aboriginal bush-spirits

[rahli]

I experienced a few years ago what you could call a bush spirit. Either that or a culmination of events that lead me to believe so at the time.

I ended up working remote for about 4 months after resigning from my soul destroying government job. My wife and I had just been married 3 days prior my departure so we were pretty keen to keep in phone contact. Most of the locations I was camped at had CDMA phone signal but there was one job that was too far out of the way for mobile use.

We had gotten permission from the owners of a near by outstation to collect water. The outstation was currently abandoned as someone had recently died so we collected the water and made sure there was plenty enough for the wild horses that were hanging around. There was a public phone situated in the middle of the outstation and low and behold the thing worked. I even managed to decipher the number for the phone which was written on the wall, hidden within all the other phone booth banter. I rang my wife and gave her the number so she could call me at around 6pm each night.

It became the nightly ritual, jump in the truck and heading on down to collect water for the camp and catch the phone call from the missus. Occasionally a few of the other guys from the camp would come down to make calls as well. On the afternoon in question I was alone.

There was a dark sky and a light drizzle casting an eerie feel over the entire outstation. I was talking to my wife and absently looking around at the rundown shelters. There is something a little out of place in an abandoned community and then upon contemplation you realize that its you, your out of place what the fuck are you doing here. I looked around and just at that exact moment a gust of wind whipped through the shelters and slammed a tin door shut scarring a horse. We-he-he-he-ha bellowed the horse.

Alert Alert get the fuck out of here there is something Wrong!!! Went my brain with signals dashing through my head. I remember my peripheral vision becoming hyper sensitive giving me the impression that there was someone behind me. “I’ve got to go” I told the missus “I’ve just had the shit scared out of me”.

I jumped in the truck and got the fuck out of there. My peripheral vision was still playing tricks on me and I was in a hyper alert state of consciousness. I was definitely sensing something or some one following me.

That night I went to sleep in my tent. I woke later in the night and sat up. I reached across and un-zipped the door. All of a sudden I realized I was being attacked by a Kardachi Man. The feather foot was slamming me while darkness was all around. I reached across and found a long length of iron H bar and slammed back at it.

I woke from the dream in a panic wondering if I was now safe from the battle just fought. It was then that I realized that it had all been a dream and that the only thing out of place was that I had gotten up and gone out the wrong side of the tent, before the dream attack.

The next day I carved my self a totem head out of a wild mellon and positioned it in a tree overlooking my sleeping place. I had told everyone in the camp of my previous afternoon scare and dream battle and couple of the aboriginal guys I was working with were well freaking out.

“Any one want to head down the phone box tonight?”

Needless to say I did the afternoon water run on my own from then on.