Chapter 19
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
-Albert Einstein
Dave diverted his gaze over towards the shadows.
“You know, you’re gonna give yourself adrenaline overdose if you eavesdrop much longer woman.”
Maya popped her head up and cautiously approached Dave.
“I didn’t intentionally eavesdrop... I just overheard what you were telling Zac and I didn’t want interrupt you... Besides, you knew I was there.”
“Well don’t just stand there like you’re scared to make a move.”
“After that encounter with Dutchy tonight, I am scared to make a move.”
Dave laughed.
“We’re both unarmed. Come on. Sit down with us.”
Zac self-consciously slid back into his shirt.
An awkward silence. Maya glanced at Zac and moistened her lips.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Your conversation with Dave sounds... important.”
“I don’t want any secrets between us Maya... I didn’t know about this myself until tonight...”
“I know.”
Maya cleared her throat.
“Are you okay?”
Zac nodded mutely.
“I originally headed over here to ask you something, but it kinda seems insignificant now.”
“Ask away.”
“I was just wondering if you could drop me off at the doctor’s tomorrow. After the strategy meeting.”
“You okay?”
“Yes. I’m just worried about a little itchy patch. It’s nothing really.”
“Sure thing.”
“Um... I’d better leave you guys... So you can keep talking... I’ll see you later... Maybe.”
Zac nodded as Maya got to her feet and started walking away.
“Stay put!” ordered Dave.
Maya stopped mid-stride and turned around meekly. Dave redirected his attention to Zac.
“What’d ya think you’re doing, letting her walk away like that without following up on that hint?”
“What hint?”
“The I’m-worried-and-I-need-your-opinion-‘coz-you’re-my-friend hint... Leaders need to be willing to confront the things others are anxious about Zac. Even in the midst of their own turmoil.”
Zac drew a deep breath.
“She said she wanted to see a doctor but I’m willing to help her if I can... What itchy patch Maya?”
Maya look flustered. Zac read her body language and cleared his throat softly. Dave’s eyes twinkled.
“Don’t tell me you two are still scared of peeking at each other after completing the Pass together?”
Silence.
“Alright... Let’s back up a bit... Ask her to point to where the itchy patch is.”
“Maybe I’ll just go to the doctor tomorrow,” said Maya hurriedly.
Zac glanced apologetically at Maya.
“Sorry Maya. Dave’s night school is a rather intense programme, and I haven’t worked out how to duck the curve balls he tosses yet.”
“And you won’t work out how to duck ‘em either pup!” growled Dave. “I intend to stay several steps ahead of you both. No pussyfooting around issues with me.”
Dave tugged Maya down beside them.
“Now point... or I’ll probe and peek until I find it.”
“Dave! You’re scaring her!” gasped Zac.
“Okay... point, or I’ll make Zac probe and peek until he finds it.”
Maya laughed tensely.
“Um... It’s along here, but I can’t see what’s causing it.”
“Under the bra line, eh?” chuckled Dave, wriggling his eyebrows expressively at Zac.
Zac shot Dave a look of discomfiture. Dave laughed roguishly and lay down next to Maya with his arms folded under his head.
“What are you doing?”
“Watching you emerge from your chrysalis.”
Zac moistened his lips.
“Um... Fold your hands across your chest Maya. That way I can pull your T-shirt up without seeing... much.”
“That’s his way of saying he thinks your nipples are sexy!” quipped Dave.
Maya feigned a cuff at Dave. Zac slowly lifted Maya’s shirt.
“Relax,” coaxed Dave. “Your deodorant’s working overtime.”
Zac cleared his throat softly.
“I think I’ve found the cause of the itch, Maya.”
“What is it?”
“Hang on... I’ll show you in a jiffy.”
“You’re tickling me!”
“I know. I’ve fallen in love with your smile and I wanted to see it... Um...this might pinch just a little.”
“Drown the blighter in tea tree oil,” quipped Dave. “It’ll stop him burrowing while you remove him...”
