9 Walkabout Reading: Reasons to be afraid? a) Read the following extract from an Australian novel. It is the 1950s. Mary and her young brother Peter – two Americans – are the only survivors of a plane crash in the Australian outback. In this scene Mary and Peter finally meet another human being. They are terrified – especially Mary. The girl’s first impulse was to grab Peter and run. But as her eyes examined the stranger, her fear died away. The boy was young – surely not older than she was. He did not carry a weapon, and he looked more inquisitive than threatening. The desert sun burned down on them. The three children stood looking at each other in the middle of the Australian desert. Motionless as rocks they stared, and stared, and stared. Between them the distance was less than the length of an arm, but more than 100,000 years. Brother and sister had been fed pre-digested foods, provided with continuous push-button entertainment. The basic realities of life were something they’d never had to worry about. It was very different with the Aboriginal. He knew what reality was. Among the secret water holes of the Australian desert his people had lived and died, unchanging. They walked from one water hole to the next. Their lives were simple because they were devoted to one purpose, dedicated to fighting one battle – the battle with death. Mary had decided not to move. To move would be a sign of weakness. She remembered a story about a man who had come face to face with a lion and had stared it down until it had quietly slunk away. That was what she’d do to the black boy; she’d stare at him until he felt the shame of his nakedness and slunk off. Peter had decided to follow his sister’s strategy. He held her hand and stood waiting – waiting for something to happen. The Aboriginal was in no hurry. Time meant nothing to him. His next meal – the rock wallaby he had killed – was a sure thing. Tomorrow was also a day. For the moment, he was happy simply to examine these strange creatures. Their strange movements intrigued him; their lack of weapons told him how harmless they were. His eyes moved slowly, from one to another, examining them from head to foot. They were the first white people a member of his tribe had ever seen. Mary began to dislike this examination more and more. She intensified her stare. But the bush boy did not care; the examination continued. After a while Peter started to fidget. The delay was making him nervous. He wished someone would do something, wished something would happen. Then, he himself started a new train of events. His head began to waggle, as he raised his nose to the sky; he tried to hold his breath, but he could not. It had to come. He sneezed. It was a big sneeze for such a little boy, all the more violent for having been held back for so long. To his sister, the sneeze was a disaster. She had just intensified her stare to the point of winning when suddenly the spell was broken. The bush boy’s attention went from Mary to Peter. There was no time to show her brother how angry she was with him. Because before she could react, a second sneeze, even stronger than the first, broke the silence of the bush. Mary raised her eyes to the heavens, wondering how the gods could have allowed this to happen. But the force of the second sneeze could still be felt when a new sound made her whirl around – a gust of laughter, melodious laughter: low at first, then becoming louder, uncontrolled. She looked at the bush boy in amazement. His laughter was out of control, and infectious. It woke in Peter an instant reaction: an appreciation of the ludicrous. The guilt that the little boy had started to feel died away. At first shyly, then with no holding back, he too started to laugh. The distance of 100,000 years disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. (From: James Vance Marshall, Walkabout; adapted and abridged) b) Look at the text again and underline phrases which show the differences between Mary and Peter and the Aboriginal boy. 1 c34–35 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 120 Australia Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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