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Colin calls Arizona to talk to someone.

Friday October 19th 2007, Oak Park, Illinois, 21:37

Colin gives up on the television and puts it off. Nothing really worth it. Maybe he is still somewhat restless because of all that happened this week. Maybe he just feels lonely. His mom and Chris went out together, and he already called Sarah, just an hour ago. She is always wonderful, but he doesn't want to pour out his heart to her every time he feels a little upset. She deserves better.

So he just lies on the sofa, in the dark living room, fiddling with his cellular phone. There is someone he could call.
He debates it a moment in his mind, he doesn't want to disturb them, but he would really like to hear their voice. They make him feel like he's part of something bigger. Like he's never alone.

He dials a number, and in a few moments the phone rings in the Six-Killer's mansion.

Mansion?  Mansion's hardly the word for Bobby's childhood home.  With the new barn and corral, it could be a ranch, but even that would be pushing it.  It's merely a house--a house for people and a house for horses--and the people in the house are engaged in all the glory of home ownership, mainly housework.  At least, Bobby's wife is busy scrubbing a casserole dish, which leaves Bobby's slightly older daughter to pick up the phone as it rings.

That's her declared intention, anyway, as she races across the living room, screaming, "I got it!"  She's breathless when she puts the phone against her ear.  "Hello?"

That's not the voice he was expecting. Oh, it must be one of the girls. Colin smiles.

"Hello, it's Six-Killer, right? Is your dad or your mom home?"

"Mommy's in the kitchen," chirps the little voice.  "You wanna talk to her, Colin?"  The syllables were a little mushy, but his name came out of this kid's mouth without ambiguity.

The boy is caught a bit unaware. How does she know who he is?
Oh, but he can play this game too.
He closes his eyes for a moment, as his memory of his meeting with Sky unfolds, and their names come back to him. Now he only has to choose the right one.

"I'd love to talk to her, Zoe, if she's not too busy. And you? You sound a little out of breath. What were you doing?"

"We're hunting kangaroos," Zoe says.  "You catch the kangaroo, and then you go in the pouch, and then you hop hop hop all the way home."  At least, that's what it sounds like she's saying.  When little kids talk, it's like trying to catch a carousel that's already in motion.  If you don't grab the right horse, it's all motion sickness.  "Do you see kangaroos?"

"Not lately, I'm afraid." he says raising an eyebrow, and a part of him is sad of that, and a little jealous.
"It's cold for them in his season where I am. They move south, I think. It sounds like fun, though. Who's the better hunter?"

"Huh?"  Zoe's confused.  Colin must be talking about the difference between them.  "I'm a better hunter, silly."  As if it could ever come into question.

Colin chuckles quietly.

"Right. I should have known, sorry. When you catch the right one, how high can you hop?

Can you catch one and ride it to the kitchen for me?"

"Real high," is the answer.


"Uh-huh."  The phone thunks on a table and there's some reverberant hopping across wooden floorboards.  "Mo-o-ommy!" comes the slightly muffled call.  "Colin wants to talk to you."

There's some clanking of dishes and the shutting of a spout, and then a more familiar voice picks up, a woman's.  "Colin?"  Sky Six-Killer sounds concerned, like a mother.  "Is everything okay?  Are you all right?"

Colin smile fads a little when he hears Sky's tone.

"Yes, I am, thank you. I was just... Am I disturbing you? Are you busy?"

Sky sounds relieved.  "No.  No, I'm just cleaning up a little."  She seems to move to another spot, taking the phone with her--maybe she's finding a seat on the couch--and then other little voices come through the line, little utterances like "Mommy?" soft and sweet as her babies nestle up against her sides.

"How're things, Colin?"

"They're fine. I'm just... a little lonely i guess. I felt like talking to someone."

Someone who can understand me.

"How are things on your side? I heard you may have a little invasion of kangaroos."

That might not be Sky, but she'll do for now.


"The kangaroos have been hopping across the Outback all afternoon," she says drily.  "I forget, Colin.  Do you have any siblings?  Little brothers or sisters?"

"Nothing of the kind. It's pretty much always been my mother and me.

Bobby is out... for work?"

