WisteriaWolverine

Human nature is truly remarkable.
It's funny how we construct the world inside our head from our own perspective, according to our own needs. And we all do it; whether we realise we do or not is irrelevant! Take for example a man I once knew. Well, I didn't really know him at all; not really. But every time I came home he was always sitting on a chair on his front porch reading a book. He was always looking down at his book and he never once looked at me the entire time that we lived next door to him.
In my construct of the world around me, he was the man who sat on his porch reading a book. He was no more and no less than the man who sat on his porch reading a book. Though I did not even care for his name, he was integral to the construct of my world; he was a huge part of the balance. His whole and sole purpose in my world was to sit on his porch and read a book. He had to be there in the morning and he had to be there at night; that's just what he did in my construct and yet I did not know how important this was until he was no longer there.
Luci-arnold Graham was a little like that. He was a bit like that old plastic bag hanging from the line that used to hold the pegs. You hear it crinkling in the wind, you see it ballooning in the wind, and yet it is only of significance to your construct of the world once you notice it is no longer there to fulfil its role.
That can really mess with the balance in your world. It is different if you were the one who removed it, but when someone else does it, you realise just how fragile your construct is. You realise that, when it really comes down to it, your little model of the world around you can be completely out or your control and at the whimsical fancy of others around you.
Luci-arnold Graham was just a man who showed up, from apparently nowhere, and took up residence in the little community. In the individual constructs of the world of the children at the time (which soon became their collective construct), he was the creepy strange man who rode around on his bike doing unspeakable things to any child he might find lurking around alone.
Now constructs can be added to, embellished or simply have pieces erased, again, according to our own perceptions and needs and at the whimsical fancy of others. But what happens if someone deliberately messes with the collective construct of a community?
All it takes is one person. All it takes is one lie...or maybe two.
One person and a couple of lies can completely mess up the collective construct of a community. By this I mean what they, as a part of the collective, the collective being the community, perceive themselves to be.
Every community perceives themselves to be a certain way. Every community in the world does this. This is especially true of the really small isolated ones and also especially true is the following; usually the perception of what they are as a 'collective' is quite different to the reality of what they actually are.
By this I mean that they have their own perception of themselves and yet they hardly notice that their behaviour does not at all reflect the true nature of the collective. All communities are like that too. Not one is immune.
The best of them and the worst of them can, at the end of the day, perpetrate the unthinkable. You see, individually, it is hard to maintain a lie, a deception or commit a heinous crime because when you carry a weight like that on your own, it becomes very heavy. It in fact becomes so heavy that it could break even the strongest man!
But if the deception or the crime is ingrained in the psyche as being something that was best for the collective, then it is very easy to tell yourself that it was for the greater good; that it was justified. Before you know it, you have altered your view of the world to make something, that may well have been formerly abhorrent to you, perfectly acceptable. But that is the fickle nature of constructs, be they individual or collective.
The ideals of small isolated communities, to a stranger, behave much as a mote around a castle. The mote keeps those who belong there inside, and those who don't belong, out. The mote would be, in this instance, what they collectively perceived themselves to be. One could ask, "What DID they perceive themselves to be collectively?"
Well they thought they were ordinary folks. Ordinary, kind, church going, law abiding people. But they were suspicious of strangers, and before a stranger could cross the mote, they had to prove that they were like minded to their collective, because if they couldn't, then there was no way that they would ever be allowed to become a part of them. It can be terribly difficult, if not impossible to penetrate the collective and become a part of the community, especially if you are different; especially if you were Luci-arnold Graham!
The summer days were long and hot and the small community was positioned between the bottom of the foothills of the ranges and the coastline and sea. It made for some very interesting weather. It was a pretty old community where they were and it was almost into the fourth generation for some people, which in that country was a huge thing, especially in 1978. At the start of the town on the Northern and Southern sides was a sign welcoming people to the community that was so small that, if they blinked, they would have missed the fact that it was there at all. There was a garage for petrol. There was a Post Office that looked like an old school building. There was the local hall, a school, the old church and a great big huge bright red store with the Coca-Cola logo all over it. That was about it.
Why Luci-arnold Graham chose to go there was a mystery. Yet there were plenty of stories, based upon groundless speculation and suspicions, devised mostly by the biased and unforgiving adults, that did the rounds to explain away Luci-arnold Graham's presence.
One story proposed that he was an ex-con who had done twenty-five years hard labour for the murder of innocent women in the city miles away. Another story proposed that he had once been a happily married man who had turned to the drink and gambled away everything he had, up to and including his wife and children. One story credited him as being an escaped mental patient. Someone said that Luci-arnold Graham could have been one of those madmen who shrieked and cursed all night while swinging off and rattling the bars on his cage. Like something out of Dr Tarr and Professor Fether; some Edgar Allan Poe, fiendish, hideous, chicken clucking, teapot spouting marsupial eating (I will have none of their rabbit-au-chat-and, for the matter of that, none of their cat-au-rabbit either) lice infested personage!
Yet another story proposed that he was a Vietnam War vet forgotten and unappreciated by the country he served; and so he should be, baby killer! He had probably hidden out in the jungle hunting the Viet-Kong by night and by day, had sprayed women and children with Napalm! Perhaps he had even been involved in the 'zippo raids'? The teens in that small community supposed that he probably had. But whatever Luci-arnold Graham had left behind him, it could not have been even half as bad as what he was riding into the day he passed the welcome sign on the Northern side of the small town.
Joelee Elstree was eleven at the time that Luci-arnold Graham showed up and she even saw him arrive. But she was not that perturbed by the arrival of the stranger, why would she be? She could not have known just what lay in store for them both and even if she had, what could she have done to alter it?

Joelee, Carla and Holly were sitting under the shade of the Coca-Cola shop trying to escape the heat of the day. It was school holidays and Christmas had not long passed. Holly was still abuzz about her purple wrap around skirt and her Saturday Night Fever T-shirt that she had gotten for Christmas. Carla was still reading her copies of Tiger Beat that her uncle had sent her from America. Joelee was wondering where she'd be next Christmas. She'd finally lasted a whole year in one home and to her, that was a remarkable achievement. The three girls sat there lost in their own thoughts, knowing that they should probably head home very soon, but reluctant to do so on account of the heat.
"We should go to the beach," suggested the blonde-haired, blue eyed, easy going Carla.
Holly shook her head and her brown straight hair slipped down over her eyes. "We're not allowed at the beach without an adult."
"So what?" said Joelee who had already figured out that no matter what she did it was wrong anyway. Her philosophy in life had become 'do the most fun wrong thing because at least when you got into trouble it was worth it'. Joelee pulled her knees up under her chin, as they sat on the big wooden box under the shade of the bright red Coca-Cola store. She looked North and she could see something kind of strange coming up the road on the other side.
"What's that?" she asked Holly and Carla, as she pointed in the direction that the 'thing' was coming from.
"Can't see nothing!" Carla pushed her blonde hair away from over her eyes.
"Too many heatwaves on the road," Holly complained as she too pushed her hair out of her eyes.
"They look like water and make me thirsty!" said Joelee. "So what is it?" Joelee stared at Holly and Carla and envied them their straight hair. She had been cursed with dark curly hair and she hated it. The only time it was ever straight was when she got it wet.
"Looks like a big grey elephant from here."
Holly nudged Carla. "That's not an elephant...do elephants ride bikes?"
"In the Russian circus they do." Carla hated it when Holly tried to show her up.
"When did you see the Russian circus?" asked Holly.
"On TV. I saw it on TV," said Carla.
"Your parents don't believe in TV," asserted Holly.
Joelee climbed down from the box and stepped out into the sun to stare at whatever it was that was headed their way. As she stood there using her hand as a visor against the sun, she began to make out what it was. "It is just a man on a bike. Boring!" Joelee went and sat back up on the wooden box with Holly and Carla.
Within ten minutes the grey thing that had been making its way slowly up the road from the North end of their area was finally on the opposite side of the road to them. It was, indeed, a man on a bike and they watched as he dismounted and almost fell onto the hot, melting road. Then he just stood there staring around him for a few minutes. Joelee, Holly and Carla just sat there staring at him. He put his attention back to the traffic, as he stood there waiting for a break between the cars and trucks that were thundering down the Main Road in the direction of the city. Then the break came and he slowly but surely pushed his bike across the road toward the three girls. The tar was sticking to the soles of his boots and making a horrible squelching sound every time he lifted his feet to walk. The heatwave rising from the stones was making him sweat profusely and he could not wait to get under the shade of the great big eye sore red Coca-Cola shop. He stared at the three girls as he lifted his bike up onto the porch of the big red dairy and then he stared away from them. For some reason and he could never understand why, but for some reason children instantly disliked him.
Joelee wondered how he could stand wearing a big old heavy grey coat and hat in that heat? She noted that he was also wearing big heavy work boots that seemed to be missing their laces. His face was brown from the sun and the lines etched into his skin were so deep she thought he could lose an entire lunch in them. Carla thought that of his big ugly string grey beard that snaked its way down from his face onto his chest. Holly was stunned that someone could have so much hair in their ears and nostrils. They turned their heads and stared at his back as he walked inside the shop and it was only when he got inside the shop that they realised that there was a horrid smell.
"Ooh...its him that stinks!" said Holly quite loudly.
"Ssh," said Joelee.
Carla put her fingers on her nose, squeezed and said something that neither Holly or Joelee could understand. They watched as the man wandered around the shop and they saw Mrs. Savill just watching him. They heard his laceless boots scraping across the wooden floor and then thumping down each time he took a step.
"She probably thinks he's going to flog something," said Holly with a giggle.
"She'll call the cops if he does." Carla smiled, as she watched the strange man wandering around the shop.
The man picked up a can of cat food, a drink and some baked beans in a tin. He went to the counter to pay for them, and the girls could tell that his smell even got to Mrs. Savill, as she tried not to breathe while serving him. The man paid for his things and then headed out of the shop again. Once he was outside, he opened a side bag on his bike and put the things in it. Just as he turned his bike around to head back the way he had come, the girls saw a little black head pop out of his pocket.
"Get ya back in there, Tommy boy," the man said as he shoved the kitten back down into his coat pocket.
The three girls watched every move he made and although he was aware that they were watching him, he did not look at them. He got on his bike, which initially was a very unstable manoeuvre and all three girls thought he was going to take a tumble and squash his poor kitten beneath him in his fall. But he did not and slowly began to ride his bike away in the direction from which he had arrived.
As the girls sat there watching him ride away, Mrs. Savill and her husband Shamus came out onto the porch of the shop and watched him ride away too. But it was disconcerting to them that he was riding away in the direction that he had come. Luke Beiderman, who owned the garage further up the road, had also seen the strange man riding into the area and he had rung Shamus to let him know that he had seen him. As soon as Shamus saw the man riding back that way, he went back inside the shop and rang Luke Beiderman to let him know that he was headed back in his direction.
"Why would he be doing that?" asked Luke. He did not want the strange man hanging around their area either.
"Don't know, but watch where he goes; make sure he leaves. We don't want some stranger hanging around here, there's the children to think about."
While Shamus was inside the shop phoning Luke Beiderman, Mrs. Savill told the girls that they were not to head off anywhere until the strange man had gone on his way.
"Why?" asked Joelee, who was always curiously fascinated by the suspicions of the people in the small community.
"Because I said so, Joelee Elstree!"
"But he's just an old man with a cat."
"Joelee Elstree, do you need me to ring Sam so that he can give you yet another lesson on good manners and respecting your elders?"
"No, Mrs. Savill." Joelee looked at the wooden slats of the Coca-cola dairy porch. She hated Mrs. Savill. More to the point, she hated that Mrs. Savill hadn't made a threat. She never dealt in threats. Only promises. Joelee knew that as sure as the sun would rise the next day, Mrs. Savill would ring Sam.
"So be watching your step!" With that, Mrs. Savill turned on her heel and went back inside the shop. She did not like Joelee and neither did Shamus because Joelee was 'different'.
Joelee was not like other kids and no one really knew where she came from either. Joelee had just turned up one day and the Carters had tried to pass her off as their daughter, but everyone knew that she was not. The stories about Joelee were almost as bizarre as the assumptions that were presumed by the people in the community about Luci-arnold Graham. The problem was that the Carters were 'inside the collective' and so the community had been given no choice but to accept Joelee as well. Though a lot of them had been unhappy about it, and few children were allowed to associate with her.
Whenever the Carters were invited for dinner or to visit at a neighbour's house, the neighbours would hide all the valuables before they arrived. Least the strange girl pilfer their most precious items. Joelee knew that they did it and was not beyond confirming their deepest suspicions. But Joelee would not steal anything; she would merely seek it out and hide it somewhere else inside their house. Joelee would be openly accused of having stolen from the people and then the item in question would reappear, but they never apologised, not once. Joelee despised some of the people in that community as much as they despised her. But it did not bother Joelee as much any more, for three months previously a new girl had arrived in their small community; Katie Ellery. Katie was living up on the hill with the Coopers, and they too had tried to pass Katie off as their daughter and the community did not buy that any more than they had bought Joelee. Thing was, that with Katie's arrival, Joelee had become 'old news' and that was fine by her and everyone was more concerned about Katie's influence on the kids around her. Trouble was that as much as Joelee knew it was unfair for Katie to be treated that way, she treated her that way too; she had to. So Joelee was not above altering the construct of her world either. Through necessity, she was able to assimilate into her construct something that she would normally have found abhorrent. She did it by putting a new spin on it and that made it okay.
As Joelee sat there watching the man getting further and further away from the shop on his bike, she almost envied him. She was glad that he had decided to leave because she knew that no good would have come of it if he had decided to stay.

No one could have known that the arrival of Katie Ellery in their community, three months prior to the arrival of Luci-arnold Graham, actually sealed the fate of some of the residents before he even got it into his mind to stop there. His stopping was merely the nails in their well-earned coffins, as such.
And why did he stop there? In part, it just seemed to him that it was a nice little place out of the way. He could go to the beach if he so desired, or he could go bush because one was as close at the other and yet both environments were as different from each other as night is from day. Luci-arnold Graham liked that about the place and that was why he did not continue on his way South after having stopped at the shop.
As he had ridden down the Main Road to the shop he had seen a sign to his right that advised that following that particular road would get him to the beach. He had decided that, being summer, it would be nice to live there a while. Luci-arnold Graham was a slave to nothing and to no one. He went where he wanted to go, stayed as long as he so desired and left when he had had his fill of the place. Once he left a place, he made it a rule never to return and his hobo-ish lifestyle suited him. He loved the freedom to come and go as he pleased; not being tied to anything or anyone and he had lived most of his adult life that way. But no one in the community, or any other community for that matter, ever knew why.
So Luci-arnold Graham backtracked on his bike to the road that would take him down to the beach and as he passed the garage he saw Luke Beiderman staring at him, but he was so used to that kind of reaction that he hardly paid it a never mind. He merely carefully steered his bike around the corner onto Beach Road and kept moving at his steady pace.
It was tough going for a man on a bike in that kind of heat on that kind of road. The road was shingle and the shingle had been pushed into three neat long piles, that extended the entire length of the road, by the cars that had constantly travelled up and down it since it had been last graded. Between the long piles of shingle were flat smooth dirt tracks to ride on but they were filled with the occasional pothole. The trouble was, that one had to concentrate on staying on the foot wide smooth dirt tracks, for if one made the mistake of veering into the shingle, then a tumble from their bike was inevitable. Hitting a pothole was a sure-fire one step away from disaster, so Luci-arnold Graham had to be mindful of the potholes too, which meant that he had to concentrate completely on riding his bike. That was why he did not see the various people coming out of their homes to watch the stranger making his way toward the beach.
The community was close-knit and so the news of Luci-arnold Graham's arrival spread like wildfire through, what they lovingly termed, 'the bush telegraph'. Basically, one head of household rang the next, as Luci-arnold Graham went past their house, and everyone knew exactly where he was and where he was headed. There was much speculation about who he was, where he had come from and how long he might stay, and it was during those phone calls that the fantastic stories of who he might be were told. Luci-arnold Graham was the subject of rural myth and suspicion before he even arrived at his final destination.
When Luci finally made it to the beach, he was pleased with his decision to go there. As he walked onto the sandy shore he looked out and could see the Island. 'Kapiti Island' they called it, and he had seen it from other beaches where he had previously stayed, but he had never seen it up so close. Luci thought it looked beautiful and he believed it to be a place where, if he could get to it, he could settle for the rest of his days. Problem was that he had heard the stories about the hungry sharks that infested the water all the way around the island. Seeing as how Luci was not too sure whether the sharks were fact or fiction, he decided to stick with the mainland; as much as he hated it.
Luci-arnold Graham knew that people perceived him as 'different' and no matter what he did, he never seemed able to change their perception. So what if a man did not want to bathe? What law of nature dictated that he must? So what if he did not want to shave his face, cut his hair, put laces in his boots or wear a suit? What law of nature dictated that not doing those things was wrong? So what if he did not want to go to the grocery store every week and buy all his food in cans? Nature provided for him most of what he needed. Pipis from the sand. Kina and Boo boos from the rocks. Crayfish from the sea. Fern roots and Huhu grubs from the bush. Rauriki and mushrooms from the paddocks. Watercress from the creeks. Trout from the lakes. Crawlie, eels and again, Trout, from the rivers. Flounder from the sea lagoons. Spuds, beans, carrots and Kumara pilfered during the night from the local market gardens. Banana passionfruit, blackberries, raspberries and tree tomatoes from the bush where the early settlers had dropped the cast offs of what they had eaten and thus inadvertently grown more food to sustain those such as Luci. And occasionally, if he was really lucky, he was able to make a rather nice stew of rabbit, wood pigeon or possum. There was no need for him to be dependent upon the shops for his survival and people resented that too.
When he needed new clothes, he paid a visit to the local Salvation Army and in return for a day's work for them, they replaced his boots, coat, hat, shirt, trousers, socks and underclothing. It was a good life, as far as Luci-arnold Graham was concerned. A good life with none of the stresses of ordinary folks. He was solitary, self-sufficient and happy. Luci did not care to have other people in his life; if you got to know someone, then eventually you would leave, they might leave, you might die or they might die and then there was nothing left but grief; Luci avoided grief as much as he could. He did not care for the world or what went on inside it either. He did not believe that there was really a strong sense of humanity or morality amongst the beings that inhabited the world. 'Human beings; the only living, thinking creatures on the planet with the power to reason and yet, at the very same time, the sole entity that made war against itself," that was Luci's overriding opinion of mankind. He did not read papers nor ever watch a television because he did not want to know what man was doing to each other. He did not want to know about oil spills, bombings, wars, famines, murders, rapes, child abduction and Government corruption. He did not want to celebrate one nation's landing on the moon whilst another was practically being wiped out by starvation. Knowing about those things in no way empowered him and he was in no position to change anything, so why burden himself with the knowledge? Luci did not really like the world too much and the less he had to do with it, the better.
There were things about Luci that no one else ever knew. They never knew those things because they assimilated him into the construct of their world, both individually and collectively, as someone who was strange and potentially dangerous. The last thing anyone was prepared to do was to get to know him.
Luci loved nature and he loved the outdoors. Rain, hail or shine, it did not matter; outdoors was where he liked to be most. He was particularly fond of thunder and lightning and rather enjoyed sitting outside in the elements observing nature at her wicked worst. Nature could be malevolent to anything that got in her path, Luci knew that, but that it was never intentional or personal was another fact of which he was acutely aware. Where nature was concerned, you had to take the good with the bad and Luci was quite adept at doing that. He had to be, he lived in a tent and nature is no respecter of abodes. If the tent got blown down, that was fine, Luci just dealt with it. Nature was nature, as far as Luci was concerned, and there was no taming that mistress!
Luci was also an avid writer and he loved to watch other people and interpret what he thought they were and what they did. He wrote stories, poems and plays and he wrote them prolifically, yet he never did anything with them. He carried an old book with him and once it was filled, he burned it, acquired a new one and started all over again. His latest project was a story about a woman named Jane Doe. Every night by the light of his fire he wrote more about the woman and, as the story progressed, it seemed to take on a life of its own. He was unsure of where the story was going to end, but that it was one of his best pieces, was something of which he well aware. It was a story that he would be unable to throw away; he knew that already. But what could he do with it? He did not know.

"Where the hell you been girl?"
That her foster father was angrier than a cornered wild cat was the first thing that Joelee was aware of once she returned home later that afternoon. The second thing she was aware of was the stinging pain on the side of her head where he slapped her with such force that he knocked her sideways.
"Those pigs need feeding and you been sitting outside Mrs. Savill's dairy all afternoon givin' her lip an' backchat!"
"I didn't..."
Another slap was delivered the the head of Joelee for giving him 'lip and backchat'.
"No wonder you get moved on so much, Joelee. You're ungrateful and unpredictable. You lie! You steal and you never do what you're told. You realise that this place here is the longest you been anywhere since you were five? One year, Joelee! One year! It's a new record. Don't you be going on to get yourself kicked out of here and having to try to set a new one."
"I'm sorry...I didn't..."
"You giving me more backchat an' lip? Huh? Girly girl, I would quit while I was ahead, if I was you. My hand's getting itchy and I might just have to lay it on something real hard! Maybe it might be that smug little face of your's if you don't SHUT IT!"
Samuel Carter was an unforgiving beast of a man. He knew no pity; he never had. That he was a great actor was something that Joelee was in no doubt of. When McKendrick, her Social Worker, visited her to see how things were going, Samuel couldn't have been sweeter than a jar of honey. But once McKendrick was gone, he was a wild-eyed beast again and Joelee was deathly afraid of him. She could not understand why he had even taken on a foster child when he obviously hated her so much.
Samuel Carter, 'Sam' to his friends, lived to torment Joelee. If she found a way to entertain herself, he'd destroy it. Once he had destroyed it, Joelee would find something else and he would systematically destroy that too and she could not understand why he did that either. She discovered that the best way to not be the focus of Sam's attention was to disappear; if she wasn't in front of him then he found something else to bother.
Usually the something else was his wife 'Shonalee' and she was the woman who he referred to as 'the barren mule'! He had been trying for years to impregnate her with his progeny, but for some reason it just didn't take. He blamed her, but Joelee secretly figured that perhaps God did know what He was doing after all? She could not imagine what kind of hell it would be to be the offspring of Samuel Carter for life!
Shonalee was a broken and battered woman on the inside and she feared Samuel as much as Joelee did. But Shonalee figured that, while Joelee was around, the time that he would have otherwise spent picking on her, he spent picking on Joelee and that suited Shonalee just fine! She didn't like the girl very much and she secretly suspected that her husband Samuel had sexual designs on the girl, but he didn't. Like he said to his friend and neighbour Bill, who was as Neanderthal in nature as Samuel, "I'd rather do a pig in a pickle than touch that!"
"Yeah, well I believe ya, cos I seen Shonalee!" Both men had burst into belly-shaking, eye-watering laughter at that crass joke.
There was only one time of the day where Joelee could not avoid Sam and that was at the dinner table. What made it worse, was that he insisted that she sit right next to him during the meal. Joelee would be subjected to slaps to the face if she chewed with her mouth open. If she shut her mouth to chew, then he slapped her for 'actin' all high an' mighty'. He also tried to teach her how to hold her knife and fork properly, but 'properly' was determined by how much he had had to drink that day and how much the alcohol had impacted upon his moods and perceptions. One minute she had to hold her fork one way and then in the next moment he was slapping her and making her turn it around the other way. Sometimes, if she did not quickly figure out which way was the proper way for that meal; then he'd grab her by the arm and yank her away from the table. He would throw her out of the house and refuse her food until the next day.
One of Sam's favourite pastimes was making sure that no matter what Joelee did or said, that it would be wrong and he wanted to play right then and there. Sam grabbed her by her arm and dragged her outside onto the path beside the house. He pointed to the sky. "Hey look, Joelee, the sky is blue." Sam stood there staring at her and she could hear his heavy breathing and see his steely blue eyes boring into her, as he waited for her reply.
"Yes, the sky is blue."
Sam slapped her face and replied, "Stupid girl! The sky is black. Isn't it black, Joelee?"
"Okay, the sky is black," Joelee replied.
Another vicious slap was delivered to her face with the comment, "You stupid, retarded poor excuse for a kid. The sky is blue; everyone can see it's blue. If I told you to jump off a cliff, Joelee, would you do it?"
"No, I would not jump off a cliff."
"Oh so now you think you don't have to do what I tell you to do?" Sam slapped her for presuming that she was not subject to his authority.
"Okay, I would jump." By that time Joelee had tears streaming down her face because of the painful slaps and the frustration of knowing that the game would only end when Sam had had enough.
"STUPID GIRL! YOU'RE AN IDIOT! JUMP OFF A CLIFF WOULD YOU? WELL I BELIEVE YOU PROBABLY WOULD, WOULDN'T YOU?" Sam was by then screaming into her face and shaking her wildly.
"No. No I wouldn't," Joelee sobbed.
"Oh so now you wouldn't? Well, which is it Joelee? Would or wouldn't?"
Out of pure frustration Joelee replied, "I don't know!"
Sam slapped her face in total disgust. "Typical female, can't even make a decision for yourself! You'll be no better than that barren mule inside, Joelee. You're stupid! WHAT ARE YOU?"
"Stupid!"
Sam slapped her face, "STUPID...WHAT?"
"Stupid, Sir."
Sam then shoved her hard so that she fell onto the lawn, but at least he was done with her. Joelee sat on the lawn, whilst listening to Shonalee getting her 'dose of Sam' for the day. He punched her, kicked her, called her filthy names and then took her to his bed. All Joelee did, once she heard the shrieking of her foster mother, was run as far away as fast as her legs would carry her.
Joelee ran all the way down their driveway, down school road and into a paddock that had a bridge that led to nowhere. The road used to run through there until it was rerouted, and Joelee wondered where the road had led to before they decided not to use it any more? She sat on the bridge and looked toward a road that ran up toward the hills and she decided to go for a walk down it. She had never been down there before and so decided it was probably worth exploring. It would not be dark for another few hours and she could not go back to Sam's house. Joelee figured she might as well do something to occupy the hours until Sam passed out, which usually occurred at about nine every night.
While Joelee was walking up the road toward the hills she thought she heard a car and so she dove down into the ditch at the side of the road in the long grass. She poked her head up far enough to see the car without being seen herself. It was Ronald and Louise Cooper, and their 'daughter' Katie was sitting in the back seat. Joelee had met Katie when she arrived near the end of the school year and she secretly envied the fact that Katie lived with such nice people. She often wondered why she could not have ended up with a foster father like Ronald Cooper? He didn't drink and he even went to church and Joelee figured it couldn't get much better than that.
Once the car had disappeared over the bridge, Joelee stood up in the grass and began to walk toward the bridge. As soon as she crossed the single-laned bridge, she saw that there was another not too much further up, so she walked toward it. By the time she neared the second bridge, she came to a big huge hedge and she saw that there was a big wooden gate at the front. Joelee edged closer to the gate and saw that there was a house that was surrounded by the huge hedge. Joelee looked around her and there didn't seem to be much going on or anyone about, so she decided to go in. She was thinking that maybe they might have some food because she was hungry and past the point of caring where it came from or what method might be needed to be employed to procure it.
She unlatched the gate and slowly pushed it forward and then it squeaked. Joelee let go of the gate and shot away a few feet from the gate to wait and see if anyone had heard it. After a few moments she realised that no one had, and so she went back and sucked in her tummy to squeeze through the gate opening. Once she was through the gate, she went and hid down between the rose bushes for a few minutes just to ensure that no one was there, which was just as well. No sooner had she done that than an incredibly drunken woman staggered down the path jingling some car keys in her hand. Joelee watched as a dark-haired man ran down the path behind her and wrestled the keys from her hand. She screamed some insults at him and he asked her, "Where do you want to go to, Samantha? Tell me and I will take you."
"AWAY FROM YOU, JAMES!" she shrieked back at him.
Joelee watched as James grabbed Samantha by the arm and dragged her toward the gate. "You tell me where you want to go and I will take you!" He pulled Samantha out of the gate and along the grass until they got to the garage that faced out onto the road further along the hedge.
Joelee crept across the lawn near to the gate so that she could watch what was going on, but they had gone into the garage that was covered in wisteria and she could see nothing more. She sighed and wondered whether she should just scoot across the lawn and leave via the back of their property? Just as she was about to do that, she saw the man 'James' back the car out of their garage with Samantha in it and drive off in the direction that she had just come from. Joelee couldn't believe her luck! With them gone, she could now sneak into their house to find food and so that was what she did.
She walked around to the porch and saw that the door inside the porch, which led to the kitchen, was wide open. Joelee took a few tentative steps inside the porch and for a just a few seconds she stood there feeling very guilty. She knew that she should not be sneaking into someone's house to steal food; she knew it was wrong. But it only took a few seconds more for her grumbling stomach to assuage her guilt and so she walked more confidently right into the kitchen.
Joelee could see, from the dishes on the bench, that one of them had recently cooked something and so she walked into the dining room, which was off to the side of the kitchen, and saw their plates still on the table. Better still, the plates had hardly been touched and so Joelee walked over to the table, sat down and started to eat. She did not realise just how hungry she was until she felt the satisfying sensation of the food landing in her empty stomach. The food tasted good; it tasted real good, and Joelee could not contain herself to just one plateful. Once she finished the first plate, she made a go of the second one, but she was only quarter of the way through it when her stomach announced that enough was enough. She stood up from the table, burped exceptionally loudly and, in Goldilocks fashion and stealth, decided to look at the rest of their house.
The first room she went into was the lounge because it too ran off the kitchen and you had to go through it to get to any other part of the house. She saw the usual household things in the lounge; chairs, couch, television and ornaments. On a table near the window she saw that there was a picture of a girl who had dark hair and brown eyes. Joelee stared at the picture for a few moments and supposed her to be about four, and then she wondered why she had not seen her leave with her parents? "Maybe she is with her grandparents for the night or something?" thought Joelee as she turned and walked from the room.
She was going to go and check out the rest of their house, but her full stomach was not as easily able to mask the sound of conscience and so she heeded it and left their house. She was going to leave their property, but then she saw the other building, and, wondering what it could be, decided to go and take a look at that too.
The door to the room opened as soon as she turned the handle and so she walked in and just stood there for a few seconds. The floor was a sea of white paper all screwed up and strewn everywhere. Joelee carefully made her way over to the nice looking desk and looked more closely at the typewriter. "WOW!" she exclaimed when she saw the paper in the typewriter that had been typed upon ever so carefully. She then saw some more pieces of paper on the desk and picked them up to have a look. Across the top were the words, 'The Affable Mr. Griffin' by James Thompson. "His name is James Thompson? He's that man that Mrs. Savill was talking about...of course the poor man with the drunken wife."
Joelee stood there reflecting on what it must be like for James Thompson to have a drunken wife? She wondered if it was anything like having a drunken foster father? She then put the papers down where she had found them and took one more look around her. Joelee then carefully made her way out of his studio and off his property and headed back toward Sam's place. She had no idea what the time might be, but it had started to get dark. Taking into account daylight saving, she figured it must have been at least eight thirty by then and so it would be safe to at least think about heading back. If Sam were still conscious when she got back she would just wait outside in the toolshed until he passed out.

The next morning Joelee made sure to be up and out of the house before Sam got up. The violence of any evening was only ever superseded by the hung over state of Sam the next morning. He'd stagger out of bed looking meaner than death warmed up and then he'd get started. Shonalee would have cooked him breakfast, to not do so was to ensure that she got a good swift biff around the ear as a good morning gesture from Sam. So she cooked it whether he ate it or not, and most of the time he did not.
"Where's Joelee?" he drawled, as he sat at the table with his head pounding.
"Halfway down the driveway," she replied. Her lower lip was swollen and one of her eyes were slightly bruised and raised. As much as it hurt her to move her mouth to talk, she did not dare to ignore Sam.
"Where's she goin' now?"
"I don't know. She doesn't tell me anything." Shonalee stood at the sink feigning being busy.
"Trouble is you don't make her respect you. Slap the little witch's face a few times, then she'll start singing the right tune for ya'." Sam then stood up from the table and staggered toward the door and out onto the porch steps. He cupped his hands over his mouth and called, "JOELEE?"
Joelee heard him calling but there was no way she was going back to see what he wanted. The hiding she would get when she got home would be no worse or no less for having gone back or not.
"JOOOOOOOOOOOOELEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she heard Sam shriek.
Joelee ducked down into the grass so that he could not see her and he called out after her, "BEST YOU NOT SHOW ME THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR HEAD BEFORE SIX TONIGHT! AND LOOK OUT WHEN YA' DO!" Sam then staggered back up the porch steps to the inside of his house. He kicked the 'barren mule' on his way past to go and sit back at the table. Shonalee shrieked out in pain and then took the scraps to go and feed the pigs.
Joelee, realising that Sam had given up calling after her, decided to head on down to Holly's house to see if she wanted to hang around together for the day. As she walked past the school, she heard the local minister 'Lucan Rossi' and some other parishioner of his discussing the strange man who had arrived in their area the previous day.
"Demon infested he is. I saw it the second I stared into those blue eyes of his."
"What do you think he is here for, Lucan?" asked Josh Yansee.
"Maybe he's one of them perverts? You know? Got run out of the last town he was in? Best we keep a special eye on our little ones."
"I'm thinking, Lucan, that you may be right. Oye, child?"
Joelee kept walking because she did not even register that Josh Yansee was speaking to her. Josh Yansee walked up behind Joelee briskly and caught her by her arm. "Don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you. You want me to go and have a word with Sam about you, Joelee? Wouldn't be the first time!" Josh Yansee shook her arm as he spoke to her.
Joelee looked up at Josh and said, "No, Mr. Yansee."
"Put a whipping to her hide, that'll soon fix her," said Lucan, as he glared at her. He didn't like Joelee Elstree; her and Katie Ellery were cut from the same cloth as far as he was concerned.
"That what you want, girl? You want me to take my belt to you? Teach you some manners?"
"No, Sir, Mr. Yansee. I am sorry that I kept walking, but I did not realise that you were speaking to me." Joelee then looked at the ground.
"Oh...don't get all teary eyed on me, girl. I didn't know that you didn't think I was speaking to you. There's a strange man hanging around here. He's a bad man. He's a stranger and if he tries to talk to you then you don't speak back. He tries to get you to go some place with him, you don't go. If you see him when you're out on your own, then you run; understand?"
"Yes, Sir, Mr. Yansee."
"You're not all bad, Joelee Elstree. Away with you then, go on." Josh Yansee shoved her a little to send her on her way and she pulled a face, which he didn't see, because she had her back to him. Joelee couldn't stand him or Lucan Rossi. They were both creepy as far as she was concerned, but she had to respect them because Josh Yansee had complained about her to Sam before, and it had been a dreadful business.
Shonalee attended the church of Lucan Rossi too, but she never took Joelee with her, at the request of Lucan Rossi. Shonalee had joined as an escape from Samuel and after a while she had allowed Lucan to talk her into being counselled by him. At first Lucan had been very warm and supportive and she had hoped that Lucan Rossi would sanction her leaving Samuel once he heard what he was doing to her. But he did not support her leaving him; he did just the opposite.
"Shonalee, the bible is very clear on the issue of divorce. It is wrong, I tell ya, wrong to walk out on your husband. When you married him, you said before God, 'for better or worse,' at the moment you got the worst in Samuel, but it won't last forvever. All you got to do is look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what it is that you are doing to provoke him? Look in the mirror and ask yourself, "Why do I keep provoking my husband to such rage? What is it that I could be doing better?" Shonalee, that is why the Lord isn't blessing you with Sam's babies. He knows you want to leave him and that while you keep provoking Sam, then you won't be any kind of mother a baby needs and thus Sam won't be able to fulfil his role as a God-fearing father. Open your heart to Samuel, Shonalee, and God will open your womb!"
Shonalee sat there not quite believing what she was hearing Lucan Rossi saying, and yet she sat there nodding her head anyway. She wondered if perhaps he was right on the count of her provoking Sam to his rage? But then she looked at Lucan and said, "He drinks. He drinks a lot and he drinks every night."
"Well Shonalee, what are you not giving him of yourself that Sam feels the need to drink himself into oblivion?"
Shonalee felt as though she was banging her head against a brick wall and she said nothing else, but Lucan did, and what he said made her blood run cold.
"As a man of the cloth, as a God-fearing man, I have to tell Samuel what you told me here. I have to tell him that you came to me seeking to leave him."
"Oh please, Lucan, please don't do that."
"Shonalee, as a man, I have to tell him. Why, if you were to run off tomorrow, how bad do you think I would feel when Sam turns up here for my shoulder to cry on and I knew about it all along? I cannot be dishonest with him. The man is the head of the house, Sam is the head of yours."
"But he will beat me!"
"That he might, but Shonalee, he is your husband and you are under his authority and you take the good with the bad, for better or worse, remember?"
Sure enough Lucan had gone to see Sam and he had told him everything and he had, in turn, beat Shonalee mercilessly. When she showed up the next Sunday covered in bruises, Lucan had taken her to the front of the church and prayed that she would learn the error in her ways and stop provoking her husband to anger. She was the 'wayward wife' according to Lucan. He had his own ideas about Joelee too, which Shonalee was happy to listen to.
"That child's gonna bring you and Sam no good...no good I tell ya. B'fore ya know it, she's going to be exerting her feminine wiles on him and he's going to fall...I tell ya Shonalee, he'll fall and he'll fall hard. I see it all the time with girls like Joelee. It won't be your belly growing with his progeny, it'll be that little...I hate to say this, but she's an imp! An imp sent to tempt Sam and tempt him she will. Mark my words, Shonalee and don't you be bringing it into my church 'cos I have enough problems in here. God forbid I ever look up from my pulpit and see her face staring back at me. You understand, Shonalee?"
As Joelee walked further away from Lucan Rossi and Josh Yansee she said, "If you are really there, God. If you are really there at all then do just one thing for me and I will never ask for anything more again. Please make Lucan Rossi be run over by the milk tanker and let Sam Carter be standing right beside him when it happens! Thanks, God."
Joelee continued on her way to Holly's house, but once she got there, Holly had cousins visiting from out of the area and so she had to stay home. So Joelee went on her way to Carla's house, which was on the opposite side of the road to the red Coca-Cola shop on the other side of the railway lines. But as she walked up the driveway, she could see that their car was gone, which meant that Carla was not there either and Joelee felt at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. She stood on their dirt driveway staring over at the red Coca-Cola shop and then at the railway lines. The sun was beating down and it was really hot so she went over to the tap that was on the side of the house and helped herself to a drink of water. Joelee also stuck her whole head under the running water so that she could cool down a little. Once she had done that she decided to walk down to the road that led to the beach. "That's it," she thought, "I'll go and see where that old guy is staying. Yansee said he was on the beach, so maybe...?"
Joelee was half way down Beach Road when a vehicle pulled up beside her and it was Wilbur Barnaby and he was a real creep as far as Joelee was concerned. Wilbur pulled his truck hard up against the side of the road, so much so, that once the shingle stopped flicking up and hitting Joelee, she found herself halfway down in the deep dry ditch. Wilbur yelled at from the driver's seat, "Hop in girl and I'll give you a lift to where you're going."
"No thanks, I can walk." Joelee climbed right down into the ditch and began walking along the dry bed. She'd die before she ever got into Wilbur Barnaby's green truck with him! He was a disgusting human being as far as Joelee was concerned. He hardly ever bathed, smelled like cows and his teeth were all tobacco stained.
"You being unfriendly, Joelee Elstree?" Wilbur was driving his truck slowly along beside her and every now and then a stone flicked up from the tyre and on the descent hit Joelee.
"Yes!" she snapped at him without looking up and over at him.
"What if I tell old Sam you been mouthy with me?" crooned Wilbur, as he kept an eye on the road and the other on Joelee.
"Tell him what you like!" Joelee stomped her feet along the dry bed of the ditch. She was thirsty, hungry and tired, and all she wanted was for Wilbur to go away and leave her alone.
"What if I was to tell Sam you got in here and you started being all...friendly like?"
"Eh?" Joelee did not know what he meant and she paused for a moment to stare up and over at him.
Wilbur then pulled the handbrake on in his truck so that it came to a stop but still sat on the side of the road idling. He then jumped out and began to walk toward where Joelee was standing. As soon as Joelee saw him getting out of his truck she began to run, but she was no match for Wilbur Barnaby. He caught her and she began to struggle trying to make him let go of her. Just as he was about to push her to the ground, old Mrs. Polanski came along in her black Zephyr. Joelee felt much relief when she slowed her car down and stuck her head out of the window and called, "Wilbur Barnaby, what, in the name of all things holy, are you doing in the ditch with that child?"
"Oh...hello, Myrtle. I am just dealing with her. Swearing and cussing at me as I tried to drive by her. It's me what deals with her or Sam...and you know what Sam's likely to do." Wilbur smiled at Mrs. Polanski.
Mrs. Polanski stared at Joelee. "Is that the way of it, Joelee?"
Joelee wanted to scream at her that it was not, but Wilbur had her fingers in his hand behind her back and Mrs. Polanski could not see that on account of all the dry grass, so Joelee had no choice but to nod her head.
"I'm just going to teach her a lesson about manners and then she can be on her way. Good day to you, Myrtle." Wilbur politely nodded his head.
"Child, like Lucan says, you must learn to control yourself and not let the dark side of your nature roam so free. I trust you'll be fair with the child?" Myrtle stared at Wilbur.
"You know me, Myrtle."
"Yes, Wilbur. Yes I do. Known you since you were a tot in naps." Myrtle sighed. "Well, I must be on my way. My turn to arrange the flowers for Sunday." With that, Myrtle put her car back into gear and Joelee's heart sank inside her chest as she watched Mrs. Polanski's Zephyr heading away from them.
"Right, Joelee Elstree, let's stay here for a bit while I teach you a little about manners!" Wilbur removed his belt and pulled Joelee down onto the floor of the dry ditch where Wilbur instructed her in his version of good manners.
When Wilbur was done, he leaned over Joelee and said, "You tell anyone, Joelee Elstree, you tell anyone at all and I'll kill ya. You seen how we rid ourselves of a sick animal. If I have to, I can bury you so deep in that offal pit that, between the sheep and cow caracasses, no one would ever find yours. So keep ya mouth shut!"
All Joelee could do was nod her head, as she watched Wilbur climbing out of the ditch while at the same time trying to do his pants up. As he climbed out, another car came by and it was Josh Yansee heading up to old Flicker's farm to borrow Tom Flicker's welding gear. He slowed down when he saw Wilbur climbing out of the ditch trying to do up his pants. He brought his yellow truck to a stop and yelled out through the passenger window, "You okay there, Wilbur?"
Wilbur waved and replied, "Yeah, Josh, call of nature, ya know?"
"Oh, of course. Sorry. Well I'll be getting along. See you in church."
"Wouldn't miss it," called Wilbur, as Josh went on his way. Just before Wilbur got back into his green truck he called out, "Don't be forgetting what I said, Joelee Elstree!"
Joelee sat in the ditch for a little while. She would have liked to have cried about what Wilbur had done to her, but she couldn't. The first time it had ever happened to her, when she was nine, she cried then, but she soon figured out that it didn't fix anything. Having that kind of thing happen was just a part of her life, adapted into her construct of the world as something that might happen again, probably would, but also something she was powerless to stop. If she didn't fight with them and make it difficult then she would not get hurt and it was up to her to keep herself safe in that regard. Adapting it into her construct of the world, in some way, simply made it easier to cope with when it happened. And anyway, to Joelee's way of thinking, crying about it just made it seem even more like they had won and so she refused to shed a solitary tear. She did feel numb though and she was unsure as to what she should do next?

