From deep within the black abyss Jemimah felt a strong grip on her shoulder, but she was powerless to open her heavy eyelids or utter any cry. It was only when she heard the sound of a very human voice saying her own name that awareness began to break through her cold oblivion. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up into the concerned face of Sergeant Beavan.

Although the sun was barely visible over the tree line, it was no longer the eerie, soulless light of dawn, but daylight now. The white police vehicle was stopped only metres from where she lay huddled in the middle of the road, the driver’s door open and engine running.

“You’re lucky I saw you there, nearly came right over the top you!” His face was creased with concern as he helped her sit up. “What are you doing out here - what’s happened to you?”

Jemimah blinked, struggling to think through the thick mist that baffled her brain.

“Did you come looking for me?”

“No - I was just taking a shortcut on my way back from doing a security check on Wilson’s place when I saw you down there on the road. What’s happened - are you hurt? Has someone ...” His frown deepened as his eyes scanned her scratched skin and torn clothing.

Jemimah shook her head, her mind reluctantly responding from beneath heavy blankets of exhaustion. “No ... I’m fine. I was lost.” Her voice sounded slow and odd even to her own ears, so she tried harder to explain. “I got lost in the bush after school. All night. Where am I now?”

“Cricket’s Lane - about ten k’s out of town. And you look a lot more beaten up than you’d get just walking through the scrub. Why don’t you tell me what happened to you? You’re safe now.”

Jemimah nodded. “No -- I wasn’t just walking, I ran. I was frightened, I fell down a lot, I kept smashing into branches.” Her words slurred into each other in her attempt to explain, “There was this, this creature -- I think it was a yowie. I didn’t know if it was still coming after me ... so I kept running.”

The Sergeant’s expression changed. “A yowie? Righto, I see,” he said in a patient voice, putting out his hand to help her up. “How about we get you up into the vehicle, and we’ll talk about all this on the way home.”

Jemimah swayed as the Sergeant removed his hand from her elbow and his smile faded. He stood back and watched critically as she walked toward the car. It must have been exhaustion, but Jemimah could feel herself weaving as she struggled to put one foot in front of another. When she got to the car door her cold fingers fumbled with the handle. Sergeant Beavan watched for a moment, then opened the door for her and helped her inside.

He reached across her to clip her seatbelt in, and then stared straight into her face, peering into her eyes. Jemimah blinked in confusion. What was he doing?

Sergeant Beavan straightened up and leaned against the open doorway. “Thought you might have been drinking, but your pupils are dilated. What are you on?”

When she stared at him blankly, he crouched down to her level. “What drugs have you taken?”

Jemimah could feel herself shaking, her feeling of safety rapidly evaporating. “Nothing! Why? Why are you asking me that?”

He straightened up. “Love, you’re out here in the middle of nowhere, yammering on about yowies and you can’t even walk a straight line.”

“Don’t you believe me?” To her dismay, tears spilled down her cheeks. “Been in the bush ... all night ... too tired to walk. But ... I know what I saw.”

“Okay, love. Whatever you say. I don’t have to know - there’s no crime committed. Just concerned for you, that’s all.” Sergeant Beavan closed the car door and went around to the driver’s side. Within moments they were driving along Cricket’s Lane toward the township.

Jemimah closed her eyes against the sunlight, and sunk almost immediately back into the dreamless darkness. When Sergeant Beavan’s voice roused her she opened her eyes to see they were at a crossroads.

“You’re out at Hart’s, aren’t you? I’ll take you back there, there’ll be someone up and about I’m sure. Ought to have someone with you.”

“No! No -- yes. I live there, but I need to get back to the school. Please take me there. My car’s there. I need to get back to school.”

Jemimah felt a rising panic. The dashboard clocked showed it was already close to seven. She had to get back to school before anyone else. Write Kai’s name back on the board. Speak to Linda before anyone else did. She’d never have to time to go out to the Hart’s, get cleaned up and back into school.

“You’re in no condition to drive, love,” Sergeant Beavan said gently. “The best place for you right now is in bed sleeping it off.”

“I don’t want to drive! I want to be at school,” Jemimah wiped at the tears of frustration that were flowing down her cheeks. “My clothes, my handbag -- everything is locked in my car. I just want to shower and change. . .” she slumped back against the seat, too weary to argue.

They seemed to idle at the intersection forever, then Sergeant Beavan turned left towards town. “We’ll go get your stuff then, okay?”

“Thank you.” Jemimah felt like she’d won half the battle. Once she was at the school it wasn’t like he could force her to get back in the police car and go out to the Hart’s. “I’m sorry to have put you to so much trouble -- I very much appreciate your helping me.”

He glanced across at her, a twinkle in his eye. “Why don’t you tell me about this yowie of yours?”

Jemimah sighed. She knew he still didn’t believe her, but what else could she do but tell him the truth? Whatever it was that she saw was still out there, horribly close to the school. Sergeant Beavan needed to know all about it so he could do whatever it took to keep the children safe.

