Deeper Water by Jessie Cole

visions of unknown women, all different but somehow the same. Unmemorable. ‘How could you not remember them?’
    ‘Lots of guys wouldn’t remember everyone they’ve slept with. Ask young Billy next time, he’ll tell you.’
    This was hard to comprehend, but with all the things I’d been told about men, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. I stored that information deep within me, best brought out and examined at another time.
    ‘But you’re still pretty young, Mema,’ Hamish mused, looking at me again. ‘I forget, ’cause you’re a bit …’
    My whole body seemed to lean towards him, listening for the next word.
    ‘Unusual,’ he said finally.
    ‘You think I’m weird?’ I guess I was insulted.
    ‘No, not weird, a bit different from other women your age, maybe.’
    ‘Right.’ I wasn’t sure where to put that sentence. He’d said it once before, but this time I didn’t know where to store it.
    ‘I really like you, Mema, don’t get me wrong.’ He leaned towards me, nudging me again with his shoulder. ‘You saved my life, remember. You’re my knight in shining armour.’
    I had to smile. ‘We already worked that out. A man for a calf. We’re even.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    My house appeared in the distance, shimmering in the sun. It was always peculiar seeing it from a distance when usually you were inside. I wondered if Mum had finished in the shed, if she’d be pottering around making lunch. This far away the house looked gracious, like a homestead, but when you got up close you could see the wear and tear. I had always loved it, filled with the familiar, but it was different imagining it through Hamish’s eyes. So many things were. I felt suddenly self-conscious, and even though I was still damp I stopped a minute to put on my skirt. Hamish kept walking.
    ‘Your foot doesn’t stop you,’ he called back. ‘It’s pretty amazing.’
    ‘I guess.’ I flicked my wet hair back over my shoulder. ‘I’ve got special boots and everything, you know, for walking in town, but I never seem to need them around here.’
    Maybe it was because I’d been walking this land for so long, but I always felt it accommodated me. That there was a way to walk through it without being off balance, that the land somehow came to my aid—shored up all my weak points. In town I became clumsy, as though all the straight lines and pavements tripped me up. The world became even, no undulations, and I became off centre.
    Mum was still in the shed when we went inside and I gave Hamish a towel for the shower. The clothes he arrived in were so covered in birth gunk they’d gone mouldy in the rain. In any case, the jumper was a write-off from the beginning. He was looking pretty scrappy, and I figured I should try to find him something better to wear, now the lights were back on and I could have a proper look. Having four brothers, you’d think we’d have a few old things lying around, but the truth was, I don’t think they ever had much.
    I was kneeling on the floor of the storeroom, peering into some of the bottom drawers, searching, when I heard steps behind me.
    ‘Mema?’ It was Hamish.
    I turned around. He’d had the quickest shower on earth.
    ‘I think I need your help.’
    I grabbed an old pair of board shorts and a shirt and scrambled up, looking for clues on his face.
    ‘With what?’
    ‘Can you come and see?’
    I followed him into the bathroom and he pointed at the shower recess. There were a couple of cane toads in the corner.
    ‘Yeah, those guys are always there.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘They like it. The wetness.’ I hadn’t tied up my hair yet, and as I moved it kept flopping forward across my shoulders. It was slippery, my hair, that’s why I liked to keep it plaited. ‘I don’t even know how they get in here. They’re not supposed to be able to, but I think they jump up the stairs.’
    ‘What should I do with them?’ he asked me. ‘Have you got something to kill them