"I think we should start walking back," I said, surprised either of them heard me over their discussion. Angus and Phil looked at me, then at each other, then at me. "If we can't get a ride back to Sydney then we'll have to walk. On the way back we can look around for Bon."

"Walk?" Angus asked. "When ya' haven't eaten since last night?" He looked very unsure of it all and folded his hands together. "I don't know..."

"I'll be okay," I said, not knowing for sure if I'd be okay to make the journey or not. But it wasn't me they should be worried about. "What else can we do?"

"It's a long way back," Phil said. "An' then we gotta walk downtown to make it to the interview."

"Which is why we should start now," I said. "If we stick around town looking, it'll be hours before we get back home." I wasn't sure my idea was the smartest but it was something. The only other thing I could think of was finding a policeman and asking him for a ride. "Or we get a police officer out here to take us back and look for Bon."

"We really don't need the police involved," Phil said. "Not yet." A rickety old car drove down our street slowly, like the driver was looking for something. The windows were tinted and loud music played from the radio. The bumper was seconds away from falling off and the paint was badly in need of a touch up. None of us gave the car any attention, hoping they'd pass right by. They did, but it was slow and unnerving. "Maybe we do," Phil muttered, watching the creepy car turn a corner. 

Angus stood from the stoop with his water and checked his watch. "She's got a point, ya' know," he said. "If we start our way back, maybe look for any one we know, we can make it back before dark."

"Alright," Phil said, seeing there was nothing else to do. "An' if things get bad, then we get the cops."

"You're sure you can make it?" Angus asked, checking me over. I felt much better but that didn't mean I wouldn't cook in the sun while we walked. My water was still pretty full and if I rationed it out, it'd last me a while. 

"I'll sure as hell try," I said. "And no splitting up." We didn't need to end up on national news after getting killed by some maniac like in the horror films. 

"Aye aye, captain," Angus smiled as we started back down the street. While running from the angry bus driver we failed to see which neighborhood we stampeded into. Of all the friendly neighborhoods in the area, this was not one of them. No gardens, no living things aside from rats. Blinds were pulled shut and the wind blew stray garbage around. Not even any festive Christmas decorations. Chills ran down my spine and I tried not to let my imagination wander.

"We'll start at the bus stop," Phil said, keeping his eyes open for it. There were plenty of signs for crosswalks and school zones but none for buses. "Take the road south an' hope for the best."

"Should we find a map?" Angus asked. Instead of answering Phil looked down every corner for a street with a bus stop. Finally we found a scratched up yellow sign next to a bench. "Is this the right one?"

"Should be," Phil said, looking it over. "Hard to tell, we left in such a hurry."

There was a tiny map on the glass of the booth surrounding the bench. I went to check it out but felt helpless about it. Reading maps wasn't my strong suit. Angus looked it over with me and put his finger on one spot. "That's us," he said. "South is this way. So..."

Phil joined us and traced his finger down the paths. There looked to be a park nearby and also a school. Bon probably wouldn't be in either of those places. "Does Bon have any other friends that could be in the area?" I asked.

"We could try a pub," Phil said. "They might at least know who he is."

"There's one a few streets down," Angus said, pointing in some direction. "Maybe they have a phone we can actually use."

**********

Now this bar was sketch.

The only tables in there were all crowded in the shadows with clouds of smoke hovering over them. I couldn't see any of the patrons sitting around them and maybe it was for the best. The bartender was drying off a glass before setting it down and reaching behind the counter for a bottle of beer, opening it. Phil and Angus approached the man no problem but I lagged behind as I took in my surroundings. No one was speaking. The radio was very quiet and most of the action was where the pool table was, balls clacking against each other. It felt like all eyes were on us.

"'Scuze us," Phil said to the bartender. At least this man looked kind despite his untidy appearance. "Ya' have a phone we can use?"

"One that doesn't need change?" Angus added. The bartender considered all three of us and started laughing. 

