by Eliza Quancy
‘Give us a kiss, sis,’ he says.
I put down my bilum and look at him, then I point.
‘Look at the bird over there.’
He looks at the ground under the tree and sees the bird that I am pointing to. The bird is hopping about on the ground. The bird stops. Cocks his head. Looks at us.
Kandin seems uncertain but he looks at the bird before turning back to me.
‘No, keep looking.’
He turns back to look at the bird and we watch while the bird hops, stops then flies away.
‘Look at the bird, the other bird.’
‘The bird has flown. What should I see?’
I smile and pick up my bilum while he pulls a face.
‘You’ve got older, Auli.’
‘We can go now,’ I say and he shrugs, smiles and sets off down the track.
I have a choice. I follow.
I choose to go.
Life is not clear, but it’s a lovely day and a little tune rises up inside me.
THE END
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks to all my beta readers especially to Michael Kerrigan, Jill Tennison, Pat Eva Berger, Chandra Masoliver and Zoltan Patai-Szabo.
I am grateful to Caroline Timus, John Evans and all my dear friends in Papua New Guinea.
For inspiration from Melbourne, I thank my family in Australia.
For unfailing encouragement and technical help, I am grateful to Francis Booth.
For never ending patience, good humour and helpful comments I would like to thank Paul Way-Rider.
Want to read more?
Novels by Eliza Quancy
The Child and the Dog series
The Big Happiness (book 1)
Good Girls are Quiet (book 2)
The Black Crow series
The Saulie Bird
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