“Except for the occasional one inspired by the biology teacher… Jack!” Jalli was staring across the lawn.
“What?”
“A gate! It’s just this minute appeared. A white gate in the hedge where I used to pass through to Wanulka.”
“It’s the reminiscing. You’re imagining it.”
“Jack, I know a white gate when I see one!” she declared in English.
Jack scanned his brain and then nodded.
“Got it. I was feeling so lazy here! When are the rest due to come home?”
“Nan’s with Ada. Kakko is with Tam so God knows when she will be back. Shaun is playing away isn’t he? So he and Bandi will be really late.”
“So do we wait for them? Are there any things?”
“No… I mean, yes…” Jalli went over to the hedge. She called back, “Two sun hats with, what’s this, a wallet with what looks like money. The writing on the bank-notes is Wanulkan! They are different from what I remember but it says, ‘Bank of Wanulka’. Wanulka! Jack we’re invited into Wanulka. We’re off to Wanulka! Jack, we’re going to my home city!” Jalli bounced up and down with excitement. She was seventeen again. “We’re actually going back, right now!”
“I’m so pleased for you to be going back. The place you grow up stays with you deep down. Especially if you were happy there for most of the time.”
“I was happy. Grandma made sure of that. It’ll be strange without her though… the notes have changed design but it definitely says, ‘Bank of Wanulka’ in Wanulkan… and we’re rich. There’s three hundred Wanulkan units. I’ve never had so much cash.”
“Inflation. You haven’t been there for over twenty years.”
“Guess so.”
“There are only two hats?”
“One for you and one for me. The others are not meant to come, then. Mine is lovely. It’s Wanulkan ibon straw,” Jalli smelled it, “and it has a broad brim with a pale blue ribbon.”
“Sure that’s not mine?” teased Jack coming over to her.
“No. Yours is a smart fabric hat. Worthy of a dapper man.” She put it on his head. “Thank you my kind sir, I would be honoured to have you walk me through the Municipal Gardens.” She did a little jig. “I wonder, perhaps we can go and find Mr Bandi.”
“Maybe. It’ll depend on what the Creator has lined up for us of course… better leave a note for the others.”
Jalli fell silent.
“Jalli, what’s wrong?”
“The last note anyone left in the cot-tage was from your mum saying Grandma had been taken to hospital… I’ll miss her especially in Wanulka.”
“Of course. But remember Grandma is happy. She is with all those you don’t remember meeting even if you did meet them when you were little. People she had missed for forty years…”
“Yes, you’re right. With or without Grandma I can’t wait to go to Wanulka.”
“I tell you what. We’ll pin the note to the door so it doesn’t look the same. We won’t put it on the kitchen table.”
“Good idea… Jack, I’m quite excited.”
“I love you, my beautiful wife.” Jack caught her up in his arms and kissed her passionately. It was the most passionate embrace they had shared since Momori’s death. Jalli responded to Jack’s lips, her arms around his waist and clutching her new hat with its blue ribbons.
“I’m going to put on my Jallaxa T-shirt!” she exclaimed. “I feel young again. And it will go perfectly with this hat ribbon.”
Jalli decided against a handbag. Instead she put a few things into a beach bag. She elected to wear a pair of shorts she had not looked at for years but which she had often worn with the T-shirt.
They stepped through the gate and out onto the street exactly where Jalli had originally found her way into Woodglade for the first time. There was the bus-stop where Jack had seen her onto the bus when she was struggling to walk.
“Let’s go into the park,” said Jalli.
They walked down the outside of the wall and in through the main gates of the Municipal Gardens. The suns shone more strongly than on Joh. All three of them were above the horizon, Jallaxa high in the sky. Their new hats were not just fashion items. At that moment Jalli did not feel old enough to have an eighteen year old daughter! To her amazement (and delight) she was aware that men were giving her a second glance. She was turning heads like she did when she walked through the park as a seventeen-year-old. She had despised them then. But now, with Jack’s hand in hers, walking among the sweet-smelling flower-beds she quite liked people looking at her – she still despised them though!
They traced their way up the slight incline that led deeper into the park. Jalli was half-consciously heading towards the far gate that led to the Wanulkan high school.
“Where are we now?” asked Jack.
“In the middle of the park.”
“You’re walking as if we’re going somewhere.”
“Am I? This is the way to Wanulka High School. I used to walk this way every day.”
“Are we going to see Mr Bandi?”
“I guess that’s what I want to do.”
“Fine. But he’s probably not there. Is the school in session?”
“I don’t know. We’ll find out.”
As they got near the far gate Jalli stopped. Something had caused her to exhale sharply.
Jack squeezed her hand. “What is it?”
“School kids. At least the uniform has not changed much. Took me back.”
Jalli led Jack through the school gates and up to the main doors. She pressed a button and a door lock clicked. Pushing the door they found themselves in a small lobby in front of a receptionist’s desk.
“This has changed,” said Jalli. “Never used to be a reception here.”
The woman behind the desk looked up. “Can I help you?”
Jalli stammered in Wanulkan. She hadn’t spoken it to any Wanulkan except Grandma for so long it seemed odd. “I’m… Is Mr. Bandi in?”
