He pulls a face at his mistake, and corrects himself.
‘Our eyes need the bright light. So do our hearts. We won’t be . . . We won’t be here forever. If they could make Hole-in-Sky once, they can do it again.’
Suzie Brooklyn nods.
‘We’ll make a Circle of Stones here to show where Landing Veekle stood,’ she says. ‘That way we’ll always remember the place and know to stay here. And we’ll hunt in forest round it and fish in the pools. And we’ll tell our children, and our children’s children, they must always stay here, and wait, and be patient, and one waking Earth will come.’
‘Yes, Gela, my dear,’ says John Brooklyn. ‘But don’t you worry. Earth will come, it really will. One waking they’ll come and take us home.’
One waking they’ll come and take us home.
Tom’s dick and Harry’s, there were tears all round the clearing.
14
Caroline Brooklyn
So that was another Any Virsry done. While everyone left Clearing to go and eat and sleep, I made sure Oldest were alright, and said thankyou to the group leaders: Liz, Flower, Candy, Susan, Tom, Mary, Julie, Bella. (There was something weird going on with Bella but that was for another waking.) A few of the older people in Family came over to say thankyou for my work, but most people just hurried away as quick as they could back to their group fires and their shelters. They’d had more than enough of me these last few wakings: me and the Laws and everything.
Well, I didn’t mind that. I’d had enough of them too, to be honest. I felt tired tired. The characters in the Show had to play a part for less than an hour, but I’d had to play a part for three whole wakings, and play it like it was really me. No giggling, no winking, no forgetting my words. Rest of Family had no idea how tiring that was, except maybe some of the group leaders, the really good ones I mean, the ones who understood there was more to it than just enjoying the feeling of being someone big. Not that I minded playing the part of Family Head, of course I didn’t. I’d played it so long that in a way it seemed more real than ordinary Caroline Brooklyn. After all, even to be an ordinary person you have to play parts. It’s just that you don’t have to stick to one; you can be a strong person one minute, and the next be weak. I liked the discipline of sticking to one thing. And I liked being the centre of things too, and that always kept me going when Any Virsry was happening, knowing that I was at the centre of it all, but afterwards the tiredness always hit me.
‘Yes, you go back to group, Tom,’ I told Tom Brooklyn. ‘I’ll be along shortly when Clearing has emptied out. That was a pretty good Show that Brooklyn group put on there. No boats dropped like last time, no one forgetting what they were supposed to say. I felt proud of you all.’
‘Shame Suzie didn’t put herself into being Angela a bit more. She was better in practice.’
‘Don’t worry, Tom, she did alright. You off now too, Mary? Good Any Virsry, I thought, though it’s left us with a lot of work to do. You going too, Susan? Sorry you didn’t get what you wanted about the London move, but I’ll make sure sure they do the work they promised to do to get you lot sorted out again.’
‘We said ten yards in Council meeting. Not twelve like Secret Ree wrote down.’
‘She was right there with us when she wrote it down, Susan. I’m sure she wouldn’t have made a mistake. But don’t worry, like I say, we’ll make sure London helps you get sorted. A few wakings and you’ll be fine.’
It was a hard hard job too, keeping Family together. There was always someone that wasn’t happy, always someone that needed soothing down. That was what that silly kid John Redlantern didn’t understand. Any fool can break a thing. In two minutes, you could take one of Jeffo’s boats out on Greatpool, knock the ends off it with a stone and let it sink, but building a new one took wakings and wakings, and keeping one going meant work every time it was used: greasing it, checking the skins are tight, making sure the glue isn’t getting wet or coming loose.
Of course sometimes you’ve got to make changes. Did the Redlantern boy really think he was the only one who’d even noticed that? Of course you have. We had to give London a bit more space, didn’t we? We had to change the fishing rules out on Greatpool. But what he didn’t understand was the work work work that goes into just keeping things going waking after waking after waking. Silly little slinker.
