had a bit of a rough time herself, being tossed around in a different way, they were two peas in a pod.

The wide red track seemed to stretch on forever, winding and weaving around dry riverbeds, between limestone breakaways, and snaking through the heart of the Murchison scrub-lands. The land was wild and untamed, the heat radiated through the car, the sun still had a few hours before it would hit the horizon and turn the dazzling blue sky into a radiance of ever-changing colour.

Josie has the music cranking through the stereo, some tunes that Blue is familiar with from home, and as Josie mindlessly sings away, Blue has to join in on every harmonica solo, making Josie laugh and talk to him. The miles whir past with each passing tune, before they know it, they have arrived at the little, overgrown track to the North, slowing and turning down the track, Blue felt a familiarity wash over him, he’d been here a long time ago, when he first had come into Josie’s life. It was a family trip, the last hoorah for her Dad, before the cancer got him.

The Ute meandered down the overgrown track, the shrubs scratching down the sides of the ute. Blue knew that at the end of this track was a permanent pool, cool and refreshing, surrounded by the large old white river gums that nestled the hordes of white cockatoo’s at sunset each evening, a chorus of incessant chatter and humorous squabbles as they settle in for the night. Blue grew more alert, ears pricked, sitting up stretching to see out the windscreen, excited anticipation radiating through every hair. Finally, they turn the last corner and there out front stands the old white gums with outstretched, welcoming arms, ready to embrace the travelling pair into their earthy breast. The ute pulled up and Josie threw it in park, turned the ignition off and turned to Blue, “Well boy, we’re finally here, let’s get outta this car and stretch our legs”. With that she opened the door stepped out and Blue bounded across the driver’s seat and felt the rich hot red dirt under his paws, trotting off to wander around sniffing and peeing on every new smell he came across. Josie started unloading the gear she had packed in the back, the little gas BBQ, Engel fridge, table, chair, bag of stuff and then she unrolled the swag and got the back of the ute sorted for night-time. She grabbed his bowl and filled it with water, which Blue lapped at greedily, slopping the water beads over the red dust, making abstract patterns on the ground.

As the sun lowered in the horizon, sending shadows stretching across the landscape and tinting the view with a glowing warm hue they set out to the pool for a swim. Blue trotted ahead a little way, stopping here and there to sniff at random phantom stories. The pool was full of crystal-clear water, deep and inviting, so clear the rocks littering the bottom of the pool like little dark jewels in a cavern. Blue jumped in and splashed around in the first foot of shallow water before stretching his four athletic legs out and gliding through the water swimming around randomly, chasing dragonflies that hovered above the water line. Josie waded into the water and dunked down exhilarated by the rush of cool water spreading over her hot, aching body. They played around in the water for about half an hour and then headed back to camp. The sky was now a brilliant array of azure colours as the sun nestled into the horizon, bedding down for the night. At the opposite side of the sky the moon came thundering up the horizon, growing by the second, impatient to make his stand in the sky for the night.

Blue and Josie tucked into some cold sausage’s and bread, with a generous serve of tomato sauce for Josie. After dinner Josie boiled the billy on the gas cooker and made herself a hot cup of coffee, the pair sat in companiable silence, letting go of all the wasted brain space of everyday life back home, finding peace and solace in the moment. Every now and then Josie would reach her hand down and stroke Blue’s head, running her soft hands between his ears and ending with a scratch below one ear, in just the right spot. After a time, Josie rose and set off to bed, Blue hot on her heels jumped up on the back and sprawled out on the swag, ready for his girl to jump in beside him. They lay back staring up through the tree limbs at the luminescent sky, a gentle breeze wafted across them like a million little ancient secrets whispering on the night air. Just before Josie fell asleep, she pulled the little black notebook from her top pocket, looked at it for a moment, kissed it tenderly and placed it back into her pocket. Blue found it intriguing that the tattered little black book had never left Josie’s side, ever since her father passed it to her in the back garden, three days before he died. Blue didn’t understand her obsession with it but knew it was special for some reason. Who was he to judge anyway? He felt the same way about a new toy, only he ended up wrecking it with enthusiasm. At least Josie was a lot more sensible with her favourite thing.

