Peanut often joined in with Grandma Calla and Sunny, and he was always interested in what they were doing. Sometimes Grandma Calla and Sunny collected special seeds for him out bush which he absolutely loved to eat. Sunny would look for the black she-oak tree and gather the cones to take home. Once they dried out, Sunny would shake out the seeds and Peanut would have a feast.

  Sunny was in her room doing her homework when she heard Peanut squawking outside. He led her to the strange shimmering light coming from beside the gum tree in the park near her house. Sunny was keen to find out what was making the strange light. As she got closer, the shimmering light looked a bit like an animal shape.

  She cautiously placed her hand on the light and suddenly an animal shook underneath, and a beautiful dingo puppy appeared.

  Sunny was surprised and so was Peanut. There had not been any dingoes in the area for a very long time. Not since Grandma Calla was a child and had returned to country with her family many, many years ago.

  ‘Wow,’ Sunny said looking straight at the pup. ‘How did you do that?’

  Chichi cowered and looked up. He was frightened at first, but once he saw Sunny standing over him with a big smile, he knew he had nothing to fear. The young girl looked strangely familiar.

  Sunny picked him up and gave him a big cuddle. Chichi licked her face and nuzzled in. Sunny could tell the dingo was tired and needed a safe place to sleep.

  ‘Don’t worry, little dingo,’ said Sunny. ‘I will look after you. When I first saw you, you were like a shadow, so that’s what I will call you. My name is Sunny – actually, that’s my nickname. My real name is Mary, but I get called Sunny as my mum always tells me I am bright and happy like the sun,’ she explained.

  Chichi liked this new name, Shadow. He felt it suited him in this strange new world he had arrived in.

  ‘And this is Peanut the cockatoo,’ Sunny continued. ‘He got that name because he loves peanuts and is always stealing them from people’s picnics. Peanuts taste good, but they don’t come from this land, so he is not supposed to eat so many!’

  ‘But I love peanuts,’ squawked Peanut.

  Sunny gently carried Shadow home and made him a soft, warm bed in the back shed.

  ‘This is my science shed,’ she told Shadow. ‘So no-one will disturb you in here.’

  Sunny made sure Shadow had lots of food and water.

  ‘I’ll come back after I have finished my homework to check on you and we can go exploring,’ said Sunny.

  Shadow looked up and smiled. He knew he was safe. He wondered if they had met before somehow.

  CHAPTER 6

  Sunny and Shadow became great friends. Shadow was quiet at first and didn’t utter a woof or howl. One day though, when Sunny was telling him a story, Shadow suddenly woofed and howled out loud. He quickly looked up at Sunny to see if she had noticed.

  ‘You want to know why? Well, because … oh my goodness!’ cried Sunny.

  Sunny was shocked when she realised she could understand what Shadow was saying. She had never spoken with a dingo before.

  ‘Well, Shadow, if I can understand you, does this mean you can understand me?’ asked Sunny.

  ‘Yes,’ woofed Shadow. ‘I wasn’t sure if you had the gift or not because all the people of the land had disappeared.’

  ‘I am from the land,’ said Sunny, ‘but there is more to this story for sure. Do you have a dingo name?’ she asked.

  Shadow still didn’t really know where he was, so he was worried about telling Sunny his real name, Chichi. He decided to keep it quiet for now. After all, he was in a new place, and this was a new start for him so maybe he did need a new name.

  ‘Shadow is good,’ he said. Sunny knew he was hiding something but didn’t want to make him upset. She would ask again another time, she thought to herself.

  Shadow told Sunny of the land he had come from and how beautiful the landscape was. He also told her of the people of the land that lived on the other side of the hill. Sunny realised it was her homeland he was talking about. The old dingo country on the other side of the hill was magnificent before all the trouble came. Grandma Calla had told her about it and how much it had changed. In the old days, the dingoes lived in large groups. But they had disappeared long ago. When Grandma Calla and her family had returned to their homeland there was not a dingo to be found anywhere.

  Shadow yarned about finding the cave and the strange noises, lights and crystals. He told Sunny about the creation stories his mother had handed down and the sacred places left from the Dreaming.

