PART SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
One of the main sources of Shamanic power is power animals, also known as totem animals. To those very advanced shamans, power animals are their allies, including offering them protection. Shamans identify so closely with or connect with these power animals that they are able to take on their characteristics almost at will by means of shape-shifting. Every part of the human being belongs to a different animal. But when a shaman makes a totem animal a part of his or her body, that animal eventually becomes the whole human, and when one shape-shifts, it is the whole totem animal.
Kim's total animal was the eagle, and she was able to shape-shift at will. But she was able to shape-shift into other power animals as well, and could call on several different animals for help in different areas. Part of her training of woman was to teach them to utilize the power of the animals, much as she had been taught.
Kim's total animal was also represented by a power object which was placed on an altar or carried with her to give her power while doing a ritual—the carving of the eagle from the red gum tree. The eagle emblem was also emblazoned on her headdress.
* * * * * *
”Why is Jeff Bannister coming after you—trying to find you?" Shannon asked. That question was foremost in her mind.
"He has been offered a multi-million-dollar deal from a movie production company in the States to do my story. Pure greed. Can you imagine the media hype that would come of that? Especially in America . A white woman shaman among the Aborigines. And a lesbian, to boot. It would do irreparable damage to our cause. Not only that, but he was planning on including you in the movie, Shannon . But he underestimated you, didn't he?" Kim was smiling now.
"That sonofabitch!" Shannon said, explosively. " That's why he had Davie on my tail all the time! That's why he told Davie to keep an eye on me! That's why he didn't want anything to happen to me, because if it did, I couldn't lead him to you . That's why poor Davie was all upset. He couldn't keep tabs on me. Mr. Bannister wanted me to lead him to you , and if I did find you, Davie would be there to report on it, and that bastard would just step right in and take over.
"And here I've been taking all these photos to help him with his goddamn movie! Taking pictures of places where we had been years ago! He was probably going to use them to construct realistic movie sets back in the States. That sonofabitch!" she said again, fire in her eyes. She was running out of words to speak and sat there seething. She thought of one thing more to say, though. "He might even have made the movie here in Australia —on location! What a dirt bag!"
"I'm so sorry," Kim said. Her eyes were filled with sorrow as she looked at Shannon .
"It's not your fault, Kim," Shannon said sympathetically, softening her words. "Or should I say Kimboola ? Because that's really who you are now. You're not the Kim anymore that I used to know years ago. And I understand why you had to bring me back to Australia . It was the most effective way you could deal with Jeff Bannister. You knew what he was going to do before he ever approached me. And I know you wouldn't have stood for it." Shannon 's last words were not expecting an answer. "I don't blame you for anything that's happened. You know that, don't you?"
"You don't think I was using you, then?" Kim asked.
"God, no, Kim. I wouldn't have met Jo if I hadn't come back to Australia ," Shannon replied, grasping Jo's hand, smiling at her.
Kim nodded her head and smiled, too. " Shannon , Jeff Bannister almost succeeded in finding me this time. I should have given it more thought before calling you to come to The Grampians . Do you recall seeing a certain couple in tourist garb in Melbourne and also in Ararat? They were dressed in flamboyant shirts and broad-brimmed hats, with cameras.”
"Oh, God, I knew there was something about those two when I saw them in Ararat. They were eating breakfast the same time we were!" Shannon answered. "That same man and woman were close by when a couple of tourists pointed out the two Aborigines to us in Melbourne , too."
"Those two were hired by Mr. Bannister to follow you after he found that Davie was not reliable. As a kind of backup—an alternate plan, you might say. They've been watching you from the time all you women went to Melbourne up till you got to Halls Gap."
"But Kim, if they followed us to The Grampians , then they know that's where you are—where you go!" Jo said.
"Except that Mr. Bannister fired them because they lost sight of you two after they got to Halls Gap. As a matter of fact, Jeff Bannister and his crew are on their way up to the national park as we speak, to try and locate Shannon—and me. He figured if he wanted the job done right, he'd better do it himself. The movie outfit has given him a deadline. If he doesn't meet it, he's lost his shirt! And his hoped-for reputation. He's finished in this country, and probably in the States."
"But he won't find you there—or Shannon," Jo quipped, smiling.
