Dispersal

Arthur has now got wet shorts.

Fish! says Arthur. You peed on me. Get off, I need to stand up.

He stands up and takes off his shorts.

Arthur! says Mrs Hume. What are you doing?

My shorts need a wash, says Arthur. Fish piddled all over me. I thought he was trained.

Fish, says Mrs Hume. We must throw away one of your toys.

He's allowed to choose which one, says Butterfly primly.

Not Woody, says Fish. Woody's my favourite.

Arthur goes to the laundry. The washing machine is still not plumbed in.

He puts his wet shorts back on.

He is fed up with baby sitting..

Just going out for a bit, says Arthur.

He walks up the stone steps to the road and keeps walking. He reaches the main road and turns left.

Cockatoos screech overhead. He comes to a church. The Reformed Gospel Church. Next to the church is a coffee shop, and next to the coffee shop is a supermarket.

A crowd of young people are outside the coffee shop, drinking coffee.

Hello, says Arthur. Is that proper coffee?

Sure is, says one of the young people. Would you like one? It's free.

Yes, says Arthur.

Your shorts are wet, says the person, whose name, she informs him, is Bunny.

It's pee, says Arthur.

Bunny is shocked.

She changes the subject.

Have you let Jesus into your life? asks Bunny.

Yes, says Arthur. He calls himself Sweezus these days. He's surfing at Middleton. I'm supposed to be
doing it with him, but instead I came here. I hope he's not mad.

Bunny edges away.

............

At Middleton, Sweezus is still on his surfboard, waiting for a wave.

There is minimal swell.  He had hoped for at least some swell magnets.

Surfing-With-Whales has given up and is standing in the shallows with Midge.

Crap surf, says Surfing-With-Whales.

The forecast is crap until Tuesday, says Midge.

Lucky Arthur, says Surfing-With -Whales. He's not here.

Sweezus rolls by on a magnet.

Bravo, says Surfing-With-Whales.

.....

Gaius and Professor Freud are staring hard at the leaf.

It IS a leaf, says Professor Freud. Do you know how I know?

No, says Gaius. How do you know?

You only find leaf insects in North Queensland, says Professor Freud.

It may be a stick insect, says Gaius.

In that case, says Freud, it would look like a stick.

I wish Arthur was here, says Gaius.

Well, well, says Freud.

What do you mean, 'well, well' ? says Gaius. It's just that Arthur is so reliable.

And I'm not? says Freud. And anyway, if Arthur is so reliable, why isn't he here?

Freud stomps away into the woods.

Gaius gets down on his knees, and pokes around in the grass, looking for phasmid eggs, which have been dropped to the ground from high foliage by female phasmids, or flicked by the abdomen to scatter them further, as has been documented in the literature on phasmid dispersal of eggs.