"Yeah, I got a phone, alright," he said before reaching behind the counter again. If I thought the rotary phones of the seventies were fascinating, it was nothing compared to the living fossil from the twenties. A black candlestick model with a gossamer hanging off the mouth piece. Wiping his hands on the phone, ridding it of any dust, the man passed it across the counter toward us. A long wire trailed behind it like a snake. "You just plug this little lady in and make your call."

"Uh...thanks," Phil said, lifting the telephone off the counter. We looked around for a place to plug it in. There was an outlet hanging from an extension cord, and that cord was hanging from something on the ceiling. Probably for the bar lights. Not that they used any of them. Phil forced the plug into the outlet and it put up a fight. All eyes were on us now for sure. Angus took the phone from him so he could use two hands to shove it in. "If this starts a fire..." Phil muttered. 

"Have enough material for your notebook?" Angus asked me, trying to smile through the pain. The phone must have been heavy and I helped him support it. After plugging the phone in, Phil picked up the mouth piece and turned the dial. It chattered louder than the pool balls and interrupted their game.

To everyone's surprise, it actually rang. 

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was warped and garbled. Like they were speaking through a ball of tin foil. 

"Who am I talkin' to?" Phil asked. 

"Phil, where are you?" the voice said. "They're all askin' for us an' we don't know what to tell 'em." 

"I think it's Cliff," Phil whispered to us. He turned back to the phone. "We're out of town at the minute," he said. "Bon wasn't in his room so we're lookin' for him."

"They're not happy with us," Cliff said. "Ya' know, they got Mal cornered an' he's pretty upset. They said they could reschedule us but we know we can't."

"Has Bon called at all?" Phil asked then shook the mouth piece in disgust as a tiny spider fell out of it onto the floor. He took the phone from Angus and I and we let our arms rest. "Has the bastard explained himself?"

"No, we haven't heard from him all day." There was some warbled yelling in the background. "Mal's gettin' worried. This isn't like him."

"No, it's not," Phil said. "We found a pub to ask around...ya' know, if anyone's seen him." There was some muttering from the pool table and I turned to see the men looking right at us. "Thought maybe he had a friend around here."

"Bon's got friends stashed all over the globe," Cliff said. "There's gotta be someone."

"They still up for the interview?" Phil asked. Angus went to the back of the bar where the restrooms were. 

"They are," Cliff said. "But they're givin' us a cutoff. They'll go for seven at the latest an' if someone isn't here to talk to, they're leavin'."

"Think you an' Mal are up for it?" Phil asked. "In case we don't make it back?"

"We can do it, sure," Cliff said. "But I know they were hopin' Ang an' Bon would be here. They're the ones they want, ya' know?" My heart snapped like a twig. Phil smiled at me.

"That's usually the case," he said, winking at me. Unfortunately, they were right. Phil and Cliff never seemed to mind but interviewers and photographers and what have you surrounded Angus and Bon and the others were usually left behind. Those big shots downtown were going to settle for who they had and they were gonna like it or my name wasn't Hannah Ruth. "We'll keep lookin'. If you guys see Bon first, go ahead an' do the interview, don't worry about us."

"We're gonna wait out front," Cliff said. "See if Bon comes up. That'll let everyone else get some work done an' get 'em off Mal's case."

"Mal's a trooper," Phil said. 

"Oh," Cliff said then there was some silence. "Mal wants to talk to ya'."

"Put him on," Phil said, switching the phone and mouth piece to opposite hands. "Hi, Mal."

"Phil, what the fuck's goin' on?" Malcolm yelled and Phil broke into a smile and tried not to laugh. A pissed off Malcolm wasn't anything to laugh at but sometimes knowing the circumstances made it a little more merry. "They're all gangin' up on me over here. Not 'cause it's my band, oh no," he huffed. "'Cause I'm Ang's brother an' their star attraction ain't here."

"Is that jealously I smell, Mal?" Phil asked smugly. I could hear Malcolm scoff.

"Fuck no," he said. "I want the little bugger here to get 'em off my back. Put him in the spotlight, question him about the last time he fuckin' wanked himself for God's sake..." Malcolm started muttering to himself and Phil and I laughed. "Who's that with ya'?"

"We got Hannah here," Phil said, looking down at me. "We checked for Bon at the hotel an' Hannah answered the door. She came with us."

