before how his eyeteeth were slightly longer than the rest. It gave him a malevolence in this shimmering haze. A bird of prey circled up high. It keened. A flock of lorikeets startled into the sky, colors harsh and bright. I swiped at the perspiration leaking down into my eyes.
“That’s . . . sweet,” I said. I felt totally drunk, to be honest. Worry slithered deeper. Was I getting ill?
He helped me into the boat, seemingly unfazed by my state. Maybe it wasn’t noticeable to anyone but me? He fetched the cooler box and handed me a life jacket. I fumbled to do it up. He leaned over and buckled it for me. He untied the boat, pulled in the ropes, and started the engine chugging. He backed out of the mooring, and the motion forced me to sit down with a thump on the rear lounge seat. A pelican watched our progress.
We headed up the inlet, a dark wake swelling out behind us. Martin handed me a pale-blue ball cap to shield my face from the sun. I put it on and closed my eyes behind my shades, feeling the hum of the engine and the rock of the swell, drifting in and out of consciousness.
“There’s cold water in that esky at your feet.” His voice startled me awake. I opened the cooler, found a bottle of water among ice blocks, swallowed half the contents, and wiped my mouth. Martin was talking loudly over the noise of the engine, but his words droned on unintelligibly as the fogginess in my head suddenly worsened.
“Tidal,” he said.
“What?”
“The inlet. It’s tidal. The current flows up to the basin when the tide pushes in, then reverses and flows out to the sea when it pulls out.”
“Oh.” I felt even more dehydrated after the water. My tongue grew thicker, further slurring my attempts at speech, so I fell silent.
We entered a lake. It shimmered and danced with refracted sunlight. I shuddered at the sight of glassy bubbles of jellyfish everywhere just beneath the surface.
“Agnes Basin,” he said. “From here smaller rivers lead off this basin in all directions . . .” Martin was pointing. Bronzed arms. Hair shining gold on his forearms. Handsome man I’d married, or was he ugly, too large . . . ? My thoughts were jumbling. I closed my eyes again.
“The estuary is like a maze. Can get really turned around and lost in these swamps if you don’t know your way about.” He steered the Abracadabra into a narrow channel. It was dark among trees that pressed close, the water an iron color. The boat slowed. Branches scratched at us. Water slapped against the hull. Thick reeds drifted with the tide. Martin angled up to a dock beneath a big gum. Behind the dock was a shallow bay. The bank of the bay was tangled with trees that sent gray, elephantine roots into the water. He dropped the anchor with a loud splash. Mosquitoes buzzed.
How long had it been since we’d left the jetty near the sales office? I’d lost all sense of time. It seemed to have gotten darker, or maybe it was just the somberness of the vegetation.
“Why are we stopping here?”
“Nice and private,” he said. “And listen.”
Strange noises came from the tangled mangroves—a scream of birds, fluttering sounds. A haunting call. Squabbles and cackles. A fish jumped next to the boat and slapped back into the water. I startled.
He laughed at me. “This is a dock we built. The abandoned farmhouse is along a trail from here. It’s where we’ll construct the eco-lodge. A network of boardwalks—interpretive trails—will fan out from the lodge into the swampier portions of the land. I’ll take you to the viewing platform near the old homestead after lunch.”
He opened the cooler, took out containers of cold chicken and potato salad. He dished the food onto plates, poured chilled wine into real glasses, added ice. He handed me a plate and a glass.
I blinked at him. I couldn’t quite believe I was actually here. I’d been plucked out of a wintry softness and dumped into this strange antipodean land that was hot and harsh and angular and filled with strange discordant sounds. Perhaps I’d wake up and still be on the plane . . .
“Cheers, El.” He held up his goblet. Light danced off the liquid. Ice clinked against the glass. Thirst gripped me by the throat.
We sipped. I sipped again, this strange thirst making me desperate. I drank deeper. He watched