‘Yes, you head back to Batwing now, Flower. I’m going in just a minute myself. Good Any Virsry, I thought, though we’ll need to talk more about that Redlantern boy.’
He was still in Clearing, I noticed. All of Redlantern was filing out, but John Redlantern was standing there by himself, like he was another Family Head who had to wait, like me, for everyone else to go first. I thought of going to talk to him, or maybe of telling him to leave, but I reckoned that would just make him feel even more important than he already did. He’d go in his own time. I’d think about how to manage him when I’d had some sleep; how to manage him, and how to manage Redlantern group. I noticed that Bella had slipped off without even saying goodbye.
‘Think I’ll head off now, Caroline,’ said Liz Spiketree, ‘get back to group and make sure they’re all settled.’
‘Yes, you go, Liz. Thanks for your work in Council. I’ll follow you in just a minute.’
‘Okay if I put the barks away now?’ asked little Jane London.
‘Yes, go on, Jane. I’m done with them now. You go back to London and get some rest.’
Jane got on my nerves to tell the truth, with the way she kept correcting me and pointing to the bark all the time, and I was sure that she sometimes wrote down what she thought we ought to have said, and not what we actually said at all. Susan Blueside was right, it was ten yards Blueway that we said London could move, and not twelve like Jane wrote down. I’d need to speak to her about that. She could not be allowed to use her position as Secret Ree to help her own London group. One more problem for another waking.
‘I’m off, Caroline,’ said Tom Brooklyn. ‘See you back in group in a minute?’
‘Yes, I’ll be along soon.’
I looked up and saw that John Redlantern was still standing there. A couple of his friends had stopped to talk to him, but now they headed off and left him on his own again, stretching and scratching and looking round, like he was in no hurry at all.
I had a bad feeling. I always felt tired after an Any Virsry, and I always felt a bit sad too. (Like the people in Show feel sad, I suppose, when they have to stop being Michael Name-Giver or Tommy Schneider and have to go back to being themselves.) But I had a different feeling this time, like something new had crept into the world that wouldn’t ever go away again.
‘He’s only one silly newhair,’ I told myself. ‘Don’t fret about it. Just a silly newhair trying to get himself noticed. It’s not such a big thing. It just feels that way because I’m tired.’
A Starflower oldmum called Clare came over.
‘Good Any Virsry, Caroline, thanks. Can’t have been easy handling that cheeky Redlantern boy.’
She glared over at John. He had his back turned to me now, but he was still standing there.
‘Honestly,’ she said. ‘Newhairs these wakings! He does for one leopard, and he thinks he’s more important than Council and Family Head.’
‘I know, newhairs eh? But I suppose we were all young once.’
‘Well, we weren’t like him and his sort, that’s for sure. But anyway, thanks again, Caroline. I’m off back to make sure our whingy littles get settled down nice and quick.’
As she walked off, John glanced over towards me, then looked quickly away.
However much I told myself it was just because I was tired, I had a strong strong feeling that there was trouble stirring in Family that was different from any trouble we’d had before. And more than that, I felt it was something I’d been warned about. I just couldn’t think when.
And then suddenly I did remember. It was in the Secret Story.
The True Story we remembered at Any
Virsries was only part of what had been handed down to us from the beginning. There were some things that Angela told to just two of her daughters, Susie and Clare, the ones she thought most sensible and grown up, and told them to pass on only to girls that they knew they could trust. That first Clare was the one who started Brooklyn group, and she was my mum’s grandmother. Angela’s words came down from her, through my mum, to me.
And one of the secret things from Angela she told me – one of the many – was this.
‘Watch out for men who want to turn everything into a story that’s all about them. There will always be a few of them, and once one of them starts, another one of them will want to fight with him.’
