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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1546033-Kadachi-man
Rated: 13+ · Short Story · Fantasy · #1546033
A story based on the aboriginal dream time figure the kadachi man.
The two young boys sat staring at the campfire, the flames moved in spasmodic random patterns. Kyle felt as he watched them that there was some sort of order or rythm to it, but it seemed to be just out of reach as though it was brushing on the outer edge of his consciousness.
"You ever heard of the Kadachi man?" said Kyle.
"Nah, what's that?" replied Jake not particularly interested but putting enough enthusiasm in his voice to fake it.
"Well he's supposed to be this aboriginal witch doctor guy, and if he points a bone at you then you just stop eating and freak out and die."
"Sounds great, he must be the real life of the party. I think I'll invite him to me next corroboree." Jake replied with only a slight hint of sarcasm.
"Nah it's for real ay. Apparently there was this black fella in the Isa who raped a young girl and word got out that the Kadachi man was heading to town to sort him out. Half the black fellas in town headed bush to hide from him. They were all runnin' around`screamin "Featherfoot comin' Featherfoot comin" You see he has feathers tied to his feet to cover his tracks. Anyway sure enough he must have got to him because he just stopped eating and died. They say he was literrally scared to death." Kyle stared seriously at Jake waiting for some kind of response.
Lucky we ain't black fellas then ay!"
"Yeah I guess" said Kyle although he didn't sound to convinced. "Anyway I'm gonna hit the sack I'm shattered. Catch ya in the mornin'"
"Yep see ya then" and jake wandered off to his tent with a yawn.
Jake and kyle were sitting close to the fire trying to warm up against the morning chill, jake had thrown a couple of logs and a splash of petrol on it and managed to resurect it close to it's glory of the night before. The flames in the light of day had somehow lost their mystery and  now only served as a useful way of heating up their breakfast.
"Do you see that over there" Jake said suddenly and pointed over to a stand of trees in the distance.
"Nuh, where" replied Kyle.
"Over there near those trees" Jake prodded his finger at the air as if this would somehow help to clarify the situation.
Kyle scanned the area then stopped as his eyes locked onto what looked like a man running towards them.
"He's coming straight at us, what should we do" Kyle said sounding a little anxious.
"Just let him come, if he starts anything we'll crack him with a stick or something" Jake said matter of factly like it was standard procedure for anyone in their situation.
As the figure came nearer they could see he looked panicked and was running frantically, half tripping and looking back over his shoulder as if being chased. 
The man was now close enough they could hear his voice he was`screaming hystercally "Help! He's gonna get me. Featherfoot he's after me."
Kyle's blood seemed to freeze in his veins and a cold feeling of dread came over him. He looked at Jake who was just staring and shaking his head. "No way, you've got to be kidding"
They could see now that the man was an aboriginal and that he looked as mad as a rabid dog. He seemed to run faster as he got closer to the boys, who were now slowly backing away. As he was almost upon them he made a final lunge and collapsed on the ground near the campfire.

The boys didn't say anything for a while as they stared at the figure on the ground. "Is he dead?" Kyle whispered.
"No, I can see his chest moving"
"What should we do with him" Kyle hoped Jake had a plan because he didn't have a clue.
"I don't know. Let's just wait and see if he wakes up"

So they just sat and stared at the motionless man wondering what the hell they were going to do when he woke up, or worse still when whatever was chasing him caught up.

The sun scribed it's way across the blue dome of the sky and now sat directly above them.
"It's getting hot ay. Ya reckon we should move him?" Kyle said.
"Yeah I suppose, don't want him gettin' sunburn ay" Jake replied with a slight hint of humour in his voice.
"Can black fella's get sunburn" Kyle asked looking quizzicly at Jake.
"Nah, they just get blacker" both boys looked at each other then laughed, it broke the tension and they felt more relaxed.
"Righto then lets drag him into the shade" said Jake.

They grabbed an arm each and unceremoniously pulled him through the dirt and dropped him below the nearest tree.
Almost instantly the man sat bolt upright with his eyes so wide open they looked as if they were trying to escape from   
his head.

"He comin' He comin'. Featherfoot he gonna get me" he kept repeating the same thing as if it were a mantra. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and hugged them as he rocked back and forth.
The boys tried to calm him down but the man didn't seem to see them, but had his eyes fixed on some intangible point in the distance. 

"No ones comin' to get ya. It's alright, your safe just calm down" Kyle tried to reassure him. It seemed to work and the man turned and looked at him. "It's no good fella, I'm dead. Once Kadachi man's comin for ya, that's it, finished" he sounded less hysterical, almost like he'd resigned himself to his fate and was quite content to wait until it was played out.
"Hey I don't know about this Kadachi man but me and Jake here won't let any one get ya OK" Kyle spoke this as if he almost beleived it and turned to Jake for support. Jake gave him a look as if to say "Good luck with that, your on your own there"
"Righto, tell us about this Kadachi man then. What makes him so scary" Kyle thought that if he got him to talk about it he'd realise he was just being silly.
"Well Kadachi man he part of the dreamtime ay. All blackfellas we part of dreamtime too. See out there trees, hills, rivers, sky, all that, that dreamtime too. See it's all country, we got to look after country. You do something bad then you got to pay. If it really bad then the old fellas have ceremony and call up Kadachi man. That's what they did, now he's comin' for me. White fella don't understand, you too busy making money, you don't even know dreamtime is real"
"I had a dream last night. Dreamed I was the Prime Minister, everyone had to do what I said" Jake said.
" No, dreamtime all the time. Not just when you sleep. When you white fella see things, you see it one thing at a time. All seperate, then you try to fit it together like a jigsaw puzzle, but all the pieces are wrong and you just smile at it like it's good. Blackfella we see everything at once, today, yesterday, the people, animals, seasons, everything. That's dreamtime, different way of lookin' at the world" 

  "Oh yeah kind of like multi skilling." Jake said with a little chuckle.

"What's your name?" Kyle asked.

The man turned and stared at Kyle, his eyes were wide and seemed to dart restlesly about in there sockets. They eventually slowed down and came to rest on Kyle. "They call me Jimmy Jimmy" he answered.
"Why did they have a stutter." Jake retorted, before recieving a scornful look from Kyle.

"Well Jimmy Jimmy what can we do to stop the Kadachi man" Kyle asked.

"Nothing, he's a spirit, once he's been called he keeps going till his job's done"





   
 


 

 





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