worrying all the time about whether you were safe or not.’
I walked her back to the clearing, telling her again how good life in New Zealand was: how she could watch TV and eat McDonald’s and no- one’d try to kill her. It seemed like a pretty good deal we were offering, and although she was still teary I think she’d finally accepted that it was going to happen.
Our tactics had worked fairly well. By convincing each one individually we’d robbed them of the power to resist us as a group. Natalie and Jack were red-eyed, Natalie whimpering every twenty seconds or so, and Gavin was sulky, but the fight had gone out of them.
Casey’s last comment on the situation was to walk up to Ryan, kick him hard in the ankle, and walk away again. She didn’t look at him again from that moment on.
We had to reorganise our packs. In our scramble to get out of Hell we’d grabbed anything and everything, and now we had to sort ourselves out. Every item we carried had to be carefully chosen, because by the time we added some of the stuff we’d hidden in the wetlands we’d have a lot of weight. So we spent half an hour doing that while Ryan kept watch. I smiled as I watched Fi carefully rolling a jumper and stuffing it deep into her pack. For a moment I thought back, remembering how Fi had been so hopeless about packing when we first set out for Hell. Had she really brought a dressing gown? I could hardly believe it, but when I searched my memory, there it was: Fi on the top of Tailor’s Stitch, looking embarrassed as we gave her a lesson in outdoor living.
This time roles were reversed: Fi caught me sneaking in the rock Lee gave me for Christmas.
‘Oh you can’t take that!’ she said.
It was such a beautiful rock though. The size of a tennis ball, but flatter, and green or grey or shades of both, depending on the light. And on the back, down in the corner, in impossibly tiny writing, a message that I had only seen a couple of days ago: Lee’s initials and mine in a tiny heart. I’d been lying on my bed when I saw it, and fair dinkum, I prickled like I was wearing a woollen blanket against my bare skin. I felt myself go red and hot. If Lee had been there at that moment he might have got lucky, for the first time in a while. He hadn’t said a word about the message when he handed me the rock.
So no way was I leaving it behind. But Fi caught me by surprise and I couldn’t think of anything to say. Fi just sighed and shook her head. ‘This is the most complicated relationship since Romeo and Juliet,’ she complained. ‘You’re both hopeless. I mean, what is the big problem? You love him. He adores you. You get together and live happily ever after. Any questions? No, of course not. That’ll be ten dollars, thank you.’
‘It’s the war,’ I said.
‘No it’s not,’ Fi said.
‘Oh really? Well, OK Miss Smartypants, you tell me then, if you’re such a big expert all of a sudden.’
Without so much as pausing in her packing Fi said: ‘It’s because you’re scared that this is for real, you love him to the max, and you’re running away from that. This isn’t just kidding around any more, this is serious business.’
I stood there with my mouth open like a baby maggie . After a minute Fi looked up from her pack, gave a little sly grin and said: ‘See? I’m not as stupid as you think. I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘I don’t think you’re stupid,’ I said automatically, trying to buy time, but not sure that Fi was as right as she thought.
Fi , who was obviously in an extremely aggravating mood, just shrugged and started rolling up her black T-shirt .
‘I was in love with Steve,’ I said.
‘No you weren’t. Oh, you liked him, and you had a crush on him, and he got you hot, but it wasn’t serious love like this.’
‘How do you know what I feel for Lee? I never talk about it.’
‘No, but you talk about him. Three-quarters of your conversation is about him. Even if you’re criticising him,
I walked her back to the clearing, telling her again how good life in New Zealand was: how she could watch TV and eat McDonald’s and no- one’d try to kill her. It seemed like a pretty good deal we were offering, and although she was still teary I think she’d finally accepted that it was going to happen.
Our tactics had worked fairly well. By convincing each one individually we’d robbed them of the power to resist us as a group. Natalie and Jack were red-eyed, Natalie whimpering every twenty seconds or so, and Gavin was sulky, but the fight had gone out of them.
Casey’s last comment on the situation was to walk up to Ryan, kick him hard in the ankle, and walk away again. She didn’t look at him again from that moment on.
We had to reorganise our packs. In our scramble to get out of Hell we’d grabbed anything and everything, and now we had to sort ourselves out. Every item we carried had to be carefully chosen, because by the time we added some of the stuff we’d hidden in the wetlands we’d have a lot of weight. So we spent half an hour doing that while Ryan kept watch. I smiled as I watched Fi carefully rolling a jumper and stuffing it deep into her pack. For a moment I thought back, remembering how Fi had been so hopeless about packing when we first set out for Hell. Had she really brought a dressing gown? I could hardly believe it, but when I searched my memory, there it was: Fi on the top of Tailor’s Stitch, looking embarrassed as we gave her a lesson in outdoor living.
This time roles were reversed: Fi caught me sneaking in the rock Lee gave me for Christmas.
‘Oh you can’t take that!’ she said.
It was such a beautiful rock though. The size of a tennis ball, but flatter, and green or grey or shades of both, depending on the light. And on the back, down in the corner, in impossibly tiny writing, a message that I had only seen a couple of days ago: Lee’s initials and mine in a tiny heart. I’d been lying on my bed when I saw it, and fair dinkum, I prickled like I was wearing a woollen blanket against my bare skin. I felt myself go red and hot. If Lee had been there at that moment he might have got lucky, for the first time in a while. He hadn’t said a word about the message when he handed me the rock.
So no way was I leaving it behind. But Fi caught me by surprise and I couldn’t think of anything to say. Fi just sighed and shook her head. ‘This is the most complicated relationship since Romeo and Juliet,’ she complained. ‘You’re both hopeless. I mean, what is the big problem? You love him. He adores you. You get together and live happily ever after. Any questions? No, of course not. That’ll be ten dollars, thank you.’
‘It’s the war,’ I said.
‘No it’s not,’ Fi said.
‘Oh really? Well, OK Miss Smartypants, you tell me then, if you’re such a big expert all of a sudden.’
Without so much as pausing in her packing Fi said: ‘It’s because you’re scared that this is for real, you love him to the max, and you’re running away from that. This isn’t just kidding around any more, this is serious business.’
I stood there with my mouth open like a baby maggie . After a minute Fi looked up from her pack, gave a little sly grin and said: ‘See? I’m not as stupid as you think. I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘I don’t think you’re stupid,’ I said automatically, trying to buy time, but not sure that Fi was as right as she thought.
Fi , who was obviously in an extremely aggravating mood, just shrugged and started rolling up her black T-shirt .
‘I was in love with Steve,’ I said.
‘No you weren’t. Oh, you liked him, and you had a crush on him, and he got you hot, but it wasn’t serious love like this.’
‘How do you know what I feel for Lee? I never talk about it.’
‘No, but you talk about him. Three-quarters of your conversation is about him. Even if you’re criticising him,
Similar Books
