Sometimes, when you’re young, you may not be completely aware of the lengths people will stretch themselves to, to ensure your safety. Sometimes, you do not see the time and effort they went to, to create something as simple as a wooden fish on a leather thong. Sometimes, it’s a life’s work to get out one hundred or so simple pages just to keep people happy.

It was many hours later Solway had been dropped off at the apartments. She had called the police whilst perched on Jenny’s lap as they headed up the highway, which was slightly amusing but not at the same time, and the conversation with Search and Rescue was ongoing as she’d quietly thanked Jenny and Ronald for their help (they really could not help any more than they had), retrieved the spare key from under the dead pot plant, gone inside, noticed how empty the place seemed without Bart there, and sat down.

The police and the follow up call to Search and Rescue had not been particularly helpful, the woman asking if Bart was in imminent danger, exposed to the elements or anything else that required spending a great deal of the state’s money to save someone who possibly didn’t need rescuing. 

Solway had answered honestly with “I don’t think so” to the majority of the questions although, she said angrily to the operator on the other end, how the hell would she know when it could be possible Bart was in imminent danger of being drowned by a large creek that had not been particularly large when they’d first got there.

The operator went on to say it could possibly be a situation where he needed airlifting, and did Solway think airlifting someone out of a possibly not too bad situation was worth paying for from the state’s coffers, even if the helicopter pilots might think it could be a lot of fun and keep them entertained.

The last part of the operator’s statement had Solway wondering if perhaps the operator had a partner who flew helicopters and liked to be entertained, but she did not ask as it didn’t appear pertinent to what she was asking. The next question Solway asked was this…

‘So, you are not going to help me then.’ It may have been rhetorical.

‘That’s not what I said,’ the operator replied in a very calm voice. ‘I am just explaining the logistics of organising your rescue party, when it is highly likely you could possibly do more, and do it faster, from your end rather than relying on us.’

‘I see.’ Solway said and even to her own ears her voice sounded kind of dead. ‘Thanks for your help. Do you have any suggestions?’

‘Unfortunately, as I do not know the full situation of your partner at this current point in time, it is not…. Oh buggerit. Look. If I were you, I’d see if I can get someone who could at least tow the vehicle back to the main road, see if you can get the flat replaced, and you guys would be on your way.’

‘That’s not quite as easy as you think it is,’ Solway replied, thinking of the extremely sandy track, the extremely gravelly, and not in a good way, track, and the extremely winding track they had first gone down which had lots of trees in the way.

‘It’s all I can offer you, and I shouldn’t even be saying that,’ replied the operator. ‘Listen, luv, I’m sorry I can’t help you, but unless this is an emergency situation, our hands are tied. I wish you the best of luck, and I’ve written down both your names and it’s in the system now, so if anything else occurs, call us back and we’ll know what to do.’

‘Thanks,’ Solway said because she couldn’t think of much else to say. ‘I appreciate your time.’ Before the operator could say anything else, she hung up and sat on the couch in the living room watching the empty screen of the TV for a very long time.

Then she headed for the shower. The warm water pelting her head made her feel guilty.

A little thought trembled into the side of her mind that she should possibly not feel too guilty because after all she had done all the hard work of walking all the way until she’d found those people, and been given a lift home through sheer kindness alone, but she was here, and Bart was somewhere three hours south in the middle of the first autumn storm for the year, and it just didn’t seem right.

And now night had fallen, and there was nothing sensible she could do until the morning. The only thing Solway could think of doing was start making lists of all the people she knew, explain the situation as best she could, and hope that someone had the right gear and vehicles to get Bart back on the road.

She did not think she’d be getting much sleep at all.

______________o______________

Bart happened to be playing charades with a see-through lizard, who had decided to reduce its size and sit on the outside of the tented end of the swag because they had both noticed if it sat on the inside, things tended to get wet (including Bart, because the swag was not particularly big).

The lizard kind of reminded him of a picture he had once seen of the first creature that had apparently left the ocean and crawled onto the land. He wondered if that had been see-through as well.

