Chapter 10

A few months after all this kerfuffle, shortly after Mary found she was pregnant, Damian received a phone call. A man name Nando Ferrule wanted to meet him on neutral ground. King's Park is a park just outside the city limits on top of a hill containing the best view of the city and the river. It is very large, well-kept and a marvellous place to meet unobserved at night.

"Do you know who I am?" he said, and Damian nodded. "I've been away a long time. I went home to Argentina, and was arrested. I've been out of gaol about two years, and my best friend is dead, my slave/toy/lover and mother of my child is tied to you, and I think I would find it difficult to get them back from you."

"Mary and I are having a baby and Nina couldn't be a happier grandmother. Why did you want to speak to me of all people, you knew damned well I'd never let them go."

"I wanted your permission to be part of their life again."

"Knowing how you treated Nina when you were here, and you seem to think you loved her, how would you treat her now you're just an acquaintance?"

"So she told you how I treated her and you don't approve?"

"I softened your approach to one that would be a bit more tempered. Your methods would kill her, today, as Georgio almost worked her to death. I presumed from my discussions with Nina, that you are into white slavery, which is why you have been in gaol so long. If you'd do what you did with the wife of a man who was your admitted best friend, what would you do with someone you didn't like?"

Damian gave the situation some thought and if he couldn't live with himself, as how things stand now, would he be able to live with himself if he didn't fix the problem, now ... forget the next nine months?

"I have a present for you. She is young, pretty and a paedophile. She is causing Nina and myself a problem, because some of Nina's decisions and actions haven't always been wise. I'll give you this young pervert on the provision that you go away and never enter our lives again."

"A young female paedophile is tantamount to a child rapist priest, but can be used for live sex shows in places where child sex is ignored. You'd just give her to me?"

"On the proviso that if you ever come back, and I find out, I'll kill you."

"What are you going tell anyone who knows her?"

"That's my problem."

Two days later Kris Michaels packed her bags during the early hours of the morning, and was never seen again. Nina worried about her for a while, and he simply said that she was no longer their concern and their babies would be safe. She looked at him sharply for a second then a decisive expression went across her face. He could see her decision was that she had decided not to ask. There are some things, you are better off not knowing.

She did know he would do anything to keep his family safe and if that wasn't really so, Nina and her girl wouldn't have decided that he was the man for them. Safety was not as important as security and with him around, they were in the life they love but people who threaten them were not safe around him. But Nina was safe and so was Mary, as well as secure and he was already protecting their unborn child from all possible threats. She reached out and touched his hand, as if to ensure he was really there and not a perfect dream and she shuddered and held his hand tightly.

Irene excelled at her new school exam subjects. All the things that went wrong the first time, went perfectly right second time. Both Maths and English were now minor subjects and Mary rode through them with her. Adele went to a lot of trouble to make sure that her logic used in essay writing was perfected, and the subjects those two didn't know, Irene was so up on them, she had almost studied into the second year uni levels so she would know too much about them.

When the exams had finished she realised the overkill she had done, and was glad she had. The week the results came back, she already had been accepted into the school of her choice, they obviously knew something that nobody else did. Next night Irene, Mary and Adele were lying naked on their bed when he came to join them, with Irene in the middle as if a bookmark an arm around both.

"Darling, we have a proposition for you."

He just looked all three and knew that he was in trouble. "Go on..."

Adele: "When you accepted me into your bed you didn't love me. You did it because Mary asked you to. With a little love and persuasion you admitted that you loved me as much you loved her and all three of us were happy."

Mary: "Now your two loves, wish to bring someone else into our marriage. Irene will be no surprise to you. You already know how much we love her, she is absolutely obsessed, head over heels in love with you, just like her sisters are and..."

Me: "Okay."

Mary: " ... wants exactly the same as we do, eventually ... what do you mean by okay. We've been practising these speeches for a week and you fuck it up by just saying okay. You are the most inconsiderate..." Her voice was rising in tempo and volume as she did in her normal rant.

Me: "If I simply say that she is on my mind a lot and I'm not sure if I am in love with her or not. But you two do absolutely nothing anymore without considering her first. If either of you have ever had your heart set on something, have I ever refused you? But you are going have to get her face fucking skills down pat as her cunt fucking skills are out of this world..." I was attacked at that moment and had little chance of finishing the speech I'd also been practicing for the past week.

Irene could make her vaginal muscles do handstands, back flips, and the horizontal bars; but that was a very poor reason to marry someone. Except, these exercises she did for him. She didn't get a damned thing out them, herself. Damian was discovering that love was putting someone else before anything you would possibly do for yourself. Her priority was him, then her sisters, and if there was room left over, trying to make herself happy, as well. But, to herself, she was unimportant. In the greater scheme of things, she was happy if he was.

That was a very persuasive argument, seeing as he always put Mary, Adele and Irene before he thought about what he would get out of anything. This was why he had never left this city. You would have to put Nina in there somewhere, too, as he had put a girl into purgatory for her ... well, for her and for his baby who was barely a twinkle in its daddy's eye.

Adele received her degree. Instead of teaching, she actually joined the staff of the Minister for Education. He'd never been able to picture her as a public servant, as she had always been a minimal red tape type of girl. As long as her family loved her, though, nothing could possibly stand in her way.

