Blue Shifting (23 page)

He climbed to his feet. Perhaps two hundred metres to his left, beside the slide in a childrens' playground, he saw Kim. She was standing with her back to him. He looked around for Katia, and found her: she was crossing the road towards the playground. She called Kim's name and the girl turned, delight evident in her sudden start of surprise.

Janner scanned his immediate vicinity – if he could see Katia and Kim, then there was a chance that he would be able to spot the American Katia had mentioned. No sooner had he realised this than a tall, broad figure emerged from behind a toilet block to his right, perhaps fifty yards away. Janner looked back towards Katia and Kim. They were hugging, as yet oblivious of him. He still had time to make good his escape. The town proper began on the far side of the football field; he'd be able to lose himself down the side-streets in no time.

But even as he considered this, something stopped him from heading off in that direction. The American – if, indeed, such he was – was walking towards Katia and Kim in the playground. Janner recalled what Katia had said about the American she'd seen in Alex. She'd described him as angry and loud. Janner found himself unable to leave. He knew Katia and Kim to be sane and decent people; he had no such assurances in the case of the American. As much as part of him cried out for the safety of non-involvement, he knew he could not turn his back on Katia and the girl.

The tall, long-haired man had halted some way from Katia and Kim, and stood watching them. Janner hurried towards the playground. Katia looked up, saw the American, and then Janner. "Greg!" She waved, smiling in delight. "Look, Kim – look who is here!"

The girl turned – was there a trace of a smile on her face, the slightest sign of recognition in her eyes?

Janner smiled and nodded at Katia, as nervous as if they were meeting for the first time.

Katia was staring around her. "Where are we, Greg? It looks to me like Africa."

"Australia." He glanced across at the watching man. He stood beside a climbing frame; for all his impressive size, he seemed to emanate an aura of uncertainty, even timidity.

Katia followed his gaze. "Greg, he is the man I saw the other day."

Janner nodded. "Another member of our exclusive little club."

She was shaking her head. "In Surabaya he was like a crazy man."

Janner said: "Maybe he was, but he seems fine now." Despite himself, he felt something like pity for the man.

Slowly, he lifted his hand in a salute which, to any observer, must have appeared bizarre indeed.

The man returned it and, after a second's hesitation, walked across to join them. He halted three metres from the group. He glanced at Janner obliquely, then at Katia with the same shifting, sliding look.

He was, thought Janner, one of those unfortunate giants that nature has handicapped with a manner debilitatingly meek. His hair was long and greying, but his face, though weather-worn and stubbled, must once have been handsome. Janner judged him to be in his forties, with eyes that had seen much and as a result seemed far older. He wore multi-pocketed combat breeches, a checked shirt and a lumber jacket.

He bobbed his head at Katia. When he looked at Janner it was fleetingly, with almost a wince in his expression.

It's as if he fears me, Janner thought.

"Saw you in Alex, miss," he drawled, his voice surprisingly soft.

Katia smiled uneasily. She shrugged. "This is Greg, and here is Kim. I am Katia."

The American shook Janner's hand without meeting his eyes, then held out a finger to the girl. She shook it, much to Janner's surprise. "Hi there, honey," the man said, then to Katia: "Friends call me LJ."

Katia nodded. "I saw you in Surabaya first, and then in Alexandria."

LJ gave a half-smile. "Hope you didn't take no notice of me in Surabaya, miss. I guess I was kinda off my head."

Janner gestured. "What's been happening to us is enough to send us all a little crazy."

LJ ducked him a brief glance. They sat on the grass as the sun came up, casting their long shadows across the playground. LJ removed his coat, folded it neatly and lodged a plastic bag beside it.

"Where are you from, LJ?" Janner asked.

The big man stared at the grass. "Oregon, USA."

Katia glanced at him. "Did you too begin all this five days ago?"

