Josephine Marlin and The Alternatives

by Karen Eastland

  I was thankful there were cars because I was worried the light I’d seen during the attack was at the end of some tunnel somewhere. Feeling pretty shaky, I just wanted to get out of the forest. When we reached the bike Pony sat me on the seat, and everyone pushed it as fast as they could towards the clearing. I watched the darkness that had taken over the forest, begin to lift. The light of the stars and moon began to filter back through.

  ‘It was a strange looking creature,’ I said, ‘and just as soon as we get a bit further away from the forest, I’ll tell you all about it. Just so you know, I wouldn’t mind running out of here either.’

  ‘I’m with you there,’ said Deb.

  We moved quicker than we had all night. Eventually, we found ourselves pulling the bike into some sort of car park. I got off after checking the ground to see we were back on gravel. I walked with the others, but Pony wasn’t leaving my side.

  ‘So what had you?’ asked Ann, once we made it to the clearing.

  ‘Oh God Jo how badly are you hurt?’ Deb almost squealed.

  She sounded concerned, but apart from my pride being a little bruised at getting pulled off a push-bike by a bird, I didn’t feel too bad.

  I was about to say, ‘I’m alright,’ when she came at me with a hanky.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I’m wiping the blood away to see how badly you’re injured.’

  ‘What? Oh right. I forgot about the blood. That thing was tearing into me,’ I said while lifting my hands to my face, but I couldn’t feel a scratch from the bushes, let alone the freakin’ talons on that creature. I felt something sticky but thought it was either the dog saliva or Pony’s slime.

  When I looked at my hands, I saw it was blood, then relived the feeling of it draining from my face as the creature attacked me.

  ‘Maybe it’s the creature’s blood?’ I thought.

  ‘So what had you?’ Ann asked again, after seeing I didn’t have a scratch on me.

  ‘Stop it, Deb,’ I said, flaying my arms around.

  ‘It looked and felt like a bird had flown into my face,’ I said as Deb, who was intent on wiping the blood away, took me by the chin and turned my head to take another wipe at it. ‘But I’m pretty sure it had human hands and teeth.’

  Looking at my arm, I saw blood all over my sleeve, and pulled the sleeve of my blouse up to see how bad it was, and to show the others where I’d been bitten. Ann ran her fingers over the bites to check the size of them. The welts looked like they’d been made by something with power in its jaws, because they’d risen on my arm to perfectly resemble human teeth marks.

  ‘They’re definitely human bite marks,’ Ann said. ‘But it looks like marks a child would leave.’

  I was still looking at the bites wondering what the hell had bitten me when suddenly they disappeared.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said to Ann. ‘I forgot about your healing touch. The last thing I wanted was bite marks as my first ever scars. I don’t even have nieces or nephews I could blame for them.’

  Ann looked confused and was examining her fingers as we walked through the clearing. We were still discussing the disappearing bite marks and the creature when Pony’s arm dropped over my right shoulder. Then I felt Dog gently press against my left ankle. I think they were letting me know they weren’t going to leave me again.

  After I got over the shock, I’d started to wonder where the club had come from, but instead of dwelling, I preferred to go with the philosophy that everything was alright.

  ‘Lock that club episode away to examine later will you Brain?’

  ‘You’ve got it,’ said Brain.

  ‘Sue? Del?’ Deb yelled, bringing me out of my thoughts.

  When I looked up, I saw the girls looking at us from across the lot. They were lit up by the park lights of eight to ten cars. One even had their hazard lights on. They were sitting on a short pine fencing post with a couple of guy’s, talking and laughing.

  ‘Hey Deb,’ called Sue.

  ‘Is that Jo with you?’ she asked, her voice full of surprise.

  ‘I never thought I’d see you here Jo,’ Sue said with her usual happy smile.

  Several cars started their engines and left the park. It felt as if we’d made them leave.

  ‘You know it’s traditional to come here in a car,’ said Del walking over and patting the handlebars.

  ‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ I said, ‘if I ever come again. It’s so good to see you both, what have you been up to?’

  Everyone turned and looked at me. Ann looked as if she didn’t even know who I was.