"No, he's getting some groceries."

"Ice cream," Zoe says, echoed by another voice that sounds exactly alike.

"Yes, ice cream," Sky says.  Then she turns her attention back to the phone.  "It's Friday night, and you're not out . . . "  She tries to imagine what kids do for fun these days aside from chasing down invisible kangaroos.  " . . . seeing a movie or something?"  Even that seems oddly anachronistic.

"Actually, I'm just really tired. I spent the best part of the last two nights out. We went investigating about some arsons that happened around here, and what we found... wasn't pretty."

A moment of silence.

"They were abandoned buildings, warehouses and the likes. Sometimes people use them to throw a party. You know, I can see things that happened in the past. There was one of these parties, and  this girl was..."

Another pause.

"They were beasts. They were laughing at her, while they...

No one helped her. When she got up, she only felt this... fire. The police already suspected there was a paranormal behind these fires, so we went to find out more to stop him.  Instead we found out about her.

She has written 'revenge' in letters of fire on the last building she burned down. I think she wants to find them. And I...

I can't let her. I mean, they probably deserve it. They probably deserve worse. But what will happen of her? When we'll find her, I'm supposed to help her, but how? What can I really tell her, if she has this fire within? I wish it was as easy as touching her, and healing her, but I'm afraid it won't be this way.

My talents... they're fueled by my emotions. But if I touched her now, as I feel now, God and the Great Spirit only know what would happen.

How does one... get strong enough to stand this kind of things? I mean they were boys. Just a little bit older than me. How could they do that?

What I am most afraid of, it's to find out that after all, they're just normal people. Because if normal people is able to do that, what can *I* do?

Oh, God and Great Spirit, I'm sorry Sky, I shouldn't have called. I  didn't mean to force my ramblings on you. I'm really really sorry."

"It's okay," the voice on the other end of the line soothes.  "Colin--"  Then she pauses and half-covers the phone.  "Girls?  Can you go make sure the kangaroos are all tucked in and ready for bed?  Make sure they each get a glass of water and a bedtime story, okay?"

The suggestion seems to fly.  There's more chirping in the background, and when Sky resumes the conversation, her voice is less tender and more concerned, as if she's addressing him not as a child, but as an adult.  "Colin," she begins, "why do you think those boys did what they did?"

Colin thinks about it. Long enough for the silence of the line to get heavy.

"I don't know. I'd like to think that they didn't know what they were doing, but it can't be true. They knew. At least some of them. They knew what they were doing. They probably thought... they could get away with it. That there was gonna be no consequences. That they could take what the wanted, just because they could. She... was nothing to them."

"How do you feel about them?  What would you do to them if you could catch them?  No consequences?"

Sky has difficult questions for him, tonight. But it's good. It keeps his mind busy. He straightens himself on the sofa.

"I... I'd ask them why. And I'd make sure they realize what they have done."

"And what would the consequences of their actions be?"

The answer forms on his lips even before than in his mind.

"They would have to live every day of their life knowing what they have done and who they really are." he says, his voice unusually hard.

"Compassion."  The slight coolness that crept into Sky's voice seems to vanish.  "If only we could imbue all wrong-doers with compassion."  She pauses.  "It's a good answer, Colin.  It means you feel some compassion for them.

"Why do you worry you might find yourself in their position?"

"That is compassion? I'm not sure I would have called it this way. Isn't compassion the desire to ease someone's pain? I think there's still a lot of pain to be had in that."

"Sometimes one just thinks of himself. That's what they did. They just thought of themselves, and nothing else. A man cheating on his wife does just that. But I'm going to have a tremendous power. What's gonna happen if at a certain moment, I just think of myself? What kind of mistakes will I do, if I don't know how to prevent that? What I know, is that I'm never gonna be able to forget. And if I can't forget, can I ever forgive myself?"

She seems to meditate on that.  "Compassion, I think, is the capacity to empathize with someone else.  It has nothing to do with your desire to ease or inflict pain.  It's only in this kind of comprehension that one can fairly bring someone to face the consequences of his actions."  She pauses, simplifies.  "I'm glad you're not set on bringing these boys to any physical retribution."


