It's quite a relief when Mario
finally arrives and the routine's broken. He's a lively one and
comes out screaming and kicking. I kick up a bit of a fuss as well.
When Mario turns out to be a girl, we call him Maria for a day or
two then his name changes to Josey Elizabeth, shortened very
quickly to Izzy. The cicadas start singing the very day she's born
so we decide to celebrate her birthday that day every year. It's
much more fun than trying to remember a date. Dr Florence doesn't
really approve.
Once my stitches have healed
and I look like I'm coping, Janice and River take Dr Florence to
Zwingly for a couple of weeks as a way of thanking her. Janice
arrives back looking very pleased with herself.
'Yes,' she says, punching the
air, 'I win! She's finally chilled. She's going to be staying in my
beach house for a while.'
30
Luckily the school holidays
start soon after Izzy is born and we don't have to go anywhere or
do anything apart from what is needed to feed us and keep the
household ticking over. We spend a lot of time in the garden,
planting and weeding. They say many hands make light work but it
doesn't seem to work like that with my kids. If I'm spending time
with Nelly or Lilly, showing them how to plant corn or weed around
the radishes, Vinny will be pulling up all the carrot seedling or
burying the pumpkins and if I stop to give Izzy a feed, the others
start fighting. Sometimes I wonder if we're best just to stay in
and watch movies and buy all our food from the shops. It would
certainly save Groucho Mum from yelling at the kids every two
minutes.
It's great having Annie and
Janice about but I could really do with some support, like a father
for the kids or some grandparents, three or four of them would do
just nicely.
The summer passes in a blur of
pooey bottoms and stubbed toes. I wonder if our clouds have taken a
holiday because we have hot, hazy, cloudless days for weeks on end.
Finally on the day that Nelly goes back to school at the beginning
of September, the weather breaks. The clouds pile up on top of each
other forming angry thunderheads that grumble and complain, sending
down torrential rain that floods the streams and turns the sea
muddy brown.
I want to start kung fu again
and get myself back in shape but there's just no way I can leave
the kids for that long. Tat comes to see me.
'Emily, we're starting
tomorrow.'
'But I can't, I can't leave the
kids.'
'I'll be here mid-morning
tomorrow,' he says firmly, and is gone.
He's not listening. He doesn't
understand what a mum has to do.
Sure enough, he turns up next
morning. 'Are you ready then?' he asks cheerfully.
'No, I'm not. I don't have a
babysitter.'
It's so frustrating when people
don't listen.
'You don't need a babysitter;
we're all doing kung fu.'
And we do. I'm not sure if we
should be teaching the kids to fight but they love it. I don't know
if I would go as far as call my kids Zen, but they're certainly
becoming a bit more relaxed.
'Tat,' I say. 'You're wasted
sitting up the hill in your shack; you should be teaching all the
kids kung fu.'
'I was thinking the same
myself. I've done enough thinking for a while.'
'You can build a hut up on the
bluff if you like.'
'Thanks, I'd love that,' says
Tat, resting his hand on my shoulder.
He builds a rough shack tucked
out of sight up on the bluff. Negrita lives with him, I think she
finds me and my kids too much. If I walk up there in the mornings
he's often meditating or practicing his kung fu. He spars with Enzo
and we sit on the edge of the cliff drinking green tea and trying
to spot whales.
Sometimes he attacks me, coming
out of nowhere and taking me by surprise.
'You must be more aware,' he
says. 'That'll give you the element of surprise against your hidden
attacker.'
'How?' I ask. 'I can't see
you.'
'You must feel.'
If I try to
feel, all I sense is the dull ache of my heart. Tat blindfolds me
and has me walk to my cottage and back. I trip over and skin my
knees and get lost in the sugar cane but eventually start to
feel
, to sense the energy and emotion of each living thing. The
kids think it's a great game and we all walk around blindfolded
bumping into things.
Tat sets up a kung fu school
and becomes a teacher. It's great because he spends a lot of time
with us. He's like a good natured granddad to the kids.