  ‘I don’t mean tonight,’ I said feeling embarrassed.

  ‘I’m good,’ said Del. ‘It’s a bit odd showing up here on a push-bike though.’

  The look on Del’s face changed from a smile to one of concern, as we reached them.

  ‘What the hell have you been up to,’ she said, ‘and why do you have blood all over your face?’

  ‘Oh, that! That’s a long story,’ I said taking the hanky from Deb. She was still trying to wipe my face. With her, Pony and Dog, it was a wonder I was even allowed to walk.

  I wiped away as much of the blood as I could, but it was already dry. I must’ve complained about the lack of moisture on the hanky, because I heard a cough, then a snort close to my ear, and I knew it was Pony. I was so glad I didn’t turn my head to see what she was doing, because while I thought about turning, Pony spat a large glob of slime on the hanky for me.

  ‘Thank you Pony,’ I said, looking up at her with a strained smile on my face. ‘You know just what I need don’t you.’

  She gave me one of her beaming smiles and appeared to be waiting for me to wipe away the rest of the blood. I folded the hanky in two, then in two again and slid it into my pocket.

  ‘I’ll do it later. Thanks, Pony.’

  ‘This is Colin, everyone,’ said Sue.

  ‘Hey Colin,’ we all said.

  ‘Why are you all the way out here?’ Sue asked. ‘And on a deadly treadly!’

  ‘Well there’s been some… but I’ll tell you about it later. When you’re not with… your friend, okay? It’s a long story…’ I said, trying unsuccessfully to reassure Colin it wasn’t because he was there. I just didn’t want to mention Bob to anyone other than my friends, and it would take more time than we have to tell it.

  He said something to Sue, then turned and walked back to his car.

  ‘Did I say something wrong?’ I asked.

  ‘No, hang on a minute will you,’ Sue said. I turned with a questioning look on my face to the others, only to see Del walk her date to another car. She was in and out within a few minutes, and he left.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I called after them.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ called Sue.

  ‘Me too,’ said Del, putting her right arm into the sleeve of a clean cotton jacket.

  ‘What?’ I asked. I couldn’t believe they’d let their ride go, to stay with us. ‘We’ve got a bike full of crazy. Are you sure you want to jump on this ride?’

  ‘You bet,’ Sue said with a wink.

  ‘Yep,’ said Del walking back to us.

  I watched Sue walk Colin to his car. They spoke for a few moments, then he leaned in and gave her the sweetest, sexiest kiss I’d seen in a long while.

  ‘Where’ve you been keeping him?’ I asked when she got back.

  ‘Where’re the others?’ she asked ignoring my question with a smile.

  She was talking about the twins and Del, cause Pony and Dog hadn’t left. I was secretly very happy they hadn’t.

  ‘They’re putting the bike somewhere out of sight.’

  ‘Come here,’ Sue said laughing at me with her usual warm, welcoming chuckle. ‘You’re looking more than a little like a palomino if you know what I mean. Scratch that. With your eye-liner and mascara, coupled with all the blood, you could be ‘It,’ and yes I do mean the clown.’

  ‘In fact, you could be the complete act,’ she said, lookin
g at Pony standing next to me with her green slimy arm draped over my right shoulder, and Dog at my feet.

  Sue always amazes me, we hadn’t told her about Pony yet, and there she was cleaning me up, just accepting Pony as she was without question. She was chuckling to herself when she pulled a wet wipe from her pocket and proceeded to wipe away the eye-liner from around my eyes. It was the same black smudging I saw in the hub-cap back at the funeral home. Ann and Deb would have noticed it too.

  ‘Bitches!’ I thought. Recalling I’d had the same thought earlier that afternoon when both Ann and Kaz would have seen it.

  ‘So, what’s up?’ she said, wiping away the last of the eye-liner.

  I was ready to have a go at the others when they caught up to us, but apparently, it’s only when something isn’t there any-more, that it’s remembered.

  ‘You got rid of the camouflage?’ Deb said with a smile on her face as she got back.

  ‘You’re joking right?’ I asked, catching sight of Del’s beaming smile.

