37. Universal Action
Chapter 38. Operation Sneaky Snake
New Beginnings
Fifty dollars and one hour later Kylie had plenty to think about.
It was the first time in her life she had visited a Tarot Card Reader. The opportunity arose after chatting to a co-worker who had regular readings from a lady who travelled through town from Darwin every twelve months. Kylie was open to the experience and inquisitive as to what she might find out about herself. She didn’t see herself heading in any particular direction and wondered if this person may be able to offer some insight into a possible pathway through the journey of her little life. Kylie’s father always sweetly referred to her “little life” when he tried to console her during conversations of sadness and wonder. He was always able to explain away different circumstances so that she could see her way through them and help her realise that it wasn’t the end of the world and that she would get through it. “It’s just another day in your little life, A Baby,” he would say reassuringly. Even at age 18, or 23 or 27, Kylie was still regarded as the baby of their family, hence his name for her ‘A Baby’, a name which had stuck.
Kylie couldn’t stop thinking about the tarot card reader’s words. Not one to take things too seriously but open enough to jot the words down for future reflection, Kylie took out her little notebook that she carried in her handbag to record funny things that would happen to her. She scribed the date and the following words:
“Your life is about to undergo a huge change. I see water, all around you, you are so close to it; working near it, around it, above it. There is so much water. I see a man, like an X-ray picture, light eyes and dark hair. You have met him long ago, in a past life. He is an old soul, like you. I’m excited for you Kylie, a new chapter in your life is about to commence.”
Kylie put down the pen, rested her right hand on the notepad and sat back in the driver’s seat. She looked at her reflection in the rear vision mirror and said out loud to herself, “Cool! Looks like I’m getting a job as a water treatment plant operator out at Lake Moondarra.”
Lake Moondarra was the local dam, recreational lake and water supply for the city of Mount Isa where Kylie was born, raised and had lived all of her life. To Kylie, Lake Moondarra was the more likely place where she could secure a job as compared to any of the other large water masses in the surrounding district. Rifle Creek Dam was operated by Mount Isa Mines but she had never had any luck getting an interview with them, and Lake Julius and Corella Dam had very little infrastructure surrounding them, let alone positions vacant. In closed-minded Kylie land, Lake Moondarra was it. She had three years administration experience in Mining in the local region and had enjoyed her temporary positions at various mine sites but had never found a site or a job she loved enough to stay at, which always led her back to her safety net job at the Post Office.
“I might go and buy the paper!” Kylie said to herself as she started the car. She headed to McCarthy’s Newsagent which was located in the centre of town in West Street Mount Isa and to this day in Kylie’s well-travelled opinion, remains the best newsagent in Australia. Dead-set! It opens early and stays open until late, yes late, until the wee hours of the morning, and has an operational floor space bigger than a McDonalds Restaurant. McCarthy’s is always lit up like Christmas and stocks any magazine or paper you would want. Kylie had never found a comparative newsagent that offered a pinch of the stock or had such complimentary trading hours in any other location in Australia. She was, by no means a floozy but she did get around. On holidays that is. Shopping holidays!
After doing an obligatory lap of West Street, as any local who has five minutes up their sleeve would do, Kylie parked her car and wandered into McCarthy’s. The North West Star took pride of place next to the triple sized larger readership newspapers like the Townsville Bulletin, The Courier Mail and The Australian. As Kylie picked up the newspaper she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around expecting to know the tapper, as McCarthy’s was like grand central station for running into people you knew. She was pleasantly surprised to find it was a friend from out of town. Sophia lived in the nearby town of Cloncurry and they had met each other through their boyfriends’ circle of friends. As pretty as country music singer Faith Hill and even more beautiful on the inside, Sophia was gentle natured and a real sweetheart.
“Hey stranger,” said Sophia.
“Hey, who’s that recognising my bumsicle before my face?”
“It’s Sophia you dag, and I saw your car so I thought it might be you.”
“What, now you’re saying my bum is the size of my car? Baby, that’s just mean!”
“Nooo, nooo. Stop it!” said Sophia blushing and trying to gather her thoughts as Kylie baffled her with childish behaviour. She gave Kylie a gentle punch, more like a weak tap. Yes, Sophia hit like a girl. It was awkward but cute and very Sophia. She asked, “How are you, what’s been happening, what are you doing?”
It was a country conundrum. Some country folk only ever seemed to talk about the weather, while others fired off questions three at a time, excited to be in the presence of another human being. There isn’t a lot of opportunity for eyeball to eyeball conversational contact when you live on a property out west and even phone calls were few and far between because you worked long and tiring hours.
“Whoa there little lassie, ease up on the interrogationing! Good. Not much. And I’m looking for work via these massive examples of printed media,” Kylie replied and wiggled her thin and limp edition of the North West Star.
“You know that’s only full on Wednesdays when they have the social lift out. By the way, have you been in the paper lately you media flirt?”
“Nooooo. I have NOT recently been a Tabloid Tart. Sophia Diarrhoea! But keep your eyes peeled for next Tuesday’s edition because we had an advertising feature at work, and I may have possibly made sure that I was in every shot taken. So, I stand a good chance at turning up in black and white next time you skim through the pages.”
“You can’t be trusted!” Sophia gave Kylie another lady punch but missed her arm and had to turn a full 360 degrees from the physical exertion. She gathered herself and continued, “Oh good, at least I’ll get to see you when I’m not looking at you.” She giggled. Sophia was cute with words and would mix them up a little more than most. It always made sense to Kylie but that’s only because Kylie was a little mixed up herself.
Sophia continued with her questions, “So, what do you mean you are looking for work, I thought you were working at the Post Office?”
“Yeah, but they won’t make me permanent, even though I’m working permanent hours and have been there on and off permanently, like, for-ever. And I just had my cards read by this lady...”
Sophia gasped in excitement. “Tell me what she said! Tell me what she said!”
Pulling out her little notebook, Kylie quoted the Tarot Card Reader word for word.
Sophia started jumping up and down on the spot. “What do you think it means? Where is there heaps of water?” She turned around as if to check out the Leichhardt River, which she obviously couldn’t see from inside the newsagency. “I don’t think we’ve had enough rain to close the little or big bridge? But maybe you might get a job at the Velodrome and it would be surrounded by water while the river is in full flood!”
Mount Isa had bestowed proper names for the two major bridges that linked the mine to the city, the Isa Street Bridge and the Grace Street Bridge, but the locals found