The Cobalt Clock

Chapter Two

Jean smashed his Smartrider against the reader, and had already taken two steps before he heard the beep. But a second later, Brooke did the same. No beep. He went back, did it again and took off, his heavy backpack smashing against his spine.

He half-tripped, half-ran down the escalators, and slipped between the closing train doors, squeezing in side ways between the closing pieces of metal. They shut after him, the beeping ceased, and Jean and Brooke walked down the aisle a bit until they found two sets of seats next to each other. The train jerked as they sat down and they dumped their bags on the seat next to them.

Jean looked at Brooke, and with sweaty faces they grinned like sugar-high monkeys. Brooke wiped his face, and then dug around in his bag, and pulled out a Boost bar.

"Wasn't looking for that, but I'll take it anyway," he said, as Jean got out his iPod Touch and put his earphones in. Jean turned it on, and pressed play on his playlist, laying back, closing his eyes and accepting the half Boost that Brooke handed him. Brooke finally pulled out his phone, and checked the time, eating his Boost as he went. It was 3:34 pm. Then he tucked his phone into his jeans pocket, took out his iPod Nano, turned on the music, and stared out the window as southern Perth flashed by.

From Cockburn Central they went to Murdoch, then Bull Creek and got their first glance of the river for the afternoon at Canning Bridge. They continued along the river, rushing past the cars inching along the in-aptly named freeway. They then screamed through the tunnel to Esplanade, where everyone on the train turned up their music several notches. They continued along the tunnel for another 50 seconds to Perth Underground, where the train stopped for two minutes. Then the doors closed with their obsessive beeping, and the train went screaming off down the tunnel again, until it popped out the other side of the city in the northern suburbs.

They continued away from the city, passing through Leederville station, which was closely followed by Glendalough. They stopped at Stirling station, and as the doors closed Brooke woke Jean from his Wednesday arvo slumber, as the train went down hill slightly to Warwick station. By now the traffic was flowing better, and the train was rather empty. Stirling to Warwick was a much longer stretch than the other stations on the line, so Jean had enough time to wake up properly before the train started slowing down and flowing, with only the tiniest of screams, into the station.

The boys picked up their bags and slung them over their shoulders. They walked over the small gap between train and station, where Brooke made sure that he was holding on tightly to his wallet and iPod. He had a strong fear of dropping them. They joined the short queue for the stairs, and climbed them slowly. However they sped up as they saw their bus at Stand Four seemingly waiting for them. They tagged on, and then took two seats next to the rear door, ignoring the filth under the seat that included last year's chewing gum and last month's biscuit crumbs. There they waited for the bus to leave the bus station, by ignoring the no eating sign like everyone else and licking up the remains of their lunch boxes.

The bus lurched to life with a hiss and a pitching, heaving motion of a ship on rough seas. Then it clunked off, down the ramp, round the corner and off on its normal route. Jean played with the idea that this bus and every bus had come in a box and been incorrectly assembled, as they all seemed like they would fall apart with every jerking acceleration and every wide, sweeping corner it made. After fifteen minutes or so Jean pressed the stop button on the side of the panel near his seat, and the bus stopped at the next stop. Jean and Brooke got off, and waited for the fumes to disappear before they crossed the road and continued on their way to Jean's house.

"What do you think about the maths homework?" asked Brooke, as they cut across a neighbour's immaculate grass.

"Piece of cake," said Jean, kicking a gum nut along the path.