Picturing Mother

Certain things have been decided.

They will leave for Lake Jasper at once, and not wait until Thursday.

Grace will pay half of the petrol.

Sprocket will drive.

Very good, says Gaius. We'll go back to our motel and gather our belongings.

I'll drive you, says Sprocket.

Thanks, says Elodie.

Best of luck with the spider venture, says Grace, waving them out of her office.

Take care! she shouts after Sprocket.

And then, Sprocky! Car keys!

Sprocket goes back for the car keys.

He leads them through to a car park, where they see the vehicle for the first time.

It's a Toyota HiLux Rugged X, says Sprocket. Great for the outback.

It looks brand new,

Wow. We lucked out, says Elodie.

Sprocket and Gaius sit in the front. Elodie in the back, with Baby Pierre and his bicycle.

Baby Pierre doesn't like the smell of the Toyota HiLux. He doesn't like anything. He thought he would be here until Thursday, making a movie. Now he has to help Sprocket Swan to be famous.

Gaius is talking to Sprocket.

It was a well known story, says Gaius. My friends made it into a play. I played the Old Lady.

Was she a controller? asks Sprocket.

I don't think so, says Gaius. I didn't play her that way. She was a comic character who had suffered a series of misfortunes. Daughter of a pope, captured by pirates, sold to a captain of the Sultan's guard, lost one buttock during a siege...

Great story isn't it, says Elodie, from the back seat.

How'd she lose it? asks Sprocket.

The soldiers were starving, says Gaius.

Sicko, says Sprocket.

It was a kindness, says Gaius. One buttock sliced from each lady of the captain's harem. Better than killing one or two of them outright.

Very even handed, says Elodie. Don't you think?

Sprocket tries to get his head around whether or not the action was even handed.

He imagines the scene. He imagines it starring his mother.

Proclaiming her rights as a woman. While a soldier approaches.....

Stop! says Gaius. We're here.

Sprocket stops. Gaius and Elodie enter Bailey's Motel to recover their things.

Baby Pierre stays in the back seat.

Have you got a camera? asks Baby Pierre.

In my phone, says Sprocket.

You should film this trip, says Baby Pierre.

Do you reckon the women were starving? asks Sprocket.

What women? asks Baby Pierre.

The ones in the story, says Sprocket.

I wasn't listening, says Baby Pierre. I was thinking about how bad this car smells.

It's new, says Sprocket. It's a new smell. Some people like it.

I don't like it, says Baby Pierre.

Hold your nose and breathe through your mouth, says Sprocket.

You're not my mother, says Baby Pierre.

Silence, while both of them picture their mothers.