Tough Times - 5. Tough Chapter 5

“Please, allow me to offer a cabin for Devlin to stay in overnight, he will be very well looked after, and once locked up, the yacht is very secure,” Marc offered. I shook my head no, and still tried to concentrate on my breathing, and Marissa stood and turned to Marc, “Sir, on my medical advice, I decline that offer on Devlin’s behalf, he needs to be in familiar surroundings, so I suggest that we head back to the catamaran,” Marissa said to Marc, and I nodded my head in agreement.

Ten minutes later, we were back on the catamaran, where I headed to my cabin to rest, and I was soon fast asleep. When I woke up some time later, it was very dark and quiet, as I listened to any unusual noises, apart from the sounds of the water lapping against the hull of the yacht. “He is asleep, I checked in on him five minutes ago,” I heard the familiar voice of Brady say, as I sat up and walked into my bathroom, and after relieving myself, I washed my hands and face, before pressing the flush on the toilet.

“Wait… I just heard the toilet flush, he must be awake, I will go and check on him and get back to you,” I heard Brady say and moments later there was a soft knock on my cabin door. “Come in Brady,” I called out. “Hey mate, how are you feeling?” Brady asked me, with a concerned look on his face.

“I’m fine, no need to fuss, it was just a panic attack, nothing critical wrong with me. I feel much better after the snooze, I will be out in a while,” I responded sounding a little annoyed that I was getting fussed over, which was making me very uncomfortable, and I was not sure how I really felt about all of this unwanted attention.

I took some time just sitting in my cabin thinking about everything that has happened since the attack at the caravan park, and I soon realised and accepted that as much as I enjoyed the company of my good friends and the outstanding accommodation, that it was not really my kind of life, and I have decided that I will soon be on my way out on the roads, looking to start a new life somewhere.

I found Brady sitting in the saloon, drinking a cup of coffee. “How many of those have you had today?” I asked, as I headed to the servery to make myself a cup of tea. “Too many, my friend, can I get you a snack or something?” Brady asked me. I finished making my cuppa and sitting down before answering.

“I am fine, will you please stop fussing,” I eventually said, and I saw Brady frown before nodding ok, and we drank in silence. “I am going to take a few days to go off camping somewhere close by, and I will be leaving in the morning,” I announced to Brady.

“Are you sure that it is a good idea doing that with your panic attacks? Brady asked me with concern, “Like I said, I will be fine, just stop…”, “Yes, I know stop fussing,” Brady said ending my sentence, and I gave him a half smile and a nod of the head.

With the maintenance work that I had been doing on my car lately, I knew that my car was ready for a trip, and my swag, and basic camping gear are already stored away in the boot of the car, so all I needed was a bag of clothes and my boots and hat and I was ready to go.

After attempting to get back to sleep, I gave up some time in the early hours, and so I packed my bag with a week’s worth of clothes, leaving my mobile phone turned off and the battery removed, and taking just my I-Pad, I very quietly left the yacht – Anders Way, and headed for my car, which was parked in the visitors parking area of the yacht club, and as quietly as possible I drove off, heading north along the coastal road.

Nearly four hours later, as the first signs of daybreak started to appear in the East, I slowed the car down, as I approached the road junction of the Brand Highway and the Midlands road, just East of Dongara, and I stopped to look at the road signs.

To the right, Mingenew and Three Springs, and to the left, Dongara and Geraldton. I chose to turn right, having decided that I didn’t need to go near any big towns at all, having made a large withdrawal of cash from two ATM’s in Fremantle when I left last night.

I have enough cash on me to last me for some time, and since I had refuelled the car in Jurien Bay, and having paid cash, there was no way that my movements could be traced. Two and a half hours later, I arrived in the town of Mingenew, and I stopped at the roadhouse to get something to eat. I also bought some additional bottles of water, and some extra snacks to eat on my journey to goodness knows where I was heading.

