Short One Man

On the bus to Santa Cruz:

The Pesquet parrot is thinking about its decision.

It stares through the window, at the passing sky.

Nina appraises her photos.

Terence and Feebee play 'cannot but be'.

They crack up at 'cannot but be butter'.

Nothing new here.

Let's check out the others.

......

Sweezus is covered in sand. It sticks to his arrow wounds. Dark blood congeals on his chest.

Ying is filming.

Arthur pulls more sea urchin spines from his shorts pocket.

The onlookers are transfixed. This will be one awesome movie.

Sweezus's phone rings, destroying the moment. It's Belle.

Hi Sweezie, how's everything going?

Wicked. We're making a movie.

That's not what you're meant to be there for.

What am I meant to be here for?

Collecting postcards for the crowd funding thinger.

Yeah, but we kind of ....

What's the movie?

Saint Sebastian. I'm him. I die peppered with arrows. But we're using sea urchin spines.

Belle knows her Saint Sebastian.

Saint Sebastian didn't die peppered with arrows. He was rescued, says Belle.

Sweezus sits up. Who by?

Irene of Rome, says Belle. But later he was beaten to death by cudgels and thrown into a sewer.

Far out, says Sweezus.

Is it worth telling Arthur?

No, it definitely isn't.

Are you guys coming back for the Tour? asks Belle.

Sure, says Sweezus. When is it again?

Starts fourteenth of January, says Belle. Papa and David are having trouble contacting Gaius. They're short of a man.

He'll have forgotten, says Sweezus. I'll remind him, if I see him.

If? says Belle Where is he?

........

He is on the ferry to Las Palmas, with Kong Fu-zi.

He is reading the article that was published in the Journal Of Biogeography by Carles Ribera and Eric Planes, on the new endemic lineage of loxosceles.

As he reads, he dictates notes to Kong, in the belief that Kong is writing them down.

Kong is writing, but not about spiders. He is trying to remember a poem:

Waiting in vain for my friend Ding.

On the wooden seat beside them, Daniel O'Connell swoons in the heady perfumed paradise of the red Maja soap box.

Small brown spiders, active at night, says Gaius. Can cause quite severe bites.

Birds have settled in their perches in the quiet mist, mutters Kong. I am waiting for you.....

In cracks, caves, under stones etc, says Gaius.

Daniel O'Connell dreams up visions of Lola Montez.

Different reproductive organs. Note that, says Gaius.