Joelee waited until she heard Wilbur Barnaby's truck do a U-turn and head off up the road. Once it was well and truly out of her earshot she made the decision to keep heading toward the beach. "Why should I let pervert Barnaby ruin my day?" she asked herself. It hurt her a little to walk by then, but she did not care because she was not going to let Wilbur Barnaby win. If she turned around and went back to Sam's place, then Wilbur would have won and she was not going to let him! But she made sure that she kept down low in the ditch so that no one else would see her and just in case Wilbur Barnaby came back for 'seconds'. Walking that way made it take much longer to reach the beach, but she did not care, although she was terribly thirsty by that time.
As she stood on the grey sand staring out at the green ocean all she could think about was a poem that her teacher had once read to the class at one of her many schools.'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' thought Joelee. "'Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink'. What was that other part?" she asked herself as she stood there staring at the sea and sort of being able to relate, for the very first time, to what the Ancient Mariner had meant. "'God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus! Why look'st thou so? With my crossbow I shot the Alba'...nah, with my crossbow I shot Wilbur!" Joelee kicked out at the sand in frustration.
Joelee walked closer to the water and let it lap over her feet and it felt so cool and refreshing. She was almost tempted to drink it anyway but she had heard all the stories about the madness that overtakes a man if he drinks from the sea. "But how would that be any different to now?"
Joelee squatted down and cupped her hands and drank some of the water. But it was so ghastly and salty that she spat it out and began to vomit up the little that had gone down. Within seconds she was even thirstier than she had been when she arrived. She looked around her and saw a group of people on the beach and so she decided to wander over there and ask if they had anything to drink. She was past worrying about manners or anything; her overriding need was water!
As she got closer to the group she recognised one of them. "Bloody hell!" she muttered. "Merrilyn bloody Forrester!" Despite the fact that it was Merrilyn and people associated with her, she decided to keep on walking that way to ask for water. Once she got up even closer she saw that Lucan Rossi was with them and the adults all had their Bibles out while the children played. She was too thirsty to care and so went to the nearest adult and asked for something to drink. That was when Lucan Rossi saw her. He stood to his feet and walked over to her. "What do you want? What do you mean by coming over here and bothering us?"
"She's just thirsty, Lucan," said Robert who was the father of three small girls and was not too sure about Lucan Rossi sometimes. Robert poured cordial into a cup and went to give it to Joelee but Lucan stepped forward and knocked it from his hand. "No."
Robert looked at the cup, stared at Joelee and then back at Lucan. "The child is thirsty. I'm going to give her a drink." Robert bent down and got another cup, which he filled with cordial. He stood and then tried to give it to Joelee again.
Lucan knocked that one from his hand too. "YOU WILL GIVE HER NOTHING!"
Robert stared Lucan in the eye and he said, "SHE IS A CHILD! SHE IS THIRSTY AND I WILL GIVE HER A DRINK!"
Lucan's face went red as he began shrieking at Robert, "SHE IS NOT JUST A CHILD! SHE STANDS FOR EVERYTHING THAT WE OPPOSE! I AM YOUR SHEPHERD AND YOU WILL DO AS I SAY! GIVE HER NOTHING!"
"Lucan..."
Lucan slapped Robert in the face and then grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him. "Look at what she has caused within two seconds of being in our company! She is a derisive influence and giving her anything will cause you to fall to ruin. Give her nothing and your hands are clean, Robert."
Joelee had been slowly but quietly backing away. She knew that Lucan Rossi would be speaking to Sam about her causing a disturbance at his picnic on the beach. Joelee was completely stunned, as was everyone else, when Robert very calmly said to Lucan, "You worry about your own hands!" Robert then turned to his wife and kids, "Come on Milly, we're out of here."
Before he and his wife carried their children away from the little group on the beach, Robert took the whole container of cordial over to Joelee and said; "Here you go."
Joelee stared at Robert and did not quite know what to say, so she muttered a quick 'thank you' and started to run before Lucan could come over and take the bottle from her. Once she was a fair distance from the group of church folks, Joelee stopped and eagerly drank down the cool liquid. She had never enjoyed a drink so much in her life before as she enjoyed that one. Once her thirst was assuaged, she decided to walk up the beach in the other direction and it was not long before she could not see anyone around at all. Lucan had, in total disgust, packed up his group and taken them from the beach and back to the church.
Joelee headed up toward the sand dunes and she had only just reached the top when she saw a tent pitched between the dunes and the pine trees. It was a very old tent by the looks of it and it was army green. She ducked down behind the cutty grass and just stared at it for a few moments. From where she was squatting behind the cutty grass, she could see that there was a little track that ran through the pine trees behind the tent. She figured that, that was probably the way that the owner took in and out from his campsite. Joelee saw that there was a little campfire with some kind of stand erected over it with a billy hanging from it.
It was ten minutes before Joelee got the courage up to go and take a look around the campsite. At first she just walked around just looking at all the bits and pieces lying around. She saw an empty cat food can and so she immediately suspected that it was the campsite of the strange man who had ridden into town the day before. She crept over to the tent and opened the front of it and peered in and there she saw all manner of things. Placing her drink that Robert had given her down beside the tent door, she got down on her knees and crawled inside. Once inside the tent she saw that he had food, bedding, cups, plates and some knives. One of the knives looked incredibly nasty and she thought about Wilbur Barnaby and so took the knife. Joelee tucked it down inside her sock so that the sharp end stuck in her sneaker sole. She decided that if Wilbur ever tried to hurt her again that she would produce the knife and that would soon cure him!
Joelee was incredibly hungry, but she did not take any of his food because she could see that he had little. She'd only taken a knife because he had at least four of the sharp ones. "Who needs four?" she asked herself as she crawled backward to exit the tent.
Getting to her feet, she took one more quick look around the campsite and then headed toward the track that appeared to run through the pine trees. She was only two or three feet into the forest when she saw his bike leaning up against a tree. "Oh no!" she said as the horror hit her that the strange and dangerous man might be near by. Joelee reached down to her ankle and pulled out the sharp knife that she had just stolen from his tent and she held it in her shaking hand as she turned in a circle looking around to see if he was there. When she felt safe enough she turned heel and ran for all she was worth. Just as she approached the other side of the forest she saw what appeared to be a writing book on the ground and so she stopped to pick it up and then continued to run. Eventually the little track led all the way back to a road and that was when she realised where she was. She walked back toward the pine trees and lay down in the green grass that had not been scorched by the sun on account of being directly in the shade the big green pines.
It was ten minutes after that when the thirst hit her and that was also when she realised that she had left her drink outside the man's tent door. There was no way that she was going to go back for it! There was nothing else that Joelee could do except climb back down inside the ditch and begin to make her way slowly up Beach Road.

Luci-arnold Graham woke up to the sounds of seagulls screeching overhead and it was a sound that he adored waking to. Little Tommy cat lay sleeping on the end of his sleeping mat and so for a few moments, Luci just yawned and stretched repeatedly. He could tell from the patches of light shining on his tent roof that it was going to be yet another beautiful day. After about five minutes of still lying there, he gave Tommy cat a little shove and he woke up and yawned and stretched too.
"Breakfast time it be, Tommy cat." Luci threw the blanket off himself, crawled on his knees to the door of the tent and went outside. He then sat down on the dewy grass while he pulled his boots onto his feet. "My socks be needing mending, Tommy cat. How handy would you be with a needle and thread? Huh?" he asked as he looked behind him into the tent. "Well, we be going bush today, Tommy cat, and take a wee ride past 'his' house and see how well he be doing for himself."
Luci then reached into the tent, grabbed out his writing book and pulled a folded wad of paper out from inside it. "I be dropping this in his letterbox and see if he be working some magic with it. He be a playwright now, Tommy cat, be all grown up with a wife and a youngling of his own. Perhaps if I be brave enough I might even be speaking with him, but we be seeing young Tommy cat, we be seeing."
Luci started a little fire and then sat there and he watched the flames licking their way across the wood and snaking their way up against the billy. While he watched the fire taking on a life of its own he thought back to almost thirty-one years ago. He had had a house, a car, a good job, a wife and a child and initially he had been very happy with his life. The day that baby James had made his grand entrance into the world had been the happiest day of his life and up to the very moment that Luci sat by the fire, no other moment had surpassed it. Little baby James with his mother's brown eyes and his father's dark hair. Everything had been going along fine until the postnatal depression had hit Solilea, and once that took a hold on their lives, everything had fallen apart.
He had been at work when it had happened. The neighbours found her in the garage having taken her own life. He had been rung at work to come home straight away and that had been the end of everything. He tried to raise James on his own, but by the time James hit two years old; he could do it no more. He took James and everything that he owned and he dropped him off at the Welfare Office. He just placed him into the arms of a woman, with a letter in his little pocket to explain to them who he was and walked out. He walked out of the building feeling very heavy hearted and yet still believing that what he had done with James was for the best.
The only reason Luci even knew that his son was living in the area was because he had seen a flier two years ago in the back of someone's car parked at the Salvation Army in a town some ways away. The name had caught his eye and then he had seen the picture of James on the flier; he'd know those brown eyes anywhere. That man was his son James, his baby boy, his pride and joy and even though he knew that he had done the best by James in leaving him and should not disturb his life by reappearing after such a long time, he was still curious to see what James the man was really like.
Luci sat by the fire poking it with a stick and then he felt Tommy cat's wet little nose on his hand. "Never be minding, Tommy cat, he be not even knowing who I am. I be telling him that I be a friend of Gino's and nothing more."
Luci and Tommy cat set out early in the morning and it took Luci quite some time to work out which road was the one that his James lived down. Two hours later, he was outside the gate between the big huge green hedge. He went to open the gate when a voice called to him; "Can I help you?"
Luci looked up from the gate and saw a tall, dark-haired, brown-eyed man walking toward him. "Ah what a fine sight to be seen! My boy be grown up strong. Broad shoulders, a straight back and his head be held up. Should I do this? Should I be telling him who I be? No! I be a friend of Gino's."
"You be James Thompson?" Luci still fiddled with the latch on the gate.
By that time James was on the other side of the gate right in front of him. "Here, let me get that for you." James undid the latch and pulled the gate open and it squeaked rather loudly as he did so.
"It be needing some oil on the hinges," said Luci, as he walked through it.
James laughed, "Yes and a year from now it will still be needing some oil. What can I do for you?"
"I be wondering if you be willing to give me a few moments of your time?"
James stared at the man and he thought he had seen those blue eyes somewhere before, but nothing else registered as familiar about the odd looking hobo-ish man. "Sure. What's it about? How can I help you?"
"You be James Thompson...the son of Gino?"
James just stared at the man for a few moments. "Yes, but I have not seen him since I was two years old. I don't even remember him. An older couple raised me and they have since passed away. How do you know Gino?" James looked down at the man's coat pocket and saw a little black head pop out and stare at him. "Um..." James pointed to his pocket. "There's some kind of living animal in your pocket." James rubbed his chin and hoped the old guy wouldn't have a heart attack when he looked down and saw it.
Luci looked down and then up at James again. "Ah yes, that be Tommy cat. He won't cause you any harm."
"Would you like a cup of coffee?"
"I be interested in a spot of tea if you have it."
"Sure. You want to come inside?" James nodded toward the porch.
"Oh no, look at me...it be taking you a week to be gone of the smell if I be going into your house. Out here be fine."
James nodded. "Okay, well I will go and get you a cup of tea and maybe you want to go and sit on the wooden furniture around by my studio there?" James pointed to the side of the studio.
"That be a very good idea." Luci headed that way and when he sat down he took Tommy cat out of his pocket and fitted him with his harness. He held him on a very long string and so Tommy could go quite some distance away from Luci to explore. Within ten minutes James was back with a tray sporting tea and some biscuits.
"I thought maybe you might like a biscuit with your tea."
"That be very kind of you, James." Luci loved the sound of his son's name and as he sat there staring at him the pride he felt almost made his heart burst.
"So you knew Gino?" asked James as he watched the kitten playing on the lawn.
"Yes."
"He is still alive?" asked James as he felt a lump forming in his throat.
"Yes, he be still living."
"Where?"
"That be nothing to concern yourself with. I have something with me he be wanting you to have." Luci reached into his pocket and pulled out his handwritten story and passed it to James.
"What is this?" he asked as he stared at Luci.
"It be a story he wrote...he wanted you to have it, thought maybe you be making one of your fancy plays with it."
James held the story out to Luci. "I cannot plagiarise someone else's work."
"But he be wanting to give it to you. It be your work if you be adapting the story to a play. You could be crediting Gino with the story but you be taking the credit as the Playwright. That way you be not plagiarising anything."
James nodded and then sat back and opened the wad of paper. "Jane Doe." James read the first paragraph and then skimmed a couple more pages. "This is very good. My father wrote this?"
"Yes he wrote it. He be writing it for a while and then he be not wanting to throw it away. When he be asking himself what to do with it, I be telling him to give it to his James."
"Okay, well when you see him again, please tell him I said thank you. Please also tell him that I forgive him and that I love him and that I want to see him."
"James he think you be better off never seeing him. He be old and not too much longer for this world. But he be wishing you be living long. He heard that you have a baby of your own."
James looked away from Luci and then sighed and looked back. "My baby was killed in an accident some years ago."
Luci felt as though he might cry and he looked at James and said, "Oh...James...I be very sorry for you. He be very sorry too...was it a little boy or a little girl?"
James ran his hand through his hair. "A little girl. Benji. She was four...I really don't like to talk about her."
"I be very sorry, James, I did not mean to be bringing you sorrow."
"It's not that...it is that my wife got very drunk and ran her over with the car...it was needless and senseless and totally avoidable. We are slowly killing each other and our marriage with our recriminations...I am probably far more guilty than she is."
"It not be easy to forgive death." Luci sat there nodding his head because he knew all too well how hard it was to forgive death. It had taken him a very long time to forgive Salilea.
"No...No it's not. I guess if you know Gino then you know about my mother?"
"Yes, I know about Salilea." Luci spoke very softly.
"Did you know her?" James stared at the man hoping that he had known his mother because he longed to feel close to her, just once.
"Yes...yes I knew Salilea." Luci was quiet for a few moments and then he looked at James. "She loved you. Gino said you be her pride and joy."
James raised his eyebrows. "If I was her pride and joy, then why was I not enough to convince her to stay?"
"At the time, James, she be very sick. The depression that be hitting some women after they be having their baby, it be a terrible thing. It plays with their mind and Salilea be not aware of what she was doing. Gino wants you to know that Salilea never be hurting her James intentionally."
"And what of Gino? Why was I not enough for him?"
"Oh James, you be more than enough for Gino, trouble be that Gino thought he not be enough for his boy. He be wanting his boy to grow strong and happy. So Gino be giving his boy to someone who can give him all he be needing; especially a mother."
"That's why he left me? He wanted me to have a mother?"
"Yes."
"Well, you can tell him that what he wanted to happen for me did happen. I had a good childhood and I had every opportunity that a child could ever hope for and I made use of each and every one of them."
"Gino wants to be knowing if you got your inheritance that Gino left for you?"
"Yes I did get it. Over a million dollars of it. How could he have that much money?"
"Ah Gino be a very hard worker and he build a nest egg for his boy. He be having no need for it and everything he ever be doing back then he be doing for his boy. You be using the money for what you need and for what you want."
James nodded his head. "I bought this place...my wife and I were to raise a family here. That is well and truly over."
"James?"
"Yes?"
"You never be knowing what be around any corner. One day the opportunity to be giving your love to someone will be right in front of you. It may be not what you be expecting it to be, but when you see it and you know it to be yours then you be doing right by it."
"That your philosophy?" James' eyes twinkled as he stared at the man.
"That be Gino's philosophy and that also be Salilea's. Your mother and your father loved you very much, James, if you be forgetting everything else, don't ever be forgetting that."
"When you see him...when you see him again, please tell him that I will use his Jane Doe. Maybe he might even come to watch it?" James looked at the man hoping that he would say yes.
"James, don't be living your life waiting for Gino. Life be having seasons, James, seasons that be always changing. Life be having seasons that be good seasons and ones that be bad. The bad be passing away as fast as the new be arriving so be enjoying each season as it be there in front of you."
"My father?"
"The season for James and Gino be gone a very long time ago and it never be coming back. This be the last thing he can do for his boy. Be happy, James. Be happy knowing he be always thinking of and loving his baby James; always. Til he be drawing his dying breath he be wishing his baby James only love."
Luci watched James as his tears spilled down his face. He patted his knee with his hand and then went to pick up his cat and leave his son for the last time. Just as he reached the gate he remembered one last thing; Salilea's wedding ring that he had bought for her thirty-five years previous to that day. He reached into his pocket and he pulled it out and turned to James who was walking along behind him. "Gino be wanting you to keep this with you. One day you be having another little girl, this be hers when you think it be time."
"Was this...?"
"Salilea's wedding ring that Gino gave to her." Luci placed the ring in James' hand and shut it over top of the ring. He then placed his other hand over James hand and said, "Be strong James, remember, the seasons be changing all the time."
James watched the man walk over to his bike, put his Tommy cat in his pocket, get onto his bike and begin to ride away. As the man rode away, he did not dare look back upon his son, for the season of Gino and James be over long ago.
Luci rode slowly to his home on the beach and rather than feel sad that he had probably seen his James for the last time, he felt lucky, happy and vindicated. He had been so close to hitting the bottle himself back when his beloved Salilea died and he just could not do that to their baby boy. He knew at the time, that if he were to stay, then he would have headed down that path and he would have made James grow into an angry and sad man who would probably repeat exactly the same behaviours as his father. As Luci rode down Beach Road, he knew deep down in his heart that he had done the right thing for his boy.
Luci believed that every life, at some point, is presented with an opportunity to do something profoundly unselfish for someone else. Something spectacular, something life changing and earth shattering and yet hardly anyone will notice it at all or even be aware that it is happening before their very eyes. It is not a moment where accolades are forthcoming. More often than not, those moments are not appreciated by the recipient of the results of the profoundly unselfish act until it is much later. Often times the recipient does not get to thank the person for their altruism, because gratitude for such a feat is almost always retrospective. Luci thought that he had performed his one profoundly unselfish act when he had handed his beloved son to someone else. But Luci-arnold Graham was not played out in the spectacularly unselfish acts department, not yet. Luci would do one more remarkable thing before he left the life he had grown to love and had his son known what it was that he did, he would have been even more proud of his father than he already was.

It was a few weeks later when Joelee and Holly stayed the night at Carla's house. Carla's father drank too but he was what Carla's mother lovingly referred to as a 'happy drunk'. He never got mad and hit anyone, rather, he played with the kids and had them doing fun things like chasing each other with the hose and water containers. Or they'd be eating outside after he had spent all Saturday afternoon drinking and he'd start throwing food at the kids. The end result would be an all out food fight and everyone would be laughing and no one ever got hurt.
Sure he'd be well and truly hungover the next morning, but he'd still be laughing and smiling and it seemed to Joelee that Carla's father didn't even know how to get mad! Carla was much the same and hardly ever got mad either. Carla's mother didn't mind his drinking because he only ever did it on a Saturday and the rest of the time he was sober. He held down a good job; the bills were always paid and there was always food on the table. Any spare mouth that was hanging around could always be fed too and Joelee's mouth was one of the regulars. But even Carla's parents had no idea of what the real Samuel Carter was like. They too only knew the Samuel Carter that he wanted them to know and Shonalee was the kind of woman who did not associate with the likes of Carla's parents.
Joelee liked to stay at Carla's house but most of the time Sam was not even aware that she was staying there at all. He merely presumed her to have run off again because he had given her yet another good dose of 'what for'. This particular night, about three weeks after Wilbur had perpetrated his ghastly act against Joelee, Sam heard from Wilbur that he had seen her hanging around with Carla and Holly outside their house. He only mentioned it in passing when he saw Sam coming back from returning the welding gear to Flicker's farm. Everyone borrowed Tom Flicker's welding gear and it was a wonder Flicker himself ever got any welding of his own done at all.
Sam had been driving along Beach Road away from the beach and Wilbur had been driving toward the beach on Beach Road. Wilbur had been drinking a little with Luke Beiderman at the back of his garage and subsequently he was a little drunk. As he neared the vehicle coming toward him, he lost his concentration when the headlights blinded him a little. Wilbur had hit the slick in the shingle and slid to the side of the road. Sam had seen it and stopped to make sure he was okay.
"I seen that little madam of your's," said Wilbur as they sat there speaking with each other out of their truck windows.
"She ran off earlier."
"She's not run off. She's at that Carla's house on the other side of the tracks opposite the shop."
"Not for long," said Sam as he began to accelerate.
"You might be wanting to teach the little minx some manners...cheeky little so and so that she is," Wilbur called as Sam shot away. Wilbur laughed to himself thinking about the beating she would receive from Sam for being cheeky to him that day when he got her in the ditch. What Wilbur was well aware of was that if Sam ever found out what he'd done to Joelee, he'd kill him and he'd be the one hidden in the offal pit, not her. Because as much as Sam was a beast of a man, he did not abide men taking their way with little girls in any form at all, let alone by force. "Don't you ever get it into your head to touch Joelee in that way, Bill. I seen the way you look at her sometimes... but that stuff...well... you save for when they are all grown up. Anyone touches her that way, I'll kill 'em and you know I will," he had commented to his Neanderthal neighbour the same day as he had made the crack about Shonalee. A few days later, Bill had repeated the conversation to Wilbur, which was a little bit late for Wilbur; he had had Joelee once before when the fancy had taken him. That was why he was so forceful with his threats the second time.
Sam Carter parked the truck in the driveway of Carla's house and he was on the doorstep before Joelee even knew he was there. Carla's dad had been drinking, being a Saturday night and all. Sam had been too busy to hit the juice too hard that day yet. "Come to get my girl," he said as he stood on the steps.
"Oh she said that you said it was okay for her to stay," said Carla's father.
"Edison, I normally don't mind her staying, but Shonalee is feeling poorly and I need her to help me with the work tomorrow." Sam smiled.
"Joelee?" called Edison.
"Yes?" she called through her giggles.
"Come to the door please."
Joelee felt her blood run cold when she saw Sam standing there. He smiled at her and said, "Need you to come home, princess."
Edison was touched by the affectionate nickname he was using on Joelee, but Joelee knew that it really meant that he was exceptionally angry. Sam took her by the arm and said, "Let's go, Joelee. See ya Edison, thanks for having her."
As soon as Sam heard the door shut behind him he grabbed Joelee by her hair as well as her arm and walked her briskly to the truck, "Get in," he seethed at her. They were around the corner by the time he really got started. "What's this about you giving Wilbur cheek a few weeks back down on Beach Road? What were you even doing on Beach Road? And don't lie to me because I heard from Lucan that you were there too. Seems everyone knows where you are but me." When Joelee made no reply he back handed her and when she did not cry, he pulled the truck over to the side of the road, got out and walked around to the passenger side and pulled her out by her arm.
Sam did not see the man on the bike in the dark and Luci-arnold Graham ducked down into the ditch to hide. He witnessed Sam Carter laying into the girl, swearing, cursing and slapping her face, head and back. Luci wanted to do something to help her, but that was not the time. He sat in the ditch hoping that Tommy cat would not choose then to start making a fuss. But then he figured that the shrieking of the girl was so loud that he would not have heard Tommy cat anyway. At one stage, Luci stuck his head up over the grass to see if he could make out who the girl was. It was hard to make out too many details, but there was a little light shining out from the inside of the truck and he saw that she looked to be one of the girls from outside the shop on the first day that he had arrived. After another few minutes Sam Carter got back into his truck and screamed at her through the window, "YOU WANT TO LIVE? DON'T COME HOME TONIGHT!"
Joelee lay in the grass and continued to cry. She was alone in the dark, save for the moonlight and she really did not know what to do. She had almost stopped crying when she heard it; a cat meowing and she wondered where it was coming from? Joelee sat up and even though she was still crying, she tried to zero in on the noise and she worked out that it was coming from the ditch. Joelee crawled over toward it and she got a huge fright when someone stood up and said, "Don't be coming any closer."
Joelee shrieked and her heart was thumping in her ears and she froze to the spot right there too afraid to move. "Who are you?" she asked after a few seconds.
"I be the man on his bike with the Tommy Cat in his pocket."
"Luci-arnold Graham? You are Luci-arnold Graham?" she asked almost afraid that he would say yes.
"That be what they named me?"
"What?" asked Joelee who was still terrified.
"That be what they named me, Luci-arnold Graham?" he asked her again.
"That's your name isn't it?" Joelee heard the shake in her voice so she knew that he could tell that she was scared.
"Well...yes...that be me. Luci-arnold Graham." He shook his head in disbelief. Luci? They be giving the subject of their horror stories the name of a girl now? Well I be damned!" he thought.
"I got told if I see you that I have to run."
"Well, best you be running then. But I be thinking you be better running from him in the truck than you be running from me."
"They say that you..."
"That I be what? Murdering little girls, be canning their liver and selling it to the Japanese? I think little girls be best left to grow up before there be any canning of livers." Luci chuckled and that was when Joelee began to see the ridiculous nature of their suspicions.
"You're just different but that's okay. I'm different and so is Katie and they don't like us any better than they like you."
"Who you be and who be Katie?"
"I'm Joelee and Katie is like me. She lives up on the hill on Twin Bridges Road. But her foster father's nice, mine sucks." Joelee sat down and she suddenly felt light headed because she had not eaten anything again all day. Even at Carla's she had arrived just in time to miss dinner. She couldn't tell them she hadn't eaten or they would have known that she hadn't been home. As it turned out, it had made not one bit of difference because Sam had come and gotten her anyway.
"So, Joelee who be different, where you be sleeping tonight? You be going back to your home?"
"No. When he says don't come back until tomorrow he means it."
"So you be needing a place to rest your head then? Maybe you be needing some food?"
"Will you hurt me?"
"No, Joelee who be different. I not be murdering you in your sleep nor be taking anything from you nor be touching a solitary hair on that head of yours. But I might be asking you to be carrying my Tommy cat back to our house that be on the beach. He's getting mighty heavy." Luci handed the cat out by the scruff and Joelee crawled forward and tentatively reached out and took him. "He be attached to a harness, you be keeping it short in your hand and he be walking beside you."
"Why do you talk that way?"
"You don't like the way I be talking, Joelee who be different?"
"I don't mind."
"Then everything be just fine. Come on then, best we be getting back. I be cooking you a fine dinner when we get back to my abode."
"I don't know if I can walk that far. I haven't eaten anything all day and I feel like I'm going to pass out when I stand up."
"He be hitting you about the head and that be making you feel awful and dizzy. You be putting on this coat and I be carrying you and Tommy cat on the back of my bike. That way you be not needing to walk and I not be needing to carry you if you be passing out."
"You promise you won't hurt me?" Joelee was scared that when she got back to the beach that that might be the moment that he would decide to kill her and bury her body in the sand dunes.
"Joelee who be different, I be different too. Weird I be, smelly definitely, but I be no murderer and I be not one to hurt children. Why I be wanting to box that truck man's ears, but I be no match for him at my age. Joelee who be different, you don't be needing to come with me. I'll just not be happy to leave you here all alone."
Joelee looked at him under the moonlight and for some reason she was not as worried about him being a murderer and so decided to get onto the back of his bike. "You be needing to stay awake, Joelee, else you, me and Tommy cat be going in the ditch."
"Okay, Luci."
Luci tried to keep Joelee engaged in conversation so that she would not fall asleep and he was trying to get them back to the beach as quickly as he could, but it was a bit of a hike from where they were. As Lucy rode past Lucan Rossi's church he saw a white van parked there. Luci also saw a blonde haired man climbing out of the window to the side behind the tree. He would not have seen it at all had he not glanced that way and he would not have seen what the man looked like had he not have had a torch in his hand. "What he be doing in there this time?" He had seen the blonde man sneaking into the church before and he had seen him at the Post Office before. He had a German accent and he lived in a house not far up the road from where his James lived. I wonder what he be up to?" Luci did not have a clue, but he figured that it would be interesting to try and find out.

It took Luci half an hour to ride all the way back to the forest where the track was that led down to his tent on the beach. Fortunately there were no cars about at that hour of the night and so no one saw Joelee with Luci. When they walked the track, Luci lit a rag on a stick so that they could see their way clear. He pushed his bike and Joelee carried Tommy cat and when they got to the campsite on the beach, Luci lit candles so that they could see their way around.
Joelee was very nervous to be there alone with Luci-arnold Graham because if she looked at his blue eyes long enough, it was easy to think them to look cold, hard and brutal. But while she sat beside the fire staring at his blue eyes and thinking about the kindness that he had shown her, she could not see anything but warmth and compassion in those blue eyes.
A little while later Joelee began to talk with Luci. "It's weird what people make themselves believe about other people who aren't the same as them." Joelee stared at Luci while he turned the foil-covered potatoes in the embers.
"Same be what?" asked Luci as he looked over at the girl who was holding his Tommy cat.
"Normal."
"Well what be normal?"
Joelee thought about that for a moment and then she replied. "Normal is people who live in a house, drive a car and go to work every day. Kids who are born with their parents and live with them all their life. That's normal."
"To them. That not be normal to me. That just be different is all."
"Why do people think bad things about you, Luci?"
"Because it be easier than getting to know the truth. In life, Joelee, there be many people just waiting to be believing a story. The worse the story be, the better they be wanting to believe it. As much as man be hating what's different, he also be craving it because 'normal' be boring if it be going on too long. Everyone be loving a great story."
"Were you born here, Luci?"
"In this beautiful country?" Luci stared at Joelee intently.
"Yeah."
"No, Joelee. I be born far across the ocean, some place that don't be having even a name."
"Every place has a name."
"Then I guess I be born in the Indian Ocean."
"How?" Joelee giggled.
"I be born on a ship that be making its way here some years back. I be born at sea."
"That's so cool. I wish I was born at sea."
"Hmm...Can be interesting trying to be filling in the forms for some things they be wanting. People hardly be believing that I be born at sea."
"What about your mum and dad?"
"My papa be dead long time gone. My mother be buried at sea."
"Your mother died at sea?"
"The moment I be drawing my first breath, she be drawing her last." Luci nodded his head and poked at the fire a little more.
"She died when you were born?"
"Yes, the perils of the sea be many, but none be more perilous than a woman who be birthing a baby during a storm."
"That's sad."
"Yes it be very sad, but life be marching on whether we be living or passed on."
"Did you ever get married and have kids and all that?"
"Yes I be married once."
"What was your wife like?"
"Oh, Joelee, she be the most beautiful woman I ever be seeing. I never be seeing another girl who be as beautiful as her. That be up until I be seeing young missy outside the shop. Young missy with the dark curly hair who be sitting on a box."
"Me?"
"Yes it be you, who else it would be?" Luci smiled and winked at Joelee.
"I'm as pretty as your wife?'
"When she be living, yes you be as beautiful as her."
"She died?"
"Yes, she be gone a long time now. I be missing her still."
"Did you have any kids?"
"Yes I had the most beautiful boy there ever be born to this world. The day he be born be the happiest day of my life."
"Did he die?"
Luci shook his head. "No, he be living still. He be a very clever man, a very good man. He be honest, kind and he be holding much love for people in his heart. I be very proud of him." Luci poked the fire with his stick and then began to fry some vegetables in a frying pan over the flames. "Where your parents be?"
"They died when I was small. Car crash."
"That be very sad. Do you be remembering them?"
"No. I was three when it happened...my parents didn't have any brothers or sisters and their parents were dead so I went to Welfare. I had a mother and father for two years, but then Welfare took me away from them."
"Why they be doing that?"
"I don't know. Anyway, I've had lots of homes and lots of school since then."
"That be a very bad thing for Joelee. You be needing one mother and one father, that way you be growing up strong and happy."
"I guess my life isn't too different to yours...you move around a lot and I move around a lot."
"Yes that be true in some ways. But difference be that I choose to live like this and you be forced to live like this. That be making it two very different things."
"Not really."
"Yes it be so. Young trees, saplings, they be needing good solid earth to make their roots be growing strong and so that they be standing up to life's storms that be blowing every now and then and be trying to knock the sapling down. If it not be that way, then the sapling be growing up with the roots weak and the storms that be blowing around it be knocking it around so bad that it be easy to make it be falling. The young sapling be needing the shade of the bigger trees so that it be surviving the summers that be coming in life..the hot dry summers where nothing be living too long out of the shade. The young sapling be needing water, be needing nutrients...they be the good things that be making it grow up straight and be holding its branches high."
"I don't get it. What do you mean?"
"Never be minding Luci-arnold Graham...sometimes he be rambling on. You be still hungry?"
"Yes."
"That be good." Luci then turned and got two plates and put the food that he had cooked onto them. He gave one to Joelee and he had one himself. "When you be finished the good food, Luci may be finding you some sweets. I have some fruit too that you will be wanting."
"Where did you get all this food?"
"The farmers don't be missing an ear of corn here and there. Nor they be missing a few strawberries and peaches. The sweets I be buying with a little money I be keeping tucked away."
"Thank you, Luci."
"Don't be thanking me, Joelee. All people should be showing kindness for others. If we all be doing this for each other then maybe the world be a better place? The good Lord, he never be intending that one man be having more than another. He never intended that one man be fat from the land and another be starving in the same land right next door. It be criminal to be holding back on kindness. Do not ever be forgetting this, Joelee who be different."
"I won't." Joelee smiled at Luci and he smiled back.
Luci and Joelee ate their food and Joelee fed Tommy cat some bits from her plate. Once Joelee had finished her food she became incredibly tired and Luci could see that she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. He thought about putting her to bed in his tent, but then he remembered it would probably smell horrible in there for the girl. Luci then climbed into the tent and pulled out a blanket and something for her to lay her head on.
"You be sleeping on the sand there and I be sleeping on the sand here," he said as he made Joelee a comfortable bed.
Joelee climbed into the bed that Luci made for her and she fell asleep straight away. Luci put Tommy cat in his harness and attached it to his hand and also lay down and drifted off to sleep.
Joelee woke to the sound of the seagulls screeching overhead and she enjoyed hearing the sound as much as Luci did. When she finally sat up she saw that Luci was nowhere around and Tommy cat was gone too. "I wonder where they are?" she asked herself as she climbed out of the bed that Luci had made for her. She rolled up her bedding and put it inside the tent and beside the tent she found a note and a container with fruit inside it.
'I be needing some new boots, so I be heading off to the town to be giving the Salvos a day's work. You best be getting on home and seeing truck man. Maybe his temper be simmered now? There be breakfast in the container for you; fruit...it be good for young saplings such as yourself. Probably be best no one knows you be staying at the tent with old Luci. You want to be coming back again, I be around later. You be holding on to something that be mine...that be my book and my knife. I be liking the book back, but the knife be yours. But I be wondering what a young sapling be needing it for? But you must be needing it or you not be taking it.
Your friend
Luci
Joelee decided to go back to Sam's place, but first she ripped up the note that Luci left for her and she opened the container and took the fruit that he left for her too. The knife was down her sock with the sharp end wedged into her sneaker sole still. She decided that she would get his book and bring it back, but he had said that she could keep the knife, so she decided that she would.
She wandered through the pine forest along the track and then down into the ditch on the other side of the forest. Walking in the ditch wasn't so bad because the sun was not yet high enough to cast its light into it and once she was out of Beach Road, she was relieved that Wilbur had not come along the road to find her again. When she came out of Beach Road she walked along the Main Road and Luke Beiderman was just heading out to church. When Luke saw her he called out, "Sam's been looking for you. Best you get on your way home." Luke Beiderman got into his truck and drove out of the garage forecourt and off up the road toward the crossing to make his way to the church.
Once Joelee crossed the tracks she saw that Carla's house still had all the curtains closed, which meant that they were all still sleeping so she kept walking. When she rounded the corner into School Road, she could see all the cars parked up the road outside Lucan Rossi's church and there were many. Few families in their community were not members of his church and so Lucan exerted much authority over the people and controlled much of the life of the community. As Joelee walked past the church she heard the people singing and she also saw a blonde haired man walking up the steps arriving late. Joelee was sure that Lucan Rossi would yell at him. As he walked up the steps he stared at Joelee and said, "Morning to you, young lady."
Joelee just stared at him and wondered what country he was from? His accent sounded strange, and even weirder than that, he had spoken to her. The members of Lucan Rossi's church seldom ever spoke to her but to berate her for one thing or another. The man disappeared inside the building and Joelee waited for the inevitable yelling of Lucan, but it did not happen. She was a wee distance from the church when Lucan got fired up, but she could hear him as clear as a bell. His fire and brimstone warnings and threats chilled her to the bone and she had become quite convinced that one day she would be in the fire and brimstone and Lucan Rossi would be standing there himself watching her and laughing.
By the time she got back to Sam's place she almost didn't care what he was going to do to her and she was fully prepared for whatever might come. When she got to the door, she took a deep breath and then pulled the door open. As soon as she stepped into the kitchen she saw Sam sitting there eating his breakfast and she looked around for Shonalee but she was not there. "Barren Mule is at church getting her soul saved. Perhaps that's where you and me should be eh girl?" Sam stared at her.
Joelee was terrified that it was the opening act to the game he loved to play with her so much. The game where no matter what she said it would be wrong. "I don't like Lucan Rossi." Joelee waited for Sam to get up and slap her around the head for speaking of Lucan that way. But he didn't.
Sam stared at her and then said, "Well maybe you and me got something in common after all? I think he's a dickie licking poof." Seeing the look of confusion on her face he added, "Brown noser, you know? And queer to boot." Sam sighed. "That's one thing I do like about you, Joelee, you ain't no brown noser. I know I make it hard on you sometimes and I make it so you can't win. I don't even know why I do it, but I got a mean streak in me. But even with the mean streak, there was no right in making you stay out all night with no place to go, that was meaner than mean. Here, take this and you be off for the day and I'll be giving you no grief when you come home. Can't make any promises for tomorrow, but I'll leave you alone today." Sam pushed a twenty dollar note across the table in the direction of where Joelee was standing. "Come and take it, Joelee...don't be making me beg you. Sam don't beg, you know it well, so come take what I'm giving you and be away with you before my mean streak comes back."
Joelee walked toward the table and reached out to take the money. She was waiting for Sam to lash out at her, but he didn't. As soon as she had the money in her hand he said, "Get out of here, Joelee." He didn't have to ask her a second time.
Joelee ran straight to the tool shed and found Luci's book and tucked it down the back of her pants. She then set off in a great hurry toward Mrs. Savill's bright red Coca-Cola dairy that would only be open until eleven, being that it was Sunday. As she walked past the church, she again heard Lucan Rossi shrieking about the devil and something about the devil having taken up residence on their very own beach somewhere. Joelee had a brief urge to scream out, "He's not on the beach, he's sitting right in front of you and his name is Wilbur!" The only reason she didn't was because, as far as she was concerned, Lucan Rossi, Josh Yansee, Sam Carter and a few others could very easily be the devil too. Rime of the Ancient Mariner sprung back into Joelee's head again, while she walked along thinking about Wilbur and the rest of the men like him. And while she walked along, with Lucan Rossi's voice ringing in her ears, she spoke out loud the only full verse from the poem that she could remember. "'God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus! Why look'st thou so? With my cross-bow... I shot the bloody lot!'". Joelee laughed out loud as she imagined herself standing in Lucan Rossi's pulpit reciting that verse.
When she walked around the corner out of School Road she saw Carla and Holly in the front yard and Carla called out, "Hey Joelee, come over."
"I can't I got things to do. Can I come over later?"
"Yup." Carla and Holly waved at her as she walked backward toward the tracks. She waved back and then turned to cross the tracks and get to the side of the Main Road. She did not have to wait long for a break in the traffic and so crossed and made her way inside the store. Mrs. Savill stared at her, as did her husband Shamus. Joelee knew that they were just waiting for her to steal something so that they could call Sam and complain about her again. She walked around the store for a while trying to decide what to buy with the money that she had and in the end she bought cat food for Tommy cat, candles for Luci, a new book for him to write in and some pens. For herself she selected chocolate, jelly beans and a pie. When she handed the twenty-dollar note to Mrs. Savill she looked at her and squinted her eyes. "Where did you get THIS from?"
"Sam gave it to me." Joelee went bright red in the face. She felt guilty even though she had done nothing wrong.
"You stole it from Sam, didn't you?" Mrs. Savill accused.
"I didn't steal it, Sam gave it to me." Joelee felt the tears stinging at the backs of her eyes because being accused of stealing and lying were the things that cut her more than anything else.
"You better not be lying to my missus, girl."
"I'm not lying."
"I know your sort, Joelee Elstree. I think I'm going to be ringing Sam Carter, see what he knows about this." Shamus disappeared out the door into the back of the shop and rang Sam. Joelee stood at the counter and her tears spilled down her face because some out of towners had walked into the shop behind her and they all heard what Shamus said about her and she felt humiliated. Within two or three minutes Shamus came back out to the counter looking red-faced. "Sam says you didn't steal it, not this time. You pay for your things and then get out of our shop, Joelee Elstree!" Having said that, Shamus turned and walked toward the door that led to the back of the shop.
Mrs. Savill plonked Joelee's things into a plastic bag and snatched her money from her. Once the bell on the till had rung and the draw shot open, Mrs. Savill fiddled with the notes and coin trays and then slammed her change down on the counter in front of her. Joelee carefully picked up her change, looked at Mrs. Savill and said, "Thank you."
"Get out of my store!" she seethed.
Joelee turned around and had to make her way through the small gathering of people standing behind her waiting to be served. Some of them were older teenagers, but they were not locals. Joelee was near the door on her way out when she heard one of them, a female, saying to Mrs. Savill, "You're a mean old bitch." The others that were with her and whom had already been served, openly agreed with her assessment of Mrs. Savill and offered their own assessments of her too. When they came out onto the shop porch and saw Joelee sitting on the box sorting out what she had bought, a blonde girl stepped up beside her and looked down upon her. "Hey kid?"
Joelee looked up at her and said, "Yes?"
"Don't let that old bitch treat you like that. Next time she does it you tell her to stick the shop up her fat ass, smile at her and then leave."
Joelee smiled at the blonde girl and said, "They'd kill me."
"You know where the beach is here?" she asked Joelee.
"Yeah, the road is up there on the left. Its called Beach Road. Are you going there?" Joelee stared up at the blonde haired girl who seemed really nice.
"Yeah, you want a lift?"
"A ride?"
"Yeah...hey Kallum," she called, as she turned away briefly from Joelee, "we can give her a lift down to the beach?"
"Sure. Come on kid, get in."
Joelee got down off the box and went and got into the car with the four teenagers and she directed them to the beach. When they got near to the pine forest she asked them to drop her off there and so they did. As they drove off the blonde girl called out, "Don't forget what I told you...tell her to stick it up her fat ass next time!" Joelee heard the girl giggle and one of them tooted the horn in the car a couple of times and then they disappeared around the corner.
Joelee made her way across to the forest where the track started and she slowly walked toward where Luci's tent was. When she got there, she saw that he still had not returned so she pulled out the book and wrote a note inside it. "Truck man gave me some money, so I got some things for you and Tommy cat. Hope you like them and thank you for being my friend." Joelee signed the note, 'J-who be different."