My mother told me that Tommy Schneider, the father of all of us, was one of those men. And, out of the Three Companions, Dixon Thorleye was one too. ‘Dixon liked to think he did what Jesus told him,’ Angela said, ‘but Jesus always seemed to tell Dixon to do the one thing that would make him the hero of the story.’ That’s why Dixon couldn’t bear to just go back down to Earth when the President told him to, and nor could Tommy either. They had to take Defiant, and go charging off across Starry Swirl, like they knew better than whole Family of Earth.
Yes, I thought, John Redlantern was trouble in just that way. He might think he was worried about us not having enough food, or about Exit Falls getting blocked up, or whatever, but that wasn’t really what his shouting at Any Virsry was all about. What it was really about was him being the hero of the story, and no one else. I’d never had a challenge like that at Any Virsry before, never, but I could see now that, once John had started it, David Redlantern had picked it up. He was another of those men that Angela warned about. I’d need to watch him too. I’d need to find a way, somehow, of heading off this whole thing.
I sighed. Every Any Virsry brought me and Council a whole lot of new hard work but, Gela’s heart, this time it was going to be hard hard hard.
I looked across at John again. Thanks be to Mother Gela, he was finally moving. About time! Nearly everyone else had already left Clearing, and now he was going too, heading off by himself towards Stream’s Join.
I really hadn’t wanted to leave while he was still here, but now at last I felt I could go. Back to Brooklyn, and a bit of meat, and a long long sleep.
Next waking I’d have a no-work waking, and rest up, and Brooklyn group would look after me. And then, who knows, maybe things would seem more manageable again?
15
John Redlantern
I kept thinking about Michael naming everything, and the children shouting back to him what to say. I’d seen that same story acted out so many times, but now I couldn’t stop it going round and round inside my head. Whole Family was busting to leave the clearing, but I just stood there and stood there, trying to take it in, and trying to decide on what I’d do next.
First Oldest were led away to sleep in their shelters on the edge of London, all grey and wobbly and worn out. Then everyone else started to go, each group gathering together its littles and clawfeet and oldies and heading off back to their own fires and shelters. And, while the clearing was emptying, Council left, one by one, all except Caroline, with Secret Ree tucking her writing-barks under her arm and rushing off to hide them in a secret place she had somewhere that no one but Council was supposed to know about.
But I stayed where I was, and over in middle of Circle, Caroline stayed where she was as well, nodding and smiling to anyone that came up to her, or looked in her direction. Sometimes, when she wasn’t dealing with anyone else, she glanced over towards me, and I thought maybe she was going to speak to me about what I’d done, but when I caught her eye she quickly looked away. She tended not to deal with troublesome newhairs in Family – that was a job for group leaders – so I guessed she was just waiting for me to go.
Well, I’d go in my own good time. I had things to think about.
When Michael named the plants and the animals, did he hear us calling back to him? Was that possible? Because if he did, then I should be able to hear voices from our future too, voices calling back to me, telling me what I needed to do, because I’d had an idea. And it was a big idea, a big big idea. It was big like Dixon refusing to obey the President, big like Tommy and Angela lying down together to bring us all into the world. And if I went through with it, it would be a story like those stories that would be remembered, and talked about, not just for a period or two, but for generations and generations.
But what was it that those future people would call out to me when the story was acted out? That was what I was trying to figure out. Were they shouting ‘Go ahead! Do it! You’ll save us from starving and drowning!’ or were they telling me ‘No, you’ll ruin everything! You’ll lose us Earth forever!’?
The clearing emptied quickly. Everyone was anxious to get away from that cramped space between the trees and Circle of Stones. Some people wanted to eat, or to settle down their littles, but most just wanted to crawl under the bark roofs of their shelters and sleep. I wouldn’t have minded sleeping myself. I was so tired and felt so battered. And I was dreading dreading the things that might soon be coming my way if I stayed awake, really awake I mean, like I was awake when I stood and faced that leopard.
‘Hey John? What you doing?’ Gerry asked.
Little Jeff stood behind him, watching me with his big clever eyes, as if he already knew what was in my mind.
