Ultimate Justice (19 page)

“The whole
universe
is not a fair place. Unfair things happen all the time. I guess you could question why God made it that way, but I don't believe working out whether we should blame God or not gets us anywhere. The question I ask is, ‘Is God trying to do something to make things fairer?' and, in my opinion, the answer to that is definitely yes.”

“But things keep going wrong.”

“They do. And the Creator keeps working to build people up again. But not everyone lets Him. That's the main problem. That was
my
problem. But now I see over and over again how God finds a way through. Another question to ask is, ‘Does God think things are fair when they aren't?' I am sure He doesn't any more than we do. He knows exactly how unjust they are – and wants to change them. And He can, if we let Him; and He can't if we don't.”

“Like finding this doctor to make you better?”

“Maybe. But he has already given me all I need. I already have so much more than most people. Of course I want to see again, properly, but the doctors can't really do that yet. This procedure is very much in it's infancy.”

“So what are you going to do?” asked Mr Bandi.

“Phone the doctor from here, if I may, and tell him I'll sleep on it.”

“A very good idea,” stated Mr Bandi. “Big decisions should never be made in a hurry.”

***

It might not have been more than mid-afternoon when Jack and Jalli reached their white gate but they were tired. It had been an emotional day.

“What an exciting time we've had,” said Jalli. “Wonder what the weather's doing in Woodglade?”

They stepped through and were immediately conscious of the sweet gentle Joh air… and Kakko and Shaun sitting on the garden bench.

“Wow! Cool shorts, Mum,” said Kakko.

“Yeah,” agreed Shaun. “Bet that turned them all on in… where was it you went?”

“It did,” said Jack, “and we're tired. Move up.” He and Jalli sank down on the bench between their children.

“So what've you been doing?” urged Kakko.

“Give us a chance!” said Jalli.

“Welcome home. I'm putting the kettle on,” called Matilda from the front of the cottage.

“Good idea,” called Jack.

***

That evening Jack led a family debate on the question of his treatment. They all sat around the kitchen table and he went from person to person allowing them to say everything that they could think of. Then he took small pieces of paper and got them all to write down all the ‘fors' and all the ‘againsts' – each on a separate piece of paper. Then he told them to put all the ‘fors' in one pile and all the ‘againsts' in another.

When they had all finished, the pile of ‘againsts' was the bigger one. Jalli said, “That seems pretty conclusive, Jack. But it's your decision.” She read out all the comments. For themselves and the family, the decision was pretty much that they couldn't imagine Jack being any happier than he was. Even Matilda was nervous about the outcome of interfering with what she thought was working. Jack was a good son, husband and father. He had a steady job and brought stability to a household that had already gone through a lot recently. Bandi made an interesting observation. While it might help the development of a new treatment for people in the future if Jack could see, even just a little bit, it would change things in his school. It would be harder for the students to look up to him if they thought his dad was, as he put it, ‘cheating a bit'.

Jack thanked them all and declared he would sleep on it as he had told the doctor. Kakko sighed. Tomorrow sounded a long way off. Jalli said, “Your father's right. ‘Big decisions should never be made in a hurry'.” Kakko relaxed. Her mum and dad were no doubt right – but it was pretty obvious to her which way the decision was going to go.

***

The following morning Jack was up early. The white gate was still there.

“Definitely your decision, Jack,” said Jalli

“I know. I was hoping that the decision would be made for me.”

“God doesn't seem to work that way. I think He's neutral on this one.”

“Jalli, if I say, ‘Thank you, but no', do you think I am letting anybody down?”

“No. I've thought about that. It is important for them that they have someone who really wants to go through with it. Someone with determination – someone properly frustrated. They'll find someone else that's more suitable.”

“Then I am not their man. As long as I have you…”

“
I'm
not going anywhere as long as I have anything to do with it.”

“I know. I am so lucky. Let's go to Wanulka after breakfast and contact the hospital. Then we can do whatever we like.”

“I'm glad we have been back to Wanulka. It has put so many things right. But now I want to move on. If you're sure about the doctor.”

“Certain.”

