Michel was beginning to fuss, so Kara took him out back rather than stay to answer. The back veranda was thankfully covered and in shade, with wide padded benches. Kara selected one of these and placed Michel on the bench beside her. It soon became apparent that his sole interest was crawling about, so Kara let him do so where she could see him.

Toro had been turned loose out back with the other horses, and he lifted his head and shook his mane in recognition, whickered a horsey greeting, and went back to contentedly cropping the grass.

Kara had to marvel at a cascade of honeysuckle growing up, off and over a circle of tall poles adjacent the corner of the house. The flowers were of every colour, hue and variety and the air was redolent with their scent. The air vibrated with the thrum of bees' and other insects' wings, and with the hum, buzz and chip of seemingly hundreds of hummingbirds. The poles, Kara soon realised, had actually been part of something at one time- there were the remnants of braces that no doubt held some sort of platform high aloft, perhaps a watchtower of some sort . . .

As if echoing her thoughts, Kara found herself listening very hard. It took her several moments to realise that what she listened to was the complete silence that had fallen. Instinctively looking to the horses, she saw that they were no longer cropping- that they were instead standing with their heads raised, looking about, their ears twitching, listening.

Kara discovered that her mouth had suddenly gone dry. Without thinking, she scooped up Michel as he played obliviously and darted for the back door. She found Anana and her mother-in-law chattering away as they washed vegetables in a pedestal sink and chopped them into pieces on a cutting-board. Anana looked up, noticed Kara's expression, and set down her knife.

'Kara? What is wrong?'

'I don't know,' Kara replied, 'but the forest has gone very quiet. I think there's something out there.'

'Oh? Well, let's go have a look,' Anana said in a matter-of-fact tone that belied that she had taken Kara's words very seriously. As Anana took one of the rifles that were always handy, Theresa tacitly took Michel from Kara so that Kara could join her friend on the back veranda.

'Could it be some sort of predator, do you think?' Kara asked innocently.

'The only predators to be found on an island walk on two legs,' Anana told her, opening the bolt, checking it and closing it once more. Then, with breathtaking speed, she turned, aimed into the forest and fired all in one blur of motion. 'Next time I don't just shoot your cap off!' Anana yelled, ejecting the spent shell casing and ramming another bullet into place. 'Come out of there or I shoot for blood this time!'




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