by Susan Pease
THE MYSTERIES OF
CORKUPARIPPLE CREEK
CORKUPARIPPLE CREEK • WORLDS APART
SUSAN PEASE
ILLUSTRATED BY OLIVIA PEASE
DEDICATION
SEEING IS ABOUT BELIEVING
Stories are written, read and disappear, probably hidden on some dusty bookshelf , often forgotten and never retold. This tale is different because it stays in the heart of all who hear it. The memory continues eagerly, waiting to be shared with the next generation. Take a peek, sit back, relax and open your mind, journey into the world of the Gulp-a-Waters and the Slurp-it-Downs. You will never be the same again.
- Susan Pease
For my Gulp-a-Waters and Slurp-it-Downs grandchildren.
The future caretakers of our planet.
In loving memory of Els.
PROLOGUE
The water was lapping against the old wooden boat floating alongside Corkuparipple Creek. It was Jo’s secret place away from the hustle and bustle of her so-called boring life. Didn’t matter whether it was a dull, rainy day or a scorcher, she always managed to have fun pretending she was sailing away.
The old boat with its peeling paint and slimy moss looked like it was from a movie set. You could almost relive its past by looking at the condition of the wooden panels on the deck. Knocks and bumps showing years of wear and grotty stuff, wedged between the cracks, gave the boat a sense of history and adventure. The wormholes were Jo’s favourite thing; she loved poking her fingers into them in the hope that she could dig out anything that might be lurking down there. Numerous times over the years her grandfather would point out the dangers of ‘sticking her fingers where they should not be’. This included picking her nose and rubbing all the bogeys on the side of the boat. His language was rather flowery for an old country farmer and he used to say in a stern voice, ‘Jo, please refrain from poking, you never know what may be hiding ready to pounce. What if it’s a redback spider? You may even get a very nasty splinter!’
The old boat had definitely seen better days. It had often been used to rescue stranded families when the river was swollen in times of flood but unfortunately the boat had long been abandoned and was now tied up to a weather-beaten mooring post on Corkuparipple Creek, at the bottom of Jo’s backyard. Grandfather Sid Parker had blessed the wooden vessel with the name Charity and used to say she was a ‘real corker.’
Jo happened to be a rambling chatterbox, jumping from one subject to the other in a matter of minutes. At times it could be really annoying but it didn’t matter when she was in the boat because nobody was around to tell her to ‘keep quiet’ or slow down. There was just Jo, her thoughts, and the sound of the water running down the Corkuparipple Creek. Charity was a place of refuge; somewhere Jo could chill, curl up and dream the time away.
Most people would think I’m a little crazy but I feel that the old boat is like a best friend; well, it’s sort of my best friend. I can sit here for ages and talk my head off and the boat never interrupts or questions my judgement. It’s a really cool relationship; I talk and think about stuff and the boat listens. Wonder if people can really read your mind? They say that there are some people who can; it’s a mystical gift. Maybe my grandfather can read my thoughts in heaven, good point, better watch what I think. I wish Grandfather was still here to tell me stories about how he saved thousands of people when he was young. I miss all those days; it was fun mucking around with him.
Jo talked to herself in her head a lot, it’s a wonder she didn’t confuse herself or bring on a headache. Thinking too much was about to become a nightmare and learning not to think was the biggest drama of all.
Part I
CORKUPARIPPLE CREEK
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: Discovering Anything Not Yet Discovered
CHAPTER TWO: Spying And Discovering
CHAPTER THREE: Aunt Pepper Arrives
CHAPTER FOUR: Fire Part Of Life
CHAPTER FIVE: The Greatest Shock Of Jo’s Life
CHAPTER SIX: Double Figures
CHAPTER SEVEN: Waldo Pickering
CHAPTER EIGHT: Jo’s Slurp-It-Downs Awakening
PART II WORLDS APART
CHAPTER ONE
Discovering Anything Not Yet Discovered
Joanne was sitting on the end of her bed brain-storming; she had to find a subject for her essay exam. Every idea seemed to fall short of something brilliant and exciting. ‘I’m fed up. It’s as if my brain is asleep and my ideas have run away. Why I have to be bothered going to school is beyond me! Let’s face it; the world would still turn if I didn’t go and school is such a big time-waster.’
