Dings Chips And Cracks

Next morning Mayor Clements turns up early.

He parks his Ford Escape SUV beside Cabin Six.

Sweezus is on the verandah, checking for dings, chips and cracks in his surfboard.

Cousteau and Suzuki about? asks Mayor Clements. I promised them a lift back to Kingscote.

Yeah, go in, says Sweezus.

Mayor Clements goes in.

Vello and Ssü-K'ung Shu are drinking black coffee. Arthur is asleep on the hard off-white vinyl settee.

How was your stay? asks Mayor Clements. Did you do the Nocturnal?

Yes, we did, says Vello. Very nice. Caught an echidna for supper.

Mayor Clements looks alarmed.

Joking, says Vello. There was no food in the cabin. Luckily we had some dried eels. No doubt you can smell them. We boiled them with lemon myrtle, which Su-Zu-Ki got into trouble for picking. No permit. Also wild bush tomatoes and bush peas which he obtained clandestinely. And an onion, from our neighbour Irene. The boys stayed out too long surfing and Arthur was bitten by a shark and Sweezus had a highly disturbing premonition.

Irene! says Mayor Clements. Is she here?

He rushes out of Cabin Six and across to Cabin Five next door.

That was not the response I was expecting, says Vello.

He's coming back, says Ssü-K'ung Shu.

Wrong Irene, says Mayor Clements, upon re-entering. Now what were you saying? Never mind. Are you both ready to go?

May I ask a favour? says Vello.

Certainly, says Mayor Clements.

......

Soon the Ford Escape SUV is on the road back to Kingscote, with Vello, Shu, Sweezus and Arthur inside. Bikes in the back, surfboards on the top rack. No problems.

Sweezus is deep in thought, Arthur is dozing.

So, says Mayor Clements, have you gentlemen given any thought to your talks at the town hall on Friday?

I thought I might talk about the poetry of the Middle Tang period, says Shu.

As related to what? asks Mayor Clements.

Loss and displacement, says Shu. The transience of modes of existence.

That will be interesting, says Mayor Clements. What about you, Jacques?

Ah, says Vello. Something about the....errm.....rapidly disappearing ocean.

Disappearing? says Mayor Clements. I didn't realise. Where is it going?

As we know it, says Vello. Full of plastic, coffee cups, and pests.

Oh yes, pests, says Mayor Clements. We have a Coast and Marine Program here on K I. you know. Workshops for boat owners. Training in identification of pests such as European Fan Worms and Sea Squirts, not to mention the Asian Date Mussel....

Arthur groans faintly.

Yes I am aware of the Asian Date Mussel, says Vello. Very commendable. I mean your program, not the Asian Date Mussel. Yes, pests are the subject du jour. Sweezus is returning to confront one.

Two, says Sweezus.