Once I was full of sustenance, I decided to go northwards towards the town of Mullewa, which is only an hour’s drive away on a minor road, but it would put me onto the main road from Geraldton to Mount Magnet, as I had decided to head further inland.

When I had just turned onto the main highway heading east and just two kilometres east of the town of Mullewa, and I saw the railway crossing ahead of me, although there were no flashing lights to indicate that there were no approaching trains, I still took my foot off the accelerator.

Looking to my right, then to my left, just out of habit, and was shocked to see a fast-approaching train from the west, I looked at the warning lights which still where not working, as I turned the steering wheel sharply to the right to avoid colliding with the train, going up onto a steep embankment, as the train blasted its horn and continued on, while I suddenly felt my car starting to tip over, and it rolled over twice, before coming to a stop on its side.

Although dazed, I was not hurt, as I struggled to undo my seatbelt, and kicking the already damaged windscreen outwards, I managed to climb out of the car, and I sat down. It was then that I heard the silence, no sound of a train at all. I must have been dreaming, or was I knocked unconscious? I was not at all sure what really happened.

After a few minutes of thinking, I climbed back into the car, and retrieved my canvas luggage bag, with all of my clothes, mobile phone, which now has a cracked screen, and also my I-pad, which was not damaged. Also hidden in the bag, was also my large stash of cash, boots, sandshoes, and wallet.

The food and water that I had bought earlier, was now scattered all over the car, and was not worth retrieving, so I reached in and pulled the lever to open up the boot, so that I could retrieve, my swag, that contains a pillow and sleeping bag, and the basic camping gear was also scattered everywhere, and I decided to leave it all there.

The car was hidden from the road by a number of large shrubs, that I had managed to avoid when driving up the embankment, so the only way to see the car was from up on the embankment, as I struggled up it to avoid the prickly shrubs, and onto the side of the road, before starting to walk towards town, which was a good two kilometres away.

When I arrived in town about half an hour later, there was a large hotel on the left, but I decided to have a look at the other options for accommodation, and when I came across a large motel a few hundred metres around the corner, I liked the look of the place and headed inside, where I booked and paid for three nights’ accommodation in a double room.

After a shower, I lay down to have a short rest, but when I woke up, I was surprised to see that it was already late afternoon, and as I moved, I found that I was feeling very sore and in pain if I moved a little bit, which had me very worried, that I may have been a lot more injured than I thought, as I started to get dizzy, when I tried to sit up properly, before losing balance, and falling to the floor with a loud thump and everything went black.

When I woke up again, I was lying in a bed, and looking around I could see that I was in hospital, and that it was now morning. “Good morning, is it Mr Alpike? I am Dr Andrew Parks, the local GP and senior doctor at this hospital,” a man said from the doorway.

“I am not sure! How did I get here?” I asked, as I tried to remember what had happened to me. “Well, it looks like that you have been in a brawl or maybe a vehicle accident, but there have been no reports of any accidents in the area,” the Doctor responded. “I am not sure, I think I was in bed and woke up feeling very sore, and when I tried to sit up, I got dizzy and fell to the ground, that is all that I remember,” I replied.

“Ok, well just rest up for now, and we will see how you feel in a day or two after some rest. We did some Xray’s on you and there is no broken bone, just a lot of severe bruising over most of your body. I will come and check on you again, so just rest for now,” the Doctor said before leaving.

After a two day stay in hospital, with most of my memory returned, I did not reveal that I had been in a vehicle roll over, that part of my memory recall I kept to myself, as I returned to the motel that I had booked into a few days earlier, and I decided to rest and watch some television, while checking my I-pad for ideas on what to do now, especially since I no longer own an operational vehicle.

At lunch time, I went for a walk to see what options I have to eat, and realised that the hotel down the road was probably the best option, so I showered and changed into reasonable nice casual clothes, before walking towards the Railway Hotel, just 400 metres down the road.

When I arrived, I was a little surprised to see that the carpark was nearly full, and just before I headed for the main door, I spotted a grey coloured Jeep Wrangler that has a ‘For Sale’ sign on it, and that was the kind of vehicle I was looking for to get me out and about.