LJ smiled. "Sure did, miss," he said. "Had my own place in the woods. I like walking, and that morning I was out taking a trail through some high pines. Then-" He slapped his hands together, "-then I'm smack-bang in the centre of Surabaya, walking down the main street. Christ, thought I was flashbacking. Thought I was being punished for fighting in the war – thought a hundred an' one things all at once, and I guess something went snap up here. I set to hollerin' an' creatin'... They locked me up – guess it was the best thing they could have done for me. Questioned me about how I got there with no passport an' all." He shrugged. "Then round comes five in the morning and it's goodbye Surabaya, hello Alex." He shrugged awkwardly again, glanced at Janner as if to see how he'd taken the story – Janner smiled and nodded – then started rooting in his plastic carrier bag. He pulled out a map of the world, opened it on the grass between them. He'd marked circles in black felt-tip around the cities they'd hit. LJ squinted around him. "Now where the hell is this place? If it were night, I could figure which hemisphere we're in from the stars."

Janner tapped Australia on the map, then indicated the goal posts. "I recognise them. I'm from New Zealand."

LJ nodded. He stared at the map, puzzling. "Can't seem to see no rhyme nor reason to what we doing shuttling back an' forth like this. Just plain dumb crazy, you ask me."

Janner considered the map. "I don't know. I admit I can't see a pattern – but there is a kind of internal consistency at work."

LJ squinted at him dubiously, scratching his head. "There is?"

"So far we've landed in five cities and this place – what looks like a big town. If we were being moved around the world at random, then we'd find ourselves – I don't know... in deserts, at the poles, on mountain-sides, even in the sea. A good percentage of the world's surface is wilderness, after all – and yet we
always
find ourselves in densely inhabited regions."

LJ nodded. "You got something there."

Janner smiled. "But don't try to ask me what it means."

LJ gave his head a hopeless shake. "Somebody must know, somewhere. Some expert must have some idea. I mean, it's happening, ain't it? You can't deny that. So if it's happening, there has to be some expert with an explanation."

Katia gestured. "I cannot see how we can ever hope to find out why this is happening to us."

LJ pointed at her. "With all respect, miss, I think that's where you're wrong. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. Tomorrow, next day – when we hit a city bigger than this hick town, I'll find out..."

In the silence that followed Katia turned the map around and placed it before Kim. She pointed to Leningrad, then to herself. "I come from here, Kim. Greg, from here. And LJ from here." She indicated the appropriate countries.

"What about you, Kim?" she asked. "Where do you come from?"

Lips pursed, the girl leaned forward, her koala bear backpack peering over her shoulder. Her finger hovered over central Asia, came down eventually and definitely an inch south of China. Janner peered, along with Katia and LJ.

"Cambodia," LJ said.

Kim gave the slightest nod to Katia. Janner noticed how her lively eyes darted from one to the other of them, and he wondered how much of the conversation she was taking in.

From his carrier bag LJ pulled a bottle of beer, and for the next hour as the sun strengthened they drank, traded stories, compared notes. LJ lost his nervousness, though even at the end of the hour he still found it hard to look Janner in the eye.

LJ folded his map with a fastidiousness at odds with his clumsy bulk. He stowed it away in his bag, sneaking Janner a crafty sidewise look. "Shee-it, man," LJ said.

Janner smiled. "What?"

LJ shrugged. "I'm sorry, Greg. It's just that you remind me of an old friend. Guy by the name of Powers. We were together in Nam, sixty-nine, seventy." LJ squinted, again shook his head. "It's eerie, dammit. You could pass for his twin brother." He fell silent, staring down at the grass. Then: "We were out on patrol, Christmas '70. Up at Khe Sanh, filing back to where the chopper was due to pick us up. One minute, all quiet – then all fucking hell broke loose. That was the frightening thing about fighting the VC – you never saw the bastards, Greg. Just saw what they did..." He paused there, then finished in a voice no louder than a whisper: "Powers never made it back."

Katia murmured that she was sorry.

LJ brightened. "Now you see why I looked at you like I was seeing a ghost? Goddam it! First I find myself all over the place, then I come across you!"

Janner smiled. "It's a strange world, LJ."

"Hey," the American said, climbing to his feet. "Let's find a diner someplace and have ourselves a breakfast. I'm buying."

They came across a cafe called
Robbo's Grill
on the main street in the centre of town. A dozen articulated trucks, tractor units and utility vans were drawn up outside. Next door to it was a newsagents. Janner went in and asked for a local paper to find out where they were. He changed fifty US dollars into Australian dollars and came out with the Townsville Gazette.