"No kiddin', put the doll on," Malcolm said and Phil handed me the spider infested mouth piece and held the heavy telephone to my ear. 

"Hi, Malcolm," I said, trying to ignore the persistent chills the bar gave me. 

"Hi, sweetheart," he said, his voice gentler than before. "Hear there's no luck findin' Bon?"

"Not yet," I said. "We'll be there in a couple hours at the earliest." With or without him as the case might be. 

"Sorry about all this," he said. "We never meant for ya' to get mixed up in our craziness."

"It's okay, it's kind of fun," I said. You know, besides almost passing out after committing a petty crime. "I'm more worried about him than me."

"Eh, I guess," he said. "Yeah, this is pretty....out of character for Bon....hey, where's Ang at, I wanna talk to him." The fire ignited in his voice again. 

"He's in the bathroom," I said and I heard Malcolm drag out a long sigh which put me in a fit of giggles. Right then Angus came back and I motioned him over. "Here he is." I handed him the mouth piece and gave Phil a break from holding the phone. "It's Malcolm."

"Mal," Angus said and Malcolm let out all his frustration in one long sentence without taking a breath. His voice was warped so much on the old phone that none of us even knew what he was saying. The other bar goers heard the commotion and stared at us some more. "Mal, if I could understand you I'd tell ya' to fuck off."

There was a pause. "Sorry, Ang, been a bad day," Malcolm said. "You ever had hoards of people askin' what the trouble is an' when they're gonna get their due an' you don't have an answer?"

"Yeah, actually, I've got a man on the phone right now doin' that same thing," Angus said and I heard Malcolm sigh again. 

"Jus' get over here," Malcolm said. "Maybe we need to call in for help."

"We're on it, Mal, we're gonna look around a bit more an' if we can't find him we'll ask for a professional search," Angus said. "We'll see ya' in a bit."

"Bye then," Malcolm said and he hung up the phone. Angus hung up on our end and helped me hold the telephone while Phil unplugged it, watching for showering sparks. After struggling to wrench it free, he wrapped the cord up in his hand and we carried it back to the bartender who took it with a smile.

"So, you get everything you needed?" the man asked. "Or can I help you with something else?"

Phil nodded over towards the men scattered around the pool table. "I'm gonna go ask around," he said. "Maybe someone here has seen him."

"Be careful," I said without thinking. Angus and I looked at the bartender who was wiping down another glass. "What do we do?"

"Hey," Angus said. "Ya' got any food in this place?" Angus asked. "We can't pay for it an' it's fine if ya' don't. But this one hasn't eaten since last night." I hung my head. I appreciated Ang's concern for my well being but I didn't want to cause this much trouble. I still had my water, after all. 

"Hm. Well I got a...." The man reached under the counter and pulled out a tiny tin. He set in on the counter with a clank. "These are free for paying customers but I can make an exception for your friend there."

"Thank you," I said, taking the tin. The bartender went to help another customer who just walked in and Angus and I examined the tin. "How long do you think this has been sitting back there?"

"I wager a couple months," he said. "At least."

I opened the tin and beheld a small collection of crumbling crackers. They were tiny and square and salt littered the bottom of the tin. It was hardly enough to feed a mouse but it would do. I took one from the tin and set it on my tongue. Along with an explosion of salt and sodium, the crackers were also stale. "Yuck," I whispered.

Angus reached into the tin and took one to try. He made a face as he chewed. "Hm. Yeah, they're all yours, love."

"You're too generous," I said. Phil came back to us and shook his head. 

"Not a single one of 'em know who I'm even talkin' about," he said. "I described him to see if they might have at least seen him but nothin'." 

"Let's get out of here then," Angus sighed. "Start walkin'." With our water bottles, tin of crackers, and discouragement, we left the shadowy pub and squinted from the blinding sun. I ate another cracker out of habit and kept myself from over indulging. The more salty crackers I ate the thirstier I'd get and my water would be gone before I knew it. "This way then?"

As we started our journey back to Sydney, a voice called from behind us. "Looking for someone?"