Ω
“I came to see what was taking you so long,” I said as I approached Maya.
“Good news. We can hit the shops together tomorrow after all. I won’t need to go to the doctor, ‘coz Zac found the problem.”
I glanced at what Zac was doing.
“Gosh Zac, that’s the biggest tick I’ve ever seen!” I blurted out.
“I know. I feel bad... It’s obviously been munching on her a couple of days... Sorry Maya. I had to remove a couple of ticks off myself the other day. I should have warned you and Jake to look out for them as well.”
“You did. Remember you told us about Lyme’s disease. I just didn’t realize what a tick bite feels like. I’ll know what it is next time though.”
Zac nodded in acknowledgement.
“There. Got it... All fixed...You were very brave. Again.”
I noticed the eye contact between them. Warm and strangely affectionate. I couldn’t resist the temptation to comment in Yupik.
“You enjoyed doing that to her, didn’t you?”
“Of course. A woman’s breasts feel beautiful to a man.”
I was stunned. The reply was so out of character for Zac.
“Hey you pair. English is the common language around here,” reminded Dave.
“Sorry... Hope was just reminding me not to be a prude.”
“And he was just bear-cuffing me back into line,” I replied softly.
“Is that squabble between you two still going?” sighed Dave.
“It’s simmered down to a slow boil,” replied Zac.
I laughed in response.
“Prudence is synonymous with wisdom,” said Dave. “It’s something that’s transferred as you interact with someone wiser than you.”
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise... Dad’s drummed it into me a million times.”
“Might be wise for us to walk outta here girl,” said Maya, tugging me to my feet.
Dave and Zac laughed.
“See you later,” she added, smiling faintly at Zac.
“You knew the cause all along!” I heard Zac hiss, as I allowed myself to be towed away by Maya.
“Suspected.”
“Why didn’t you fix it then?”
“And miss out on the fun watching you handle it?”
I desperately wanted to continue eavesdropping. I was mega-inquisitive. My big brother had changed so much since I’d last seen him. And I wanted to know who... what... and why...
Ω
“You’re a tormentor not a mentor!” groused Zac.
“Don’t expect me to sympathize with you. It serves you right for not watching your team closely enough.”
“I attended to the medical issues Jake and Maya alerted me to. Just like I do on any other trek.”
“It sounds like you treated the whole trek across Farliga Pass like it was any other trek,” retorted Dave.
“I obeyed the rule of thumb for endurance treks. Triple the fluids and double the calories... At least I obeyed the rule ‘til we started running low on food, then I rationed my intake.”
“I think the phrase I’m searching for is ‘no comment’.”
“Well how was I to know that Maya would ea
t as much as Pete does on an endurance trek? And Jake wasn’t far behind her either!”
Dave lost his feigned austerity and cracked up.
“You’ll know for next time... And you’ll also know to check over susceptible individuals regularly when you’re in tick country.”
“Susceptible individuals?”
“Women in particular run off and hide behind tick-laden bushes like frightened rabbits every time they expose body parts... might pay to remember that since you’re going to be running mixed teams...”
“I might just bring another woman with me - like Maya - and she can check the women for ticks.”
Dave shook his head in disbelief.
“Lucky for you we’re not having this conversation up at the Pass pup...”
“Why?”
“’Coz I’d drag you down to the nearest hot springs meself... and make you go nicky swimming with whoever’s hanging around, then get you to search their bare bodies for ticks top to toe, just to scare some of the shy outta you.”
“You’ve got it all wrong Dave. I admit I didn’t search Maya for ticks the other day. But it wasn’t because I was shy. It was because Jake was watching me like a hawk, and I wanted to show him by example how to respect a woman... The Philippians 4:8 code of conduct has always worked well for me when relating to the opposite sex. And it helped me get through several awkward situations we encountered on the Pass as a mixed team... Not only that, I didn’t want to spoil my fledgling relationship with Jake and Maya by being too dominating. And I picked up early on, that whenever I asked Maya any medical questions, she went into defence mode.”
