It has been many nights since I last saw Yhi. I have traveled alone, unmolested across the outback. Perhaps that is reason enough to believe that I'm not alone.

I finally caught up with the chimpanzee last night. He had cast off his trench coat, rolled up his sleeves, and untied his tie. I wondered for a moment at this sight but decided it was no stranger than an old man turned into a vampire and disguised as a dingo.

I was about to continue my trek when I noticed that it was an Australian Fig that the chimp was reclining on with his fedora over his eyes. Sure enough a Yara-ma-yah-who was steadily descending the tree towards the chimp.

Sorry? You've never heard of a Yara-ma-yah-who? Well, the yara-ma-yha-who is a not so mythological critter that looks like a little red man. They've got little sucker cups on the end of their fingers. They reside in fig trees and drop on anyone who happens to sit under one. They suck the life force from their victim like some kind of vampire and then devour them. Strangely enough they regurgitate their victim a little shorter but otherwise unharmed. If the victim is dumb enough to repeat the experience, over time they themselves will become a Yara-ma-yha-who.

I began to leap towards the camp but checked myself at the last moment as the Yara-ma-yha-who reached down to grab the chimp. The chimp suddenly grabbed the Yara-ma-yha-who and held him out at arms length getting a good look at it, Having satisfied his curiosity he stood up and swung the snarling Yara-ma-yha-who head first into the fig tree a couple of times. He then unceremoniously stuck his boot up the Yara-ma-yha-who's ass sending him flying into the next tree over. There was an immediate uproar from the next tree as Yara-ma-yha-whos tend to be territorial with only a few living in each tree. The commotion settled down after a moment and it looked like the show was over. Not so. The chimp looked like he was going to go back to sleep but apparently he thought better of it. The chimp took off his tie and shirt and leaped up into the tree. With alot of rustling and shaking of tree boughs two more Yara-ma-yha-who came shooting out of the tree and into the other. The commotion as greater this time but again settled down pretty quickly. Apparently the owners of the other tree had seen what the chimp had done and weren't about to leave the tree and the new occupants weren't about to try to retake their tree. The chimp settled back down with a smug grin on his face.

I chuckled to myself. They didn't need my help on this one. I turned to continue my trek but suddenly found I had no beacon to follow. The only explanation I can think of is that the girl and her friend must have gone on a dreamtime walk-about. With the car tracks and scent dwindling I guess I won't have much of a trail to follow oh well. Life ain't easy.