Free No Sugar by Jack Davis Page A

‘Black crow, black crow’. MR NEAL reads the paper at his desk as BILLY approaches.
    BILLY : Mitjer Neal, Mitjer Neal! Eh boss!
    NEAL : Come in.
    BILLY enters.
    Jesus, what the bloody hell happened?!
    BILLY : He bin chuck me off my ’orse and he bin knock me silly fella with a waddi .
    MATRON walks in briskly with an arm full of linen. She stops in her tracks when she sees BILLY .
    MATRON : Goodness me, what happened?
    NEAL : Well, he never caught Millimurra, Millimurra caught him.
    MATRON : [ putting the linen on NEAL ’s desk ] Oh, you poor man, where’s the keys?
    NEAL : Listen, Billy, where did you catch up with them?
    BILLY : I bin find ’em Moolambeenee.
    NEAL : Where were they heading?
    BILLY : And that fella bin say he gunna hang me from Christmas tree like that.
    He demonstrates.
    Eh boss, you bin take ’em off handcuffs now?
    MATRON : Where are the keys?
    NEAL : All right, which way did they go?
    BILLY : They bin run along train line. Train comin’, whoo, whoo!
    NEAL : All right, which— way— was— the— train— going?
    BILLY : Goin’ along train line.
    NEAL : I know that, you blithering stone-age idiot!
    MATRON : [ pointing left and then right ] Billy, was the train going that way or that way?
    BILLY : [ pointing with his chin to her left ] He bin go that way, Kaggardu .
    NEAL : You bloody fool of a man! What did you let him jump the bloody train for?
    BILLY : He bin knock me silly fella, with a big stone. [ Indicating his back and then ribs ] He bin kill ’em me here, here, and in the guts. Aw, he bad fella. [ Desperately, almost in tears ] Eh boss, you bin take ’em off handcuffs now?
    NEAL : [ to MATRON ] Get the keys out of his pocket.
    BILLY : No key, boss.
    NEAL : Where are they?
    MATRON starts to find quandongs.
    BILLY : Dunno, boss… that one, he bin—
    NEAL : [ interrupting ] You bloody incompetent savage. Where are the fuckin’ keys?
    BILLY : He bin chuck ’em away. He bad boy that one!
    MATRON has a handful of quandongs but no keys. NEAL puts his hat on and prepares to leave.
    NEAL : Come on, looks like a blacksmith’s job.
    MATRON : Then you’d better send him down to the hospital. I’ll examine him and give him some dinner.
    MATRON looks at them and at the quandongs.
    BILLY : They good tucker, missus.
    She laughs.
    NEAL : I can’t see anything funny about this.
    MATRON : I know you can’t.
    NEAL and BILLY walk off. MATRON bites on a quandong but it’s bitterly sour. She picks up the linen and leaves.
    END OF ACT TWO

ACT THREE, NORTHAM
SCENE ONE
    Government Well Aboriginal Reserve, Northam, day. A few burnt out relics of the camp remain. JOE and MARY stare about blankly.
    JOE : Grass ain’t burnt.
    MARY : What d’ya mean?
    JOE : Manatj … [ Bitterly ] Burned everything, those bastards! [ He looks at the rubble. ] We camped just ’ere.
    He leads MARY to the spot.
    [ Pointing up and off ] See them rocks up there? Me and Cissie used to slide down them on pieces of tin when we was little. Magpies used to nest in that white gum tree.
    MARY : Probably still do.
    JOE : Yeah, s’pose so.
    He sifts through the rubble and unearths a rabbit trap.
    One a’ Dad’s.
    He finds a wine bottle.
    One of Uncle Jimmy’s.
    He puts it down carefully and continues the search.
    MARY : Where did you get water?
    JOE : Soak, down the creek.
    MARY : Good kaep ?
    JOE : Sometimes. Mum used to always growl about it. She used to reckon it was harder than Uncle Jimmy’s head. She’d be real upset if she saw the place now. Gran too. ’Specially Gran.
    He sees something, off.
    Oh, no!
    He drags on the burnt remains of DAVID ’s bike.
    MARY : Whose was that?
    JOE : Bastards! They reckon they was gunna look after everything we left behind.
    MARY : Never mind, it’s all over now.
    JOE : It’ll never be over!
    He throws the bike down viciously.
    MARY : Come on, dubakieny .
    JOE picks