THE OTHER BIG SECRET 2: RABBIT STEW / CH. 4:SHOPPING

LONDON, 10A.M, WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT 29TH, 1975

Rose signed the papers on the delivery man's clipboard. “Thanks.”

“Odd place for the delivery, if you don't mind me saying so. I thought I was at the wrong address for a while there,” he said.

“I'm just borrowing a corner of my brother's warehouse for a while. Once I've got everything then I'm off to the mission hospital.”

“We could have arranged the international shipping too, doctor. Special discount for missionaries.”

“I know, but it hardly seemed worth it, just for this little lot. OK it won't fit in my suitcase, but it's far easier to just take it with me.”

“I was just saying, Miss, sorry, doctor. Just saying. Maybe next time, eh?”

“I've got your office's number now, yes. Thank you so much.”

“Well, have a good trip, and God bless.” The man left.

James looked at the boxes. “Is that the last lot?”

“Yes, Praise God. Except for your grandmother's request. Knowledge of what's changed.”

“Almost everything.”

“That's what I thought. My first idea was an encyclopedia, but I don't know. A lot of what's in the one in the library is history or biography,”

“Interesting, but space is running out. And it would be good to take some food too.”

“And water, surely?”

He shook his head. “Some, just in case. But we won't be that far from fresh water.”

“Won't we just have to stop more often if we don't take enough?”

“If everything's working well, the equipment on the boat should give us enough. What we'll take is just in case something breaks.”

“Does that happen often?”

“No. But there's always a first time.”

“When I was imagining your people to be only a couple of steps past the iron age I was way wrong, wasn't I?”

“Grandpa was a bit disappointed, but excited too.”

“So... your boat is a submarine, so I presume it has some kind of engine. It makes fresh water... by reverse osmosis?”

“What's that?”

“Osmosis is when water molecules go through a membrane because there's salt on the other side. Reverse osmosis is when you clean water by pushing it through.”

“Is that a bit like with kidneys?” he asked “Yes. There's a kidney mechanism in the boat.”

“I'm impressed.”

“Lots of history. No big wars, no invaders destroying our civilisation, only some plagues. The Greeks had steam power, remember. You're going a lot faster than we have, but we did have quite a head start.”

“Have we caught up?”

He looked at her for a while, “Not in everything. You're beating us in some areas: medicine for instance; mass production; and we didn't try going to space.”

“Too much like showing off?”

He laughed. “Oh, we show off among ourselves. But launching a rocket is much too attention-grabbing. The last time we tried grabbing the headlines was a long time ago.”

“Can you tell me?”

“I'd rather not.”

“There's even more to tell?”

“Hearing thoughts is rare here, isn't it?”

“Incredibly. And it'd probably get me cut up and experimented on and so on. Hey. You have it, your mum too, your grandmother...”

“Just over half of us have it.”

“Wow!”

“We don't want to be cut up either.”

“That's the secret? Ancient thought-hearing civilisation we're not aware of?”

“You're getting close, but you're not there yet. Shall we go look at book-shops, see if we can find anything?”

“I've been meaning to ask you, how come you're not totally lost, how come your vocabulary's so good?”

“Oh, that. Well, we might hide from you, but we try to keep a watch on what's happening too. There are less surprises that way. We've got some radios, we sometimes find books and magazines too. My sister Martha's our librarian and book-restorer. She'll love anything we can bring for her to read. Especially if we can get it to her without the pages stuck together.”

“Did you say she was married?”

“Yes.”

“What's he do?”

“Keeps their kids out of the library, keeps various things going.”

“Such as?”

The nuclear reactor, he thought. Glad she hadn't heard that, he asked “Can it wait until we're on the boat?” he asked.

“Of course. James, you told Rick it was an old, deep-sea fishing boat.”

“I did.”

“It strikes me that he probably thought you just meant it was an old boat that could go a long way from the coast, but you might have said in perfect honesty, meaning it can go deep.”

“Who me? Play with words?”

“Yes, you! So, having caught you out on that, how deep and how old?”

“Deep... deep enough. I can't remember exactly. Old... I suspect it's the one grandma and grandpa took on their aborted honeymoon.”

“Aborted? How?”

“They discovered someone had put mines on the stretch of water that led to the village. Someone had decided to use our caves as a gun-emplacement, and didn't want anyone mounting an attack from the sea. So much for their week to themselves.”