  ‘The tunnel let me out here and then disappeared,’ said Shadow. ‘I am not sure how I will ever be able to go back home or find my family.’

  ‘So, you lived back when the land was still beautiful, when my grandmother was a child? You must be a very old puppy, or you have travelled through time,’ said Sunny. ‘That is why the landscape looks different. You are a puppy from a different era altogether!’

  ‘Time travel,’ exclaimed Shadow in a howl. ‘How could that be?

  ‘I have no idea,’ said Sunny. ‘But you did say the sacred cave was powerful, and what about those black crystals that make you invisible? It must be the Dreamtime. You know, part of the Dreaming.’

  ‘The dream-what?’ said Shadow quizzically.

  ‘The Dreamtime, when time comes together like water. Part of creation. We have to speak with my grandmother,’ said Sunny. ‘She is the only one who knows all of the old stories. But I’ll tell you what I know.’

  CHAPTER 7

  Sunny told Shadow all she knew about the story of the dingoesfrom her Grandma Calla. Calla had been a young girl when it happened. She had told Sunny that men on horses came with rifles to clear the land so they could introduce farm animals. Calla and her family had already been taken away, but when they escaped, she had been close enough to see what happened.

  The landscape had already fallen into despair as Mother Earth watched the removal of her children. But after all the dingoes were gone, Mother Earth was grief-stricken. She cried out in pain and rivers of tears became floods that swept away much of the landscape.

  After a while, Mother Earth fell into a deep sadness and the water dried up altogether. Drought spread across the land and the farms could not survive.

  Then came the anger and rage, lightning storms and bushfires that raced across the landscape, burning the fences and farmhouses.

  Mother Earth grieved for her dingoes and her stolen children. The land became empty of life. Nothing would grow there, and no-one could live there. It became a forgotten, sad place. Everything was out of balance.

  Shadow couldn’t believe his ears when Sunny told him this story. So Sunny took Shadow to have a look. Together, they went to see the old dingo country on the other side of the hill.

  Sunny and Shadow stood on the top of the hill and looked out over the barren wasteland; it was very sad country indeed. Shadow remembered what it used to look like and couldn’t believe how much it had changed.

  Shadow was overcome with sorrow and let out a soft, mournful cry that floated out on the breeze over his country. It was the same song he sang for Calla, but now it was also for all the dingoes that were missing as well.

  Mother Earth heard the cry and looked at Shadow and Sunny with the first glimmer of hope in a very long time.

  ‘Shadow, when you escaped the attack, the ancestors must have allowed you to move through time to a safe space in the future,’ Sunny said. ‘The Dreamtime is true: past, present and future are together in the same place. All you had to do was follow the cave spirit to a different exit.’

  Shadow nodded slowly. ‘Does this mean I can go back in time too? To find what happened to my family and all the dingoes?’

  ‘We’ll have to ask my grandmother about that, too,’ said Sunny. ‘Come on, let’s go home to rest, and tomorrow we’ll visit Grandma Calla.’

  CHAPTER 8

  The next day Sunny and a shimmering Shadow set off to visit Grandma Calla. Because there were no dingoes anywhere around, they decided it was best for Shadow to stay invisible for a while longer until they could work out what to do.

  It was quite a long walk for a puppy, so they sat down midway for a rest. Sunny was happily talking to an invisible Shadow, not realising there were two boys from her school nearby. They had often teased Sunny at school.

  ‘Who you talking to, Sunny?’ they said, taunting. ‘Your best friend, Nobody?’ they laughed.

  Shadow could see Sunny was upset so, while he was still invisible, he snuck behind the boys and nipped at their heels.

  ‘What was that?’ they shouted. ‘Who’s there?’ The boys kept jumping about as Shadow ran around them nipping their feet and tugging at their trousers.

  ‘Maybe it’s my best friend Nobody,’ said Sunny sternly. ‘You better watch out!’

  With that, the boys ran off and Sunny and Shadow laughed at their trick.