“Fair enough. That still doesn’t explain the look on your face when I made you remove that tick just then.”
“It’s... complicated.”
“Try me.”
“Her skin’s so beautiful Dave... and her chest feels...”
Zac blushed and cleared his throat. Dave’s eyes danced.
“I mean... I became conscious of all the little non-verbal signs that I’ve learnt Maya gives out when she’s aroused... like her wide pupils... and the way her tongue moves... and I just didn’t want to do anything else right that moment that might make... either of us... more aroused...”
“And you thought that if you played coy I’d rescue you?”
“I thought it was worth a try. Except it backfired. Playing coy works with Gordon, but it doesn’t work with you.”
Dave doubled over with laughter.
“Being honest works best with me Zac.”
“Okay. I can’t honestly see why Gordon’s got so pushy about this mixed team thing when single sex teams have worked well for the last ten years.”
“That’s a fair complaint. Tell me, given the current zeitgeist, which group would arouse your suspicion near a weapons testing site? Four young men with chunky pecs tenting it together, or a starry-eyed couple who look like they’re on their honeymoon?”
“The group without the woman.”
“Now you’re on Gordon’s wavelength.”
“I guess a mixed group that seem to be doing a photo-shoot for a girlie magazine, are less obvious than an all-male team,” conceded Zac.
“Getting your team to go out with Maya on a photo-shoot was your idea not Gordon’s. But he was delighted when Brendan and the others told him about it... And when he saw how well you and Maya worked as a team, he just knew she was the perfect gal. Even if you did try and dampen her enthusiasm for the job by taking her across Farliga Pass.”
“It was Jake and Maya’s idea to take the Pass. I tried to talk them out of it!”
Dave laughed.
“In retrospect, I’m glad they talked me into it though. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met John... or found out about Mum and Dad... or discovered that I’m a Codetalker...”
Zac rubbed his forehead tiredly.
“Still got that tension headache, eh? Here... lie down in my lap.”
Zac eyed Dave dubiously.
“Pass.”
“Your dad used to like lying in my lap while I massaged his head.”
Zac cautiously sank back and used Dave as a pillow.
“You’re as stiff as a board... Relax.”
“Sorry. The last time Gordon massaged my head, he asked all these probing questions and I ended up sharing all sorts of personal stuff. And you might do the same.”
Dave laughed warmly.
“I promise I won’t ask any probing questions... I’ll just prod my fingertips into your skull... Like this...”
Slow, deliberate pressure that hurt at first then dissolved into warm relief. Zac exhaled noisily and closed his eyes briefly.
“Having Maya as our guest on the Aussie team the other day was lots of fun...” he said drowsily.
Dave smiled faintly but said nothing.
“Watching her bear-cuff the fellas into line... And she’s brought facets out in Jake which I couldn’t have done...”
“Ah ha.”
“And I guess she’s knocked some raw edges off me...”
“Ah ha.”
“But it’s the responsibility of having women on my team that’s stopping me... And my responsibility to the other men that love those women... The look in Gordon’s eyes as Tess died... I never want to put another man through that pain Dave...”
Zac stopped mid ramble and sat up abruptly.
“Hey? How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Get me to reveal a secret, without asking a single probing question.”
Dave chuckled.
“Craniosacral massage is actually a secret tactic used by the ISRA to extract skeletons out of people’s closets!”
“Yeah, right.”
“Well just in case it is, how about I rub your feet instead. That’s as far away from you head as I can get!”
A hint of a smile. Dave repositioned himself and started rubbing Zac’s feet.
Silence.
“Hey Dave... You aren’t gonna tell Gordon the real reason I’m trying to duck out of mixed groups, are you?”
“It’s between us Zac.”
Dave kept massaging Zac’s feet.
“Your Dad told me something interesting one time. Apparently those fierce, blonde-haired Viking ancestors of yours rowed themselves to their battles. They built up their muscles and their fitness moving their twenty tonne boats through the water. And that made them all the more effective as warriors. And stronger than their opponents...”
