I am about to try and describe to you the events of October 5th 1998. As cliche as this may sound, I remember it as if it were yesterday. The weeks had been heating up in my small home town of Hillvale. A tiny town close to the New South Wales border in Queensland Australia. I hated the place. Not really because of the town itself or its population of around eight hundred fairly friendly people. But mainly due to the fact that I had recently turned fifteen and I hated every thing. A true teenager of the nineties.
It was a Monday and it started out like most others that had come before. At around 7am my sister, Maggie, woke me in her usual fashion for breakfast. Maggie was about the one person in the world I didn't hate at that my point in my life. She was ten years older then myself and had been taking care of me since mum and dad had died five years earlier. It really must have been no easy task for a girl of twenty to start raising her ten year old brother. But there was no way in hell she was going to let me go live with my grandparents. Idiots, the both of them and thats not just the fifteen year old talking.
"Matt, your gonna be late for school! Last time buddy, get up!" even when she was frustrated with me I still loved her. I grunted some response and that seemed to satisfy her because I heard her move off into the kitchen and get working on breakfast. I really wish I had told her how much I appreciated her more often. But is was young and took a lot for granted.
Rolling out of bed, I dug through the clothes that carpeted my floor. It was never about finding something clean to wear only something less dirty. I remember in those days my walls where still blanketed in trophies of my youth. I was some what of a nerd and depending on who you ask, I guess I still am. Posters of films like BACK TO THE FUTURE, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES still held pride of place, all of them stollen from the towns weak excuse for a cinema. It was things like my decorative sensibilities that made me less then popular at school.
As I shuffled down the hall and into the shower that Monday morning I do remember thinking about how different all my old friends had become over the past few years. While I myself would wait patiently for my next subscription of Turtles comics to arrive, the Mirage issues not the Archie ones, my old mates would be out trying to lock lips with one of the town tarts.
I had no real problem with girls or even the idea of lip locking. It was more that the local talent left a lot to be desired, a whole lot. I preferred intelligent conversation as opposed to a series of "yeahs" "likes" and "buts". So it was clear to me from the out set that even though my hormones had started knocking I was not going to find what I was looking for in Hillvale. That was until Rose moved to town a week prior.
After Maggie knocked on the bathroom door for the second time, telling me to "Hurry up!" I decided to cut her a break. I dried off and put on my school uniform which consisted of a maroon t-shirt with delightful yellow trim and what ever the hell else I felt like wearing that day.
I walked into the kitchen to find the usual fantastic morning spread. Maggie could cook like no other. She was even better in the kitchen then Mum had been.
"There ya go Matty, hope you like."
"Thanks Mags, looks great." Every morning with out fail she would say the same thing or a variation on it "I hope you like." I often got the feeling that She was constantly second guessing the job she was doing raising me based largely on how well she cooked for me. No matter how fast I ate or how much enthusiasm I showed towards her meals the question would always return at the start of each new day.
She really was wonderful. She reminded me a lot of mum, except a lot prettier. Most the local meat heads would turn when ever she walked down the main street but not once did I ever see her pay it any attention. She worked in the small supermarket in town and made just enough for us to get by. Out of the three lanes at the checkout it was usually hers that had the longest line up. Full of men and even a few of the older boys. I was surprised I was not more popular.
"That was great Sis, really, thank you."
"My pleasure Matty, now get going or you'll be late again and I don't wanna have to talk to that creepy Mr Johnston again."
"In that case I will run Mags, I would hate to put you through that 'car wash' again."
Last week I had been late twice and Mr Johnston, the mustache with a man attached that had some how become principle, had called Maggie in for a 'chat'. He had proceeded to try chat her up, the whole time showering her with spit, such was his manner when he spoke. This coupled with the face fuzz had earned him the nick name The Carwash. Some one really need to tell him that only Saddam Hussein and Tom Selleck could pull off that kind facial hair these days.