“Oh. Won't your boat need us to put some fuel in it?”

“It should be O.K.”

“It must have big fuel tanks!”

“Hmm,” he said, non-committally.

She looked at him suspiciously. “James, you're not going to tell me you've got a nuclear powered submarine are you?”

“Rose, you should know I wouldn't tell you something like that.”

“Not until we're on the boat, anyway,” she said.

“My thought exactly.” he agreed.

“Let's hope no one finds it then.”

“As a native of this strange country, what would happen if someone did find themselves a totally weird looking submarine in middle of a reed-bed?”

“Call the police, maybe? And then they'd maybe call the army, who'd maybe say, no it's in water, call the navy, who'd try to get in, while the army looked around for the Russian spy. Of course if it looked totally alien, they might decide it was an unidentified flying object which looked like a submarine, and call in the air-force.”

“And then what?”

“Well, assuming they can find their way inside... will they?”

“No comment.”

“If they can find their way inside they'll probably go through the whole where is the owner from: Russia, Mars or Alpha-Centuri, and work out how it goes. If they can't get in, then if they think it's Russian then they'll be very cross and try to get in with explosives, if it's from Mars or Alpha-Centuri then they might think hmm, let's study it first.”

“You don't think they'll be content with just looking through the windows, then?”

“Maybe. What'd they see?”

“Not much. The odd cargo net, a human-sized chair. Simple controls.”

“What, no knobs, dials, switches?”

“Not many.”

“Photographs of mum?”

He laughed. “No. Maybe some kid's drawings from my nephew. Oh, they might see a map of Britain, and a war-time map of tides and things.”

“Those might reassure them that you're Homo-Sapiens-Sapiens.”

He draw a sharp breath, then shrugged. “I'll leave that sort of detailed analysis to you.”

“You think you're a different sub-species?” she was sceptical.

“I don't know the definition. How different do you need to be to be a subspecies?”

“Very. More than height, head-shape, and so on.”

“Nice to know. Maybe we won't be cut up then. Grandpa thought it was possible.”

“Why? I mean, I know that the people were even more into racist science then than they are now, but...”

“What's racist science?”

“It starts by dividing up humans into lots of different races and then decides that the white ones are more intelligent, trustworthy and so on than the others, and that makes it OK to try to exterminate the others to improve the gene-pool. Hence some of the worst things that happened in the second world war.”

“Oh. No, it's not really that.”

“You're saying there are more differences between us?”

“Rose, you're the doctor. I'm sure you've studied lots about the differences between men and women.” he teased.

“Oh, you! Answer the question!”

“I haven't got a complete list. I don't think your hearing goes as high as mine, for instance. Some more obvious differences are from diet, I know. Grandpa didn't know that when he first made his guess, though.”

“More obvious differences?”

“How long can you hold your breath?”

“Urm, maybe a minute, two at most.”

“You're welcome to do some tests on me sometime, but I can go for something like ten minutes, not a problem. Fifteen if I needed to, but I'd be gasping.”

“I've heard... free-divers, voluntarily overriding their gasp-reflex, being totally still, yeah, I've heard of that.”

“But not when they're swimming, I presume.”

“What? No.”

“So, part of it is diet — there's a mixture of herbs we make a drink out of that helps with what you called the gasp-reflex, I think. Tastes foul the first few times. But there's more. Our muscles are darker than yours.” He laughed. “Gran told me that she confidently told grandpa that drinking the herb mixture would make his blood and muscles darker. It didn't happen, but he said after he'd stopped trying to be sick, he was able to hold his breath longer, up to about eight minutes, I think he said, if he wasn't moving.”

“Wow!”

“It's risky of course, you get closer to running out of oxygen. For you, especially. I don't know what the dark blood and muscles does. Stores more in the first place, maybe, or uses it more efficiently? I don't know. Oops. I really wasn't going to tell you about this until the boat.”

“You're saying you're biologically adapted for diving, aren't you?”

“Who, me? Can we please leave this subject until later?” Rose had a flash of thought which made a lot of sense about things he'd said earlier, not to mention what Mabel had said.

“Just one more question, please?”

“If you insist, if this is not wheedling, and if it's asked quietly.”

[Was your grandfather upset or relieved when he saw his future wife had legs, not a fish-tail?]

