KABOOM

A Cracker & Gilly Mystery

Outline

When Cracker and his friends, Trann and Bone, discover an old cache of fireworks in Aunt Marion’s shed they immediately set about detonating them and making as many big bangs as they can…and in their excitement they make a bang that can be heard all the way to the Bay. Immediately they know they are in trouble but what can they do? Hiding the damage, especially when what they’ve blown up is not only Aunt Marion’s jetty but several nearby oyster leases as well, is impossible and the best they can hope for is Aunt Marion’s understanding and if they’re lucky, her forgiveness. It may take them awhile but they may even be able to jimmy up a new jetty without too much trouble…well maybe…

Sitting amidst the debris of their explosion the boys are so engrossed in their design plans for a new jetty they fail to hear an approaching boat and the red faced anger of the man at the helm is more explosive than the fireworks they had set off. In fact, the man’s anger seems extreme considering it’s not his jetty they blew to smitherines. But with dawning horror they realize that he may very well be the owner of the oyster leases.

They wait for him to disembark and march them up to Aunt Marion and demand all kinds of adult explanations but instead he stays in his boat and when he’s finished his tirade – one the boys know they deserve – he guns his boat and zooms off…and it’s only after he is gone that his parting words sink in. Tell that crazy old hag that if she thinks she can intimidate him then she can think again. It will take more than a bunch of scrawny kids with a bucket of two-bit fireworks to scare the Great Exploder…and to tell their crazy aunt if she opens her big mouth then he will shut her up once and for all.

Gilly and Steph find the boys sitting on the riverbank looking more than a little disconsolate. And as usual it is the girls who take charge. They lead the way back to the shed where the boys found the fireworks and discover a treasure trove of paraphilia, and the boys immediately become engrossed in all the bits and pieces of interesting stuff in the shed, half of which they haven’t got a clue what to do with, but know their parents would call antiques.

The mystery…

Gilly isn’t interested in the gadgets and gizmos the boys have found. Her gaze goes immediately to the bunch of old newspapers and Woman’s Weekly’s from the 1970s. As she scans the collection she notices they are in date order and the dates span exactly one year. But when she finds a photo wedged amongst the collection she gasps aloud and everyone stops their rummaging to see what she’s found…she is holding what looks like a faded photo of Aunt Marion and a man called Davo, the photo is in sepia, and it’s Steph who identifies what Aunt Marion is wearing…a wedding dress of the olden days variety. She explains that back in the olden days women were feminists and didn’t wear white wedding dresses…they wore other stuff…but it’s definitely a wedding photo because of the way Aunt Marion and Davo are holding hands, with the camera focusing on their hands, and the gooey looks on their faces… which was odd, because as far as the children knew Aunt Marion was their crazy old aunt of the spinster variety.

What happened that turned Aunt Marion into a hermit? And where was this mystery man, Davo? Why had their parents never mentioned him? And why had the man down at the jetty been so very very angry?

Most intriguing of all is why did The Exploder think that Aunt Marion was trying to intimidate him? Anger at the mess Cracker and his team had made was understandable but to accuse Aunt Marion of anything as ludicrous as intimidation just didn’t make any sense.

Who is the Great Exploder and why is he so angry at their Aunt

STORYLINE

There was an event in the 1970s that had something to do with a fireworks accident. Aunt Marion’s Davo turns out to be a pyro-technician and he used to choreograph fireworks shows for big events all round Australia. When he came to Bateman’s Bay to do a big show (???) he fell in love with Aunt Marion but there were also shady dealings and someone was killed in an accident when the fireworks display went horribly wrong. After the accident Davo disappeared and everyone always thought he was guilty…especially when it comes to light that a huge sum of money was stolen from the local bank at the same time as the fireworks accident.

As punishment the boys have to build a new jetty and when a fair comes to town the boys hang around the boy who helps with the fireworks display and they learn about how to choreograph a fireworks show – they also learn about the rigorous training pyro-technicians have to go through and the safety considerations. They also realize that all the interesting gizmos and gadgets in Aunt Marion’s shed must have belonged to Davo and his fireworks displays…

Soon they start to ask questions about how Davo could have caused such an bad accident if he was so good…and they start to wonder about the man and the boat and his crazy threats to Aunt Marion…could the man know about Aunt Marion and Davo all those years ago…and why did he warn her to stay silent? Worse, what if she was in danger…

Meanwhile, Gilly is at work on the newspapers and magazines. And slowly she pieces together a story that proves Davo’s innocence…which means the real killer is still at large…

Soon, they are asking about the Great Exploder and how he managed to get enough money together to start his oyster lease business…was it him who stole the money and blamed Davo …

The mystery deepens…