Out in the Australian bush, Deb Williams (Greentree) lived quietly with her son Talfon, and occasional visits from her mother... The only other company she seemed to regularly keep at the time, were a family of wild kangaroos which lived on the same land. (To find out how we met each other see Mango meets Deb)

As time passed, the kangaroos became increasingly more confident in the gentle nature of Deb and her family, and as she lay contemplating the clouds, they would often approach to within arms reach to graze on the grass around her.

Now it happened one night, that Deb's sleep was disturbed by restlessness, and a simple vision of a kangaroo wishing to communicate.. She sat up confused, and went out into the night for a pee.. There in front of her, she saw the big grey kangaroo, head of her family of friends, and it was quite clear that he wished for her to follow him.

Off he moved into the moonlit night, with Deb following closely behind. After a while, they came to a small clearing in the bush.. Several kangaroo stood around, and Debs heart, pounding with curiosity, wondered for what reason she had been brought here.

As her eyes adjusted to the scene, it soon became evident. In front of her lay a dead kangaroo, one Deb recognized as a recent mother in the family.. She approached, and noticed that the body had already started to stiffen.. Then she noticed that within the pouch of the kangaroo, it's young Joey still lived. It was clear to Deb that she would be unable to remove the Joey with her bare hands without injuring it in some way. She understood what she had to do.

She ran to her shelter, fetched her knife, and returned immediately to the waiting kangaroos.. There, with little other choice, she proceeded to cut open the mother kangaroo around the pouch, and carefully removed the reluctant Joey from its once natural living abode.

This accomplished, she held the Joey up, with the silently formed question of "what now?".. The other kangaroos, looked on, and after a while, they took leave together, and bound off into the bush, leaving Deb in the moonlight with a new addition to her family.

What to do?

Now.. it happened that her young son, Talfon was only several months old, and thus her breasts were still swollen with milk. Plenty enough to feed an extra mouth.. Thus Deb became the mother of 2, and carried both children with her wherever she went.

All went well for some brief weeks, but fate had a sad ending awaiting..

It happened one day, that Deb found herself in Mossman, the local town, on a supplies trip. She had left her son Talf in the capable hands of her mother, and had hitchhiked into town with the Joey attached to her front in a sling..

All had gone well and Deb had accomplished her shopping mission and was standing on the edge of town waiting for a hitch back home.. The day moved on and noone seemed to be willing to stop.

Suddenly, late afternoon, it began raining.. A heavy bone drenching downpour.. and Deb looked around vainly for shelter.. Suddenly a car pulled over next to her, and without hesitation, she opened the back door and jumped in.

It only took a few brief moments to realize she didn't feel quite comfortable in her new surroundings. The car stank of alcohol and cigarettes, and the 3 male occupants were cussing and swearing loudly and clearly quite drunk.

After a while of travelling, they turned off the road.. Deb voiced her concerns for the first time - "Where are we going?"..

The guy sitting next to her, turned to her and said, "well, we're gunna rape you aren't we?".

Panic struck.. Deb struggled with the door, and was punched in the stomach,.. The blow was cushioned of course, by the invisible Joey beneath her clothing..

Somehow she managed to get the car door open, and fell out onto the muddy path beside the car.. She was soon on her feet, and ran back to the highway. She was not pursued.. Back on the main road, in a state of shock, she was shortly given a ride home..

The Joey never recovered from the blow. Some days later it died...