James started laughing, and found he couldn't stop for almost half a minute. “Oh, Rose!” he said between giggles. “You don't know half of it. Come on, lets go shopping.”

[What? What? What's so funny?] she demanded.

[She has both, of course. The fish-tail's her skirt. Protective, insulating, helps you swim fast, stops you getting scratched by coral. I think you'll look gorgeous in fish-scale.]

[If it's so wonderful, do you wear it too?]

[Men's is greenish, not silver, and the design is different.]

[I can't wait to see this.]

----------------------------------------

CENTRAL LONDON, LONDON'S BIGGEST BOOKSHOP, OCT 29TH, 1975.

“You know what I hate about this place?” Rose muttered, looking at the irregular mountains of books that reduced the corridors to barely wide enough to pass. “I am ninety nine percent sure that the book we're looking for is here. I just can't find it.”

“My sister would weep.” James agreed.

Eventually, Rose found an assistant, who seemed to be actively trying to avoid any customers.

“Excuse me, I don't suppose you have any idea where I'd find a book about advances in technology in the twentieth century? Or failing that something about cutting edge technology in as many subject areas as you can think of?”

“Err, this the history section,” the man said in a strong accent.

“Yes. Is that why I see here a book on cooking omelettes?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Technology? Modern Science? Weapon systems?” Rose asked, thinking that perhaps he just didn't understand the word.

“Ah! Science, yes. This way!”

He excitedly led her past the science shelves (where Rose noticed in passing a book on advanced beekeeping next to one on Zen Budhism) to the childrens' department.

“Here, lady. Science!” he pointed. Next to “Noddy goes fishing “, she saw a book 'Materials Science for engineers.' It looked about twenty years old.

“Thank-you,” she said, resignedly, and picked it off the shelf, much to the annoyance of a spider.

“Any good?” James asked.

“Hmm. Not as bad as I thought, published a few years ago. What do you think?”

“I have no idea what half of these words mean.” he replied.

“Oh well.”

“Hey, what's this?” he said, picking out a flimsy magazine with a picture of an mushroom cloud on the cover. “'How it works' That sounds like a good book."

“Oh, I've seen those. They sell a new bit of it every week. That one was out sometime last year, maybe the year before.”

James flicked through it. “Yes. this would be perfect.” He found a diagram of an aircraft engine. “Oh, grandpa would have loved to see this! Do you think we could buy the complete set? It's ideal.”

“I really don't know. Urm... it might be. They certainly sell back issues.”

“Great! Just in case, can we get this one?”

Aware that his enthusiasm was attracting glances, she touched his hand. [People are noticing you. You really think this is what you need?] she asked.

[Yes. Firstly, it's got pictures, so even people who can't read it can get the idea of what you're up to. Secondly its simple language. It's got the principles, and everything. I think it'll really fill in some gaps.] Flipping through the history of the aeroplane that it illustrated, he added [This is scary, Rose. Just so you know.]

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

[Why?]

[We plod at things, you're sprinting. When grandpa came, planes looked like this now... does this thing fly?] he asked pointing at the picture of Concorde.]

[Yes. I've seen it on television. I think they're saying it'll be going from London to New York in two or three hours, and Australia in five, I think it was.]

[And you put cameras under planes, to see what's there.]

[And on satellites soon, to look at the weather.]

[Soon, you'll have photographs of everywhere on the planet, won't you?]

[Probably.]

[We'll need to talk to people. Would you be terribly sad if we don't take up live as caveman-hunter and cave-woman-doctor when we're back?]

[There's an alternative?]

[Oh yes. Quite a few, actually. Rose?]

[Yes?]

[You live in a city, but like the open air.]

[Very true.]

[Why don't you live in the countryside?]

[I don't know. I guess I like to see people, see things happening. Watch strange men...]

[I hope you've got over that one.]

[Absolutely.]

[Then let's go and see how difficult it is to get a complete set of these.]

“Oh look, there's another one!” Rose said. Seeing it between 'Mable Mouse learns to fly' and 'The complete works of Shakespeare.'

“And one more!”

By the time they'd reached the exit, they'd gathered, and paid for, ten editions of the magazine. None had been in the science section.

James was delighted to find another two in the news-agent they passed on the way back to Rick's warehouse.

----------------------------------------

Rose had briefed James about some things he might want to say to the receptionist at the publishers. This was a time when his accent would be helpful, maybe. She hoped.

