The Billabong By Rowan MacDonald

Back sits against dry bark of a coolabah tree, dirt littered with eucalyptus leaves; nature’s confetti.

“Cool-ah-bah,” he says. “This is where they croaked.”

I shake my head, swat a fly. “They died at the Creek,” I say. “Tree is where it started.”

He looks at me, shrugs his shoulders. “Whatever,” he says. “We’re screwed now too.”

He claws at the ground, pushes leaves about, tries to complete a jigsaw that doesn’t exist.

Manic, desperate movements, sand in the air.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “Good way to annoy something, get bitten.”

“Be quicker than starvation,” he says.

I want to strangle him for throwing our phones off Cooper’s Bridge; his need to make it authentic, for wanting to do it the old way.

“What are you laughing at?” he asks.

“Didn’t think it would end like this,” I say. “Ironic.”

Barren landscape all around, dead trees buckling in heat, others seeking shade.

“Do you hear that?” I ask.

Silence. Nothing. Animals everywhere and nowhere, all at once. Driven to ground. Will join them soon. Permanently. Feverish air ripples against redness, waves simmer in horizon. Lone figure emerges, swag over shoulder, grows in focus.

“Help,” I croak. “Hello?”

Dark curly hair, large smile, bends down.

“You white fellas never learn,” he laughs.

“Do you have any water?” we ask.

Figure stares at us, our pathetic state, then surveys the panorama, void of life.

“I know a place,” he says. “But first—”

“First what?”

“Whose land is this?”

We glance at each other, moment of surrender, acknowledgement of truth.

“Yours.”

“Damn right.”

BEHIND THE SHORT STORY:

I’m sick of human arrogance, particularly with how it relates to the natural world. This was particularly rife during the time of early settlers in Australia. My piece is a critique of Western imperialist hubris. Hope for both climate change and better futures lie partly in learning from our Indigenous peoples; traditional owners of the land.

ABOUT:

Rowan MacDonald lives in Tasmania with his dog, Rosie. His writing has appeared in publications around the world, including most recently: Sans. PRESS, Paper Dragon, Witcraft, OPEN: Journal of Arts and Letters and The Ocotillo Review. His work has also been adapted into a short film by New Form Digital. Rowan's short fiction was awarded the Kenan Ince Memorial Prize (2023). He has twice been shortlisted in the Australian Writers' Centre Furious Fiction Challenge. He's currently working on his first novel.

EDITOR'S SONG PAIRING: Ben Charters --- Coolabah Tree