Belly Flop by Morris Gleitzman Page B

fast all the dirt gets blown off.
    Thanks for keeping Gran out of the bathroom while I was getting the shower water into the bottles.
    Best if the adults don’t know about the plan yet.
    If they knew there was a secret stash of water in town, they’d probably all want to wash their cars.
    I think the plan’s gunna work, Doug.
    I just saw Carla in the playground and she’s got six bottles already.
    Six bottles in less than a day.
    She explained that only two are from her place cause they’ve got a special shower spray that hardly lets any water through, plus she got shampoo in her eyes this morning and kicked the plug out and lost about another two bottles.
    The other four bottles are from the Gas ‘N’ Gobble.
    Carla had to meet her mum there yesterday after the meeting and Geoff the mechanic was flushing out a ute radiator and she asked if she could have the water.
    She said it was for a project, which is almost true.
    Pretty smart thinking, eh Doug?
    Water’s water, even if it is a bit rusty.
    If all the kids are as on the ball as Carla, we’ll have the pool filled in no time.
    OK, not all the kids are as on the ball as Carla.
    Just now going into class Danielle Wicks saw me and tried to walk the other way so I cornered her.
    She showed me what she’d collected.
    Half a bottle.
    Half a bottle from a family of seven.
    â€˜What about all the people having showers at your place?’ I asked.
    â€˜We don’t get showers on Thursdays,’ said Danielle, ‘just a bath with all of us using the same water.’
    I looked at her half bottle in amazement.
    â€˜Seven of you have a bath in that much water?’ I said.
    â€˜Don’t be a pin brain,’ she said. ‘We use heaps more than that but Ryan goes last and he lets the dogs drink it.’
    I asked her to keep her voice down. We were pretty close to the offices and Ms Dorrit’s got ears like a council irrigation inspector.
    Quietly I suggested to Danielle that the more she can stop their dogs running around and getting thirsty, the quicker we’ll have the pool filled.
    She scowled.
    â€˜Listen, smarty pants,’ she said, ‘don’t get bossy just cause you can pinch crates of bank water. Your dad and his poxy bank are the reason our family’s living in a poxy house in town in the first place with three dogs going mental in the yard.’
    I decided not to get into an argument.
    Life must be pretty tough for the Wicks’s, plus when Danielle gets worked up her voice can be heard for miles.
    I started to quietly explain to her that the bank doesn’t supply its staff with water, just tea and coffee.
    Danielle unscrewed her bottle and tried to tip it over my head.
    With another 499,986 litres still to get we can’t afford to waste water, so I shut up.
    Most of the kids are trying to avoid me.
    Andy Howard reckons trying to fill the pool is a dopey idea and that his mum’s pot plants need the water more cause if her cherry tomatoes die she’ll kill him.
    Matthew Conn hasn’t collected a drop.
    He says his dad goes really crook if anyone in his family has a shower or washes clothes and doesn’t use the water to top up the radiator in the truck.
    I just bailed up Sean Howe in the boys’ dunny.
    He hasn’t collected a drop either.
    He reckons he doesn’t dare cause his mum and dad use all their cooking water for making beer.
    He offered to pee into a bottle, but I said no.
    You’d think, wouldn’t you Doug, that a townful of fairly intelligent kids could do a simple thing like save household water.
    Jeez.
    I can see why Mr Tristos gets so stressed when he has to try and organise everyone for sport. If I had a moustache like Mr Tristos I’d be chewing it right now, I can tell you.
    I’ve just wasted three hours after school waiting for kids to turn up with some water.
    OK, the time wasn’t completely wasted. The first hour I spent clearing