“Hello, I'm calling about your excellent 'How it works' periodical.” James said.

“Yes, sir?”

“I'm visiting England and I've just found some copies on sale. It's just what I'd like to give to a school back home, and the school is very remote, travel is so very difficult. We don't get post much more than once every couple of months. I'm going back in a less than a week. Would I be able to come and pick up a complete set of back-issues?”

“The back orders are available by the postal service, sir.”

“Yes, but as I say, I'm leaving in under a week. What I'd really like is a complete set, well, two really. I see you have binders also? I don't suppose that's possible is it? There's so much knowledge of how the world has changed, and the technical detail is wonderful. It's wonderful! I'd hate to have to just buy a copy of Britannica, it's so much less suited to their educational needs. Please, tell me it would be possible? I'd rather buy proof-copies from you, if that's what it'll take, than leave without.”

“I'll have to talk to the manager, sir.”

“Of course. Could I call you back? I'm using a pay phone, the hotel's phone isn't working for some reason.”

“Very well, sir.”

He rang off.

“Hopeful?” Rose asked.

“I think so.”

“I think I know why the hotel's phone isn't working.” Rose commented.

“Me too. But I wasn't going to say the hotel's phone isn't working because it doesn't exist any more than the hotel, was I?”

“I like our 'hotel'. Good company, clean, comfortable, urm... sofa.”

“Or hall carpet as the case may be.” James added. “Yes. I'm entirely happy, except for one thing.”

“What's that?”

“Waiting until Saturday.”

“You don't mind me not wearing a wedding dress?”

“It's your culture, not mine.”

----------------------------------------

LONDON, WED. EVENING, OCT 29TH

After Rose had cooked, and they'd all eaten, what Rick claimed was his favourite meal: egg, beans and spam, it was time for Rose 'to think for a bit', as she described it to Rick. He was somewhat used to his little sister being weird, so he was fine with that idea. Prompted by his experience with James, he was double checking all his stock for jewelery which was more (or less) than it seemed. Mostly it was very ordinary, so Rick was only going to make a thirty or forty percent profit on what he'd lent the non-returning customers. He'd roped James in as an extra pair of eyes.

[Mabel is now convenient as lesson time?]

[Hello, Rose. Of course! About the only thing I know about and you don't is finding people by category.]

[Yes, you've mentioned that.]

[Now, first you think of what sort of person you're looking for, and then you focus on the skin of the town or the country, or wherever it is you think they might be.]

[So, I could look for say, muggers in London?]

[I guess so, but what good would that do? You'd probably get hundreds, and I don't recommend you go rounding them up personally.]

[Good point, so I won't look at that category.]

[Is there any sort of person you are on the look out for, say, an organist for your wedding?]

[No, we've got one of those, we've got everything we want for the trip. I can't think of any category of people I want to meet. Oh, wait! My big brother really needs a good woman in his life.]

[{laughter} And that's your job, is it?]

[I did volunteer to keep my eyes peeled. He's thirty-three and still hasn't found one. We have an uncle who became a grandfather when he was thirty.]

[That's a bit early.]

[I know. Big scandal, of course. I've no idea what they were thinking letting their son do the same. They registered the grandchild as my aunt and uncle's kid, to save the kid that shame.]

[Hmm, the less said about that the better, too. So, you want to find him a good wife, do you? You're not worried about trying to look into the future?] Mabel had had that discussion with her already. [I didn't say that, well, yes ideally she'd turn into his wife, but I was more thinking... if I look for who he ought to be romancing now, then that doesn't mean he's going to marry her, does it? The last girl was a disaster, from what I understood, I think he's thinking that he's doomed to be a bachelor all his life. And he's a good man, with a steady income. I think he'd be a great dad.]

[Then by all means, go for it. You'll see one or more dots, and then you if you choose one, you focus in closer, to see where they are in more detail. It's a bit like looking for people, but backwards. And then you can focus on the skin of the room to get a name. If you go beneath skin deep on the room, you'll get a full name, which you might need, of course.] Mabel told her.

[O.K. Here goes.]

Rose thought of an appropriate girlfriend for Rick, one who most needed his qualities and who he'd be able to seriously consider as a wife, and focussed on the 'skin' of London. She got nothing. Assuming she was doing it right, then no wonder Rick hadn't found anyone! Had she been too idealistic? She looked at the skin of Britain, and saw a dot. Up near Loch Ness, if her geography was any good, which it usually wasn't.