There's a long silence.  "You'll likely do things in your life you'll be sorry for.  As long as you do feel some sense of sincere remorse, you'll be all right.  And if you ever stop. . . .  Well, that won't happen."

"I'm not like that. But there is so much hate, so much anger in the world, that I never noticed before. Sometimes it's a bit... overwhelming. It's like swimming upriver. I don't want to ever be swept away by that."


"That can't happen. You see I have this... really good memory. It's a family thing, my mom has it too. We just... remember. When something happens to us, we can call it back, and it's like being there again.
I am not a noble soul. I'm not good. Yesterday a friend called me 'Saint Colin'. How wrong she is. I'm just... scared. Really scared. I just try to do the right thing, because if I don't, it... stays with me. Forever. And when I put my life on scales, all those wrong things that I can never forget, all those 'should have's, they will weigh me down, and I'm gonna need lots and lots of good stuff to put it back on balance."

He takes a deep breath.

"You probably think I'm weird now, don't you? I think about it too much. Sorry. I didn't want to annoy you with my stories, I just wanted to hear from you, from your family. Maybe ask you a little advice, so you could see how goofy I am and we would laugh together. Let's talk of something else, will you?"

"You're not alone, Colin.  You have the blackbird.  You have your friends and family.  You have us.  If you're ever swept away, we'll come for you.  We will.  I promise.  There's always a way back to shore if you want it."


Sky laughs.  "Weird?  No, I don't think you're weird.  Oh, the stories I could tell you."  She brings herself back to the present.  "You should come and see Bobby's grandfather someday.  I think you'd like him.  He has a way of taking everything in stride."

Bobby comes in the side door, off the kitchen.  immediately there are screams of "ICE CREAM." from down the hall to announce his arrival.  Sky can hear him from the kitchen, "Hey honey, did Colin call?  I saw like a dozen blackbirds on the fence as I was driving up."

It's been six or seven years now (counting time lost to time travel and rewritten reality and so forth), but still, Sky makes a face as if to say, incredulously, "What?"  She covers the receiver and says, in her oh-so-reasonable alto, "He's on the line now, as a matter of fact."  Into the phone she says, "Colin, Bobby just came home.  Did you want to talk to him?"

She has already said that, but it's always nice to hear it. That's what having a family, somewhere, must feel.
"Thank you."


"I'm looking forward to that."



"Oh, yes. But I want to talk with you again later, ok?"

"Sure," she says, a smile warming the word.  She takes the phone to Bobby in the kitchen and hands it off.  It's a seamless transfer.  He takes the phone; she starts packing groceries and dodging the dancing kangaroo wranglers as they clamor for their ice cream.

"Hey guy, what's up?"  Bobby's tone is the same as always, light.

"I was wondering if we get holidays in this line of work. I could use some days off. Other than being tired, I'm fine, I guess. Probably something difficult on the horizon, though. I hope I won't screw up.

What about you? I hope you don't mind, I called because I felt a bit lonely. Oh, and if my heart wasn't already taken, I'd fall in love with your wife." he chuckles.
"She's... special." he adds, and this time he really means it.

"She's mine, get your own demon."  Bobby says, looking back into the kitchen as Sky gets the girls ice cream before bed.  "I know what you mean though."  Bobby sits down, "As for days off.  Sure, all the time.  You should also cultivate a sense that, no matter what happens, it's part of the plan.  You might think you've screwed up, but in all things lie possibilities.  You do you best, that's all they ask."

Colin is at a loss for words for moment. These words, and Bobby's quiet voice, are probably all he needed to feel better.

"Thank you." he says. Deeply, from the heart.

"There's this girl I want to help. Sky will tell you about her. She is burning, literally. And her anger is justified, but I'm afraid it could consume her. I think I was able to help someone before, to cure his soul. I hope I can do the same for her, because... She doesn't have to become a monster only because some monsters have had their way with her."

"You just have to trust that you can translate what you feel into the right stuff.  It's all about faith brother, or as Sky calls it the effortless effort."

Yes. It's all about faith. It's a different kind of faith than what we talked about last time. Or it isn't?

