On my half day off, Orla and Darryl offer me the use of the pub car; a beat-up Subaru abandoned by a previous tourist for $500 and a carton of beer.

‘I wouldn't take the old girl interstate, but she'll get you where you wanna go around here,' says Darryl, tapping the bonnet. ‘Just make sure you fuel up before you bring her back. Kimi here doesn't drive, so you're welcome to her – you know how to drive a manual?' He seems pleased when I tell him I do and he throws the keys my way. ‘You'll be

fine then,' he says. ‘Just watch out for trucks.'

I smile at Kimi, the Japanese backpacker, another seasonal worker with me at the pub. She's shy and doesn't say much, mostly keeping to herself. I ask her if she wants to come with me but she just shakes her head. I drive out of town to the cemetery and park in the shade. There aren't too many local attractions close by, but I relish the freedom of getting away from the pub for a bit. It's already hot.

Poking around the older headstones, I come across three tiny graves, framed individually by intricately designed wrought iron. They are all from the same family, and I stand for a bit, looking at the markers, trying to work out the dates. I wonder if there were any more babies, or, if like mine, their parents just gave up, unable to bear the grief.

It is a hard thing, being the only child. Harder still when a parent dies and you are all the other has left. She's all I have left, too.

The flies are thick, and the glare of the sun reflects harshly off the white headstones, making me squint. I follow the rows of graves until one of the oldest markers, a tall rough-hewn cross set on a triple plinth, catches my attention. Unlike the other graves, it overlooks the glittering lake, and beyond that, the ancient Aboriginal burial ground that sits on the far side. There is something disconcerting about the deliberate placement of the stone, and the feeling follows me back to town.

 

 

Excerpt from ‘Wreckage' by Narrelle de Boer in Follow the Salt (2025, Night Parrot Press) https://www.nightparrotpress.com/follow-the-salt/ 

 

Author Bio:

 

Narrelle de Boer is a researcher and educator at Edith Cowan University where she inflicts her passion for the Gothic on her students at every opportunity. Her nonfiction essays can be found in Limina and English in Australia. ‘Wreckage' is her first published work of fiction.