" They don't know that, Jo. But I'm going to have to take care of the situation before it gets out of hand. There will be others. This has gone on far too long."
"What are you going to do?" Shannon asked.
"I'll take care of it, sweetheart," Kim replied. "Trust me."
"So how can we help?" Jo asked. "What can we do? In for a penny, in for a pound , she thought. They had finished their ice creams and were wiping their hands on their napkins.
"Let's go back over to the B&B and we'll discuss it," Kim said. "Dealing with Mr. Bannister is only part of the whole cookie. There's something else that needs to be done." They waited at the curb to cross the street, as the traffic was quite heavy.
"By the way," Jo asked while they were waiting, "How did you get that scar on your face?"
Kim looked at her and started laughing. "You are the curious one, aren't you?"
"It's the writer in me," Jo responded and laughed back.
"Well, we were out hunting 'roo one time, several years ago—about ten of us women. We had this one 'roo cornered, and someone threw a loop around its neck. I snuck up to throw another rope around it, and the damn thing back-kicked me. Got me right on the face with one of its hind feet. It could have killed me, but luckily it only busted my cheek wide open. Took thirty stitches! God, that hurt! We didn't have the proper surgical instruments out in the field and had to make do with what we had. I didn't want to bleed to death. So I was left with this scar. Handsome, don't you think? I wasn't able to chew for a while, but the other women sure enjoyed that 'roo meat!"
When the traffic cleared, they made their way over to The Lakes B&B and sat down at the oval table in the meeting room. Kim said, "Here's what I'd like you both to do—"
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
"Well, hello, you two," Rose said to Shannon and Jo. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it back for dinner." She walked over and gave them each a hug as they came into the kitchen via the washroom. "Did you have a good time—whatever it was you were doing?"
"It was fabulous, Rose!" Jo said. "But right now we're hungry. We haven't had anything to eat since we had breakfast in Ararat, except a pastry and an ice cream cone in Daylesford, so we're starving for some of your wonderful cooking."
"Oh, go on with you," Rose said, actually blushing. "Flattery will get you everywhere , as they say in America , don't they?"
Fred was sitting at the table, smiling broadly. "Did you hear the news," he said, "about Davie leaving after he told Mr. Bannister off?"
"Yes," Shannon said. "Rose told us. Wasn't that something? It's too bad Carly and Paige wanted to leave, too, but that was their choice. And as for Davie ? Good for him! I think he finally got his head on straight!"
Shannon didn't mention what Mr. Bannister's ulterior plans were. Better left unsaid. Rose and Fred didn't need to know about Kim—or Kimboola, either. As Kim had said, only the ones in their community knew about her, and Shannon and Jo were part of that community now.
Jo had asked Kim as they were leaving The Lakes B&B , "You keep speaking of a community . In the States, we speak of a community, too, as you probably know—the gay and lesbian community. Are you—?"
"Of course, my friend. All of us women are lesbians. Men have no part in our lives anymore. We don't form commitments with other women, though—no partnerships. But we are here for each other , at any time—including myself. For anything! " She looked piercingly at Jo. "I thought you could tell."
Then her eyes twinkled with humor as she smiled and added, "Wasn't your Gay-dar working?"
Jo remembered the women at The Fortress , and what she had felt among them as they stripped her down and painted her. Whoa, she thought. What a wonderful country, this Australia !
Jacky and Gerri, who had just gotten back from fishing with Fred shortly before Shannon and Jo returned from Daylesford, were setting up a croquet game in the back yard. They had stopped and watched as the two Americans had driven up and went inside the B&B . They finished laying out the wickets and came dashing into the house, begging the two women to play a game with them.
After much pleading, Jo and Shannon gave in. "But just till your nana has dinner ready," Jo said. Rose was already cooking, so she knew it wouldn't be long.
They had barely started to play when Suellen arrived back from Dandenong to pick her kids up. They couldn't stay for dinner, however. She had dropped Matt off at home when he received an emergency call when they were almost back in Clunes from a client whose water pipe had burst. He had to go and help them, and Sue said she needed to get home and cook dinner for him when he got home.