Lilly and River become
ballerinas. They scoot over to Kastela in their leotards with their
hair piled up in neat bunches on top of their heads. The teacher,
Madame Snowball is really strict and throws all us mum's out so we
can't peek. The end of year production in the town hall is
wonderful. Our little ones are clouds floating across the stage,
but crash together and fall over. It's just too cute; it's the
payoff for the four years of hard work it took to get them
here.
Time is speeding up, I'm sure
it is. They say it goes faster, the older you get. Nelly turns six,
we have Jesus's birthday, new Christmas comes and goes, my birthday
flashes by, and before we know it; it's spring. We decorate the
house with cherry blossoms for Lilly's fifth birthday. She gets a
pink tutu and we shower her with petals as she pirouettes about the
place, spinning round and round until she gets wobbly and falls
over.
River Star turns five a few
weeks later and suddenly life gets a little easier with me and
Janice sharing the school runs. With just four kids, the house
seems empty during the day.
31
'Backgammon?' asks Castor. 'We
haven't played in ages.'
'Maybe in my old age, Castor. I
just don't have time. I'm a frazzled housewife, can't you see?' I
say.
'You could drop by and say
hi.'
'I'm too busy, there's the
school run, soccer, ballet, laundry, cooking and I have a baby, if
you hadn't noticed,' I rant.
'We'd like to see you,' says
Castor calmly.
I must go and
see them. My life has become so kiddicentric that I've forgotten
about my friends. When I've fed Izzy and she's having her siesta,
Annie babysits while
I go
visiting.
I see Pollux first.
'Long time, no see,' he
says.
'How long,' I ask, my sense of
time having gone out the window long ago.
'Too long,' he says. 'It's over
a year.'
'Life's got busy.'
'I can see. You should get a
husband.'
'I wish,' I say, rolling my
eyes skyward. My heart gives a pang.
'You're doing a great job, all
three of you. You have wonderful kids.'
'Thank you,' I say, giving him
a kiss and zipping across to see Castor.
I give Castor a big kiss.
'It's lovely to see you,' he
says. 'You really must visit more often and do bring the kids. We
love kids.'
I feel guilty. I really should
have been up more often. They haven't even seen Izzy yet. I blame
the kids. They're like a black hole that sucks my energy. I can't
even think straight any more. I've got a brain like a
goldfish.
Castor looks worried.
'What's up?' I ask.
'Earth,' he says.
Earth, I haven't spared it a
thought. They're all praying away madly in their churches and
mosques looking for guidance from me, and I'm up to my elbows in
poo and dirty dishes. Don't they realise. It's tricky being a
mum.
'Earth?' I ask.
'Things have changed. There's
been a subtle shift. The air of optimism has gone. The weather has
turned nasty, there's natural disasters and there's regional
conflicts that threaten to turn into wars. People are dying.'
'Why?'
'We don't know.'
'What about Petra and her
book?'
'Don't know, can't see.'
'Fat lot of use you are,' I say
grumpily.
Castor looks really hurt.
Oops. 'So sorry Castor,' I say.
'I didn't mean it badly, I'm just out of sorts.' I give him a peck
on the cheek.
He brightens up immediately. If
only all of life's woes were so easy to fix.
'What about Shade?' I ask. 'He
looked like someone going places. Is he running the place
yet?'
'No,' says Castor. 'He has
completely disappeared. He went off the radar a year ago. It's very
strange because people don't just disappear, we know. He was on
luxury yacht in Hvar when he disappeared; literally, just vanished
into thin air. People don't do that.'
'I do,' I say, clicking my
fingers.
Click!
32
I'm back in my cottage.
It's not only me that can
teleport. I told Annie and Janice that Zeus gave me special powers,
that's stopped them trying, but you can't pull wool over the kids'
eyes so easily.
Blip!
Nelly, Lilly and River tumble
on to the floor in their maroon and dark green school
uniforms.
