Earth and Cosmos Cosmic Culture

Earth and Cosmos Cosmic Culture

Narrative Assignment

It was a warm Australian summers night. The mosquitoes congregated diligently around the candle sitting in the center of the old wooden table. Drew took a long sip on his long neck and slowly returned it to the circle of dust it made on the surface of the table, sending the mosquitoes fleeing in the process. It had been a long day in the opal mines of Coober Pedy, and Drew was pleased to come home, as it had been a particularly worrying day. At least at this stage no threat of his boss, or his counterparts could be seen nor found nearby his home.

Drew was a Miner. He had moved to Coober Pedy several years earlier after a falling out with his business partner of twenty years and his wife. He had hoped to start a new life away from the bustle of Adelaide, but instead found himself tangled in an intricate web that resembled the small towns politics and social structure. He was considered an outcast by many as he had not joined the ranks of the Miners who sat at the front bar in the local pub, nor had he joined the local miners rights union. Drew had been living and working Coober Pedy for the past three years. When he arrived he bought the first dug out home that was on the market at the time. It was a rather sizable residence set into the side of a small hill near the out skirts of the town. The whole home was formed by digging into the hill side, and sealing the Earth walls so that they did not crumble. He liked his home, as inside it was very dark at night, and during the belting heat that was Coober Pedy's summer, nice and cool. The house suited his personality, and he suited the houses style.

Shortly after Drew entered the realm of Coober Pedy, he began looking for work as a miner. That was when he stumbled across Big Paulie, who ran a series of opal mines throughout the mining precinct of the town, some of which contained tunnels than went beneath the main highway, which was crown land. As such Big Paulie had a team of cronies following him, and threatened to kneecap anyone who would possibly let slip about the tunnels. As such, his employees were under an unspoken oath, that if they spoke a work about the tunnels, and word got back to Big Paulie and his cronies, then they would be in great danger. This oath bothered Drew deeply, because throughout the course of the last week, he had been approached by no more than eight mining officials, questioning him about his knowledge of such tunnels. What he feared was that one of the other miners he worked with may have opened their mouths, and said something to the officials about the tunnels, and if they had, the team of cronies was bound to come by and “make sure” it was not Drew.

As Drew sat at the table in front of his dugout, his old double barrel shotgun within reach, and the only light coming from the candle burning in the center of the table, he noticed a set of headlights approaching rather quickly towards his house. As he reached for the shot gun, he recognized the vehicle as belonging to one of his mated by the name of Ken. As Ken jumped out of the Drivers door, Drew noticed that he was covered in blood from his nose, and was limping badly. Drew quickly ushered Ken to sit down, and asked him what had happened. Ken told drew that he had been beaten up by one of the cronies, and the person he lived with, Matt, was shot dead by two men hired by Big Paulie.

After a hurried discussion they decided that they were in grave danger, and that their best chance of survival was to hit the road. Drew's land cruiser had a full tank of diesel, so they both piled into that, and headed down the Stuart highway towards Woomera, where they could stay for a few days, and contact the Local police.

After having been on the road for over four hours, they finally arrived at Woomera, where they proceeded to attempt and locate the Rocket Range Ranch motel, of which Drew knew the care taker of. They had phoned him on the way down on Kens Satellite Phone, and he was standing on the door step waiting for them. He gave them both a set of keys and headed back to bed, as it was at this stage around 2am in the morning.

After both men having a particularly sleepless night, they decided to head immediately to the Woomera police station, and report the Murder of Matt to the Police, and tell them everything they knew about the cronies, and Big Paulies fight with the mining officials.

That night when both men had finally returned to the Motel after spending nearly a day in the police station, on the way home, they decided to grab some Chinese take-a-way to take back to the motel. When they arrived back at the motel, they noticed two men standing by the door to Drews motel room. They were dressed in black, and both had cleanly shaved heads. They were two of Big Paulies cronies. When they saw Drews land cruiser pull up by the motel, they immediately ran towards it, and grabbed Drew and threw him to the ground, where they bashed him, and left him unconscious. They did the same to Ken, and proceeded to tell him that if they told the police who they were, they would kill them, then they left.

When Drew regained conscientiousness, he slowly sat up, and proceeded to go into his motel room, helped along by Ken. He has copped a black eye, and a severe blow to the head which knocked him out cold. The two decided to stay where they were for the next week, before venturing back home.

The next day on the news, there were pictures of Big Paulie, and the two of his cronies who had made the mistake of returning to Coober Pedy to find the police waiting for them, in hand cuffs, and marching into a paddy wagon to be transported to Adelaide, where they were to be charged with the murder of Matt, and the beatings of two other miners, Dick and Ben. The media did not know about Drew and Ken, but referred to them as the anonymous whistle blowers who alerted the police to the situation.

Drew and Ken decided they would wait for a couple of days before returning to Coober Pedy.

When they returned, they decided to both stop by the local pub, where they were greeted with great admiration by the local miners, who made them the center of attention in the Pub. Evidently the whole town knew about what had happened, by putting the pieces of the puzzle together themselves, and then confirmed their theories when they saw the pair walk into the pub.

A local miner who was a significant and well respected figure in the town, by the name of Neil, offered the pair jobs in his Mines, but they both declined the offer saying that they were going to take the rest of the year off. What they had planned was to secretly continue mining Big Paulie's plot now that he and his cronies were no longer in town. From and opal mine that size, one could make a considerable amount of money.