That was going to take some explaining. She focussed in, and found the girl, or woman was sitting in the middle of, what, a field? Yes, sheltering under some heather. Rose wasn't sure how she knew it was heather, but she was certain. She checked her name, and sat back in surprise.

[James, do you know a Karella Eudora Matthew Turnbull?]

[A cousin. Dad's biggest brother's youngest daughter. Why?]

[She's in Scotland.]

[Why?]

[I have no idea.]

[Is she OK?]

[I'll check, hang on.]

Rose checked Karella's skin. She was cold, and regretful. Rose checked deeper, Karella regretted coming, regretted following James, as if she'd ever find him, regretted running away; sharks weren't so bad as tourists, and most of all she regretted ever leaving her boat in the loch. She didn't think anyone had seen her boat, and somehow she'd slipped out just to get the feel of sleeping on land for once. But now the place seemed to be crawling with people looking into the water. Was this some strange custom, or had the boat been sighted after all?]

[Mabel, it looks like the girl it would be good for my brother to go out with is James' cousin, currently thinking she's been a silly girl somewhere up near what might be Loch Ness, but I'm no good at geography.]

[Oh, really? There was a Nessie sighting the other day, not in loch Ness itself, but Loch Linnhe, which almost connects. Someone claimed they saw a big bulbous thing going up and down through the water.]

[That sounds awfully plausible. I'll talk to James and see what we can do.]

[I don't suppose you know if she hears thoughts do you?]

[Wait a mo. I'll ask.]

[James, can Karella hear thoughts?]

[Urm... Can't remember, sorry.]

[Someone glimpsed her boat and thought it might be the Loch Ness monster. She's really regretting deciding to follow you here.]

[Oh, great. She thought she'd come and have an adventure too?]

[To quote one of her thoughts 'I shouldn't have run away, sharks aren't as bad as tourists'.]

[Oh wow. I'd guess she's really depressed then. She lost her mother and big brother to sharks when she was eight.]

[So, shall I try and call her, or might a call from her favourite cousin's fiancée be the last thing she needs?]

[I'm her favourite cousin?]

[She did follow you.]

[Maybe she thought me coming was a way out of the sea. But there are plenty of others... Please try and call her, Rose.]

[Mabel could, if you like.]

[No. You do it please.]

[What'd be her formal name? Karella bnt Eudora hi Matthew?]

[Yes. But do you really want to be that formal?]

[What does it signify?]

[From a woman of her own age, it's sort of fighting talk.]

[Oh! I don't want to fight her.]

[I was wondering if you were getting jealous, thinking of my pretty cousin come to find me....]

[Don't be silly. Or is it not silly?]

[Very silly. She is quite pretty, but I'm not interested.]

[OK. Does she speak English?]

[Yes.]

[Great. Maybe she can get here for the wedding.]

[I wonder what she's wearing...]

[Your best guess?]

[If she's wearing her scales, she's stupider than I thought. If she's wearing the swimming costume I know she found at sea once, that's not much better is it?]

[If I can talk to her, then I'll ask.] Rose reached out to Karella and called

[Karella, do you hear me?]

[Who's there?] Rose sensed her looking round.

[I'm Rose, I'm in London.]

[Oh. You've got the same gift as Grandpa had?]

[So I'm told. I've only had it a week. Urm, two questions, no three, make it four actually.]

[Yes?]

[I sense you're cold. Are you going to survive the night?]

[Yes, I'm not that cold.]

[Good. Next question, I'm marrying your cousin James on Saturday, do you want to come, since you're sort of near?]

[{shock} You're marrying him?]

[Yes, and then I'm leaving with him, and with lots of books and medicines and such like.]

[You want to leave England to be shark bait?]

[No, I want to leave England to be a doctor. I can't be one here, it seems.]

[Oh. It seems odd; all my life I've dreamed of living here. It's so beautiful!]

[Don't tell anyone you're in England where you are now unless you want to pick a fight, you'll upset them a lot. That far north is Scotland.]

[Sorry, urm, yes, I knew that.]

[England's got nice bits too. London here isn't so pretty, but there's lots of people, seriously plenty of people. And only the two-legged sorts of sharks.]

[Those get everywhere. Sorry, you asked about your wedding. Yes, I'd be really happy to come. What were your other questions?]

