CAIRNS, A CITY AT WAR WITH ITSELF, PART 6

The crowd writhed and growled. Like a living creature. It was waiting. Waiting.

It was a blue sky day in Cairns. December, traditionally the start of the tropical wet season when the heavens burst with a roar sending torrential hot downpours on the city, had been very hot and humid. The crowd of over 1000 men and a few women sweltered outside the Cairns Regional Council offices in Spence Street as the humidity reached 90% by ten o'clock.

Placards dotted the writhing crowd. "KICK THE GREENS OUT!" "WE DON'T WANT GREENIES" "WE WANT CUSH" and "BURN THE WITCH!"

The protestors were tense, speaking in low voices, and watchful, their eyes looking past one another as they spoke.

A large, muscular black man, who bore a striking likeness to football legend Mel Meninga, walked resolutely into the crowd, which at first became silent, parting to let the giant through. Then something happened, no-one knew what, and the crowd erupted, surging forward, its voice rising to an angry shriek. Councillor Mervyn Mingin felt the first few fists with a sense of shock and disbelief. Even as a painful blow fell against his back making him gasp with pain, he could not believe this was happening to him. Here in Cairns. Here in front of the Cairns Regional Council building. Dazed from another savage blow to his shoulders, he stared in shocked horror as a man clothed in the workman's dark blue clothing thrust an angry red face near him and snarled, "We don't want niggers in the Council!" Then the taunts came. "Boong!" yelled another man nearby. "Coon!" shouted another voice thick with menace. A fist came from nowhere and Mingin felt the pain, the spongy crunch and felt the sensation of warm sticky fluid running down his face. There was a series of painful blows to his back and shoulders as the crowd pressed even closer around him. "Get the nigger!" he heard from somewhere behind him.

Dazed, shocked, in pain and trying to shake off the sense of unreality, Mingin went on to autopilot. He had an instant recall to when he played with the Broncos and how the adrenalin was pumped and pumping, surging and soaring, loud in his ears, during the matches. Only this wasn't a game, something said to him. Something struggled through his uncomprehending consciousness that he was fighting f0r his life. The adrenaline coursed through his powerful body. Fight for your life! Fight! Fight! Fight!

With a roar he didn't recognise as his own, he kicked out with a powerful lunge of his right leg, catching the man pressed in front of him and delivering him a painful blow to his crotch. Simultaneously he threw a punch in the face of the man to his left, then to the man on his right. He felt his massive fists connect with spongey bone and tissue and vaguely saw the aerial sprays of blood. There were many of them, at first, in his path, as he fought his way, grunting, and roaring, to the doors of the Council offices. He thought he broke someone's ribs with a few powerful blows to their stomach with his powerful legs, but he couldn't be sure as he bodily picked another man up and threw him head first back into the crowd. He could see the Customer Service Counter and the scared looking security guard standing behind the closed door. He roared for the guard to open the door and let him in, but the guard was frozen with fear. Then another man threw a fist in his face and he felt it land in his eye. Enraged, he grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and drove his other fist in wild fury into his face, smashing the bones in his nose amidst a huge spray of heavy smelling blood.
Then he picked the groaning man up and threw him bodily back into the crowd. He yelled again for the Council Security Guard to open the door and let him in, but the Security Guard stood there mute, his eyes like saucers.

Then Mingin saw KelliAnne, the Supervisor of the Customer Service Section of the Cairns Regional Council run past the Security Guard and open a single door to the right. It was the staff door that the Customer Service Officers used to arrive and leave. She motioned to Mingin to come to the door. Mingin ran, aware that a crowd of men were still around him. He made it through the door along with two other men, as KelliAnne, then slammed the door closed.

"Mervyn!" shrieked KelliAnne, as she saw one of the men lunge at Mingin with a stick.

Mingin swung around and ducked and planted his huge fist in the mans face. He fell to the floor with a loud crack. The other man ducked nervously away. "Don't hurt me man!" he croaked, as Mingin opened the glass door and threw him out to the shrieking crowd.

