Chapter Text
"Right, it's time for me to go to work, babe", Bingo declared in her deepest voice. She leaned down to kiss the doll in Lila's arms.
"Okay darling, have a good day working at the dance factory." Lila responded, "Don't forget to pick up milk on your way home. Baby Hepzibah has a dairy intolerance, so you'll need to get almond milk."
"Sure thing, babe." Bingo popped on a flat cap from the dressing-up box.
"Hey can I play?" Jasper poked his head through the tiny playhouse, piercing the bubble of quiet domesticity.
"Jasper, we're playing mums and dads. It's a two-person game." Bingo said, breaking character.
"But you're both girls." Jasper responded.
“So?”
“So…” Jasper grappled for the words to best explain. “Mums are girls. And dads are boys.”
"So, what if I pretend that I'm a boy?" Bingo challenged.
"That's silly," Jasper scoffed. "Why don't I be the dad? Then Lila can be the mum."
"Then who would I be?" Bingo asked, getting increasingly annoyed.
Jasper pondered for a moment. "You can be a lady that works at the factory and brings Lila a lasagne."
"But I don't want to be a lasagne factory lady. I want to be Lila's husband!" Bingo asserted.
Lila's timid voice piped up behind the quarrelling pair. "Bingo, maybe Jasper should be the dad, just for a little while?"
Jasper seized on this. "SEE Bingo, Lila doesn't want you to be the dad!"
"Hey, is everything alright here?" Calypso crouched down by the threshold of the cosy playhouse.
"Jasper is trying to steal Lila!", Bingo cried out.
"No I'm not!" Jasper argued. "I asked if I could play and Lila said it was okay. But Bingo wants Lila all to herself!"
"Is that so?" Calypso said, contemplative. She turned to the red heeler in the flat cap. "Hey Bingo, Dusty has a problem that she'd like some help with. I think you would be just the dog for the task."
"Really?" Bingo asked sceptically.
"Yes," Calypso affirmed, "You are great at solving problems."
Bingo beamed at the praise, her quarrel with Jasper momentarily forgotten.
"You can play with Lila again very soon." her teacher assured.
"Okay Calypso," Bingo smiled. She turned to Jasper. "Look after them for me" she said, gesturing to Lila and baby Hepzibah, "they're my whole world."
Bingo headed outside to find Dusty sitting on a rock, holding an object in her hand. "I heard you need some help."
"Hi Bingo," beamed Dusty. "Look what my brother gave me!"
"A boomerang!" Bingo exclaimed, inspecting the object. "Does it work?"
"It's supposed to, but I'm not very good at it."
"Well then let's practise." said Bingo, helping the red kelpie to her feet.
"Why don't you try to throw it like you would throw a tennis ball?" Bingo instructed from her spot on the rock, mimicking an overhand throw. "And I think you're holding it too tight. That's why it's not spinning."
Dusty tried again. To her delight, the boomerang started curving back. It fell short, but it was far better than her previous attempts. "I think that the wind got in the way," observed Dusty.
"How is it going, girls?" Calypso enquired.
"Bingo is helping me. But we still can't get it to come back all the way." Dusty responded.
"May I?" Calypso asked. The girls nodded, and Dusty handed the boomerang to their teacher.
"In order for the boomerang come back, you need to pay attention to your environment." She showed the girls how to use blades of grass to determine the wind velocity and direction.
"And as you've already figured out, it doesn't work if you grip it too tightly." Calypso glanced at Bingo.
Calypso held the boomerang at eye level, and threw. The boomerang flew in an elliptical path across the field, heading straight for Calypso, who expertly caught it.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Jasper shouted as he approached, Lila following a few paces behind.
Lila ran towards Bingo and the two hugged tightly.
"See children." Calypso smiled. "With a bit of trust, and when the conditions are right, the boomerang will always come back to you."