The sunbeams weaved through the leaves, causing little orbs of light to dance through the eyelids of the two sleeping beauty’s, causing first Josie to stir, the effect rippling through to Blue. They stretched in unison and got up to set the day in motion. Josie was emitting a weird vibe, like she was in a hurry to go nowhere, this wasn’t normal Josie in the bush. Blue stayed on high alert, checking in with Josie every few minutes. An hour after they got up Josie got a little backpack from the ute and emptied the contents on the swag, she mentally checked off every item as she put them back in, a small pickaxe, a compass, a large bowie knife, a GPS coordinator, and a water bottle. She grabbed her book from her pocket, checked it with the GPS and put Blues High Vis jacket and muzzle on. Josie knew it was essential to muzzle Blue, there risk of him picking up a bait was just too high, and with no cure she wasn’t about to take any chances. She put her mobile in her back pocket and Blue and Josie headed south along the river for about half and hour, then Josie stopped, checked the GPS then trudged across the dry riverbed. The sun was starting to bite through the trees, the air was dead and still, feeling thicker and heavier as they wandered through the diminishing bush, they had been walking now for about two hours, Josie stopping periodically to check the book with the GPS and then she would march on again. The terrain was getting rougher, the rocks more frequent and bigger, with more variety of colour. Blue noticed that there were different smells getting stronger on the air, something humanised, not belonging to the bush surrounding them. As the scent got stronger, they entered a clearing. It resembled a gravesite for old rusting, decaying equipment that would have served its purpose decades ago to find and process the precious gold the old fossickers had travelled here to find. Josie’s adrenalin was coursing through every fibre of her being, Blue didn’t understand why she was so wired. Josie got her precious black book out of her pocket again and checked the GPS carefully, studying the screen, book, and the surrounds, she seemed to amble around mindlessly, making no sense to Blue at all. She stopped, squatted down, and analysed the ground in front of her with fierce intensity, she then got her little pickaxe from the backpack, and realised that she had neglected Blue and hadn’t given him a drink since their last stop, she grabs the water bottle and Blue trotted over to her eagerly, she poured some water into her hand and Blue lapped at the water enthusiastically. There was a sudden deep loud crack that ripped through the air from directly below them, a split second of surprise and then the ground beneath them gave away. Josie and Blue were sent plummeting into the depths of the ground, rotting beams of wood, dirt, rocks and chain all racing them to the landing site below them. Josie hit the ground hard, feet first about 10 feet below the place she had just been standing on, the impact causing both her legs to snap like dry tinder wood, sending a howling guttural scream from terrified lips. Blue landed awkwardly on his side and rolled several times amongst the settling debris before getting up and shaking the dust from his coat, he looked around frantically for his girl, still getting his bearings and piecing together what had just transpired. Josie was laying 10 feet away, groaning and heaving breathes into her shocked lungs. Blue flew over to her, nuzzling and whimpering at her. Josie looked around and came to the unsettling realisation that she was now sitting in the middle of a caved in mine shaft that looked to have no escape, especially for someone who now couldn’t use her shattered legs. She knew she was in a dire situation and had to think fast to survive. The backpack had fallen in with them and was just out of arms reach, “Blue, fetch…fetch the bag…Blue” Josie sobbed in a shaky shocked voice, to her amazement Blue turned around, grabbed the strap of the backpack, and dragged it to her open arms. Josie sobbed again, more with amazement and unconditional love for her best friend. A thought stirred in her that maybe, just maybe, they may have a glimmer of a chance to get out of this seemingly hopeless situation. Josie contorted herself until she could get her mobile out of her back pocket, the phone was damaged, the screen cracked quite badly but it was still on and had plenty of battery, as expected though, there was no service, and she knew they were a long way from her phone being remotely useful. She used the torch feature to get a better idea on what trouble she was facing, shining the beam of light around the darkened areas. Josie realised it was a big room, all the walls reinforced with large wooden planks and the roof as well, looking up toward the sky poking through the rectangular space that she fell through she concluded it was a trap door. There was an old bookcase with dusty, indiscriminate objects on it on the far side of the room, a table and a couple of chairs. There was a pile of old dusty leather satchel bags piled up beside the bookcase, looked to be about half a dozen. She hoped there was anything in them she could use to help her get mobilized and there was also a door, barely ajar, on the other side of the wall. Was this her chance to get out of here?

