Disappearing Things

Growing up in Katherine from 1960s meant that after awhile you get used to things disappearing. It causes alot of anxiety though when its people. Right up to about 6 years ago our family had this practice that when some one would go on a journey in the car or plane or bus you would have to ring the minute you got to your destination to let those left at home know you had arrived safely. This was brought about by a an environment where people would set of to go to Darwin and either get killed on the road (drunk), or die in the Darwin Hospital or after being sent "South" for treatment. There were also alot of people who would run away from their husbands or wives and the talk around town was "such and such has shot through with someone". I don't know how we found out because most people wouldn't ask questions, considering the white town folk were mostly there coz they were running away from something "down south". All kinds of fights used to break out when someones past from "down south" caught up with them after a few too many ales.

Sometimes its a good thing that things disappeared, like when some one had an "accident", it would be gone the next day due to decomposition not like down here where you have to wait to the next summer.

Other things that disappeared and I still wonder about were the magazines I subscribed to when I was about 18, paid the full subscription for the year and didn't receive one magazine from "down south". I didn't have a phone so couldn't ring them up but I did write to them but never got an answer. I also tried again when I was 20, same deal. Looking back I'm thinking it might have had something to do with the post office staff, needing something to read. And the other thing that's still a mystery to me is the chocolate fudge that I made that was stolen out the dads beer fridge.

Sometimes I wonder if
1. I should stop wondering
2. I should go on a trip "down south"
3. I should be an offsider for a magician