Night manoeuvers

I only remember

The general outline

Of the plan

The why and the how

Now

All faint etchings

Worn away with time.

Not even

That much time

But enough

It doesn’t take much

As it

Turns out.

The action

On the other hand

I remember

With perfect clarity.

They were

Private school girls

Who

We knew

Through some twists

And turns

That wouldn’t interest

Anybody

But us.

But we knew them

And they were studying

For their final exams

Of high school

In the middle

Of the bush.

They were staying

At that camp

For the whole week.

An intolerably

Long time

For two boys

To endure.

It was Nathan

It was always Nathan

Who cooked up the plan.

A simple plan

But simple

Can also mean not

Particularly well

Thought through.

“We’ll park

Before the gate”

He said.

“That way

Security

Won’t see us.”

That made

A lot of sense to me.

Why I was

Suddenly

In a position

Where I needed

To dodge security

Was less clear.

Nathan told me

Not to worry

He had

Thought of

Everything.

That sounded right

To me.

So we met

At my place

Dressed ourselves

In all black.

Because that was

What we decided

One did

During

A night

Incursion.

He had plotted

A route

For us

Through two

Kilometres

Of scrub.

That route would,

According to him,

Lead us straight

To the girls.

A tactician

A mastermind

A genius

Of our time

I consented

Without question

To the perfect

Plan.

And so it was

Him and I

In the undergrowth

Adrenaline

Coursing

Evading a

Security force

I wasn’t sure

Existed.

Why would

A study camp

Need such precautions?

Perhaps because

Teenage boys

Were constantly

Absconding

With their students.

I didn’t

Ask these questions

Until much later

And that was a good

Thing

Because it meant

I was living

I was alive

The why

Had been sacrificed

Upon the altar

Of action.

And while I didn’t

Know it then

Eventually

I would stop

Paying worship

At that

Particular

Altar.

I would later

Reflect

That me

No longer

Doing that

Was where

I lost it

If I had

Ever had it

To begin with.

That would come

Much later

Though.

For now it was

Bushland

And a map.

No compass

Just guesswork.

Scratched and

Wet and

Tired

Against all

The odds

We found the camp

Perched at the

Perimeter

Eyes ablaze

Teeth grinning

Amazed at our

Own

Ingenuity.

We had done it.

Incredible.

The camp was

Quiet

The girls

In bed.

It was just us

And the cicadas

And security,

Apparently.

“Now what?”

I asked Nathan

Because he

Was always

The one

With a plan.

“I don’t know”

He said with

A shrug.

“I didn’t think

We’d get this far.”

So that was it.

All that work

That planning

Those deft

Maneuverers

Those black clothes

In service of

An objective

I didn’t even

Understand

Properly

For a goal

I wasn’t

Even sure

I cared about.

And you would think

That I would have learned

From that dampness

From those scratches

From the fatigue

Yet I grew up

And I spent the

Better part

Of my life

Doing the exact

Same

Thing.