“Mr. Bandi. The biology teacher?”
“Yes.”
“No. Sorry. Mr. Bandi retired last year. Are you an ex-pupil?”
“Yes. I’m… we’re in Wanulka just for a short time and I was wondering where I might find him.”
“Well, you could try Parmanda Park. When he retired he went to work there part-time. He loves his insects. Do you know how to get there?”
“Yes… yes, we… we do.”
“You could take the new bus. It goes by the park. The bus-stop is right outside. If you go now you might just get the bus before the students come out. Being on the bus with them is rather crowded.”
“Yes, I remember,” smiled Jalli, recalling when she was a school-girl. They all used to get packed into the bus so tightly that the other passengers were squashed and sat on.
Outside the school Jack turned to his wife. “Parmanda Park. Are we going to Parmanda Park? Do you really want to go there?”
“Perhaps that’s why we’re here, Jack.”
“What. To go to Parmanda Park?!”
“I think… I think it will help. Jack I do really want to go to Parmanda Park!”
“Right. We go to Parmanda Park. Where’s this bus-stop?”
“Jack, I wasn’t thinking. You don’t have to go. We don’t have to go. Not if you don’t want to. What happened there was worse for you than for me.”
“Let’s not go into all that again. You know I don’t agree with that. All I care is that you are comfortable. If you want to go, we’ll go. But I’m not leaving your side this time – not for a minute!”
They didn’t have to wait long for a bus. Jalli felt odd getting on a bus in such a familiar place and yet having no idea how much the fare would be. Jack had warned her about inflation but it did not stop her from having to apologise for offering the driver a note that did not cover half the cost for two single tickets.
“I could have travelled all week for that when I was at this school,” she murmured to Jack as they made th
eir way down the bus. “Do you think they’ve had a financial crisis?”
“Probably not. Just a small percentage adds up over twenty years. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is the ratio of income to prices.”
“Right, I’ll remember that Mr Economist,” said Jalli with a mocking tone. “It doesn’t stop things sounding expensive all the same.”
“You’re showing your age,” laughed Jack, “but,” he added, “I guess you don’t look it!”
“Stop teasing! If you really want to know, I feel quite young today.” Jack pulled her towards him on the seat.
“Are you sure about this? Parmanda Park, and everything?”
“Yes I am. Actually, I am really ready to go there. I think that perhaps now is the time to face the memories. I can’t say I’m not nervous, but I really think I can deal with this now. How about you?”
“I’m fine about it. You know I can’t remember too much about the bad bits. The last thing I remember seeing is the parmandas’ dance. You called out and the rest is a blank. So hang on to me and don’t let me go…”
“I promise I will keep hold of you… all the time.”
The bus went through districts of Wanulka that simply hadn’t existed when Jalli was last around. New estates of brick houses and bungalows had sprung up all along the route to Parmanda Park, but the park itself was still quite unspoiled and unchanged. They got off the bus opposite the entrance and Jalli led Jack through the wrought iron gates that had stood there for over a century. They crossed the car park to the Visitors’ Centre through which people had to pass to enter the park itself.
Inside Jalli spotted a notice and read the admission charges. She resisted the temptation to remark on how high they seemed to be. Season tickets, she noted, were only three times the cost of a single visit and life members were free. They were directed through a series of channels where people were showing passes, cards or proffering cash. Jalli counted out two adult single entries and asked the man for two tickets.
“ID,” he demanded.
“ID?” repeated Jalli.
“Identity card, or driving licence. Guess you’re too old for a student card?”
“Sorry,” said Jalli, “we don’t have them with us. They never used to demand ID cards. It’s been some years since we were last here.”
“Well, it’s a really long time then. Years ago we had a man damage a hive and then get killed. We have to protect the parmandas and people. But that must have been, what, over twenty years ago. You must have been only a kid then.”
“I was seventeen then… when we last came. That was twenty-two years ago.” The man did his mental arithmetic and then looked at Jalli again in her bright T-shirt and shorts. She clearly looked after herself.
“The one who broke the hives,” asked Jack, “Is that the one that attacked a girl too?”
“Now you mention it, I believe it was. Clobbered her boy-friend too. Then days later the bloke was killed by the parmandas. Never happened to anyone since but we have to be careful.”
“But he didn’t come through the entrance did he? The man who broke the hive. He came in round the back.”
“Might have done then. Not now he couldn’t. He would risk being fried on the electric fence… now if you don’t have ID you need to go over there and get your prints checked… next please.”
Jalli led Jack into a space away from the desk. “So, what are we going to do? If they take our finger-prints they’ll find out we don’t have identity cards.”
“Maybe. But we might still get in. The worse they can do is send us away. I’m sure they are not out to catch people without passes – it’s just about not letting the wrong people in.”
“You mean like what happened to me in your country on Planet Earth? No. Everyone here has an identity card automatically. I had a student card. If I had still been here it would have just become a standard ID card. I guess that hasn’t changed.”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If they don’t let us in we can always ask for Mr Bandi. So let’s try it.”
