by A. A. Bell
Duet nodded. ‘The plan is to have her back by five, ma’am.’
‘Don’t we need to sign in as visitors?’ Ben asked. I need to speak with you! he signed to Sanchez.
‘Forget it,’ Sanchez said, asking Why? with her hands. ‘I can sign her out for a day, just like a day pass.’
‘Oh, thanks.’ Her poet trees are gone!
What?
Burned! I saw them!
‘Hey, what’s with the hand signals?’ asked Duet. ‘She’s blind, right?’
‘Hand signals?’ asked Mira.
‘Nothing, honey. My poor hand needs regular flexing.’ Sanchez spun on Duet with the ferocity of a tornado. ‘And you, Mr Duet! Mind your tongue and your own business!’
‘Trying to, ma’am. But our business is elsewhere.’
‘Then don’t let me hold you up.’ Sorry, she signed to Ben. I did try to stop them. ‘Just take good care of her. Understand?’
‘Don’t worry,’ Ben said. ‘I’ll bring her back safely this time if it kills me.’
* * *
‘… if it kills me.’
Freddie hid in the garden, listening to the final whisper of that echo as it dissipated over the soft end of the sound barrier. Again he could have shouted a warning, but again he stayed silent. Mira needed to learn for herself how dangerous it was out there, or else she would only keep trying to escape.
And one small dose of disaster should be enough.
He consoled himself that this time, the role of culprit would not fall upon him. This time, he had a different game to play — a game in which he could finally play the hero.
THIRTY-ONE
‘Make way!’ Freddie shouted as he streaked out of the staff change room with a pair of trousers in one hand, a woman’s skirt in the other, and red French knickers on his head.
Ged Stevens tried to run after him, but tripped while pulling on his trousers. Steffi Nagle appeared, clutching a jacket around her hips, with Narelle Ramsey not far behind, buttoning her blouse.
‘Come back here right now!’ Nagle shouted. ‘Before I give you a better reason to run!’
Freddie turned and laughed. ‘This’ll teach you for not letting me join in! Power to the people!’ He paused to dance a jig. ‘I’ll run these up the flagpole to show your true colours!’
He bolted around the corner of the administration building, past Phoebe and Joan, who were fighting over a Taser glove they’d found in the rubbish. Distracted by them, he ran into the back of Ben Chiron, knocking him into Mira and like dominoes, they fell together.
Scrambling to get off them, Freddie’s knee struck Ben again, knocking the wind from him. Ben grunted in pain, Mira struggled under their weight and a stranger hauled Freddie back to his feet.
‘What’s going on here?’ the stranger demanded. He wrenched Freddie backwards and restrained him with one arm twisted roughly behind his back. ‘Who are you?’
Ben’s face contorted with pain, but he staggered to his feet, more concerned with helping Mira.
‘Sorry, Ben!’ Freddie shouted. ‘Let go of me, you dumb Nietzschean! I’d never hurt them on purpose.’ He twisted free, and as he dodged around the stranger, he spotted Mira’s walking cane on the ground beside her and realised it could provide her position in relation to the front gate — and worse: the GPS could be tracked by anyone who knew how to do it. Same went for the button-shaped electronic key that logged her movements throughout the centre. He could see it peeking out from her collar.
He snatched both away from her and used the cane as a bat to smash a home run with the key. ‘You can’t leave!’ he shouted, ignoring the hail of complaints as he snapped the cane. ‘Death’s waiting for you!’
‘But I’ve already been to the mainland,’ Mira said as Ben lifted her back to her feet. ‘Ben gave me these,’ she tapped her sunglasses, ‘and now sunlight doesn’t hurt me anymore.’
‘Hurt as much,’ Freddie argued. ‘You’re too used to pain to —’
Ged Stevens came running around the corner, followed by Steffi Nagle, who’d recovered the skirt that Freddie now realised he’d dropped.
‘Got to go!’ he said, dodging Ben to snatch Mira’s sunglasses. ‘Yoink!’ he laughed, making off with them. ‘You’ll thank me!’
