Sunlit Shadow Dance (47 page)

Again she came
out at a roadhouse, fed and washed again before she found another
empty cattle truck with a resting place on its top deck too. It did
not have the animal leavings of the first truck, it had been washed
clean and she found that without this smell she was less
comfortable. So, when a few hours later in the night, the truck
pulled up by the side of the road, for the driver to relieve
himself, she climbed out and watched it depart down an empty
road.

A short
distance down this road was a shed with a roof, an open side and a
rough timber seat. She climbed on this and slept until the daybreak
of her new life had begun. That day she was just and empty shell,
the spirits of Susan and Emily had left her, so she took the name
Jane, the name on her bag. Now a new spirit had created a new life
within, the old was gone and she was glad to be only Jane.

It was now
more than seven years on from the day of the ending of the first
Susan and Emily. Jane was what Vic called her again, both agreeing
that Susan and Emily had passed with the crocodile spirit. Each day
since Vic grew more handsome and told her she grew ever more
beautiful.

On this day,
together they sat in a restaurant at Watson’s Bay, enjoying the
autumn freshness of wind, sun and sky. The restaurant looked down
to the beach in the harbor where a small tribe of children played,
some of hers, some of them belonging to others.

In a circle
around the table sat her closest friends, there were Anne and
David, looking fondly at the children that they and others had
created, there was Sandy and Alan with their own brood, Beck and
Ross, Buck and Julie, and Jacob and Cathy. And of course, closest
forever was Vic.

All their
lives were good, no new tragedy had befallen any of them, their
children were well; they were well too. It was more than
enough.

Vic raised a
glass and said. “I propose a toast to a long departed friend of
mine, a man of two parts, good and bad, but still my friend despite
all.

“
Without this man we would never have met and so we would not
be here today and this gladness we share would never have come to
be. I still miss him after all this time, a man who lived at the
far edge of danger.

“
He would enjoy us sitting here, good friends enjoying life’s
good things. But, even if he was here with us today, his spirit
would be forever looking out for a new horizon, a place lit by
sunshine but where the shadows gather.

“
Let’s drink to my friend Mark B; may his restless crocodile
spirit know peace in that dreamtime place where sunlit shadows
dance forever.”

All raised
their glasses – “To Mark!”