"But mum," Gerri said, pleadingly, "can't we just finish this game?" Suellen smiled and brought three-year-old Austin out of the car, thinking it might be interesting to watch the Americans play croquet. Much to everyone's surprise, Gerri got to the end stake long before Shannon and Jo were even halfway there! Gerri was beaming from ear to ear!
Shannon never let on that she hadn't played croquet since she was a kid. And Jo didn't want to confess to the fact that she had never played before.
* * * * * *
"Rita, I need your help," Kim said after Shannon and Jo had left. "I'd like you to find about a half dozen of women who live here in town who were with us up at The Grampians this weekend and who would go back up there with me. I know it's asking a lot, but I also know you are aware of the gravity of our situation, and that Mr. Jeff Bannister and others like him must never bother us again."
"Yes, I know what to do. You are wanting those with specific powers then? The shape-shifters?"
"Yes," Kim responded. Rita nodded her head and smiled.
* * * * * *
Shannon and Jo went to bed not long after dinner was over. It had been a long two days. They were lying in the dark, side by side, together in Shannon 's bed.
"Do you really love me, Shannon?" Jo asked. She had to know for sure.
"Of course I do, silly," Shannon said. "How could you ever think that I didn't?"
"I had my doubts about it, the way you were carrying on with Kim, and about how you'd never forgotten her and such."
"Kim explained to me what happened. Maybe I need to explain it to you. It would clear up a lot of those doubts."
"Please do. You know that I love you , don't you?"
"Yes." Shannon leaned over and gave her a lengthy and tender kiss. "And I love you with all of my heart."
She settled back down on her back and gathered Jo in close to lie on her shoulder.
"Do you remember Kim talking about what happened to her at that Aboriginal dance ceremony," she said, "about how an Aborigine pulled her down to the center of the circle and performed their magic—so to speak?"
"Yes," Jo replied. "That was fascinating."
"What she didn't mention was that afterwards, they brought me down to the center of the circle and sat me on the stump. An old Aborigine handed me a boomerang, and said some words in the Aboriginal language. Of course, I didn't understand. But there was another man there who translated for the old Aborigine. He said I was given a blessing with that boomerang. And the blessing went something like this: 'Whenever you send out your love, it will be returned to you in the same measure as when you throw this boomerang out and it returns to you.' And then someone started playing a didgeridoo. It was beautiful." She paused for a moment and then went on.
"I lived with that blessing all these years. And I would throw my love out there into the universe from time to time, missing Kim, and having nothing but the memory of our time together. Do you remember the picture of the boomerang?" Jo nodded her head in Shannon shoulder. "That actual boomerang is handing in my studio right now.
"So when I got that overwhelming urge to come back to Australia , even before I knew of this photo assignment that brought me here, I could hardly contain the excitement I felt. I knew I had to come. Kim explained to me that the power of her thoughts was drawing me back, because her love for me was still so strong, and she knew I could receive it because of the love I had had for her. But the love I was sending out like a boomerang was not for her. She could never return it, and she knew that.
"Then you came into my life, Jo. And that wasn't an accident. Kim knew about the blessing the old Aborigine had laid on the boomerang back at the Cultural Center . She said you were the one who was receiving the love that I had been throwing out. And then you started returning it, and you didn't know what was going on with me. And I really didn't understand what was going on with me, either, because it was so easy for me to love you because of your uncanny resemblance to my Kim of ten years ago."
"You mean all this time you're known that I looked like Kim did years ago, and you never told me?" Astonishment was in Jo's voice as she replied.
"It kept me on the path of trying to find her , because I knew she was here, and I thought it was her I was coming to. I needed your resemblance to get me through that. Does that make any sense to you?"
"Yeah, it's beginning to," Jo said. "You kept saying you needed me, and I never knew why. It really bothered me, Shannon."
"I know, sweetheart, and I couldn't explain that to you. You got in the way—so to speak—and I fell in love with you . Kim was counting on that. She told me I was only in love with the memory of her. Does that make sense now?"
"I still don't understand why you didn't tell me?"
"What good would that have done? It would probably have been a slap in the face."
"You're right," Jo responded. "I would have felt awful to think that you were using me to keep alive a memory of Kim. But then I couldn't help falling in love with you. And the love has been so strong. I've felt it coming from you, too, just as strong. But why didn't Tammi Sue and Joyce tell us that Kim was right next door when we were talking to them that day? We could have seen her right then." She was still looking for answers.