Jalli led Jack over to the desk indicated by the official. A young woman sat reading what looked like a novel. No-one else it seemed had forgotten their passes. But she looked up as Jalli addressed her.
“We’ve come without our ID and the man over there directed us here.”
“Press the fingers of your right hand on this plate,” she stated.
“Like this?” The woman nodded.
Jalli did as she was asked. “Now your thumb.”
“Perfect … oh, you’re a life member! You should have said. No charge then.” Jalli did her best to hold back the amazement she felt.
“Now you sir.” Jalli took Jack’s hand and directed him to the plate. Jack had never had Wanulkan ID. Clearly this devise was connected to some central computer and would show him up as unregistered.
“Confirmed,” said the girl. “Life membership. I’ll issue you with day passes. If you’ve lost the life membership passes then ring the number on the back and they’ll replace them.”
“Thank you,” said Jalli. “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find Mr Bandi.”
“Yes. He’s in today. He might be in the park with a group, but his office is through that door into the park and then turn left. It’s right next to the coffee shop. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” said Jack in his best Wanulkan. The woman didn’t seem to register his odd accent. She probably thought it went with his blindness. (Jack always said that being odd in one way meant they allowed him to be odd in everything else. It might be annoying, but if used to advantage, it was sometimes helpful!) The girl became engrossed in her book again as they took their day passes and continued through into the park. Mr Bandi’s office was easily identifiable. Apparently he was responsible for organising group bookings and tours. Jalli took Jack by the hand and pushed open the door. Then she saw him. He was older but hadn’t changed a lot in the essentials. He appeared to have altered much less than the city!
“Mr Bandi,” said Jalli timidly.
He looked up from his desk.
“Can I… it can’t be! Jallaxanya Rarga?” Jalli smiled. “My, you haven’t changed a bit! Wow, it’s so good to see you!” Coming from behind his desk he took her hand. It’s been so long! Where have you been? How are you? You look fantastic! And this is your boyfriend, er…”
“Jack.”
“Jack, yes, of course.”
“He’s my husband now. Has been for more than twenty years!”
“Never! Has it been that long?” Then turning to Jack he said with concern, “What about your eyes? Can you see at all?”
“Nothing at all. Quite useless,” said Jack lightly. “I have put the brain to other uses.”
“I’m sorry about that… they instituted a lot of security after you left… here in Parmanda Park, I mean. I have never quite forgiven myself…”
“Mr Bandi,” broke in Jack quickly. “We have decided the past is the past and there will be no regrets – and that includes you!”
“You are so sensible. You are right. So what brings you here now?”
“It’s just a short visit. But we wanted to see you. And come back here to this park.”
“Well you’ve found me and the park in the same place. Do you want me to take you round – unless you want to go off by yourselves of course?”
“No. We’d like having you with us,” said Jalli. “I have so much to catch up on.”
“Just give me five minutes. I’ll see you by that red post over there.” Mr Bandi pointed to a group of benches beyond a sturdy wooden route indicator.
“I’ll just go to the loo, Jack,” said Jalli.
“Will you be alright?” Jack looked concerned.
“Jack, I know I promised to not let go of you, but I didn’t think that would include taking you into the ladies! I’ll be OK. I’m sure it’s safe in there with all these people.” She led Jack to the entrance of the gents. “Excuse m
e,” she said to a kind looking elderly gentleman. “Can you conduct my husband into the toilets? He’s blind. All you need to do is direct him to the cubicle door.” She had done this many times.
Jalli was waiting for Jack as he emerged. They went over to the red post and were soon joined by Mr Bandi.
“I don’t have a group for a couple of hours so now is a good time!” he declared. “Which way do you want to go? The park hasn’t changed much.”
“Take us back to… where it happened. Can you do that?” asked Jalli.
“Of course… but…”
“I’m sure,” said Jalli in a firm voice.
***
They walked down through the hollow where Mr Bandi had been flattened by Jack the day before the attack.
“Do you remember Jack knocking you over here?” asked Jalli.
“Never forgotten it. Felt so foolish at the time.”
“I know where we are, then,” said Jack. “I can picture it.”
“It hasn’t changed much,” said Jalli. “And Maik Musula, do you remember him?”
“I do indeed. Strange man. He was banned from the park. But not long after you left – a couple of years I guess – he got married.”
“Married?”
“Yes. They have eight children. I’ve taught some of them.”
“Eight kids! His wife must like him then.”
“I guess she can’t get away from him!” smiled Mr. Bandi. “But, yes, they seem happy enough. He was always a one girl man, if I recall correctly.”
“She must have ‘interesting eyes’,” laughed Jalli. “What does she see in him, I wonder?”
“Some girls,” explained Mr Bandi, “seem to like their men utterly obsessed with them.”
“But not if they are insane!”
“Well, we’re all different. What constitutes insanity anyway? I’ve been told I am a bit insane at times.”
“You. You’re the most sensible and lovely teacher I ever had!”
“Yes. But, don’t forget you like biology too. You enjoy the creepy crawlies whereas some people can’t stand them. My wife has to be special. Not every woman will put up with dead insects in her bedroom.”
“Dead insects?” asked Jack.
“My specimens.”
Ultimate Justice Page 15