It was a while before Luci saw Joelee again, perhaps five weeks. He figured that school was back by then and that would explain why he had not seen her around. Luci had been very busy himself with following the German man around. He had figured out that they were watching a child, the girl named Katie whom Joelee had spoken about. What he did not know was why. He also knew that the German man took access into the church every other Saturday night at a late hour. The man went in with something in his hands and yet he came out empty handed and Luci was completely baffled. 'Who breaks into a church to put something in there?' he asked himself as he watched the man coming out of the window yet again.
Luci had also been on a scouting mission around the man's house and that was when he discovered that his name was Ghunter. One time when Ghunter had gone out for a few hours, Luci had stolen into his house to have a look around and what he saw stunned him. ""What he be doing with all these televisions?" he asked himself as he walked into Ghunter's room that was soon to become surveillance central. Luci saw that there were sets of earphones and other wires running from one thing to another. Out of curiosity, Luci pressed a button and one of the televisions came on and as he gazed at the screen, he could see that it was the inside of a building somewhere. Luci lifted the headset that seemed to run from that screen and he placed it over his ears and he could hear someone speaking and then he heard something that made his blood run cold.
"She tempts me, Lucan. She's been tempting me for months." As Luci listened he saw a man walk into the line of the camera and he saw Lucan speaking with another man. He did not know whom the other man was and he could not make him out because he had his back to the camera. He then heard Lucan asking the man if he had fallen to the temptation.
"Twice so far...she torments me...she torments me in my dreams. When I see her, this voice in my head, its so loud, like the Devil calling to me himself."
"Wilbur...the girl, that's why she's here...to draw you away from the light and to take you into her darkness. You must be strong and try to resist the temptation to fall."
"Will I be forgiven?" Luci heard a shake in the voice of the man named Wilbur. Luci then saw Lucan Rossi stop walking and turn to face Wilbur. He placed his hands on his shoulders and said to him, "Joelee carries the sin for making you weak...you were forgiven before you ever took her. You'll be forgiven every time because it is not your fault that the devil sent her to tempt you. But you must be strong, Wilbur! You must try to resist...
Luci ripped the headphones from his head, hit the button he had pushed to make the television come on and then he ran outside and he threw up. He felt sick to his stomach and he stood there for a few moments not knowing exactly what to do.
"He be taking the child to himself...he be hurting her and he be blaming her and Lucan Rossi be letting him," he thought to himself as he threw up some more. Just as he was beginning to calm a little, he heard the white van coming up the driveway and so he ran into the bush that backed onto the property. He stayed there and remained very still until Ghunter and the man who was now with him went inside the house. Luci took a good look at the other man so that he would know who else to look out for in the future and then he made his way out through to the other end of the bush. Luci got back to where Tommy cat was waiting for him. He gently put Tommy cat in his pocket, got onto his bike and rode slowly back to the beach. Luci was on the track that went through the pine trees when the next thought occurred to him, "That why she be needing the knife...that be why she took it."
As Luci continued to walk the track that led to the beach where his tent was he reflected on the wicked state of some men and as he thought about what was going on in that strange little community, it reaffirmed his decision to have absolutely nothing to do with the world in general. "But I cannot be ignoring what be happening to her. And why Ghunter be taping the church? He be in on it too? He be hiding their crimes? But why he be taping it if he be hiding it?"
A few weeks later Luci had the unfortunate luck to happen to run straight into Lucan Rossi at the red Coca-Cola dairy. Lucan looked him in the eye and asked him, "Why are you not moved along yet old man?"
"I be moving along when I be ready." Luci sidestepped to get away from him, but Lucan was having none of it.
"You are here on the Devil's work aren't you Luci-arnold Graham. What are you waiting for...hmm? Waiting for our young to be left unattended so that you can make off with them?"
"YOU BE THE ONLY MAN DOING THE WORK OF THE DEVIL! YOU BE THE ONLY ONE...YOU BEST BE GETTING AWAY FROM ME, LUCAN ROSSI!"
"You threatening me, old man? You can't touch thine's anointed."
"BE GONE WITH YOU, LUCAN ROSSI!" Luci went to the counter and paid for his things and Lucan followed him outside and shoved Luci so hard that he fell. It just so happened that James and another man had pulled up outside the shop and they jumped out and ran at Lucan. Luci heard James say, "Joe, you take care of Lucan and I'll get him."
"What are you doing?" asked Joe as he grabbed Lucan and slammed him up against the wall. "He's an old man!"
"You okay? Is your Tommy cat okay?" asked James, as he helped the old man to his feet.
"I be just fine," said Luci as he began to straighten up his clothes and then checked his pocket to make sure Tommy cat was okay too. "Tommy cat be fine."
James then walked over to Lucan and slammed him hard up against the wall and he seethed at him, "You EVER touch that man again and I will pummel you so hard..."
"The playwright with the drunken wife reaps what he sows..."
"Keep going with that, Rossi, and I'll shove your head so far up your behind that it'll take your parishioners a month of Sundays to dig it out." James shoved him one more time and then he and Joe walked over to where Luci was getting onto his bike.
"You'll be okay to get home, Luci?" asked Joe, hoping he had his name right.
"Yes, I be fine." Lucy started to ride his bike but then he wobbled and fell off it. Joe and James ran over to him and Joe grabbed Tommy cat just before he shot out onto the road and came to a quick end. James helped Luci up off the ground and by then a group of people had gathered to watch the silly old fool who kept a cat in his pocket. James looked at them and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT? YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN A MAN FALL FROM A BIKE BEFORE?"
"Ignore them, James," said Joe.
"Take him to my car and put Tommy cat in with him and I'll get his bike."
Joe took Luci, who was quite shaky by then, and put him into the front seat of the car and handed his Tommy cat to him. Joe then went and helped James to pick up his bike and other bits and pieces and they put them in the boot of the car. James and Joe then got into the car and as they drove off James gave the group of people standing around the middle finger salute. "Call themselves children of God! They just stood there and didn't lift a finger to help."
"Well there's people who love and honour God and all that he stands for and then there's fruitloops like Lucan Rossi and his clones!" said Joe who was absolutely disgusted by what he had seen. "What's wrong with the people here, James?"
"In a nutshell...Lucan Rossi, that's what!"
Luci got them to park the car across the road from the pine forest and then he insisted that he was okay to walk the track back to his place, but James was having none of it and neither was Joe. They walked Luci's bike through the pine forest and leaned it against the tree where Luci showed them. They then followed him out of the forest and onto the sand where his little campsite was.
When James saw how Luci was living he was fit to cry, but he did not say anything. Joe was pretty shocked too and once they settled Luci and went on their way they spoke of it. "The tent isn't even waterproof...if it rains and eventually it will...he is going to be wet and so is everything he owns." James looked at Joe.
"His bike is passed the used by date too, sooner or later that frame is going to snap and then he will really be in a pickle."
"So let's go into town and do something about it?" suggested James. "I got more money than I will ever need and...I want to do it."
"Okay, so let's go then."
The next day Joe and James went to the site where Luci was living and saw that he was not there so they went back to the car and got the tent and other things that they had bought for him the day before. James had bought him the toughest sturdiest road bike that he could find and he parked it against the tree. He and Joe then disassembled Luci's tent and erected the new one, which was twice the size and yet, when packed up, took half the room that his old one did. Luci arrived back as they were setting up the tent and so he hid and just watched them. The tears flowed down his face as he watched his James doing a kindness for someone who was no more than a stranger to him. Through watching James, he knew that he had inherited his mother's kind heart.
James and Joe finished their work and when they went to leave they saw Luci's old bike leaned up on the other side of the tree. "Do you think he saw us?" asked Joe.
"Probably. We need to take this old bike from him, it is dangerous and I don't want him getting hurt. He has the new one, so he will just have to get used to it." James took Luci's old bike and wheeled it through the pine forest back to his car, while Joe carried all the other old things that they had replaced. They placed the bike into the boot of his car, along with the other bits and pieces and they got rid of it at the local dumpsite.
Luci waited until they were well gone on their way and then he and Tommy cat went and had a look at their new tent. Luci saw that it was waterproof and designed to take much more wind sheer than his old one ever could. He saw that James had bought him a new sleeping bag designed to be used in the snow and he had also gotten him a blow up pillow. "My, Tommy cat, look at us now in the lap of luxury. You will be spoiled now," he said as he scratched Tommy cat under his chin.
About one month after his visit into Ghunter's house, Luci decided to go back one late night. "Perhaps they be talking about things thinking everyone be sleeping?" he asked Tommy cat, as he headed out along the path that led to where the road was. He rode slowly up Beach Road toward the Main Road and when he was about half way up it a truck drove by him so close that it almost knocked him into the ditch. Whoever drove the truck backed up the road a little and then yelled out the passenger window, "You're not wanted here, old man. Leave while you still can."
Luci picked himself up out of the grass, made sure Tommy cat was okay and then got on his bike and continued on his way. He was used to that kind of thing because many of the locals had taken to treating him in such a way that the ordinary man would have packed up and left long ago, but Luci-arnold Graham was no ordinary man.
It took him about twenty more minutes to get to Ghunter's house and slip through the bush onto the back of his property. He made his way carefully across the lawn and right around to the windows of the room that had all the televisions in it. Luci was carefully crouched below the sill and then decided to very slowly stand a little to see if he could see inside the window. Sure enough when he stood, he could see three men in the room. Ghunter he recognised, Joe he recognised, but he did not know whom the other man was. He wondered what his son's friend Joe was doing watching the inside of the church with the televisions? Luci then moved a little to try and see the screens of the televisions, but they were on such an angle that he could not see anything. The men were speaking to each other, but their voices were so soft that he could not make out a word. He realised that his trip was pretty much wasted and he knew that he would have to return again and chance going inside again during the day. He did not like to snoop, but something very odd was going on in that weird little community. Luci was also very worried about Joelee because he had not seen or heard from her in almost ten weeks. He wondered if what they were doing might have something to do with her too? "Maybe they be knowing about Wilbur?" he asked himself, as he made his way back across the lawn and into the bush.
One week later Luci got his chance to get inside Ghunter's house to check out his television room but he had had to stake the place out for days on end in order for the opportunity to present itself. Luci watched from the bush as Ghunter got into his van, started it up and left the property. Unfortunately, Ghunter had taken to locking the door and so Luci had gained access through a low window that had not been latched properly. He felt terrible doing so, but he had to know what was going on. Luci walked across the room that had absolutely no furniture in it. He opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Once he was in the hallway he made his way to the room where the televisions were.
Ghunter had not turned them off before he went on his way and Luci could see that the inside of the church was empty. But on the other screen he saw the inside of another room, but it did not look at all like the church. Luci sat in the chair and watched the empty room and just as he was about to look away at the other television that was on, there was movement in the room. He could not believe his eyes when he saw his own James walking into the room and sitting down at a desk. "Why they be watching my James?" Luci was puzzled and then he saw a little girl walk into the room and sit on a chair beside James at his desk and Luci could see that James was speaking to her. "Oh please be not letting my James be doing anything terrible."
Luci put the headset on to listen, even though he was deathly afraid of what he might hear, but he needn't have worried. James was talking away to the little girl about school plays and an Edgar Allan Poe story. As Luci listened to the little girl speaking, he could not help but smile. James was being a friend to the little girl, and from what Luci was hearing; she was definitely in need of one. Luci only just heard James call the little girl 'Katie' when he also heard Ghunter's vehicle return. In a panic, he put the headphones down and made his way as quickly as he could to the room through which he had come to the hallway of the house. He quickly shut the door. Just as he shut it, he heard the keys in the back door and then he heard Ghunter walk into the house with someone else. The someone else was a man Luci heard Ghunter call Jonathan and he heard them discussing Katie and Ronald Cooper.
Luci's heart sank inside his chest when he heard the content of their conversation; Ronald Cooper was hurting Katie and Lucan Rossi was hiding his terrible sins too. He was not hurting her to the extent that Wilbur had hurt Joelee, but he was hurting her just the same. "What be wrong with some of the men in this world?" Luci asked himself as he listened further to their conversation. They were speaking of rescuing Katie and of taking her away for a new life somewhere else. Just as he was wondering how they intended doing that, he heard how they were going to fake her suicide so that no one would look for her. Normally something like that would have got Luci's heckles going, but he was not upset when he considered the alternative. "What if I be getting them to be doing that for Joelee? Would they be doing that for her if I asked?"
Luci had no idea what lengths Ghunter and his group had gone to to make their plans for Katie. He had no idea even of the number of people involved nor the things that they had to resort to in order to rescue a child like Katie. "But if they be doing it for Katie then they can be doing it for Joelee."
Luci knew that he would have to watch them closely to see exactly how they were going to pull it off, which meant that he would have even less time to watch out for Joelee. He was still very worried about her and wondered why she had not come back after dropping off the things that she had kindly bought for he and Tommy cat? "Maybe truck man be keeping her on a short string, Tommy cat?" asked Luci as he rode his bike back to his abode on the beach.

One week after having been inside Ghunter's house and having made the awful discovery, Joelee visited Luci. Joelee had been a little bit confused when she came out of the track and onto the beach where Luci's campsite was. The tent was different and so was the bike and she wondered whether Luci had moved on and that was the campsite of someone new? "But people still talk about him...Luci-arnold Graham, the dangerous stranger."
While she stood there thinking about what to do, she thought back on the warning that the Principal of their school had given on their first day back at school and during subsequent assemblies. "There's a stranger on the beach and none of us know what he is doing there or why he has come here. It has been decided to make the beach a 'no go' zone until such time as this man moves on. If you see him and he speaks to you, you are not to acknowledge him. Do not go anywhere alone, least you be stumbled upon by that man. If you have occasion to be approached by him, then you tell your parents and your parents will inform me. Not only has the school decided that this is the best approach to take, but the town council has also decreed that it must be this way. Pastor Lucan Rossi knows of this man and he has been in trouble with the law before, but it is not appropriate for me to be telling you what for. Just heed the warning, least you fall into his clutches."
Joelee could not believe what she was hearing; she knew Luci-arnold Graham to be harmless. But because of the warning issued by the school, the council and Lucan Rossi, Sam had forbid Joelee to go anywhere on her own. "To school and home, Joelee. That's it. You sneak off anywhere else and I will have your hide on a stick and you know that I mean what I say!"
So Joelee had been stuck at Sam's on the farm right in his face and he was mercilessly vicious and even Shonalee was getting a worse than usual dose of Sam. Even worse than that, Wilbur had found himself out of work and so Sam had hired him to help around on the farm, seeing as how Sam had been feeling sick on and off since January. As the weeks had gone on, Sam seemed to be getting sick more frequently and with the deterioration of his health came the deterioration of his disposition. He was lashing out all the time and every time Wilbur even so much as hinted that Joelee had been cheeky to him, Sam was laying into her with brute force.
Wilbur was taking full advantage of the position of being in the employ of Sam Carter and Joelee's life just felt like it couldn't get any worse. Initially, although Wilbur had made inappropriate gestures toward Joelee, she knew that while she remained on Sam Carter's land that Wilbur would not touch her. Joelee knew that, for some reason, Wilbur was scared of Sam catching him. But finally Wilbur had become brave enough to attack her on Sam Carter's property and that was when Joelee decided to run to the beach to find Luci and Tommy cat; consequences be damned!
Luci had been down on the beach digging for pipis and he had been in the water looking for crayfish. He had managed to procure both and so headed back toward the dunes with Tommy cat and his catch in hand. As soon as he topped the dunes and headed down them toward his tent, he saw Joelee heading down the track away. "Joelee who be different, where you be going?" he called out after her.
Joelee had never been so pleased to hear the voice of anyone before in her life as she was to hear his right then. She turned and began to run back toward Luci's campsite. As soon as she saw Tommy cat she said, "Wow he has grown really big! Where did you get the new tent and the new bike?"
"My son, he been by and he be doing this for Tommy cat and me."
"Your son lives here?"
"Yes, he be around here somewhere. How you be, Joelee who be different?" asked Luci as he went about setting a pot on the fire to boil. "You be feeling like some crayfish? It be fresh from the sea."
"Yum! Yes please." Joelee walked over and picked up Tommy cat. "Boy you are heavy."
"He be a big Tommy cat now, you be growing a little too, young sapling." Luci sat down on the ground beside the fire then looked up at Joelee. "How you be?"
"Horrible! But last week we went on a school trip to the College and I got to see a play. It was about Joseph and his coat of many colours."
"That be a good play. I be seeing a play myself some weeks back. Be called Jane Doe, it be very good too."
"That was in town, I saw the posters...that man James who lives here did it. He lives on Twin Bridges Road like Katie does."
"That be so?"
"Yes."
"So why you be feeling horrible if you be seeing a good play at the College?"
Joelee sat down on the ground with Tommy cat on the other side of the fire. "Truck man's sick and he hired someone to help on the farm."
"Who be his new help?" Luci was busy placing the dead crayfish into the hot water.
"Why did you kill him?"
"Would you be wanting to be boiled alive?"
Joelee shook her head. "No."
"No he be not enjoying that either, Joelee. You be having to eat what be living then need be merciful about it." Luci sighed and then looked straight at Joelee. "Who be truck man's new help?"
"A man named Wilbur Barnaby. You might have seen him around, he drives an old green truck." Joelee stared at Luci.
"You be liking Wilbur Barnaby?" Luci cautiously asked.
"I hate him...he's a creep!"
"People be saying that about me. They be telling their younglings to stay off the beach. They be telling them all kinds of fantastic stories, but they be lies."
"I'm not lying about Wilbur Barnaby."
"I be not accusing you that you be lying about him. But why you be calling him a creep?" Luci wanted to see if she would tell him what had been happening to her at Wilbur's hands.
"He just is. I pray every day that Wilbur Barnaby will be run over by the milk tanker and that Sam Carter will be holding his hand when it happens. But the amount of people I have added to my prayer, that's going to have to be one big milk tanker!"
Luci chuckled and then said, "Life be catching up with them who be doing good and it also be catching up with them who be doing bad."
"Karma?"
"Not be karma, it be balance of life. We all be reaping what we sow whether we be doing good or we be doing bad."
"But what about when bad things happen to people who don't do any bad?"
"Well that be an imbalance in the scales what be measuring life. But the scales be evened out in the end Joelee. If not be evened out here, they be evened out later by the good Lord himself."
"You believe in God?"
"Yes I be believing in God, but not be like that weird Lucan Rossi and those silly people who be flocking to his church every Sunday. They be worse than the ones that be burning the Maid of Orleans at the stake! They be burning me at the stake if they be thinking they be getting away with it."
"I know. You should hear what they have been saying about you. They even say that you have been in trouble with the police."
"I never be in trouble with the Police, but you not be defending me young sapling, that be getting you into trouble."
"I don't. I don't listen to them either...but that's why I haven't been back to see you...I couldn't get away. I'm not even supposed to be gone now but Wilb...I ran off." Joelee looked down on the sand and began to scuff it with her feet. As she did so, Luci saw the knife in her sock. He knew that Wilbur had been at her again but he did not know what to say.
"You be mindful of that knife that be in your sock. You be mindful it don't be coming loose and be hurting you."
Joelee pulled her jeans down over her sock and then looked at Luci. "I don't normally carry it around...you want it back?"
"No, it be yours." Luci pulled the crayfish from the water and set it on a plate to drain and then he looked at Joelee again. "So what be wrong with truck man that he be hiring help?"
"Don't know. He throws up a lot and he has really bad headaches."
"He be drinking still?"
"All the time, worse than he ever did before, but then it makes him be sicker."
"He be hitting you like he be doing before?"
"Of course, but he can't chase me like he used to, so if I get away from him and run then I'm okay. But then sometimes he comes into my room when I am asleep and hits me then. But he's not even as strong as he used to be either."
"Life be balancing her scales I be thinking." Luci pushed a big piece of crabmeat into his mouth and then looked at Joelee.
"What do you mean?" Joelee pushed a big piece into her mouth too and then she looked at Luci and laughed so much that half of it fell out again and Tommy cat set to eating it. Once she regained her composure she looked at Luci and said, "If I was normal I couldn't do that, I'd get biffoed round the ear."
"That be true...but here at Luci and Tommy cat's home, you be who ever Joelee really be."
"What did you mean about life and the scales thing?"
Luci stared at Joelee for a moment and then he remembered what he had said before they had both started laughing. "Oh that just be Luci rambling on again. I told you he be doing that from time to time."
"I like your rambling on." Joelee smiled at Luci.
"You be a good child, Joelee. You be having a good heart. Young sapling should be hating the world and everything that be in it, yet here you be, giving your kindness to an old man who be near the end of his journey in this old world. You be one of the kindest people I ever be knowing, Joelee."
"Are you going to die?" Joelee felt her heart begin to beat faster in fear.
"I be nearing the place where I be going bush to live the few moments that be left to me."
"But what about Tommy cat?"
"I be looking out for Tommy cat to be going to a new home. Only give him to someone who be loving him and be kind to him. I be having a little time left yet, maybe Luci see another summer if he be very lucky." Luci stared at Joelee to see how she was taking the news of his approaching death. He could see that her eyes welled with tears, which she tried to wipe away without him seeing. "Don't be feeling all sorry and sad for old Luci. Luci be having a good life, Joelee. He be wandering near and far; be many years now he be doing that. Luci seen more than most ever be. I had a wife who be the most beautiful woman there ever be. I be having a son who be as good as a man ever be and I have the best friend there ever be in the world."
"Who?"
"Why that be you, young sapling."
Joelee smiled and said, "You are my best friend now too." She sat there for a while just staring at Luci and he knew another question was headed in his direction. "Aren't you scared or sad?"
"Of the dying?"
"Yes." Joelee stared intently at him as her tears stung at the back of her eyes again.
"What be to fear in dying, Joelee? What there to be sad about? I only be sad to leave Joelee, Ja...my boy and my Tommy cat."
"I will miss you." Joelee wondered what name he had been going to say when he stopped and then just said 'my boy'?
"I be missing you too...but I be not dead yet, Joelee, and maybe it be some time before I be dead. So be not feeling sad while I be still here. We make the most of the season of Luci, Joelee and Tommy cat and then it be warming your heart to think on it when it be gone. There not be a moment wasted in tears."
Joelee wiped her tears away, smiled and then said, "Okay. I won't cry any more, I promise."
"There, see? I knew you be a brave girl too." Luci sat there thinking about what Joelee had said about truck man and his sickness. He thought to himself, "It sound like it be the cancer that be jumping up to take him. He be not long for this world and what be happening to Joelee when he be passing on?" "I be thinking on how Luci can help young sapling." He looked at Joelee to see what she would say.
"No one can help me Luci. I'm stuck where I am until truck man decides to send me away."
"If Luci be telling you to go somewhere, would young sapling be going?" He stared at her intently.
"Like where?" Joelee was curious to find out what he meant.
"I not be knowing that yet. But if Luci be telling you to take Tommy cat and be going, even if I be still living for some months to be coming, would you be doing what Luci say you be doing?"
"I suppose so. Would it get you into trouble?"
"What it be mattering if it be getting me into trouble? I be not long for this world, so what can they be doing to Luci that life won't be shortening for them anyway?"
"They could put you in jail."
"So I be in comfort for when my time be coming." Luci stared at Joelee and smiled to show her that it did not matter to him what they might do, even if it were to be jail.
"You can't tell anyone about Sam, Luci. My Social Worker goes to Lucan Rossi's church and he does what Lucan Rossi tells him to do. He knows about Sam. I didn't think he did, but he does. I sneaked into the church and I heard him speaking. You know that girl Katie I told you about?"
"You be not getting yourself involved with Lucan Rossi! He be a very dangerous man and so be those people that flock to his church."
"I only did it once."
"Don't be doing it again, Joelee. Lucan Rossi be in the business of hurting people, you be one of the people he be hurting. You be provoking him and he be doing something terrible to you."
"I know. He is letting Ronald Cooper do horrible things to Katie...so is Mr. McKendrick." Joelee looked at Luci to see what he might say.
"There be folks trying to help Katie as we be speaking. Katie be okay but I be worrying about you."
"I have to go back to Sam's place. If I go now then they will think I was just out on the farm somewhere. I will try to come back and see you again, but it will most likely be during the night."
"You be mindful you be not caught coming here, Joelee."
"I know, they will hurt you."
"I be not caring about what they be doing to me. I be caring about what they be doing to you! Be saying your goodbyes to Tommy cat and be gone with you before they be looking for you."

Luci decided to go bush to try and find some huhu grubs and perhaps trap a possum or wood pigeon. It was very cold and fortunately his James had been by to drop him off a snow coat and new boots lined with wool and fit to be worn in the snow. Luci was up in the bush with Tommy cat for about four hours when finally he managed to trap himself a wood pigeon and a possum. He tucked the dead and gutted animals into his bag and then began to head back down from the bush and onto Twin Bridges Road.
As he crossed the first bridge he thought it might be a good time to stop and catch some crawlies, perhaps maybe he even might find a trout? He put his bike under the bridge and then walked down toward where the river was. Tommy cat walked on his lead beside Luci and they followed the river around a bend until Luci found some nice small rapids where the crawlies might be living. He was just placing his first crawly into a container when he heard a voice, "Get off the ledge or you might fall!"
Luci let the crawly go and decided to walk down river a little to see who was being told to get off the ledge. When he rounded the bend and the second bridge came into sight he saw that a girl was up on the ledge again, the car having driven off. He then saw four men walking the track and one of them had a bag with him. Luci crouched down to watch what they were doing; he was afraid that they might mean the child harm. He recognised two of them, one was the German man Ghunter and the other was Joe who had helped him. He knew them both to be kind men, good men, "But what they be doing approaching the girl?" he asked himself.
Luci saw that Katie was looking around her wondering where the voice was coming from. For a few seconds she stared straight at where he was hiding and so Luci ducked his head even more. But then he heard one of the men saying, "Katie...down here...look."
Luci watched as Katie looked down and saw Joe and Ghunter. She seemed not to know the other two men with them. "He's sending me away...I'll be gone by next weekend...I don't want to go away from James." Luci heard her sobbing and it was then that he realised that Katie had formed some kind of bond with his James.
"It is going to be okay, Katie," Luci heard one of them say to her.
"NO IT ISN'T!"
Luci watched as Ghunter opened the bag that he had with him and took out a black mat. The four men took a corner each and went and stood directly below where Katie was standing. "So, Katie, jump," said Ghunter. Luci could not believe what he was hearing, "Why they be telling the child to be jumping?" Luci stuck his head out further so that he could see better. Then he heard the child ask, "What?"
"Jump, Katie. Jump off the bridge and we will catch you."
"Why do you want me to jump?"
"Isn't that what you want to do?"
Luci saw the child nod her head and then he heard her ask, "Will I die?"
"The old Katie will die at the top of the bridge, but when you hit this mat, you will be a new Katie. A new Katie going on to live a better life than the old Katie ever had. You have to leave her behind, Katie, or else you will not be able to go forward as easily."
"What about James?" Luci again wondered why she was so worried about leaving James? Sure he had formed a bond with her, but could it be that strong that she would hesitate about leaving him?
"James is going to come to you as soon as he can," said Ghunter. That threw Luci big time. "James be in on this?" he asked himself. He then saw Katie jump from the ledge and he held his breath for fear that she might miss the mat and be killed for real. Luci relaxed when he saw Joe grab Katie and hug her. He heard Joe say to her, "We have to leave now, okay Katie?"
Luci watched as Joe carried her back up the track and then a few minutes later he saw a white van exit the track on the river up onto Twin Bridges Road. He recognised the van; it was Ghunter's. "Well they be rescuing her, but where they be taking her and where James be going? I be coming here to be near my boy before I be dying and now he be leaving? Tommy cat, I be needing to be talking with that Ghunter. I be needing to try and be helping Joelee before I be passing on."
Luci made his way back the way that he had come. He got his bike and pushed it back up by the side of the bridge then got on it and rode away. No one was more surprised than Luci when a few days later he overheard someone in the shop talking about Katie Ellery's body being found in the river. Luci lingered by the canned goods and listened while Mrs. Savill conversed with some other woman at the counter.
"I heard a rumour that it might not have been suicide. I heard that perhaps she was pushed or even thrown."
"Who would do such a thing?" asked Mrs. Savill.
"Maybe that Luci-arnold Graham?"
Mrs. Savill shook her head and said, "No!" Mrs. Savill loved gossip and the juicier the better.
"That's what I have been hearing...of course, it IS just a rumour." The woman took her things and exited the shop so Luci made his way to the counter to pay for his Tommy cat's food. Mrs. Savill looked at him strangely and Luci knew that she was suspicious of him because she was by the second becoming more nervous around him. Just as Luci paid for his Tommy's cat food Shamus Savill came out into the shop. He stared at Luci and said, "You still camped on the beach?"
"Yes, but I be moving along soon."
"Best you be doing just that."
That night Luci packed up his camping gear and by moonlight stole up Twin Bridges Road and set up camp in the bush for him and Tommy cat. Joelee wouldn't know where to find him if she needed him, so he decided to make it his mission to let her know where he was.
For days he watched out for Joelee, but he never seemed to be able to see her anywhere and so in the end he decided to force entry into the school and find her desk and leave a note in it. It was not easy for a man of Luci's age to be climbing in a sunroof at the top of the class, but at least he could leave through the window. It took him almost half an hour to find Joelee's desk, but once he did, he left a note in there signed by "The man who be born at sea." But then he decided that writing the way that he spoke would make it very obvious that it had been him if it were to be found by someone else. Luci picked up the note crossed it out and wrote, "Indian Ocean."
Luci then made his way carefully out of the school and then back toward Twin Bridges Road, but on the way he decided to stop off at Ghunter's house to see if all the equipment was still there. He saw that Ghunter was not there and so he tried the door, but it was locked. Luci made his way around to the window through which he had gained access before. Once he was inside the house he made his way to the television room and sure enough, everything was still there. The cameras were still watching the inside of the church and the inside of James' house and studio. Luci wondered why they were still monitoring now that they had uplifted Katie, but then when he thought about it, he realised that it would seem very suspicious if Ghunter disappeared at the same time as Katie had. "They be knowing what they be doing," he said to himself. He then made his way out of Ghunter's house and went home to his campsite.
One week later Joelee found the note left by Luci. It had slipped down behind her books inside her desk and she only found it because it was a Friday and they had to clean their desks out. "Gone to look for possums and wood pigeons. T. B. R. good for that at this time of year."
Joelee puzzled over the note for days wondering what it meant. She knew that it was from Luci, Indian Ocean made that part really clear. For a few moments she wondered if he had 'gone bush' to die?
There was a huge buzz going on in the community in regard to the death of Katie Ellery and no one could have known that by the time Monday came around that Katie's death would no longer be thought a suicide. Joelee heard the rumours about Luci and she heard people saying that perhaps Luci pushed Katie Ellery into the river? Everyone was completely shocked when Ronald Cooper was arrested on suspicion of her murder. Even Joelee could not believe it and by that time she had figured out what T.B.R stood for, so as soon as she could, she headed up Twin Bridges Road to go and see Luci.
Luci had positioned his camp so that it could not be seen with the naked eye, but he had a very good view of the entrance to the place where he was. He saw Joelee walking around looking for him and so he went out to greet her. As soon as she saw Luci and Tommy cat she went running over there to them. "It's just as well you moved your camp...they are looking for you."
"Who be looking for Luci?"
"Lucan Rossi and his followers. Ronald Cooper has been arrested for Katie's murder, but Lucan is saying it was you who pushed her from the bridge."
"You be slowing down a little young sapling. Who be arrested for Katie's murder?"
"Her foster father."
"Then maybe he be the one who be guilty of hurting Katie?"
"Lucan and them are going to hurt you if they find you."
"Then they be having to find me first won't they?"
"What if they hurt you and Tommy cat?" Joelee was crying by then.
"I be making sure that Tommy cat be safe and you be not worrying for me." Luci took Joelee by the hand and led her to his campsite. He sat her down and made her a sweet cup of tea from the water in the billy that had not long ago boiled. Luci handed her the drink and then asked, "How be truck man?"
"He is still sick and Shonalee keeps telling him to see a doctor, but he won't."
"What about Wilbur, he still be there?"
"Yes, he's still there and making my life crap. He tells Sam tales about me all the time and he never leaves me alone. Sam is too sick to hit me, but Wilbur just does it instead."
"Why won't truck man's woman be stopping him?"
"Because she likes Wilbur. She's pregnant...she's going to have a baby...but its not truck man's baby, it is Wilbur's."
"Truck man be knowing this?"
"No, sick or not, he'd kill them both."
"Well don't young sapling be the one to be telling truck man. There be an innocent baby in the middle of all this with you. Don't be causing harm to baby, don't be telling truck man anything."
"I wouldn't because before truck man got a chance to kill them two, Wilbur would kill me."
"Wilbur be knowing that you know?"
"I don't know. Both him and Shonalee are waiting for Sam to die and then Wilbur is going to take over the farm. They are going to sell it and then leave."
"Truck man be knowing anything of the plans they be making?"
"No. He thinks Wiblur is his friend."
"Well you best be letting truck man be thinking just that."
Joelee stayed with Luci and Tommy cat until the next morning and when she got home she heard how Ronald Cooper had been charged with Katie Ellery's murder. Joelee was relieved to hear it, at least now everyone would lay off Luci, but she was wrong. A few weeks later she was walking down to Carla's house when she heard Lucan Rossi shrieking about how Brother Ronald Cooper had been falsely accused and how that Devil Luci-arnold Graham was as clever and as cunning as a snake. "He's beguiled the law! He has blinded them to the truth and they cannot see what is right in front of them. Luci-arnold Graham murdered sweet Katie Ellery as surely as I stand before you today. If the law won't mete out justice for Katie Ellery, then maybe it is us who should balance the ledger?"
"Amen, Brother Lucan, amen!"
It seemed to Joelee that the whole church was resounding with the intent of capturing Luci and dealing with him in their own way. "But they won't do that. They'll be caught for sure."
But as the weeks went on Ronald Cooper was sentenced for the murder and even though he had changed his plea to guilty, Lucan's crazed preaching intensified. He screamed and yelled about the fact that the Devil had beguiled the justice system and even poor Ronald Cooper himself. Joelee realised that Luci was truly in danger and that the danger was never going to pass so long as he remained in that sick little town.
Sam was getting sicker and Wilbur had been becoming more brazen in his attacks upon Joelee, but since he had begun sharing a bed with Shonalee he had been leaving her alone in that way. The first opportunity that Joelee got to sneak away from Wilbur and Shonalee she took. She was careful about going to Luci; she wanted to be sure not to lead trouble to him. As she walked up Twin Bridges Road and passed James house, she saw that there was a 'for sale' sign on it. Just as she went past it a lady came walking out of the property with a man that Joelee thought she had seen before but could not place. "Where's the man who lived here?" she asked them.
"Did you know him?" asked the man. Joelee realised where she had seen him before.
"You did the play at the college."
"Yes I did. Did you know James who lived here?" he asked her as he stared down upon her.
"I didn't know him, I just knew his name. Where's he gone?"
"He went overseas," said the man.
"When is he coming back?"
"He's not coming back." The man smiled at Joelee, got into the car with the woman and they drove away.
"I wouldn't want to live next to a bridge where a girl was murdered either," she thought to herself as she crossed the second bridge. It took her fifteen minutes more to reach the place where Luci was, but before she made it to his campsite she realised that she had been followed. She did not know who it was, but she saw a strange figure dart behind a bush when she looked back behind her.
Joelee realised that she could not go to Luci and Tommy cat, she'd be leading harm to them and so she carefully backtracked out of that particular little place and made her way back up onto the road. Once she was on the road she began to walk faster so that she would be nearing where there were at least some houses around. As she crossed the first bridge she thought about going into James' house. "But if they have been following me then they might know that there is no one there," she thought to herself and so she did not go in there. For a few moments she felt a little panic stricken, "Who is following me? What am I going to do?"
Joelee realised that she was going to have to head back to Sam's place in order that she at least be safe from unknown danger and so she made her way there as quickly as she could. Once she was up the driveway a little she ducked into the ditch and watched the person stare up the driveway and then go on their way down School Road. As soon as the person did that, Joelee said to herself, "Now the hunter becomes the prey!"
She slowly and carefully made her way down the driveway and back out onto the road. Walking in the ditch ensured that she could gain ground on the person who had followed her, but that they could not see her. The person walked as far as the church and then walked in the doors. Joelee climbed out of the ditch and then walked over to the church and looked carefully though a crack in the door. "I followed her, but she just went to the end of Twin Bridges Road and then left again."
Joelee was a little scared because it was Lucan Rossi who had followed her.
"So maybe she doesn't know where Luci-arnold Graham is? Maybe he has left like Shamus told him?"
"He hasn't been back in my shop since that day." Joelee moved a little so that she could see whom else was inside the church. There was Lucan, Wilbur, Shamus, Josh, Luke and even Tom Flicker and Edison. It seemed to Joelee that Katie's death had united absolutely everyone in the community. Those who had been opposed to each other had been united in the death of Katie Ellery and their need to exact some good old fashioned justice.
"LUCI-ARNOLD GRAHAM MURDERED THAT SWEET CHILD AND HE FRAMED RONALD COOPER! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL RONALD IS AVENGED!" shrieked Lucan.
"But you didn't even like Katie Ellery!" thought Joelee. "You liked her about as much as you like me, and that's not much. What's going on...why are you so set on blaming Luci?"
All it takes is one person. All it takes is one lie. The one person was Lucan Rossi and the one lie was what he was saying about Luci-arnold Graham. That one person and that one lie would completely mess up the collective construct of their community. Every individual, as a part of the collective, the collective being their community, to that point perceived themselves to be a certain way. Law abiding, forgiving, loving and wanting only to spread the disease of peace. Yet they hardly noticed that the tide of their construct had slowly been turning for some time. They were not even aware that their behaviour no longer at all reflected the perceived construct of the collective. Even the best of them were being turned into vicious, snarling gossip mongers who were swayed too and fro by every foul wind that escaped from the mouth of Lucan Rossi. Even the best of them were almost at the point where, at the end of the day, they could perpetrate the unthinkable. Lucan Rossi was in the process of deceiving them so that the crime could be ingrained in the construct of the collective as being something that was best for the collective. With what had happened to Katie Ellery, it was becoming very easy for Lucan to get individuals to tell themselves and actually believe, that something had to be done about Luci-arnold Graham. "It is for the greater good," he told them. "It is justified."
Before he knew it, he was well on his way to having altered the construct of their world to make something that may well have been formerly abhorrent to the people of that community, perfectly acceptable. But that is the fickle nature of constructs, be they individual or collective and no one was more aware of that than Lucan Rossi. He only needed to keep playing on the fact that Ronald Cooper was the poor innocent victim and that the crime against Katie was simply opportunistic in nature. Not one of the people in that community stopped to ask themselves what Luci-arnold Graham had to gain by throwing an innocent child from the bridge? But that is the insanity of someone who is in the business of manipulating people, they are adept at encouraging people to suspend normal reasoning faculties.
What made it so easy for Lucan Rossi to begin the series of events that would overtake them all in the end was that he had no reason to be lying. He had nothing to gain by setting the community against Luci. Except for the rush of being in control over so many people.