"I asked Kim about that. She said they knew that her identity had to be kept secret and that everything had to be brought before her first , and then she would make the decision of what to do with that information. They are really good friends. Kim knew that she had to leave to go to The Grampians to make preparations for the annual initiation ceremony, and that we would be coming there. She would see us then."
"That explains a lot," Jo said. "It explains more than a lot! Those women up there in The Grampians surely must have seen that I looked like Kim used to look. Is that why they drew me aside and painted me up and all that? They wanted to recreate another Kimboola?"
"Not exactly. Kim told me all of the women were quite taken with you. The ceremony they performed on you was kind of an ‘honorary' initiation ceremony, because you looked so much like her. But not because they wanted to have another leader! That's why they never painted me up. I didn't look like Kim! But Kim viewed it with dead seriousness, as it was important to the other women. And she saw it taking place with a little bit of amusement, too, at seeing your uncomfortableness. She didn't want to say anything to you, and said it was better that you heard it from me rather than from her."
"Yeah, it's better this way coming from you. God, Shannon, when you fell into her arms up there in The Grampians , I thought I was going to lose you. And then back in Daylesford today.... Shannon , I was literally going through hell, not knowing what I should do."
"You aren't mad then, because I didn't tell you at the beginning?" Shannon asked. "But you don't look even remotely like Kim now. Except for your muscular shoulders!" She playfully grabbed Jo by the shoulders.
"If I didn't love you so much, I think I would have been a little disturbed about that if you had told me earlier. But it doesn't really bother me now. I don't think I'll ever look like her when I get older. I really don't want a run-in with a kangaroo!"
Shannon thought how lucky she was. She loved Jo so much, and Jo loved her just as much. Returning the love she had sent out like a boomerang. Most people found true love only once in their lifetime. And here she had a second chance now. Twice in a lifetime."
They kissed deeply, and Shannon said, her breathing increasing, "Oh, yes, I said I was going to continue this later, didn't I?" Jo opened her arms wide and Shannon began to move over her hot and already quivering flesh. Two hours later, they fell asleep in each other's arms, exhausted.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
"Let's get going, men," Jeff Bannister said Sunday morning. "We have to get to The Grampians National Park today as soon as we can before our shaman spirits herself away again."
He was glad the bank agreed to loan him more money so he could purchase new photo lab equipment in Melbourne . Luckily, the Caravan was able to be fixed so he didn't have to buy another one. And it was just in time for him to seize this opportunity! He'd been unsuccessful in his quest twice in the past year, but now it was all coming to completion, and he could see the successful end in sight this time.
The shaman Kim seemed to elude him every time he thought he'd found where she was. This time he was sure where she was holed up, because so many ancient Aborigine sites were there. But enlisting Shannon Brooks' help, without her knowing what he was doing, was his prize ploy, as she had led him right to Kim now! He was certain it wouldn't be hard to find Kim when he found Shannon . And Shannon was turning out to be a bonus, also, as he now thought of her being in the movie, too! How could she refuse?
"We need to find out just where Ms. Brooks and Ms. Campbell went after they left their car behind the Tourist Office in Halls Gap," he told Sean, who was his lead man driving the Caravan. "Once we know that, it will be a simple matter of getting the information from Shannon on where Kim is, and approaching the shaman woman for the film offer. This is going to be a whopper of a film—an opportunity to do something no one else has ever done." He could barely hide the excitement in his voice.
They arrived in Halls Gap at dusk. Jeff Bannister had made sure they had all of the camera equipment they needed before they'd left Melbourne . And after they got Kim to agree to do the movie, he would talk to Ms. Brooks about her part in the movie. He envisioned the millions of dollars overflowing his bank account with this fantastic undertaking. He could get out of the photography business then and go full-steam-ahead with movies. He could make more money in movies than he ever could in photography!
He walked into the Tourist Office in Halls Gap and asked the lady behind the counter—Mabel—if she had seen a couple of women yesterday driving a little red sports car.
"Yeh, I did. Very personable young women."
