Sanguine

by Carolyn Denman

  ‘Back again, are you?’ The voice was deep and rough, but held none of the tension he’d heard in so many others. It was the white-haired man, Andrew. Dallmin rose and hugged him and the man smiled and patted him twice on the back.

  ‘Are you hungry, Dallmin? I’m on my way back to the house to get some lunch. Come and I’ll find you something.’

  The little spoons were getting easier, he decided a few minutes later as he swallowed the hot soup. Andrew was happier when he used them. Dallmin finished the bowl and served everyone some more.

  Both Andrew and his life-partner Penny thanked him. He had met them not long after the thrilling car travel experience. The man riding the car had introduced them. He told them he’d found Dallmin standing in the middle of something called the Wimmera Highway and had said that he was worried for his safety. Penny had shown him where to sleep. She’d also taught him a few things about how to stay clean without having to find a river, which was good because the water that ran near the town was very cold. Talking to her was easy because she was better attuned to his wants than most others, so in turn he was able to read her better.

  Right now she was studying him through the little windows she wore on her face. They made her eyes look larger. Maybe it was one of those weird things people here did to look more pleasing to each other—more attractive, Annie had said. Big eyes like a child.

  ‘So, Dallmin,’ Penny said. ‘It’s been a week since you came here. Are you able to tell us anything else about where you came from? We’d like to help you to get home if you’ll let us.’

  He shook his head. He didn’t want to go home yet. ‘I’d like to fly,’ he explained again, wondering if there was something in the language he was missing.

  Penny sighed.

  ‘Can you at least tell us something about your family?’ Andrew asked. ‘Maybe we can contact them.’

  ‘My father moved across long ago. He had a wonderful party. We sang for many days. My mother lives far away, across the sea.’

  ‘Oh … Is there any way we can reach her?’

  Dallmin thought about it. He was certain Annie wouldn’t be comfortable with them coming through the cave. She never liked people to go there, and she’d told him that the people here were not supposed to eat the Fruit. ‘You would have to ask the Sentinels about that.’

  The man and his life-partner looked at each other, and Penny gave that twitch with her right shoulder and eyebrow that meant she didn’t entirely understand but didn’t need to. They kept eating for a minute, and then Andrew asked, ‘Dallmin, why do you want to fly?’

  What sort of a question was that? Couldn’t Andrew imagine how much fun it would be to fly?

  ‘I am curious to see what the birds see. To go up and not have to come down.’

  A frown formed on the minister’s face that reminded him of Annie.

  Dallmin knew that one. ‘Do you have two wants?’

  ‘I don’t understand. What do you mean?’

  ‘You are making your not-happy face. Is it because you have two wants?’

  ‘Are you asking me what I want?’ Andrew asked, wiping up the remains of his soup with some bread.

  ‘Sometimes we do not do what we want to do, and it makes us … not-happy,’ he said, feeling a bit astounded at having to explain that to someone fully grown. ‘I have been told that there is a taint here that can make people do what they don’t want to do, but I don’t understand why.’

  ‘Have you been reading Romans?’ the man asked, looking bewildered.

  Dallmin looked back at him, confused, and then twitched his right shoulder.

  ‘Never mind. What I want is to find where you belong, so I can help you.’

  ‘I want what you want. May your will be done,’ Dallmin replied earnestly.

  The minister looked at him with wide eyes, his shoulders suddenly stiff. ‘Are you mocking me?’

  Dallmin put down his spoon. ‘I don’t know that word. I’m still new at English. I mean that I want whatever you want. The same way you want what the Creator wants. I have heard you speak to Him, and that is the way you say it.’

  Andrew sat back in his chair. The clock on the wall ticked many times before anyone spoke again, and then Penny frowned at her partner.

  ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere, Andrew. He needs more help than we can give him. Surely there’s someone around here who knows who he is?’

  ‘Only Noah,’ Dallmin said.