“Blue, go fetch the bag, get the bag” Josie pointed toward the pile of bags, Blues ears perked up and looked over then looked back at Josie, “Blue, go fetch.”

Blue trotted over to the bookcase and nosed around, “Good boy, fetch” Josie pleaded, Blue grabbed the strap to one of the bags and started pulling it over to Josie, it seemed unrealistically heavy. Blue got the bag to her and Josie tried to pick it up, it was heavy! She undid the buckle on the flap and opened it, the zip was old, but it wasn’t seized so she started to unzip it and gasped. The bag was full of gold nuggets, all different sizes and shapes, but unmistakable. “Blue go fetch,” Blue went and got the next bag and dragged it over, it was the same as the first, this went of for the rest of the bags, the second last one contained an envelope sealed in a zip lock bag, her name was written on the front. She pulled it out and opened the envelope,

Dear Josie,

I started this nest egg for you when I first found out your mother was pregnant, every trip I took prospecting I would stash all I found here, for you, so when it came time for me to pass you would be set up for the rest of your life. You know what I used to always tell you, invest in gold, not property, not the stock market, gold my girl. I put this letter in here when I was first diagnosed and knew my time was limited. I know you and your Mum thought I was a hopeless prospector and just liked to go bush with ol’ Jim for the beer but we both had our reason’s, and this was mine. I want you to know I have and always will be so proud of you. You were the best thing that ever happened to me.

Love you always.

Love Dad xoxox

Tears welled up in Josie’s eyes and she felt a pain deep inside, it almost numbed the pain that racked her body. Her Dad had put all this effort in to set her up and give her financial freedom only to have her end up dying in this pitiful hole. Josie knew there was millions of dollars’ worth of gold sitting right beside her, how ironic.

Josie pulled the little black book out of her top pocket and flicked through all the pages to see if there were any hints in there to get her out of this predicament. It was just full of GPS co-ordinates and weights and random names of indiscriminate places her Dad had travelled over the years. The only page with anything different was the one her Dad had dog eared and written JOSIE on the top of the page. It was where she was now.

Blue ached from the impact of the fall, he kept checking Josie, she was in such pain, he could feel it course through her battered body, Blue knew he had to get help, but he was torn, how could he leave his bestie battered, bruised and scared witless? He started nosing around the room and come to the door that was open enough for him to nuzzle and open further with his nose. It was dark and dank. Blue went through, then turned back and trotted back to Josie. Josie gave him a pat and wrapped her arms around his neck, tears falling onto his dusty coat. She removed the muzzle and then got her black book and tucked it into the utility pocket on his coat. “ok boy, it’s up to you, you need to find help, oh… what am I saying, you can’t understand me. Blue go, be careful, I’ll see you soon.”

Blue turned back to the door and made his way over, just before passing the threshold he looked back at Josie for reassurance that this was the right thing. Josie nodded to him, clicked her fingers, and pointed beyond the door. Blue set off. The path was fairly clear and not too many obstacles for Blue to negotiate but it was dark, and he had to use the side wall as a guide. It wound around for about half and hour on a steady incline. The air became sweeter and the temperature was increasing a little as he trekked through the tunnel, eventually there seemed to be a sliver of light in the darkness ahead, he headed toward the ever-growing beam of light until he burst through the thick dense undergrowth that hid the entrance to the old, abandoned tunnel. Blue trotted over to where he and Josie had fallen through the earth. The water bottle was sitting precariously on the edge of the hole, Blue looked down and saw Josie sitting there, broken, he let a whimper out and Josie looked up through tear and pain strewn eyes, he nudged at the water bottle and it fell through onto the backpack beside Josie. Blue knew she would need this; lucky it was still pretty full and the sipper on the lid hadn’t let any of the precious liquid escape.

Josie looked up into Blue’s eyes, they held each other’s gaze for what seemed an eternity, Josie could feel the unconditional love emanating from those deep, soulful eyes, a wave of peace washed over her. No matter what happened from this moment, she knew Blue would try his best to save her, she only hoped it wouldn’t cost him his life as well. There were so many risks out there for him to face, but then, the beauty of being a dog is living in the moment, not burdened by conscious thoughts and alternate scenario’s swimming blindly through their heads, just the simple need for survival, yet she also knew there was a lot more to Blue then anyone could ever imagine. With a wink of his eye Blue turned and was gone.