Jeff turned on his most pleasing smile. "We were supposed to meet them yesterday. We've doing some nature filming, but we're a day late coming up from Melbourne . The two women are going to be in the film, and we're trying to locate them." He was sure he was making an impression on Mable, who looked at him anew when she heard the word film . A number of movie companies in the past had used Halls Gap as a background setting.
"Well, I have no idea where they are now, but I can show you where they went," she said agreeably. She took a map from one of the information racks and spread it out on the counter. "They were going up to this last trailhead drop-off to do some hiking. A park ranger left them there, and they probably stayed in this little camping area overnight." She pointed out the two areas on the map.
"Thank you so much," Jeff said, grabbing up the map at the same time and hurrying out the door. He got in his big blue luxury car and motioned for the Caravan to follow him.
Oh my, thought Mable. He didn't even let me finish what I was going to say. The girls came back down this morning and left Halls Gap. I hope that man doesn't try to go up on those 4WD roads with that car and that Caravan. They'll be in big trouble if they do.
"Hayden," Mabel said after dialing the ranger station. "There's a big car and a Caravan that's pretty low to the ground headed up to the last trailhead. They're never going to make it across those humps. I think you better go up there and try to head them off. The man who came in to the Tourist Office —evidently the boss—was looking for those two girls you took up there yesterday. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even wait for me to tell them the girls came back down this morning and left Halls Gap."
Well, I've done all I can do about it, she thought, hanging up the phone. Some people just never learn that driving through The Grampians isn't a picnic in the park. Especially when it's heading on toward dark like it is.
* * * * * *
Jeff Bannister was having a difficult time navigating some of the humps in the road, having to approach and take them sideways so he wouldn't bottom out. He had turned his headlights on with the approaching dusk and looked in his rearview mirror to see if the Caravan was still behind him. It was a little higher off the ground than his vehicle, but not by much.
He was watching the side of the road as he came near the edge of a drop-off and looked back up just in time to see a tall, muscular woman wearing a headdress and a red, flowing cape standing right in front of him. He slammed his foot on the brake.
All of a sudden, it wasn't a woman at all! An enormous Alaskan grizzly bear was rearing up on its hind legs right at his front bumper. It was easily eleven feet tall and twelve hundred pounds! It was of an incredible golden color and with its four-inch claws—dull white against the slightly darker fur of its belly—it looked like the epitome of a huge monster seeking revenge. Then as it spread its arms in the growing darkness and opened its gaping mouth and showed its bared teeth, it let out a ferocious roar that shook the hairs on his chest.
"Aaahhh," Jeff screamed, turning loose of the steering wheel and covering his wide eyes in horror. His foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator instead. The car shot ahead to the left and slid over the embankment, landing fifty feet down the hill—hitting a tree and lurching sideways where it rested on the passenger side of the car. Jeff hit his head on the steering wheel and sat there dazed for an instant, wondering what just happened. He could hear yelping and growling back up on the road. He reached up and felt a trickle of blood running down into his eye. Then he blacked out.
The Caravan had stopped when Sean saw his boss headed over the side of the steep embankment. He and the other men got out and started over to see where the car went off the road. They became aware of growling behind them and turned around to find themselves being approached by a pack of wild dingoes that seemed bent on making the three men their evening meal! They could see the dingoes' snarling, shining teeth in the growing dusk as they began to surround the frightened trio.
"Let's get out of here!" Sean yelled, backing away. The men turned tail and ran. As if to add insult to injury, Sean ducked as a wedge-tailed eagle swooped down on him. It was screaming and reached out with razor-sharp talons outstretched, narrowly missing his head. Sean jumped in the Caravan, where the other two men were hunkered down with the windows closed. He backed it up until he found a place where he could turn around and head back down to Halls Gap. He told the others with him, "I don't care who Mr. Bannister is looking for. I don't want any part of it with all these wild animals around."
They met Hayden on the way back down and told him that Jeff Bannister had gone off the road back behind them, and they were going for help. They said there was a pack of wild dingoes up there. The ranger looked at these wild-eyed and evidently frightened men strangely. He knew dingoes were not known to venture this far south, and he had never seen any in The Grampians ! The men hurriedly took off before Hayden could ask them any more questions.
After Hayden reached the spot Sean and his cohorts had indicated, he radioed for help, knowing it would be quicker for help getting up here than waiting for those tourists to pass the word on.