‘Hey!’ Mira slapped both hands over her eyes and turned away from the piercing sun.
‘Trust your senses, Mira! Not any Nietzschean tools that make you dependent on them!’
He snapped her sunglasses too, discarding the fragments as he bolted through the crowd waving his other trophies.
Trembling, her face turned to Ben’s chest, Mira clamped both hands tightly over her eyes to shield them against the fierce morning sunlight. ‘I’m not afraid,’ she whispered repeatedly.
‘Give her yours,’ Ben ordered.
‘My what?’ asked Duet. ‘I can hardly hear her.’
‘Shades, man! Isn’t it obvious? She’s in pain from the glare!’
‘You told me she was blind.’
‘Just do it, okay?’
‘They’re prescription! I need them to drive.’
‘Look, pal, do you want to spend the rest of the day here arguing? Or do you want to loan her your sunglasses and let me drive? It won’t be far. We can pick up a replacement set as soon as we hit the mainland.’
Duet sighed. Mira guessed he was handing over the glasses. She straightened, keeping both hands over her clenched eyes until she felt Ben position the glasses gently against her face.
‘How’s that?’ he asked.
Cautiously, she opened her eyes. ‘Everything’s clearer! Different, but clearer.’
‘They’re supposed to be clear,’ Duet grumbled. ‘They correct for myopia. But how can you be blind and still tell that?’
‘Because the murky purplish-brown isn’t so murky anymore — it’s slightly more purple.’
‘Oh, of course,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Why wasn’t that obvious?’
A strong hand grabbed Mira’s arm roughly.
‘Back off,’ Ben warned, keeping hold of her. ‘If Mira needs time, she gets time.’
‘I’m never late for nobody!’
‘Take a pill,’ Mira snapped. ‘I am hurrying.’ She touched her watch to check the time but discovered the face was broken and when she pressed the side button, it didn’t respond.
‘I’ll get you another one when we get back,’ Ben said as he took it from her. He helped her pick up the pace towards the gate. ‘What changed?’ he asked. ‘I’m sure the docs will be keen to hear that prescription shades make a difference.’
She pointed back towards the administration building. ‘At first, the lawn was empty except for a man on a rider-mower, and now there are ghosts everywhere. They’re all busy building things — long rectangular metal frames with tables inside. They’re not sheds, though … I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re kind of rickety frames. And over there, two men in overalls are pulling a big sheet of plastic over the top to make walls and a roof for one row of them.’ She pointed to her left and heard Ben click his tongue.
‘All brown, I expect, but any patterns?’
‘All different … stars and diagonal stripes. That one has a big heart on the side.’
Ben whistled. ‘That’s exactly right!’
‘It’s a miracle,’ Duet muttered. ‘I don’t know what kind of scam you’re trying to pull on the docs, but first chance I get, I’m warning them.’
‘Go ahead,’ Ben said. ‘They’re just as keen to get to the truth behind Mira’s peculiarities as we are.’
Peculiarities? Mira stumbled back a step, feeling saddened and weak. Ben thinks I’m a freak!
She cringed all the way to the van and halfway to the mainland. Alone in the back of the van, behind Ben who’d taken the driver’s seat, she kept her head down for fear that he might have to look at her deformed face in the rear-vision mirror. For a long time, nobody spoke.
‘There’s a pharmacy,’ Duet announced finally.
&n
bsp; She could imagine him pointing, keen to get his prescription glasses back from the circus freak. She sensed the vehicle brake and veer left, off the road. Ben cut the engine and she heard his door open.
‘Wait here,’ he said.
Mira assumed he’d meant only her, but Duet stayed too. After a long awkward silence, she took off the glasses and handed them to him.
‘You might as well take them. I can’t use them in a car. It’s too scary.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Have you ever been for a ride on a roller coaster?’
‘Not lately.’
His clothes rustled and the van rocked, as if he was shifting over to the driver’s seat.
‘Well, maybe you can imagine riding one that’s invisible. That’s what driving’s like for me.’
‘That’s nice.’
‘I’m trying to tell you it isn’t!’