The bin was filled with screwed-up paper containing non-brilliant ideas and the brainstorming was starting to wear thin. She could be out discovering anything not yet discovered but instead she was wasting time on dumb school stuff. Jo’s dream was to be famous by finding something extraordinary, something unusual and something absolutely awesome! In the meantime, she had to come up with an idea for the end-of-term school essay exam and that was not much fun.
‘Joanne Elizabeth Parker; get your brain into gear! It can’t be that hard to think of a blinking idea. It could be on, “Why brothers are such a pain in the bum” or “Why parents should let their kids stay up late”. But I suppose it’ll have to be what teachers like. Something boring and predictable like, “the cat sat on the mat”’.
Jo was getting cranky but she really had a vivid imagination and wrote wonderful essays. She was the star essay writer at school and everybody expected big things from her so she just had to come up with a decent idea.
‘I just can’t do it, no good ideas for me. Looks like I’ll get a great big fat F and it’ll be the most embarrassing and humiliating thing of my life!’
Jo grabbed her school bag and ran down the stairs; she was not in a good mood at all. As she entered the kitchen, her stomach started to rumble and her attention soon turned to the cookie jar.
‘Don’t even think about it Jo, sit down and have a proper breakfast,’ remarked her mother.
‘No time, have to rush. I’ve got to think of an idea for a school essay
exam. See ya, wish me luck.’
‘Jo, don’t forget to put on your sunhat, it’s hot outside and the sun will fry your brain.’ Parents can be such a big pain in the bum.
Jo was not impressed; it was bad enough that she had red hair and white skin that needed lots of sun lotion. Why couldn’t she have been born with olive skin and brunette hair? Now that really annoyed her.
Then there was the hat, the daggy one her mother insisted she wore. The one she quickly hid in her school bag before entering the school grounds.
Because Jo was nearly ten, she was convinced that she was closer to being “grown up”. Soon she would be able to do exactly what she wanted; it would be her ticket to freedom. Jo was a grumpy pants at times and overdramatic on most days ending with “y”. With that type of attitude, heaven knows how she managed to keep out of trouble. But one thing Jo could definitely be proud of was that she never used bad language and tried to be reasonably polite. Jo had the ability to hide what was really on her mind and nobody was the wiser. Unfortunately for Jo, this was about to change.
Her behaviour, attitude and feelings were about to be challenged to the max. Jo was soon to embark upon a new dilemma of huge and weird proportions.
Jo grabbed her embarrassing hat and a piece of Vegemite toast off the bench, slammed the front door and was soon making her way to school.
Jo was supposed to be walking to school but had decid
ed to detour through the bush towards the creek. Nobody would mind if she was only ten minutes late. After all, some kids seem to miss an awful lot of school. She shuffled through tall grass and climbed over fallen logs. The scorching summer sun hit her cheeks and the sound of the trickling water made her feel the need to, well, let’s just say, she held on.
There were dragonflies skimming the top of the water and annoying mossies buzzing around her ears. On this particular day the inviting water, blue skies and bush smells mesmerised her into a state of carefree meditation. She unbuckled her sandals and took off her school socks. An overwhelming need to dip her feet into the cool, clear water embraced her. The water swirled and bubbled around her and the temperature was so cold that it drained almost all of her breath, causing an ice-pole-type of headache.
‘Gosh that’s cold!’ she exclaimed.
The sight of the stepping stones scattered through the creek, beckoned her to continue on her watery adventure.
After walking across the creek, Jo pulled herself up a rock pillow, lay low and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings. School seemed to conveniently drift from her mind. Shutting her eyes for only five minutes seemed to be a great idea. She travelled deeply into the world of fantasy as reality disappeared and creative thinking pushed its way into her mind. The poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter came to mind but goodness knows why. It just popped into her thoughts; maybe she was having an “Alice” moment.