So starting at the beginning Jemimah told him everything that had happened. She had just finished when he pulled up beside her car at the school. Sergeant Beavan took out his notebook from his pocket. After writing the date and time he turned to Jemimah indulgently.

“So let me see if I’ve got this right - it was about 7ft tall, and hairy all over?”

“Yes.”

“And it smelt like a cow, and it laughed as you ran off?” his voice quavered, but Jemimah said nothing, sitting impassively while he wrote it down.

Aware of her weakness, Jemimah gave her full concentration to opening the car door and very carefully climbed out.

“Thank you for the lift, Sergeant,” she said, once she was safely out of the vehicle. She unzipped the keys from her pocket and slowly walked the few steps to her car boot. The sight of her school basket inside, crammed to the brim with matters needing her attention, brought back in full force the pressure awaiting her in the class room. She left it there and pulled out the bag with her clothes from yesterday. She had to get Kai’s name written back on the board as soon as possible and then get cleaned up and prepare to meet Linda. Everything else would have to wait until after that.

Jemimah closed the boot, and began walking towards her classroom.

“You’re not going back to Hart’s?”

She turned to see Sergeant Beavan standing by his door, watching her. She shook her head and kept moving toward the building. A few more metres, that’s all it would take.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him shrug his shoulders and climb back into his vehicle, but she didn’t hear the engine start up again until she had locked her classroom door behind her.

Leaving the blinds down, Jemimah moved like an automaton to the blackboard. She would not mess it up this time. Painfully slowly she inscribed Kai’s name, and put down the chalk with a sense of relief.

Then, her only thought being of the hot shower in the staff room, Jemimah left the classroom.

Jemimah raised her head from the staffroom table and looked blearily at Linda Armstrong. She’d stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out, dressed and then sat drinking cup after cup of hot sweet tea and eating left-over fruit cake until the feeling of shakiness had left her.

She still felt utterly exhausted but at least that strange mental fogginess that had clouded her mind and her movements when she’d been with Sergeant Beavan had cleared.

“No, not really,” she admitted to her boss, leaning her aching head in her hands. “But it’s ... it’s a long story,” she added apologetically.

“Shall I make myself a cup of coffee first then?” Linda asked, her attempt at cheeriness at odds with the concern on her face. “Have you left any fruit cake?”

Jemimah somehow managed to smile. “Just a scrap, I’m sorry -- I’ve eaten nearly the whole thing.”

“Hmpf. Looks like you needed it though,” Linda replied, busying herself with the kettle. Jemimah declined her offer of another cup, and Linda returned to the table with her own, taking off her jacket as she sat down.

“It’s very hot in here,” she commented, turning to look at the wall heaters, all turned on to maximum. “Do you still need them on that high?”

“No, I’m sorry -- I couldn’t get warm before, but I’m right now. I’ll turn them off.” She started to get up but Linda waved her back and turned them off herself.

“Now tell me what’s happened,” she prompted gently. “I’m tempted to call the ambulance -- or the police - just looking at the state of you.”

Jemimah’s hand went self-consciously to her face. She’d seen the extent of the bruising and scratches in the mirror, and wished that she had makeup with her to cover up the worst of it. She shook her head, trying - and failing - to make a light-hearted reply. “No, I don’t need an ambulance, and I’ve already been picked up by the police.”

Linda’s mouth gaped open. “What?”

“I spent the night in the bush, in the storm. You know how I usually practice the cross-country run? The storm caught me off guard, but when I turned back, I got lost. In the dark I kept falling and running into branches -- it’s why I’m such a mess. I finally made it out around dawn into Cricket’s Lane, and Sergeant Beavan was driving past and brought me back.”

“No! That’s horrible. Why did you come back here -- why didn’t you go straight home?”

“My car was still here, and all my things--”

“Well, you need to go straight home and to bed right now.” The headmistress’s voice brooked no disagreement, but Jemimah shook her head.

“I can’t. Yesterday afternoon I had to put Kai Gatley down for detention for swearing and his parents came round after school after you’d left. They ... they were pretty angry when I wouldn’t agree to cancel the detention. I explained the reason and gave them a copy of the school guidelines, but ... it’s an understatement to say they weren’t happy. Now, if I go home and don’t follow through with the detention today, they may think they’ve intimidated me and then I don’t know if I’d ever be able to enforce discipline with my class.”

Linda sighed. “I see your point. Julie does like to throw her weight around and Shane’s not known for seeing the other person’s point of view. But surely one lunch time detention isn’t that big an issue -- maybe now they’ve had a go at bullying you they’ll be content to just let it go. You know I’ll back you up all the way on the discipline. ”

“Thank you -- but I don’t know if it is just about the detention. They accused me of discriminating against their boys because they don’t go to church ... and of trying to indoctrinate their children with my religion.” Jemimah felt sick just putting it into words, but she knew no other course to follow than telling Linda the whole story.