The EMTs arrived in less than 30 minutes and pulled Jeff Bannister out of his half-overturned vehicle. They were sure the man had suffered a concussion as well as a cut on the head. He woke up as they were lifting him back up to the road and began talking about seeing a woman who turned into a grizzly bear and caused him to go off the road. He was frightened to death and began yelling for them keep that monster bear away from him! He grabbed one man by the jacket. "Didn't you see it?" The rescuers just shook their heads. There were no grizzly bears in Australia .
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
"What time was Mr. Bannister expected to arrive here?" Shannon asked Rose as she and Jo joined her and Fred at the kitchen table the next morning.
" Davie just said sometime today. I don't know for sure, but I don't think he would get here till afternoon," Rose replied. "Are you still going to be taking pictures of small towns—even though Davie isn't around?"
"I don't think so, Rose. Things have surfaced about Mr. Bannister not being on the up-and-up concerning this assignment. I don't want to renege on our deal, but neither can I work for a man who has ulterior motives and is just out to make money any way he can."
"But isn't that what he's planning to do with the photos of small towns?" Fred asked. "Make money?"
"It's more than that, Fred," Shannon replied, "and really doesn't have anything much to do with the assignment that I accepted. He was not truthful with me."
"I always knew that man was up to no good," Fred said. "I could feel it in me bones."
"I told you something was rotten in Denmark !" Rose said affirming. She and Fred prided themselves in not interfering in the private affairs of the people who stayed at the Willowbranch B&B . But Jo was her friend, and so was Shannon now, and they were both dying to know what was going on. But they wouldn't ask. Rose, especially, could only hope Shannon would tell them what happened.
"I need to phone my assistant back in the States and let her know I'll be home sooner than I expected," Shannon said. "Then I want to go say good-bye to Suellen. So I think Jo and I will go down to The Bakery and have a cup of coffee with her. She's a real neat lady, Rose."
"I know. We're lucky to have her as a daughter-in-law," Rose responded. "You can use our house phone, if you'd like, to make your call. I won't charge you."
"Thank you, Rose," Shannon said.
"You'll be coming back up here then, Shannon, after you say good-bye to Suellen," Rose asked, "to pick up your things and go back to Melbourne ?"
"Yes. But I want to wait for Mr. Bannister to show up, as I really want to talk to him," Shannon said.
What was really running through Shannon 's mind, though, at the present time, was whether or not Mr. Bannister was going to put in an appearance at all. Kim said the man was on his way to The Grampians yesterday, and although Kim said she was going to take care of the situation, Shannon didn't know what had expired.
She made her call to Nancy at her photography studio back home and told her to "hang in there"—that she'd be home in a few days. She didn't go into detail.
She heard Nancy breathe a sigh of relief over the phone. I'll have to talk to her when I get back, Shannon thought. I hope everything has gone all right at the studio. She seemed to not want to talk.
But just as Shannon was about to hang up, Nancy blurted out, "I think I should tell you that someone was in here just the other day looking for you, and he seemed very insistent that he locate you. He said it was worth a lot of money to you. Actually, he was looking for someone he said you knew ten years ago. Someone named Kim. He was trying to find you to see if you might know where this 'Kim' might be."
Shannon caught her breath and thought, Oh, no, not another one trying to find Kim! She told us there would be others. When is this going to end? Hopefully soon.
"What did you tell him, Nancy," she asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.
"Well, he looked kind of suspicious, and I didn't know anybody named Kim, so I told him I didn't know where you were, except that you were in Australia on assignment. Was I right in saying that? God, Shannon, you know I don't like to handle the studio by myself!"
"You did okay, Nancy . Everything is all right. I'll explain when I get home. Don't worry about anything. And don't concern yourself with that guy that came by the studio. If he comes back, just give him the runaround, like you don't know anything . You don't, anyway, so you'd be truthful about that. Okay?"
Shannon wasn't going to worry about another person looking for Kim, either. And this was where she and Jo came in today. It all depended, of course, if Mr. Bannister showed up at the Willowbranch.
"Come on, Jo, let's head on down to town," she said, hanging up finally, after a few more words of encouragement to Nancy . She looked at her watch. "It's still early, and I don't think Mr. Bannister will be here till afternoon sometime."