Luci walked his bike slowly up the driveway of the house where Ghunter lived. He had been gone for a week or so, but Luci had seen him arriving back. Ghunter did not see Luci walking up his driveway because it was night and Luci only ever came out when it was dark. He parked his bike against the porch and then walked up onto the porch and knocked on the door.
Ghunter looked at Joe when he heard the knocking on the door. They were both wondering who it could be? Everyone had agreed not to venture back to Ghunter's place, except for Joe, and that was only to keep up appearances and nothing more. They had to make sure that no loose ends were left, but they were about to find out that they had one huge loose end to deal with and it was not going to be easy. Ghunter elected to go and answer the door. He opened it only to see the old man on his doorstep.
"Good evening to you. I hate to be bothering you, but you and I be needing to talk."
"I don't even know you." Ghunter stood there staring at the old man. He did not want to be unkind, but he did not want to invite trouble either.
"You be aware that Lucan Rossi be blaming me for the death of little Katie?"
Ghunter was not aware of that and he wondered how he had missed such a huge problem. "They are blaming you?"
"Yes they be blaming me."
"But Ronald Cooper confessed, pleaded guilty and is in a small cell as we speak."
"That he may be, but they not be convinced down at the church. Happens that the whole community be swayed to Lucan Rossi's way of thinking. They be looking for me, they mean to be taking their pound of justice from me. And I be thinking that be very unfair, seeing that the child Katie be living still."
Ghunter felt his blood pressure soar to stroke levels as he stood there staring at the old man. "You better come in." Ghunter stepped aside to allow the old man to come into the house. Luci stepped into the hallway and waited while Ghunter shut the door. Ghunter turned to face him and watched as the old man pulled a black cat out from under his jumper and put it on the floor.
"He be on a lead and not be causing any trouble."
Ghunter looked at the cat and then back at Luci. "This way," he said. He led Luci and his cat down to a furnished lounge opposite the room where the televisions were. As they stood there in the room, Joe turned around from what he was doing and stared at Ghunter and then at Luci. "Luci? What can we do for you?" Joe stood to his feet and extended his hand for Luci to shake. Luci shook his hand and then just stood there for a moment or two.
"You might want to sit down for this, Joe," suggested Ghunter, as he offered Luci a seat and took one himself.
"Why? What's going on?" Joe stared at Luci and then at Ghunter.
"I be just telling Mr. Ghunter here that Lucan Rossi be blaming me for the death of Katie Ellery and that he be planning to take his pound of justice. I be telling Mr. Ghunter..."
"Just call me Ghunter..."
"I be telling Ghunter that I be thinking this to be unfair, seeing that Katie not be dead. Seeing that Katie be living still."
Joe ran his hand through his hair, looked at Ghunter and then back at Luci. "They found her body in the water...the coroner confirmed it was Katie and a man has confessed to her murder. How could Katie be alive after all of that?"
"Let me be telling you a story. I be looking for crawlies in a river when I be hearing a voice telling a girl to be getting off the ledge. I be letting my crawly go and move closer to the bridge. Then I be seeing four men standing at the bottom of the bridge below where Katie be walking the ledge. The four men, one being you and the other being Ghunter, be telling Katie to be jumping and I be watching her jump to the mat. I be puzzled by what I be seeing, but Luci knows that the four men be trying to save the little girl from what she be enduring at the hands of her foster father. Luci be on his way thinking it be none of his business. Luci be very surprised when he be hearing how Katie's body be found in the river on the Sunday."
Joe ran his hand through his hair and looked at Ghunter. He shook his head and replied, "Perhaps Ronald Cooper intercepted the child and pushed her once you were gone?" It was a feeble attempt at hiding the truth and Joe felt as ridiculous saying it, as it sounded being said.
"That be totally believable if Luci not be seeing the televisions that be in the room across the hall. Luci be seeing that his James best friend be watching him. Luci see that they be watching Lucan Rossi, know what he be doing and save one baby but not the other."
"What are you talking about?" asked Joe.
"You be seeing what be done to Katie and you be saving her. But what about what be done to the other baby? Why you be saving one and not the other? I know you be seeing what be happening to her."
"Luci, I honestly don't know what you are talking about," said Joe.
Luci stood to his feet and walked out of the room, across the hall and tried the handle on the door, but it was locked. Luci stepped back as far as he could and then kicked the door as hard as he could. The door flew open and hit the wall inside the room. "There be your televisions so don't be telling me that you be knowing nothing!"
Joe and Ghunter were astounded at the strength of such an old looking man. They looked at each other and then Joe said, "Okay so you know about our surveillance, but we do not know what you mean by a second baby. Do you know, Ghunter?" Joe stared at Ghunter hoping he had been holding nothing back.
"I don't know what he is talking about."
"You be um...making a copy of your watchings?" asked Lucy as he stepped into the room followed by Joe and Ghunter.
"Yes, but most of the footage we have not looked at. There will have been times where things were spoken of when we were not here."
"Lucan be letting Ronald Cooper be hurting Katie. But he be letting Wilbur Barnaby be hurting a girl too."
"We could only be involved with Katie because she is a foster child and she has no one who looks for her," said Ghunter.
"This girl be a foster child too and she be hurt."
"What is her name?" asked Joe.
"Joelee Elstree. She be a lovely young girl. She be the same age as Katie."
"We can't help her, Luci. It takes us months, sometimes even a year to organise the taking of a child. We can't just take Joelee. Where would we put her? Who would take her?" Joe shook his head as he spoke.
"I know that James be in Montana with Katie. You be sending Joelee to be with James and Katie in Montana."
Joe sighed. "Luci, you are not hearing me, we cannot help Joelee. We want to but we cannot help every single child."
"Then you be sentencing this little girl to be dead." Luci picked up his cat and began to walk out of Ghunter's house.
"Are you going to tell anyone what you know?" asked Ghunter.
"I never be one to endanger a child. I be just as concerned about Katie be kept safe as you. I be not wanting trouble for James so I be quiet. But you be the ones to live with Joelee's blood on your hands and her death to be on your conscience." Luci walked to the door and let himself out and then he got on his bike and went on his way.
Ghunter and Joe stood in the hallway staring at each other and it was Joe who spoke first. "He's good. I don't want her blood be on my hands or her death to be on my conscience."
"Me either. Let's check the tapes! First you go see if you can catch up with Luci and bring him back. If Lucan is looking for him then he will at least be safe here."
Joe took off out the door and down the driveway and he could see that Luci was out on the road so he ran after him. Just as he caught up with him he saw a set of headlights heading their way. "Get down into the ditch, NOW!" Joe ordered Luci. Luci did as Joe said and sure enough the vehicle slowed right down beside Joe. "What are you doing out here in the dark?" called the driver.
Joe walked over to the passenger window. "I am rather partial to an evening walk."
"You haven't happened to see young Joelee Elstree out and about have you?" he asked him.
"Who?"
"Joelee Elstree, Sam Carter's daughter."
"Sorry, I don't even know who Sam Carter is."
"What about the old man on his bike?"
"Oh the old guy with the cat in his pocket?"
"Yeah, that's him. Have you seen him?"
"Not what I would call in the distant past, no. I heard some people saying at the shop that they thought he had moved on."
"He is the one who murdered Katie Ellery but the law don't want to listen."
"Really? I thought Ronald Cooper confessed to the murder and is in jail for it?"
"Ronald Cooper isn't right in the head and he didn't murder Katie. The old guy on the bike did it...Lucan Rossi says he has been accused of it before. In another town a little boy went missing and they found his body buried near where Luci-arnold Graham had his campsite. He was never charged because there was not enough evidence."
"What town was that then?" asked Joe, knowing full well that the man would have no town name to give him.
"Some town up North."
"Well I haven't seen him so maybe he has moved on?"
"Maybe. You be careful walking around here at night on your own, you never know when Luci might get it into his head to kill again."
"Will do."
"Can I give you a lift?"
"No, I am almost there, thanks all the same." Joe stood there as the man drove off in the direction of Twin Bridges Road. He then walked over to the ditch, which was filled with water and called, "You okay, Luci?"
"I be a little waterlogged, but I be okay."
"It isn't safe for you out here. Come on, you can come and stay with Ghunter for now, at least until we work out what to do."
"Who be the man who be stopped by you on the road?" asked Luci.
"I don't know. I have seen him around before though, at least I think I have."
"He be driving a green truck?"
"Yeah, why?"
"That be Wilbur Barnaby. He be looking for Joelee or he be looking for me?"
"He be...sorry...he was looking for you both. Why would Wilbur Barnaby be looking for Joelee Elstree? What is he to her?"
"He be her worst nightmare after Sam Carter. He be taking the child to himself...be at least two times I be knowing about. Probably be more if the truth be brought to light."
"You have heard him saying this? Has Joelee confirmed it?"
"The child be past speaking about it. Child be wounded more by the words be spoke to her. But she be afraid of Wilbur Barnaby, I think she be terrified of what he be doing that she be switching off a little inside herself."
"Yeah, kids do that when it gets too much. How well do you know Joelee?"
"About as well as anyone be knowing a child that be hurt. Sam Carter be kicking her out all night. Sam Carter be keeping her from food and shelter. He be keeping her from love and he not be keeping her safe from Wilbur Barnaby."
"You think Sam Carter knows what Wilbur is doing?"
"I think he be knowing. How can he not be knowing when it be happening on his own land?"
"You heard Wilbur telling Lucan Rossi what he had done to Joelee?" asked Joe once they got inside the television room with Ghunter and started going through the tapes.
"He be telling Lucan that Joelee be tempting him. Lucan Rossi be telling him that the sin be Joelee's and not be his. He be saying that the Devil be sending Joelee to be tempting him."
Ghunter ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "That is exactly what he told Ronald Cooper about Katie."
"If there be Katie and Joelee they be doing this to. Could be that there be others." Luci felt sick at that contemplation.
Ghunter looked at Joe and said, "You start with this lot. Luci, you ever worked something like this before?"
"I be only switching it on when I be guessing what button."
"Okay, well this is going to be a crash course in technology for you because we have been recording inside Lucan Rossi's church now for many months."
"I be seeing you sneak in and out of the church. Be every second Saturday night."
"You have been watching me?" asked Ghunter with a curious smile on his face.
"I be watching over you. I be knowing you be doing a good thing, so someone be watching over you."
"Thank you, Luci." Ghunter then set about showing Luci how to thread the film onto the reel and then play it. That left the three of them searching footage all night because Luci was unsure as to what month he had observed the conversation about Joelee between Wilbur and Lucan.
"Luci we have a group that we have to go through in order to help Joelee, if they say no, then there is nothing that we can do," said Joe. He didn't want to say it but it needed saying. As an after thought he asked, "How do you know James?"
"I be a friend of James' father Gino." Luci did not look away from the film that he was looking at. He could not believe some of the things that went on in the church. "These people be very strange."
"Strange probably implies way too much of normalcy when it comes to this lot. They are out and out bizarre and Lucan Rossi has pretty much brain washed the lot of them, but that is no surprise when you look at his teacher."
"Who be his teacher?" asked Luci. "Oh I think this be it." Luci turned and looked at Joe and Ghunter. They both got up and went and sat beside him and he replayed the piece of footage.
"How the heck did we miss this?" asked Ghunter.
"Easy, it was a Monday," said Joe as he looked at the date at the bottom of the screen.
"Ah, so it was. I wonder if Monday is their confessional day?" asked Ghunter. He was being sarcastic and so neither Joe or Luci answered him.
"We need to get our group to look into Joelee's records. We need to know where she came from and if she has any family out there." Joe stared intently at Luci.
"Her parents be dead and they be having no brothers or sisters. Joelee be an only child."
"She told you this, Luci?" asked Ghunter.
"Yes she be telling me."
"She may not have told you the truth, Luci. Sometimes the loss of their own family can be so great that they just prefer to tell someone that their parents are dead."
"Why they be doing that, Ghunter?"
"Because it is easier to speak of if you tell everyone they died. No child wants to admit that their parents are still living and simply just don't want them. We have to check Joelee out and we have to make sure that no loose ends will be left."
Joe then told Luci; "We will go to our group and we will see if they are willing to do a rush job on this kid. But Luci, if they say no then there is nothing that we can do."
"Please be trying your hardest for her. She be a nice girl, she be having a lovely heart and she be worth helping."
"You need to stay here. If you go out then Lucan and his friends are going to find you and I do not know what they might do," said Joe.
"Okay, me and Tommy cat be staying here."
"There's food in the fridge if you are hungry and there is some left over mince from last night that Tommy cat might like to dig into," said Ghunter.

Joe and Ghunter assembled their group at their normal meeting place. "We have a huge problem...there's another child that needs to be taken."
"Joe, we don't just take a child. You two were sent back there with specific instructions to clean up and to get out. Ghunter is supposed to be back in Montana next week and you fly out four weeks from today. This kid is not a go," said Howie.
"This kid IS a go. I am not leaving her there. Haydon has checked her out and she has no family at all, not a one."
"I said no. There is nothing more to discuss."
"Well you see, Howie, either the group does it or I will call James back and the three of us will do it."
"Joe, this is not how we do things," said Howie.
"I know, but this case is exceptional. She is just like Katie, but her situation is far more desperate. Please Howie, if the work I have done over the years means anything you will agree to this."
"And who will take her, Joe? You? Ghunter? Who?"
"Neena and I will take her."
"And what about documents? We had a hard enough time getting them for Katie, how in the world are we going to get them for this one?"
Jonathan began laughing. "Well that's the beauty of it, Howie. We steal Katie's."
"But her date of birth is the same as Benji's so it was easy. Katie and this new girl, do they share the same birthdate?" asked Howie of Jonathan.
"No. But Katie was born on the 25th day of the seventh month of 67. Joelee was born in the 11th month on the 25th day of 67 All I have to do is change the 7 to an eleven. If it is ever discovered the paper will be so old and ratty they will never be quite sure whether it was meant to be 11 or 7."
"That's all very good and well, but how are we going to explain her death?" Howie stood there waiting to see what they would say, but no one said anything. "The answer is no. I am sorry, but this kid is beyond our help. Meeting is closed." Howie turned and walked from the group and the others turned and followed him all except for Jonathan and Jefferson.
"I'm in. I don't know how we're going to pull it off, but I'm in," said Jefferson.
"I'm in too. But we are going to have to get James back; four of us won't be enough. We won't have Howie, Haydon or Frankie...will we have Frankie?" Jonathan looked at Joe.
"We can't ask him if we haven't got the protection of Howie," said Joe.
"I think we should leave James out of it too. If we get caught, and there is a mighty good chance that we could, then we would be risking Katie by bringing James in. It will have to be just the four of us and we can't kill her," said Ghunter.
"We have to kill her, Ghunter," said Jonathan.
"We can't kill her. We have no coroner and no cop," said Joe. "We are just going to have to be thinking on our feet with this one."
"Why are you two so keen to come on board with this one?" asked Ghunter.
"Because the man who is asking us is James' father," said Jefferson.
"What?" asked Ghunter.
"I found something that Luci dropped." Joe handed Ghunter something from his pocket. "It is Gino, Salilea and their baby boy James."
"How do you know that?" asked Ghunter.
"Because James has a copy of exactly the same picture. He showed it to me once. Luci doesn't know that I know and James doesn't know because I think Luci doesn't want him to know. I also know that Luci is dying, he has some kind of blood cancer. I don't know how long he has and I think he came here to be near James for his last days. But with James being gone, he now just wants to last long enough to see this kid safe."
"Well we will give it our best shot," said Jonathan. But none of them could have known how the whole thing would play out.
When they got back to the house to see Luci they let him know that the group had said no, but that they and two other men were going to proceed with some kind of plan of their own. "If there be the need for someone to be taking trouble on account of this then I be the one to take the trouble."
"No, Luci. We will..."
"If there be trouble then I be the one to take the trouble. I be not long for this world, just so long as someone be taking care of my Tommy cat then I be okay."
"Would you like to make plans for your Tommy cat?" asked Joe of James' father.
"I be making the plans when I think the time be near to needing it. Thank you for be taking on these troubles. Where Joelee be going?"
"She will go to Montana with Neena and I as our daughter, but she will do her growing up alongside of Katie and with the influence of James in her life too."
"James be a good man...you be a good man too, Joe. I be resting easy knowing she be with you and James."
"We have to get her first, Luci, and there are no guarantees that we will be able to. But we will do everything that we can for her." Joe patted Luci on the arm reassuringly.
"Can we be putting an end to Lucan Rossi while we be at it?"
"We can but try." Joe stared at the others and they all nodded. They all wanted to end Lucan Rossi, but how they could do that, they did not know.
"I think Sam Carter be dying of the cancer." Luci stared at the four men and then added, "I just thought you be needing to know that."
"How long has he got?" asked Joe.
"I not be knowing that. I do not think even he be knowing that but Joelee say he be having the headaches and the bad stomach and also he be very weak. He be avoiding going to the doctor but Joelee told me his wife's belly be swelling with Wilbur's baby. Joelee say that when Sam Carter be finding out about it that there be at least two deaths."
"If he hasn't been to a doctor then he hasn't been diagnosed yet, which means that McKendrick or whoever the Social Worker is now doesn't know anything either." Joe jigged his leg. "You know what will happen when they find out though? They will move Joelee on."
"Perhaps we should let the cat out of the bag and perhaps they will move her to somewhere better?" asked Ghunter.
"I can't believe you can even still be optimistic, Ghunter. You of all people must know that the chances of Joelee landing on her feet in this system the way that it is now are remote at best. Until they start police checking people, the perverts will win most times. There are so many Ronald Coopers and Sam Carters out there it's scary!"
"I hear what you are saying, Jonathan, but there are some good ones out there."
"I know that there are, Ghunter, but the chances of Joelee ending up with one are fairly slim. I say we yank her if we can get away with it."
"Jonathan's right, Ghunter, we should grab her if we can. Luci, when are you due to see her next?" asked Joe.
"I never be due to see her. She be there when she be there; always be that way."
"Does she know where your new campsite is?"
Luci looked at Joe and replied, "Yes she be knowing where it be, but she be only there once and be gone ever since."
"What do you mean? When was the last time you saw her?" asked Jefferson.
"Be a week ago, maybe be more. Sam Carter be not letting her out on account of the bad stranger that be wandering around looking for little girls to be throwing off bridges." Luci smiled as he spoke and the others could not help but smile too.
"It is pretty sad and pathetic isn't it?" asked Joe.
"Yes, but sometimes sad and pathetic wins the day with weak willed people. Luci, we need to work out where she is and what is going on at her house. Do you think you could get her to meet you somewhere?" asked Jefferson.
"I could be trying." Luci wondered how he was going to get Joelee to meet him when he didn't even know where to look for her?
"Okay, well that needs to be our first move and we also need to keep an eye on what is going on in Lucan Rossi's church," said Joe.
"She be suffering a lot, so I hope we be successful in helping her," said Luci as he stared at the four men.
"Well, you know what they say, you have to suffer a little in your youth to motivate you to succeed later on in life," said Jonathan.
Luci stared at Jonathan and replied, "That be seagull droppings! Suffering not be needed to make one be motivated to succeed. There be plenty of people who be successful that never be suffering a day in their life."
Jonathan looked embarrassed. "It is just a saying, Luci. I never said I believed it to be true."
"Suffering be needless and it be pointless. Especially be pointless and needless young girls be suffering at the hands of men that be no better than wild beasts. They be wanting their bits be gone and then be buried to their necks in the sand and be left to the mercy of the tide."
"I for one agree with THAT sentiment, Luci. Unfortunately it is illegal," said Jefferson.
"So be stealing children away and be placing them elsewhere."
"Yes, but it is for the greater good," said Joe.
"Who be saying that burying the likes of Wilbur Barnaby to his neck in the sand and be leaving him to the mercy of the tide not be for the greater good?" Luci smiled at the four men and they all chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, but we can't ACTUALLY do that to Wilbur Barnaby, Luci," said Jefferson.
"As much as we would like nothing more," said Joe.
"You be putting Ronald Cooper into jail for a murder he not be committing, what be the difference?"
"You seriously want to bury Wilbur Barnaby in the sand up to his neck and leave him to the mercy of the tide?" asked Ghunter.
"No, I be making sure you be civilised about what you be doing. I think it be poetic justice that Ronald Cooper be in jail by his own hand. He be guilty of murdering a baby, that he never be physically killing her be neither here nor there. You be stealing a child's innocence, you be killing them to a certain point anyway. I can be saying though, that there be a certain satisfaction in having Wilbur Barnaby be put to jail. Maybe with him be Lucan Rossi too, trouble be how to do it."
"What about Sam Carter?" asked Ghunter.
"Truck man be enduring life's own reward as we be speaking. He be not long for this world, probably he be crossed over before me."
"How long do you have, Luci?" asked Joe.
"I maybe see another summer, but I be wondering what kind of seeing summer that be?"
"What do you mean?" asked Joe.
"Every day I be feeling a little more poorly...may be that the next summer I be seeing I be better off not seeing. Who be knowing but the good Lord himself. I be content just to be knowing that young sapling and Tommy cat be going on to be living happily and safe. That be all I want from this mean old world now."

Joelee had not seen Luci for a few weeks. Ever since she had run up to the end of Twin Bridges Road and discovered that she had been followed by Lucan Rossi; she was too scared to go looking. She was staying close to home as well because Sam was deathly ill and Shonalee refused to do anything in the way of caring for him. She had moved him into the old room at the back of the house and Wilbur was openly sleeping in his bed with his wife. Sam was too sick to do anything about it and Joelee found herself feeling sorry for Sam, despite all he had done to her. Sam was also confiding in her too and one day he told her to go and get something out of the toolshed for him.
"Where you hid old Luci's book...behind there is a door. It is a small black door and it leads into a box."
"What? I can't hardly hear what you are saying." Joelee leaned in closer to Sam who was whispering because it was all that he could manage at the time.
"Where you hid old man Luci's book..."
"You knew about that?" Joelee looked at Sam who was lying on the pillows sweating profusely and throwing up every now and then. His energy was rapidly fading and Joelee was afraid that he could die at any moment.
"The black door you saw...it has a number to make the handle open."
"What's the number and what do you want from it?"
"Twenty-five, eleven, sixty-seven. I want the yellow folder; it's my last will and testament. Bring it to me, Joelee." Sam gently shook her arm and stared at her out of his bloodshot almost closed eyes.
Joelee looked at him and said, "Okay. I will get it, but try to stay awake until I get back." Joelee left the room via the window so that she would not run into Wilbur or Shonalee and she made her way carefully around the house and across the path and up toward the toolshed. Once she was outside the toolshed she made sure that she was not being watched by Wilbur or anyone else and then she went in and pulled the tools away from the wall where she had hidden Luci's book before she'd returned it to him. Once she moved the tools, she saw the black door that Sam was talking about. She had to move the little dial to all the numbers that he had said and then the little door came open. Joelee reached in and took the yellow envelope in her hand and stuffed it down the back of her pants. She then shut the little black door and spun the dial around and then replaced everything against the wall to obscure it.
When she climbed back into the room, Sam had forgotten that he had sent her to get the envelope and when he saw her he said, "Tell me one of them silly jokes you tell your friends."
"What silly jokes?" asked Joelee as she sat on the side of his bed.
"One of those silly ones that you laugh about so much when you are sitting out on the lawn."
Joelee had only ever had Holly and Carla over to play once and the aftermath of their visit had been enough to deter her from ever making THAT mistake again. She sat there trying to think of what joke Sam might have heard her telling them? She could not think of one and so told him a new one that she had heard. "Okay, dumb blonde joke?"
"Yeah, a dumb blonde joke," said Sam as he patted her arm.
"Okay, a blonde and a brunette are sitting in a pub watching the eight o'clock news. One of the items is about a man who is standing on a building threatening to jump. The brunette, upon seeing the blonde taking a rather great interest in the news item says to her, 'I bet you ten buck he jumps.' The blonde looks at her and says, 'You're on.' Next thing they see the man jump from the building and so the blonde hands the ten dollars to the brunette. The brunette looks at the money and then says to the blonde, 'Nah, I can't take your money, I saw the six o'clock news and I knew that he would jump.' The blonde looks at her and replies, 'Yeah I saw the six o'clock news too, but I really didn't think he'd be dumb enough to jump twice.'"
Sam laughed so much that he started to throw up again and Joelee tried to help him to lean over the bucket beside his bed. He finished puking and then he chuckled again, "That is a funny joke, Joelee." He was quiet for a few moments and then asked, "Would you get me some ice, Joelee?"
"Sure, Sam." Joelee headed out to the kitchen and looked in the freezer for the ice and found a few chips.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Wilbur while he sat at the table with Shonalee on his lap acting like a love-struck teenager.
"Getting ice for Sam."
Wilbur shoved Shonalee off his lap and walked over to Joelee and slapped at her hands causing the ice to fall out of her hands and down onto the dirty kitchen floor. "You'll give him nothing...he can suffer the way he has made Shonalee suffer."
Joelee bent down to get the ice up from the floor and Wilbur bent down and pulled her up by her hair, which caused her to shriek. "Let me go, Wilbur!"
"I SAID TO BE GIVING SAM NOTHING! I HOPE HE IS IN AGONY AND I HOPE HE DIES A SLOW MISERABLE DEATH!" Wilbur then shoved Joelee against the wall and stormed out of the kitchen followed closely by Shonalee.
Joelee bent down and picked up what was left of the ice and wrapped it in a cloth to give to Sam. When she got back into his room he was resting with his eyes shut and so she just sat on the side of the bed and put the cloth to his mouth. He then woke and said to her, "I need you to go and get something for me..."
Joelee reached under her shirt and pulled the yellow envelope out from down the back of her pants and said, "This?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"You told me and I got it, but then you forgot that you asked me. What do you want me to do?"
"I was leaving everything to Shonalee, but I don't want her getting a cent of this place or that Wilbur. I want you to get me a pen and I am going to change the will and then I want you to post it to the address on the back of the envelope. Do you think you can do that, Joelee?"
"Yes."
Joelee went down to her room and got a pen for Sam and then went back into the room and gave it to him. Joelee watched as Sam struggled to change the wording of his will and then he signed it. When he handed it back to her he said, "When I am gone, then this place will be yours. You do with it what you want, but just promise me that you won't give it to barren mule?"
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Because I don't want Wilbur getting anything from it, nor her and you are the only other person I can leave it to. It is not a kindness Joelee; it is a spite thing. I would like to say it is a kindness from my heart that I leave this place to you, but it isn't and why start lying now?"
"I don't like you, Sam. You were so mean to me and I never knew why. What did I do?"
"Nothing, Joelee, it is just me. I been a mean man since I can remember becoming a man."
"Why?"
"Soured love. Shonalee was my second choice...in fact she wasn't even a choice, she was a lack of options. The woman I loved was never in love with me and it turned me mean. Don't ever let life turn you mean."
"I won't."
"I think I know that. You could be taking your pound of flesh from me about now and yet here you are taking care of the one who hurt you most."
"You weren't the one who hurt me most, Sam. Someone hurt me way worse than you did. What's going to happen to me once you go?"
"Shonalee and Wilbur mean to keep you here. They mean to keep you here to work and they aren't going to tell anyone I am gone. They mean to dump my body in the offal pit at the back of Myrtle Polanski's place."
"But how will they get this place if they do that?"
"They will report me missing in a while and then once the legal time passes they think they will get this place. Of course you will be gone by then, having done most of the work. What they won't know is that all their planning and scheming will come to nothing. They will then spend some time counting the imaginary money this place, the finest farm in the area, will fetch them...only to have the Court Bailiffs evict them and watch this place be handed to you. That's about the best justice I can mete out to all three of you." Sam smiled and lightly touched Joelee's arm. He thought about how much he did in fact love Joelee, but he did not want to tell her that. "It would not be fair to tell her that I loved her like a daughter."
Sam did not think that it would be fair to tell her that despite the meaness that came out because of his drinking, that he was deeply sorry every time. He did not think it fair to give her love, to make her love him just to be leaving her alone. So instead of making her love him, he made her hate him. Being mean was what Sam thought was the only kindness he could give her in the long run. That way when he died she would be glad to see the back of him, rather than being all torn up in grief. But Sam did say; "I think I am sorry that I was such a prick to you."
"Don't worry about it. But Sam?"
Sam had his eyes shut by then but he weakly said, "Yeah?"
"Why did you get a foster kid if you don't like other people's kids and why keep me if you hated me so much?"
"I hated Shonalee more."
"But..."
Sam opened his eyes again. "I knew when I first passed blood eighteen months ago that I was on the way out. I also knew eighteen months ago that Shonalee was doing it with Wilbur Barnaby...she met him at the church. In order for me to leave this farm to anyone but Shonalee that person had to be living under my roof as my kid for at least a year, better if it was eighteen months, but a year is enough to make it stand up in court. I kept you here to make you my heir. I taught you everything about running this place. You know how to make fences, you know how to set up the shed and milk the cows...you know how to do most everything it takes to run this place."
"But you don't even like me."
"I dislike Shonalee a whole lot more than I dislike you, so it will all be fine in the end." Sam then shut his eyes because he was exhausted.
"But Sam, you were so mean to me, why would you even want me to have this place?"
Suddenly Sam got a rush of energy and he sat upright in bed and grabbed Joelee by the front of her top and pulled her toward him so that her face was an inch away from his. "You look like her. You look so much like her it scares me! You bring out the best in me like she did, but you bring out the devil in me. If I said that the sky was blue then she would say it was black and when I agreed with her to make her happy, she'd laugh at me and call me stupid. Nothing I did or said was ever right and a woman like that kills the heart of a man and yet he still walks around like he's living. Now, when I look at you and think how she hurt me, I try to hurt her back. That's all Joelee, nothing more and nothing less. Now let a dying man rest!" Sam let Joelee go and flopped back down on his pillows.
Joelee's heart was pounding so loud that she could see it beating beneath her T-shirt. She had never been able to explain why it seemed that, every now and then, Sam seemed to be staring at her as though he felt some kind of emotion other than hate. She was never able to understand why every now and then, Sam's conscience seemed to get the better of him and he would suddenly do something so kind that it defied every perception that she had of Sam. Now she knew why.
Joelee tucked Sam down and then went out the window to head to the Post Office to post Sam's last will and testament. When she got to the Post Office the woman looked at Joelee and asked her, "Is this a legal document?"
"It is a letter to a lawyer."
"Then best it is registered."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that when the lawyer gets it from the Postie in the city then the Postie in the city will send us a form to say that he got it. Once it gets back here then we will send it to Sam and that way he will know that everything that he has asked his lawyer to do will be done."
"Okay," said Joelee.
One week later when Shonalee checked the mail, she found the registered letter from the lawyer addressed to Samuel. J Carter. She sat with Wilbur and opened the envelope and read the letter, "Oh my sweet Lord, Sam's changed his will."
"How'd he manage to do that?" asked Wilbur.
"Joelee must have helped him. JOELEE?" she shrieked.
"Here we go, Joelee. Remember, you know nothing." Sam smiled at her. Joelee let go of Sam's hand and walked out into the kitchen and stood in front of Wilbur and Shonalee.
"What do you know about this?" asked Shonalee as she shoved the piece of paper under her nose.
Joelee took the piece of paper, looked at Shonalee and asked, "What's a last will and testament?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Joelee."
"I'm not. I don't know anything about anything." Joelee looked at the floor.
"Get out! Get out of the house and don't come back until the morning. If I see you before morning then what Sam's done to you in the past won't be a lick on what I'll do to you!" said Wilbur.
Joelee walked out of the door and shot around to the side of the house and climbed into the window of Sam's room. She rushed to his bedside and shook him awake. "They know, Sam. They know that you changed your will."
"Pass me my pills."
"Sam...they know...they are..."
Sam grabbed Joelee's arms and said, "Pass me my pills then you climb out the window and you don't come back til Wilbur says you can."
"What are they going to do to you Sam?"
"Nothing that my pills won't do first...now give them to me...NOW!"
Joelee reached across to the little bedside table and gave the bottle to Sam and then passed him a glass of water. "Are you going to take them all?" Joelee had tears rolling down her face. She watched as Sam shoved five pills at a time into his mouth and then washed them down with the water from the glass. "Sam, you can't do this," said Joelee, as she watched Sam, not quite believing what she was seeing.
Sam mustered up as much strength as he could to be as mean as he ever had been. He reached out and grabbed Joelee and then slapped her in the face as hard as he could, "GET OUT YOU STUPID LITTLE BITCH. GET OUT, I HATE YOU...You're..."
Sam didn't get another word out and when Joelee reached the window she said to him, "You are so mean...I took care of you...I..."
"GET OUT!" roared Sam as he threw the empty glass at her. He knew that if Joelee saw what Wilbur and Shonalee were about to do, and if they knew that she had seen them, then she would end up in the bottom of the offal pit with him. Sam swallowed the last of the pills as fast as he could and yet he was still just conscious as Wilbur and Shonalee came into the room.
"It's off to the great offal pit in the sky for you, Sam Carter," Wilbur sneered.
Sam mustered up as much strength as he could for the second time and he said loudly; "There's nothing left that you can take from me, Wilbur. In another few minutes I will be beyond both of you."
"Who did you leave the farm to? WHO DID YOU LEAVE THE FARM TO?" screamed Wilbur. Wilbur leaned over Sam because he could see that he was trying to say one last thing to him.
Sam looked at Wilbur, smiled at him and with his last breath he whispered, "Go to hell."
Having said that, Samuel Carter breathed his last.

