Kylie & Jack 1: Humble Beginnings

78. Fight or Flight: Jack

Friday 15th Nov 2019

There is an untold beauty of the Blue Mountains; the Three Sisters in Katoomba, the dense eucalyptus green of the scrub that canvas the Great Dividing Range. The natural, geological wall between the inland and Sydney; between the tiny nests of communities and the Pacific Ocean.

There is also an endless danger within that beauty. A danger that is faced and defeated daily, such as the enormity, the vastness of the scrub; the animals that inhabit it and every year without fail, the terrifying potential it has, as an untouched world of its own thanks to green–minded politicians and activist groups, to lay waste to everything around with one whip–like flash of lightning, or one unruly minor with a stolen drip torch; or one mindless traveller flicking a cigarette out of the window on the hottest, windiest day.

Yes, bush fires are a curse to the beauty of their home. It was a deal made with the devil, the price for living in such a beautiful corner of the world ...

Kerryn glanced out of the living room window; a safe distance from Lake Burragorang for sure, but when a fire is left to spread in terrain as impenetrable as the Lake Burragorang National Park, which was an hour's drive away – but at this time of year, safety is not guaranteed.

Dharawal National Park was about fifteen minutes away, the two parks hugging the Nepean and Georges Rivers; hugging the Hume Highway. If things got tight, Jim and Kerryn needed to be able to move in an instant.

Not only Jim and Kerryn; but also Robbie and Tayla, Tommo, Paula, Isabelle and Damien. Jim and Tom were constantly telling Kerryn that everything would be fine, that no matter how bad the fires ever got before, the firies would always manage to keep the blaze within the National Park and away from the residential areas.

Damien was safer in Bathurst, but even he was keeping one eye on the horizon and an ear out listening to ABC News. Tommo was spending more and more time in the shed when he wasn't at work, simply so he was distracted from the constant reel of news, the incessant replaying of Shaun Fitzsimmons' anxious face every few minutes, or from the gasps from Paula, who was on the phone to some cousin of hers, down in Gippsland, Victoria following a series of lightning strikes.

Fran and Donnie were still camping with Tommo and Paula and although their house was still standing back in Beechmont, they were on edge, knowing now that Sydney was next to suffer the wrath of Mother Nature.

Meanwhile, in Wangarra, shrouded in stubborn smoke and an orange–brown haze, Jack paced back and forth out on the patio, occasionally swatting the odd mozzie that landed on his bare arms. Kylie was at the pub organising a booking for Ryan's birthday, as Loz was laid up in bed with nausea.

Jack decided on getting answers and rang first Tommo, then his father, then Chaz. Except when Chaz picked up the phone, it took the fires in Sydney right out of Jack's mind. He was about to say hello to his friend when he heard raised voices.

"... THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!", "STOP YELLING AT ME!", "THE FUCK I WILL! I WALK IN AND FIND YOU WITH FUCKING HENDO!"

Shit! Jack hung up, called Nate and was actually surprised he picked up.

"Mate, what the fuck's happening with Chaz and Hendo?"

"You can hear them all the way down there, can ya? I'm not surprised –"

"– nah mate, I called him just now and all I could hear was Chaz screaming and then I heard him say Hendo –"

"– ahh ... right well ... Jenna and Hendo have been at it behind Chaz's back. He caught 'em this arvo. Wog's over there now tryin' to calm, fuck, either of them down."