‘Seriously, ma’am, I couldn’t care less. My only concern is how to get you two across town in seven minutes. Meanwhile, your boyfriend’s off on a spending spree and I’m stuck out here babysitting.’
‘I’m not a baby and he’s not my boyfriend. Sometimes I’m not even sure he really likes me.’
‘Whatever; it’s no business of mine.’
Another long awkward silence followed, then his clothes rustled, his seat squeaked, and a small gust of air touched her cheek. Mira flinched.
‘Not so blind after all, hey?’
‘I am so!’
‘Then how did you know exactly when to dodge my fist?''
Your fist? I thought you’d leaned so close it was your breath! Why would you try to hit me?’
‘I didn’t.’ He chuckled meanly. ‘You can’t smell the difference between a fist and fresh breath?’
‘That wasn’t your breath. You’re just nasty.’
She unbuckled her seatbelt and fumbled to find the door handle to get away from him.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
‘To find Ben, away from you! Either suits me!’
He chuckled again as she struggled to work the latch. It wouldn’t respond and she panicked, punching the window.
‘Meet driver’s control. Nobody gets in or out unless I say so. Now buckle up; we’re leaving.’
‘No!’ Mira’s pulse raced. Her hands clenched into fists to smash the window, but she knew the consequences of losing her temper now. She concentrated painfully hard to stay calm. ‘Let me out! Please, I have to stay with Ben!’
She dragged her fists down the back of his seat.
‘Yeah, take a pill. It’s under control.’
He started the engine and the van lurched into gear.
‘Stop!’ She pictured herself grabbing his head, biting his ear and gouging his eyes to force him to hit the brakes. ‘Ben told us to stay here!’
The van swerved faster around a corner. She gripped the seat, squeezing and fighting so hard not to do the same to his head. Her nails dug into the vinyl, her hands trembling, but she knew she had to do it. She reached out for his neck.
The van skidded to a halt, throwing her forward. Her head bumped into the back of his and he yelped.
‘I told you to buckle up!’ He shrugged her off his shoulder. ‘Do I have to do it for you?’
‘I’m not allowed to go anywhere without —’
Someone rapped against the passenger window.
Mira startled, wondering how Duet could reach that far from the driver’s seat.
‘It’s locked,’ Ben shouted through the glass. ‘Let me in.’
Latches clicked and the door opened.
‘Ben!’ Mira slapped Duet’s shoulder and shoved away from him. ‘He tried to drive off without you!’
‘I did not,’ Duet said. ‘I saw you come out of the shop and drove closer.’
She slapped him again. ‘Well, why didn’t you say so?’
‘I did. I said I had it under control.’
‘That’s hardly the same!’
Ben climbed into the passenger seat with a plastic bag that crumpled noisily. ‘Don’t hit him, Mira. No matter how good it feels or how much he might deserve it. It’s inappropriate behaviour, and not something you want to do today.’
‘I know that! Do you think I wanted to?’ Mira pouted and sank back in her seat. ‘He’s lucky that’s all I did. He nearly wrecked our whole day.’
‘You’re not doing so badly yourself,’ Duet replied.
Mira kicked the back of his seat.
‘Hey! I am trained to kill, you know.’
‘I did warn you not to touch her,’ Ben replied.
‘That includes if she strikes me, does it? What took you so long anyway? It’s a pharmacy. They should have had a whole rack of sunglasses.’
‘They did.’
The plastic bag rustled again. ‘I bought three, plus another set for myself.’
‘Three? Okay, that’s it.’ Duet gunned the engine and plunged back into noisy traffic. ‘Is she blind or isn’t she?’
‘I told you, it’s complicated.’
‘Time’s ticking, buddy.’
‘Okay, the nearest that any medical term seems to have for it is “blindsighted". Hold out your hand, Mira. You can try this pair first.’
The new glasses fitted snugly over her ears.
‘That means she’s legally blind,’ Ben went on, ‘but some parts of her brain are generating memories or delusions of being able to see — a bit like having an arm chopped off but still feeling it itch. At least that’s what the docs seem to think.
