White In The Eye

Where's Katherine? asks Terence.

She's gone up the coast for a while, says Gaius. She has succumbed to the lure of luxurious comforts.

Is she bringing some back? asks Terence.

I trust not, says Gaius. Now be quiet while I try and obtain this deuced online permit.

Permit, says Saint Roley. What for?

Camping, can you believe it? says Gaius. Here we sit, with a bag of apples and a notebook, and not much else, not even binoculars, because I have forgotten to pack them.

What a shame, says Saint Roley

And they call it camping, says Gaius. For which one must have a permit. But can you obtain one, by paying the Ranger? No. You must go through a rigmarole on line.

That's probably simpler, says Saint Roley.

It may be, says Gaius, with decent coverage. But I keep dropping out. And the Ranger will be back in the morning.

Yay! says Terence. I like the Ranger. He's smart.

We could move on, says Saint Roley. Find Katherine.

No, says Gaius. Principles first.

He continues trying to get onto the National Parks website.

Saint Roley pulls out a few loose blood feathers.

Terence digs a hole. The sand is soft and the hole keeps on filling up again.

...........

Katherine drives south in the gathering gloom.

She passes several campfires, which are not of interest.

At twenty kilometres, she starts seriously looking.

Bingo. A campfire on the beach. She stops the car and gets out.

She hears whistling, she smells fish cooking.

She tramps down the track towards the camp fire.

Yoo hoo! cries Katherine. It's me, Katherine.

Katherine Hume! yelps Margaret. I don't believe it! What are you doing here? Come and join us. Ludwig's cooking a fish.

Katherine joins them.

Is it too late for potatoes?

Not at all, says Wittgenstein. Drop them into the embers.

How pleasant. This is how life should be. Cooking potatoes in a campfire. How long will it take? They are quite large potatoes.

He pokes at the mulloway.

It is already sizzling and white in the eye.

You know Ludwig, don't you, says Margaret. Ludwig, you know Katherine, David Hume's mother.
She would have been cheering you on from the sidelines on Willunga Hill.

I wasn't, says Katherine. It was too hot. But I watched one of the earlier races. You were lagging behind. Gaius dropped back to encourage you.

Gaius! sniffs Margaret.

Gaius and I are camping with Terence and his pet oystercatcher, twenty k's back that way, says Katherine. We heard you were here from the Ranger. Gaius wouldn't come.

I'm not surprised, says Margaret. How does he seem?

Seem? says Katherine. Same old Gaius. Testy.

Jealous? suggests Margaret.

Katherine considers

Wittgenstein pokes the fish.

The fish is ready, but not the potatoes.