Chapter 5

"Have I got a tale for you!" Weena exclaimed as I walked in.

"Okay. You first."

"Rick called."

"Rick?"

"Of Rick and Sue."

"Right."

"He said he'd been in touch with his friends and one of the men who spoke to Perk is ASIS!"

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (= CIA or MI6) is part of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Its charter says that it will: "Protect and promote Australia's vital interests through the provision of unique foreign intelligence services as directed by Government."

"That explains a lot."

"Yes. And not stuff we want to get involved in. But there's more. The bloke who said he was from Taxation was ASIO."

"Great!"

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (=FBI or MI5). ASIO does not make details of its activities public and law prevents the identities of ASIO officers from being disclosed. ASIO and the Commonwealth Government say that operational measures ensuring the legality of ASIO operations have been established.

ASIO briefs the Attorney-General on all major issues affecting security and he/she is also informed of operations when considering granting warrants enabling the special investigative powers of ASIO.

"I'm not sure there's much we can do."

"Your turn. Tell me about your day."

I told her about Beazley and the reporter. "Where's Patrick?"

"Reading."

"Reading? Did I miss something?"

"He calls it reading. He's in the playpen and recites a story while turning pages. He gets the first 'Ant and Bee' right most of the time."

"Our boy genius!"

"I need to look at your arm." I took off my shirt and Weena examined the angry-looking swathe. "You've overdone it."

"I guess so. I wore the sling most of the time."

"You're healing well. We'll start exercises tomorrow. Oh, daddy called. He's home in Margaret River. Mary's fine. The river's a bit low."

"I haven't tracked the rain down there."

"I'm going to work tomorrow. Martha will be here with Patrick. I'll go in early, but I'm not sure how long I'll be there. I've not talked to anyone at Royal Perth since I was on the telly. I thought someone might call, but no one did."

"Fear?"

"Of what?"

"Unknown consequences. They're most likely a conservative bunch. Let's go see Patrick."

I spent the next hour 'playing ball.' We'd sit about two metres apart and I'd roll the spongy ball to Patrick. He'd (more or less) roll it back to me, giggling most of the time. Then he said: "'Nuff. Torie time." and crawled over to me.

"Long, long ago in a far away place there was a young man. One day, while he was working on his farm, a beautiful white bird came swooping down and fell to the ground at his feet. The man saw that an arrow had pierced through one of the bird's wings. Taking pity on the beautiful bird, he broke off the head of the arrow, pulled out the shaft and cleaned the wound. Thanks to his care the bird was soon able to fly again. The young man sent the crane back to the sky, saying, "Be careful to avoid hunters." The crane circled three times over his head, let out a cry as if in thanks, and flew away."

"Bird have owie?"

"That's right."

"Got fixed?"

"Exactly."

"Sleep now." I called Weena and she changed him and put him down.

"What kind of tale was that?"

"Japanese, I think. It was the only one I could think of where a hurt arm got fixed."

"Smart daddy."

"It's actually much longer and ends unhappily. Patrick didn't need that."