Him The Best

Gaius has reassembled his bicycle.

He is about to ride off.

But perhaps he should let Camus know where he's going.

He did tell Terence, but Terence may not have remembered.

He wheels his bike down through the sand hills.

He spots a piece of paper.

And beyond it, a snake.

I'll just pick up this paper! says Gaius loudly.

The snake slithers away.

Well ! says Gaius. How fortuitous. This is mine. No doubt the wind took it.

He picks up the paper, and continues wheeling his bicycle towards Camus and Terence, on the sand near the flies.

Camus is drawing in the sand with a stick.

Terence and the two orange-bellied parrots are watching.

I've come back, says Gaius, for two reasons. 

Us, says one of the orange-bellied parrots.

No, says Gaius. Although I'm pleased to see that you're here.

Our mother is drawing us a map of Tasmania, says the other orange-bellied parrot.

Gaius looks at Camus's picture. Tasmania? It looks like a theatrical mask.

I haven't finished, says Camus. But this is the general shape of it. Flat across the top and pointed at the bottom.

A pointed bottom, says Terence. That's it there.

Tasmania doesn't have such a pointed bottom, says Gaius.

I'm aware of that, says Camus, scuffing out the pointed bottom and redrawing it, in a more rounded fashion.

That's more like it, says Gaius. 

But how do we get there? asks the first orange-bellied parrot.

Good question, says Gaius. First you need to know where you are in relation to your destination.

That sounds hard, says the first one.

Not hard, says Gaius. And as luck would have it, I found my own map in the sandhills.

The orange- bellied parrots are impressed. They have never seen maps in the sandhills.

Yes, it must have blown away, says Gaius. It's one of the reasons I've come back. 

And what's the other one,? asks Camus.

To let you know I'm cycling to Mawson Lakes to buy apples, says Gaius. 

I already knew that, says Camus. 

I told him, says Terence. And guess what?  

What? asks Gaius.

The parrots thought I was their mother, says Terence. 

How delightful, says Gaius. But I heard one of them say that Camus was their mother.

Because I wasn't, says Terence.

Even though we liked her the best, says the second orange-bellied parrot. 

Him the best, says Terence.