This is a continuation of The Illiwara curse by(that1hugboxer)
You are Duncan. Today yourself and your brother Jessie are going to fluffmart in order to pick out a collar and other essential for his baby fluffy named kinta.
Little kinta follows Jessie around the store like a puppy . You watch them gleefully walk up and down the aisle picking out their favorite items.
You hear something fall as you accidentally bump into one of the displays.
The bend down to pick up the item and you momentarily freeze as you get a good look at it. It’s a collar
Woven into the nylon fibers is the image of a Wandjina.
You call Jessie over to show him.
Jessie gives you a confused look upon seeing the collar.
“It looks so familiar but at the same time so foreign.”
“Jessie….do you not know want this is?”
Jessie shakes his head.
From behind you a gravely voice replies
“It is a depiction of a Wandjina.”
Standing behind you is a very,very old aborigine man. His beard is long and bushy, his head is crowned with a receding hairline culminating in a mass of curly hair. One of his hands is out stretched as if requesting the collar be given to him.
Something inside tells you that the best course of action is to give him the collar.
You hand the collar off to him.
Jessie tilts his head to the side as if he recognizes the man.
“Are you… a friend of my parents?”
The man chuckles.
“Last time we met you were knee high to a roo .”
Jessie’s eyes widen.
“Mr Kukatja?!”
The man outstretches his arms for a hug which Jessie obliges.
Mr Kukatja looks at you.
“It’s not very often an outsider such as yourself recognizes the importance of a Wandjina.”
Jessie lifts his head from Mr Kukatja’s chest.
“Oh! Mr Kukatja this is my brother Duncan.”
Mr Kukatja has an expression of having seen a ghost.
“Jessie I need to speak with your brother in private for a moment “
Jessie walks back over to the collar aisle with kinta.
Mr Kukatja clears his throat.
“Words cannot describe the joy I feel knowing you are alive, neither can words express the anger I feel towards Bambam for burdening my heart all these years with the falsehood of your death. “
Odis looks up at Mr Kukatja from the chest mounted baby carrier and coos.
“Oh my aren’t you just the sweetest little Joey.”
“You know my dad?”
“I also know Yindi…or perhaps I didn’t know them as well as I thought.”
“I’m very sorry Mr Kukatja but I don’t recognize you.”
“I was a childhood friend of your grandfather.”
You flashed back to when you and your parents still lived in Australia . You are 5 years old , your grandfather brought you out to a secluded cave.
Painted upon its walls are images of strange beings with elongated limbs, orb like heads and a sideways 8 forming a pair of eyes .
“Grandpa what are those ?”
“Those young Jiemba ,are our tribes Wandjina, spirits of cloud and rain. These paintings have been maintained by our tribes chieftains since long before I was born . The responsibility passed down from father to son .”
“But why?”
Your grandfather gets down on one knee to meet you at eye level.
“Because young Jiemba, these are more than just simple drawings of the Wandjina , these drawings are the Wandjina. If someone other than a tribes chieftain draws an image of a Wandjina ,then the Wandjina will serve the tribe of whoever drew it.”
Your grandfathers tone becomes very serious.
“To draw a Wandjina is to take a Wandjina, to take a Wandjina is to take the clouds and the rain along with them.”
“Jiemba?”
You snap back to the present.
“Sorry i was lost in thought.”
places his hand on your shoulder .
“Ngarra is proud of you.”
“Is?”
“The unformed world , creation , existence, the end of all things. For our people these are not considered separate events, they happen, have happened and are happening, all simultaneously . This is the Everwhen . “
“Before you go I have to know. Why did my grandfather call me Jiemba?”
Mr Kukatja is confused by the question.but answers regardless.
“Because that’s your native name…… Honestly I consider it a great honor for my best friend to name their grandchild after me. I’m assuming that your father stripped you of that as well?”
“Perhaps it’s time I had a chat with Bambam…”
A fully grown micro fluffy head pops up out of Mr Kukatja’s shirt pocket.
“Peep! Peep!”
“Oh? Milk time already?”
“Pardon me I have to go take care of little Waru.”
Mr Kukatja cradles the dull brown Pegasus micro fluffy in his other hand. as he gives him a bottle You notice Waru has a diaper on .
Waru burps happily.
“Well I’ve kept you 4 long enough, have a good day.”
Mr Kukatja bids you, Jessie ,Odis and kinta farewell.