Wilbur and Shonalee needed time...they needed time to work out who Sam had left the farm to and that meant that they could not allow anyone the knowledge that Sam Carter had passed on or run off yet. Wilbur looked at Shonalee while he paced backward and forward in the kitchen. "What do we tell Lucan?"
Shonalee shook her head. "I don't know." She wondered what Lucan might say if he discovered that Sam had changed the content of his will?
"He is going to find out sooner or later." Wilbur ran his hand through his hair and then rubbed at his face with his two hands. "Shit what a mess."
"We've got time, three months at least, even with Lucan because he knows that we can't do anything until then. If he has left the farm to Joelee then we adopt her and then get rid of her like we planned. Maybe Lucan could help us with that too?"
"No, we can't tell Lucan anything. Let him think that everything is going how we planned it. Besides, Sam Carter hated that kid more than he hated you, he won't have left it to her."
"No, probably not." Shonalee moved from one foot to the other nervously. Her back was aching with the weight of her unborn child, but Wilbur did not seem to bothered by her discomfort.
"Any ideas about who else he might have got it into his head to leave it to? Any long lost relatives that I don't know about?"
"Sam was an only child, you know that and his family has owned this land for four generations. If there were other relatives around interested in this place, then trust me, after fourteen years of marriage, I would have met them."
"Sam was never the friendliest guy who ever graced the planet."
"There's no one else he could have left it to...unless he left it to a charity. Do you think he would have?" Shonalee stared intently at Wilbur.
"That carcass in the back room was your husband, not mine, so how the hell would I know?" Wilbur was clearly rattled and Shonalee did not really know quite what to do.
"I don't know. And speaking about the carcass in the back room, what do we do with it?" Shonalee stared at Wilbur who was still pacing madly.
Wilbur stopped pacing, stared at Shonalee and then he said, "Load the 303."
"Why?"
"We have to get access to Myrtle's offal pit to dump the body. We can't turn up there empty handed so we are going to need a couple of dead cows."
"What are you going to say that they died from?"
"The bloat."
"But how will you explain having shot them?" asked Shonalee as she went to the cupboard to get the gun and then to the draw to get the ammunition.
"I will say they were suffering, so I shot them...mercy killing and all that."
Shonalee loaded the gun, as she spoke and it occured to Wilbur how risky it had been of Sam Carter, who beat his wife, to teach Shonalee how to even load a gun. "But Wilbur, you don't shoot cows that are already dead and if they are not already dead then all you have to do is stick them with a knife to relieve the bloat. Any half cocked farmer knows that." Shonalee handed the loaded gun to Wilbur.
"WELL WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO EH? YOU GOT A BETTER PLAN, SHONALEE?" Wilbur stared at Shonalee as he held the loaded 303 in his hand.
"No," said Shonalee. She watched as Wilbur exited the house, put on his gumboots and headed outside onto the path and up toward the cows who were grazing in the paddock beside the milking shed. All the way up to the paddock he thought on why Shonalee had never turned the gun he held in his hand on her husband? "If it were me, I would have accidentally shot him ten times over already."
Joelee was all the way down the end of School Road, but even she heard the shots of the 303 from where she was. The sudden sound of the boom of each shot made her jump and it frightened her to think about who had been using the gun and on what they might have used the gun. The sound ricochet off the hills and buildings for a few seconds after the shots were fired. She wondered if it had been Wilbur shooting Sam? Maybe it was another farmer shooting a wounded animal or maybe just doing a 'homekill' for their own freezer? Joelee really didn't know what to think and so she climbed into the ditch and sat there for a while wondering what she should do.
After about half an hour, Joelee finally decided to head toward the tracks. She was just about to go across the tracks near Carla's house when she saw Lucan Rossi driving away from the red Coca-Cola shop across the railway lines. Quickly she ducked into the long grass beside the tracks so that he would not see her as he drove in the direction of his church. There was no way of telling who she could trust any more and with Shonalee and Wilbur knowing that Sam had changed his will, they could have had half the community looking out for where she was going, just as they had tracked Luci. Joelee thought about going over to Carla's place, but she didn't dare, after having seen her father in the church with Lucan Rossi. "Everyone has gone nuts around here!" she thought as she stayed squatted in the long grass.
Meanwhile Wilbur got the forklift and attached it to the front of the tractor and loaded the two carcasses of the cows on the back of Sam's truck. He and Shonalee then loaded Sam's body onto the back of the truck in between the two cows and then they drove out of the driveway and went on their way toward Beach Road to dump the carcasses in Myrtle's offal pit.
Fortunately Wilbur slowed down to speak to Lucan Rossi on his way around the corner and Joelee knew exactly where they were going when she overheard them. "It's been done then?" asked Lucan.
"Yes. We're on our way up to the Polanski place now."
"Okay, so we report that he has wandered off and in three months time we get him declared dead and then we have the property. The church will really benefit, we will be able to move so many people in over there. New church buildings, houses, all kinds of things. So he never knew?"
"No, he thought he was dying of cancer, thought we were going to bury him alive in the offal pit and so swallowed all his pills in one go. We didn't have to lift a finger." Wilbur winked and clicked his tongue.
"Arsenic is a beautiful thing is it not?" asked Lucan Rossi as he laughed wickedly.
Joelee felt sick and then she felt scared. "They poisoned Sam? They poisoned him and he thought he was dying of cancer? Sam wasn't even sick!" Joelee then had a horrible thought. "If they did that to Sam, could they be doing it to me?" Joelee decided then and there that she would eat nothing more from the house of Shonalee and Wilbur. "Why didn't they tell him about Sam changing his will?" Joelee was confused as to what was going on and she decided that she wanted to see whether in fact Sam was really dead or not? "If they lied to Lucan about Sam's will, then they could have lied about everything else too? What if Sam is still alive?"
Joelee did not know whether to run back to the house to check on Sam or to follow Wilbur and Shonalee out to Myrtle Polanski's place? If Sam was still alive then there would be nothing worse than being buried alive under all that offal. Joelee decided that she would sneak to the Polanski place behind Wilbur and Shonalee and once Wilbur was done, then she would go in and check that Sam was really dead.
Lucan and Wilbur spoke for about ten minutes because they wanted as many people as possible to go past them and see Wilbur taking the carcasses of the cows to the Polanski place. "Just in case anyone should ever doubt that it happened the way that we say it did," Lucan had said.
"What if someone looks real close and sees Sam?" asked Shonalee.
"Why would they look real close if it is out in the open? With people seeing you stopping to talk with me then they will assume that it's another unfortunate livestock death and they won't look close. Suspicion of Sam's death will never fall upon you. They really WILL believe that he DID run off."
"Why would Sam run off?" asked Shonalee.
"Well that's easy, he was caught doing unmentionable things to the girl and he ran off in fear of being found out by the community."
"Works for me," said Wilbur.
When they had originally hatched their plan, everything had gone along just as they had predicted...until Sam got it into his head that he wanted a foster child. He used the pretext that he and Shonalee had been trying for babies for years and seeing as how they could not produce one, then they wanted to open their home to a child who would benefit from being given one. Shonalee had had no option but to go along with Sam's wishes, thus Joelee had come into their lives and become a bit of a thorn in the side of Lucan Rossi, Wilbur Barnaby and Shonalee Carter. But after a little reassessment, they figured that Joelee could be easily gotten rid of too.
Lucan would simply make the majority of the community highly suspicious of Joelee. If he could discredit her and make her look like a troublesome child, then he knew that the tightknit community would follow suit. Sam Carter would get so sick of all the complaints that he would send the miserable little wretch back to where she had come from. But Sam knew that his wife and Wilbur were having an affair and he knew that they intended to take the farm when he died. "Yes, Barren Mule and Wilbur will move in here and live happily ever after...so they think. But even in my grave, they will not a get a red cent from me!" he had thought at the time. When all the complaints about Jolee started coming through to him, he thought the pressure was being brought to bear from Shonalee and Wilbur. But Sam was too smart for them. Instead of sending the girl on her way, he dealt with her harshly every time he got a complaint. That way he kind of killed two birds with one stone; he got to keep his heir and do so without arousing the suspicions of anyone.
Shonalee pushed him and pushed him to get rid of the girl, but he dug his heels in by saying things like, "She'll not have me; I'll have her first," amongst other things. When Sam had refused to send the child away, Lucan Rossi had had to come up with a new plan for Shonalee, Wilbur and himself and they would get rid of Joelee one way or another. Sure it could not be at the same time as Sam Carter 'ran off', but she too would eventually end up in the bottom of the offal pit with Sam if she was still there once he had passed on.
"It is all coming together now you two, just don't panic and everything will be just fine," assured Lucan Rossi. He then drove off because at least three people had passed them as they spoke on the corner and so it was safe to continue. As Lucan Rossi walked into his church he smiled to himself; he had just bought the Cooper farm for a song with Mrs. Cooper wanting to escape the shame of her husband. Now all he had to do was sit tight and soon he would have the prime Carter land too. Lucan Rossi was a greedy man who did not care what he had to do to get his hands on what he wanted. He was a master manipulator and he was adept at making poeple do as he wanted them to do.
Lucan Rossi understood well how people worked and he knew that if he were in the city, that a scheme like he was perpetrating right there would never have worked. City folk were far more sophisticated and far more suspicious, but these country folk he was dealing with were ripe for the picking. He had attempted to pull schemes like this before, but never to the extent that he was involved in this time. But he told himself that he was doing it to further the Kingdom of God and so he believed he was justified in 'fleecing the flock'. He did not struggle with conscience at all, if bad people got in the way then you moved them 'out of the way'. It was all very simple as far as Lucan Rossi was concerned.
Lucan stood there staring out of the window of his church at the sun and wondering what the rest of the late afternoon might bring? The sun was slowly starting to slide down behind the skyline toward the sea and while he watched, he thought to himself; "Now that Sam Carter is out of the way all I have to do is get rid of Wilbur Barnaby!"

Joelee waited until Lucan Rossi, Shonalee and Wilbur set off in their opposite directions. She watched Lucan drive toward his church and she noted that Wilbur drove the truck across the railway lines and headed toward beach road.
"They're going to dump Sam in the offal pit. What if he is still alive? I have to know." Joelee sat in the long grass for a few moments longer. She knew that she should get a move on because soon it would start to get dark, but she could not resist indulging her internal dialogue on the merits of bothering to care about what had happened to Sam Carter at all.
She reached out and picked a blade of grass and put it into her mouth and twirled it around with her tongue.
"If it was me that had gone missing, Sam would not be worrying. Even if he knew that I was about to be dumped alive into the offal pit, he still wouldn't bother to come looking. No, Sam would simply be relieved that I was no longer around. He never liked me and I never liked him any better, so why bother?"
Joelee spat the piece of grass out of her mouth and picked a new one as she watched a couple of enormous trucks thunder up the main road toward the city.
"Would Sam really have been that mean that he would wish me dead? What about all the things he said to me before he swallowed his pills? What about how he hit me and called me names? Did he do that because he meant it or did he do it to get me out of the way? But why get me out of the way?"
Joelee sat there for a few more seconds and then it occured to her. "Sam knew what they were going to do. Sam knew and he knew that if they knew that I knew that they would kill me too. He was nasty so that I would run away. So that I would run away from trouble."
Joelee spat the grass from her mouth once again. "Oh Sam, I am so sorry!"
Joelee began to make her way with stealth through the long grass beside the railway tracks until she was opposite Carla's house. She had no choice but to stand up out in the open to cross the level crossing where the cars crossed the tracks.
Before she did though, she shut her eyes to be sure that no vehicles were headed her way. She knew that by shutting her eyes that her ears would work that much better. "One sense always compensates for the loss of another."
Someone had once told her that but she could not recall who.
Hearing no cars she crossed the level crossing and disappeared back into the longh grtass on the other saide.
"God if you were ever going to do me a favour then now would be the time. I have to cross the main road without being seen by anyone. I know that I told you I didn't like Sam and that I wanted you to run him over with the milk tanker, but I didn't really mean it. I need to know if he is alive and if he is then I need to save him. So please, clear the road so that I can cross it."
She had to wait a while for the coast to be clear before she could cross the road, but suddenly, just like a miracle itself, there was no traffic coming down the road from either direction, so she ran as fast as she could and all but dived into the ditch on the other side.
Walking in the ditch to remain obscured slowed her down some, but she was amazed at how fast she ended up standing right in front of the Polanski place. Ensuring that the coast was clear, she crawled up the side of the bank and slid under the fence into a corn field. All the stalks were old and brown but they offered enough cover that no one could see her and so she was able to move quickly. Once she was through the cornfield she had to climb a steep hill and at the top of it she lay on her stomach looking down at the offal pit. As she did that she saw Wilbur and another man unloading the cows and then the body of a man into the offal pit. She watched as Wilbur pushed the body down with his boot.
Joelee felt sick at the idea that Sam might still be alive, but she knew that she could not leave that place without making sure that he was really dead. She could not imagine anything worse than being buried alive in that gruesome place, so she waited until Wilbur went on his way.
Once he was gone, Joelee carefully made her way down the side of the hill using the treeline of pines as cover. Soon she was opposite the pit and she knew that she did not have much time to look for Sam as darkness was starting to descend upon that place. Once it was dark, her search would be futile.
Joelee made her way to the side of the offal pit and the smell was horrible, but she knew that she must get into it to look for Sam. She tentatively walked down the clay steps that led into the pit and once at the bottom she stepped into the muck. The only thing that enabled her to endure was the thought that Sam might still be alive.
As she stepped into the muck of dead carcasses and water she felt herself sinking and she kept sinking until it was almost right over her head. She tried to walk toward the center of the pit, but she kept tripping over bones and carcasses that had not quite fully decayed and a couple of times she accidentally swallowed some of the water, which made her gag and vomit.
She was quarter way across the pit when she thought she heard a vehicle and she looked over toward the track that led up away from the pit toward Myrtle Polanski's house and sure enough, Wilbur had come back!
Joelee froze on the spot and tried to remain very still. Not far behind Wilbur another vehicle came down the track and it looked to Joelee to be Myrtle Polanski's farm vehicle and on the back of it she saw a big silver tank. Someone very carefully turned the truck around and parked it so that the back of it was right at the edge of the pit.
"What are they doing?"
The next thing Joelee saw made her blood run ice cold. Myrtle and Wilbur got out of their vehicles and that was when Joelee saw that it was Lucan who was with them. Wilbur pulled what looked to be a hose from the back of Myrtle's truck. He pointed the hose in the direction of the offal pit and began to spray it with something but still, Joelee had no idea what it was that they were doing. Then Lucan laughed loudly and threw something onto the pit and suddenly the whole side of the pit nearest to them errupted into fire.
"Oh no, they are burning the pit."
Joelee, in her panic, began to make her way back to the side of the pit where she had climbed in. She knew that the smoke and the darkness would obscure her from their view for a little while, but as she was approaching the steps, she saw that Lucan was moving Myrtle's truck around to the side that she was on. By that time, Joelee was in a blind panic and crying. She wanted to climb the steps but she knew that she would be seen by Lucan before she even made it up out of the side.
Joelee did not know what to do and all of a sudden she heard someone calling her name.
"Joelee, be taking my hand. QUICKLY!"
Through the darkness of the smoke and the early nightfall she could see the outline of a man and she immediately knew him to be Luci. She did not question him or anything, she just wanted to escape what might potentially be a fiery death. Joelee took his hand and Luci all but dragged her up the steps out of the offal pit. "RUN!"
Joelee ran as fast as her legs would carry her and she was absolutely sure that they had been seen by Lucan who was by then bringing the vehicle to a stop at the side of the offal pit that she had just been dragged out of.
Beside the treeline Luci pulled Joelee to the ground and covered her with his own body. "Joelee, you be crawling on your belly very slowly and quietly until you be getting to the top of the hill and then you be making your way through the cornfield to the ditch. Joelee be walking the ditch to the beach and when she be getting there, you be drinking the seawater until you be sick."
"What?"
"Joelee! Just be doing what Luci be telling you. When you be done at the beach you be making your way to the house on School Road...you know the one that be obscured by trees and be having a red roof?"
"Yes?" Joelee was in shock and had gone into auto-pilot.
"Luci be meeting you there. You be going now and you be moving carefully. This not be a game, Joelee, this be your life."
"What about you?"
"I be fine. You be taking care of you. Now go!"
Joelee did what she was told even though she was terrified that Luci would be discovered and thrown into the offal pit right along with Sam.

An hour later Luci began to make his way back to the house where Joe, Jefferson, Jonathan and Ghunter were waiting and worrying.
"What if they got hold of him?" asked Joe.
"I don't know," said Ghunter. The other two men just remained silent. They sat there a little longer in silence and then Tommy cat jumped off the chair and ran down to the door. Two seconds later Luci stumbled in the door and the first thing that hit the four men was the smell.
"Oh man, Luci that stinks..."
Luci cut Ghunter off. "She be here?" he asked breathlessly.
"Who?" asked Ghunter as he reached out and helped Luci to remove his dreadful smelling coat. "Jeepers, Luci, what the heck have you been in?" Ghunter opened the door and threw the coat outside.
"Joelee be not here?" Luci felt the panic taking a hold of him.
"No, she's not here. Why would she be here?" asked Joe.
"We be needing to go to the beach...take me to the beach." Luci opened the door and walked outside and when he realised he wasn't being followed, he called out to them, "Quickly! We be needing to find her before they be finding her."
"Who?" asked Joe.
"Lucan Rossi and all the other people be following him. Please be moving fast, she be in danger."
Ghunter grabbed the keys and he locked the door behind him. Luci looked at him and said, "Be going back inside and be locking the window in the empty room...it be very easy to be climbing in."
Ghunter unlocked the door and went and checked every window lock and then headed back out again. "That was how you got in?"
"Yes it be."
The men got into the white van and headed down toward the railway tracks and then they got onto Beach Road. Then Luci said, "Be stopping, Ghunter. It could be she be walking the ditch."
"Which side, Luci?" asked Ghunter.
"Could be either side. I don't know which side she be preferring."
"Well that's just great! How are we going to be able to see her?" asked Joe.
"You be walking a ditch each," said Ghunter with a wry smile. "Jefferson you take the left. Jonathan you take the right. Just keep walking until you get to wherever it ends. Where does it end, Luci?" Ghunter looked at Luci who was sat on the floor of the van in the back so that he would not be seen with them.
"It be ending down by the pine forest."
"When you get to the end stop and wait for us. If you find her, stay and keep an ear out for us coming back."
"Ghunter, how the heck will we know if it is you or someone else?" asked Jonathan.
"I will leave the right indicator on as we make our way back," said Ghunter.
Jefferson and Jonathan carefully got out of the van and made their way over to the ditch, one on each side. Ghunter, Joe and Luci drove directly to the beach and on their way they passed Wilbur's green truck. He waved them down as he got closer and Ghunter said to Luci, "Know someone who owns a green truck?"
"That be Wilbur Barnaby...maybe."
"It's Wilbur Barnaby...he spoke to me the night Luci turned up. Just slow down, talk to him and act natural."
Ghunter slowed the van right down, wound down his window and greeted Wilbur. "Good evening to you, sir."
"You moved here from the city?" asked Wilbur.
"Yeah." Ghunter smiled at him.
"We're missing a child...Sam Carter's kid, Joelee. Do you know the kid?"
Ghunter pulled a face. "What a strange name for a child...girl or boy?"
"Well that answers that," Wilbur sarcastically said. "She's about five feet high, got blue eyes and dark brown curly hair. Very sassy mouth on her...Sam sent me out to look for her...I'm Wilbur, his hired help."
"Oh. I'm Olaf."
"You're one of them German people...what do they call them? Nazis?"
"Actually I'm Swedish...that's a little way from Germany."
"Whatever," said Wilbur as he waved his hand around as if to dismiss Olaf. "If you see the kid, grab her and bring her to Sam Carter's place."
"I do not know where Sam Carter's place is. I don't even know Sam Carter."
"Then just drop her at the church with Lucan Rossi, surely you know him?" asked Wilbur.
"No. I don't know him either."
"But your friend does, don't you buddy?" he called out to Joe.
"Yeah, we'll drop her to Lucan if we see her...but it is so black out there that we'll be lucky to see anything at all," said Joe.
"What are you city folks doing down this road at this hour of the night anyway?" asked Wilbur.
"Going floundering," said Joe.
"In the dark? You're mad! Anyway, you see the kid, grab her and drop her to Lucan's." Wilbur then gave them a brief wave and then he drove off sending shingle up against the side of the van.
"Charming young man!" said Ghunter and he began to drive again and as they rounded a small bend in the road he could see flames licking high into the sky. "What the heck is that?" he asked as he slowed the vehicle down so that he could look at it more closely.
"Wow, look at the flames...what do you think..."
"It be the offal pit that be on the Polanski place. They be burning it off," said Luci.
"How do you know that?" asked Ghunter. He stared over the seat to look at Luci.
"That be where I find Joelee when I be looking for her."
"Yeah but what made you look there?" asked Joe.
"I be following her when I be seeing her dive into the ditch. I be following her up there and then I be rescuing her out of the pit she be in."
"She was IN the offal pit?" Ghunter could not believe what he was hearing.
"Yeah that be right."
"Why?" he asked Luci, as he glanced from Luci, to Joe and then back to Luci.
"That be something I not be knowing, but she be in it up to her chest when I be seeing her. I be pulling her out just before they be setting fire to it."
"Shit, Luci. What do you think she was doing in there? Did they throw her in there?" asked Joe.
"Like I already be telling you, I be not knowing what she be doing in there. I be pulling her out and be making her leave before me. I be telling her to go to the beach and to be washing in the seawater. If she be doing what Luci be telling her to do then she be at the beach washing and drinking the water."
"You told her to drink seawater?" asked Joe.
"To be making her be sick...she be in the offal pit with all the things that be rotting...there be diseases in the pit...she be sick now, then maybe she not be getting sick from it later."
"Jeepers Luci, you're talking Typhus, Hydatids, Cholera, Dysentery...can you get Typhus or Cholera from an offal pit?" asked Ghunter of Joe.
"I don't know. But we need to find her to make sure that she is okay...at least we know that the other team hasn't found her yet."
"Why you be telling Wilbur you be Swedish?" asked Luci.
"Best he doesn't know anything about us, Luci. They look for us later, no one is going to be able to say that they ever saw a Swedish guy." Ghunter sped up and they reached the shore of the beach within minutes. At first they got out with the intentions of calling out to her. "No! Don't be calling out to her...they may be listening or be watching... they be hearing us calling to her and then they be knowing that she be knowing something."
"So what, we just drive up and down looking for a needle in a haystack?" asked Joe.
"Yeah. And be plunking your heads in the water."
"What? Why?" asked Ghunter and Joe at the same time.
"Just be doing what Luci says. I be old but I not be stupid. Be wetting your hair and be doing it now." Luci walked back and got into the van.
Joe and Ghunter just stared at each other and walked into the water and did as Luci had told them to. By the light of the van they could see each other but nothing more than that. They drove up and down the beach for a few minutes, but they were unable to find anything. As they approached the place where they could drive out, they saw two men standing there, but they relaxed when they realised that it was only Jonathan and Jefferson. Ghunter wound down his window when he got near to them. "No dice?" he called out as he pulled up beside them.
"Nothing," replied Jefferson as he and Jonathan climbed into the back of the van. They both sat on the floor beside Luci. Ghunter headed back down Beach Road toward Main Road and low and behold, Wilbur stopped them again.
"Catch anything?" he asked him and Joe.
"You are right, nothing to be caught in the dark and the water was bloody freezing." Ghunter smiled at Wilbur and silently thanked his lucky stars that at least Luci had possessed the forethought to calculate in the possibility that Wilbur might come back to check on them. With their hair being wet, both Joe and Ghunter looked as though they'd been into the lagoon.
"Idiot city people...you know that the rip tide can just suck you right out of that lagoon and out to sea?" Wilbur looked from Ghunter to Joe and then back to Ghunter. He then shook his head. "Don't suppose you saw hide nor hair of the kid we're looking for?"
"Not a trace."
"That's odd, one of the others said they thought they saw her near the lagoon, maybe the rip tide got her? Maybe old man Luci's back at the beach and he took her? Who knows? Guess we'll have to be waiting and seeing what the morning shows." With that Wilbur drove off spraying Ghunter's van with shingle again.
Luci became very worried. "You be thinking they be finding her after all?"
Ghunter looked at Joe and then Jonathan said, "Or they are setting up for her not to be found...but that is our job, not theirs. Why would they be interested in making Joelee disappear?"
"I be thinking the answer be in the offal pit...that be why they burned it."
"You sure they didn't find Joelee and put her in that damn pit before they burned it?" asked Joe.
"What offal pit...where?" asked Jefferson.
"You saw the fire up on the hill?" asked Ghunter as he stared at Jefferson and Jonathan.
"Yeah."
"That'd be old man Polanski's offal pit, Luci found Joelee in it this afternoon just before they set it on fire. We don't know if she went in there by herself or whether they threw her in there," said Ghunter.
Jefferson looked at Jonathan and then at Ghunter and Joe. "Why would a child willingly climb into a thing like that?"
"If we assume that they threw her in there then..."
Lucy cut Joe off. "No one be throwing the child into the pit. She be climbing in by herself." Luci sighed.
"Well why didn't you say so, Luci?" asked Ghunter.
"You be not letting me be getting in a word edgewise." Luci shrugged his shoulders.
"So she was obviously looking for something then...what was she looking for?" asked Joe as he stared at Luci.
"I think she be looking for me...but I not be sure. Nothing else be making any sense for the child to be climbing in there. We be needing to find her."
"Know of any other place she might have gone to, Luci?" asked Joe.
"Could be she be heading to the end of Twin Bridges Road where be my campsite. But she be not gone long enough to be getting there yet. There be many ditches between here and there."
"So what do we do?" Ghunter asked. "WHAT DO WE DO?" he yelled as he smacked his hands against the steering wheel in frustration.
"Go back to the house and call Howie," said Joe.
"And tell him what, Joe? That we are pursuing the child anyway and oh by the way we have a tiny problem!" Ghunter stared at Joe angrily and then he sighed loudly and said, "I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do."
"We are going to have to go back to the house and sit tight. We will watch the inside of the church and maybe Neena can call her friend and see if Joelee turns up to school tomorrow," suggested Jonathan.
"It's freezing out here. If she made it to the sea then she is in wet clothes in this night air. She could be laid up somewhere unconscious, hypothermia, sickness and who knows what. I think we need to keep looking," said Joe.
"And how long do you think that we will be able to keep driving up and down these roads before one of Lucan Rossi's cronies sees us?" asked Jonathan.
"FOR FUCK SAKES! WOULD PEOPLE STOP BEING STOP DAMNED DEFEATIST! WE CAN'T JUST SIT HERE DOING NOTHING!" yelled Ghunter.
"We have no choice, Ghunter. We've got our hands tied behind our backs...can't wave or salute; damned if we do and damned if we don't." Jonathan sighed and then stared at Jefferson. Ghunter then started driving again and they went back to the house because Ghunter knew that Jonathan was right; there was nothing else that they could do.

Jolee got to the cornfield and then she began to run. She was in a blind panic and no longer thinking straight. All she was aware of was that she had to get to the sea and do what Luci told her to do. Once she climbed under the fence, she slid down the bank into the ditch and ran all the way down to the end opposite the pine forest. Joelee then climbed out of the ditch and ran over to the other side of the road and into the pine forest. She hoped that she would be able to find her way through it and out onto the beach without getting lost.
Initially she did become lost and it was pitch black in there and she could not see two fingers in front of her face. She then shut her eyes and tried to breathe calmly and she told herself, "If I can't see anything, then they can't see me."
While she had her eyes shut she noticed that the ocean sounded much louder and so she followed the direction that the ocean sounded loudest. She had to walk slowly because she kept banging into trees, but finally she found herself on the sand. She then ran in a straight line toward the sea and she pulled her clothes off and got into the water. The water was freezing; ice cold and it made her shriek to begin with. Carefully she rinsed her clothes and then entertained the struggle of trying to put them back on while they were soaking wet. It was a struggle that eventually she won and she then drank seawater until she had thrown up about four times. She was just stepping out of the water when she saw lights further down on the beach.
Her heart began to pound inside her chest, as she ran as fast as she could toward the sand dunes that she was only just able to make out. There was a quarter moon in the sky, so the light was not very good at all. She only just managed to get over the top of the dunes and roll to the bottom on the other side when she heard Wilbur calling her name. Joelee got up off the ground and ran into the forest and lay down on the forest floor. Just as she did that, the headlights of Wilbur's truck appeared at the top of the dunes. Someone switched on his rabbit-shooting spotlight and they pointed it toward the forest. Joelee saw the light as it skimmed twice over the place where she was hiding.
When the light shone on her the second time, whoever was shining it kept it positioned there for a second and Joelee almost got up and started running. "Jeepers Josh, what the hell are you doing?" called Wilbur from the driver's seat in the front of the truck.
"Lighting a smoke," he called back to Wilbur.
"Those things will kill ya." Wilbur burst out laughing.
Joelee relaxed a little even though her heart was still pounding inside her chest, but she was by then fairly sure that they had not seen her. That was confirmed when the spotlight went out and Wilbur reversed the truck off the dunes and they headed south along the beach. Joelee lay there for a while longer shivering and feeling really thirsty and sick. She did not really know what to do from there. "Why are they looking for me here? Did they see me at the offal pit? Or are they just making sure that I was not anywhere nearby? Wilbur told me to get out of the house and not come back until tomorrow, so where do I go now? How am I going to get out of Beach Road without being seen?"
Then it hit Joelee. "Of course, I will follow the fence line of the paddocks above the ditch. On Flicker's side it is all cut down, but on the other side it's really long. No one will be able to see me from the road at all, so long as I duck down if any cars come along."
Joelee decided that the only way that she would be able to get out of the forest again was by walking in a straight line with her eyes shut. If she did that then she would easily be able to tell if she was going off course. Oddly enough, it worked and she found her way out of the forest quite quickly. She then climbed the fence into the paddock and started to head back toward Main Road that way. She was so cold that she could hardly feel her body at all and climbing all the fences that separated the paddocks was no easy task either. She felt very tired, but she kept moving.
After about ten minutes of walking she was almost at the side of Main Road and she knew that she was her most vulnerable there. She would have to get across it without being seen by anyone at all because there was no way that she could know whether the vehicles coming along the road were just travellers or someone looking for her.
Finally she could see no traffic coming either way and so she got up and ran, but she was so cold that she fell half way across and for a moment lay there dazed. "That's why Mrs. Beckersly always told me off for running across the road. She was always saying, 'What might happen if you fall half way across?' Stupid! I should have listened to her!"
Joelee managed to get herself up before any vehicles came her way and she was just ducking down into the long grass by the tracks when she saw a white van turn into Beach Road. A few minutes later, as she sat catching her breath in the long grass, she saw Wilbur's truck turn out of Beach Road and onto Main Road. She watched it as he drove down further and then drove over the railway tracks opposite Carla's house.
"That was so close!" Joelee sat in the grass for a while longer because she really was not sure about where she could go next or what she should do. But then she thought to herself, "I have to get out of these wet clothes, which means I need some dry clothes. I can't go back to Sam's to get them...Sam!" Joelee began to cry..."I'm so sorry, Sam," she squeaked out, as she imagined him in the bottom of the offal pit while the whole thing was aflame above him. Then as if Sam himself were sitting right beside her she heard his voice, "What are sitting there crying for you foolish girl? Get up and do something to help yourself before I lay my itching hand across that snivelling whiney face of yours!"
Joelee tried to get control of herself and then she replied, "Okay, Sam."
Even though she was shaking and crying and feeling more miserable than she could ever remember feeling, she knew that Sam was right; she had to help herself. "What was the story Mrs. Beckersly told me? The bear never looks in his own den when searching for prey. If Lucan is the bear then his den is the church. I can go to the church...then what? They have a shower...but I need clothes."
As Joelee sat there processing her thoughts and trying to make a plan out of them, she remembered that Carla's dad made her mum keep their dryer out in the shed. He abided dryers in the house about as much as he abided their having a television. "I can see if there's some clothes in there and if there are, then I can take them, go to the church and have a shower."
Joelee began to slowly make her way along the railway lines to go to Carla's house and just as she was about to scoot across the road; Wilbur's truck went past her again. She stayed in the grass and watched as it headed down toward Beach Road. "He's still looking for me," she thought. Once she saw Wilbur's truck turn into Beach Road and she could no longer hear Wilbur's truck, she scooted across the road into Carla's property and headed down their driveway and into the shed. It was very dark, so she couldn't see anything in there, but when she put her hands into the dryer she found clothes. She did not know who the clothes belonged to but she grabbed what felt to be jeans, socks, a T-shirt and a thick jersey. With the clothes in her arms, she then stole over to their porch and took a pair of Carla's sneakers; her old round home ones. She knew Carla would be gutted to come out and find her new ones gone because she had shown them off to Joelee and Holly the week before at school.
Joelee left Carla's property and walked in the long grass down School Road until she was opposite Lucan Rossi's church. Just as she was about to cross the road, a vehicle turned into the road from the railway tracks end and so she ducked down. It was the white van again and she wondered whom the people in the van were that they would be driving all over the place just as Wilbur had been. "Could they be friends of Wilbur's helping him to look for me?" she asked herself.
Once the white van was at the other end of the road and rounding the bend, Joelee stole across the road and up onto the steps of Lucan Rossi's church. Even though she knew the front door would be locked, she tried it anyway and she was most surprised to find it open. She looked around her to make sure no one was coming and she walked inside the church. She flipped on a light and then headed toward the back of the church to where the bathrooms were. The door was not locked and she was not sure why she imagined that the bathroom door would be. Joelee turned on the water, stripped down and stepped in under it. It felt so good to have warm water on her that she was very reluctant to get out and for a few moments her mind drifted far from her current predicament. She began thinking about Sam and when she had first met him.
Sam had seemed so nice during the first half an hour in his lounge with Shonalee and Mr. McKendrick, but as soon as her Social Worker left, Sam let her know what was what. He had immediately made her get dressed into some old clothes and he had taken her up to the cowshed. He ran her through the process of setting up the shed for milking and then he undid it all and made her do it. Every time she got a part wrong, he had slapped her viciously. And every day after that he took her all over the farm showing her how to do this and that and the other thing and it went on for months. By the time Sam had finished with her she could do almost any job that he could do, if it did not involve strength. Even the things that needed strength could be done with a tractor and a forklift and he had showed her how to do that too.
Joelee began to cry, "I didn't understand, Sam. I'm sorry I hated you like I did."
"That you in there, Myrtle? Your hot water pipe broken again?"
Joelee froze; it was Lucan Rossi calling to her. Joelee panicked for a few seconds not knowing what to do or say.
"Myrtle? Are you okay in there?"
"Aha...mm," called Joelee thinking that there was absolutely no way that she would get away with fooling Lucan.
"Okay, well I am just going to go up Beach Road one more time, see if we can't find the old guy or Joelee. Be back in about half an hour."
"Mm," called Joelee. She listened carefully to hear a vehicle starting up and soon enough, once she turned the water off, she heard it. She breathed a huge sigh of relief and then stepped out of the shower and dried herself as fast as she could. Fortunately, all the clothes that she had grabbed were Carla's, except for the jersey. The jersey clearly belonged to Edison, but she did not care because it was thick, big, warm and dry. She knew that Lucan would, sooner or later, discover that it was not Myrtle in the shower at the church, so she knew that she had to get out of there fast.
Joelee made her way to the kitchen of the church and she grabbed their Communion grape juice and drank a few mouthfuls of that. Then she swiped some of the crackers that they used in their Communion too; she figured that God would not mind, considering the circumstances. Just before she exited the kitchen, she grabbed a black bin liner out of the draw and she placed her wet smelly clothes into it. With stealth, she made her way out of the church and across the road. She dumped her clothing into the ditch, but she did not get into the ditch herself because she wanted to stay dry. Seeing that the grass was high along the fences there too, just as it had been in Beach Road, she jumped the ditch, climbed the fence and walked along the fence line.
Joelee was starting to feel a little better once she got some of the crackers into her stomach and then she began to think of Sam again and she did not know why she felt so upset at what had happened to him. "I should be feeling happy that he is gone, but I don't. They tricked him and they poisoned him and now he's dead at the bottom of the burning offal pit."
Joelee felt her tears sliding down her face again and she felt really badly that she had not been able to find him. Then she had another thought. "Maybe they were trying to trick me into getting into the offal pit so that they could get rid of me first? Maybe they knew that I was outside listening and so they said all that to make me go there? Maybe Sam was in on it? Maybe Sam is up at the house with nothing wrong with him at all? But he was sick, I saw him! He made me get his will and he made me post it. I saw him change it...but what did he write on it? I didn't see what he wrote; I never looked. I don't know what to do!" Joelee sat down on the grass for a moment but then quickly stood again when she felt the dew soaking in through her jeans. "I have to go up to Sam's place; I have to see if he is there."
Joelee made her way along the fence line until she was opposite Sam's place. She carefully listened for cars and when she heard none, she crossed the road as fast as she could. She had no option but to walk part of the way up the driveway and then she stole across the paddock that would lead her to the window to the room that they had banished Sam to. She wandered around the outside of the house for a few moments to see if she could hear anything at all, and when she heard no movement, she climbed the piping so that she could stick her head through the window to look.
The light was still on in the hallway and so there was a bit of light in the room. She was able to see that Shonalee and Wilbur had furnished the room with her things. There was no sign that Sam had ever been in the room at all. Joelee then got a little braver and climbed into the room so that she could get some of her own clothes. She had just gotten changed into them when she heard Wilbur's truck on the driveway. "Shit!" she said as the panic swept over her entire body.
She quickly threw Carla's clothes and Edison's jersey out of the window, grabbed her other pair of sneakers and jumped out the window just as she heard the back door being opened. Joelee quickly gathered the clothes together and held them in her shaking hands as she leaned hard up against the house. The light to what used to be Sam's room was flipped on and she heard someone walking around in there. "Well she hasn't been back here," she heard Wilbur saying. "Did you leave the window open Shonalee?"
"Yeah, get rid of the stink of the old boy!" she called, not realising that Wilbur meant 'wide open'. Joelee cringed when Wilbur leaned out to grab the latch handle to pull it shut and she could not believe that he had not seen her!
"Well I don't know where Joelee is, but there's no way she went anywhere near Polanski's place; we would have seen her if she had, so it's business as usual," Wilbur called out to Shonalee.
"We report that he has run off at the end of the month..."
"No, Lucan said to report it at the end of the week and when the Social Worker comes out to do the report on Joelee, you turn on the tears about wanting to keep her. Lucan said he'll help you to do that."
"But it's the best time to be rid of her, Wilbur."
"Lucan doesn't want any loose ends...the kid's got to go."
"How's he going to do it? Katie Ellery was murdered only a few months ago, another murder will seem suspicious."
"It's risky...but as it happens it won't be a murder. It'll be an accident."
"How?" asked Shonalee. "It's a huge risk to take, Wilbur."
"It's a great deal of money, Shonalee and worth the risk, being that it will be minimal."
"How much is this place worth?" asked Shonalee.
"Two million dollars, that's what it is worth, Shonalee. You think we'd get rid of Sam over chicken feed?"
"What if he has left it to her? If we kill her then we have no way of getting our hands on the money. We need to make sure that he didn't leave it to her first."
"You're his wife. No matter the contents of the will, the lawyer has to provide you with a copy of the document. Lucan told me that earlier, so tomorrow you ring him and ask for a copy to be sent. Once we know it's her, then we know that you are the sole beneficiary after her."
"How do you know that, Wilbur?"
"He could only legally leave it to her because she lived here as his kid for longer than a year. Because Sam is considered to be her legal father, by the courts and by virtue of the fact that you are his wife and she lives with you too, then the courts will consider you her legal mother. And being that you are her mother and his wife, it has to be left to you after her. Tidy little accident and it is all done and we laugh all the way to the bank."
"What kind of accident?"
"She'll be swimming in the lagoon and be sucked out to sea by the rip tide. We will all be there when it happens, you, Lucan, Myrtle, and me. It will be an unfortunate fact that her body just will not be found and will be thought to have been lost at sea."
"Where will she really be?"
"That's the fun part, she will actually be at the bottom of the offal pit with Sam, but I won't tell if you don't. Sssh!" Wilbur laughed wickedly and Shonalee giggled like a schoolgirl. She did not sound like someone who had just been told about a murder that was to take place; she was acting as though the best looking boy in school had just asked her to the senior dance!
Joelee thought she might be sick right there and then. "My knife! I need my knife!" Joelee remembered that she had hidden it in the shed and so she sneaked around the side of the house to the shed. The knife was just where she left it and so she grabbed it and headed back down the driveway. But when she was about half way down it she heard a vehicle hit the shingle at the bottom and so she leapt into the grass as fast as she could. The vehicle sped by her so fast that it was slipping and sliding on the gravel. When the car came to a stop she heard it sliding along for a few feet and she saw the dust bowl it generated floating up into the night air. The person driving the car slammed the door as they got out and then she heard the back door squeak as it was opened.
She could not hear what they were saying, but when she shut her eyes she found that she could catch snippets of the conversation. Something about the church...so she knew that it was Lucan and she also knew that she could not move until he left. Joelee did not have to wait long and she saw that, once he had driven past her, Wilbur was in the car with him. Once they headed up the road toward the church, Joelee stood and ran for all she was worth and the first thing she did was to steal her way back to Carla's to put back the clothing and shoes that she had borrowed. She did not want anyone knowing where she might have been and to keep the clothes would have left a trail.

