Friday in Summer

The villager was unmoved by Mr McKenzie’s angry question. Once the latter had asked the same question several times, the answer came: ‘Your son is not dead here. No-one can die in this Land. You know that. He must return and complete the task, or he will die in your land. That is how it works.’ The villager that Mr McKenzie had called George was speaking. Coles was suspiciously quiet.

I forced my way into the conversation. ‘But he did do his task. He took us to the Source.’

‘There were two parts. The other has not been accomplished. The stone must be returned to the River.’ While he said this, George started walking with Coles down the hill. Coles looked at me, then at the Dodger. I didn’t like the calculating look he gave us both.

‘We will go to the Village. Ina will decide what to do with this one.’ George said. Jasper fell in beside the villager and Coles whose arms were tied tightly behind his back. You could see the man intently listening to what was said. Mr McKenzie moved off with them, limping at first, but then he was walking easily as the healing from the Valley took effect. When they were out of ear-shot, Coles said something to him. Hamish’s father looked back at us, but continued walking down the hill. I didn’t move from the hilltop.

The Dodger went to move off, but seeing me unmoving, he looked a question at me.

‘Do we have to go to the Village with them?’ I hissed at him.

‘Mr McKenzie has the other stone. The connection is not broken unless both stones are returned. Where he goes, we go.’ So we set off down the hill, keeping our distance from the others. Mr McKenzie looked back at the two of us when we were on the flat. He said something to George and then waited for us.

‘Can you tell me what happened while Hamish was here?’

The Dodger started. ‘He took us to the Source, then he returned to your house to get the stone to give it back to the river. That’s what you stopped him doing. He was going to lift the curse from your family. Now it’s your job, Mr McKenzie.’ I thought the Dodger was being unnecessarily harsh.

‘I know what my job is, lad.’ He wasn’t very happy with the Dodger, but the look my friend gave him back wasn’t kind either. He turned to me. ‘You’ve got the other stone have you?’

I showed him the necklace around my neck. He looked so greedily at it that I was nonplussed and hid it again quickly. I tried anyway. ‘We don’t have to go to the village. We could just go to the River and return the stones, then we can go.’

‘Is that what you want to do, Janice? You want to return the necklace?’ Hamish’s father asked me. I hadn’t questioned the necessity to return the stones.

‘It is just what has to be done. I didn’t know about this place before today, or yesterday, or whenever it is, and I’ll be sorry that the way will be closed, but the right thing to do is to give back what was stolen.’

‘How many generations ago was it stolen, Janice? Whatever was stolen, it wasn’t you, or your parents who stole it. Your ancestor took it last century in another country.’

‘Ah, it wasn’t my family that stole it, Mr McKenzie. The Valley said it was Mossman who stole it. My forebears don’t seem to have come into the Valley, or even known about it.’

I thought he was just humouring me, but I couldn’t be sure. The Dodger beside me was silent.

‘So your family didn’t even steal it. And you have it legally?’

‘My grand-father left it to me after he died. He said it was for the Rhodes daughters, not the wives. I’m named after his mother who brought it to Australia after she married her cousin. It was a scandal …’ He didn’t seem interested in my ancestry.

‘You own it legally then. So why is it necessary to return it?’

‘The stones belong in the Valley. Their existence in our world means that the two worlds are connected.’

‘So it’s not just a necklace you own. You also own a part of this land.’ I was becoming more and more uncomfortable as he spoke. I wished he would stop, but he was saying just what I had been trying to articulate for myself, linking the clues and distractions I had been exposed to since my dog ran up the McKenzie’s driveway. He continued. ‘I wonder if the gateways are connected to the necklaces or to the families.’ The Dodger began to say something, and then stopped.

I answered: ‘Well, there are two stones, but three or four gates. So it can’t be just the stones. Jasper gets in, and so does the Dodger.’ Mr McKenzie glanced at the boy on my other side before responding.

‘So returning the stones won’t close all the connections.’

It still wasn’t right. I knew that. He was missing something important, but I couldn’t think what it was. “When we return them, the Valley will be free again. The villagers said that the connection is a curse. Returning the stones will lift the curse.’

‘Superstitious nonsense. The Valley was connected to our world before the stones were stolen. Must have been, or how did McKenzie and Mossman get in?’

The Dodger interrupted. ‘Why do you want to keep the connections open, Mr McKenzie? What benefit do you get out of the Clan’s drug trafficking?’

Mr McKenzie glanced at the Dodger. ‘There are issues that you don’t understand. Your father didn’t understand them either.’ I sucked in my breath at the cruelty of what he said.

‘What issues?’ I asked for the Dodger’s sake.

‘Well, it’s not drug trafficking. What is made out of the seeds taken back to our world, is not a hard drug. People use it to get a taste of this place, to escape from the pain associated with the way we live in our world. You wouldn’t know, but some people’s lives are painful on all sorts of levels. Not just physical pain, but also emotional pain from failure and abuse and depression.’ He shook his head to throw off an unwelcome topic. ‘Anyway, it won’t be long before it’s a legal substance.’

‘None of this is new, Mr McKenzie.’ The Dodger threw into the conversation. ‘Whether it’s morally defensible or not, the fact is that Coles is taking from this place seed that should be left to grow the next season’s crop for the people who live here. There is less and less for them each year. It will run out.’

Mr McKenzie ignored him and continued to address me in his oh so reasonable tone of voice: ‘You know it’s been a tough few years for farmers in Australia, what with the drought and bush-fires and competition from overseas markets. Coles says they’ll just use the seeds from here until they become financially secure.’ He waved his hand to batt away all the problems facing the rural sector. ‘But that’s not all this is about. It comes back to you and the necklace. Are you going to do what’s good for you, or let other people make your decisions for you?’

‘But you helped stop Coles from …’

‘Mr Coles is a violent man. And unpredictable. He needs some time to cool down.’ We were nearly at the village. ‘Think about it. Think for yourself.’

We could see the village in the distance. Waiting for us a good hundred metres from the first hut, was Ina. As the three of us approached we could hear Coles finishing a diatribe: ‘… both carry stones. The other is the offspring of that maverick shepherd, Jock McKenzie.’ Jasper growled at this stage and came and stood beside the Dodger. This has no bearing on the guilt of this trespasser. Coles carries the seed away.

I wasn’t sure how convincing Jasper was being. George and Ina were both looking at us with an element of calculation in their eyes. The women spoke: The old promise is that Jock’s son, Rhodes’ daughter and Friday’s pup will set us free. Why is the thief’s older son here? Why is the stone not returned. That is what is required first. The stone must be returned before the closing, or there will be death.