“Then let's go and tell him your decision, ring and thank the Bandis, and then come straight back here.”

***

The doctor quite understood. He was not surprised. He acknowledged that the procedure needed a high degree of interest on the part of the participants for them to put up with all the challenges that it posed, and Jack should not become a striped mouse unless he really wanted to go through with it. However, should Jack ever change his mind all he needed to do was phone. He wished Jack well, and Jack thanked him for his work. He really wanted to encourage him and wished him success.

***

The moment Jack and Jalli re-entered the cottage garden the white gate melted away.

“Any regrets?” asked Jalli.

“No. More like relief really. What about you?”

“I'm happy Jack. I feel just so free! Mended.”

“And I do too. I have not just accepted my lot, I have now embraced it.”

As the weeks passed Kakko slowly recovered from her broken bones. Not, of course, as quickly as she would have wished. The days in the pot had dragged by, but the hospital was pleased. One doctor commented that she had good healing properties. “Excellent progress,” he told her. It didn't feel like that, but Kakko ‘had her tail between her legs', as Matilda kept saying, and she was remarkably patient with the doctors. Her nan did not mean to be rude. Apparently on Earth One the expression was a metaphor that referred to a dog trying to keep a lower profile in the pack, at least whilst injured.
Guess that's true,
thought Kakko to herself.
I don't want to make a fool of myself.
She wondered if it would always be like that. Would she ever get another chance at a white gate for instance? Anyway, one good thing had come of it: Tam. He really cared for her no matter what, and her opinion of him had changed. Her enforced retreat was helping her to see that he had many qualities she hadn't noticed before. Behind his outward quiet persona, there were many hidden treasures.

But gradually things began to improve for Kakko. The plaster came off. Her ribs felt less sore. And, to her amazement, the climbing coach from the Sports Centre actually came all the way to Woodglade to check on her,
and
to invite her back into the fold when she was given the say-so from the doctors. He had decided that she was probably going to be safe in the future. She said she would consider coming back. She hadn't given it a thought because she had assumed he had banned her for good. “What about Tam?” she had asked. Coach said he was welcome back too.

She phoned Tam. “Would you really come back to the Sports Centre with me? You never actually enjoyed it.”

“I didn't enjoy learning to swim, either, but some things are useful to know how to do. If
you're
going to go on climbing then you might need me on hand to help you.”

“To rescue me, you mean.”

He laughed. “Perhaps. But I hope not. I don't want to go through all that again.”

“But, if you don't enjoy it, it might be more dangerous.”

“Maybe, but let's see. If you go back to it, I'll give it a try.”

“You really love me, don't you? I can't imagine why.”

“Don't give up on yourself, Kakko. No-one else has. Not even Coach it seems. And, yes, I
do
love you.”

“Thanks. Do you want to come round?”

“Sure, later. But first I must finish my essay.”

***

Tam came over to White Gates Cottage later that day. As he walked through the gate, though, he spotted another to his right. It was clean and white and crisp against the dark green hedge. He went over to it and touched it.
Oh dear,
he thought to himself,
it seems like the Creator hasn't given up on us either. Well, at least not on me.

At that moment Kakko came out of the door and called over to him.

“You can see it too then?”

“Yes. So it's you and me. Anyone else?”

“No. I thought of texting you, but I knew you were on your way. Anyway, it wouldn't have gone away in fifteen minutes.”

“You've slowed down then?”

“I guess so. I have to prove to Mum and Dad that I'm not ‘impetuous' as they put it. I wish they wouldn't keep using that word – it's as if it was only invented to describe me.”

“Well, they can't use it this time you've seen a white gate can they?”

“No. But, Tam, I guess now I've made the point we'd better get going!”

Tam laughed playfully. “Let me phone my mum.”

“She won't be happy – especially if she knows you're going with me. Come inside. Then when you've told her, you can get my mum to talk to her. It might help.”

“Are there any things we should take?”

“Not that I can see. I guess what we've got on is all that we're going to need.”