Damian's and Mary's baby was named Jessie Nina Saint Joseph who had her mother's good looks and her father's bowel habits. She also had his penchant for eating absolutely anything, they just had to make sure any snails in their backyard had never been hit by snail bait and that she went nowhere near her Nanna, when Nanna was hitting the ouzo.

Daddy's Angel attained the age of four years, two months, one day and six hours. Every second being as precious as all the gold in the world.

He regained some awareness of his surroundings in the early morning, many days after he last remembered anything. The swag was in the kind of place he always used many years ago. As usual, as in those days, it felt like only yesterday. He had nowhere to go, so he was actually going nowhere. He'll go anywhere but where he is, and where he is he has no idea. He had an EFTPOS card, now. He didn't know how it got in his pocket, nor its PIN number, though. Money would no longer be an issue, if he could only remember the PIN number. But, he'd used little money, before. He'd use little now. He folded everything as he always did, and rolled the thin mattress. He wrapped a blanket around that, then the plastic tarp around it all. He tied it together with an alligator strap around each end. A full water bag was on one end. In the middle was the little cooker and the billy hung off the other end, all in an even balance.

He couldn't remember which way he went from home ... oh, home! He didn't want to remember, because he knew if he remembered, he would just lie in a culvert somewhere and let the world go away. He couldn't even remember which State he was in, it couldn't be that hard as there are not that many.

Where had his memory gone? He had a headache, but his mouth wasn't full of shit, so he was not coming off a drunk. The rope wrapped in the second blanket, ran through the centre of the swag. He slung it over his head and started doing the one foot in front of the other, which would take him nowhere, steadily eating up the distance to get him there.

The road was newly graded gravel, and he was sure he was going in the same direction that he'd been going, but if he wasn't, who would care? He walked for hours, and saw no one. He didn't look around, only at his feet. At some point, there were people around him. He got the impression they were talking at him. Couldn't have been important. He vaguely remembered nights coming and going but they didn't leave much of an impression. Oh, and at some point he got wet.

'My head's still aching. It doesn't want to stop, but doesn't that mean I'm alive?'

A cool breeze was hitting his face along with the mild heat from the sun. He realised he was sitting on the concrete side-fence of a highway bridge, and he looked around.

What was he doing here? Where's Mary? Oh, no! Mary and Jesse. Air brakes, piss off, he's going to kill himself.

"Are you all right, mate?"

Black, the sun was in his eyes and blinding him.

"He was on the ground just there Brian and I shook him and he screamed something, a name or some loud noise."

"Searching for him State wide ... dead ... wife and..."

The words were there but it's not language.

'Oh, my head is aching! Stop yabbering on, and speak English.'

There was a glaring light on the ceiling, and the man was saying, "Damian, can you hear me? Mr Saint Joseph! Bridgette, call Royal Perth and arrange ... he's got post traumatic ... BP is negligible! 40 over 16 ... second bottle of ... consciousness in and..."

She's a pretty little thing, a brunette with perky little tits. The white uniform and blue blouse didn't do anything for her but it wouldn't really help anyone to look attractive. Mary would have liked to have been head down deep between her legs under her dress. The uniform would have made her horny, all by itself. She had done something with a pen at the bottom of the bed. So, as she went out the door, he got up and followed her out. She turned right at the tee-intersection corridor, so he turned left, which seemed logical.

'His Mary and Jessie are dead, and being in here ain't goin' to get him followin' them. Gotta go find them.'

The sun was beautiful and warm and he'd gotta find somewhere to lie down and go away, without being a bother to anyone. The man was giving him the oddest look, these weird backless dresses would make anyone look odd. The keys were in the car and the engine was idling and he could see the man in the rear vision mirror chasing him. Flashing lights were behind him and another bright green car with pretty lights was across the road in front, he think they're trying to tell him something, maybe stop.

He turned the engine off. He'd gotta see Adele.

'Where's Adele? Hey pig, where's Adele?'

"Put the guns away officer, he's only a danger to himself."

"He seems to be talking, but his mouth's not going."

'Where's Adele?'

"I'm sorry, did any one hear him say something?"

'Where's Adele?'

"Doctor, the police have brought the woman from the airfield."

Adele was walking to him, it's like her feet were not going right, too slow. Her arms were around him and he held her and his head was really hurting.

'I love you Adele but my head is really hurting, really, really... '

'Mary and Jessie were... '

Adele was holding him, and...

The man's scream of horror and pain echoed throughout the complete hospital.

This didn't seem to be the same hospital, his arms and dick were full of tubes and it tasted like someone had shit in his mouth.

There must be a buzzer here somewhere.

"Hey, mate, can you ring for a nurse? A man's crook, here."

"Yeah, mate, no problem. It's good to see you awake. I'm leaving here this arvo, and you've been out since before I came in. Your girl is in here every day, and yabba, yabba, yabba..."

It would have been better if he hadn't asked. Cunt's got verbal diarrhoea. Another pretty one, different uniform, followed by someone who makes you want to keep your hand on your wallet. Nurse didn't say anything, just wrapped the blood pressure thing around his arm. The cunt in the other bed won't shut up, and these two were reluctant to open their mouths. Sign of a guilty conscience?

"Well, are we not on talking terms? I didn't make a pass at your missus did I?"