  Andrew’s shoulders stiffened even more than before. ‘Noah? You really are trying to mock us—’

  ‘No, I don’t think he is,’ Penny interrupted, laying a hand on his wrist. ‘Maybe he means the Noah who volunteers at the Indigenous youth centre.’

  Andrew glanced at her, then back at him, and smiled. ‘I probably should have thought of that before. I’ll call them first thing on Monday.’

  Chapter 21

  After two days of enthusiastic yet fruitless activity, I was starting to feel like our search for Dallmin was just a naive attempt to assuage my guilty conscience. We’d called hospitals, shelters, police stations, and even hang-gliding centres. We’d driven to all the nearby towns asking random people on the street whether they had seen a man with long dark hair and dark skin who may have been acting strangely. On Tuesday morning we even resorted to driving around some of the bush tracks, but even if he’d been hiding out there somewhere we wouldn’t have seen any signs of him. Tim got to know the area really well.

  Our next plan was to follow up on a lead from the local paper. The crime watch section mentioned a man who’d been seen climbing on the roof of a gazebo in the botanic gardens in Horsham, offering to assist passing children to do the same. We were still arguing about whether Noah should go with Aunt Lily to see the business banker about our overdraft, or come with us to Horsham, when the phone rang. Tessa answered and waved for us to all shut up. Some sign language didn’t need to be taught.

  ‘It’s for you,’ she said, handing the phone over to Noah. ‘The youth centre.’

  We all stayed quiet, and I watched Noah’s face.

  ‘Yes, that’s me,’ he said to the person on the other end of the line. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the planning meeting the other day …’

  Another pause.

  ‘I do, yes. Is he okay?’

  He turned to me with a smile I knew well. Smug, and a bit relieved, like we’d just escaped getting in trouble for something. ‘We’re on our way.’

  Tim had the keys to the hire car in his hand before Noah had even hung up. Bane followed him out while Noah gave Tess a quick kiss and started to follow, until I grabbed his wrist.

  ‘Planning meeting? You volunteer?’ I asked.

  Noah wasn’t one to blush, but he did now. He opened his mouth to answer and then seemed to forget how to talk, so I turned to Tess instead.

  ‘At the youth centre in Horsham,’ she said. ‘Mentoring.’

  Mentoring? I looked at Noah again.

  ‘Look, they call it mentoring,’ he said. ‘But really I just teach the local kids how to fix stuff and get to know them. You know, give them someone to talk to if they want.’

  I sat down. He was someone’s mentor. For some reason the idea shocked me even more than when I’d found out he was a Cherub.

  ‘Get Bane back in here,’ Noah said with a grin. ‘She’s about to have a coronary.’

  I searched through my hazy memories. ‘Noah, you used to chase me around with the gas knife we used for docking lamb tails. How can you be a mentor to someone? Didn’t anyone tell them who you are?’ I asked.

  ‘Of course not. We can’t tell anyone about any of my true heritage.’

  It was a joking response, with a punch. Noah was a Cherub. He was also Harry’s son. He had profound and secret connections to both spirit and country. And I thought I had identity issues. Tessa slipped her hand in
to his, as if she was thinking the same thing.

  Noah tucked a pale strand of his fringe back behind his ear. ‘You once told me that most of the local mob had moved out of the area—it’s not true. There are more people here than you think, and they’re deeply dedicated to this land and each other, and apparently my … father … did a lot more work in the community than we realised. He just did it all very quietly and without fuss, but he was needed.’

  ‘He still is,’ I grumbled. ‘Why did he have to go? I wanted him to stay.’

  No one had an answer for me, and I felt uncomfortable thinking about Harry’s last days, so without another word I turned and headed out to the car to hunt down Dallmin.

  The trip to Horsham was long enough that by the time we arrived, Dallmin had left. Apparently the youth centre staff weren’t able to convince him to wait around, and he’d gone out to ‘find some food to share’. Unfortunately they hadn’t taken any notice of which way he’d headed, so we decided to split up. Noah took Tim with him to search the shopping plaza while Bane and I went the opposite way towards the river. We were cutting through a playground when a police car passed us, heading in the same direction. Somehow Bane managed to send a text to Noah while we were running after it.