  Sunny felt really happy having Shadow at her side. She felt brave and safe for the first time in a long while. Sunny realised that something had been missing from her life all this time and now she had found it in Shadow. The loneliness she had felt for so long was gone.

  Shadow and Sunny continued on their way and soon arrived at Grandma Calla’s house. Once inside, Shadow shook his fur and became visible in front of Grandma Calla.

  Grandma Calla was startled and couldn’t believe her eyes.

  ‘Oh, my goodness,’ she cried out. ‘Where did you come from?’

  ‘This is Shadow,’ said Sunny. ‘Peanut found him near the old gum tree in the park.’

  ‘Good old Peanut,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘He sees everything!’

  Grandma Calla stood there staring at Shadow. He looked so familiar … but it couldn’t be, could it?

  Grandma Calla knelt gently beside Shadow.

  ‘Chichi?’ she whispered.

  Shadow nodded his head and leapt into her arms. Grandma Calla scooped him up and hugged him tightly. He was still a puppy after all these years! Grandma Calla was shocked.

  ‘I never thought I would get to see our beloved dingoes ever again,’ said Grandma Calla, bursting into tears. Shadow gently licked the tears running down her face.

  ‘Is this the Chichi you used to tell me stories about, Nan?’ asked Sunny, astonished.

  ‘Yes,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘He has always been in my heart, and now in yours as well.’

  ‘No wonder Sunny looked so familiar,’ remarked Shadow. ‘She is family.’ Grandma Calla and Sunny laughed at the same time, as they both understood what he was saying.

  ‘You can understand dingo, too,’ said Sunny.

  Grandma Calla had always been able to communicate with the dingoes, but for decades there had not been any dingoes around to talk to. Now this gift had been passed on to Sunny.

  ‘Was that you I heard last night, Chichi, howling into the distance? I used to hear that song when I was hiding out bush with my family in those sad times many years ago,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘I thought it was just my memory coming back to haunt me.’

  ‘Yes, it was me,’ replied Chichi. ‘Sunny had taken me up to the hill to see my country. I couldn’t believe what I saw.’ Chichi started to cry.

  Grandma Calla put a comforting arm around him.

  ‘I couldn’t help it,’ Chichi said. ‘I just had to call out for my family just in case they might hear me. And you did.’

  Grandma Calla held him close.

  ‘Maybe this is a new beginning?’ asked Sunny. ‘Maybe healing can begin now Chichi has returned.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Grandma Calla solemnly.

  CHAPTER 9

  ‘How did you get here and still be a puppy?’ asked Grandma Calla.

  Chichi told Grandma Calla about the attack and how he had accidently found his way to the entrance of a sacred cave. Once he was in the cave, he had asked his ancestors to find him a safe place and they brought him here.

  ‘You are my safe place, Calla. You were always a safe place for the dingoes in the past, and now again in the future with Sunny,’ he said lovingly. ‘Remember when we would go exploring together, we always felt so happy and invincible!’

  ‘I remember very well’, said Grandma Calla. ‘How I wished I could have saved you all.’

  ‘You were only a little girl, and I was a pup,’ said Chichi. ‘But after you all disappeared, someone kept leaving food out for us in our secret places. It is what helped to keep us alive.

  ‘That was me and my family,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘We escaped and hid out bush for a long time. We would sneak back late at night when it was safe enough to leave the food.’

  ‘I knew it had to be you,’ said Chichi. ‘No-one else would have known all of those places where we dingoes would go. See, Calla, you did save us after all!’

  Chichi, Sunny and Grandma Calla all hugged each other, tears of sadness and joy streaming down their faces. They all let out a big sigh.

  ‘We will never be separated again,’ said Grandma Calla.

  ‘What would you like to be called now?’ asked Sunny. ‘Chichi or Shadow?’

  ‘Well, Sunny, you have two names as well. Because I am in a new time, I will keep Shadow as my nickname. It makes me sound so mysterious,’ he laughed. ‘And Chichi can be my real name.’

  ‘Done!’ replied Sunny.

  Grandma Calla, Sunny and Shadow talked for a long time. Grandma Calla was so happy to see Shadow she kept hugging him and didn’t want to let him go.