“...because their opponents used slaves to do their rowing instead of rowing themselves,” finished Zac reflectively.
“Taking on new responsibilities is a bit like rowing yourself to battle. If you’re willing to take on responsibilities that you’ve previously delegated or avoided, you’ll benefit from that exertion Zac...”
“John said something similar... About exercising fearlessness until it becomes second nature...”
“Ah ha.”
“Ah ha? Oh no you don’t! I ain’t blabbing another round of secrets to you, just ‘coz you’re rubbing my feet!”
Dave’s eyes danced.
Reflective silence. The sound of someone punishing a piano broke it.
“What a din! It’s enough to give a bloke a headache!” joked Dave.
Zac chuckled.
“Hope’s impersonation of the Newsboys...”
“Is that right? Can you play the piano?”
“A little.”
“Good. Shove your sister off the piano and play something then.”
“Why?”
“Well since you two are chalk and cheese, I’ll hedge my bets that you’ll choose to play something soft, which is what the eardrums need at this time of the night.”
Zac grinned and pushed himself to his feet.
“Come on. Let’s go push our way in and make the ivory serenade, eh?”
Ω
“That was John,” said Charlie. “He and Ryan have arrived in West Oz. They’re staying aboard the Jefferson tonight. And g
uess who John got to natter with?”
“Dave?” deduced Jed.
“Yep. John says he was hanging out with the Schoolmaster. When he said he was retiring, he obviously meant re-tyring.”
“Is this Dave?” asked Paul, pointing to a photo.
“Ah ha... How’d you guess?” asked Rod.
“I haven’t seen him around but he’s in heaps of photos. He was obviously a central part of this place.”
“What made Dave so special anyway?” asked Mike.
“I guess it was his knack for getting people to trust each other,” replied Rod.
“How’d he do that?”
“Loaded question!”
“So he had a special technique?” persisted Mike.
“Heaps. Want us to show you a few?” grinned Charlie.
Mike looked at Charlie shrewdly.
“You’ve got a glint of mischief in your eyes Chocolate Charlie.”
“Sounds like you need some top and toe,” retorted Charlie.
“What’s top and toe?” asked Paul.
“Dare ya to let us show you!” chuckled Rod.
Paul eyed Rod hesitantly then shook his head. Charlie made eye contact with Mike. Mike read the non-verbal directive to take the lead.
“We can trust them mate,” said Mike carefully. “What’s top and toe anyway?”
“Dave’s favourite getting-to-know-you technique...” replied Charlie. “A head massage and a friendly foot-rub...”
“Do it to me first so Paul can sus you out.”
“Okay. Lie down here... Rest your head in my lap and I’ll massage it.”
“And Jed and I will do your feet!” added Rod.
A lengthy silence as the men massaged Mike’s head and feet. Mike held back the tsunami of emotions which were threatening to engulf him.
“You aren’t saying anything Mike... Are you scared?” asked Paul.
Mike swallowed.
“Nah. It’s just a new experience... I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life right after breakfast but this has to take the cake.”
“So it feels good?”
“Any better and I’ll lose motor skills.”
Everyone laughed.
“Let them massage you top and toe now, to see if you like it,” suggested Mike, gently pulling Paul down into prone position.
Paul let out a slow, deep breath as his initial nervousness vanished.
“You’re right Mike. This is a pretty interesting start to the day. And this is definitely the most unusual holiday I’ve ever had. I’d never spoken to a General before I came here. And now I’ve spoken to four... And been massaged by three...”
Soft laughter.
“Boy, you guys sure don’t behave like I’d expect Generals to behave,” continued Paul, risking a smile.
“The pup said something similar the other night!” chuckled Charlie.
“What did you and John do to him anyway?” asked Mike.
“What makes you think we did something to him?”
“He was a different kid when he left to go away with John. He felt... free.”
“It’s interesting you picked that up... You could say, it was a case of telling the truth set him free!” grinned Charlie.
“Why? What’d he fib about?”
