The people on the ships that were aside the shore had made contact with us in the early sun of the day. They want to share the land with us. I had run over to Marca’ s hut and called her name at the entrance. She crawled out, she wasn’t smiling though. We were sitting at the old river red gum tree in the middle of the camp. Some people say it grows so big because it gets filled with more and more spirits everyday.
We had climbed halfway to the top and sat there looking out at the ocean and the ships that were anchored close the shore and the small boats on the shore. I had asked her what did she think they wanted. She sat there for moment thinking; then she had said that her grandfather said that they have been here before. She also said that they didn’t have as many people aboard. And they didn’t want to stay; they just wanted to explore the land. Marca’ s grandfather is very wise and finds things out very quickly then he shares the information with his family.
As we sat there for a while Marca looked at me and then back at the shore. We saw them walking around the shore and it looked as though people were making orders and others were doing the orders. I started singing a song in our language and Marca had asked what I was doing. I told her I was singing a song to the spirits and maybe they would answer my question. Then she asked me what my question was. I answered with is this going to be a good thing or is it going to be a bad thing. She looked back at me and said that her grandfather said that they were prisoners. I asked her what prisoners were. She answered with, “people who have done bad things.” I looked out at the men and women and my stomach knotted. “Marca?” I said.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think this is good news.”
