Night is falling now. I am not gone yet. Here, wind, listen. There is more. There is always more.
On a clear day towards the end of winter, the same day Flügel finally arrived in Heiligendorf, a large group of Peramangk arrived in the valley.
At first, the congregation considered them with a quiet sort of interest. But when, over the next few days, bark huts appeared at the periphery of the allotments, now cleared and dug and sown with wheat, curiosity turned into a kind of mute apprehension. It was clear that they had left the higher campsites, wrongly assumed to be permanent settlements, and intended to remain in the valley around the dwellings of the village.
Milling amongst the congregation after Flügel’s first service the next morning, I heard Rudolph Simmel tell Matthias and Hans that he had ventured close to one of the campfires the previous evening, wanting to have a closer look and make some sketches in his notebook. The ‘Schwarze’， as he called them, had promptly covered up their coals. ‘I suppose,’ he said, ‘they did not want much to do with me.’
Flügel spent the afternoon visiting the various allotments, listening to the concerns of the various families and nodding approvingly at the piglets and fowls delivered by MacFarlane’s men. Mostly he tried to allay the concerns about the debt, hanging over the congregation like a dark cloud, and I soon grew sick enough of wheat talk to leave the pastor alone and return to Thea’s side.
As I approached the Eichenwalds’ campsite, I noticed a group of Aboriginal women passing in the opposite direction. Anna Maria was watching them walk by, and as I reached their campfire, she stood up and, indicating that Thea should come with her, followed them at a distance. The women, while turning occasionally to look the Wend up and down, did nothing to make her stop but continued about their business, turning off the track and venturing further out into the bush behind the Eichenwalds’ allotment. Eventually they paused by a decaying tree and kneeled. Anna Maria peered over them, openly curious, and after glancing at each other, room was made for her to observe their work.
I watched them too. The woman at their centre looked at Thea and, gesturing, indicated a small bulge in the tree and a tiny hole beneath it. Cutting away the wood, she made a hook from a stick and prised something thick and white from the cavity inside.
Anna Maria raised her eyebrows. The woman smiled and tipped the large, slow-writhing grub into the Wend’s hand. She indicated that Anna Maria should eat it.
Anna Maria looked uncertain.
‘Is it a caterpillar?’ Thea whispered.
‘Eat,’ the woman said in English, encouraging her by bringing her fingers to her lips.
Anna Maria did so, chewing and swallowing quickly.
‘What does it taste like?’ Thea asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘Nutty.’
They watched as more grubs were pulled out.
‘Warum isst du sie nicht?’ asked Anna Maria, bringing her fingers to her mouth. She turned to Thea. ‘Why aren’t they eating them?’
The woman who had handed her the grub nodded towards a campfire smoking in a clearing beyond the tree.
‘I think she prefers to cook them.’ Thea turned. ‘Cook?’ she asked. ‘Das Feuer?’
‘Yes. Fire.’ The woman nodded again, then pointed at Anna Maria, imitating her bewildered expression. The group burst into easy laughter.
Magdalena and Pastor Flügel were waiting outside the Eichenwalds’ shelter when they returned from the bush. Thea spotted the pastor first, his dark sleeves flapping in the wind that had sprung up, one hand on his hat to keep it in place, and touched her mother’s elbow.
Anna Maria looked up from the grubs she held in her hands. ‘Thea,’ she murmured, eyes fixed on Magdalena, ‘where is the book?’
Thea stilled, teeth caught on her lip. ‘The tree hollow,’ she whispered.
‘Keep walking,’ Anna Maria said. She lifted her arm in greeting. ‘Are you sure? It is not in our bags?’
‘No, it is wrapped and deep in the dead trunk.’
‘God preserve us,’ Anna Maria muttered. She took a deep breath and, drawing closer to the campsite, smiled at the visitors. ‘Pastor Flügel, we are so pleased to have you come again to minister here. Thank you for your sermon this morning.’ She turned and nodded at Magdalena. ‘Frau Radtke.’
‘What is that in your hand?’ Magdalena looked at the grubs in horror.
‘The women here have shown me how they might be eaten. Would you like one?’ Anna Maria asked.