Ghunter, Joe, Jefferson, Jonathan and Luci had been back at the house for ten minutes by the time they got around to turning the television monitors on. It was Jefferson who saw the screens first.
"Whoa, whoa...hey you guys...get down here quick...there's activity in the church," he called out loudly.
Ghunter, Joe, Jonathan and Luci made their way quickly to the surveillance room and they saw that there was a light on in the church.
"That wasn't on when we went past. You getting the audio feed, Jefferson?" asked Ghunter as he sat down in the chair beside him.
"Yeah. You want to take it?" asked Jefferson as he took the headset off.
"Put it on speaker and then we can all hear what's going on." Ghunter leaned forward over the front of Jefferson and flipped a switch, but at first it was silent. After five minutes, when they had still seen no movement Ghunter said, "Maybe it WAS on when we went past and we just didn't notice?" He looked at the others.
"I not be looking," said Luci.
"Even if you had you three wouldn't have seen it from the back. What about you Joe, you remember it..."
Joe leaned forward and looked at the screen closer, "There's Lucan Rossi. He just walked in."
Ghunter looked at the screen and saw him as well. "So what's he doing there?"
"I guess we be finding out soon enough," said Luci as he too sat glued to the screen.
"Did he just say turtle?" asked Ghunter.
"No, he said Myrtle," corrected Joe. "Anyone know who Myrtle is?"
"She be old man Polanski's wife. I be telling you that in the van, you be remembering?" Luci stared at Joe and Ghunter.
Joe and Ghunter shook their heads. So much had happened that they were having trouble remembering everything that had been said. "What would she be doing in the church?" asked Joe.
"Maybe that be a conversation I be having with Joelee? Hmm, don't be remembering."
"Never mind, Luci,...it's been a very long night," said Jefferson.
They watched as Lucan Rossi walked back into the meeting area of the church. "Myrtle's hot water pipe has busted again and she's in the shower. Get someone over there to fix it for her would you Wilbur?"
The five of them watched as Wilbur walked into the view of the camera. "Haven't seen hide nor hair of Joelee."
"This is a big area and it doesn't take long for kids to find all the hidey holes in a place like this. I'm picking she will be with the old devil from the beach."
"But Lucan, no one has seen him for a while now. I think he's probably moved on."
Lucan rubbed his stubble with his hand. "I've been thinking about this plan with Joelee...and it can't be a murder. It is going to have to be an accident."
"Lucan, what kind of accident can she have where her body will look like it's been in an accident?"
"Well gee, Wilbur, there'll have to be some thought put into that won't there?" Lucan slapped him on the arm. "I'm sure that you'll think of something."
Wilbur stood there staring at Lucan for a few moments. "Of course..."
Lucan's head snapped up from gazing at the carpet. "What?"
"I ran into those city slickers, off floundering in the dark at the lagoon."
"Wilbur, what's that got to do with this?"
"I remembered about the rip tide that sometimes hits at the end of the lagoon where it opens into the sea. If there were a few of us there when she was swimming and just happened to get sucked out to sea...well..."
"There'll be no body, Wilbur. Don't we need a body?" Lucan looked as though he was becoming frustrated with Wilbur.
"Well that's the beauty of the whole thing, Lucan. How many fishermen get washed off the rocks further down the coast surf casting every year never to be seen again?"
Lucan smiled wickedly. "You know, Wilbur, I might just have to keep you on. Shark bait, eh? And the beauty of it is that we will never have to fear them finding her. So what do we do with her really?"
"The night before it happens I could shoot her, cut her throat...one of those, I mean does it matter? No different to killing a sheep."
"And what do we do with the body?" asked Lucan.
"You haven't been paying attention to a thing that's gone on today have you Lucan? She'll be at the bottom of the offal pit with Sam!"
"Fuck...they killed him!" said Joe, as he took a deep breath and then ran his hands down his face as the reality of what they were faced with hit him.
"And they be going to kill her. We be needing to find her before they be finding her," said Luci.
Jonathan was by then pacing and talking with Jefferson who was just sitting there looking stunned. Ghunter was the only one who was still paying attention to the screens. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP! I CAN'T HEAR THEM!" Ghunter yelled. He jigged his foot nervously and ran his hand down his face too.
Everyone shut up and listened to what was being said as their hearts thumped madly inside their chests.
"You still have the problem of school...I mean she can't be out and about like that can she? She might tell her little friends about Sam being sick." Lucan stared at Wilbur.
"Well you've got me there, Lucan. I'm not sure how we get around that." Wilbur ran his hand down his face.
"We'll start her on the Arsenic. Same way as we did with Sam, just we'll increase the dose so that she gets sicker faster. She won't be feeling well enough to do anything at all."
"Shonalee has already been slipping some into her food."
Joe stood to his feet and knocked some things from the table. He could not believe it, they'd already been poisoning the girl. "Has she been sick, Luci, that you've noticed, has she been sick at all?"
"Not that I be noticing...we be needing to find her and quickly! They be poisoning her."
"How much have you been giving her? And why did you start giving it to her without telling me?" asked Lucan.
"We just thought we might as well get a head-start and we have been giving her enough for it to start building up in her system, but not enough for her to look sick."
"Tell Shonalee to increase it, we want the kid real sick and that way she is manageable until we find out what's what. We have to be careful because we don't want her being able to speak to the Social Worker either. How often do they visit her?"
"Every three months at the moment. That could technically buy us six months...they will visit, see she's sick, leave and not come back for three months. They just visited about two weeks back...we told them Joelee was playing at a friend's house and the woman didn't question it."
"That could work," said Lucan. "What will you tell the school she is sick with?"
"Mumps."
"Can't use that, Wilbur. Sam already used it when he beat her bad one time and she had to have two weeks away."
"How long ago was that?" asked Wilbur, as he tapped his fingers on the edge of a pew.
"Just before the whole Katie Ellery murder mess went down."
"Well, when you get the mumps, sometimes only one side of your face goes and the other catches up later. We could use it again if we had to."
"I suppose we could." Lucan looked down at the floor and scuffed his foot.
"But, Lucan, what happens if we accidentally give her too much Arsenic too soon and kill her?"
"Then she gets sucked out to sea earlier," said Lucan. "There'll be nothing else we can do if she dies sooner than planned."
Ghunter then began to speak to the people on the screen. "Tell us why you killed Sam and why you're trying to get rid of Joelee? What's the point? There's got to be a reason?" Ghunter was willing them to speak more about it, but they didn't.
"Well I'm about to head back out to Beach Road and then I am going to go pick Shonalee up from Becky's and take her home."
"I'll follow you in my car. Myrtle should be alright here on her own?" Lucan looked at Wilbur questioningly.
"I would not want to take sweet little Myrtle Polanski on, Lucan,...I know where old man Polanski ended up." Wilbur shook his head and walked out of the main meeting room.
"Ooooooooookay!" said Lucan and he followed Wilbur out of the church.
Ghunter turned to the others and said, "I think we have to call Howie."
"We can't call Howie," said Joe.
"We..."
"Ghunter, if we call Howie then there will be a major investigation and sooner or later, when they find out how we found out what we know, the cat will be out of the bag," said Joe. "The safety of our kids for tomorrow depends upon what decisions we make today."
"Luci, does Joelee like Sam Carter at all?" asked Ghunter.
"I be not thinking so. I be witness to a bad beating he be giving her one night."
"Why then did she go to the offal pit? Do you think she might have been looking for Sam? No matter how bizarre that may sound under the circumstances, do you think it is in any way possible that she did?"
"Ghunter, what does it matter if she did or if she didn't?" asked Jefferson.
"I am trying to work this out because if she went to look for Sam in the pit, then she knows something that they don't know that she knows. If they find out that she knows...so Luci?" asked Ghunter.
"I be not knowing. I be not seeing her for some weeks, could be that Sam be in his last days and be making peace with her. If he be doing that, then maybe she be going in the pit to look for him. She be a good child."
"That tells me nothing." Ghunter sighed. "I think she went looking for you, Luci."
"Whatever be the reason, I still think we be gathering them together, be burying them up to their necks in the sand and be leaving them to the mercy of the tide."
"As scary as this sounds, Luci, I am beginning to agree with you," said Ghunter. "What in the world do we do now?"
"Oh no...no, no, no, no, no, no, no,...Joelee GET OUT OF THERE!" yelled Jefferson at the screen.
Ghunter and the others turned back to face the screens. "Oh my sweet Lord, it wasn't Myrtle in the shower, it was Joelee!" said Ghunter.
"She must have heard them in there...surely?" asked Joe.
"Get out of there Joelee, get out of there now!" said Ghunter.
The five of them watched as Joelee walked toward the door and opened it and went out of view. "Joe, drive down there and see if she is on School Road."
"Ghunter, she'll be hiding as she walks, She has to know that they are looking for her and mean her harm."
"What if she doesn't know, Joe?" asked Ghunter.
"She not be a silly child. She be hiding from everyone, even be hiding from you."
"It's only going to be a matter of time before they find her...we HAVE to find her first," said Ghunter.
"Bloody hell!" Lucan Rossi said as he marched back inside the church. "SHE WAS BLOODY IN HERE ALL THE TIME! SHE WAS IN THE SHOWER WHEN I CAME IN HERE! OH BLOODY HELL, IF ONLY I'D LOOKED!"
"Where do you think the girl would go from here?" asked Myrtle Polanski as she walked in behind Lucan.
"IF I KNEW THAT DO YOU THINK I'D BE STANDING HERE TALKING TO YOU?" Lucan's face was red with anger and frustration. "Who just drove past?"
"I can't see through walls, Lucan." Myrtle sat down on a pew while Lucan went out of the doors to see if he could see who had gone past. When he came back he said, "It was Wilbur. I'm going to go up and see him, see if he has any ideas where she might have gone." Lucan then walked out of the church building leaving Myrtle alone.
"I know you are watching me. I know that you are watching Lucan too. You think we don't know that you see everything? We'll get the girl, we'll get her as surely as I stand here before you right now!" Myrtle looked straight into the camera and laughed heartily.
Ghunter looked at Joe and said, "That's it! We've been made."
Horror rippled through every single one of them. "Do you think that what Lucan said might have been code for coming here and taking care of us?" asked Joe.
"YES THEY"LL NEVER STOP US, LORD. I KNOW THAT YOU WATCH US AND THAT YOU SEE THAT WE DO YOUR WORK... HELP US TO FIND THE GIRL...HELP US TO FINISH YOUR WORK. YOU WATCH AND YOU KNOW...YOU KNOW OUR HEARTS...SO MOVE THESE OBSTACLES OUT OF OUR WAY!"
Ghunter laughed with nervous relief. "She's not talking to us...I just remembered something..." Ghunter laughed some more.
Joe thumped him hard on the arm. "SHARE, GHUNTER, BEFORE WE ALL HAVE TO RUSH OUT OF THE ROOM FOR A CHANGE OF PANTS!"
"There's a cross in the corner with a man hung from it; like a crucifix. I mounted the camera in his crown of thorns!" Ghunter laughed some more as relief flooded every inch of his body.
"That's what she's talking to?" asked Jefferson.
"Yes," chuckled Ghunter. "Ah...be still my beating heart!" Ghunter sat there rubbing his chest for a moment.
"You put your camera in the crown of thorns of a crucifix of Jesus Christ? Ghunter! How could you!"
Ghunter looked at Jonathan. "They should not even have a crucifix on the wall...it keeps him in perpetual sacrifice...ONCE and for ALL, Jonathan, not over and over again. So, considering the circumstances, and the fact that the church leadership is as bogus as it comes, I don't think the man upstairs will be in the least bit offended. Now, who knows how long it takes for Arsenic to build up in your system and what are the symptoms?" Ghunter looked to the others.
"Got any books at home, Joe?" asked Jefferson.
"Frankie will know...I could ask him."
"Under what pretext, Joe?" asked Ghunter.
"Well, gee, Ghunter...I'm writing a play." Joe grabbed the phone and rang Frankie, even though it was very late in the evening.
Joe stared at them when he got off the phone, "Stomach pains, vomiting, delirium, headaches, skin discolouration...and the most nasty symptom, death."
Ghunter rubbed at his chin again. "Well that's just great! But it is treatable?"
"If caught early enough," said Joe.
"Okay, well we need to devise a plan to find madam before they find her and we need to decide what we are going to do with them," said Ghunter.
"I'm with Luci on the burying them in the sand thing...except for Shonalee...and I only let her off because she's pregnant," said Jefferson.
Joe laughed and then looked at Jefferson. "Oh...you're serious."
"Deadly. You think they will stop here? You think that if they even serve a day for these crimes that they won't do it again to someone else?" asked Jefferson.
"They will never serve a day for these crimes because if we want to save Joelee then we can never tell anyone what we know. We can't tell anyone because we cannot ever produce the evidence."
"Ghunter's right, it's kind of like double jeopardy really. We tell on them, we sink us. They tell on us, they sink them. This is going to be cold, it's going to be hard and it's going to be brutal," said Jefferson. "The only thing we have going for us is that they don't know that we're players. Anyone wants out, now will be the time to go."
"We'll be blurring lines here, we are about saving lives, not taking lives...as such," said Ghunter.
"WELL THEY BLURRED THE LINES, GHUNTER, NOT US!" yelled Jefferson.
"But we're supposed to be the good guys," reminded Ghunter.
"Good guys don't always win by fair means, Ghunter. How can we fight back fair when they aren't even playing fair? Two men are already at the bottom of an offal pit and they are soon going to be joined by a young child if we don't do something and do something fast! And Jefferson is right, they don't know that we are players yet, so what kind of picture does that leave, Ghunter?" asked Joe.
"A whole group of adults against a child...not really a fair fight now is it, Ghunter?" asked Jonathan. Then he looked at the others and added, "I'm in."
"Me too," said Jefferson.
"Me three," said Joe.
"I'm in...God help me, but I'm in. Luci?" asked Ghunter.
"I be the one to dig the hole that be for Lucan Rossi," he said softly.

One week later, Joelee was still scooting around the area, moving by night and sleeping by day. She had been at Luci's campsite when Luci came looking for her but she had shot up into the bush and hidden.
Luci had two men with him and she watched as he called out to her. "Young sapling, they be friends. They not be meaning to be hurting you. Please be coming out, Luci be very worried for you."
Luci, Joe and Ghunter stayed there for over an hour calling to her, but she did not go down. Joelee thought that they were friends of Wilbur's and Lucan's who had captured him and were forcing him to make her come out. Luci went to the site and saw that the fire had been used and that the tent had been slept in, so he knew that Joelee was nearby.
Joelee had also been back to the pit, but it was a burnt, charred mess. The only thing that they had succeeded in doing was make the top turn black, but the rotting flesh beneath was beginning to ooze through the crust at the top. "Why haven't they covered it up?"
Joelee figured that they hadn't covered it up yet because one more person was doomed to be sentenced to its depths as an eternal home. "Me. They are waiting to find me so that they can hide me in there."
Joe's wife Neena got in contact with her friend from the school and she advised her that Joelee had not been there since the Wednesday. When Neena had asked her if she knew why, she found out that Shonalee had explained Joelee's absence from school by saying that she had the mumps. She went on to tell Neena that the work was being done and returned to school. But what the teacher did not know, was that Shonalee was doing it and then taking it back. So for a week or two, Joe and the others did not know whether Shonalee and Wilbur had Joelee or not.
The first break they got was when Joe went to the red Coca-Cola dairy to buy some milk and other bits and pieces. He was just walking out to go and get into his car when the woman from the Post Office stuck her head out the door and called him over. Joe looked at her, pointed to himself and said, "Me?" as he looked around him to see if there was anyone else she might be speaking to.
The lady smiled and nodded and so Joe put the milk and things in the car and headed over to the Post Office. Once he was in the door, the woman locked it behind her and told him to come over to the counter.
"Why'd you lock the door?" he asked her as he leaned against the counter.
"I think there's something wrong with Sam Carter and I think that there may be something wrong with Joelee too. Don't bother telling me that you don't know who they are, I know that you do, but then again, I don't want to know."
Joe nodded his head. "So, what does that have to do with me?"
"Joelee came in here about a month ago with some legal documents that she was posting for Sam Carter. I know that they were legal documents because I saw the address on the envelope and saw that it was a lawyer."
"How would you know the person to be a lawyer simply from an address?"
"He's my lawyer too...if not, I would never have known. Anyway, so I convinced Joelee to have the envelope registered so that the envelope would be receipted by the lawyer. I did that so Sam Carter would be advised for sure that whatever business he had asked the lawyer to attend to, that the lawyer had attended to it. The receipt came back about two weeks ago and I have not seen Sam Carter nor Joelee since. No one has."
"That doesn't mean anything," said Joe.
"Sam Carter always comes and gets his mail. He never lets Shonalee come and get it and yet he has not been here for at least a month and the last time I saw him he didn't look good. I mean the guy drinks, but he did not look hungover to me; he looked deathly ill."
"I will be honest with you...what's your name?"
"Ella."
"I will be honest with you, Ella. This community does not like Joelee. I have seen the way that the people in this community treat her and I have seen the way they allow Lucan Rossi to lead them around by the nose. Lucan Rossi..."
"Is an asshole!" said Ella.
"Okay, I will agree with that. I still don't understand why you called me in here."
"I need to know that you are on Joelee's side and not with Lucan...I got another letter in the Post Office addressed to that old man you helped, Luci?"
Joe's curiosity was peaked by that little piece of information. "From Sam Carter's lawyer?"
"Yes. I want to be sure that old man Luci gets the letter. Everyone here hates him and is suspicious of him, but I know that he is harmless. He helped me once, you know. I was out on the beach in my car and I um...I got stuck. The tide was coming in and... anyway. Old man Luci came over the dunes and he helped to get my car unstuck and out of the way of the tide. I had a cup of tea with him at his campsite and he spoke to me for a little while. I just want to be sure that he will get this and I know that you and that playwright that used to be here helped him out...you wouldn't do that if you didn't like him."
"Luci..."
"No! Don't tell me where he is...Lucan Rossi can always tell when I am lying...I'm a terrible liar. Just take this and give it to him and make sure that whatever the lawyer is asking of him that it gets done." Ella handed Joe an envelope and then walked over to the door and unlocked it. "You were here using the phone to call your wife because you left something on the stove at home. You have a wife, right?"
"Yes."
"Goodbye." Ella opened the door and Joe walked out and went to his car. Within seconds of him getting into his car and starting it up he saw Lucan Rossi's car driving over the railway tracks and then turn onto Main Road heading in his direction. Joe pulled out into the traffic and drove toward the railway lines and in his rear view mirror he saw Lucan Rossi do a U-turn and park right outside the Post Office. By the time Joe crossed the railway tracks, he saw Lucan Rossi enter the Post Office and he suddenly felt fearful for Ella.
Joe drove straight back to the house and walked in and up into the lounge where he found Luci sitting with Tommy cat. The other three were across the hall in the surveillance room. Joe and handed the letter to Luci.
"This be for me?" asked Luci staring up at Joe who was holding out the envelope to him.
"Yes. It is from...well you will find out when you open it. The girl at the Post Office, Ella? She asked me to give it to you. She told me about..." Joe sat down on the chair across from where Luci was sitting on the couch.
"Yes, she be stuck in the beach...she be trying to pass over when it not be her time." Luci shook his head as he took the letter from Joe.
"She was trying to kill herself?" asked Joe.
"Yes. She be upset because her boyfriend be having an affair with someone else...and she be finding out things about him that be...bad."
"Who is her boyfriend?"
"It be Wilbur Barnaby." Luci struggled with opening the envelope and so he leaned forward and handed it to Joe. "You be opening it and be reading it to Luci."
Joe leaned forward and took the letter. "You sure you want me reading this?"
"There be no secrets, Joe."
"If there's no secrets between us Luci, then why did you not tell me that you are James' father?"
"Because the time of Gino and James be long ago over. Why I be coming back into his life just to be leaving him?"
"He needed you."
"He be not needing an old fool to be worrying about. He be having enough heartbreak with his baby who be killed by his wife who be drunken. I not be wanting to be adding to his grief. James be happy now that he be in Montana with Katie that be his new baby. He be happy now, I be not having the right to be ruining it. Now be reading me the letter, Joe."
Joe opened the envelope and pulled out another envelope that was addressed to Gino Thompson. "It is addressed to you by your proper name."
Luci nodded. "Just be reading the letter, Joe."
"Dear Gino, it has been many years, but I would recognise my father's old friend anywhere. Years alter the face, and the face becomes lined and furrowed, but eyes never change. Don't worry, I kept your secret and James will never know, at least not from me.
You helped my father to hang onto this farm when he hit the tough times; if not for you, then Carter land would have become the property of the bank three decades ago.
I instructed my lawyer to assign everything I own to Gino Thompson, the sum total is around 2.5 million. I have the original note of loan that you gave my father that stipulated that upon his death, and subsequently my death, if the loan was not paid back in full, that the farm would revert to either you or your next living relative. I know that you never intended to hold my father to this, but it is good that you wrote it because it now means that my farm is being handed to you as repayment of the original loan. Shonalee cannot contest that unless she tries to pass off her unborn child as mine. She is pregnant, but it is not my child and is the child of Wilbur Barnaby. There is no way I could have fathered her child or any other child; I had a vasectomy just before we were married and my lawyer has the medical records that prove this.
My lawyer has been instructed that as soon as one month goes by where he does not hear from me via telephone that the farm is to be liquidated and the sum total transferred to you. There is a buyer waiting to immediately acquire it. All that needs to be done is for you to go to the city and to meet with Mr. Harlequin Tanjos and the deal will be done.
I know that you will do right by me. The money will be yours to leave to whomever you wish to leave it to. If your death occurs before mine, then the funds immediately revert to your nearest living relative, James. You are a good man, Gino, and you were a good friend to my father. I have one last thing that I need to ask you and that is that you will take care of Joelee. I was a harsh man with her for reasons that I do not want to go into. But she is a good kid and I want her looked after, so please make sure that she is okay. I know that you will do right by Joelee and that you will ensure that she gets what is coming to her.
Samual J. Carter

"You knew Sam?" asked Joe.
"I never be really knowing Sam, I be knowing his father Jacob. I be a lawyer once and I be in partnership in the city with another man. Jacob Carter be in trouble with the bank, they be wanting to take his farm. Jacob Carter be a good and honest man and I be having more money than I be needing so I be paying the bank. I be paying the farm off. Just to be tidy and be all legal like, I be drawing up a document that be stating that the farm be handed to James or me to be payment for the loan if it be not paid in full when Jacob Carter be passing over. Just to be keeping it safe for his only son, I be extending it to him. The loan be cancelled in another ten years. I be thinking Sam Carter be living longer than this. He now be wanting Joelee to be the one to be having the money. I be needing you to be taking me to the city to be sorting this." Luci stared at Joe.
"You were a lawyer? Luci, why do you speak this way if you were a lawyer?"
"I be hit by a car on my bike...be some years ago now, but I be in the hospital for... be a long time. I be needing to learn things again, one be my speaking."
"Luci, when do you want me to take you to the city?"
"Need be soon. Need be very soon."
"What about today?" asked Joe.
"I be thinking I be wanting Joelee to be safe first."
"This will, in part, help to keep her safe. But Luci?"
"Yes?"
"Do not put the money in Joelee's name because we will need to be changing her last name and once we do that, she won't be able to claim it. Leave it to James and he can ensure that she will get the money when she is old enough to know to handle it sensibly...I can be a trustee too if you would like, that way there is more than one person looking out for her interests."
"I be thinking just that very same thing." Luci patted Joe on the arm.
"So shall we go?" asked Joe.
"Yes."
"You want to change first?"
"No, I be who I be and people don't like that then that be just too bad."
Joe smiled. "Okay, Luci. I will just let the others know that we will be gone for a couple of hours. You go get in the car...oh do you want to take Tommy cat?"
"No, I be leaving Tommy cat here with the boys."
Joe walked across the hallway and into the surveillance room. "I have to take Luci to the city. We'll be gone about two or three hours, maybe a little longer. Take care of Tommy cat would you?"
"Why the city?" asked Ghunter.
"I can't explain it, but it is personal business of Luci's. I'll see you when we get back."
"Make sure that you are not followed or anything," said Ghunter.
"I think they are too busy watching out for Joelee," said Joe.
"Just be careful," said Jefferson.
Luci and Joe set out for the city and on the way Luci quizzed him about where Katie was.
"For her safety, Luci, I can't tell you too much about where she is exactly. But she is in school and doing really well. She has bonded with James and he is a good father to her. Ghunter saw them just a little while ago and he said that Katie already looks like a different child. She's happy, relaxed and she has lots of little friends. James is happy too and he is writing a new play, well finishing one that we started here and he has started up the theatre company that he and I will be running together."
"Who be the one to take Joelee?"
"We already talked about this, Luci, remember?"
"Be telling Luci again."
"My wife Neena and I will take her. Her papers will be done in such a way that she will appear to be my child from an affair that I had after Neena and I married. Neena is a lovely woman and she is aware of the work that I do. Joelee will be loved and taken well care of."
"You be taking her to Montana to be near James like you be saying?"
"Yes, she will grow up around James and Katie just as I said. I will take good care of her, Luci. I hope you know that."
"I be knowing that you will. I be meaning to be asking one more thing of you."
"Ask away, Luci." Joe glanced at him and then put his eyes back to the road.
"Be taking Tommy cat with you to be living in Montana. I be making sure that there be money for that."
"You sure you want Joelee to have Tommy cat?"
"I be sure...Tommy cat be liking her."
"Okay, I will make sure that Tommy cat comes with us."
"I be transferring some money to be given to you for Tommy cat and be for Joelee...be getting everything they be needing for their new life that be in Montana. You be having enough money to be buying a house there?"
"We have a little that we are putting in with James to buy land to build on."
"How much you be needing to own it?"
"Five hundred thousand...but James has it covered for now."
"You be getting five hundred thousand from me and you be paying it off so that Joelee and Tommy cat be having a house to go to when they be getting there."
"Luci, James has it covered...we can..."
"No, be getting the money and you and James be paying off the land and be building the houses that you be needing straight away. Okay, Joe?"
"Okay, Luci...thank you for doing this for Joelee, the sooner she settles the better."
"You be taking her any way that you can be taking her. If there be no way then Luci be the one to murder her and Luci be standing up to say that he be the one."
"No, Luci. We will find a way to get her without involving you."
"But if you be not finding a way, then that be our last resort, yes?" Luci stared at Joe.
"Last resort, Luci, very last resort...but it won't come to that."

The lady at the desk smelled him before she saw him and then when she saw him she stood up from her desk and said, "I am sorry, but you cannot come in here." She looked at Luci as though he were some diseased animal who might attack her at any second.
"I be here to see Harlequin Tanjos." Luci was used to that kind of reaction and although he didn't care for it too much, he didn't blame them for reacting that way either.
The lady looked stunned. "Does Mr. Tanjos know you?" It seemed incredible to her that her boss could know anyone of such low social standing. Mr. Harlequin was one of the richest men in the country and she had no idea that she was staring at his equal when she gazed upon Luci.
Joe stared at her and said, "What business is it of yours whether Mr. Tanjos knows this man or not? Point is that he is here to see Mr. Tanjos and you will let him know that he is here." Joe was disgusted by the way she looked at Luci and by the way she was speaking to him.
"Who can I tell him he is?"
"Tell him he's an old friend of Jacob Carter and that he is here to see him." Joe glared at the woman.
The woman immediately picked up the phone and buzzed Harlequin. "There's a dirty old homeless man here to see you."
"Who?" asked Harlequin, who was very busy.
"The man who is with him says that he is an old friend of..." the woman put her hand over the receiver, looked at Joe and asked, "Who is he an old friend of?"
"Jacob Carter."
The woman nodded her head and removed her hand from the receiver, "Jacob Carter."
"I'll be right out."
The woman put the phone down, stared at Joe and said, "He'll be right out."
Joe stared at the woman and then looked at the room in which they were standing. It was bright and airy and there were fresh flowers everywhere. On the walls there were replicas of the work of the artists Van Gogh and Arcimboldo, which Joe thought a very odd combination! There was also the standard coffee table covered with high class interior decorating and fishing magazines that had glossy covers and reflected the artificial light back onto the white walls. The couch and chairs, intended for clients to sit on, while they were waiting for their appointment, were white also, and thus, Luci did not sit down. He instead chose to stand there staring at the tropical fish tank that had all manner of pretty coloured fish swimming around in it.
Suddenly a big oak door was opened across the room from them and a grey haired gentleman looked at Luci and said, "Come in."
Luci walked to the door and then walked inside the room, followed closely by Joe. Once the door was shut, the man embraced Luci and said, "Gino Thompson...my is it good to see you again after all this time. Look at you...you are looking well."
"Harlequin, still be having the gift of the gab and be knowing how to spin a yarn still." Luci and Harlequin both broke into laughter.
"And who would you be?" asked Harlequin of Joe.
"I am a friend of Lu...Gino's."
"Well I am Harlequin Tanjos and I am very pleased to meet you. Any friend of Gino's is a friend of mine." He smiled at Joe and indicated for him to have a seat and then he turned and embraced Luci one more time. "I am not spinning a yarn when I say that I am very pleased to see you again. I have looked forward to this day for so long."
"Well, Harlequin, I be knowing that." Luci tapped him on the shoulder and then went and sat down in a chair in front of his desk. Harlequin went and sat behind the desk.
"As you know, I act for Samuel Carter and he has instructed that if I have not heard from him..." Harlequin looked up at Luci and Joe and said..."Yada yada yada...you know all of this otherwise you wouldn't be here. Where do you want the funds transferred to when the sale is processed?"
"James account still be active and here?"
"Yes, I still act for James...you want the funds placed into his account?"
"I not be long for this world, Harlequin and it be nothing that 2.5 million be fixing."
"2.5 million? That's not the sum I have been asked to deal with." Harlequin looked at Luci and then Joe.
"It be less?" asked Luci.
"No, it is 4.3 million dollars, Gino. The figure of 2.4, sorry, 2.5 was estimated seven years ago. That land out there has gone through the roof in value. The man who is buying it thinks he's getting it for a song only paying 4.3. You want to ask for more and he will give you more."
"Harlequin, what be I doing with 2.5 million dollars never mind it be more?"
"The money is just waiting to be transferred. By the morning, once you have signed these documents, James will be a very wealthy man."
"Then James be a very wealthy man. When the man be wanting to take the farm?"
"You mean when does he want to take possession?"
"Yes."
"In about three months he will take physical possession. He is aware of Sam Carter and his wife's position. He has agreed that they can stay on until Sam has...being that Sam is dying."
"Sam be dying?" asked Luci.
"Yes he has cancer and thinks himself to have about three months left, that's why the new owner won't take physical possession until Sam is gone. Out of respect for Sam and his widow to be."
"Sam be knowing he is dying?"
"Well he hasn't been to a doctor, he's as stubborn as his father was...thinks doctors to be quacks! But he said that he has been getting sicker by the day and he just wanted this sorted before he goes."
"What about his wife?" asked Joe.
"She's been having an affair for some months with a man by the name of Wilbur Barnaby, lives out that way too...there's pictures and Sam's medical records that show that he had a vasectomy so even though she is legally his wife and pregnant, she cannot claim a thing. Being that there is no legal heir to contest this will, it has been fairly easy to settle. It went through the courts some months ago when Sam was still well enough to travel. He attended to a document before the judge and it was all signed and sealed. I will be sending a letter advising Sam and his wife that as of three months from today they will have to vacate the farm. If Sam is still alive in three months time, then the buyer is prepared to extend the time if it is needed, but the request must come directly to me from Sam himself." Harlequin looked at Luci directly again after having glanced out of the window. "Have you seen your James?"
"I be seeing him, be a few months back now. He be doing well, I be very proud of him."
"I came down and watched his Jane Doe...I liked it and my wife thought it was fantastic...bloody critics though, there's no pleasing them."
"How you be knowing when a lawyer be lying?" asked Luci.
"Um...pass," said Harlequin who missed his days with Gino Thompson.
"His mouth be moving."
Harlequin leaned back in his chair and roared with laughter and then when he stopped he wistlfully said, "Ah Gino, if only things had been different."
"I be having a good life, Harlequin."
"Gino, you were robbed of every good thing you ever had. Your wife, your child, your profession, your friends and then there was that bloody accident." Harlequin stared at Luci and shook his head. "And now you're dying..."
"I not be dead yet, Harlequin!"
Harlequin began laughing again and then he looked at Joe and said, "You need to watch this one...saddest day on earth and he'll have you busting a gut laughing." Harlequin chuckled for a few moments more and then he grabbed some papers for Luci to sign. "There's also the matter of what you want to do with your half of this place, Gino."
"It be my parting gift to you." Luci smiled.
"I can't take it from you, Gino," said Harlequin.
"And I can't be taking it with me, so what to be doing with it, Harlequin?"
"Do you have any idea what this firm is worth now? Most of the stuff we do is corporate...we deal in millions...every day."
"You be keeping honest?" Luci smiled because he knew that Harlequin was as honest as the day was long.
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
"So you be setting up an account. You be sending into this account every year the interest that be off the principal sum. You be setting up a trust that be for foster children be wanting to study music, be wanting to study art, be wanting to study whatever for when they be eleven years old and up. You be using James, Joe and be two of their friends to be selecting which children be getting what. You be sending them the information on the candidates, they be selecting which ones get the scholarships. Scholarships be covering their schooling and their living. There be enough to be doing that?"
"More than enough, Gino. What name do you want to give the trust?"
"It be the Salilea Trust," Gino smiled and nodded his head.
"What about your house up on Dunmore Lane? What do you want me to do with that?"
"Who be living in it?"
"A young family, they've been there ten years. Dad's a school teacher and mum stays at home raising the children."
"They be well off?"
"No. Teacher's wages are terrible, but the rent is reasonable."
"You be gifting the house to them. Be checking what needs fixing, be fixing it and be signing it to them if they be wanting it. If they be not wanting it, then be finding someone else to be giving it to."
"They'll take it, Gino, they love it there. What about James, he has enough money left from what you set up for him the first time?"
"He be very careful with his money, but be investing half the principal and be giving him the interest every year. Maybe fifty maybe sixty thousand a year, that way he be not struggling if he be out of his playwright work. Be enough to be doing that?"
"Gino, there's plenty, I calculate that he could be given eighty thousand every year for the next six hundred years. Would that sit well with you?"
"Yes that be fine, but I think he be expired well before there be six hundred more years." Luci laughed.
"What do you want done upon your death?"
"I be cremated and scattered over the Indian Ocean where I be coming from. I be not wanting there be a place where anyone be going and be feeling all sad and weepy. Anything be left of anything else, I be trusting you to be giving it to James."
"I will do that. Can this man sign as a witness for you in the matter of Sam Carter's estate and your own?" asked Harlequin.
"You be okay be doing that? Oh, I be needing some money and you be putting it into an account for me by the end of the week?"
"Sure, how much?"
"Be five hundred thousand."
"Okay. What account?"
"Be his," said Gino pointing to Joe.
"Okay. You have your banking details on you?" asked Harlequin of Joe.
Joe shook his head. "Not on me, no."
Harlequin put the telephone in front of Joe. "Ring and get them now. Any problems and put me on the line with them and I will sort it out." Harlequin looked back at Gino and he said, "I am going to miss you so very much."
"I be watching you, so you be behaving," Luci playfully said.
Once Joe was finished on the phone, Harlequin took them over to the court house where they signed all the appropriate paper work before a judge and then Harlequin wanted to take them out for dinner that evening.
"I be wanting to, Harlequin, but I be needing to be getting back. Joe be needing to get back too."
"So, old friend this is where I say goodbye for the last time?" Harlequin looked as though he might cry.
"We be friends since we be boys...I be taking off now just like I be riding off on my bike just like I be doing all those years that be long gone now. Life be very good to you and you be living long, Harlequin." Luci briefly embraced Harlequin and then began to walk away.
"It was nice to meet you, Harlequin." Joe shook his hand.
"Take good care of him, he's a good man." Harlequin turned and walked across the road from Joe and he returned to his own buildings. The first thing he said to his secretary when he walked into the office was, "You ever call anyone a dirty homeless person again, as opposed to calling them by their name, or treat them like they are nothing and you will be fired! That man was my friend, the dearest friend I ever had!"