Probably not quite as see through as I am now, the lizard thought very clearly at him, and I am thinking very clearly I think because this is just a little part of me The rest of me has flown around the world a couple of times to check on people who think they may need to laugh a bit more, and I am finding that I have learnt a lot of different languages to/for/night day and do not yet have the ability to make full stops which I believe were only invented so people could take a breath between thoughts which is something I don’t need to do

The game of charades the lizard had decided to play with him had something to do with Solway. It was highly likely the lizard had looked at Solway’s name inside Bart’s head and decided, seeing as they were speaking English and not any other language at this particular moment… had decided Solway’s name meant Sun walk – which it didn’t, but Bart didn’t have the heart to hurt the lizard’s feelings.

The idea of “sun walk” had appeared as a vision between them, and it had indeed taken Bart a little while to figure out what, or who, the hell the lizard meant, especially after it deposited a pair of very large imaginary rose-coloured sunglasses on his lap.

But, he’d got there eventually.

Now, the lizard was showing him a box of round chocolates covered in gold wrapping and putting them next to the sunwalk and, if the lizard could look at him inquiringly with its very large, completely round, golden eyes, Bart supposed that was exactly what it was doing. It also began to purr again, which made his boots vibrate at the edge of the tent.

He wondered if he should ask the lizard to stop doing that, because it did not appear to be doing the ground they were sitting on any favours whatsoever. He frowned.

The lizard looked at the ground, which was wobbling, widened its eyes even more if that were at all possible, and levitated almost exactly ten centimetres (if Bart had a ruler he’d have measured it, but was somehow assured that was the height and he shouldn’t be arguing), then showed him, once again, the vision of the sunwalk and the clear box of round chocolates.

The lizard added two little stick arms. One from the chocolates, and one from the sunwalk, which had somehow turned into a golden pathway. They joined together, little stick fingers intertwining.

Bart shook his head.

The lizard added what looked like a tiny penis to the bottom of the chocolates and looked at him again.

‘I know what the chocolates are. They’re Ferros’,’ Bart said. ‘Oh! I think I’ve got it. You are talking about Solway’s brother.’ He clapped his hands.

Solway’s brother was not named Ferro. Bart snorted. He also probably wouldn’t appreciate being portrayed as a box of delicious chocolates. What the lizard had portrayed was that Solway’s brother was completely opposite to his sister in colouring, and had dark brown eyes instead of blue. His hair was also very dark, whereas Solway’s was very blonde. If the brother and sister could be complete opposites in the way they looked, Bart supposed to the lizard’s mind, this was how it seemed. Sunshine and Chocolate. For some reason, this brought tears to Bart’s eyes. 

Solway and her brother had not spoken since shortly after Solway had met Bart and, he thought, he might be the reason for that.

The lizard put one of the imaginary chocolates in its mouth and smiled.

‘I see,’ said Bart, although he didn’t, not really. ‘Oh, no, now I get it, you think Solway’s brother has something else going on, right?’

The lizard’s smile grew wider.

‘Okay. Well. Are you trying to tell me now is the time Solway should be talking to her brother?’

The lizard stood up from its levitating, jumped up and down, and ran inside the swag.

‘Oh no,’ said Bart, thinking everything would get completely soaked.

It didn’t get completely soaked because, apparently, the lizard had thought all about that and decided to wear a plastic poncho, which had not been on it before, and had hung it up just outside the doorway, which had definitely not happened as far as Bart could tell, yet apparently now it had, and the lizard had decided to change itself to look quite a lot like Solway, and that was extremely disconcerting because it had not remembered to wear any clothes.

Bart did not know quite what to say, and decided, at least for the time being, it would be safer not to say very much at all. He searched around with one hand for his beanie, and pulled it completely over his head, and his face, and all the way down to his chin.

Phew, he thought. That’s much better.

Liar, thought the lizard.

~~~~~~,~’~~~~~.~’~~80>