‘How’s that pair?’ he asked Mira.
She opened her eyes slowly, relieved to find the world the same colour as it had been through the lenses Freddie had broken. To her left, she saw a car speed into a car wash, soon followed by a cop on a motorbike.
‘Hey, look!’ she said, but Duet accelerated and they sped away, under a highway and on past a long row of apartment buildings that were still under construction.
‘Look at what?’ Ben asked.
‘These glasses,’ she said, a little shaken, ‘they’re the same as the ones Freddie broke.’
‘Indeed they are,’ he said. ‘Exactly the same brand, tint and style. Now try these.’
She swapped the plastic frames for a slim-line metal pair. The world turned orange. Roads and buildings vanished, replaced by wild bushland and sand dunes. Kangaroos grazed around her. An Aboriginal hunter sprang from tangerine grass and threw a spear directly at her. Mira screamed and flung the glasses off her face before the weapon could pass through her chest.
‘I don’t like those. Give me back the first ones.’ She clicked her fingers, keeping her eyes closed.
‘Different visions?’ Ben asked.
She nodded and clicked her fingers more urgently. ‘I don’t want to talk about them until I’m hooked up to Dr Zhou’s machine.’
‘Suits me.’
He placed another pair of glasses into her hand, and she tried them on, hoping the world would be a soothing, reliable brown again. It was, but the brown fog had a strong tinge of purple now; much like it had through Duet’s prescription glasses.
‘These are similar to his. Not as dark, though, or as clear, but with the same kind of purplish tinge to the murky brown haze.’
‘They do look very similar in tint,’ Ben said, ‘but they’re a different brand. What do you see?’
‘The city. Same as before, but all the traffic and people have changed, and that scaffolding around the new apartment building is two floors higher. Too blurry at this speed, though. It’s hurting.’
She closed her eyes and shrank back into her invisible seat to wait out the rest of their trip.
‘That proves something,’ Ben said, rustling the bag again. ‘The lenses affect your hallucinations, so, logically, your eyes must be processing some part of the spectrum.’
‘Hold on,’ Duet warned. ‘We’re here.’
The van swerved hard left without slowing down enough for the corner. A car horn blared beside them
and Mira braced herself instinctively against the door and the seat in front of her.
‘Oh, great,’ Duet said as he braked to a halt. ‘Now what?’
Mira opened her eyes and saw the Drift Inn, shimmering in its purplish-brown fog like an oasis.
‘There are four buses in our way,’ Ben explained to her, ‘with a crowd of tourists loading and unloading their luggage through the foyer. Drop us off here,’ he told Duet. ‘I know where to take her.’
‘No can do, pal. Late or not, I can’t guarantee your safety in that circus. We’ll use the loading dock.’
The van jolted over a ghostly kerb onto the footpath and veered around the building into a narrow alley.
‘Watch out for the cat!’ Mira cried — too late. The van drove through it and came to a halt right on top of it.
‘The cat’s fine,’ Ben reassured her. ‘It’s sitting up there on the industrial bin.’
Mira looked down and saw the ghostly version of the cat beneath her, undisturbed and still licking its paws. A ghostly kitchen hand emerged from a door to lift the lid on the steel bin and empty a broken pot of prawn shells into it.
‘I hate driving,’ she muttered.
‘Can’t say it’s been a pleasure for me either,’ Duet said. ‘Everyone out.’
THIRTY-TWO
Mira followed the sound of Duet’s footsteps through the hotel’s storeroom to the tiled hall, keeping one arm hooked around Ben’s elbow to steady herself against the ghostly guests who obliviously, yet regularly, walked through her.
Ahead, she saw the foyer and a cluster of impatient guests waiting for an elevator. A small boy stamped his foot and tugged on his mother’s short denim skirt. He pointed at Mira and she could see that he had Down’s syndrome. He pulled a face at her and his mother chided him. Mira read her silent lips. Pretend you’re a good boy, she said.
The ghostly boy stamped his foot again and pulled away from the group. He ran straight up to Mira.