[Well, next question, James really hopes you're not wearing your scales or your swimsuit, what are you wearing.]

[You're going to laugh at me.]

[Go on.]

[I brought a dress grandma wore once. It's all lace and silk and I thought it was so beautiful, and I thought how lovely it would be to wear it all the time. I see it's not exactly normal now, is it?]

[You're wearing a hundred year old dress?]

[I guess so. No, not a hundred years old. Nineteen-ten, I guess.]

[With a corset?]

[No. Should I have one?]

[Only if you don't want to breathe.]

[I'm glad I got that right. No one up here seems to be wearing anything like it. I should have thought that fashions would change.]

[Well, welcome to the nineteen seventies. The fashion now is pretty much wear whatever you want, whatever's you. So, if you might get some funny looks, but I've seen people wearing stranger clothes. Is it he fabric plain, or flower pattern or what?]

[Plain, yellow, with lots of frills.]

[If anyone asks, tell them it's patterned after one of Laura Ashley's designs, but you preferred that fabric. Laura Ashley's famous for old-style dresses, but she uses print fabric. Does that make sense?]

[Urm yes. OK. So it's not so out of place?]

[No. You're allowed to feel pretty.]

[I did when I put it on. I'm not sure I do now. I'm damp and cold and not a little muddy.]

[Well, I think we can solve that one too, so don't worry.]

[Really? I'm stupid, aren't I? I shouldn't have come.]

[Well, maybe not. But I expect God can turn it to good. What were your plans?]

[I don't know. I was going to talk to James, and ask him how I could stay.]

[You're serious?]

[I hate the sea.]

[Oh. Urm. Now is probably not the time or place.]

[What?]

[No, I'll try to forget I thought it.]

[What?]

[One way to stay. My mother's a terrible schemer, not honest, not reasonable, not Christian, a terrible nag, and a thief if she can get away with it, so don't trust her an inch. She's also done something, well, tried to, which would get her thrown out of our culture. It involved me and I'm not talking to her. But if you're moneyless, jobless and desperate enough, maybe you could use my room. I can leave some money with my big brother to pay for your rent while you try to find a job. He's a good guy. Just in case you're thinking of finding a husband, that's normally a lot slower here than at home. Think, oh, a year or so from deciding you're interested in each other. Announcing a wedding in less than four months is a bit...scandalous. Well, it rather implies you've not been waiting for the wedding, and you want the baby to be born to married parents.]

[But you're marrying James on Saturday? You can't have met him that long ago!]

[Yes. It's a bit shocking to everyone, it'd probably be bad for my reputation if I was staying, except of course that I haven't known him for ages, if that makes sense. But anyway, he's leaving soon and going with him unwed would be far worse, wouldn't it?]

[Certainly.]

[And anyway, I'm weird, so no-one expects me to stick to rules.]

[Why do you say you're weird?]

[I'd enjoy sleeping under a great mound of heather.]

[It's prickly, but it keeps the wind off. It's raining, though.]

[I don't mind rain, either.]

[OK. I admit it, you're probably right when you say you're weird.]

[Glad you agree. Urm... James said that the women of his people were warriors.]

[Very often. I'm not.]

[That's good.]

[It is?]

[You can get arrested if you wander around with an offensive weapon.]

[Really?]

[Even a bread knife if you're carrying it to defend yourself.]

[Why would I carry a bread knife when I've got a proper dagger?] Karella was confused.

[OK. Let me back up a bit... are you carrying any weapons?]

[Just a dagger and a blow-pipe.]

[A blow-pipe?]

[Yes. For hunting.]

[Urm. Are we talking poisoned darts or something?]

[Just a muscle-relaxant.]

[OK, Karella, people in Britain don't carry weapons. Not law-abiding people, anyway. Certain people and certain times might, say if they're going to hunt grouse, they'd carry a shot-gun, but they'd have a licence for it, they wouldn't carry it loaded, and they'd probably have it in a locked case if they were walking down the road. If someone sees you wandering around with a dagger and a blow-pipe, assuming they recognise it, then they're going to call the police and you're going to find yourself hunted down by police, probably with dogs.]

[{fear} And then what? Killed?]

[No, not unless that's the only way they can stop you killing someone. We don't even execute murderers any more. But you'd be arrested, put in prison, and there'd be a lot of questions. The sort you don't want to answer, like where you come from, how did you get here, and so on. Oh, and if you give your name to anyone, they're going to be very confused if you include your dad's name. Stick to your first name and your surname.]