When Joe and Luci arrived back from the city it was almost dark and Luci was feeling quite tired. "I wonder if they be seeing Joelee at all?" he asked Joe.
"I don't know...I sure hope Lucan and them haven't seen her. You seem tired...you want to go and sleep for a while when we get back?"
"What a dying man be needing with sleep...I be getting plenty soon enough." Luci chuckled.
"You really not bothered by the prospect of dying, Luci?" asked Joe as they drove up the driveway.
"I only be bothered by it if it be happening before my little Joelee be safe. If she be safe then I be not worried by it. Where be James burying his baby who be killed by his wife?" Luci stared at Joe.
He shook his head. "He didn't bury Benji, he had her cremated." Joe brought the car to a stop in the driveway beside the house.
"Where he be spreading her ashes?" Luci stared at Joe and he saw that it upset Joe greatly to be speaking of it.
"He hasn't." Joe swallowed loudly, as the tears stung the back of his eyes. "He still has Benji's ashes."
"You be like an uncle to his Benji?"
Joe nodded his head. "I was there when...when it happened. Benji...she...um...she died in my arms." Joe felt his tears roll down his cheeks and he put his hands up to wipe them away.
"Don't be feeling bad, Joe. It be good to cry and be letting Benji be gone. You be having a new baby soon, Joelee. She be your sunshine and light...season of Benji and Joe be gone...season of Joe and Joelee be starting. You be crying for Benji for too long, you be missing Joelee. Do you be having any pictures of little Benji?"
"I still carry one in my wallet." Joe looked at Luci. "You want to see her?"
"I be wanting to see her very much."
Joe reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened the wallet and took out the picture and handed it to Luci. "It's of James and Benji. James and I have been friends since we were kids."
"She be beautiful...she be looking a little like Salilea...the eyes...Salilea's, be just like James." Luci looked at the photo for a few moments. "You be having other photos of Benji and James?"
"Aha."
"Can I be having this one please?"
"Um...sure."
"Maybe you be getting a new picture for your wallet, one be of James and Katie? Be good for James and Katie. Be good for Joe too." Luci nodded his head and then opened the door of the car and stepped out onto the driveway.
Joe sat there and nodded his head even though Luci had shut the car door and was already on the porch. He knew what Luci was trying to say to him and he knew that he really needed to concentrate on what was going to be happening with Joelee. If he spent the rest of his life hanging on to Benji, then before he knew it he will have let it become a wall between he and Joelee before they even got started. "He be a very wise man your father," said Joe to James even though he wasn't there.
Joe got out of the car and walked up onto the porch to follow Luci inside the house and they both went down to the surveillance room. Tommy cat ran down the hallway to greet Luci and he leapt up into his arms and Luci let him mooch him for a few seconds and then he put him down again. As soon as they walked into the room Jefferson said, "We know why they want Joelee out of the way."
"As it happens," said Joe, as he pulled out a chair for Luci and then sat down himself, "so do we."
"Yeah?" asked Jonathan. "So steal our thunder then?"
"Sam left everything, in a round about way, to Joelee."
Jefferson shook his head, "Hmm...That's something that they do not know."
"They soon will," said Joe.
"How?" asked Ghunter.
"Shonalee Carter is about to get a letter that is not going to make her day. It will instruct her that she has three months left on the farm and then she must vacate the house," said Joe.
"So she will know that Sam has left it to Joelee for sure?" asked Ghunter.
"No, she will never know who he left it to. All she will know is that the farm reverted back to the ownership of a lawyer by the name of Gino Thompson who loaned Jacob Carter a rather vast sum of money when he got into financial strife with the bank thirty-something odd years ago. The farm was written into the loan agreement. It basically stated that if the debt was not settled upon Jacob and then Sam's deaths then the farm became the property of the person who loaned the money."
"James' father?" asked Ghunter staring at Luci and then back at Joe.
"Aha."
"Well you need to see this footage that we got today," said Ghunter. "There are some games afoot and I also need to know if you know anyone by the name of Ella?"
"Why?" Joe felt a tingle shoot down his spine.
"She has rather upset Lucan Rossi...seems she's the ex-girlfriend of..."
"Wilbur Barnaby," finished Joe. He stared at Ghunter and asked, "Is Ella okay?"
"We don't know where to look to know if she is okay, but she knows something that Lucan...never mind...just watch the footage." Ghunter pressed a button and one of the screens lit up and Joe could see the inside of the church. He then saw Shonalee walk in and then Lucan walked in behind her. They both walked to the front of the church and then Lucan took Shonalee into his embrace and he began kissing her.
"What?" asked Joe as he stared at the screen.
"Oh it gets much better...don't touch that dial!" said Ghunter.
"You started Wilbur on the Arsenic?" asked Lucan of Shonalee as he showered her face with kisses.
"Yes, started him the day before yesterday." Shonalee giggled.
"And how is my baby doing?" he asked as he touched her stomach.
"Our baby is doing just fine," she said as she placed her hand on top of Lucan's.
"Ella knows," said Lucan as he kissed her mouth.
Shonalee pushed Lucan's hands away for a moment. "Ella knows what?"
"About Wilbur's little affair...and his little frolics in the hay with Joelee. But she also knows that this baby isn't Wilbur's." Lucan smiled and pulled Shonalee back into his embrace.
"What? How can she know that the baby is yours and not Wilbur's?"
"Wilbur is infertile...he was tested when they tried to have babies. She never told Wilbur that he was the problem and she threw the doctor report away. She thought he would leave her because...I don't know. But Wilbur is obviously as barren as your Sam was."
"But how can Ella know that this baby is yours? How can she know it isn't Sam's?"
"She overheard Myrtle and I talking here a few months back. But don't worry, I have taken care of it." Lucan then pulled Shonalee onto a table and Ghunter very quickly fast-forwarded the tape.
"What has he taken care of?" asked Joe.
"Ella I guess...he must have something over her and he has threatened her so that she won't tell tales out of school." Jefferson stared at Joe. "You think he might have done something else?"
"There are already two men at the bottom of an offal pit. A man kills once then there is nothing to stop him doing it again. How many people in the church are actually aware of what is going on?" asked Joe.
"From what we can see, the only ones really 'in the know' are Lucan, Shonalee, Wilbur and Myrtle. Everyone else seems to be oblivious to what is really going on," said Jonathan.
"So let's make a home movie for them? Acquire Joelee and then release the home movie? We could gather everyone in the church and play it. Let them decide for themselves what they want to do?" asked Joe.
"That's risky...they'll want to know where the footage came from," said Jonathan.
"Well Howie didn't care where his footage came from, why will these people care? They'll be more concerned about what Lucan and them have done, as opposed to how they were found out."
"Oh look...what's going on there?" asked Jefferson, as he looked at the other screen.
"That's real time?" asked Joe.
"Yeah," said Ghunter. He reached over and put the speakers on so that they could all hear what was happening. The church was slowly filling up with people and not just church members; it seemed that the entire community was flooding in.
"Please take your seats and we will get this meeting under way," called Lucan Rossi.
"Why are there only men present at the meeting? Where's all the women?" asked Jonathan who was the first to notice the lack of females present.
"I have no idea..."
"Good old boys club you think?" asked Joe who cut over top of Ghunter.
People slowly took their seats and soon the room was a complete hush and Lucan Rossi began. "We have called this meeting because we have a very big problem. Now, the town council and I have already met and we have decided that this problem will be dealt with internally by us. We do not want outsiders rushing into our community and destroying our way of life, do we? This is a beautiful community and we would like for other people to be coming here and making their lives here. Who will want to come here if they know what has been happening all because of one man?"
There was much murmuring amongst the men in the church but the general consensus was that they did not want to involve anyone from outside the area. They were the 'men of the town' they would deal with whatever the 'problem' was themselves.
"Sam Carter has run off. It has been revealed, by Shonalee Carter, that he was indulging in sexual relations with the child Joelee Elstree... he's been raping that dear, sweet child."
"Look at that guy there shaking his head...what's that all about?" asked Ghunter.
"Anyone know who he is?" asked Joe as he stared around at the others. "Luci?"
"I be seeing him around here but I not be knowing who he be."
"Whoever he is he doesn't seem convinced...look at him, he's looking around at everyone like he just can't believe what he's hearing," said Ghunter.
There was a whole lot of murmuring again and some of the people were quite appalled by what they were hearing.
"Sam Carter has run off and we think the old man by the beach has done something with Joelee Elstree, but we do not know what. Luci-arnold Graham has been accused of this kind of thing before...but there was not enough evidence and he got away with it. As a community, we must take responsibility for dealing with the monster in our midst. Now, we have been looking for Joelee for days and we have been unable to find her, but Edison Palmer found her shoes dumped near the lagoon at the beach. We think Luci-arnold Graham has probably raped and then drowned her and allowed the sea to take the body." Lucan held up a pair of sneakers and Luci said very quietly, "They be the shoes she be wearing when I be pulling her from the offal pit."
"They've found her...oh God have mercy they've found her," said Joe.
"Be taking me to the offal pit, I be finding her body...they be not getting away with this...they NOT BE GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!" yelled Luci.
"They think that she is the sole heir to Sam's farm. If they still think that, then they won't kill her because they need her. They need to arrange an accident that is seen by the most upstanding members of the church...remember that? They said that not so long ago. Therefore, I think we have to assume that she is still alive, otherwise, Myrtle, Shonalee and Wilbur would be standing there with Lucan turning on the tears." Ghunter looked at the others to see what they thought.
"Ghunter is right," said Jefferson. "And there has been nothing to indicate that they have even seen her let alone found her...and they would hide nothing in the church because they think they are safe in there."
"I want to be checking the pit just the same," said Luci.
"Hang on, Luci, let's see what else they have to say first," said Ghunter who was feeling sick to his stomach at the thought that they just might have done that to her.
"Ella Bradbury has also gone missing...Shonalee found out that Sam and Ella have been having an affair for some time and we think that Ella has run off to be with Sam. Now, and this is something we have been keeping back from you because we did not want to ignite hysteria, but the day that Katie Ellery was supposedly murdered by our beloved Brother Ronald Cooper, Luci-arnold Graham was seen coming out of Twin Bridges Road. That would mean nothing but for that fact that something else that has come to light. Merrilyn Forrester has confided to her mother that she was down on Soldier's Settlement Road when Luci-arnold Graham tried to engage her in a game of walking the bridge ledge. He offered her the incentive of money to do so. We believe that he meant to push Merrily too...but God spared her from such a thing when Josh Yansee happened along and scared the old devil off."
The five men in the surveillance room were so caught up in worry over Ella that they did not hear the last part of what Lucan said.
"They've killed Ella?" asked Joe. "We have to go there we have to do something we can't..."
"Joe's right," said Jefferson as he too got to his feet ready to go to the church and deal with Lucan Rossi once and for all.
"We can't just..."
"GHUNTER! WE HAVE TO...THEY'VE KILLED SAM CARTER AND OLD MAN POLANSKI...PROBABLY KILLED ELLA.... AND THEY WILL KILL JOELEE WHEN THEY FIND HER...WHO WILL BE NEXT?" Jonathan stood to his feet and began pacing.
"EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN! THEY HAVEN'T NECESSARILY KILLED ANYONE...THEY COULD BE JUST SETTING UP THE STAGE FOR IT! THERE STILL MAY BE TIME!"
"We have to know if they have killed Joelee or not. If they have killed her then I will take Lucan Rossi's life...I..."
"Joe, just wait. There has been no indication today at all that anyone has found Joelee. I think we get out there first thing tomorrow and we go over this place with a fine toothed comb until we find her. Everyone has been looking and no one seems able to find her; why?" asked Ghunter.
"What's your point?" asked Joe.
"There's somewhere that they and us are not thinking to look, so where would that be?"
"Well I don't know, Ghunter." Joe threw his hands up in the air.
"We need to go over Katie's tapes and see if we can't see Joelee in them somewhere." Ghunter looked at them all. "It's a last attempt to find her, if we haven't found anything by the morning then we go to the church and play them a little home movie."
"Okay," said Joe. The others also agreed and all Luci could do was hope that Joelee was not at the bottom of the offal pit.
Ghunter pulled out a couple of boxes from under the table. "We watched constantly once James and Katie became friends, but we did not always watch the house and the church at the same time. Perhaps we have missed Joelee either at the church or at James' place?"
"Why would she go to James' place?" asked Jefferson.
"We don't know that she would, but she did know who James was. So maybe she did go there at some point?" said Joe.
"Okay, well choose a reel and start looking," said Ghunter. "Meantime, Jefferson, you keep an eye on what's going on inside the church."
Jefferson put the headphones on so that the noise from the church would not disturb the others who were searching through footage to try and find some trace of Joelee. Jefferson watched as the town took a vote to deal with Luci-arnold Graham in the way that they saw fit. They decided that they would hold a trial and that they would decide on his fate as a community. Not much else was said and Jefferson watched as all of the men exited the church but Wilbur and Lucan.
"Now they'll all be on the lookout for the old man...once we find him, then we find Joelee...she's with him. I bet you that's where she is?" said Lucan.
Jefferson pulled the headphones off his head. "They haven't found her yet...they've given the story to the rest of them to try and flush out Luci."
"They haven't found her?" asked Joe, as his heart thumped in his chest.
"No," said Jefferson.
"There still be time," said Luci.
"Okay, two going through footage and three out looking," said Ghunter.
"What if they find us looking, what is our cover story?" asked Joe.
"There's two rifles in the cupboard over there, neither of them work, but you're out rabbit hunting. Luci stays here with Jonathan, you Jefferson and I are out hunting."
"Ghunter, she not be coming out to you. Be better if I be with the ones to be looking for her."
"Not at night, Luci. We need to be able to see who is headed our way if you are out with us and we can't tell at night, not even the colour of vehicles," said Ghunter.
"First thing tomorrow I be going out and be looking for her," said Luci.
"First thing tomorrow, Luci. I'll take you myself, I promise you. We will take the two-way radios, one with us, Luci you man the other one. If we see anything or we have serious trouble then we will call. Joelee is 'the package', and 'get here now we've got trouble will be'..."
"Get here now we have trouble!" said Joe as he smiled wryly at Ghunter.
Ghunter, Jefferson and Joe set out to go looking for Joelee while Luci and Jonathan sat there going through reel after reel of footage and mostly all they were seeing was the empty inside of the church and James studio and house.
"This is insane! We're getting nowhere."
"No, what be insane is we having to be doing this at all," said Luci.

Joe, Ghunter and Jefferson headed out into the dark night and they walked the paddocks by moonlight. They saw vehicles going up and down the roads and they were especially focussing on Twin Bridges Road.
"I am betting by the volume of traffic that's going up and down that they still haven't found her," said Joe.
"Yeah but with that many of them out looking, who knows how soon it will be before she makes a mistake and gets caught?" asked Jefferson.
"From what I gather from Luci, Joelee knows this area pretty well and she will know about places that they haven't even thought of." Jefferson looked up at the sky and then a thought occurred to him. "We've been looking at ground level, so have they. What if she has climbed up something? Maybe a tree or a high roof?"
"We don't have time to search every tree, Jefferson," said Ghunter.
"This is stupid. Luci is right; she is not going to come out to us. If she were going to come out to us, she would have done it when we were with Luci at the end of Twin Bridges Road. She doesn't trust anyone but Luci," said Joe.
"Smart kid...it's kept her alive so far," said Jefferson.
"So we go back to the house?" asked Ghunter.
"Luci won't be a happy camper. What about we just keep still and look out for anything that's moving?" asked Jefferson.
"Where do we sit? She could be in the beach area somewhere or up the end of the road," said Joe.
"Which means we won't be able to find her anyway. But if we sit still and concentrate on watching then we may just get really lucky," said Jefferson as he sat down where they were standing.
The others ended up agreeing with him and so they sat down. They sat there until the next morning and absolutely nothing had been seen to be moving at all. But what they did notice was that the vehicles stopped coming up and down the road. Ghunter decided to check in with the other two at the house to see if anything more had gone on in the church.
"Nothing doing in the nest either," said Jonathan over the two way radio.
At eight in the morning the three decided to go back to the house to report that they had seen absolutely nothing. They all had breakfast and then got back to watching what was going on.
"You and me are going to go and post a letter," said Ghunter.
"Why?" asked Joe as he stared at him thinking it to be very odd.
"Because, Joe, I think it will be fun," said Ghunter with a curious smile on his face.
"Ghunter and I are going to go to the Post Office to post a letter and just want to check on Ella," said Joe to the others.
"Won't be long," said Ghunter.
Ghunter and Joe headed out and as they passed Lucan Rossi's church they saw a lot of vehicles parked outside. "Be interesting to see what Jonathan and them have seen going on." Ghunter glanced at Joe and then back at the church that was now behind them.
Joe parked the car outside the red Coca-Cola dairy and went inside to buy milk and some bread. He also bought a few tins of sardines. When he went up to pay for them Mrs. Savill looked at him and said, "You be hearing the latest on that old devil you helped up off the road?"
"Not really." Joe handed the woman some money to pay for his purchases.
"He murdered Katie Ellery and now they think he may have taken another child." Mrs. Savill was all but salivating, as she told Joe her latest snippet of gossip.
"Well, I heard that Ronald Cooper threw Katie Ellery from the bridge and is rotting away in a jail cell for his trouble as we speak. As for the old guy on the bike, where in the world would he get the strength from to lift a child at all let alone throw one from the bridge?" Joe stared at Mrs. Savill and he could see that she had not even considered that Luci might well not have the strength to do anything like that.
"Well maybe the child was already on the ledge and..."
Joe leaned on the counter and stared at Mrs. Savill squarely. "Talk is cheaper when the story is good, Mrs. Savill."
"Hardly gossip...the child is missing!"
"Well you know, tales grow taller on down the line, like Chinese Whispers. But my question to you, Mrs. Savill, is what would an old man have to gain by throwing a child from the bridge? I mean the guy's an animal lover...if he won't hurt even a small animal and even goes to the trouble of carrying a kitten in his pocket, then why would he hurt a child? As much as I think he may look strange, that picture doesn't make any sense. Not that I care...I don't know Katie Ellery and I don't know Joelee Elstree."
"How do you know that it is Joelee Elstree that he has been accused of taking?"
"I'm guessing. I went floundering with a friend some nights back and Wilbur somebody...don't recall his last name...but he told us that they were missing a child and that her name was Joelee Elstree. He even described her to us and we have been keeping an eye out for her but haven't seen anything either."
Mrs. Savill eyed him suspiciously. "And what of the old devil, you seen him anywhere?"
"No. I assumed he had moved on."
"Then why did I see him in your car yesterday?" asked a male voice behind him.
"Shit!? thought Joe as he turned around. There standing behind him had been the man who was in the church the night before shaking his head. "I had my father in the car with me yesterday. I was taking him back to the city after he came to visit with my wife and I."
The man nodded his head. "Oh, my mistake." He made his way past Joe and as he did he bumped into him and pushed something into his pocket. "Be watching where you're walking, city slicker!" he said as he grabbed Joe by his front and spun him around so that his back was to Mrs. Savill and Joe was once again facing her. He then shook him and winked. He then shoved Joe as he let him go and Joe walked from the dairy feeling very worried and confused.
Joe went to the car and handed Ghunter the things through the window and then he grabbed the envelope that Ghunter handed to him. Joe headed over to the Post Office door and he pushed it open and walked in only to see Myrtle Polanski behind the counter. He very casually walked over to the counter and asked, "Where's the girl who is usually here?"
"You know her?" asked Myrtle.
"No...She's just eye candy...you know? But you'll do for eye candy now." Joe winked at old Myrtle.
"That'd be devil talk, boy. You state your business and be getting out of here."
Joe stared at the glaring Myrtle and said, "Sorry. Just messing around with you. So when will the young girl be back?" Joe held up a letter in front of Myrtle.
"She's run off with one of the locals and won't be coming back if she knows what's good for her." Myrtle reached below the counter and pulled out a book of stamps.
"Oh, she was Sam Carter's piece of skirt on the side...lucky devil!" Joe chuckled. He took the stamp that Myrtle handed him and he licked it and stuck it to the front of his letter.
Myrtle relaxed a tiny bit and said, "Yes, but anyone knew what Sam's really taken on with Ella, they'd not be thinking him a lucky devil now." Myrtle smiled and Joe smiled back playing along as she put out her hand to take his letter from him.
"I hear he's left a pregnant wife behind him...what kind of man runs off with a girl and leaves a pregnant wife behind?" Joe held the letter just far enough away that she could not reach it and then moved his hand so that it was within her reach.
"Sam Carter will get his dues, we all do in the end," said Myrtle with a curious smile, as she took Joe's letter from him.
"Yes, a friend of mine calls it life's scales...he said that they balance out evenly sooner or later whether we are doing good or whether we are doing bad. Lovely woman like you though, I am sure you'll be turning up all roses in the end."
"God takes care of his own," she replied. Myrtle seemed to be trying to read the address on the front of his letter without him noticing.
"Yes, I really do believe that he does," said Joe as he watched old Myrtle stamping his envelope.
"Well your letter should arrive to the person by the day after tomorrow." Myrtle smiled at him.
"Oh, it isn't my letter."
"Oh?"
"No, some guy outside asked me to post it for him...said he was in a hurry and so, being neighbourly and all, I just said okay." Joe smiled at her and then turned and walked out of the Post Office. He walked to the car and got in and began driving slowly toward the railway tracks. Ghunter said, "In three, two one and bingo, there she goes running out of the Post Office."
"What did you put in it?" asked Joe.
"I wrote, 'You won't get away with this,' and I signed it 'Sam.' If that doesn't put the willies up them then I don't know what will." Ghunter looked at Joe and laughed.
"Why did you do that?"
"They'll all go running to the offal pit to make sure that Sam really is still in there and while they are doing that, then we can look for Joelee in peace."
"Oh yeah, when I was in the shop...some guy deliberately banged into me and shoved this in my pocket." Joe held up a piece of paper.
Ghunter took it from his hand and opened up the piece of paper. "I know that you are looking for a little girl and I am looking for missing farmer. Meet me at the end of Twin Bridges Road. You're not going to the end of Twin Bridges Road, that's for sure. Who is this guy?"
Joe glanced at Ghunter. "He was in the church last night...the one sitting there looking all confused like he could not believe what he was hearing about Sam Carter abusing Joelee and then running off with Ella."
"Yeah but who is he?" Ghunter stared at the note and then at Joe.
"I don't know. He didn't say a name but he seemed to be covering his tracks in front of old Mrs. Savill at the shop."
Joe and Ghunter drove up the driveway only to be met by a nervous looking Jefferson and Luci. "What?" asked Joe as he got out of the car. Ghunter was not far behind him.
"How many times did you speak to Jonathan and Luci on the two-way last night?"
"Once," said Joe.
"No you didn't. According to Jonathan you spoke with him several times trying to get a fix on Joelee."
Joe looked at Jefferson and said, "No! I spoke with him once."
"Well whoever spoke to Jonathan last night is on a two way trying to speak with you now."
Ghunter and Joe shot down to the surveillance room and they could hear the man on the two-way. "Shit he picked up on our signal last night," said Ghunter.
Joe sat down and took the two-way radio in his hand. He pressed the button and asked, "Who is this?" He then released the button while dreading what the man might say to him. He wondered if it was Lucan Rossi?
The radio crackled as a voice began to speak. "Switch to a secure channel...as you can see, you're not the only one with a two-way radio. Go to seven."
"If I go to seven it could be a trap." Joe looked at the others to see what they thought.
Ghunter shrugged his shoulders. "We have no choice."
Joe switched the radio dial and then held the button down and spoke into it. "Okay, you tell me who you are?"
"You tell me first."
"No way, this radio channel could be compromised."
The man said to Joe. "It's not."
"Prove it?"
"I'm Sam Carter's best friend Bill Norling. I live on the farm beside his at the back. There were some things said in the church and at first I believed them, but now I don't."
"I am George..."
"Don't be lying to me, I know that your name is Joe and I know that you are looking for Joelee. They are looking for her too...if you want to piss around and see her killed then you just keep going on with your...
"Fine. I'm Joe and yes I am looking for Joelee."
"That's better, Joe. We need to meet...this channel is secure, but I don't know how long for. Meet me at the end of Twin Bridges Road."
"How do I know that this isn't a trap to bring me out into the open?"
"I guess you are just going to have to trust me."
The radio then went dead and Joe stared at Ghunter and the others, "What now?"
"Three of us go to the end of the road to meet with him. If he is not a threat then it won't bother him if three of us turn up. If it is a trap then three is better than one," said Ghunter.
Joe, Ghunter and Jefferson got themselves ready to go to the end of Twin Bridges Road. "Balaclavas for all three of us," said Ghunter. "If it is a trap to bring us out into the open then they will gain nothing because they won't know who at least two of us are."
They got into the van and drove to the end of Twin Bridges Road and there they saw a man standing there beside a vehicle in the open. "Look carefully for anything suspicious. You see anything at all and we take off, get Jonathan and Luci out of the house and leave here."
"What about Joelee?"
"If it happens this way, Joe, then we are going to have to go to Howie," said Ghunter.
They drove closer to the man and he continued to stand there against his vehicle, but Ghunter drove the van around the grassy area a few times. Seeing that the coast was clear, he went and parked the van beside where the man was standing. Joe got out of the van, but the other two stayed put inside it and Ghunter kept the motor going.
Bill held out his hand to Joe for him to shake, but Joe declined. "You could have anything in your hand...poison...anything."
"I am not in with Lucan and that lot. They think I am but I am not. I have someone with me, his name is Robert, he used to be in the church with Lucan but he got out."
"What's that got to do with us?"
"I thought Lucan was right about Luci-arnold Graham having murdered Katie and then possibly having murdered Joelee but he went too far. He accused Sam Carter of having been messing around with the girl."
"He could have for all you know...I still don't understand what that has to do with me." Joe stared at the man.
"Sam Carter is a hard man and his cruelty seems to know no bounds, but I am here to tell you that it does know bounds. He once told me that if anyone touched Joelee in a sexual way that he would kill them. He was serious; he would never have touched Joelee in that way. Usually Sam comes to see me at least twice a week and when I asked Shonalee where he was at the other day, she said he was sick. So after the church meeting last night, I wandered up to Sam Carter's place to see him, but I walked from the back of my place. I looked around for Sam and he wasn't there."
"What do you know about Ella who works at the Post Office?" asked Joe.
"They said last night that she ran off with Sam Carter, but Sam Carter had no reason to run off. Sam Carter would never have run off and left Joelee with Wilbur on his property...he knows what Wilbur is like with young girls."
"I have to tell you something and you have to promise to keep it together, Bill...I assume that your name IS Bill?"
"Bill Norling and for goodness sake would you take that ridiculous sock off your head?"
Joe pulled the balaclava off his head. He looked at Bill and said, "We think Sam Carter is dead. We think that it is possible that Ella is dead. What can you tell me about old man Polanski?"
"Old man Polanski? He died a year or two ago, go swept out to sea by the rip tide in the...
"Lagoon...shit!" Joe ran his hand through his hair and paced.
"What makes you think that Sam Carter is dead?"
"You saw that he was sick?"
"Yeah, he had the cancer."
Joe shook his head. "No he didn't. He was being slowly but surely poisoned...Arsenic."
"What? Why?"
"Lucan Rossi is after his farm."
"Well he'll be piss out of luck if he's killed Sam...despite the fact that if he has killed him he won't live long enough to take the farm, but secondly, Sam's farm has a huge caveat on it. Some rich lawyer from the city loaned Jacob money to bail them out some years back. If the loan wasn't paid back upon Sam's death then the farm reverts to the ownership of the fancy schmancy lawyer."
"How do you know that?"
"Sam and I been friends since we were in naps...I know Sam better than anyone else alive. Why do you think Sam is dead?"
"He is dead...I overheard Lucan and Wilbur talking in the church...they poisoned him and then pushed the body down to the bottom of the offal pit."
"I'll kill them both, I'LL KILL THEM BOTH!" Bill's tears fell down his face freely and he was very clearly distressed.
"Bill, please...they are planning to make Joelee meet the same end...they are looking for her and we are trying to find her first. And there's Ella...we need to know what has happened to Ella."
"I saw Ella with Wilbur yesterday on Beach Road," said Bill between his choked sobbing.
"Which way were they heading?"
"Toward the Polanski place. SHIT!" Bill was running his hand through his hair, trying to wipe his tears away and he kept asking, "Why?"
"Lucan Rossi is after land and money...these people were ripe for the picking...that's all. Greed! But anyone who gets in the way gets picked off and Joelee is still in their way."
"Who is in on it? Who? Lucan? Who else?"
"Lucan Rossi, Shonalee Carter, Wilbur Barnaby and Myrtle Polanski. The rest of the congregation are just poor deluded fools being dragged along for the ride. But we need to find Joelee...they will put her at the bottom of the pit with the rest of the poor souls in there."
"How do you know that they don't already have her?"
"One of my guys heard them saying last night that they didn't have her yet. They told the story about Luci to make everyone look for him because they think that Joelee is with him, but she's not."
"They are planning on killing him if they find him," said Bill.
"We know that and we have him safe, but we need Joelee. We need to know where she is."
"I want to go to the pit."
"They burned it," said Ghunter.
"I know, but I still want to go there," said Bill.
"They see you going there and they will know that you are not with them. You need them to think that you are with them. Who have you got with you?"
"I got Robert and Luke Beiderman...they were both friends of Sam's."
"But Luke stayed in the church last night and what about this Josh Yansee?"
"Josh Yansee? I am not sure about...he's been real tight lipped with everyone. As for Luke, we did that on purpose. He's been trying to get close to Lucan but Lucan isn't buying."
"Lucan is planning to get rid of Wilbur next. Shonalee is already feeding him Arsenic." Ghunter and Jefferson then got out of the van and joined Joe with Bill.
"I don't care...he will wish they had fed him a lethal dose when I'm finished with him. Right, we need to find Joelee and I don't even know the first place to start looking."
Just as they were standing talking another vehicle with two men drove in and Ghunter, Joe and Jefferson made a dive for the van. "Don't panic, it is just Robert and Luke. I told them to come looking for me if I wasn't back by eleven."
"Hey...Bill? Lucan, Shonalee, Wilbur, Josh and Myrtle just went racing up to the Polanski place," called Luke.
"Why?" asked Bill as Luke parked their vehicle.
"No idea..."
"That's our fault...we sent a note to them signed by Sam just to see what they would do," said Joe.
"Looks like you put the wind up them," said Bill.
Ghunter, Joe and Jefferson still stood close to the van until the two men got out and walked up to Bill. He made the introductions between the two groups and the six men stood there talking for some time. Robert told the story of how he had tried to give Joelee a drink at the beach and he also told them about the stories that were circulated about Katie and Joelee inside the church.
Ghunter then knew them to be on the level because he had been there when they were told. "They know that Robert is out of the picture and they think he knows nothing. Luke and I are inside the church and so we can pretty much pull the wool if we have to."
"We can help you with evidence against them if you need it. What do you think the church will do if they find out that Lucan has done these things?" asked Joe.
"Small community...he might just get a taste of his own medicine," said Bill.
"Will you help us to find Joelee?" asked Jefferson.
"Yeah, we'll help you to find her," said Bill. "I know that she thinks that Sam Carter hated her, but he didn't. He was hard on her because he thought he was dying and he didn't want her fretting for him. Sam did care for her; he cared for her like she was his own daughter."
"He beat her," said Joe.
"It was the drink and he was mighty sorry every time he did it...just didn't seem able to help himself and he didn't see any point in trying to change when he realised he was dying."
"He wasn't even dying...they poisoned him. When they find his body, and we will make sure that they do...but when they test it, they won't find any cancer," said Jefferson.
"Well, let's be finding Joelee first, that's what Sam would want us to do," said Bill. "We will take the beach and you look around up here."
"But..."
"Joe, Lucan wants us out looking for her...and they are concentrating on the beach because they think she is down that way." Bill slapped Joe on the arm and then got into his vehicle. "Meet up here tonight and we will see where we go."
Joe, Ghunter and Jefferson watched the three leaving in their vehicles and Joe said, "What do you think?"
Ghunter shook his head. "I don't know."
"Me either," said Jefferson.

Joe, Ghunter and Jefferson gave the others time to make their way out of Twin Bridges Road before they made their way out. When they did leave, they went directly to the house and straight down to the surveillance room and Jonathan said to them, "Someone by the name of Bill just arrived at the church."
"Well this will sure tell us which team he is really playing for," said Joe.
"He seemed genuinely distressed about what might have happened to Sam Carter," reminded Ghunter.
"Didn't seem to me that he was acting at all," said Jefferson.
"His body language was right," said Ghunter. "He wasn't hiding anything from us at all. But I think he is not ready to believe that what has happened to Sam really did happen."
"What makes you say that?" asked Joe.
"He cried, but then he seemed to sweep it aside and it was business as usual." Jefferson shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.
"Maybe he's a little like our Luci over there...knows not to hang onto things if they are just going to get in the way. You know? Shelve it and deal with it later?" Joe stared at Ghunter.
"You might be right," said Ghunter.
Joe, Ghunter and Jefferson sat down by the screens to watch what would happen.
"Well, Bill, our city slickers know anything at all?" asked Lucan.
Josh Yansee, Wilbur Barnaby and Myrtle Polanski were there with him and waiting to see what Bill had to report, along with Luke Beiderman.
"They don't know anything at all. The one by the name of Joe...he's a playwright...studying rural life for some play he's working on. The Swedish guy, Olaf?"
Wilbur nodded his head, "Yeah that's him, Olaf."
"He's just some guy who moved here for a bit of peace and quiet. Joe is aware of Joelee...that she is missing, but he seemed irritated by our intrusion. He doesn't know anything about the old guy at all."
"But he helped the old guy," said Lucan.
"He picked him up off the road when he fell off his bike. That is nothing out of the ordinary and in no way indicates that he knows the old guy."
"He attacked me," said Lucan who was becoming annoyed with Bill Norling.
"You pushed the old guy over...he's an old man. If I saw someone I didn't know pushing some old guy over, I'd slam you up against a wall too."
"You defending the old guy?"
"No, Lucan. I am not defending him...but at the time that you pushed the old guy over, he hadn't done anything wrong. Of course an outsider who is not familiar with what is going on is going to defend him. If it had been the other way round, he would have defended you."
"I still think that there is something fishy with those two guys," said Lucan. "They turned up just after Katie Ellery arrived here."
"How do you know that?" asked Luke Beiderman.
"I MAKE A POINT OF KNOWING WHO IS COMING IN AND OUT OF MY COMMUNITY!" Lucan's face was red with rage. "I TRIED TO CHECK UP ON THEM AND I COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING!"
"Maybe because there is nothing to be found?" asked Myrtle.
"Lucan, they are just city slickers here for a change of lifestyle, nothing more. They'll move on when they have had enough of it here," said Luke reassuringly.
"Good," said Lucan, who was beginning to calm down. "I was starting to wonder if they were trouble after that Joe asking about Ella...and then getting that letter this morning."
"Where IS Ella?" asked Bill Norling.
"What letter?" asked Luke.
"Ella ran off with Sam," said Lucan.
"What letter?" asked Luke.
"No letter, Luke," said Myrtle.
"And where's Sam Carter run to?" asked Bill.
"No one knows. He's hiding from us because he knows that he's in it for messing with Joelee," Lucan stared at Bill.
"I always thought there was something strange about the way Sam treated that girl...I had no idea he was doing that though," said Bill. He stood there trying to stay calm and not lose his cool with Lucan.
"Well, Bill, often we think we know someone when really we don't know them at all. Don't blame yourself for what happened to Joelee at his hands...you weren't to know."
"When I find him..."
Lucan stepped forward and put his hands on Bill's shoulders. "Now, Bill, we do not want to be resorting to violence...Sam may have been inappropriate with the child, but the one that has taken her...the old devil...he's the one we ought to be focussing on. We find him then we may be able to find out what's been done with Joelee."
Lucan had only just stopped speaking when Shonalee came running through the church doors not realising that Bill and Luke were there.
"Shonalee Carter, what can I do for you?" asked Lucan as he walked toward her.
"I...I...need to speak with you," she said as her tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Luke, Wilbur, Bill...could you leave us please?" asked Lucan. "Perhaps you could go and check the beach again, see if the old devil is down there? Myrtle, you stay here."
"I'll go keep looking," said Wilbur, as he turned and walked out of the church.
"Sure," said Bill. He and Luke immediately left the church.
Shonalee thrust a piece of paper at Lucan and he stood there reading it...within three months...time can only be extended at the personal request of Samuel Carter to Harlequin Tanjos...farm has been bequeathed to an unnamed...blah, blah, blah. Sam can't do this...it can't be legal. You can't give away all that you own before you die...can you?"
"I do not know," said Myrtle. She took the letter from Lucan and read it herself. "I think he's left it to Joelee. You need Joelee...you need to make that accident happen."
"We don't know where she is," said Shonalee.
"She hasn't been back at all?" asked Myrtle. "Not even for clothes?"
"Nothing," said Shonalee.
"Someone has got to be helping her! No kid stays concealed this long without giving it away!" Lucan shuffled on his feet as he spoke.
"School's asking a lot of questions now too. They are wanting to call the Social Worker in...They are suspicious, Lucan."
"They are easily dealt with," said Lucan as he rubbed his forehead. "Should have killed her along with Sam and Ella...should have kept it simple."
"Well we didn't, so what now?" asked Shonalee. "We won't have the money if we don't find her
"I got her...I GOT HER!" called a voice from somewhere.
Lucan ran to the front of the church and grabbed what looked to be a two-way radio. "Where?" he asked.
"I'm up on Hautere with her now...she's walking the ditch...doesn't know I've seen her yet."
"Stay with her but keep your distance," said Lucan.
"Joe...JOE?" called Bill on the two-way.
Joe pressed the button. "Yes?"
"You can't let him know that we know, Joe so stay cool," whispered Ghunter.
Luci began pacing madly and Jefferson and Jonathan tried to keep him calm.
"Wilbur's just found Joelee up on old Hautere Road, you know where that is?"
"Let's go," whispered Ghunter to Joe and he took him by the arm and led him from the room. "Luci, you know where Hautere Road is?"
Luci shook his head because he had not come across a road by that name either. Must be that it be an old road," he whispered back to Ghunter.
"You think, Luci?" Ghunter smiled wryly.
"No," said Joe. He was trying not to panic as he ran down the hallway with the other four to get in the van and head out.
"Head left out of your driveway and drive right to the very end of your road. When you get there, look out for Wilbur's truck. We are on our way there too, but you are much closer than us...and Lucan will be heading that way too, so hurry!"
"We're leaving now."
Ghunter started the van up and it was moving by the time the last person was getting in. Once he heard the door shut, he put his foot to the floor. "We have to get there before he takes her...they will..."
"You got Wilbur in your sights yet?" called Bill over the two-way radio.
"We are just at the corner now...oh yeah...we see him. Drive faster Ghunter...faster," said Joe.
They drove right up to Wilbur's truck and Ghunter said to Joe, "He's not in his truck...where is he?"
"Let Bill know that he's not in his truck too...I don't know what to do...Lucan Rossi is on his way and we don't want him seeing us here."
"Be leaving Joe and me here. You be going up the road and be turning your van around to be facing the other way. Could be we stopped here by coincidence if Lucan be seeing us."
"Luci, why would we stop here?" asked Ghunter.
"We be seeing Wilbur's empty truck and be wondering if he be okay."
"But why were we up this way?" asked Joe as he stepped out of the van and opened the door for Luci to step out.
"We be mushrooming...Jefferson and Jonathan, be grabbing that bucket and be filling it quick smart with them be mushrooms and the coloured fancy ones over there, be called billy bombs."
"Why would we collect those?" asked Jefferson as he grabbed the bucket.
"You be city slickers and not be knowing the difference," said Luci as he stepped aside so that they could get out. "Be some over under those trees that be over there."
"How do you know that for sure?" asked Joe.
"I be guessing, but be many under the trees this time of year. Be hurrying, Lucan Rossi be here soon."
Jefferson and Jonathan jumped the fence and ran toward the trees while Ghunter sped off to go and turn the van around. Ghunter drove about two hundred yards up the road and turned the van into a track that led into a paddock and as he turned his head to back the van, something down in the drain caught his eye. "Oh my sweet Lord!"
Ghunter quickly backed the van back out onto the road and he sped as fast as he could to where Luci and Joe were standing and staring into Wilbur's truck that was still running. He slammed on the brakes and made the van slide as he came to a stop beside Joe and Luci. "I've found Wilbur!"
"Where?" asked Joe.
"He's in the ditch! Doesn't look good either," said Ghunter.
"Be taking me there with Joe. Joe be turning Wilbur's truck off but be leaving the keys in it and be shutting the door. Be doing it fast, Joe!" Luci ran to the side of the van and got in beside Ghunter and then shot over into the back.
"Come on Joe!" said Ghunter.
Joe did what Luci had told him to do and then he quickly jumped into the van beside Ghunter. "Bill and them can't be far off. Oh shit, there's Lucan," said Joe pointing toward the corner where they had driven in.
"Yeah, but fool's driving up the other way first...that buys us some time." Ghunter turned the van around and headed back up toward the track where he saw Wilbur in the ditch.
Jefferson and Jonathan heard the van slide and they were going to go back over to the road, but Jonathan said, "We pick mushrooms and billy bombs. If there was a change of plan they would have yelled for us."
"They seem panicked!" said Jefferson.
"Yeah, but if there was a change of plans then they would have said...hey, there's Lucan Rossi's car. I wonder how long it will be before he turns around and comes back this way?"
"Don't know," said Jonathan as he continued to fill the bucket with mushrooms and billy bombs.

