Chapter 5

Step looked around him and realised the property was surrounded by a high fence.  He remembered the woman with the sweet face who brought him here yesterday.  She had stopped at the gate and spoken on a two-way radio before the gates opened.

The man must have read his thoughts because he immediately said, “Now don’t you go getting any ideas about escaping.  That fence is electric and if you touch it you will be frizzled like a sausage. No-one leaves without my say so.  Right?  Now off you go and dig up some potatoes for our dinner.”

As Step swung the mattock into the hard, dry soil, he considered his options.  The children must leave for school each day and the mother must go out to do the food shopping.  Maybe he could slip out the gate as it opened.  He didn’t like his chances of getting away unobserved and he imagined Bluey being sent after him.  It was not a pleasant thought.

Later that day the man came down to the potato paddock. “That’s enough potatoes for now.  Take those up to the kitchen and then I want you to take the bins down to the gate.”

Step wondered how the rubbish truck managed to pick up the bins behind a locked gate but realised that at least the contents would be thrown in the truck and travel a long way from the farm.  The bins were as high as Step’s chest and made of corrugated galvanised iron.  He struggled with the first one until the man gave him a trolley to put it on.  Now it was on wheels it rolled easily down the driveway.  He left it next to the gate and toiled back up the hill for the second one.  As he dragged the trolley he had an idea.  If he hid in one of the bins early in the morning the gate would open and he could escape.  He might even get a ride in the rubbish truck.

Early next morning Step grabbed his small bag and crawled out from under his newspapers.  Bluey growled at him as if he knew what he was up to.  If Bluey barks then the man will come out and I will be stuck here for at least another week, thought Step

He pushed through some bushes so Bluey couldn’t see him anymore.  Then he scurried towards the gate keeping himself hidden from the house.  The bins loomed in front of him in the darkness.  Yesterday he had checked which one had the least rubbish but they were both nearly full.  He pulled off one metal lid and began throwing the contents into the bushes.  When there was enough space inside he leaped in, replacing the lid. Over his head he dragged a flour bag which he had found in the shed.  When the garbage collector took the lid off he would only see the bag.

Step sat in the bin shivering with fear.  So many things could go wrong.  What if he was hurt as the bin was emptied?  What if Bluey came down with the man before the garbage truck arrived? If he did get into the truck, how would he escape?

Soon he heard the rumble of the truck.  A voice spoke on the two-way radio.  He could hear the gate opening.  Then he could feel himself hoisted in the air.  He fell awkwardly into a pile of rubbish in the back of the truck.  The contents of the other bin landed on top of him.  The truck started moving and he realised with growing excitement that he was leaving the farm.  He had escaped!

The truck drove on for about half an hour. Then it stopped and more rubbish fell into the truck. By squeezing into one corner Step managed to avoid the worst of it but he smelt terrible and wondered how he could face the world again in his present state.

Finally, the truck stopped for a long time and the smell was atrocious.  Step decided he must be at the Dump so climbed up to the top of the truck and looked around.  Piles of rubbish stretched in all directions but he could see a road winding through the wasteland.  Follow that road and I must reach a town, he thought.

The sides of the truck were very high so he waited until it began to empty its contents.  First of all the engine started.  Then the floor beneath him began to move and tilt.  He rolled out onto a pile of debris, jumping up and running before anyone could stop him.

Step must have run several miles before he crossed a small stream gurgling under a wooden bridge.  The water was clear and cold.  After drinking his fill he carefully removed his smelly clothes and jumped into the stream, scrubbing himself all over with his hands to remove the stench of the garbage truck.  Then he rinsed his clothes as best he could, putting them on while still wet.  The sun was warm in the sky and he hoped he would dry off as he ran.  At least he didn’t smell so bad.

A sign ahead proclaimed the town of Tumbarumba, population one hundred and three.  Now Step faced a new problem.  He had no money so how would he eat and where would he sleep?  Up ahead he could see a roadside café where sandwiches, pies and sausage rolls were advertised on a large poster.  His stomach growled with hunger.  He watched a family walking to their car, throwing the remains of their lunch in the bin.  As soon as they drove away he scurried to the bin and found half a meat pie, some sandwich crusts and almost a whole apple.  Sitting under a nearby tree he happily filled his stomach.  After all, it was better than eating the pig swill at the farm.

The combination of food, warm sunshine and exercise made Step very tired.  In minutes he was asleep, only waking as the shadows grew long and the chill of the evening entered his bones.  He knew that he must find a warm place for the night so walked past the scattering of shops in the main street hoping to find a cosy corner in which to shelter. The Tumbarumba Hardware Store had a large, covered porch in front of a locked entrance door so Step huddled in one corner, shivering and wondering how he could get back to the Opera Orphanage for Unwanted Children.  It occurred to him that they may have replaced him and that some other boy could now be sleeping in his bed.

“What have we here?” boomed a man’s voice.

Step looked up to see a large policeman looming over him.  His first thought was to run but the policeman gripped him firmly by the arm.

“Don’t be scared.  I’ll take you home because little boys should not be out by themselves at night.  Where do you live?”  The policeman sounded kind but Step was not sure he could trust him.  What if he sent him back to the Farm?

“My home is the Opera Orphanage for Unwanted Children, but I don’t know where it is,” Step answered.

“So you ran away, did you?  I’m afraid I’ll have to send you back.  Can’t have boys sleeping out the front of shops.”

Step said nothing.  He sat in the Police Station while the policeman spoke on a big black telephone.   He heard his name mentioned once or twice and lots of “I see” and “That explains it”.  He looked questioningly at the policeman when he hung up the phone.

“Well young man, it seems you didn’t run away from the orphanage but you were having a weekend with Foster Parents.  You are a long way from home so there will be a lot of explaining to do.  One of our men will be driving to Sydney in the morning so he’ll give you a lift to the orphanage.  In the meantime you can have a kip in the cell.  No-one is in there at the moment.

That was how Step spent a night in a prison cell.   He didn’t mind.  He knew that tomorrow he would be back in his own bed, looked after by Nurse Smiley and catching up with his new friend Tear.

END OF CHAPTER 5