Suddenly, Jo heard an odd sound floating around the stream. Slish, slosh, slish, slosh. What could it be? Looking about with inquisitive eyes she saw a strange-looking, rotund creature. He was attempting to demonstrate some kind of dishing skill.
‘Don’t do it like that. You don’t know what you are doing,’ said a sharp voice coming from a skinny creature.
‘Panning for gold is my specialty I’ll have you know,’ said the rotund creature angrily.
‘Nonsense,’ replied the skinny creature looking frustrated.
Jo shook her head and rubbed her eyes. What could she be imagining? The first creature had a dragon face, droopy eyes and two sets of ears. Two of his ears were small and pointy while the other set was long and slimy with stick-like feelers twisting in all directions. He also had a long tail with clusters of brown twigs twisting about dragging on the ground. His large feet had two big toenails and he had tan and green fur. The other fellow with a bad disposition was skinny, brown and hairy with two huge eyes and a bird-type beak. He looked as if he had a beaver’s tail, flat and longish, with webbed feet. Jo knew she had a good imagination but this was ridiculous. What was she witnessing?
‘Gulp-a-Waters don’t know how to pan for gold,’ moaned the bad-tempered skinny creature.
‘Only Slurp-it-Downs do and that is a fact.’
Gulp-a-Waters and Slurp-it-Downs, what on earth are they? Get a grip Jo; I wonder if I’m going loopy, she thought.
The two creatures argued for a long time until a sound came out of the bush. Burr, burr, the noise echoed through the treetops.
‘Just typical, looks like we’re being called back for tea,’ said the Gulp-a-Waters.
A prickly feeling surged up Jo’s neck as the notion that she had lost track of the time jolted her to attention.
Tea, oh no, it must be late in the day; everybody will be worried about where I’ve disappeared to.
Jo jumped up, raced over the stepping stones, fled through the tall grass, and managed with a great amount of skill to hurdle the fallen logs. The thought of her having to give a good explanation on missing school started to make her tummy feel a little queasy. It was going to take a miracle to get out of today’s dilemma. But Jo knew that she would have to come back; it was all too fascinating for words. How could she not resist the urge to find out the mysteries of Corkuparipple Creek?
Racing towards the edge of the bush and finally meeting up with the road to school, Jo was panic-stricken when she bumped into her friend Melissa.
‘Where have you been Jo and why don’t you have your sandals and socks on?’
Jo looked down. She had left them somewhere near Corkuparipple Creek.
‘Just took a wrong turn,’ she muttered.
‘Well, you better find a good excuse for being out of full school uniform, hurry up or we’ll be late for school.’
Hang on, what do you mean late for school; surely I’ve missed today haven’t I? she thought.
Confused and edgy she followed Melissa to school.
How could it be “on the way time to school”, shouldn’t it be “on the way home time from school”?
Jo then began to worry if the new breakfast cereal had resulted in side effects! It was supposed to be organic, healthy and full of nutrition.
All day her mind was back at Corkuparipple Creek, the smells, sounds and those funny-looking creatures just would not disappear. By lunchtime, her books were filled with sketches of Gulp-a-Waters and Slurp-it-Downs. As she packed up her school bag ready for the journey home, there were no memories of her maths lesson, no notion of the spelling test, and Jo had totally forgotten about receiving a detention for being out of full school uniform. The end of the day brought relief to Jo; the only challenge left was telling her mother where and why she had lost her sandals and socks.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes things have a way of going right? Jo arrived home to find a note on the kitchen bench,
GONE TO THE SHOPS WITH GEOFFREY. WONT BE HOME UNTIL DINNERTIME PLEASE FEED THE ANIMALS. LOVE MUM.
How good is that, I can change and Mum will never know I don’t have my sandals or socks! Tomorrow is sport so I can wear my joggers and sports socks. You just have to win sometimes. Now I have a chance to retrieve my things without being caught out. Hope Mr Heathmont doesn’t ring Mum about my detention.
Maybe I have time to visit Charity; it’s a good place to think over what I’ve experienced. Yes, maybe it will clear my head. Mum won’t be home for a while and Geoffrey’s not at home to annoy me. I think the boat is a good idea as long as I don’t lose sight of the time and get into more trouble, thought Jo.