Inside the cottage Tam rang his parents. To his surprise they were less antagonistic than he had anticipated. He passed the phone to Jalli who chatted on to his mum and said she was sure that they would be sensible this time. It was unlikely to be rock climbing again. She did not tell her about the times when she found herself in a war zone or aboard a spacecraft about to be boarded by hostile space pirates, or, indeed the exploding arms factory. Jalli knew from her own experience that you can't protect your children when they get to eighteen, or in her case seventeen; you just have to let them go like her grandma had done her. What a wonderful woman Momori had been. She must have been so brave. Jalli hadn't really appreciated it at the time. Now she had learned that simply letting children go bit by bit at the right time was a part of parenthood that took courage and a lot of patience. It was also painful, a kind of bereavement.

***

Kakko and Tam took their leave and stepped through the gate with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation. The apprehension disappeared in a wave of excitement as they found themselves inside a large hall with seating around a brightly lit stage. There was a big banner in the centre-rear bearing words in zany letters that they could not read. They found themselves in a line of young people like themselves dressed in a huge variety of casual clothes – the girls in tights, trousers, shorts or skirts with every description of top from skimpy to fully covered; the boys in baggy jeans or narrow legs and T-shirts. Whatever you were wearing was fine it seemed, and Kakko and Tam felt not at all out of place. An attendant gave them each a single sheet folded programme written in what looked like the same script as the banner.

“I reckon it's a pop concert,” said Kakko. The line led them into rows of seats and they filed in and sat down. As they waited, loud recorded pop music emanated from large speakers front, side and back. The atmosphere was buzzing with expectation. This was a real groovy place to be.

“Cool,” shouted Tam in Kakko's ear. “So what've we got to do here, then?”

“No idea. Enjoy ourselves I guess.”

“Go with the flow?”

“You got it.”

“Just sit.”

“Just do what the rest are doing.”

After everyone was seated, a compère in a posh suit appeared on stage-left with a mic. The audience cheered and whistled.

“Is anyone out there?” he asked in a hugely amplified voice. The audience made an even louder noise. Working up this crowd was not going to be difficult; they were already hyped to the brim.

“Oh. Hi!” thundered the man on the stage. “Welcome to the Galuga Talent Competition!” More cheering. “Tonight we have for you twelve of the best talented unknowns in Galuga. And who gets to choose the winner?”

“We do!” shouted the audience in unison. It was clearly an established formula.

“How you gonna do it?”

“On our zap-pads!”

“Yoo-u got it. ‘One' for ‘yuk', ‘eight' for ‘ace'! Just score each act out of eight on your keypads.” Tam and Kakko located theirs on the back of the seats in front of them. “When you hear this you've got ten seconds.” A loud cymbal-clash followed by nine drum-beats thumped through the speakers. The audience counted down: “nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero!”

“OK. First up, we have the Fuggs, a talented boy band that's going to tear your hearts apart…”

“Ugh,” groaned Tam. But Kakko had bright eyes. She appeared to be up for a sexy boy band that would ‘tear her heart apart'!

Actually, they weren't that bad – musically – and Tam gave them a six.
Funny,
he thought as he saw Kakko give them a five. Clearly not up to her expectations. But the people around them were all clapping and whistling and the lads took their bow with satisfaction.

Five more acts followed. A couple were like heavy metal – one a decidedly better group than the other.
How do you award points to stuff that isn't really your thing?
thought Tam. They found it interesting that Kakko was into it more than Tam, who only gave them four and five respectively. There was a pretty awful ballad attempt that was decidedly out of tune that they both marked down.

At the interval the group of teen girls next to them, all leapt up and pushed past brusquely. Whatever they were after they were not going to be down the queue. Tam and Kakko had no money and decided it best to remain where they were.

The second half was the same format as the first. There was one exceptional singer. He had a fantastic voice and sang with soul and passion, hitting high notes with ease and power. Everyone leapt to their feet. The girls next to Kakko were whistling and shouting. There was little doubt that this artist was going to get eights from most of the people.

“How do you follow that?” yelled Kakko in Tam's ear.