Joelee saw the wires before she accidentally caught them with her feet and ripped them out. "What are these wires doing in this part of the roof?" she asked herself as she carefully crawled over to the part of the roof that had a small gap that opened out into the church. It was such a small gap that no one would ever have known that it was even there unless they got up into the roof themselves to take a look.
Joelee was positioned just above the crucifix of Jesus Christ and she could see that something was mounted in his crown of thorns. "What's that?" she thought as she lay there staring at it. She could see that a wire ran out of the back of his head and into the roof where she was laying on her tummy. She looked at the wire and followed where it went to and it seemed to be feeding into some part of what looked to be a sound system. "Maybe I should pull it out and wreck their service for Sunday? Lucan Rossi will be lost without his microphone...won't be able to yell at everyone."
Joelee took the wire in her hand and was about to yank it out when another thought occurred to her. "They might come up here to fix it! Stupid Joelee!" She immediately let go of the wire and lay there for a few minutes wondering what to do next? She was tired of running and hiding and she was fast running out of safe places. So many times she had been almost caught by Sam's old friend Bill and a few times Wilbur had gotten a lot closer to finding her than she was happy with too.
She needed a place where she could go to sleep for a few hours so that she could think straight. All the scenarios had played through her head already. If she rang her Social Worker then she would simply return her to Shonalee and Sam. Joelee knew that Shonalee would lie to the Social Worker, tell her that she had been misbehaving and that Sam was feeling under the weather.
As soon as the Social Worker was gone then she would be taken by Lucan Rossi and Wilbur and be pushed to the bottom of the offal pit with Sam. She couldn't go to Carla because her dad Edison was helping everyone to look for her too. Bill Norling was in with them and he had never liked her anyway, so he would be no help. Joelee thought about going to Robert, but she did not hold much faith that Robert would believe that Sam Carter was at the bottom of old man Polanski's offal pit and that they were meaning to put her there with him. He would think her to be telling fantastic stories and once he had spoken with Lucan he would hand her over to him. She knew that she could not leave the area either, where would she go?
Joelee considered going to the house that Luci had told her about, but she was convinced that they were friends of Lucan Rossi's and by then she was pretty sure that Luci was down in that terrible pit with Sam. She tried not to think about it too much and kept holding onto the hope that Luci was safe and sound somewhere. But she had been back to his campsite and it appeared that he and Tommy cat had not been there for some time. There was no trace of his bike or even him and so Joelee knew that it was not looking good for Luci. What terrified her most though, was what she had seen happening the day before.
Joelee had made her way to the red Coca-Cola dairy in the very early hours of the morning. She knew that the delivery trucks would be there dropping off their supplies to the Savills on their way between the two cities. Joelee managed to procure a packet of cream buns from one delivery truck and a couple of free milkshake drinks from another. She had sneaked into the back of the trucks while the drivers were inside the shop settling accounts, and what have you, with Mrs. Savill.
Joelee had taken her ill-gotten gains and gone and sat in the long grass by the railway lines. She ate all six cream buns because she was so hungry and after a huge burp she managed to squeeze in one milk shake drink. The other she threw away in the long grass. She knew that she could not save it for later because it would be warm. "Should have nicked juice," she thought to herself as she watched Ella arrive at the Post Office.
Ella was always at work by six in the morning because she had the mail arriving from the city to sort and then the mail that needed to be sent to the cities needed to be sorted too. Once it was eight, she would open the Post Office so that people could come in and collect what they wanted to collect. The Rural Deliveryman would come and get the mail that he needed to drop around the district, for those who had a RD box, at around nine. Then others would come in who wanted to post letters or pay their telephone bill. There would be others who simply did not want to wait for the Rural Delivery man to get out there way and so came to get it before it got sent off with him.
Joelee watched her turn the lights on and get on with her day. After a while she got a bit cold and decided to move around a bit and so crossed the road and got into the ditch that ran up toward Soldiers Settlement Road. The ditch was almost always dry and when it did get wet, there was only a trickle in the bottom. Joelee did not know why that was and she did not care. She was walking along the ditch when she heard the school bus coming and there was no mistaking the bus. It often choked, hissed and sounded like it was dying when it was first driven in the mornings. Joelee ducked right down and hard up against the roadside of the ditch because she knew that from the height of the bus, the ditches could be clearly seen. Having ridden the bus many times herself, she knew how easy it was to see things that you normally wouldn't from the height of a car. Joelee did not move until she saw the black diesel plume of smoke coming out of the back of the bus and when she did, she decided to go back beside the railway tracks opposite the red Coca-Cola dairy. That was when she saw him...the man called Joe.
She watched him walk into the dairy and then come out again five minutes later. Just as he was going to get into his car, she saw Ella stick her head out of the Post Office door and it seemed that she was trying to get Joe to go to her. "What would she be wanting with him?" Joelee asked herself as she sat there watching. Her view was temporarily obscured by three or four huge trucks that thundered either way down the main road and by the time they had gone by, Joe was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if he was in the Post Office with Ella? His car was still parked outside it. Joelee decided to go to the offal pit, she wanted to be near to Sam and maybe he would tell her what to do like he had the night that he had died? She did not realise that she had been half-delirious from the cold and that her mind had played tricks on her and that Sam had not spoken to her at all.
Joelee carefully crawled along the grass beside the tracks until she came to the break that allowed for cars to cross the tracks. She was just wondering how she was going to get across the crossing without being seen when the bells began to ring and the barrier arms went down to block entrance across the railway lines from both sides. Knowing that she only needed to wait for the train and keep an eye on anything coming out of School Road, she got ready to run. Just before the train reached the crossing she quickly glanced at Carla's house, but it looked as though no one was home. The train was by then roaring past her and so she up and ran as fast as she could across the crossing and she dived into the long grass on the other side. She lay still for a while just in case someone may have thought that they'd seen movement in the grass and then she slowly began to move along beside the tracks again. Somehow she would have to get across the main road into the ditch that ran down Beach Road and she wasn't sure how she would manage to do that in broad daylight without being seen.
Joelee waited there ten minutes before she caught a lucky break. A big huge cattle truck pulled in and blocked the view of Luke Beiderman's forecourt onto the road and so Joelee stood up, waited for a break in the traffic and she ran for all she was worth. From what she could tell, from inside the ditch, it seemed no one had seen her. She was just about to start walking again when she heard a vehicle coming from down Beach Road and so she ducked down again. As the vehicle went past her, she saw that it was Wilbur in his truck and her heart was beating madly inside her chest by the time he turned out of the road and headed in the direction of the railway crossing.
Joelee got down as low as she could and she moved as fast as her legs would carry her until she reached Tom Flicker's cornfield. She exercised the same care in climbing out of the ditch and onto the ledge to crawl under the fence as she had the afternoon that she had gone looking for Sam. But she was filled with sweet relief once she was inside the cornfield and obscured from the road by the old, dry brown stalks. Joelee sat there for a few moments just to catch her breath and then she began to make her way toward the treeline. Once she got there, she crawled under the fence that separated Flicker's place from the Polanski's place in amongst the treeline and then she crawled along the treeline until she was opposite the offal pit.
It seemed to Joelee that the offal pit did not smell as bad as it normally did, but she figured that it was probably because they had burned it off and a black crust had formed on top of it, sealing most of the pungent, rotting goo inside it. Joelee lay there for a while beneath the treeline pines just thinking about Sam and what had happened to him and then she contemplated the thought that Luci might too be beneath the crust by then. She sat up for a moment and tried to see if the top had been recently disturbed? From where she was, she could not see too well and so she decided to crawl a little ways out from the treeline pines to get a better look. She was only about five feet from the side of the pit when she heard the sound of vehicles coming down the hill on the other side.
Joelee peeked out over the top of the grass and she could see that it was Wilbur Barnaby, Josh Yansee, Lucan Rossi and Ella Bradbury. Joelee ducked down and thought about trying to backtrack to the treeline pines, but she thought it was too risky. If she lay still then they would not even see her, but the slightest move on her part, at the wrong moment, may lead one of them to catch a slightly abnormal movement in the grass. From where Joelee was laying in the grass, she was sure that they could hear her heart beating because it was thumping so loudly inside her chest.
She heard a door open on the vehicle and she heard Ella crying, screaming begging and pleading with them. Then the horror hit Joelee and she wondered if they were going to put Ella into the pit.
"Please don't do this to me, I won't tell anyone I swear I won't tell anyone...oh God please don't do this to me!"
"Just keep walking, bitch!" Joelee heard Wilbur saying.
Joelee lifted her head just a tiny bit and she could see that Lucan and Josh held her by both of her arms and they were all but dragging the screaming, crying and terrified Ella to the pit. Wilbur was walking in front of them and he carried with him a spade. Lucan Rossi then held Ella on his own steam, while Josh Yansee got dressed into wet weather gear like Wilbur. Ella got away from Lucan and for a brief second had almost got away on them, but Lucan tackled her down and he dragged her back to the edge of the pit by her arm and her hair.
Wilbur stepped onto the pit and began to break the crust with his spade and just as he broke it, his whole body slipped through the crust down into it. Josh, Lucan and Wilbur burst into laughter, but Ella was still sobbing and pleading for her life. Joelee watched as they pulled the screaming Ella onto the crust and then pushed her down into the awful muck that was soon to become her grave. Josh Yansee and Wilbur took turns pushing her back under the awful muck by her hair, but two or three times she came up screaming for air and spewing rotting water and other ghastly things from her mouth.
Joelee lay there terrorised, knowing for sure that if she were caught there that she would meet the same fate. She felt the cream buns squirming in her stomach and through her tears she prayed to God that she would not start vomiting there and then. It was quiet in the offal pit and Josh and Wilbur seemed to be looking around them confused. It seemed that they had lost sight of Ella and for a few moments Joelee thought that the awful deed was over.
Just when Joelee began to think it really was over and that Wilbur, Josh and Lucan would be leaving, she saw something moving beneath the crust near the middle of the offal pit. With a sudden movement the crust of the offal pit broke open and Joelee saw Ella come up for air. She was covered in rotting filth and Joelee saw it vomiting forth from her mouth and dripping out of her nose. Ella had her arms out above her head and she was trying desperately to get away and out of the pit. Joelee almost called to her, but she saw Wilbur and Josh run toward her, while Lucan screamed at them, "GET HER! GET HER!"
"Oh GOD," screamed Ella. They were the last words she ever spoke because Wilbur and Josh got over to her fairly quickly and they held her head and body under the filth that time until there was no more movement coming from her.
"She's done for!" said Wilbur.
Joelee was shocked to the core by what she had just seen happen to Ella and she was terrified that they would somehow see her and that she'd be next. She lay in the grass listening to the men speaking, but she could not hear what they were saying and even once she heard them drive away up over the hill, she did not dare to move.
"I should go and make sure that Ella is really dead. What if she isn't?" But deep down Joelee knew that Ella Bradbury was no more. Joelee lay there for the rest of the day and well into the night because she was in shock and did not seem able to make her body do what she wanted it to do. Well after the sun had set and the moon was high in the sky, Joelee slowly managed to crawl back under the treeline pines and she lay there and fell into a fitful tormented kind of half sleep state. She kept hearing Ella begging for her life and then she saw her face begging to her for help. Joelee would wake with a start and then fall asleep again.
She woke again at around six the next morning and she lay there asking Sam what to do and she listened really carefully just in case he answered her, but he did not. Joelee was not feeling as though she was herself; she felt numb, confused and at a total loss as to what she should do now. Being caught by anyone meant certain death in the offal pit and so she knew that all she could do was keep moving. Then she again remembered the story about the bear never looking in his own den for prey and so she decided to make her way to Lucan Rossi's church.
Joelee had been up in the ceiling of the place for days, but she had trouble remembering how many exactly and it was only when she realised that Luci was still alive that she decided to go and look for him again. Had Joelee have known where going to look for Luci would take her; she would never have gone to look in the first place.

Joelee waited until everyone had exited the church and unfortunately she had been exposed to Lucan and Shonalee's version of affection before she could leave. She despised Shonalee Carter when she realised that she had been in the plot against Sam with Lucan right from the start. When she realised that Shonalee was carrying Lucan Rossi's baby and not Wilbur's she came to the conclusion that they all deserved whatever they got.
The biggest shock had been discovering that Bill, who had been Sam's best friend, was helping them to try to find her and Luci. It seemed to Joelee that Bill and Wilbur were really good friends and Joelee felt so sad for Sam. In those few moments she almost understood how he could have been the way that he was.
Joelee climbed carefully out of the ceiling and down out of the trap door onto the kitchen bench. She had just gone out the kitchen door when she heard someone go into it and her heart almost leapt into her mouth when she realised how close she had come to being caught. Joelee carefully scooted around the side of the church, across the road and into the ditch. As she walked in the ditch through the freezing cold water it occurred to her that Luci might have headed up old Hautere Road. At the end of the road there was a huge old swing bridge that led off up into the bush. "Maybe Tommy cat and Luci have gone bush for good?"
Joelee was still plagued by the sounds and images of Ella fighting for her life and the final scene where she had lost the fight. Joelee could not remember how many days ago she had seen that awful act being perpetrated but she did find herself hoping that Sam had been dead when they put him in there. "I think I'm going crazy. I can't remember how many days ago those things happened to Sam and Ella, and I don't even know what day it is or even what the time is now."
One part of Joelee had an incredible desire to survive, but there was another part of her that simply wanted to lay down and give up. She was tired, frightened and had no idea about how she was going to escape the merciless hunting of Lucan Rossi.
Before she knew it she was at the corner of Hautere Road and she had to climb out of the ditch and run across the road to get into the ditch that ran all the way down Hautere Road almost to the swing bridge. At least she hoped it ran that far because it was too dangerous for her to be out in the open. Joelee never saw Wilbur Barnaby's truck coming up the road. She did hear a vehicle and so she stopped moving for a few moments. When she heard it stop a little way back behind her, she thought that it must have been a farmer checking on stock or something. It was bloat season and farmers could lose a lot of good milking cows if they did not keep a good eye on them.
Joelee began moving cautiously forward and she did not even hear Wilbur Barnaby coming up behind her and by the time she did, he already had a hold of her. All she knew, to begin with, was that someone had grabbed her by her hair. It was only when the person spun her around that she saw that it was Wilbur. He sneered at her, "It's off to the offal pit with you, Joelee Elstree. But I think we'll have one for the road before we go."
Initially Joelee was scared and shocked. Somehow she just knew that she was done for, but for some reason she thought she heard Sam calling to her. "Take responsibility for yourself, Joelee. No one can help you but you."
Sam was always saying that to her but when she thought she heard him saying it one more time, she suddenly got it into her head that Wilbur Barnaby was NOT going to put her beneath the offal pit, as he had done with Ella. "Don't panic! Don't panic, Joelee! If you panic then he will have you. Think, Joelee. Think!" she told herself.
By that time Wilbur had his pants down and was pushing her to the ground. The way that she fell when he pushed her down gave her easy access to the knife that was down her sock inside her shoe. Although she had to struggle to get it free, and even though it cut her ankle as she pulled it out, she did not flinch. She just lay on her back, while Wilbur undid her jeans and pulled them down. She knew that she must keep calm and bide her time; that sooner or later Wilbur would make a mistake and she would be able to strike out at him. He then smiled his sick tobacco stained teeth smile at her and threw himself heavily on top of her. That was what she had been waiting for and she knew that he would do it because he always did it that way.
Joelee saw the flicker of confusion in his eyes, as he wondered why his chest was suddenly stinging and why there was acute pain welling up in it. Suddenly he did not want what he had started out wanting and he rolled off Joelee. Joelee pulled her pants up and stood to her feet shaking and frightened but also relieved that Wilbur was unable to get up off the ground. She saw that the knife was deeply embedded in Wilbur's chest and that his blood was all down the front of her. Then she felt scared because she thought that she had killed him. But then she heard him say, "You stabbed me! You bitch you stabbed me!"
"Yes...The hunter becomes the prey!" Joelee's voice shook as she spoke, and she just watched Wilbur for a few moments. Her attention was then taken away from Wilbur when she heard a vehicle coming. She thought for sure that it would be Bill or Lucan, so she dived into the small concrete drainage pipe that ran beneath the driveway that led into a paddock. Wilbur did not see where she went, but he heard the vehicle too and all he wanted to do was to pull his pants up, but he could not move to even do that.
Joelee sat in the concrete tunnel listening and she was so terrified that she was shaking. She heard the vehicle on top of the pipe on the driveway above her and then she heard someone saying something.
Relief swept over her when she heard the vehicle back off the driveway and go back up the road. She did not really know what to do and so she just stayed put, but she got a huge shock when she heard the vehicle come back. Within a few moments of the vehicle pulling up above the ditch she saw three men dive down into the ditch near Wilbur. She saw that one of the men was the man 'Joe' and she did not recognise the other man at first. But then she remembered that he was the man who had done the play at the College and then she saw that he had Luci with him. Joelee then thought that it was all over; she was caught.
It was Ghunter who heard the whimpering of a child first. "Ssh," he said as he put his finger to his mouth.
"What?" asked Joe, who was leaning over Wilbur inspecting the wound.
"Ssssh!" he said again and he looked one way and then the other.
"This be the knife she be taking from my tent when I be first seeing her," said Luci.
"There's no prizes in guessing what you were doing you sick sack of shit," said Joe, as he slapped Wilbur in the face.
"Can you guys SHUT UP! I can HEAR something!" Ghunter looked at them and then he headed toward the tunnel and that was when he saw her. "Found her...here she is!" he called as he quickly made his way into the tunnel.
Joelee began to back further back into the tunnel and hysterically shouted at Ghunter to stay away from her.
"Luci! Luci get over here," called Ghunter, as he stared behind him and then looked back at Joelee.
Luci ran as fast as he could to the tunnel entrance and he said to her, "Joelee, he be a good man...he be nothing to be frightened of...please be coming out."
"NO!" shrieked Joelee. She did not know what she could do to protect herself because her knife was embedded in Wilbur's chest.
Joe heard a vehicle and he jumped so that he could see who it was and he saw that it was Bill.
Ghunter got out of the tunnel and went back to where Wilbur was lying on the ground. "Joe, Lucan won't be far away, go and get into the other end of the tunnel and subdue Joelee any way that you can. Luci you need to hide..."
"No!" Luci had followed Ghunter back over by Wilbur. Luci crouched over him and pulled the knife from his chest. He then cut his own hand and wiped the blood all down his front. "Be keeping Joelee safe and be telling James that his father be loving him."
Joe did not argue with Luci; there was no time because he could hear a second vehicle coming. He shot around to the other end of the tunnel and fortunately Joelee was still looking toward where Wilbur lay. Joe reached in and grabbed her as fast as he could, at which point she shrieked.
Jefferson and Jonathan jumped out of Bill's vehicle along with Luke and Robert. "Lucan is on his way back up the road this way. Holy shit, what happened to him?" asked Luke when he saw Wilbur lying in the ditch with a knife embedded in his chest and his pants down.
"You three, you get into the white van, you are mushrooming...you never saw this...you understand? You were NEVER here!" Bill then leaned over Wilbur and hit him squarely on the jaw knocking him out cold. "Luci, you staying? If they think they have found you then they will stop looking for Joelee...well for a little while anyway and that will give those guys time to get her to somewhere safe."
"We don't be finding her."
"What? You haven't found her yet?" asked Bill. "But what was Wilbur doing here like this?"
"I be stabbing him and then be going to remove his bits...the boys be catching me before I be able to do it."
By that time Jefferson, Jonathan and Ghunter were in the white van heading up the road away from the place where Luke, Robert and Bill had Luci and Wilbur. Meantime, on the other side of the driveway down in the ditch, Joe was struggling to keep Joelee quiet. "Joelee," he whispered into her ear, "we are friends of Luci's and we are friends of yours. We are not going to hurt you."
Joelee did not believe him and kept fighting and struggling so Joe had no choice but to put his hand over her nose and mouth until she slipped into unconsciousness. If he had not done that, then he knew that both he and Joelee would have ended up at the bottom of the offal pit because by then, Lucan Rossi was there with Josh Yansee.
Lucan and Josh were quickly convinced that Luci had stabbed Wilbur. Bill, Robert and Luke roughly hauled Luci up out of the ditch and then shoved him into the back of their truck to take him to the church where they would decide what to do with Luci-arnold Graham.
On the way there Luci said to them; "I be burying that Wilbur, that Lucan, that Josh and that Myrtle in the sand facing out to sea and be leaving them to the mercy of the tide for what they be doing."
Luke, Robert and Bill were deathly quiet because they did not know how they were going to keep old Luci safe now that he had stabbed Wilbur. "You were really going to cut off his bits?" asked Bill as he looked into the rear vision mirror at Luci.
"Yes I be going to do just that, but Ghunter be stopping me."
"Where's Joe?" asked Luke.
"Joe be in town. He be visiting with his wife who he not be seeing much in the last little while."
"Okay, so at least we know that they are not going to run into him," said Bill.
Lucan Rossi and Josh Yansee lifted the unconscious Wilbur from the ditch and then loaded him into the back of Lucan's car. They headed off to take him to Shonalee's house where they would decide what to do with him. In the meantime Ghunter had announced to Jefferson and Jonathan that they were going to park on the side of the road near Hautere corner and jump into the paddock and pick more mushrooms and billy bombs.
"What? Why?" asked Jefferson.
"When you are writing a play the most important ingredient is continuity. It is integral to making your story line convincing. If we do not jump the fence and carry on like we were mushrooming all along, then Lucan might become suspicious. Now, GET OUT BOTH OF YOU!" he yelled.
The three of them got out and climbed the fence and they were busy picking mushrooms when they heard the vehicles headed their way, "Don't even look up at the vehicles; just keep your head down and keep picking!" said Ghunter.
Lucan Rossi saw them in the paddock and asked Josh Yansee what he thought they were doing?
"Picking mushrooms by the looks of things...oh Lord and billy bombs! Silly city slickers don't know the difference." Josh Yansee and Lucan Rossi burst into fits of laughter and kept going on their way. They remained totally oblivious to the fact that the three men in the paddock knew exactly what was going on.
Bill Norling then slowed his vehicle down at the corner, looked at what they were doing and then sped up to catch up with Lucan's car. He knew that Lucan had bought the idea that the three in the paddock had absolutely no idea what was going on around them at all.
Jefferson, Jonathan and Ghunter waited until Lucan and Bill's vehicles were well and truly up the other road. They gave it another ten minutes before they made any move at all to go back to the van and head back to get Joe and Joelee. Even when they did decide to make their move, they very casually got into the van and made a few more stops for mushrooms on the way back to the drain where Joe was hiding with Joelee.
Ghunter parked the van in such a way that no one who passed them would even see Joelee or Joe getting into the back of it. When Jefferson saw Joelee lying limp in Joe's arms he asked, "What did you do to her?"
"I had to put my hand over her nose and mouth to make her pass out. She was hysterical and she would have had us both caught if I hadn't."
"She is breathing, right?" asked Ghunter, as he stared at her.
"Of course she is breathing, but we need to get her away from here now."
"Where do we take her to?" asked Jefferson. "We don't even have the safe house to go to."
"We will take her to Ghunter's house for now and decide where to go from there," said Joe. "Where's Luci?"
"Bill and them took him with Lucan Rossi and Josh Yansee. They had to," said Ghunter.
"Lucan and them will kill him! That's James' father...I can't let them kill him."
"Luci wanted Joelee and Tommy cat taken care of and he said that once that was done that he didn't care what happened." Ghunter stared at Joe hoping that he would leave it and let them concentrate on Joelee.
"Ghunter, I don't care what he said. We're going to get him!" said Joe as he climbed into the back of the van hanging onto Joelee.
"We can't, Joe, he made me..."
"THE HELL WE CAN'T!" yelled Joe.
"HE MADE US PROMISE HIM THAT WE WOULD NOT GO AFTER HIM ONCE WE SECURED JOELEE!" yelled Ghunter. "Joe, we are not compromising Joelee or any of the other kids we have helped by going after him and he knows that they will be compromised if any of us four are caught up in this. I am sorry, Joe, but it is what Luci wanted." Ghunter then shut the van doors, went around to the front, got in and started driving. Jefferson sat in the back with Joe, and Jonathan sat up front with Ghunter. They were very quiet on the drive back to Ghunter's house and when they got there, they made sure that there was no one around before they took Joelee from the van.
Seeing that the coast was clear, Joe, Jefferson, Ghunter and Jonathan took Joelee inside the house and they settled her on a couch. Jefferson and Jonathan went into the surveillance room and watched what was going on inside the church. Joe and Ghunter sat with Joelee waiting for her to regain consciousness.

Jefferson and Jonathan watched the monitors to see what was happening inside the church but it soon became apparent that Bill and Luke were not going to be able to control what was going on in there. Lucan Rossi was in charge of what was going on inside the church. They saw that Lucan had Luci sitting on a chair in front of all the men in the church. He was blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back. Luci did not care too much what they did to him; he was not long for that world and all that he had wanted to achieve before his death had been achieved. Tommy cat, Joelee and James were safe and all would be well with them and that was all that concerned him.
"He stabbed and killed Wilbur Barnaby...he did away with Katie Ellery and now he's done away with Joelee Elstree...he admitted as much to us that he did." Lucan turned to Luci and screamed at him, "WELL TELL THEN WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
"Yes, I be taking care of Joelee Elstree...she be where no one can be hurting her any more."
"What are you doing, Luci?" asked Jonathan.
"DID YOU KILL WILBUR?" screamed Lucan.
"I be taking care of Wilbur too," said Luci nodding his head even though he could not look at anyone.
"I say that as the menfolk of our area that Luci-arnold Graham be dealt with by us. A life for a life, I say!"
"I will take him out the back of my place with Luke Beiderman and Bill Norling and we'll be done with him. Who agrees?"
"You can't just murder someone!" said a man sitting near the back.
"HE DID! AND WHAT WILL THE LAW DO WITH HIM, ARTY? WELL? I TELL YOU WHAT THEY WILL DO, THEY'LL STICK SOMEONE INNOCENT WITH THE CRIME AND JAIL THEM, JUST LIKE THEY DID TO RONALD COOPER!" screamed Lucan.
"I say he be dealt the same justice he gave Joelee Elstree; a life for a life!" shouted someone else from the back.
"They're going to kill him, Jefferson."
"I know, Jonathan. We knew that and so did Luci." Jonathan patted Jefferson on the back in order to offer some kind of comfort.
"Who would have thought we would ever get dragged into something like this?" Jefferson watched the monitor, as all hell broke loose inside that little church.
"If not for Luci, no one would ever have known and Lucan Rossi would have gotten Joelee too."
"I agree with Josh Yansee, down the back with him and shoot him. A LIFE FOR A LIFE!"
Before Lucan knew what was happening, everyone was screaming for Luci to be taken down the back of Josh Yansee's place to be shot. "A LIFE FOR A LIFE," was the chant inside the little church. After a half an hour of securing everyone's solemn promise never to speak of it again, Josh, Bill and Luke walked the bound and blindfolded Luci from the church and took him away.
Jonathan and Jefferson sat there stunned and then they both cried. Jonathan went in and looked at Joe and Ghunter and shook his head. "Luci's gone," he said quietly.
Joe sat there as the tears slid down his face and then he picked up Tommy cat, "I will take care of you, just like I promised him." He could not believe that they had really murdered Luci, but then he wondered why he was finding it so hard to believe? They had already murdered Sam for less.
Ghunter looked at Joe and he said to him, "They will answer for this. They won't get away with it."
"Yes they will. We have to let them away with it, if we don't, then Joelee will not be safe."
"Do you think that Lucan knows that Joelee is alive?" asked Ghunter of Joe.
"No, he thinks her long dead." Joe stared down on Joelee as she slept.
"I'm going next door to make a home movie to give to Bill, he can do what he wants with it. I will go into the church when things have cooled down and I will pull all the equipment out of there and then we are all out of here."
Joe nodded his head and continued to watch Joelee as she slept, oblivious to the fact that her beloved Luci was no more.
Bill, Luke and Josh returned an hour later to tell everyone that it had been done; Luci-arnold Graham was no more. A few people asked which one of them shot Luci but the three would not give that information up; no one was ever to know which one of them had pulled the trigger.
Later that night Joelee began to wake up and when she saw that she was inside a strange house she began to panic.
"You are safe," said Joe. "I'm Joe, I did the play at the College remember?" He tried to keep his voice soft so that she would not become any more frightened than she was.
"Where's Luci?" she asked, as she backed up into the corner of the couch.
"Luci has moved on...before they could catch him. He is safe now somewhere no one can hurt him any more."
"You are with them, I know you are. I saw you talking to Bill and Luke...they are friends with Lucan Rossi. You're going to give me to Lucan, I know you are." Joelee began to shake knowing that she was truly done for by then.
"No. Joelee I promise you, we've been trying to find you and Bill has been helping us. Luci came to us and told us what was happening to you with Sam, which's why we got involved. Look in the room there just across the hall...see the television screen? That's showing us what is going on in the church."
Joelee leaned forward and looked across the hallway into the other room. She then looked at Joe and asked, "But why would Bill help you?"
Sam was his best friend, you know that. He was looking out for his friend."
"They killed Ella," said Joelee. "If they find me they will do to me what they did to her."
"What did they do to Ella?" asked Joe. He thought Joelee was merely assuming that they had killed Ella.
"They drowned her in the offal pit," Joelee spoke barely above a whisper.
"What?" asked Joe hardly believing what he was hearing.
"WILBUR BARNABY, JOSH YANSEE AND LUCAN ROSSI DROWNED HER IN THE OFFAL PIT! I WAS THERE, I SAW THEM DOING IT!" she shrieked.
Jefferson, Ghunter and Jonathan came running across the hallway into the room.
"You saw them do that to Ella?" asked Ghunter.
"YES AND THEY WILL DO IT TO ME IF YOU LET THEM GET ME! DON'T LET THEM GET ME!" Joelee began to shake with fear and Joe shot over to her side.
"I swear to you that they will not get you. They think that you are dead," said Jonathan who felt sick at the thought of what Ella would have gone through if what Joelee said was true.
"Did you see them doing that, Joelee? Are you sure?" Joe felt the tears stinging behind his eyes.
"Yes." Joelee broke down into uncontrollable sobbing. "She tried to get...away...from them...she was...she was...it was coming out of her mouth and her nose. They thought they had drowned her...and...and she...she...ca...came back up for air! She was screaming loud and begging them not to do it to her...but they didn't listen." Joelee's tears were falling down her face and she was almost hysterical.
"Okay, Joelee...you are safe now," said Ghunter as he crouched in front of her.
"I killed Wilbur...I stabbed him...I...his blood..."
"No you didn't kill Wilbur, he was fine. They took him away with them and he is...well I don't know, but you didn't kill him," said Ghunter.
Joe was sitting there with his hands on his face he just could not comprehend what had gone on around them. "We have to get Joelee out of here," said Joe after a while.
"You take her to your's and Neena's place and I will arrange for you to fly her out on Monday week," said Ghunter.
"What about everything here?" asked Joe.
"We'll clean it up. You just get her to Neena and we will take care of things here," said Ghunter.
"I will get her papers to you by Saturday night, they are almost done," said Jonathan.
"What about Tommy cat?" asked Joelee through her tears.
"Luci wanted you to take care of Tommy cat and he is going to come with us," said Joe.
"Where are we going?" asked Joelee.
"Far away from here, very far away from here," said Joe. He took her hand in his and led her from Ghunter's house and into the car. Tommy cat and Joelee slept while Joe drove all night to meet Neena in the city.
On the following Saturday night Ghunter stole into the church, with help from Jonathan and they stripped all of their gear out of there, went back to the house packed up and left. As they drove over the railway tracks and out onto the main road, Jefferson said to Jonathan and Ghunter, "This is one sick little place that I won't miss, that's for sure."
It was on the Sunday that Joe received a call from Howie and he said, "I AM UP TO MY EYEBALLS IN SHIT! WHAT IN THE WORLD WENT ON IN THAT LITTLE PLACE AND WHERE THE HELL IS JOELEE ELSTREE?"
"What?" asked Joe.
"Isn't she the girl you were asking about taking? What the hell went on out there, Joe?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I have a man here who has been identified by Mrs. Savill from the shop out there as Luci-arnold Graham. Did you know him?"
"Yeah."
"Well best you get here and ID him, Joe because he is in a world of grief."
"Why?"
"Don't you watch television, Joe? Do you read newspapers?"
Just as he was about to put the phone down and go and switch the television on, Jonathan, Ghunter and Jefferson walked into their motel room. Ghunter put the television on and Joe put the phone down for a moment. He watched as the cameraman focussed on the offal pit on old man Polanski's farm. "This pit has been drained and in it were found the bodies of Johan Polanski, Samuel Carter and a young girl by the name of Joelee Elstree. A man has been arrested by the police in connection with what is believed to be the murders of these three individuals. I asked the detective in charge of the case what the connection between these three individuals and the bodies on the beach might be. At the moment he has declined to comment."
The picture then switched to a camera that was at the beach and all that could be seen was a white police tent erected over an area in the water. "Yes, Janelle, the detective has declined to answer any questions in relation to the four bodies found buried to their necks in the sand facing out to sea. What he has told us is that they were all alive when buried like this and also he stated that their heads were not covered in sand, as previously reported. He stated that they were only buried to their necks. We have...just a moment..." the man disappeared from view and then came back into the frame. "The names of the four people have been released, they were Lucan Rossi, Myrtle Polanski, Wilbur Barnaby and Joshua Yansee."
Joe put the phone back to his ear and he asked, "Who did the ID on the bodies from the pit?"
"Frankie. And you will come back here and you will ID the guy we have arrested. There are some in that place saying that the man we have, Luci-arnold Graham is the man who murdered the three found in the pit. I need you to come and ID him."
"Who is he saying he is?"
"He is not saying what his name is, he refuses to speak to us. But he has secured representation from Harlequin Tanjos...you know him?"
"We all met and got to know Luci, if it is him we will be able to ID him."
"Best you get here today, Joe. You, Ghunter, Jefferson and Jonathan."
Joe, Ghunter, Jonathan and Jefferson headed down to the town up the road from the little community and went straight to the Police Station to ID Luci. Howie said nothing to them but took them straight to a room and shut the door behind him. "What the hell did I say?"
"We couldn't leave her there...they were going to..."
"Don't tell me because I don't want to know. Who was the girl in the pond because I know it isn't Joelee. Frankie wrote her off as Joelee Elstree, but her bone age is too old to be eleven, so do you know who she is?"
"She is probably a girl by the name of Ella Bradbury," said Joe.
"How did she end up in the offal pit like the other two?" asked Howie.
"Don't know," said Joe.
"Her family wants a body to bury they think her to be lost at sea. Thrown out to the rip tide near the lagoon, at least that is what Bill Norling says Luci-arnold Graham told him before he ran off."
"So tag her as a body from the sea, cremate her and give them her ashes. Joelee's ashes can be sand and plonked in the ground in an unmarked grave," said Ghunter.
"Luci-arnold Graham is probably dead. He confessed to the murder of Joelee Elstree and Josh Yansee was taking him out the back of his place to shoot him. According to Luke Beiderman and Bill Norling. What do you know about that?"
"Not much at all," said Ghunter.
"Just tell me that you did not murder anyone?" asked Howie.
"We did not murder anyone," said Joe and he looked him square in the eye.
"Well I have this old guy down the back of the station and the Savills swear he's Luci-arnold Graham. If he is then he is going down for the murders," said Howie.
Joe, Ghunter, Jefferson and Jonathan stood and followed Howie from the room and out to the back of the station. Howie led them to a mirror in a room and behind it stood a well-dressed clean-shaven man who was wearing what looked to be a very expensive suit.
"Is that Luci-arnold Graham?" asked Howie staring at them.
Joe started laughing and then he asked Howie, "Are you kidding me? Luci-arnold Graham was a homeless guy who didn't have five cents to rub together. I don't know who that is, but that's not Luci."
"So you have never seen this man before in your life?" asked Howie.
"No. I have never seen that man before," said Joe.
Ghunter, Jefferson and Jonathan did not know who the man was either.
"That's what Bill Norling, Luke Beiderman and someone named Robert said. The Savills must be mistaken then. We were looking for Luci-arnold Graham in connection with the murders of the ones in the offal pit. But it seems that perhaps Joshua Yansee did murder him after all. Now all I have to do is work out who buried four people up to their necks in the sand and left them to the mercy of the tide."
"I have no idea who might have done that," said Joe.
"Well I will know soon enough if you are lying or not because the other detective here has asked that you stand before Bill Norling and Luke Beiderman. He wants to be sure that the four strangers that they were speaking of weren't you four."
Jonathan, Jefferson, Ghunter and Joe stood nervously behind the mirror. They knew that if Bill or Luke told them that they had seen them, then they were sunk. Joe wouldn't even be able to get word to Neena to get Joelee and Tommy cat to safety.
They waited twenty agonising minutes and then Howie came in and shut the door. He spoke in a whisper, "Luke and Bill say they have never seen you before except for a confrontation in the shop one morning with you. That's it. Get out of here...now." Howie did not say anything more except to Joe. "You get that child out of the country by tomorrow night. Enjoy Montana, I hear it's nice there this time of year."
Joe, Ghunter, Jefferson and Jonathan walked out of the Police Station and drove back to the city.
"Who do you think buried the four of them in the sand on the beach?" asked Jefferson.
"No idea," said Joe.
"I know who it was," said Ghunter.
"Who?" asked Joe, Jonathan and Jefferson.
"I have been sworn to secrecy, but I can tell you that the whole community was in on it and they all agreed that it was the only fitting end for them all."
"The whole community did that?" asked Joe.
"Yeah and they all stood there and watched them beg for their lives just as Ella begged for hers," said Ghunter barely above a whisper. "And now we shall never speak of these things or that place again. We mustn't if we want Joelee to be able to recover from what happened."
"She will recover from it?" asked Joe.
"It will take some time, but yeah, she will eventually begin to move away from it within herself. When we get to Montana I will do some real work with her about all that happened and she will then begin to lay it to rest."
No one said anything else on the way back because all four of them were lost in their own thoughts. They were at Joe's motel for about an hour when there was a knock on the door. Joe opened it and he pulled the man into his embrace and then he cried. "I thought you were dead."
"No, I be just fine. Bill be twisting Joshua Yansee around his little finger. But you need be calling me Gino now."
"Have you spoken to James yet?"
"Yes I be speaking to him and Katie last night be about four hours on the telephone."
"Ouch James will have a phone bill and a half."
"Well, be well that James can be affording it then," Gino smiled.
Joe and Gino embraced again once he was inside the motel and Gino asked him, "How be my young sapling doing?"
"She still cries a lot and she is having some awful nightmares. Ghunter is working with her, but it will take some time."
"I hear from Jefferson that she be seeing what they be doing to Ella."
"Yes, she saw them...well you know what happened to her."
"It be a terrible business, poor, poor Ella."
"Joelee and Tommy cat will be so pleased to see you. What happened to being not long for the world?"
"I be coming down with a curious sore on my arm, I be thinking it be the skin cancer. Then I be getting sick, tired and weaker by the day. It be turning out that the sore on my arm be a mole and my sickness be bad diet...not enough iron."
"You're not dying?" asked Joe, chuckling at what Gino had mistaken as symptoms of impending death.
"Well we all be dying, Joe, but doctors reckon I be having a good twenty or thirty good years in me yet."
"You wait here with Neena and I will go and get Joelee."
"No, let me be the one to be surprising her," said Gino.
Gino went in the direction that Joe pointed and he walked up to a room and saw Joelee lying on the bed playing with Tommy cat. Gino looked at Tommy cat and he knew who he was straight away. Tommy cat bounded off the bed, across the floor and leapt up into Gino's arms. It took Joelee a few minutes to figure out who he was, but once she did she cried. She ran to Gino and threw her arms around his neck. "Luci, you are okay. I thought you were dead." Joelee again began to weep hysterically like she had been doing on and off since Neena and Joe had arrived with her in the city, while they waited for their flight.
"My real name be Papa Gino to you and I will be thanking you to be having my Tommy cat back now." He hugged her tightly and then he added, "The season of Gino, Tommy cat and Joelee be starting again and this time we be enjoying every moment."
"Are you still dying?"
"Not be dying just yet, Joelee. I be coming on the plane with you tomorrow to go and be seeing my other boy and my other grandbaby."
"I thought you only had one son?"
"Joe be like a son to me now and so I be having two sons and two grandbabies. We be a strange bunch to be a family, but we be family just the same."

Like I said at the very beginning, it's funny how we construct the world inside our head from our own perspective, according to our own needs. And we all do it; I did it and you do it too, whether you realise you do or not is irrelevant! Life can be a perilous business indeed and when one is young, he is apt to making the most stupid mistakes and I was no different to any other young man. Let me backtrack for a moment.
The perils of the sea can be many too and there is only one thing more perlious than birthing a baby at sea during a storm; birthing two. Carletto and Gino Thompson were born at sea somewhere over the Indian Ocean. All through their lives they competed with each other and Gino always seemed to come out on top. So it was no surpise when Gino and Carletto fell in love with the same woman. Salelia.
She was beautiful...so beautiful.
Carletto ultimately married her, but not before she was pregnant with my child; my James. Carletto went into business with Harlequin Tanjos under my name, because he himself had a terrible gambling problem...(the drink will do that to you after a time)...and the name Carletto Thompson was good for nothing. Harlequin Tanjos had no idea that he was really Carletto and not Gino...I never had a head for numbers, I was the writer of the family.
Well, Salelia could no longer take the drinking and the womanising that Carletto was entertaining and shortly after the birth of our beautiful son, she killed herself. I was devastated and I did not know exactly what to do and so I went away thinking that Carletto would snap out of it, knowing he now had a son to raise.
It was years before I found out what he had done with James and it was only when I came back to see what was going on with Carletto that I found out that he had dumped James and run. I searched Carletto out and I moved in next door to him. I watched him finally drink himself to oblivion and I took all his personal papers from his house before they could find anything relating to Gino Thompson. He took my love and my son, he was not going to take my name too.
Once Carletto was deep in the ground I set out to find my James but I could not find a trace of him at all and it was only dumb luck, perhaps fate, that caused me to see the poster in the car that day. It was as I was riding out of that town and heading toward the isolated little community that I was struck by the car and ended up in the hospital.
The hospital called Harlequin and he recognised me as Gino straight away. Once I was well, I let him know that my brother Carletto had passed away and that I was going to find my James. He assisted me greatly by telephone and I promised that I would go back to see him too, but I never really planned on doing that. Although to look at, Carletto and I were like two peas in a pod, Carletto and I were very different in traits and personality. Harlequin would have picked up on it straight away that I was not the 'Gino' he had once known. That was where the accident came quite in handy, for in the end, when I had no choice left but to front up to Harlequin to collect what Sam Carter had left for me, he attributed the differences to years and the accident.
Life is a mean tough game and sometimes you have to even up the odds. The odds were that I would never get my baby boy back. But in some ways, Carletto helped to even them because he signed my name to James's birth certificate when he was born...he could not sign the name Carletto and he never even knew that James was not his. Salelia knew though; Salelia always knew.
Dishonesty is not a good thing, but please understand, I only took what was mine and what came with him; his new daughter. That I inherited Joe and Joelee is gravy. The money? Like I said to you, I was never a numbers man and I made sure that the money went exactly where it should go, to Gino's son. As for Sam Carter's money? That has gone to Joelee.
You see, it is hard to maintain a lie, a deception or commit a heinous crime because when you carry a weight like that on your own, it becomes very heavy. It in fact becomes so heavy that it could break even the strongest man! But if the deception or the crime is ingrained in the construct as being something that was best for the collective, then it is very easy to tell yourself that it was for the greater good; that it was justified. Before you know it, you have altered your construct of the world to make something, that may well have been formerly abhorrent to you, perfectly acceptable. But that is the fickle nature of constructs, be they individual or collective. Do you honestly think that an entire community would have stood by and allowed me, Luci-arnold Graham, to bury four people up to their necks in the sand and leave them to the tide...never mind then standing by as they begged for their lives... if my theory on collective constructs was not absolutely correct?
Yes indeed they took their vote, they made their decision and they rid their community of the monster in their midst. What they were before they will never be again, and yet somehow they have adapted that horrible event into their collective construct as having been for the greater good and thus it has been justified, they have been vindicated and they are able to live with it.
Human nature is truly remarkable.

Piczo