They walked into The Bakery just as Suellen was deciding on what to eat for breakfast. "Matt dropped me off early, as soon as the kids went off to school, and I haven't eaten yet," she said. "Care to join me? It's on the house."
"That's nice of you, Suellen," Shannon responded. "We could both do with some hot coffee, and I'd like something sweet and delicious to go with it."
"Sit yourselves down, and I'll go get coffee while you're thinking about what you might want to eat," Suellen said, getting up from the table. "Look over in the display case—I have plenty of goodies."
Jo leaned over to whisper to Shannon as Suellen walked back to the coffee corner, " Shannon , about that something sweet and delicious—you know we just can't have sex right here in The Bakery ." Shannon laughed aloud and patted Jo on the cheek.
Suellen set three cups of coffee on the table and then asked them what they would like to eat. Jo decided to try one of the new pastries temptingly displayed in the case. It was dripping with white and pink swirled icing. Shannon had a huge cinnamon roll that looked tasty. Suellen joined them with some sort of a pastry-like concoction that neither of them was willing to try. Jo saw raisins in it, but nothing else that was recognizable to her. Suellen said it was one of her favorite pastries, but had yet to convince anyone else it was delicious—especially her mother-in-law, who was determined to stick with the same old foods.
Finishing her pastry and licking the last bit off her fingers, Shannon said, "Suellen, I'm leaving this afternoon to go back home to the States. My photography assignment has fallen through, and there's no reason for me to stay here any longer."
"Oh...I'm sorry you have to go. But it's been great getting to know you," Suellen said. "Jo is going with you, isn't she?" She smiled at Jo.
"Yes. I guess you could tell back at the B&B ," Shannon said, "that we had kind of a thing going on."
"But I haven't told Rose yet," Jo cautioned. "I don't know what she'll think."
"You'll find me mother-in-law is very understanding and very open about alternative lifestyles. She knows about me , for instance, and what I have going on with me girlfriend Kathy. But she isn't a bit worried about me relationship with her son, either. 'These things just happen,' she says. So don't worry about telling her. She'll understand."
Jo never thought about Suellen's husband until now. So Suellen is actually bisexual, she mused. That's interesting.
Suellen said Matt was an avid fisherman and to look for him in Colorado one day if he managed to make it over there on one of his fishing trips. Shannon said she'd leave the phone number of her studio with Rose.
* * * * * *
"Do you want to take a little tour of the town of Clunes before we go back to the Willowbranch ?" Shannon asked Jo, as they got back in the car. "I don't think you've done that, have you? I'm sure you want to remember a little bit about the town, don't you? And I wasn't able to take Fred up on his offer to show me the town, either. Even though I'd seen it ten years ago, I'd forgotten."
"You know, Shannon , I will remember everything about this trip, because it has been nothing like I expected it to be. But maybe we better at least drive around this little town so I can see what it looks like. I probably won't get back over here again, and my yoga students will undoubtedly want to hear a little bit about my trip. If I couldn't tell them what the town looked like, they might wonder what I had been doing over here while I was gone! Wouldn't they be surprised if they knew!”
They started back at the edge of town, driving in from the south, passing by Tunney's of Clunes , the bank, the Post Office—where they waved to Emily who was outside sweeping off the sidewalk—then past the church on the hill, the school with the little chapel, and the medical clinic where Rose's mum went for any health problems she had.
After they had seen the main part of town, which was only a block or so in each direction from the main intersection, they drove around to the west side of town where a little creek ran through town. This was where Fred took Jacky and Gerri fishing and took his other grandkids whenever they visited at the B&B . They hadn't caught any fish yesterday, but it was a fun outing, anyway.
They pulled off the road close to the creek and parked in the shade of some bushy overhanging trees. Silently they watched the shimmering water for a while as it cascaded in gentle ripples off the rocks in the stream.
Jo had lost her own camera somewhere along the way, but she didn't want Shannon to take some pictures of the town for her on her camera. She figured holding images in her mind was quite enough. She didn't need reminders.
Shannon didn't really want to take any pictures, either. Even though she was a professional photographer, she'd had enough of Clunes, and she hoped she'd never come back here again. There was nothing more for her here.* * * * * *