The Rape of Minetta

by BJ Kirkland

At mid-day in mid-summer Cloncurry sizzled, and the old saying 'That it is so hot you could fry a egg on a cars bonnet' was indeed true that day when Selene drove along the Flinders Highway towards Townsville.

Old adages couldn't be farther from her mind, as the sweaty taste of the man who sexual assaulted her the previous night lingered in her mouth. Furthermore, the stench of him wafting through the rear of the cab was a horrifying reminder that he was now only a piece of meat, sprawling under a cover in the tray of her truck.

Selene was one of the first rugged jillaroos, but her toughness didn't prepare her for the despicable abuse inflicted on her by that man. After it was over, she feigned enjoyment, and then took him for his final ride in this world. Pretending that she needed a toilet break, she pulled over and grabbed her rifle from the tray. Then she promptly shot him in the head.

Continuing on her way, she desperately needed a drink to appease her shame. She turned off the road, then continued into a cattle station, where she parked in the shade. Dry spinifex and eucalyptus adorned hills stood out against a perfect blue sky.

Sensing something vestal radiating from the ochre-red earth, she was ready to retreat. Then she sighted a yellowish-green apparition in the distance. Ready to restart her truck to examine that strange sight, a dingo ran out in front of her, scaring wild birds singing in the distance. The dingo warily looked up at her as it took a long drink from the creek.

Selene felt as though the dingo could read her mind, and that they both had thoughts of death. The dingo was thinking of a bird to eat whilst Selene was looking for a place to die. First, she had to find that apparition, so Selene pulled out and waved a final goodbye to the hungry dingo. Noticing that the narrowness of the termite hills pointed north and south she reasoned that she had to travel due east.

Quivering with desperation, she tracked that eerie sight over sharp rocks, past termite mounds, then through sharp spinifex grass, until coming upon a rocky outcrop. Suddenly she sighted the apparition dwelling in stony silence, with her quintessence open for the entire world to see. Her only allies were deadly snakes and spiders, for they knew that their life depended on hers. Even the searing sun respected her by deterring unwanted visitors

Instantly Selene dropped to her knees, then she endured the scorching heat to bestow an accolade on the apparition. She named her Minetta, after her twin sister, who had died in a car driven by Selene only a week before. Next, she probed Minetta's essence to ascertain her worth. Finding that she was precious, she decided to offer her to the highest bidder. At last, she unceremoniously dropped the stinking mans body into an old bore hole, to be consumed by ants.

Back in Cloncurry, the news quickly spread, enticing men to be the first to penetrate Minetta. Eventually some took her with such brutal force that she was permanently disfigured. As though it was her fate, Minetta remained cold and hard throughout the whole ordeal.

Realising the magnitude of her malice, Selena blew her brains out with a shotgun. Up in the scrub-covered hills with their backs to the midday sun the Aborigines wept. They couldn't defy those savage white men, so they simply looked on in disgust, while the white men defaced the Aborigines sacred heritage. Even, the snakes and spiders were frightened enough to leave their haunts, to seek shelter elsewhere.

In time, a town emerged nearby to exploit Minetta. Women and children came to serve their men in that hedonistic place. Although abandoned ten years later by the desecrators, they knew that Minetta still had plenty to give. Therefore, a small group of caretakers remained to guard her treasure. Twelve years on when Minetta was ready again the desecration continued, with more vengeance, than last time.

An illegal price fixing cartel exposed that there were others like Minetta, enduring desecration in soulless solitude. Soon the outraged Australian public protested against the greed and destruction. Six years later Minetta couldn't deliver anymore, so the pampered residents reluctantly moved on to less prosperous places.

Finally, the desecrators concealed their destruction by burying Minetta. Concrete blocks that once bore the weight of houses and an ugly hole in Minetta's dead heart, where uranium ore was ripped from, is the only evidence that she once existed.

As Some of the people that raped Minetta had developed cancer, perhaps in the end Minetta had her revenge. Eventually flora marked Minetta's grave, also snakes and spiders returned to watch over her. The End

kirkland@pacific.net.au

 

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