Charlie leaned forward and lowered his voice in feigned confidentiality.
“Well, remember when you first arrived and you said you thought Ryan was a teenager...”
Ω
Zac sat down at the piano and started softly playing. I looked at Dave and wriggled self-consciously. Dave covered his mouth with his palm and convulsed with silent laughter at the expression on my face.
“He knows how to play heaps of songs and he has to play that one while you’re around,” I grumbled.
“I think it’s become their song, actually,” replied Dave softly.
I watched Dave make eye contact with Maya and non-verbally motion her towards the piano. Maya sat down next to Zac and rested her head on his shoulder as he picked out the tune. To my astonishment Zac began singing.
How is it the sky turns grey; anytime you’re far away?
What is it that makes me sad; anytime you’re feeling bad?
What is it about this night; the music and the candlelight?
That makes you feel this way...
I blinked in surprise. My reticent brother as I had never seen him before... One hand continued to pick out the melody. The other explored the contours of Maya’s face.
These are the echoes of Eden.
Reflections of what we were created for;
Hints of the passion and freedom;
That waits on the other side of heaven’s door.
These are the echoes of Eden.
Zac drew Maya’s face closer. Millimetres from his. He nuzzled her like she was our sister. I controlled a flash of petty jealousy and watched in jaw-dropped fascination until I could no longer hold back.
“I’m telling Dad!” I blurted out.
“Go ahead.”
“And Mum!”
“I don’t mind,” replied Zac, without moving away from Maya.
“Why would your parents disapprove Zac? We’re not kissing or petting.”
“They won’t disapprove... She’s just being a pesky little sister,” replied Zac with dancing eyes.
“That’s not what I meant and he knows it! Maya... He’s serious about you!”
“I’m serious about him too!” laughed Maya.
“But he’s serious as in... serious like I’ve never seen Zac! It’s an Inuit custom, when a man...”
“Pedro mate... Shut her up for me will you?” interjected Zac.
Pedro cupped my head in his thick-fingered hands.
“...when a man does what he’s doing... to a woman... it... means...”
Pedro pulled me close and started stroking the sides of my face. My heart rate doubled.
“..it means...”
I completely forgot about Zac and Maya... And what I was trying to tell Maya. My hands started roaming along his chest... His muscles tensed under them... Corded cable.
“Ken’kam’ken,” I whispered dreamily.
“Ken’kam’ken,” replied Pedro softly.
“You can speak Yupik?” I whispered quizzically.
“Only important phrases, like I love you...”
I drew a deep breath and enjoyed his caress.
These are the echoes of Eden...
A ringing mobile cut through the moment. Dave picked it up and broke into a broad smile.
“Hello love... I was just about to call you... Busy? Nah... Just been relaxing and chinwagging mostly... Hang on a jiffy...”
“You lot... Bed... Fellas to the right. Gals to the left. I’m sleeping in the middle of you all. No monkey business while I say goodnight to Jen.”
Dave casually got to his feet. He meandered away from everyone.
Silence. Dave started listening attentively. I watched him pick up some keys and slip out the warehouse door.
“Slow down love... Big deep breath... Wipe away the tears...” soothed Dave softly as he walked off towards the carpark.
Ω
Dave lounged in the privacy of Zac’s loan vehicle.
“I knew what she was like love... No. She didn’t tell me... It was just a gut feeling... That first day I met you, your purity made you so attractive Jen. You were like a clean rag... and she was like a dirty rag... even back then I knew... And something inside compelled me to rescue you from her...”
Dave drew a deep breath.
“Nah love. That time you’re talking about - when I came back from camping with her girls - I just knew that ugly thing had reared up in her again and she’d tried to ensnare you while I was away... And I knew you had resisted her... You still felt pure...”
Silence.
“Jen - I’d go through what I went through for you again to protect you. We’re one flesh. Protecting you is like protecting myself... Yeah... I know you’ve nev
er been able to talk about it. But I understood love... And I accepted that you couldn’t talk about it... What triggered all this self blame talk tonight anyway?”