I kissed Mag on the check, grabbed my bag and was out the door. Our house was about five kilometres outside of town and surrounded by farm land, sheep mainly and a few cows here and there. I pulled my bike out of the back shed and set off. The air was dry and dusty and the sun was already blistering on the back of my neck before I made it to the end of the drive way. Man I hated that place. The only pleasant thing I remember about those rides to school was the scent of the eucalyptus in the still air.
After about a kilometre the back of my t-shirt was already drenched in sweat. Fusing my shirt to my backpack. I remember I had forgotten to put on any deodorant before I left. I was a skinny kid and didn't sweet all that much but in that kind heat any one would have been loosing kilos. If I didn't address the issue then and there I was not going to be pleasant to sit next to for the rest of the day. I didn't think a smelly Matt was going to impress Rose all that much either.
Being monday I had a double lesson of english straight up. Over the weekend I had decided it would be today that I would casually take the seat next to Rose and strike up and nice little conversation. All the other girls at school where simpering fools but Rose was different, don't ask me how I knew that with out ever having spoken to her, but I just did. It also help that she was about the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Her red hair and big blue eyes had been enough to help me fail last weeks english test.
Yes, it was today that I intended to find out some more about this girl. And find out more I did, a lot sooner then first period to as it turned out. I had just come to the corner of the Kreen's farm, still a good three kilometres out of town, when I noticed Rose walking on the side of the road, bag over her shoulder, her red hair shining in the sun. To late I realised I was staring and not watching where I was going. Much to late to avoid the huge rock laying on the side of the road which I promptly hit and flew right over my bikes handle bars, landing half on the Kreen's fence half in the dirt.
It was incredibly smooth for a first impression. Rose came running over and proceed to help me untangle myself from the barbed wire. Amazingly I had only one cut although it did run the entire length of my forearm. With out a word. Rose pulled a green scarf, made of a soft thin material, from her school bag and started wrapping it around my arm.
"Ow."
"Sorry, just hold still." she said working carefully.
"What on earth do you have a scarf in your bag for? It's a hundred degrees out here."
"Mum packs my bag, old habits I guess. We're from Wellington." It was the first time I had heard her speak and I noticed her mild accent.
"New Zealand?"
"That's where they tend to keep Wellington."
I laughed, "Yeah I know, but why did you move here?"
"It's a long story." Something about the way she said it told me not to ask to hear it. I looked at my arm, it was wrapped firmly in her scarf, blood still seemed to be coming through the material but it was slowing. The scarf smelt amazing, just like her.
"Thanks Rose."
"No worries, Matt isn't it?"
"Yeah"
"How did you manage that any way? That rocks huge." There was a look in her blue eyes that told me she knew exactly how I had done it.
"Just lost concentration for a sec." I said as she helped me to my feet. "Thanks for not laughing." At that she started. Her laughter did nothing to cure me of my growing fondness for her.
"Not a problem, it was rather impressive." She smiled. I walked over to my bike and picked it up.
"Mind if I walk with you the rest of the way?"
"This is the only road to school right?" Smiling again.
"Yeah." I laughed.
"Then be my guest."
She chatted with me, keeping to the pleasantries, obviously aware I was more then a little nervous. We had barely gone more then five hundred metres when Rose suddenly stopped in her tracks. For a second I though I had said something wrong. Then I realised she wasn't looking at me. I followed her gaze. She was staring out into the Kreen's Field. When I saw what had gotten her attention I dropped my bike.
Out in the field, maybe two hundred metres from the road, birds of every kind were circling. Crows, magpies, and many smaller unrecognisable birds, the air was thick with them. They looked more like a swarm of bees then any thing else. You could not see through the cloud they created the sky was that thick with them. Directly above them there was another cloud higher up in the air. Roses eyes were obviously better then mine.
"They are eagles and other birds of prey." Her voice seemed far off.
"What the hell are they doing? I have never seen any thing like it." I turned to her in time to see her jaw drop. She said nothing, just pointed. I trace the line of her finger out into the foot high light brown grass, no breeze stirred it. Then I saw. Underneath the living cloud the grass had been flattened. But even from where we stood it was obvious it had not been done with a machine. It looked to be a perfect circle, the grass bent over in a vast swirl. It looked very much like a crop circle.
To be continued...
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