KelliAnne had sunk to her knees and was retching violently. The Security Guard was beside her, his entire body shaking, his eyes shocked,

Mingin fought to get his breath back, and wiped blood on his sleeve. Turning around, he spotted some of the Council staff staring wide eyed and white faced at him. "Phone the Police immediately!" he yelled. "And notify all the other Councillors." He coughed and fought for his breath again. "Notify Coucillors Lovelady, Piper, Bonbomiere, Buttonworth and Dunnysmore on their mobile phones, NOT TO COME INTO THE COUNCIL today!" Some of the staff made moves to follow his directives. He turned back to the Supervisor, KelliAnne, who was still on her hands and knees moaning above a puddle of vomit. Without thinking he lifted her up and carried her into the staff room. She was hysterical. "Arrrrng, arrrrng, yerroooooo," she babbled, trying to talk, but her brain couldn't carry the message of speech. As he put her down on a chair, she looked at him and focussed. "I HAVE TO SAVE MERVYN!" she screamed, as tears ran down her face. "I HAVE TO SAVE HIM BECAUSE I LOVE HIM, I LOVE HIM."

Mingin was shaken by KelliAnne's hysterical outburst and looked curiously at the Supervisor whom he had barely ever noticed in the two years he had been a Councillor. She was a white girl, and Mingin had only ever dated aboriginal women. As he called for one of the staff to come and look after her, he wondered briefly at human attraction.

.............................................

Councillor Doug Dunnysmore was on his way into the Council in a Black and White taxi. On account Pedro had helped himself to the keys of his car and had disappeared with it, without telling Doug when he would be back. Dunnysmore was furious as he phoned for a Black and White cab to come urgently as he had a Council meeting to attend.

As the taxi made its way from Bentley Park, Dunnysmore listened to the local talk back radio show hosted by the local shock jock. "There's over a thousand people down there outside the Council offices," the shock jock was saying. Dunnysmore turned the radio up loud and the cab driver protested.

Dunnysmore looked across at the taxi driver, a young man of Pakistani or Indian origin.

"Listen mate," Dunnysmore snapped, "I am a Councillor and there is something happening outside the Council offices. I need to know this!"

Someone was talking to the shock jock amidst a huge noise. Dunnysmore leaned forward and strained to hear the radio station. "....Mingin....injured men.....threw punches....". He could only hear a few disjoined words.

"Mervyn Mingin threw punches and seriously injured some of the protestors, is this what you are saying?" said the radio shock jock in excited tones.

There was answering crackling and heavy static and Dunnysmore leaned even closer to the car radio.

"....broken ribs...busted noses....carnage..." was all he could hear.

"So Councillor Mingin, the aboriginal Councillor, has launched a savage attack on the demonstrators, is that what you are saying," exclaimed the shock jock loudly. "He has broken several noses and someone's ribs."

This was greeted with more static and crackling and Dunnysmore leaned back and thought rapidly. From what he knew of Mingin, he was a gentle giant, not the sort who would launch an attack on someone first. Besides the shock jock had said there were over 1,000 protestors outside the Council offices and Mingin was just one man. Dunnysmore didn't require any more mental exertion. He turned to the taxi driver. "Look man, turn around at the next corner and drive me straight home. I won't be going there today."

The taxi driver nodded. "I can do that for you sir, no problems."

Dunnysmore leaned gratefully back wondering if perhaps he should get the taxi driver to take him to Pedro's house. "No, hold on," he said. "Take me out to Edmonton instead, would you?"

Hiding out at Pedro's house in Edmonton was probably the best, he thought. Besides Pedro should have a few cones of ganga for him and by Christ he needed it after all of this!

..................................................

In the Council car park, Councillor Dom Piper lay curled up on the floor of his Range Rover.
He couldn't stop himself shaking. He had seen what had happened to Mervyn Mingin. He had been about to get out of his own car when he witnessed that first punch thrown at Mingin, then someone sneaking up behind him and hitting him with a cricket bat. He had then retreated into the car, locked all the windows and peered out from time to time, disguised as best he could with Margie's large straw hat, she always left in the car. He had tried with shaking trembling fingers to call the Police on his mobile phone, but he realised with dread, he had forgotten to charge his phone and it was as dead as.

He had cried as he lay curled up and aching with cramp on the floor. He had once confessed to Margie, his wife, that he had no courage. "I've got no guts Margie," he said once. But Margie wasn't worried. "If I wanted to marry someone like Chucky Norris, I would have done so," she replied. "Instead, I wanted a soft and gentle man, and lucky girl that I am, that's what I got. I love you Dom!" Dom had felt a million dollars when she said that. Today curled up like a crying child, he felt disgusted with himself and all the negative emotions of himself, the loathing, the lack of self confidence. the poor self-esteem came roaring back. He was the scared, bullied boy in the school yard again, crying, always crying.


To be continued..............................