  ‘What?’ asked Deb. ‘You mean it wasn’t deliberate? But Ann…’

  I looked at Ann who was almost crying; she was laughing so hard.

  ‘You looked like you were on a mission,’ said Deb, with a contagious chuckle. ‘Who am I to tell you how to dress for it?’

  Looking at Sue, I could see she desperately wanted to join in, but at least held out for a few minutes longer than everyone else. I had to admit it was funny. It was also something I would’ve done to anyone of my friends too, so I joined in, permitting Sue to let it out.

  ‘Thank you for fixing my face,’ I said after the laughter died down, then asked if we were finished with it, before moving on.

  ‘Yep,’ said Deb. Ann wasn’t letting up. She’ll bring it up for years to come.

  We filled Del and Sue in as best we could about Pony and Ann. How Kaz had gone missing, everything, even Bob. They took it fairly well, especially when I told them about the importance of getting Pony to the hospital.

  ‘Everyone seems to be taking everything way too well,’ I said to Brain. ‘Why is that?’

  ‘Do you have to come to me for every little thing Josephine? I am not sure why, but I am busy and will talk with you later,’ was his brusk reply, then he went quiet.

  ‘What the hell was that all about Brain?’ I asked but received no response.

  Sue, who was mainly concerned about the creature, brought me back to the conversation.

  ‘Tell me everything you remember,’ she said. ‘Every detail. Leave nothing out.’

  ‘It was the strangest creature I’d ever seen,’ I began. ‘It looked like a big black bird, but I swear it had human hands, and it bit me. Ann’s healing powers got rid of the bite marks so I can’t show you. Anyway, so there I was lying on the ground, and this thing kept attacking me. It wrapped itself around my face and head, and all I could see were the feathers, black feathers everywhere. Somehow I was able to get hold of a big thick lump of wood, and I just started hitting it until it let go. But it didn’t fly away, it ran, and I’m certain it had hair. Human hair. Have you ever heard of a creature like that?’

  ‘It could’ve been a cassowary,’ she said. ‘Though if a cassowary attacked as you described, it would’ve killed you. And they don’t have human teeth… or hair. It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard of before, but there are a lot of creatures presumed to be extinct, who have only become really good at hiding from humans.’

  ‘Yeah, but what about the hands, teeth, and hair?’

  ‘I have to say that has me stumped, but I can’t wait to look through all my books to see if there has ever been a creature like that.’

  ‘Anyway, if it wasn’t for the lump of wood, I don’t think I’d be standing here now,’ I said when it finally dawned on me how bad it’d all been. We stood for a moment deep in thought, when I recalled my earlier observation about our town.

  ‘Don’t you think it’s odd, that over the past few months there’s been a lot of memorials but not many funerals?’ I asked. ‘Do we have vampires? Kaz said something about Tasmania earlier, but then she stopped.’

  ‘Actually Jo, you know…’ Sue started to say, but was pretty sure she’d allowed her attention to get drawn away when Dog began to rub his head all over my legs. Sue took the opportunity to change the subject.

  ‘Is he yours?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We saw him earlier today, you know with the Bob thing, and he keeps showing up. He’s a beautiful boy though isn’t he.’

  I bent down and patted him on the head.

  ‘He looked a bit scrappy when I first saw him. I thought he was a stray. But he’s looking pretty much like a homebody up close. He helped save me when the vines grabbed me too.’

  ‘You gnawed straight through them, didn’t you boy,’ I said scratching his head.

  ‘I think he is yours, said Sue. ‘He certainly likes you. I think he’s been following you to make sure you’re alright. That’s what I think anyway.’

  ‘Oh wow!’ I exclaimed. ‘I almost forgot why we’re here. Have you heard of someone, or something called the Man of the Trees?’

  ‘Man of the Trees? No, I haven’t,’ said Sue, who looked like her interest had been piqued again.

  ‘We were told we needed to get to Millers Point to talk to him,’ I said, looking around to see if there was anything other than a few parked cars in the area. All I could see was gravel, bush, and flashing lights.

