Honey Trap

Professor Xu Xing and Margaret are standing on uneven rocks looking up.

Gaius has scrambled up the rock face to get a better look at the layer above the Chinaman Gully Formation.

Eureka! he calls down to Margaret and Professor Xu Xing. I see bryozoans and echinoids!

Come down, Gaius, says Margaret. It's dangerous.

Sure enough scatterings of loose pebbles start trickling down.

Margaret and Professor Xu Xing retreat to the sea shore, and gaze seawards.

Leave him to it, says Margaret. It's his own fault if anything happens.

How pleasant it is here, says Professor Xu Xing. The rich colourful rock formations, the sparkling amber, sapphire and emerald strips of the ocean, the white seabirds, the lapping of wavelets.....

Margaret is about to agree when a high pitched humming wrecks the ambience.

What on earth can it be?

They turn, to see Baby Pierre trundling his tiny bicycle towards them. The high pitched humming gets louder.

Shut UP! Shut UP! says Baby Pierre. I can't even tell what you're saying!

Meee-meee-meee-meee, hums the hummer.

Of course it is Lavender, who, refusing to speak to Baby Pierre, has chosen the option of humming.

Baby Pierre! What's that noise? says Margaret. Is it a sand fly?

Meee-meee! hums Lavender.

Stop that ridiculous humming, says Margaret.

Neee! hums Lavender.

What's going on? says Professor Xu Xing. He peers into Baby Pierre's back pack and spots the open pencil case.

Aha, says Professor Xu Xing. Good work, Baby Pierre. You have found a fossil. It looks like a turreted snail. An auger. And remarkably, it's still humming.

It's my stupid cousin, says Baby Pierre.  Has anyone got a pencil sharpener?

Neee! A pencil sharpener! Lavender stops humming.

all that can be heard
is the sound of the wavelets
the cries of the seabirds
the rumbling of an incipient rock fall
and a shout
jumping jupiter!

..........

On the High Street in Willunga, Vello and David are trying their luck with the Beverleys.

They have already slowed down.

Do we know you? asks one of the Beverleys.

Yes we do, Beverley, says the other Beverley. Tour Down Under, remember?

Oh yes, says Beverley. The team of  philosophers. Oldies.

I say! says David. Not so much of the oldies.

Oh well, says Beverley. None of us are spring chickens.

Are you ladies going to the Star of Greece dinner next Friday? asks Vello. We couldn't help overhearing.

Yes, says Beverley. Got to stick up for our region. Our wines versus the Barossa.

It's not a competition, Beverley, says Beverley.

It bloody is, says Beverley. Are you boys coming?

Is that an invitation? asks Vello.

No, says Beverley. A question.

Tickets are one hundred and fifty dollars, says Beverley.

Each, says Beverley.

The Beverleys wait for an answer.

Certainly we are coming, says Vello.

Then you should buy your tickets, says Beverley. They're selling quickly.

Yes, yes, says Vello. I'm sure there's no need to.....

Come, says Beverley. I'll take you to our friend Bev's house. She'll have some tickets.

Caught. Like two flies in a honey trap.