Life Death Motherhood And Comic Frogs

The bus stops in Griffith.

Lily, James and Faruk get off, and head out to Baiada Poultry, to process chickens (and be underpaid).

The bus continues westward to Balranald.

Baby B-B is bored. No one to talk to.

Mango is fluttering up and down the bus, talking first to Margaret and Alice, then Fred and Monty, and then the driver, Barry Wurst.

You got family in Balranald? asks Barry.

No, says Mango. You?

No, says Barry. I'm from Narrandera.

Nice town, says Mango.

Yeah, says Barry. Balranald's nice as well. They've got the first telephone to be installed in Australia.
They've got a mineral sands mine. And comic frog structures......

No kidding, says Mango. We'll have to stop off and take a look, before we head to Adelaide.

Adelaide, says Barry Wurst. Never been there. Is it nice?

Never been, says Mango. I'm taking baby B-B there to meet his mother.

Is he travelling all right? asks Barry Wurst.

Oh yes, he's a happy little fellow, says Mango. He's no trouble.

There is a sharp cry from the back.

Baby B-B, bored and restless, has attempted flying.

Flap-flop.

There is a special art to flying in a moving bus.

He spends the rest of the journey to Balranald being nursed by Alice.

At last the bus pulls up at the bus stop in Balranald.

Mango and baby B-B say goodbye to Alice, and the driver Barry Wurst.

You're very quiet, baby B-B, says Mango.

Lots to think about, says baby B-B.

Don't we all, says Mango. I'm thinking about looking for frog structures. Barry says they're very comical. But you? You look so serious.

Alice told me everything, says baby B-B.

I don't believe that for a minute, says Mango. Not everything. What did she tell you?

She told me why I couldn't fly, says baby B-B. She told me what chicken processing means. She told me that a man can't be my mother.

Nonsense, says Mango. You will fly. It was simply that it's harder inside an inertial frame of reference.

And life and death, and motherhood? asks baby B-B. Are they nonsense?

Of course, says Mango. Let's forget about silly Alice, and go and find those funny frogs.