  It was getting late, and Sunny had to return home, but Grandma Calla couldn’t bear the thought of Shadow leaving her side. So she sent word to Sunny’s family to say that Sunny would be staying over to help her out.

  Sunny, Grandma Calla and Shadow sat on the front porch looking out into the night sky. The moon was full and bright, and the evening air was still. Grandma Calla never thought this day was possible, and yet it was already nearly gone. As they listened to the night sounds, they could almost hear Shadow’s mournful cry from the previous day still floating across the universe. It was like the lost dingoes were calling out from beyond. They would not be forgotten.

  That night Sunny was visited by her ancestors in her sleep. In her dreams, she found herself walking along a path. Down the track there was a man, woman and child waiting for her. She did not recognise any of them, yet they seemed familiar. She knew they were family.

  ‘What is it you want to know?’ asked the man.

  ‘I want to know what to do. How can I look after the dingoes?’ asked Sunny.

  ‘Come with us,’ they said. ‘We will take you to see your ancestral spirit.’

  They walked down the path for a while and came to the edge of the universe. It was dark, but there was no fear. It was a calm place.

  ‘Ask your question,’ said the man, and then the man, woman and child walked back along the path.

  Sunny stood there for a while. She could not see anything, so she took a deep breath and spoke into the darkness.

  ‘How can I look after the dingoes?’ she asked softly.

  The ancestral spirit spoke to her and said, ‘Come with me and I will show you.’

  Sunny stepped forward and was soon flying on the back of the ancestral spirit through the darkness and into the light, through ancient times and then into the future. It felt like they had been gone for a very long time and yet no time seemed to have passed at all. Then she heard the ancestral spirit speak to her without words. Sunny was told that her family had always been the guardians of the dingoes and it was up to her to save them. Mother Earth could not heal without them.

  ‘It is no longer safe in the past. You must bring the dingoes into the future through the Dreaming,’ said the ancestral spirit. ‘You will have a journey ahead of you. The answer you seek lies in your knowledge, courage, culture and family.’

  CHAPTER 10

  Sunny awoke the next morning bright and early. She couldn’t wait to tell Grandma Calla and Shadow about the dream.

  ‘It was so strange,’ she said. ‘Not like a dream at all. I felt like I was really there. I have never known anything like this before and I can still feel the sense of calm around me. And we spoke without words – it was as if our thoughts were being shared. I learnt so much,’ said Sunny. ‘I think I know what we have to do.’

  ‘We have to find the sacred cave,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘I am sure it has been woken up to help you, as it did for Shadow. Maybe this is why the cave is still here, to ensure the survival of the dingoes. It must be part of the dingo Dreaming.’

  Shadow and Sunny agreed. This was the path they had to follow. This was the journey they had to make.

  Grandma Calla, Sunny and Shadow set off to find the cave. Shadow had already told them the tunnel exit had disappeared, but maybe they could still find the entrance to the cave instead. They walked along the ridge of the hill until they found a large group of bushes.

  ‘I am sure that is where I fell,’ said Shadow.

  They climbed down from the ridge and, sure enough, as they crawled under the bushes, they could see a small entrance. It was too small for Grandma Calla to climb through, so only Shadow and Sunny could enter. Grandma Calla felt very sad about letting Shadow go on without her, but she knew Sunny would keep him safe.

  ‘This is your time now, Sunny,’ said Grandma Calla. ‘Bring our dingoes home.’

  Sunny and Shadow crawled into the cave. It was completely dark, but they could hear the cave breathing. The cave spirit had been waiting for them. Sunny called out to the ancestors.

  ‘Can you help us save the dingoes?’ she asked.

  A small flickering light appeared in a different part of the cave and a whirlwind of black crystals swirled around them. They knew what they had to do.

  Because the cave was part of the Dreaming, time was fluid. The past, present and future coexisted, making travel through time possible. Time tracks could coalesce in the cave so that only one life was possible. Sunny and Shadow floated through time and space, following the light through the cave and into a tunnel.

 

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