"I'll try. I'll... do my best." his smile can clearly be heard in his voice.

"Bobby, when you met Sky, did you already know she was the right one? What did you do to... conquer her?"

Bobby laughs for a long moment.  "Colin, you've got a lot to learn about Sky.  Maybe I'll bore you to death with that story some day.  suffice it to say that she saved my life.  And yes, I knew she was the one.  It's just how I knew that was complicated."

"Oh."

The story seems interesting, but it's not really the answer he was looking for.

"There's this girl Sarah... you met her when you came here, and since you visited things went on and I was wondering... uhmm.. never mind, Bobby. Thanks anyway. You helped me a lot already."

"I'm not the best guy to ask for advice about women Colin.  Maybe someone who's had more experience with that sort of thing.  Sorry."

Somewhere in the background, someone guffaws.

"No, don't be. I have no right to call out of the blue, from a million miles away, and demand answers from you, to my petty problems. You're a very good friend, Bobby. That's enough for me.

I've had the pleasure of a conversation with Zoe about kangaroos. She seemed to know perfectly who I am."

"Yeah, well Grandpa talks about you some and you certainly got Sky's motherly instincts up, so the girls are bound to have picked up on some stuff.  Hey, that reminds me, you should buy a lighter.  I know you'r eleary of the whole cigarette thing, but you should at least get a lighter.  Try the pawn shops in town, keep looking til you find one you like."

"I don't know yet how or when, but I definitely will be visiting you and your grandfather. I have to."

Colin takes a mental note about the lighter, and hopes the one he likes won't cost too much.

"Ok. Consider it done. It won't come with an instruction book, though, I guess. Do I go with what feels... right?"

"Always brother.  That's how we do it in the Aboriginal Magic business."

"Heh. I'll remember it."

He sighs in disappointment.

"It's gotten quite late here and I have to wake up way before dawn tomorrow, so I have to go. But it's probably better for you, or I'd keep you at the phone for ages. Thank you for everything Bobby. Can I speak with Sky again for a minute?"

"No sweat.  You can call anytime guy."  He sets the phone down and Colin can hear him move away, "Hey hun, Colin wants to talk to you again." 

There's a little of the usual clatter, perhaps some muffled comment, and then Sky picks up the phone again.  "You needed me for something, Colin?"

"Actually, I wanted to thank you for the advice you gave me when we met. Remember my girlfriend and my vision about her? I told her. And I have to say she took all in stride. She's great like that."

A barely muffled sigh can be heard on the line.

"I do feel better now though."

"That's good to hear," she says.  "Bobby would know more about this, but my small experience with prophecy has led me to believe they--"  She doesn't say who, just 'they.'  "--don't tell you things to torment you.  They tell you so you can tip the balance, so you can survive the fight.  That goes for your friends, too.  Knowledge is power."

"It's a matter of faith, I guess. My faith muscles aren't properly trained yet. But I'm getting better.

I have this creeping feeling that one day I'll look back and I'll realize how pathetic and whiny I've been all the time, when I only needed to relax and have faith.

Well, I'm really glad I called. It's been very nice to hear the both of you. And Zoe too. Speaking of which... can you give me your home address. I have a little idea for the girls.

Now I really have to go. A hug and a kiss for you all. Goodbye!"

Sky gives Colin their mailing address.  "Good-bye, Colin.  Give us a call again sometime."

When the phone's back in its cradle, she turns to her husband and has only one thing to say.  "Poor kid."

Bobby smiles, "Blackbird sure can pick'em.  He'll be fine though, eventually."

Colin goes to bed feeling just better. He falls asleep with a smile, and dreams of deserts and kangaroos (and of desert nights spent with Sarah near a campfire).

During the week-end, when he's got some time, he prepares a little gift for the girls. He draws some sheets full of kangaroos, in various poses, with baby kangaroos and children in their pouches, some colored in markers, and some for them to color as they wish. His favorite ones are the one with the kangaroo cuddling a sleeping girl in her pouch after having told her a tale, and the one the one dressed for the race, carrying a child in an aviator's helmet.

He puts them all in large envelope, and sends them to Arizona, "To: Vivian and Zoe Six-Killer".