[Surname?]

[Turnbull]

[Oh. OK. So, I need to hide my dagger?]

[Certainly. Preferably in the ground.]

[I don't want to lose it.]

[Then at least wear it somewhere no one's going to notice it. Preferably wrapped up so even if they do find it, you can say that you weren't carrying it to attack anyone with, but just because you're attached to it and that was the only way to not leave it behind.]

[That matters?]

[At school we were told that if you're carrying a pot of pepper to defend yourself if attacked, then that makes it an offensive weapon.]

[Oh. OK, I can do that, I think. I've got some fabric. What about the blow-pipe? I've learned to play some simple tunes on it.]

[Really? I guess if you can say it's a folk instrument, then you're OK. I don't know what you want to do with the darts though, they'd be a bit incriminating, I think. But while you work on those things, I'll just talk to someone else, OK?]

[Thank you, Rose.]

Rose called to update Mabel.

[Sorry that took so long, Mabel.]

[That's fine. So, I presume she can hear you?]

[Yes. She wants to stay, apparently that's one mermaid who hates the sea.]

[Oh! James told you?]

[He let something slip and I worked it out.]

[He wasn't upset?]

[No. He found it funny actually, when I asked if his grandfather was pleased his grandmother didn't have a tail.]

[Oh, well done. So, you're planning to tell your brother to rescue the mermaid in distress?]

[I wasn't planning to be that obvious about it. I told her I could leave some money with him to pay mum rent for her.]

[Is your mum a good landlady?]

[No. But I've warned Karella about that. Would you be able to visit Scotland, Mabel? Otherwise it'll mean wiring her the money somehow, educating her enough to catch the right train... I can just see so many things going wrong.]

[I thought you'd never ask! And don't go worrying about money, either, Jacob left us plenty.]

[That was a long time ago.]

[I still owe it to the family. Even if I wasn't very comfortably off, which I am, thank-you, I'd do the same.]

[Thank you, Mabel. Maybe I should find somewhere else for her to stay, though, or it might push Karella into putting her dagger into use.]

[Not another warrior maid?]

[Not by the sounds of it. But she does have a dagger and blow-pipe.]

[That'll prove interesting to the guard.]

[Apparently she can play music on the blow-pipe, and she's planning to hide the dagger, all wrapped up. I guess strapped to her leg or something. I suggested she bury it but she didn't want to. It should hould be all right. Oh, she's wearing a nineteen-ten frilly thing.]

[And cursing it every minute, like her grandma, because she can't get at her weapons?]

[Not at all. I guess she's more the romantic type. She thought it'd be lovely to wear.]

[At least she didn't arrive a decade or two ago, then.]

----------------------------------------

“All fixed?” James asked, when Rose went to find the men.

“Pretty much. Mabel's going to meet her, and bring her to the wedding.”

“What's this?” Rick asked.

“James' cousin decided she wanted to sample the wonders of British cooking too. No, that's not true. She decided she could run away from home, meet James, and find out how she could stay here. For some reason she's up near Loch Linnhe.”

“Probably my fault. She asked where I'd come aground, and I told her I thinking of there. I never thought she'd follow me.”

“Hold on a mo. How do you know any of this?”

“It's not just holding hands, Rick. God's made it so I can have silent conversations with anyone who can hear thoughts now. Fortunately Karella can.”

“So she called for help?”

“No, Rick. I was practicing looking for people by category and I saw her.”

“Oh. You just happened to look for James's relatives and there was one?”

“Actually, no, Rick. Hold on, I forgot to tell her something.” [Karella?]

[Hi, Rose.]

[Do you know or know of a distant relative of yours called Mabel?]

[Grandfather's cousin?]

[Exactly. She was training me in using this thing when I found you. She's going to come and find you.]

[Oh! That's wonderful.]

[The other thing I've just decided that I ought to tell you. I wasn't looking for James' relatives. I was looking for people, girls, I ought to introduce to my brother. He's just about given up looking here, and I wanted to help him out a bit.]

[You mean...]

[I mean I was hoping to do some matchmaking, yes. I wasn't looking for his future wife, just women who he should be talking to. Maybe God just used my search to find you in your trouble, and that's all there is to it, but... maybe you would be a good fit together.