  There was nothing in the area that resembled a man and there were no Christmas trees.

  ‘I’m pretty certain trees don’t talk, well, not in the same way humans do?’ I asked Sue, being that she’s the book of knowledge when it comes to the odd, strange, and bizarre. ‘I’m sure if there was a tree that could talk, it wouldn’t be much of a secret? Scratch that, it probably would be a secret wouldn’t it? I mean, if I was a tree who could talk, why would I tell a human.’

  Sue was looking at me blankly, and I knew she was sifting through her database looking for an answer. I also knew not to bother her when she shifted into think mode. Surprisingly, Brain answered me. He was rather curt though.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Brain. ‘Have you told your friends about me? No! Of course not, because how could you explain me to them?’

  ‘I see your point, but where have you been?’

  Silence again. I wasn’t sure why Brain kept disappearing, but it felt like he was up to something. It’d pretty hard for him to keep secrets from me.

  Man of the Trees

  We walked around Millers Point with no clue of what we were looking for, and I’d forgotten to ask the others where we were. For all I knew, we could’ve been looking in the wrong place for the Man of the Trees.

  ‘What is this place?’ I asked the Del and Sue, ‘and why are you here? I mean what are you doing…’

  ‘No not that…’ I said, finding my foot in my mouth until I eventually realised it didn’t matter what I said, or how I said it, it was going to sound off, so I went down another tract hoping to move away from innuendo and connotations.

  ‘What is this place called?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s called a parking lot,’ said Deb, with a crooked smile on her face.

  ‘Well I can see that,’ I said, realising none of my friends were going to make it easy for me. ‘Do you know what? I don’t even care what this place is. Is it called Millers Point, and does anyone know the Man of the Trees?’

  Looking around, I saw the girls all staring at each other, but no-one said anything. I’d begun to get impatient when Del finally spoke.

  ‘I’ve never heard of anyone called the Man of the Trees before.’

  ‘Were you told what he look like?’ Sue asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘We weren’t given a description were we?’

  ‘No,’ said Ann. ‘We were just told, I mean Jo was told, we need to find the Man of the Trees.’

  ‘My theory is,’ I continued, ‘it could be a tree, or a man. He’s supp
osed to be here somewhere. If this is Millers Point?’

  ‘Yeah, this is the Point, so let’s fan out and have a look,’ said the ever open-minded Sue. ‘We can cover more ground that way.’

  Everyone moved to opposite corners of the car park in an attempt to find the Man of the Trees. It was a huge area, with thick bush and forest on three sides, and a sheer rock face with a small creek running along its outer edge, that looked like a small mountain. I was also worried about wandering too far into the bushes after our earlier incident.

  ‘Don’t go too deep into the forest,’ I called.

  Neither Dog nor Pony would leave my side, and I wasn’t complaining. The girls had parked the bike in some thick brush. It couldn’t be seen by someone who didn’t know it was there, but was still easy for us to get to in a hurry.

  ‘Hey,’ I called, but no-one seemed to hear me.

  I started to get worried about them, but after another few minutes of calling, someone finally responded. I heard each of them yell “What”!

  ‘Seeing as we’re scouring the bush, let’s keep an eye out for Kaz. I’m worried the creature who attacked me, may have taken her.’

  The word “Okay” echoed around the Point.

  ‘Let’s go this way,’ I said to Pony, who was still holding my hand. I could hear Dog pant as he trotted along by my side.

  We walked a little way into the bush towards the creek bed. I have to admit the thought of all that fresh water was very appealing, but we didn’t go that far in. I heard another car or two leave the park, and as they left, there lights briefly lit up the path we were on. That’s when I saw there was another path to the right of us. It looked like it swerved around to edge the creek. I couldn’t see what was down it, and seriously thought about finding out.

  ‘I wonder where that goes?’ I asked, and tried to pull Pony down the short gravelly track, thinking more about the water, than where it led.

  ‘Not like. Doe bac now. Fwends hep Jo,’ she said and began pulling on my hand. Dog took hold of the leg of my jeans and tugged on it. Eventually, I gave in to their superior numbers.