I looked round for David, but he had already gone. I guessed he thought I couldn’t do much harm now Any Virsry was over. That made me smile. There was a lot of harm I could still do.
‘Go on back,’ I said to them. ‘I might go see Tina for a bit. I’ll join you later.’
Then Tina herself came over.
‘Tom’s dick, John, you don’t let go, do you?’ she said, and laughed. It seemed she’d enjoyed my boldness earlier that waking. ‘Shall we go up Deep Pool for a bit before we sleep? Swim in the water. Clear our heads of all this?’
I nodded.
‘Good idea,’ I said, ‘but I’ve got something I need to do first, though. I’ll come to Deep Pool a bit later, if you’re willing to wait for me.’
‘What have you got to do?’
‘I’ll . . . I’ll tell you later.’
‘Does it involve Bella by any chance, or Martha London?’
‘No, no. Nothing like that. You’ll understand when I tell you.’
She examined me closely with her eyes narrowed. Then, reluctantly, she shrugged and nodded and headed off.
I noticed Caroline looking at me again. All of Council had gone, and nearly all of Family, but she was still standing there. I made a pretence of leaving myself, heading in the general direction of Stream’s Join, but walking slowly and letting people pass me. When there was no one left behind me, I doubled back to Circle Clearing.
Sure enough, Caroline had gone, and so had everyone else. There was no one there but me.
Nothing looks more lovely than something that’s about to end, and that’s true even if you yourself are going to be the cause of its ending.
That clearing was beautiful beautiful with the bright whitelanterns all round, extra bright and shiny as they were from being pruned for all those wombtimes since the beginning, and with shiny bright Main Stream running past one edge of it. But of course there were other pretty clearings in forest, and what made Circle Clearing special were the white stones in middle. They were what made it different from every single one of all the other gaps and openings in forest between Alps and Rockies, and between Blue Mountains and Peckham Hills. That white Circle gave it a mystery and a story. And they made it ours.
So I hesitated, feeling in the little pocket at the edge of my waistwrap for Angela’s ring, as if I thought she might help me decide what to do. But she was silent. All I heard was, far off in the future, voices calling back to me across time.
‘No, no, don’t do it!’ some of them were saying. ‘Angela said we must stay together by Circle, John. You know she did. She made Circle he
rself! Her and Tommy. They made it to show us where we must wait until Earth comes back for us at last!’
‘Do it, John, do it!’ other voices were saying. ‘Angela wanted us to make a life on Eden. If she hadn’t wanted that she’d never have stayed and never have laid down with Tommy.’
They couldn’t settle it for me. They were no use at all. I’d have to make up my own mind. My mouth was dry, my hands clammy with sweat, but I looked around one more time to make sure no one was watching, then walked over to one of the stones and picked it up.
No one had ever picked up one of those stones before, not that I’d heard of, not since they were first laid there by Tommy and Angela themselves. It was just a stone, cold to the touch like other stones, heavy like other stones, but I felt like the thing might burst into flames in my hand and sear off my skin. I feared it would shriek out loud, like a living creature, screaming for Oldest and Council and Family to come and save it. I even feared, a little tiny bit, that I would simply drop down dead.
But of course none of that happened. It was just a stone, wasn’t it? It wasn’t alive. It wasn’t even dead. It was just a stone. And once I’d taken it over to Main Stream and chucked it in, I couldn’t even tell it apart from the other stones that lay on the bottom there, lit by the shining weed. It was just another stone, and the fishes swam over it like they swam over the other stones, trailing their spindly boneless hands. So I went back for another, and then another. Then I took two at once, then another two. I’d gone completely numb by then. I wasn’t feeling anything. I wasn’t thinking about where this would lead to. I wasn’t noticing anything around me. It was like with the leopard. I was doing the job I’d set myself.
Then a voice called out to me, a real human voice, as I was halfway between the remains of Circle and the stream, and I felt like my heart had stopped in my body.
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