The OleMan And The Boy

The OleMan And The Boy

A fable by Wayne David Knoll

- written at Yuendumu, Northern Territory 1995



Just an OleMan. And a Boy. Walking.

These two people. Walking around.

The OleMan has a black hat and a crooked stick.

The Boy has a colourful hat and an umbrella. They are living walking.

The OleMan, Grandfather, is knowing where they go. What wisdom. How to cook. Make fire. The Boy, quick, bright, finds food. Climbs for eggs. Fetches berries. Collects wood.

The OleMan helps the Boy and the Boy helps the OleMan.

At night: the boy: scared. The dark. It is cold. The frost. So cold. He gets close to the OleMan.

Daytime. The path is hard. Prickles get in. It is hot.The sun. The dust. The wind. So hot!

Their life is good, but hard.

Often OleMan is grumpy. He wants the boy to be more help.

The Boy goes slow. OleMan gets angry.

The Boy gets lazy. He dreams of sitting in the shade of the umbrella he always carries. The Boy remembers the cool waterhole they left behind.

The OleMan knows the cool waterhole that is a long way up in front. The Boy sits down in the shade. But the OleMan gets grumpy and threatens the boy with his stick.

The Boy gets up. Goes a little. Sits in the shade.

"Sit down" the Boy says.

The OleMan won't sit down. The Boy sits in his shade.

"Gettup!" the OldMan says. The OleMan knows they have to keep going.

The Boy only knows he has to stop. He dreams of shade. The Shade.

Oleman thinks that the Boy only want to play. The Boy thinks the OleMan makes him keep going just to be mean.

The Boy gets angry,"Old Stonehead" he says; "Why don't you just die!"

The OleMan gets angry with the Boy. "Senseless Weakhead!" he says.
"You'll die without me."

So they fight, but keep going. Walking together.

One day as they walk. They come past a camp of strangers who don't live walking. As the Boy looks in open doors and windows, his mouth gapes at the things they've got.

Video. Television. Radios. Computors. And he sees lots of Images on the screens. Colourful clothes! Fantastic beds. And dishes full of fruits and cooked food. Pictures! A Resort! With cool waterfalls. A pool where people splash and plunge. A bottle of chilled lemonade all frosty and dewy with sparkling bubbles.

The picture is all that the Boy ever dreamed in his dreams of shade. This picture is better than any waterhole he has ever seen. He sees the people get things. He wants to stop and find that place on the picture. He sees Money buys things in the store.

"Sit down." He says. He wants to stay there.

"Get going." the OleMan says. The OleMan goes.

And so The Boy goes, unhappily, looking back, even after the camp is out of sight.

One day, having walked a long way away, the Boy sits under a tree for the shade. He looks up to find money. A $100 note is stuck out of a twig on the twisty tree. He shows the money to the OleMan. The OleMan wants the money.

The Boy sees his chance. He snatches the $100 back off the OleMan and when the OleMan comes after him the Boy kicks him down and leaves him lying on the road. The OleMan might have a twisted ankle. The OleMan might have a broken foot. The Old Man might have a broken leg. The Boy doesn't care. He doesn't stop to find out.

He goes back. Asks the way. Finally gets to a Resort. Just like the picture he saw on the screen. Pays his $100 to the man at the door. And goes in to the shade of his dreams. He finds a soft bed. He has drinks so cold the glass is frosty and dewy with sparkling bubbles. For a day! Two days! Five days! He splashes in the waterfall. Plunges into the pool. Has his pick of cooked food and fruits layed out in basketfuls.

Then the man from the door comes to him and asks for money"More money?" The Boy holds out his empty hands to show he has no more money. Then the man from the door takes him out and leaves him there, " Sorry! No freeloaders!" He locks the door so that the Boy can't come back in. The Boy is most unhappy. He bangs on the door. "Go away". The man yells.

The Boy doesn't want to give up: he has dreamed of this shade and water for a long time. He looks for another way in. But there is a high fence all round the Resort. Barbed wire. The Boy hunts the fence for a hole. Nothing. At last he decides to climb
over the barbs. He goes up the wire mesh. He reaches the top wire . He doesn't know that wire is electric. He touches the wire and falls back, ripping his legs and arms.

The Boy lies as if dead on the ground. As he lies in darkness. He wonders if he is dead. He is sick. The road is shaky. The world is hazy. Through the slits of sore eyes there is light. He can see a mirage. Like hot air in the long far away a dark shape is moving. It is like a person far off coming closer to where he is. Is it a man with a long shadow in the sunrise? A man hobbling on a crooked stick? Limping. The man looms up and stands over the Boy.

It is the OleMan. The OleMan is reaching down. The old hand touches the Boy's hand. The old arm helps him up. And as the Boy can stand he looks deep into the OleMan's eyes. And in their eyes are the tears that say "Sorry". And then the OleMan holds the Boy as they take a first step. The Boy puts an arm out to help support the OleMan. They hold each other up as they move to go away together.

Helping each other.

Limping along the way they know have to go.