'Where's Janice,' I ask, when
I've got over the surprise.
'She never turned up,' says
Nelly.
Sounds like Janice. She gets
side-tracked, she's lovely but sometimes it's like she's in her own
little bubble. She'll meet someone and they'll fall in love or go
and make music and she'll forget all about everything else, like
River Star and my kids.
Nelly throws down her school
bag, grabs a hand of bananas off the bench, gives me a quick kiss,
then taking Lilly and River by the hand, says, 'See you later,
Mum,' and disappears.
'Castor, where are they?' I
demand.
'Give me a moment,' he says.
'Oh no! They're on Kojiki, the Jurassic asteroid.'
I grab the photon canon out of
the wardrobe and, taking Annie by the hand, teleport.
Blip!
Sploop!
We are up to
our armpits in mud and goop in a primeval swamp. It's really noisy,
there's whistles and hoots and chirping. Big whistles and big
hoots. Massive trees tower overhead, blocking out the sunshine,
just a few beams breaking through the
canopy and slicing down through the twilight. Bats flicker
through the shafts of light, making ear-spitting whistles as they
swoop down at us, claws at the ready.
I grab a palm fond and
pull Annie and me clear. We wriggle out of the mud and dive into
the safety of some roots. I blast a couple of bats. The others
retreat making harsh screeches.
'Heeelp,' whispers Annie.
There's a giant centipede
crawling up her neck. I stab it with my fang. Then we dance around
like mad things, screaming and trying to stomp on the other ones.
We're in their nest. We scramble out into the open and bat each
other to get rid of the centipedes then run through the jungle,
pushing our way through giant ferns and bouncing across beds of
moss. There's creatures nearby, I can sense them. It's so scary. We
need to find the kids and get out of here.
We run out into a clearing,
blinking as we try to see in the bright sunlight.
'Help me, Castor,' I yell. 'Get
the moons to help.'
'Sorry Em, I can't. Part of the
attraction of Kojiki is the risk. That's why it's so popular. Once
you are there, you're on your own. Tourists pay a fortune to be
allowed on the ground like you are.'
'Where are my kids?'
'I'm sorry, they won't tell
me.'
A string of bubbles
appear hovering around the tree tops. Tourists peer down at us
taking photos.
Word is out that we're on the
ground. We're probably being shown live on reality TV across half
of the universe. A moon passes slowly overhead.
'Don't mess with my kids,' I
yell in its direction, and shoot it down.
I turn the power down a
bit and point the canon at the tourist bubbles. 'Gunkai,' I snarl,
firing some warning shots. A couple of bubbles crash to the ground;
sending the rest of them scurrying quickly out of view.
'Gunkai?' asks Annie.
'Eff-off in Chinese.'
I hear distant squawking
and look up to see pterodactyls circling high overhead. A few break
formation and dive down at us. I blast them and they crash flaming
to the ground. Raptors run out of the jungle and start fighting
over the carcasses. More pterodactyls dive down uttering harsh
squawks as they swoop at us. We run. I blast at everything that
moves. Every toothy monster on the asteroid seems to be homing in
on the action. There's tourist bubbles all around, trying to stay
out of sight behind the trees. It's like a movie I once saw with
all the Romans sitting in an arena watching the Christians battling
with tigers and armoured giants with maces. Unfortunately we’re the
ones about to get eaten.
'Gunkai,' I shout, blasting at
them. I don't miss.
'Peel!' shouts Annie.
'Peel?'
'Yes peel. Bananas!' she yells,
pointing to the ground.
The kids can't be far
away.
'Nelly,' I yell.
Whooph!
I get knocked flying by a
raptor. It spins around and pounces on me, swinging its razor sharp
claws.
Blam!
It gets blasted out the way.
Annie appears out of the smoke holding the canon. She helps me to
my feet. There's blood all down my side, my arm has been slashed
open. Trying to hold the wound shut with my other hand, we keep
running, Annie blasting anything that comes near.