Crown Park Read Free Page B

You never know where they’ve been.”
    Jack gave a little giggle. He
took another step forward.
    “Ah,” said Fluoro. “Maybe he
will stay with us for a while.” He beckoned with his hand. “Come on
in. I’m neither insane, diseased, nor an addict.”
    Jack moved out of the steam. “Do
you call the cat Buddha?” he asked.
    “Yes, it is the greatest
compliment I can give to my friend. What do you call him?”
    “Chainsaw.”
    Fluoro chuckled. “Yes, very
good,” he said. “Then from now on I too will call him Chainsaw. And
your name is?”
    “Jack.”
    “Hello, Jack,” said Fluoro. “So,
what do you call me? I’m sure the locals have some sort of
name.”
    “The kids at school call you
Fluoro Fred.”
    Fluoro put his head back and
laughed. “I like it.”
    “What’s your real name?”
    He stopped laughing. “Fluoro
Fred will do for now. My name from a previous life is not
important.”
    “Are you a fragrant?”
    Fluoro was puzzled for a moment.
Then he laughed again.
    “A fragrant, eh? I think the
word you’re after is vagrant. Fragrant means sweet smelling, and
not too many vagrants are that.”
    “What about you?” asked
Jack.
    “I smell no different to any
other human, I hope. But there’s only one way you’ll know for sure.
You could join me and Buddha Chainsaw for a meal.”
    Jack stood for a while as if
making up his mind. But really he’d already decided. The thought of
going home was much less attractive than being with Chainsaw.
    “OK,” he said.
    Now it was the man who had
second thoughts. “What about your parents? When are they expecting
you home?”
    “They’re both working. Mum won’t
be home until late and Dad’s hauling logs to Napier.”
    Fluoro leant over and stroked
the cat. “What do you think, Buddha Chainsaw?”
    In reply the cat left the man to
rub against Jack’s legs.
    “OK,” said Fluoro as he got to
his feet. “Then let’s have some lunch. Do you eat sausages?”
    Jack nodded.
    “Excellent!” said Fluoro,
rubbing his hands together. He took a couple of steps towards his
storage area, before turning back and glaring at Jack. “I was
planning to have steak,” he said. “But I ended up twenty dollars
short yesterday. Sometimes money just seems to fly away. Have you
ever noticed that, Jack?” Then he grinned. “But maybe it’s for the
best. I’ve heard that too much steak causes gout.”
     
     
    It was a good meal. Jack couldn’t
believe how tasty the sausages were after being cooked on a sheet
of rusty iron. In fact he couldn’t believe any of what was
happening. He shook his head in wonder. Here he was sitting in the
middle of a geothermal area having lunch with a crazy man as if it
were perfectly normal.
    Except Jack was no longer sure
that Fluoro was crazy. He might talk strangely, but what he said
made sense.
    Jack turned to him. “Why do you
live like this?”
    Fluoro chuckled. “A good
question. A simple one to ask, but a hard one to answer.” He
paused. “Do you ever get fed up with your everyday life, Jack?
School? Home? Feel that you you’ve had enough of it?”
    Jack rolled his eyes and nodded.
Did he ever. That’s why he was here.
    “Then you’ll understand that’s
what happened to me. So I decided to do something entirely
different.” He opened his hands to indicate the surroundings. “And
this is it.”
    “Why here?”
    “Ah! That’s easier to answer.
All my life I’ve been fascinated by geothermal areas. Now I can
live in the middle of one. It makes me feel closer to the earth
than I have ever been before.”
    Jack nodded. He could understand
that. “Is the mumbling part of it as well?” he asked.
    In answer Fluoro closed his eyes
and began mumbling. Except this time Jack could make out more of
the sounds.
    “Om mani padme hum. Om mani
padme hum. Om mani padme …” He went on so long that Jack was
thinking “crazy man” again.
    Then suddenly, Fluoro stopped
and looked up at him. “That’s the one I use most