After a more muted announcement, a rather timid-looking dark-skinned girl with a guitar crept onto the stage. She was dressed in a pale blue T-shirt and a green and blue rah-rah skirt over navy blue tights. She sat on a high stool, flicked back her long, fluffy hair with blue highlights and began to sing. It was a melodious country song – gentle and deep. There was only polite applause at the end of her song. She failed to manipulate the young audience like the boy who had preceded her.
He
had been all power and charisma. It was an unfortunate slot, thought Tam. Had she followed the poor heavy metal band she would probably have come over better. He gave her a seven, but Kakko was moved and pressed the eight. The final act was a girl-band. Kakko remarked to her boyfriend that they couldn't have worn much less if they had been on the beach. Tam just shrugged. They looked pretty cool to him.

When the girls had finished and the final ten-second countdown had been completed, the compère returned and invited all the acts back on the stage. He explained that he was about to get the results through his headset. After a delay punctuated by a few of his terrible jokes, he announced the results. The better heavy metal band came in third, the boy-band that had opened the show, second and the solo male artist, first.

“You can't argue with that,” said Kakko in Tam's ear as the applause resounded around the theatre.

“Guess not. The female acts didn't stand a chance with this audience,” he grunted as the teenagers next to them trampled them to get out of their seats. “The girl country singer with the guitar was good, I thought.”

“That's because you like that kind of music.”

“Sure. I know I am square. She didn't stand a chance after that boy. He was always going to appeal to this audience.”

“You are about four years older than most of them.”

“An old man!”

“Yeah. At twenty you're definitely past it,” joked Kakko.

“So what now?”

“Follow the crowd, I guess.”

“Go with the flow. Better hold on to each other in this crush.”

As they left the theatre, the crowd pushed and pressed in on them and Tam and Kakko were forced closer together than they had ever been.

Outside the air was cold. Some of the young members of the audience were going round the corner to the stage door. Kakko and Tam watched from across the street as the rest of the crowd gradually melted into the bright lights of the coffee shops and bars. The girls at the stage door let out a scream as the bands and, finally, the single male singer were ushered through them into waiting cars. Then they, too, dispersed, and the lesser sounds in the city centre were all that remained.

Tam and Kakko looked at one another.

“Our white gate was inside,” murmured Kakko.

“I was thinking the same thing. The doors are locked to us now. Guess it's time to trust again. What next?”

“Let's just walk,” said Kakko. They chose the street with the lights and the night-life and walked past brightly lit shops, a discotheque, several bars and a gaming arcade in semi-darkness with flashing colours and the rattle of coins against a backdrop of up-beat music. As they had no money, none of these places were open to them. People – mainly young – jostled about, intent on having a good time. Some looked happy, some didn't. Kakko couldn't remember herself ever being quite so on the outside of things. All they could do in this strange place was observe.

“You notice so much more when you're just watching,” said Kakko.

“Yeah, ‘people watching'. Looking at these faces, I reckon there are a lot who are not happy here. They've come for a good time but so many are sad.” They stopped outside a particularly popular arcade. Young folk were feeding greedy gambling machines with an intensity new to Tam and Kakko.

“That's ugly,” said Tam.

“But they don't know that.”

“No. I suppose they can't afford to admit it. They are keeping the blues at bay with the drink and the bright lights and the crowds… and probably drugs too, some of them.”

“They'll know it tomorrow. I bet they will all wake up depressed with painful heads.”

“They aren't thinking of tomorrow; they daren't.”

“We don't have many people like this on
our
planet,” remarked Kakko.

“Oh. We do! You haven't lived in the city. Downtown we do. Kakko, have you ever looked into the eyes of some of the kids? When you get to college you see it. Some of them are decaying from the inside. They have no sense of purpose and no sense of self-worth. I was once invited to a party in one of the halls. The air of depression and a lack of any kind of hope just hit me. All I was expected to do was get drunk and make passes at the girls. I tried to get into conversation with one of them but she quickly got upset with me and told me to give up talking and thinking and just snog her.”

“And did you?”

“What do you think? I hardly knew her! All I could think of was getting to the bathroom before I puked. Honestly, Kakko, the place just stank. I got outside and I could smell the night scented flowers and the clean, fresh air and thought…” Tam hesitated.