When I stepped inside the main bar, it was noisy with a live band playing in one corner, and a heck of a lot of patrons, as I spotted the door to the restaurant and I headed in that direction, but it was just as busy in there as it was in the main bar, but slightly less noisy, which made me groan a little.

“Can I help you young man?” a ladies voice asked me, “Yeah, I would like some lunch but in a quieter location if you have one,” I replied, as I glanced over to her, and she looked to be middle aged, well groomed, and she had a really nice smile, as she chuckled at my response.

“I think I can help you there gorgeous, we have a garden area out through those doors, just give me your order and I will bring it out to you,” the lady said to me. “Thanks, that would be awesome, I will have a rump steak, cooked very well done, chips and salad, and I will have a lemon squash for a drink please,” I answered smiling, “You got it, go find a seat, and I will bring out your drink soon,” the lady said before heading for the kitchen.

Five minutes later, after enjoying the relatively quiet garden area, the lady came out with a tall glass of lemon squash, and smiling she placed it on the table. “Here you go, do you want anything else?” she asked me, “yes, I notice that there is a Jeep Wrangler outside that is for sale, do you know who is selling the vehicle?” I asked, “Yes, I do actually, it is my daughters Jeep, she is a university student, and wants to change over to a more economical vehicle,” the lady responded.

“Well, that is handy, can you tell me more about the vehicle please?” I asked, “Sure, it is a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Sport, 4x4 V6 manual that is six speed, with front winch on bull bars, roof bars and roof rack, snorkel, all terrain tyres, lift kit, side steps, unleaded petrol, with 180 k on the speedo, and she is asking $18 k for it,” the lady replied.

“Sounds good, if we can take it for a drive after lunch and I am happy with it, I will buy it today, but I am guessing the nearest banks is quite some way off,” I replied, and the lady chuckled at this comment. “Yes, you could say that, Geraldton which is 100 kilometres west of here is the closest major bank,” the lady replied.

“Can you take the day off tomorrow and we go for a drive to Geraldton then?” I asked, “Well, that is a bit extreme, but it would also get my daughter the money she needs, so I will just have to arrange to get some time off, and my name is Helen by the way,” the lady replied. After a delicious lunch, I went to pay for the meal, and Helen was all smiles.

“We can go now if you like, as long as I am back here in time for dinner service,” she said to me, “Outstanding, road trip here we come,” I replied, as I handed over the cash for my meal and drinks, and after a short stop at the servo to fill up with fuel, we were on our way west for Geraldton, which I knew to be about a one-hour drive away from Mullewa.

The drive to the country city of Geraldton went smoothly, and I was very happy with the vehicle as she purred away on the highway. Arriving at the nearest bank branch, I showed three forms of identification, and asked for the money in cash to pay for the purchase of a vehicle, which the bank was very reluctant to do.

Helen produced the vehicle registration papers, which were in her name, and some of her ID, to confirm that it was a vehicle purchase, and since she banked with the same bank, the manager agreed to do a bank transfer. Once the money had been transferred, we made a quick stop at the Department of Transport, to change the ownership of the vehicle, and pay the fees required.

I also made a stop at a camping store for a few supplies for my new jeep, including a car fridge, a long range portable two-way radio, and Emergency IPERB, plus some food and water. We were on the road again just after 3.15 pm, and we would get back to town with about two hours to spare, before Helen had to resume work. After dropping off Helen back at the hotel, I went back to the motel and packed up my belongings, and checked out, loading everything into the back of my new vehicle, and I continued to drive East, with Mount Magnet to be my destination.

I still wasn’t sure where I was going, all I wanted to do was to drive as far away as possible from Geraldton as I could, and with some additional funds taken out from my account, my bank balance was starting to get very low. I stopped off at the town of Yalgoo, which is about halfway to my next overnight stop, where I refuelled, made a call to book accommodation for two nights, and also bought some additional supplies at the store, that included, more water, and snacks.