Watson, Ian - Black Current 03 (11 page)

 
          
On our second morning in Jangali Lalo
turned up in our reception marquee on the quayside. She was hanging on the arm
of Moustache (whom I shall call Petrovy from now on), and at first 1 must
admit I didn't recognize her, though I noticed Petrovy soon enough.

 
          
I was doing the honours, while Lana
kept me supplied with constant refills of the current and Mum established some
order among the throng of applicants.

 
          
A throng it was!—and Petrovy, with
that young woman on his arm, didn't press forward right away but hung back for
ages observing me. As the crowd thinned, Mum tried to usher them forward.
Instead of heeding Mum's urgings, the young woman began chatting to her.
Petrovy joined in, grumpily at first—so it looked to me— but soon with an
increasing show of chivalry.

 
          
Now, that young woman was slim, wiry,
taut and muscular.
/ would have expected Lalo to flesh out in
the period which had elapsed since last I saw her.
She'd become a
mother. She had settled down, and under the aegis of a stoutly complacent
parent who wished her to have at least three children in quick succession. I
also recalled Lalo's crack about how the fungus drug didn't make sex any more
thrilling. At the time she had spoken chirpily and innocently enough, but I
remember suspecting a certain—shall we say?—undertone to her remark. If that
note had become dominant, I shouldn't have been surprised if Lalo's initial
interest in exciting
Kish
might not
have gone to seed; along with the tone of her body.

 
          
Anyway, in the end Mum did bring
Petrovy and the woman forward. Almost everyone else had gone by
now,
and no new arrivals were being admitted; it was almost
lunchtime.

 
          
"I believe you know these two of
old," said Mum. "I present Petrovy—and Lalo."

 
          
"Lalo!"
I cried, connecting at last.

 
          
"Why yes." The lithe dusky
woman executed a full turn—as if to show off a fine costume. Actually she was
wearing a faded, stained scarlet blouse and baggy breeches tucked into
fork-toed boots.

 
          
And then I made the full connexion
and realized that she was indeed showing off her duds—her
work
clothes—as well as her new tougher leaner self inside them.

 
          
"You've become a junglejack!
During the war, while the men were away—of course!"

 
          
"And after the war; and for a
long while yet. I'm enjoying it. It's fun. I might possibly quit in ten years'
time." She squeezed Pe- trovy's arm. He uttered a
hrumph.

 
          
"We always did have a few women
junglejacks," she added. "Now we have a lot more."

 
          
Hrumph
again.
Petrovy sounded
resigned. "We lost a fair number of guildsmen in the fighting. Lalo here
has become quite an organizer. She's on the Council. She's shot up to the top
of the hoganny tree faster than a cowchuck ball."

 
          
"Amazing," I said.
"And how about
Kish
?"

 
          
"Oh, he's happy enough looking
after our kid."
Kid, singular.
Obviously the
grandmotherly ambitions of Lalo's mum hadn't come to fruition quite so quickly.
Even so,
Kish
seemed to be a loser
either way—unless he truly didn't mind.

 
          
"Nothing wrong here," said
Lalo, perhaps reading my look. "Me, I'm jungle bom and bred. Be cruel to
send
Kish
up a tree. Remember how
we joshed him about it?
Kish
and I
discussed this, of course."

 
          
No doubt they did. Presumably,
though,
Kish
didn't need to feel
jealous of Petrovy into the bargain. By hanging on the older jun- glejack's arm
Lalo was mainly emphasizing a professional relationship—rubbing and squeezing
it home, no less.
Presumably.

 
          
Just then Petrovy did detach himself
from Lalo, gently but firmly. Turning to Mum he said, with a bob of his head,
"Madam, I should be delighted if you would accept my hospitality in town.
Here in Jangali we have a fine local watering-hole, by name—"

 
          
"The Jingle-Jangle," Mum
nodded. "I've read of it."

 
          
"May I assure you that it isn't
too rowdy during the day?"

 
          
Mum's eyes gleamed; and in that gleam
I saw that she was determined to recapitulate my own adventures. "I'd be
delighted," she said.

 
          
"Perhaps Lalo and Yaleen would
prefer to mull over old times," suggested Petrovy.

 
          
"Whilst
we
mull something else! Ah, but you don't mull jun- glejack. I'm
mixing my drinks!"

 
          
Petrovy grinned.
"Mustn't
do that."

 
          
"Oh I can't stop," breezed
Lalo, "much as I'd like to. I have trees to shin up this afternoon. And as
to booze, a shot of the black current will suit me fine for now."

 
          
This was duly provided. Whereupon
Lalo departed, giving me a cheery smile—followed in short order by Mum, who had
taken

 
 
          
Lalo's place on Petrovy's arm.
Which left me to wonder:
What
is

 
          
Petrovy up to?

 
          
As soon as I got back on board I had
an urgent word with Peli. "Peli dear, would you mind going to the
Jingle-Jangle right away?"

           
"Just
try to stop me!"

 
          
"Mum's gone off there with that
'jack I told you about: the one with the moustaches."

 
          
"The big-shot you hinted things
to?"

 
          
"The same.
His name's Petrovy. I want to know what his game is. Can you keep an eye on
them both from a distance?"

 
          
"I'll wear my scarf. They won't
spot me."

 
          
Peli didn't report back till
nightfall, which was a good while after Mum herself had returned on board.

