Chapter 10

Patrick may have spent most of Sunday reading The Jungle Book but I was quite involved at several points. I had to show him — teach him? -- how to use the reference books we had acquired. First, there was the atlas. Right at the beginning, Patrick wanted to locate the Seeconee Hills. I showed him the map of India and explained that place names change over time and that Kipling wasn't naming a precise location. But then Mowgli's jungle was in Central India, about halfway between Kolkata, which Kipling called Calcutta, and Mumbai, then called Bombay.

"But where, Daddy?"

I located Seoni, south of Jubbulpore, and the Satpura Hills. "There, I think." Patrick nodded.

"And where are we?"

I found the map of Australia and pointed to Perth.

"Where's India?"

"The other side of this," pointing at "Indian Ocean." I looked for a hemisphere map and pointed out where Australia and India were. "It's quite far. The world is very big."

"Okay." He went back to Kipling, who hadn't been writing for six-year-olds. So, right away, Patrick ran upon "hydrophobia," and I helped him find it in the dictionary, which wasn't really helpful, as he didn't know about rabies, nor what "a viral disease that is transmitted to humans by animals" meant. I realized that neither the atlas nor the dictionary were panaceas.

"Patrick?"

"Hmm?"

"Read for the story. Don't worry about every word. Just enjoy the story."

"Okay."

And that took care of him till lunch.

"Smart. Very smart." Weena was making faces at Sarah, who was giggling.

"I do try, you know."

"And you do very well. I'd bet those kids at SciTech love you."

"Maybe not love. But I'm their 'bug guy, ' it seems."

"Here, you play with Sarah. Or tell her one of your stories. She'll get something. I didn't believe it when you said Patrick was getting something out of the tales. But it must have been true. I'm going to call your parents."

I tried to remember the first story I'd told to Patrick, but couldn't. So I decided on an Amerindian one:

In the beginning, Old Man Coyote stood alone in the water. Two ducks swam by and Coyote asked whether they had seen anyone else. The ducks said no but thought that perhaps something might exist under the water.

Coyote asked if they'd travel underwater for him and tell him what they saw. The ducks did that, but found nothing. He asked again and the ducks came back with a root. On the third try, they found mud and Coyote was happy. He told the ducks that they could build with the mud, and he began to shape and mould the mud into an island. He blew on it, and it got bigger. He blew again, and it grew into the earth. The ducks said they did not like the empty earth, so Coyote created grass and trees out of the roots that came from the water.

Coyote and the ducks loved the earth, but it was very flat. They wanted rivers, valleys, mountains, and lakes. So it was done. Soon Coyote and the ducks made their perfect earth. But they grew lonely with only the three of them to sit and enjoy the land. So Coyote moulded dirt to form men and then more mud to create many types of male ducks. Then they realized that without women, there could be no children. So with more dirt Coyote made women and female ducks to populate the earth.

One day Old Man Coyote travelled over the land and was surprised to meet another Coyote. When asked where he came from, the younger brother, named Shirape, said he was unsure and only knew that he was. As the two travelled along, Shirape wanted Old Man Coyote to make other animals, for there were only ducks, humans, and the two coyotes. The elder Coyote agreed and as he spoke the new animals' names, they were created. He said "Elk" and an elk appeared. He said "Bear" and a bear appeared. Thus all the animals were created.

Sarah was sound asleep. I just sat there holding her as she stained my shirt with drool.

"I spoke with your Mum," Weena said. "I told her about Patrick's expeditions to Dymock's and now to Central India. She was incredulous that you hadn't gotten him books on Australian animals, birds, fish, insects, and vegetation."

"I hadn't even thought about that. I think the wonders of stories are the route to reading. He can go to that sort of non-fiction another time."

"I guess so. She also wanted to know when we were coming to visit. She wants to see Sarah."

"We should do that soon. I'll find out from Mona how much leave I have. Did I take any holiday this past year?"

"Only just before and just after I had Sarah. You must have a month available."

"Well, I doubt whether I could just go away for a month?"

"Why not? Don't you trust your assistant?"

I burst out laughing -- of course I trusted Chaz. Sarah started at the noise, but didn't wake.