That's what I didn't want to tell you, but staying with my parents like I was thinking of, it just won't work, you'd be so tempted to get your dagger out. Plus he's asking how I found you.

I'll ask around at Church for a better place for you to stay.]

[Thank you, Rose.]

[Do you mind if I tell him roughly what I just told you?]

[What, that you were trying to matchmake? Not at all. I was planning to ask James if he knew any nice Christian men he could introduce me to. I have no idea, really, what it's like to live here as a single woman trader, but I'm guessing it's better to not be single, vulnerable and helpless.]

[You're a trader?]

[Yes. I buy stuff, sell stuff, end up with more than I started with.]

[I thought you were pretty young.]

[Twenty five. I've been trading since I was eighteen. How old's your brother?]

[Thirty-three.]

[What's he do?]

[Did your grandfather talk about pawnbrokers? He's one of those.]

[Lend someone some money, take something in exchange, give it back if they pay up later or sell it if they don't?]

[Exactly. And adjust the amount of interest depending on how much you trust them, what you think they can afford, and so on.]

[Sounds fun. Of course I don't know what things are worth here.]

[I'll let you discuss that with him.]

[I'm looking forward to meeting him.]

[I'll tell him I've been matchmaking then.]

[Thanks!]

Rose laughed, and Rick looked confused.

“What's so funny.”

“I started off apologising to her, and her response was roughly speaking 'Ooh goody, I can't wait!'”

“Apologising for what?”

“Keeping a promise to you.”

“Why do you need to appologise... no.... you were looking for a wife for me?”

“Nothing that predestination — like. A woman who you'd consider and who most needed someone like you. So... Maybe all she needs from you is a bit of rescue and the odd contact in the business world, or something. Or... maybe. She's looking forward to meeting you.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No idea. Somewhere between when I first spoke to her and the end of our conversation my estimation of her changed considerably.”

“James, you know her better, I presume.” Rick asked.

“Not very well. And only in the context of family, that's different.”

“Oh come on, tell me something about this girl you've set me up with, Rose!”

“She's twenty-five. She decided to wear a frilly dress from 1910 or so because she thought it was beautiful, and was a bit disappointed that fashions have changed. I reassured her that she could wear what she wanted to.”

“I hope you added 'within reason',” James said.

“Why?” Rose asked.

“Because she's Karella,” he said with a smile.

“What does that mean?” Rick asked.

“Karella sometimes gets enthusiastic about things without thinking them through fully. I'm guessing that's part of how she ended up in Scotland. Not all of it, but part. I would expect another part is that she's seen too much death at home.”

“What happened?”

“Wait a moment, I'll bring the family Bible, I promised to show Rose it a long time ago.”

“The family Bible?” Rick asked Rose, as James left.

“Record of Births, deaths and marriages.”

“Oh.”

----------------------------------------

“So Karella was brought up by her Mum alone, who then died in the same year as her big brother?” Rick asked.

“Big brother, aged fifteen, went to try to protect his Mother from the shark she was defending him from. Its possible that he caused both deaths by doing that, distracting her at a critical moment. It's been known to happen, in this case, no one knows. Do not say it in Karella's hearing. Her father died when he went to find his first son, who'd stayed out too long when a storm was coming. They found each other, but got smashed against the rocks.”

“Ouch.” Rick responded. “And Benjamin's wife got stung by a jellyfish?”

“It was an unusual reaction. Normally that type are just like a bee sting. But...”

“Allergic reaction?” Rose guessed.

“I guess so,” James said, then continued, “after her mother's death, my grandparents took her in. She took up life as a trader, travelling from village to village, buying this, selling that. Grandpa died three years ago, peacefully in his sleep, when she was actually at home. She said something about making sure she died like that.”

“Maybe I should burst her bubble,” Rose said. “Peacefully at home isn't nearly as common as we'd like to hope. The problem with living until you're old is there's more chance of cancer and things like that.”

“What's this about Penelope dying from radiation?”

“She didn't really accept my uncle's death, and thought he'd gone to an island and she just needed to find out which one. We're pretty sure she visited a nuclear test site. Grandpa said her symptoms matched radiation poisoning. I guess he asked around, like Rose can.”

“Yeah, Rick...” Rose said “If things don't work out between you and Karella, try to make sure you part on good terms, O.K? She's going to be the only way I can keep in touch with you all.”