Sweet Reason And Perilous Enterprise

Ageless and Kobo have stopped running.

Time for a paddle, says Ageless.

Kobo is breathless.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, says Kobo. Let's sit down first.

They sit near a stand of tall trees and look out over the sheltered bay and rocky headland..

After we've paddled, says Kobo, shouldn't we go back to the visitor centre, for our free morning tea?

I thought we might miss it, says Ageless. I thought we might go out on the jetty. I thought....

You have over-thought this, says Kobo. I am hungry for cupcakes.

Cupcakes, says Ageless. Do you think that is what they will have?

Of course they'll have cupcakes, says Kobo. And tea and coffee. Also in cups. It stands to reason.

Ageless had been thinking along the lines of biscuits.

He brightens up.

Perhaps the loss of Pepper's purple basket need not be the end of the mission.

Not if cups are available.

Then my sweet creamy sweetness, says Ageless. Let us go for our cupcakes.

They pick their way back to the visitor centre, (avoiding treacherous shearwater burrows) .

.........

Gaius is on board the Georgette, chatting with the Dempsters, as they head out for deep waters.

Yerp, says Ed Dempster. The Dempsters have been in Esperance for as long as anyone can remember.

Except the indigenous custodians, says Mary-Margaret. No doubt they can remember....

Yerp, says Ed Dempster, but I'm talking about proper history. The history of the Dempsters. There's a monument to us in Esperance. There were four of us brothers.

Really? says Gaius. This monument, is it to honour your deeds?

Yerp, says Andrew Dempster. We were explorers before we were farmers. We opened up the country. We farmed sheep for a long while.

Until they all got coast disease, says Mary-Emily.

How terrible, says Gaius. What is coast disease?

What sheep get when soil lacks cobalt, says Ed Dempster.

Cobalt? says Gaius. How very interesting. I should like to make a minor note of it. I don't suppose any of you have a pencil?

No. None of them have a pencil.

But now they are over deep waters.

You can dive in from here, says Andrew Dempster. You and your little off-sider.

Gaius sits up on the railing facing inwards.

He is ready to dive, but Oh wait! Baby Pierre is not ready.

You forgot the STRING, says Baby Pierre. I'm not going down without it.

No! says Brianna. You wouldn't get up again. You'd sink to the bottom. You'd be lost among the creepy old jelly white bottom feeders.

Give him here, says Gaius. I haven't forgotten the string.

Mary-Emily hands him Baby Pierre, the strap and the camera in its Fantasea housing.

Gaius reaches down to pull from his backpack the thirty metre ball of string that he hasn't forgotten.

Phew! says Baby Pierre, when Gaius has tied it. Now I'm ready.

The Dempsters watch as Gaius tumbles backwards gracefully into the water.

Plop. Splash.

What about me? says Baby Pierre. Shouldn't I.........

Jerk!

Baby Pierre and the camera are jolted sharply against the ship's railing.

Loosen him up there, Mary-Margaret, says Captain Ed. Drop him over.

Mary-Margaret obeys the captain.

Soon Baby Pierre is descending rather quickly. Past Gaius, waving.

Dropping, dropping.

The camera is heavy.

The clear waters become blacker.

Is there a light?

Baby Pierre doesn't know.

Nor how to turn on the camera.