by Justin D'Ath
Now I was smiling, too. I couldn’t help it. Lily was okay! ‘What’s the second good news?’
‘She told everyone what happened,’ Larry said. ‘How you risked your life to pull her out of a whirlpool. So you’re wrong about people hating you – they all think you’re a hero.’
‘Really?’ I said.
‘Absolutely,’ said Larry. He looked me in the eye. ‘And if you don’t mind me saying so, young Cooper, I think you’re a credit to your grandfather.’
It was the first time since the funeral that Mr Sayer had said anything about Pop, but I felt okay – sad, but okay.
‘I was named after him,’ I said softly.
Larry offered me a big, strong hand and helped me to my feet. Then he put his arm around my shoulders, just like Pop used to do, and said, ‘Come with me, Cooper, I want to show you something.’
He led me back along the track, then up through some trees. We came out on the edge of a rocky, sandstone bluff with an amazing view of the national park. Thunder River looked like a skinny green worm, winding through the forest far below us. Larry sat on a flat rock and I sat next to him. For a long time, neither of us said anything.
‘I miss him,’ I said finally.
‘So do I,’ said Larry.
We sat watching the sun come up and talked about Pop. Larry told me about some of the famous rugby tests they’d played in together, and I told him how Pop always came to my games and reckoned that if I stuck at it, one day I might play for Australia.
When I said I was disappointed they’d buried Pop’s Wallabies jumper, Larry told me he’d seen Nanna take it off the coffin at the cemetery and give it to my mother.
We stopped talking after that and looked at the scenery. Larry gave me a tissue and I blew my nose. It felt okay to be sad because Captain Slayer was sad, too. We both missed Pop, and I was never going to forget him.
After a while, Larry patted me on the shoulder. ‘Time to go back to camp, Cooper,’ he said.
I got a hero’s welcome.
‘There he is!’ someone shouted when we came out of the trees at the edge of Wombat Camp, and suddenly Larry and I were mobbed by seventy-seven year fives.
Which meant Ms Mucus couldn’t get near enough to hug me. (And it looked like she wanted to. Gulp!) But Lily Ng got close enough, and I gave her a little hug back.
All the guys went, ‘Woooooo!’ but I didn’t care.
Next moment, Fadi was shaking my hand again, smiling this time. And Jeff, Dan, Jack, Michael and all my other friends – even Jasper Sass – were lining up to give me high fives and fist bumps, and asking my friend, and Pop’s old teammate, Captain Larry Slayer, to autograph their Monvale Primary hats.
Inside, I was still missing Pop, but outside I was grinning from ear to ear.
Year five camp was the best thing ever!
PUFFIN BOOKS
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First published by Penguin group (Australia), 2015
Text copyright © Justin D’Ath, 2015
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Series editor: Susannah McFarlane
Design by Tony Palmer © Penguin Group (Australia)
Cover and internal illustrations by Dean Rankine
Colour separation by Splitting Image Colour Studio, Clayton, Victoria
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ISBN: 978-1-74348-418-0
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