In The Forest Of The Night

It's late.

Freud realises that there is a need for sleeping arrangements.

There is room in his van for three.

Freud is no good at working out sleeping arrangements.

How would you like to go for a paddle with me? says Freud, on the spur of the moment, to Katherine.

Oh ha ha! says Katherine. Oh. Do you mean it?

Of course he means it.

All right, says Katherine. What fun. Where shall we go?

Port Noarlunga is close, says Freud. Shall we go in your car? Otherwise, the others.....

Yes, says Katherine. You don't mind do you, Rosamunda? Freud and I are going for a midnight paddle.

No, says Rosamunda. I'll sleep in the van.

Freud and Katherine drive off quickly before Gaius and Kong Fu-Zi can say anything.

Let them sleep where they like.

Freud and Katherine will be paddling, under the jetty.

The fishes will slide in and out of their toes like soft eels.

......

Gaius doesn't mind sleeping in the van with Rosamunda if Kong Fu-Zi sleeps there too.

Kong Fu-Zi doesn't mind where he sleeps, while he has his arm for a pillow (so he claims).

Rosamunda is inside the van, looking for blue things.

One never knows. It may not be possible to find natural dyes in the forest, in the morning.

Dogwood, red cabbage, woad, mulberries elderberries, grapes, blueberries, red maple, black iris, sweet gum, Queen Anne's Lace.

She opens a cupboard.

Perhaps Freud has some of that washing powder with blue beads of bleach. Or some Ajax.

Gaius comes in.

Rosamunda shuts the door of the cupboard. No point him seeing.

........

A groan arises from the grass outside. It is Terence.

An owl lands near Baby Pierre.

An owl from Mount Compass, with news.