He met the others in the grill. They were sitting in a booth by the window, checking the menu. Janner slid the newspaper on to the Formica tabletop as he sat beside LJ, who peered at it, took out his map and methodically ringed the town with his black marker pen.

They ordered four mixed grills and coffees. As they ate, Janner covertly regarded the other three. He was surprised at how he was coming to accept the company of these strangers, especially after he had considered leaving them to their own devices just this morning.

Perhaps, he thought, we are all together in this mad happening for a reason. We've been brought together for a purpose... A part of him wanted to clear off, strike out on his own, while another part of him realised that perhaps his destiny was linked with these sad waifs and strays...

For Kim he felt pity and a curious kind of protectiveness; Katia provoked in him similar sentiments, feelings tempered though by her maturity and his inexperience with women. As for LJ... Despite his threatening size and marked eccentricity, Janner warmed to the American; there was something hurt and harmless about him, like a lion without teeth.

They finished their breakfast and LJ rooted in his carrier bag and pulled out a huge roll of hundred dollar bills. Kim stared.

LJ laughed. "I'm not a violent man, understand." He glanced around the group. "But I robbed a bank when I was in La Paz the other day. Figured I had to do something drastic if I wanted to eat – and the banks can afford to lose a few grand. I carved a pistol out of a block of wood and demanded all the US dollars they had. Then I ran like hell and buried myself under a pile of garbage in an alley, reckoning they wouldn't begin to look there. I was a long time under all the junk, but come five..."

He slapped a hundred dollar note on the tabletop. "Guess that'll more than cover it."

The proprietor, a fat man in a white, grease-stained apron, looked from the bill to LJ. "Last of the big spenders, sport?"

LJ hollered a laugh. "Plenty more where that came from!"

"Staying in town long?"

Janner said, "About a day."

"Found a room yet?"

LJ squinted up at him. "You recommend anywhere?"

"I'll say." He pointed over the road to an old, two-storey red-brick building with gingerbread ironwork balconies and gable windows. "House'll be yours for a hundred a night."

"Good place?" LJ asked.

"Sure is, sport. I own it. C'mon, I'll show you round."

~

One hour later, Janner sat on an upstairs balcony overlooking the football oval. Katia sat on a lounger, Kim stretched out in the sun with her head in the Russian's lap.

LJ knocked on the bedroom door, came in with two six-packs of cold beer and passed the cans round.

Janner had found a chess set in his room, and for a couple of hours he played the American on the balcony, drinking beer and listening to the parakeets in the eucalyptus trees.

After three games – all of which LJ won – they pushed the board aside and sat back in their chairs. Janner lodged his feet on the balcony rail and LJ tipped his chair back against the wall. Kim was sound asleep. Katia sat with her eyes closed, her face tipped to catch the afternoon sunlight.

LJ cleared his throat two or three times, as if he had an important announcement to make.

Janner turned his head on the back of his chair to look at the American. Katia opened her eyes.

"Okay," LJ began, "I've been giving it a deal of thought, and no doubt you all have too. Before I tell you what I think's going on, I'd like to hear what you think. Greg? Katia? Any ideas?"

Janner raised his eyebrows. Katia made an exaggerated shrugging gesture, went back to stroking Kim's hair.

"Greg?" LJ asked.

"If you really want to know what I think's happening," Janner said, "then I'll tell you. I'm probably wrong – I'm not sure I even believe it myself – but it's the only explanation I've come up with..."

"Well, let's have it."

"Okay... Something tells me that I'm hallucinating all this. Everything that's happened to me over the past few days is the product of in here-" He tapped his head. "I know all this
seems
real – but the brain's a powerful thing." He shrugged. "I can't begin to think what else might be responsible."

LJ was shaking his head. "Nice try, Greg – but it won't wash. If you were right, why, I'd be nothing but a figment of your hallucination, and I sure as hell know I ain't anything of the kind."

Janner smiled. "But if you
were
," he said, "then of course you'd say that. From my point of view, everything is an hallucination. There's no way you can verify your reality to me."