An idea of an action sprouts in my head, comical and misplaced, but it’s all I’ve got. Instead of running in to save Elaine, I begin to moo like a cow that has lost its calf. It’s a reasonable impersonation, without the bovine volume. Ben jerks his head back. Perhaps he thinks there’s a cow in the garden, or maybe he is unsettled by the strangeness of the sound. I am sweating trying to think of another distraction. I would throw pebbles at the other windows if there were any in reach, but there aren’t. So I opt for a butcherbird whistle: one long note, then a series of ups and downs just discernible from a magpie’s call. Ben nearly runs to the door, his feigned hobble an afterthought. He pokes his head out, and looks one way and then the other, concerned, but not sure what to be concerned about. As he shuts the door again, I give him a made-up trill from a non-existent bird that carries clear, lonesome, and ridiculous in the night air. I can see immediately how much it annoys him. For me, the thrill is unmatchable. But after a moment he manages to ignore the sound. No one is going to be sitting in Elaine’s garden making fake bird noises. But I haven’t finished. When he takes two steps back towards Elaine, I bark like a dog. Sometimes, certainly not all the time, my bark can fool my dogs. Ben hears it, and I’m sure he’s only half-fooled. He steps out, and walks up and down the verandah, yelling obscenities into the night. It takes him some time, but eventually he cools, and decides he’s frightened off whatever it was that was making the noises, goes back inside, and pulls the door firmly shut behind him.

When he turns to face Elaine again, she is holding a kitchen knife, jabbing it towards him. It’s possible she is saying the name ‘Greg Costello’, but I can’t be sure. Ben puts his hands up as she points with the knife towards the part of the house that he originally appeared from. Then he says something I can’t hear, and she drops the knife and her shoulders. Her face is covered by her hair, and he steps in close and puts his arms around her. She does not push him away. This is as insane as everything else that has been happening. Ben hugging Elaine means I am on my own.