The old man grinned widely, obviously pleased to see them.   Ushering them into the front room of his corrugated-iron hut, Weari-Wyingga said, “Glad to see you escaped the bunyip.”

“Only just,” said Geraldine.   On Garbarla’s instruction, she lowered herself to sit cross- legged — looking extremely uncomfortable — on one of the woven grass mats around a squat red-gum table, which was the only piece of furniture in the front room.

“Only just?” asked Weari-Wyingga.   Despite his great age, he managed to sit on one of the mats considerably more gracefully than either Garbarla or Geraldine.

“Yes,” agreed Garbarla.   He went on to quickly relate what had happened at Geraldine’s flat the previous night.   “Frankly I’m at a loss to know what to do next.”

Weari-Wyingga pondered a few seconds, and then said, “Kuperee.”

“Huh!” said Geraldine.   She looked toward Garbarla, but he only shrugged, as puzzled as she.

“Kuperee is a giant black kangaroo in Dream-Time legend,” explained the old man.

“A giant black kangaroo?” asked Geraldine.   Looking back over Weari-Wyingga’s shoulder toward the large, four-paned window, she saw women and children walking past the hut.   One small child carrying a toy boomerang in its right hand grinned at her, like any other child on its way to play.

“That is right,” agreed Weari-Wyingga.   “The Dream-Time Heritage tells that in the time of the Dreaming, Kuperee attacked the human race and killed and ate hundreds of Aborigines, until two brothers, Indinya and Pilia, killed Kuperee with their father’s magic stone-axe.”

“Magic stone-axe?” Geraldine asked.

Garbarla knew she was having trouble believing any of the story.   ‘Jesus, I’m having trouble believing it!’ he thought.   Then he remembered the eagle-winged bunyip flying through Geraldine’s lounge room window, swishing its crocodilian tail from side-to-side, smashing Geraldine’s furniture.   ‘I suppose a giant black kangaroo and a magic stone-axe are no more improbable than that.’

“Although Kuperee killed and ate humans, his favourite food was bunyips.   For that reason Kuperee is the only thing that bunyips are terrified of.”

“So what are you suggesting?” asked Geraldine.

“I am suggesting that we must call up Kuperee,” said the old man.   Then, obviously sensing her scepticism, “I don’t mean on the telephone.   I mean we must hold a series of corroborees, over three days, to call Kuperee from the Dreaming-Time, into our own reality.”