Mike Dixon

knew they had been lovers. It was a confused conversation.
The old man was alert to events but seemed unable to cope
with them. The outcome was indecisive. She kissed him on
the cheek and he seemed cheered by that. Her last view of
them was of two elderly people gazing at her apprehensively
as she made her way to her car.
he bird watching group assembled at Casuarina
T Sands. Bill Endicott arrived with his wife who wandered
off to speak to friends, leaving him free to approach
Kirstin. The encounter looked casual. Only a professional
would have suspected something different.
„Kirstin! You asked about the barking owls which are
nesting down stream.‟
She picked up her binoculars. „Do you think we might see
them?‟
Kirstin considered the remark.
„I‟d be delighted.‟ He
waved to his wife. „I‟m
just going to show
Kirstin the screaming
women, darling.‟
They set off.
„What was that about
screaming women?‟
„Its popular name is
the screaming woman
bird.‟
„I thought it barked.‟
„Most of the time it does,‟ Bill agreed. „But on occasions,
during the mating season, when it gets excited, it makes a
noise like a screaming woman. There are accounts of people
phoning the police to report a rape in progress.‟
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