“I don’t like the sound of this at all,” Linda shook her head grimly. “They certainly would have grounds to complain about with the whole religion issue. I hate to think where this could lead.”

“But what they were saying wasn’t true at all -- and I’d never dream of making any distinction between the children based on religion or anything else. The only times I have ever even spoken about my faith has been to give a casual answer to individual children who’ve asked me about church or what I believe about God.”

“I’m not sure that your perception of casual would be anyone else’s, Jemimah. The whole town knows that you’re rather fanatical about what you believe, but you’ve got to keep that separate from your teaching.”

Jemimah fought against her tears and swallowed hard. Linda couldn’t understand why she couldn’t keep her faith in God somehow locked in a compartment just for church on Sundays. Ever since they’d talked about her reasons for not ‘going out’ with Matt Gordon, Linda had bristled up every time anything even vaguely relating to spiritual things had come up in conversation and quickly changed the subject. She should have known not to expect Linda’s support.

“I suggested that if they wanted to pursue their complaint that we would arrange a meeting with you,” Jemimah said dully.

“Oh, joy. Well, that was the right thing to do, but I hope for your sake they don’t follow through on it -- if they do make a formal complaint about you I’m not sure what I can do for you. It is a pretty contentious issue.” Linda’s frown softened as Jemimah attempted to surreptitiously wipe her eyes. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that. It may yet all blow over. Just tread very carefully from here on in.”

Jemimah nodded. It crossed her mind that Julie and Shane might be using the religion complaint as blackmail to get their way about the detention -- if they were, they couldn’t have picked any more effective weapon where Linda was concerned.

“So you’re going to try sticking it out today?” Linda confirmed, pushing her chair back as though about to rise.

Although her head was starting to buzz with tiredness, Jemimah nodded. She couldn’t see that she could do anything else but follow through with her commitment.

“Just do your best, then. I’ll cover all the playground duties.” Linda gathered her cup and rose.

“Thank you so much. But Linda, I’m sorry -- there’s something else I need to tell you,” Jemimah admitted reluctantly.

Linda settled heavily back down in her seat. “Go on.”

“When I was in the bush ... I saw something. I don’t really know what it was, but it seemed just like what people say a yowie looks like,” Jemimah began and then went on to describe everything that had happened.

When she finished, Linda closed her eyes momentarily, as if blocking out an unwelcome sight. She breathed in deeply, then out again and said, “You do know, Jemimah, that yowies are just are part of the urban legends of this area, don’t you?”

“I thought that too,” Jemimah agreed. “Until I saw that ... that creature.”

Linda looked at her pityingly. “Look at this sensibly, Jemimah -- you were lost in a storm, I’m sure you were frightened, you were already upset by the visit from Kai’s parents ... isn’t it a lot more likely you, not imagined it, but perhaps it was some kind of hallucination?”

“I didn’t just see it. I smelled it. I heard it.” Jemimah shook her head helplessly. “I know how this must sound, and honestly, I think if I’d been anywhere else except behind the school I don’t think I would have said a word to anyone. But the kids often play in that area out of school hours -- several of them take short cuts home through the bush there. Whatever it is, there is something in there, and ...”

“And? I’m not saying I don’t believe you -- but what are you suggesting I do about it?” Linda spread out her hands in a gesture of futility. “Fence off the bush? Keep the children in after school until a parent collects them? For how long? It’s not do-able.”

“I think we should at least warn the parents about what I saw ... it would be up to them whether they act on it, and whether they keep their children out of the bush, but at least we’ve let them know.”

“Just think this through for minute - how do you think people are going to react? City girl, lost in the bush, sees yowie. It will be put in the same category as alien abductions and black panther sightings. I have to be honest, Jemimah, I can’t see it achieving anything except making you the laughing-stock of the town.”

Jemimah shrugged despondently. “From Sergeant Beavan’s reaction, I probably already am.”

“You told him about your yowie sighting?”

She nodded. “He thought I was on drugs.” It was so ridiculous that it should have made Jemimah laugh, but it didn’t. Heavy tears welled up in her eyes again.

Linda wasn’t laughing either. Her face was rather grim. And probably less with concern about the possibility of a yowie attacking her pupils, thought Jemimah despondently, than with the liability of the Infants’ School teacher sitting opposite her.

“Well.” Linda stood up decisively. There would be no ‘something else’ holding her back this time. “Well, Jemimah, I’ll give the matter some serious thought. Since Sergeant Beavan is already aware of what you told me, I might discuss your suggestion of notifying the parents with him before we do anything official. Okay?”

Jemimah nodded. She started to collect up the cups and plates, but Linda waved her off. “No, you do what you can to cope with your day -- I’ll get a couple of my senior girls to look after these.”

Smiling a tremulous thanks, Jemimah fled the staff room, and, diverting only long enough to collect her basket, locked herself back inside her classroom.

Any time now, children would begin arriving.

And perhaps too, Kai’s parents.