  ‘How do you know this has anything to do with Dallmin?’ I asked, gathering myself to leap over the playground fence. If I wasn’t so worried for my friend, it would have been fun—like one of the racing games I’d been playing just days ago in the Garden.

  ‘Why else would the police come through here? The meanest thing that happens in these streets …’ he paused to jump the fence, ‘is when the neighbours dob on you for watering your veggie patch after ten am.’

  Good point. I ran faster.

  We found Dallmin climbing a power pole and being told off by an understandably nervous old lady for it. The police officer was also getting a serve from her for taking so long to arrive. He was trying to pacify her, using that firm professional tone that worked on drunk footballers, but apparently did nothing for the president of the Neighbourhood Watch committee. Dallmin was hanging upside-down below the first horizontal strut with his leg hooked around a climbing peg. It didn’t look very comfortable and yet he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move.

  ‘Dallmin!’ I called as I ran to cross the road to where he was. Bane barely caught me in time as a ute swerved past, blaring its horn. I put my hands over my ears and bit my lower lip. Was this why Cherubim needed Guardians? Would I ever be able to function normally here again? I took his hand in silent apology and he led me across.

  ‘What are you doing up there?’

  ‘You know him?’ the officer asked me.

  ‘Yeah. He’s a friend.’

  ‘Lainie! You are here too, excellent. I’m looking for something to eat, to share with the new friends I met this morning. I can see a tree with red fruit just over the other side of that shelter. This place is really strange. Is this where you came from?’

  ‘Sort of. Why don’t you come down?’

  ‘The man in blue doesn’t want me to move any of my muscles. I think he’s set me a challenge to see how long I can stay still for.’

  That made Bane laugh, and the old lady scowled at him.

  ‘Could you please ask him to come down now?’ I said to the policeman. ‘Tell him he did well.’

  ‘Well?’ the lady screeched. She was so animated that my Guardian stepped in front of me and grew about an inch.

  The officer sighed. ‘A bit slow, is he?’

  Slow? Not the term I would use for someone who could reverse engineer model gliders from all natural materials.

  Dallmin did what the officer told him, swinging down with a graceful tuck-roll and handing the old lady a wild daisy he collected on the way. Then he rubbed his cheek against mine and hugged me.

  I have been looking for you, I told him. Annie wants you to come home.

  He smiled at me, looking kind, and patient, as if I was the one who was a bit slow on the uptake. I know. I will return to Eden once I have flown. Can you help me?

  My shoulders slumped. I knew this would happen. How was I supposed to cross his will and still keep him innocent? He wouldn’t understand any form of disagreement. I had to avoid exposing him to conflict as much as possible, if it wasn’t already too late.

  ‘Does he have any idea how dangerous that was?’ the woman asked before I could decide how to answer him. She was so close I could smell her lavender soap and pumpkin soup breath.

  ‘No, he … I’ll keep him out of trouble,’ I promised, signing to Dallmin just in time to stop him from kissing the policeman. ‘I’m sorry, Officer. I’ll take him home now.’

  The policeman took down my name and number and told me to keep an eye on him until he sobered up. By the time he left, there was a crowd of locals peering at us. At least three dogs had been hastily summoned for an extra walk as an excuse to see what the fuss was about.

  ‘Time to go,’ Bane suggested, turning back towards the playground. A few of the onlookers began to mumble between themselves. One of the women hissed and gave Dallmin such an icy stare that he stopped in confusion.

  ‘That’s him,’ said the middle-aged woman dressed in jeans with dress boots over the top. Her jumper had flowers on it. ‘He ate my nasturtiums. From my backyard. Then he walked straight into my house and said he was looking for money. I told you I would call the police if I ever saw you again, mate!’

  O-Oh spaghetti-oh.

  A teenage girl spoke up too. ‘I think that’s the guy who was at the playground the other day. He peed against the drinking fountain. Right in front of all the kids. We can’t have men exposing themselves like that …’

  ‘Sorry,’ I called out. ‘It won’t happen again, I’ll—’

  ‘Someone tried to take my Corolla for a spin the other day,’ a man said. ‘Didn’t get very far, but left the engine running and the driver’s door open. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?’