 
          
"Well?"

 
          
"That's exactly how they got on!
Well indeed. Your mum and Petrovy spent two solid hours in the Jingle-Jangle.
They didn't drink immoderately, but by the time they left they were into quite
a tettytet, Oh they were brushing against each other every few minutes
accidentally on purpose in the way of two people who have every intention of,
well. . . ."

 
          
"I get the picture."

 
          
"So then Petrovy escorted your
mum back to his own house. Leastways I'm assuming it was his, and not just
borrowed for the occasion. To get there you head past the Jay-Jay Hall then
turn right down Whittlers Alley, then—"

 
          
"I'm not planning a visit, Peli.
What happened?"

 
          
"They stayed together around
three hours. Then your mum left,
on her own;
and I
hung around to see whether Petrovy would rush off anywhere. But he didn't; and
that's why I'm back late. It wasn't the sort of place you could sneak up and
peep into. It's the second storey up a jacktree, so I don't actually know what
went on inside."

 
          
"But we assume they went to
bed."

 
          
Peli scratched her head. "They
must have done, I'd say. Your mum's hair was astray when she came out, and she
had a certain look on her face.
Cat and cream, cat and
cream."

 
          
"You must have watched for
ages."

 
          
"Oh, I've stood watch on a boat.
It's no different on dry land, except you have to watch out for people spotting
you. Bit tiresome, that's all."

 
          
"Hmm.
I
wonder how tired Mum's
feeling?
"

 
          
"She didn't look the least bit
tired."

 
          
Next morning I arranged to have breakfast
with Mum, just the two of us alone together.

 
          
"So what did you make of
Petrovy?" I asked over a waffle. "He's a vigorous sparring partner.
Er, in debate, I mean."

 
          
She looked me right in the eye.
"Whereas your dad has always been so gentle, eh?
That's
what's nice about your father. But one man isn't all men, Yaleen. And of course
I'm no-one's fool, either— so whenever my new friend ventured queries about a
certain surprise which priestess Yaleen might have in store, I found more
interesting business to occupy us. If he was keeping his ears open, I plugged
them with my tongue.
Figuratively, of course."

 
          
"Of course, Mum."

 
          
"Not that I have any inkling
what this certain surprise might be! Nor how Petrovy has any inkling of
it—though I must say he seemed sympathetic.
To it; and to me.
Thankfully, my inevitable reticence on this point," and here she chose her
words very carefully, "did not put a strain on his courtesy. Had it done
so, I should have felt rather disappointed in him. I might have suspected that
he was paying court to the daughter through the mother. That would have been
quite galling, don't you think?"

 
          
"I'm glad to hear you enjoyed
yourself."

 
          
"Oh I did. I enjoyed being with
him. Though since there was apparently a hidden motive, I think I shall not
repeat the experience. That might prove boring."

 
          
Oh dear. Mum had had time to mull
over the events of the previous afternoon and see those in a new light—one to
which, despite her insistence, she had perhaps been blind at the time. And she
blamed me. I had robbed her tryst with Petrovy of a certain precious
spontaneity.

 
          
"Incidentally," she added,
"I did notice your Peli lurking in the Jingle-Jangle. She isn't always
enormously subtle."

 
          
Oh double dear. "Look on the
bright side, Mum. If Petrovy
hadn't
wanted
something—"

 
          
"Then he wouldn't have wanted
me?
Charming."

 
          
"No, what I mean is. ..." I
trailed off. I was only putting my foot further in my mouth.

 
          
Mum patted my hand.
"Never mind, Yaleen.
A mature woman can set aside a
smidgeon of subterfuge, from the meat of the affair."

 
          
"Oh. Good."

 
          
"How fascinating if I knew what
your little surprise might be! I imagine Peli knows."

 
          
"Uh," I grunted, and
concentrated on waffle.

 
          
I related all this to Peli to caution
her. Thus it was with great glee that she in turn related to me, two nights
later, how Petrovy had just happened to bump into her in town that day, and how
he had whisked her off to the Jingle-Jangle. Obviously Petrovy hadn't spotted
Peli spying on his courtship of Mum.

 
          
"So I
says
to myself," said Peli, "if your mum can enjoy herself, why shouldn't
I?
Not that I'd ever dream of putting
her nose out of joint by letting on! Anyhow, I did bear in mind that I wasn't
supposed to know the way to that house of his. Wouldn't have done if I'd
charged hot-foot ahead through every twist and turn, would it now?"

 
          
I giggled. Yet in fact—would you
believe?—I was starting to experience a twinge of jealousy at these amusements
in which I couldn't participate. Truth to tell, I was feeling a tad frustrated.
Not that I could have imagined amusing myself with Petrovy, of all people! On
the other hand, Peli with her bluff red face and her hair like a haystook,
wasn't as, well, attractive as I'd once been. . . .
(Unworthy
thoughts!
That's what a pang of jealousy does to people.)

 
          
"So when we got back to his
house up the tree, we pleased ourselves; and I shan't go into that. But while
I was feeling, um, relaxed he started hinting on about the little surprise. 'I
don't want to tease you, Pet,' i said to him. He didn't seem to mind me calling
him Pet. 'I'll tell you the truth,' said
I.
Seeing
as your mum said he appeared to be sympathetic—"