She dashed down the path past the clothesline, nearly slipping on the pavers. Ran like crazy down the steep embankment and reached the river’s edge.
Here at last I’m getting faster every time, she chuckled to herself.
Jo climbed into the boat, it rocked gently and she found herself once again feeling sleepy. Thank goodness she snapped out of it in good time. Jo thought about the strange creatures she had seen that morning. It didn’t seem real and if she told anybody about them, they would probably never believe her. She decided to go home and put them out of her mind until at least all of her chores were done.
As she ran back towards the house the light was disappearing and shadows danced across the lawn revealing spooky images. For a minute Jo’s heart almost stopped as she thought she might have stayed too long by the creek. She was greatly relieved when she reached the back door and there was no sign of her mother or brother, only frustrating domestic animals, whining to be let in for dinner.
Jo had a younger exasperating brother called Geoffrey, who was a real pain in the butt. Knowing something he didn’t, gave her the greatest satisfaction. The best thing of all was that he wasn’t allowed to go down to the river, so Charity was all hers. Well, sort of all hers, she had a good friend called Simon Cook who lived at the property next door. He was the only other person allowed to step one foot into the boat. Jo really liked Simon because he didn’t care that she was a girl, he just liked to hang out. Simon also had red hair and that made him perfect. Well, that’s if boys could be sort of perfect and he did love the boat nearly as much as Jo. He promised to never bring anybody else into the boat without Jo’s permission. Unbeknown to Jo, he would sneak his friend Mark onto the boat when the coast was clear. The two boys delighted in playing pirates and had a Jolly Roger of a time. Sticks for swords, pirate hats made out of folded newspaper and flags out of large white undies which had been grabbed from an underwear draw belonging to M
ark’s dad because he had a big, fat bum. The boys would throw rocks into the creek pretending they were cannon fire, stirring up all the mud from the bottom and sending the fish into frenzy. Those days were strictly “no girl” days. Up until now it never seemed to clash with the time Jo wanted to spend in the boat. If she ever found out about Mark Haig coming, Simon would be in big trouble.
Jo knew that she had to feed the animals; it was the only chore she really hated. The animals would circle her like sharks and jump up and scratch her legs. Often Bandaid would rush his food down and then chuck it all over the floor so she had to clean up the sticky, gooey mess. Most of the time, she had to stop Tim Tam, her cat, from licking up the vomit. How disgusting, it’s terrible what I have to put up with. Her mum arrived home just as she was about to set the table; perfect timing.
That night after dinner all she could think of was the adventure she had just had. The anticipation of another bush walk made all her senses tingle.
The creatures may come back to the stream. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I had discovered something unique that nobody else in the world knew about? The only problem is retracing my steps.
As she cleaned her teeth, visions of the strange creatures seemed to display themselves in her mirror. How am I going to sleep? It was a challenge she just had to endure.
CRANKY CREATURES
The next morning Jo woke to a sunny and inviting day and as usual felt happy. The birds were making an enormous din outside her window and her chubby cat was snuggled up against the small of her back. Her dog, Bandaid, was lying at the bottom of her bed making terrible smells! ‘Oh Bandaid that’s disgusting,’ she exclaimed, running from her bedroom holding her nose tightly.
As she entered the kitchen, yesterday’s events came swishing back into her mind. She hurried her breakfast, nearly choking on the cereal. Milk ran down her chin like a waterfall, soaking into her shirt and collar. Geoffrey was totally amused by the mess his sister was getting herself in. Jo didn’t care; all she could think about was the mission to retrace her steps and grab her misplaced belongings. Mum was impressed with the way Jo actively downed her breakfast, thinking how clever she was for buying the new organic cereal. Unfortunately, she demanded that Jo clean herself up before she could leave. That only mucked up any thought of getting out in good time. Geoffrey was almost wetting himself; so delighted that she had got into trouble. When Jo presented herself to her mother for inspection after a very quick bathroom stop, her brother, who was fooling around on his chair, managed to fall backwards. He landed flat on his back and wailed at the pain he was in.