  Somehow we had gathered a decent crowd. Where had they all come from? Weren’t they supposed to all be at work or something? Our path was somewhat blocked by them so Bane led us the other way. When we rounded the next corner we found ourselves on a street full of shops and offices, which explained things a bit because there were a lot more people.

  A bald guy with a beard and high-vis shirt stepped out from his ute and planted himself right in front of us with his arms crossed. ‘I recognise you,’ he said to Dallmin. ‘See this?’ He pointed to a large dent in the roof of his cab. ‘This is what happens when you jump from the roof of Bunnings on to someone’s car. You’re not going anywhere, mate. Not until you pay for this.’

  ‘I have no money,’ Dallmin replied so smoothly that I got the impression it was a phrase he’d been using often.

  ‘Then I want your name, address and phone number so I can press charges.’

  ‘My name is Dallmin. I don’t have an address or phonummer.’

  ‘Then you and I are going straight to the police station right now—’

  ‘Officer Harrison just spoke to him,’ the flower-jumper woman interjected. ‘And let him go. I don’t think they can be bothered with his type.’

  ‘So where does that leave me? Who’s going to pay for—’

  Another shout came from across the road. ‘Hey, mate, I thought I told you to stay away from here! You come near my little girl again and I swear I’ll tear off your—’

  ‘No!’ I shouted, desperate to prevent Dallmin from hearing words that would change his world view forever.

  ‘He’s been warned! Repeatedly. Is he too stupid to get the message? He’s a bloody addict who’s melted all his brain cells. He needs some sense knocked into him.’ The man was striding towards us, loosening his tie and pushing up the sleeves of his business shirt.

  It was like I was watching it all happen to someone else. What
weird game were these people playing? Real people didn’t actually get violent, did they? Only on TV. Or in the US. It was scary. My first instinct was to try to explain that with all Dallmin’s death-plunges, if he didn’t have sense knocked into him by now, he never would. Of course, the words tangled themselves in my throat and came out as a sort of gargled laugh, which didn’t work to our advantage. A swift movement flickered in the corner of my eye, and somehow Bane had the man’s arm twisted behind his back.

  ‘No! Please, Bane. Dallmin won’t understand this game.’

  ‘I know. That’s why I need to—’

  ‘That’s not what I mean. He can’t witness this!’

  Bane’s shove sent the man stumbling so Dallmin moved to steady him, but I blocked his path, feeling protective and totally freaked out at the same time.

  Are we dancing now? he asked me. It was the only interpretation of Bane’s actions that he had, although even he seemed to realise that it didn’t really fit the situation. ‘A dancing sort of game?’ He looked around at the crowd. ‘I have a song that you all might like,’ he announced when I couldn’t think of a way to reply.

  The business man lunged for Dallmin again, and once again Bane shoved him back. Before the man could recover his footing, the bald tradie yelled and aimed a swing at Bane’s head. He was no match for Guardian reflexes. Bane ducked and then dodged to the side, but stayed close enough that both his opponents had to keep all their attention on him rather than come for Dallmin again.

  ‘I moved my family out of Sydney to get away from bludgers like you,’ the woman accused us. ‘Is it too much to ask to want to raise my kids in a neighbourhood where they can still run around in bare feet and not risk stepping on your infected needles?’

  Bane dodged another hit, just as a new voice intruded.

  ‘Is it too much to expect people not to jump to conclusions about why someone might act differently to what you’re used to?’

  It was a voice that always got people’s attention. The sort of voice that you didn’t even need to see who it belonged to before trusting it. Noah sounded drop-dead gorgeous. Or like a rock star, or royalty. Even his out of tune humming used to have the girls at school reflexively checking that they didn’t have anything stuck in their teeth. He signed a quick Eden greeting to Dallmin, who gave him a crushing hug and kissed him on the cheek.