Off the Track

by Cristy Burne

  Harry bit off his own frog’s head, chewing hard.

  ‘You want a turn in the lead?’ she asked him.

  He shrugged. The lead. Whatever.

  ‘You’ll love it,’ said Deepika. ‘I do.’ And she grinned right at him.

  Maybe it was the frog, but her smile made Harry feel stronger and braver and chocolatey. How hard could it be, being in the lead?

  ‘All right,’ he said, and Deepika cheered.

  All he had to do was follow the track. It twisted and turned ahead of him, a pale ribbon of sand on a desiccated ocean. And so whatever. He could walk along a track.

  Harry adjusted his bag and started out, in the lead. He’d show Deepika just how easy it could be.

  UNDER ATTACK

  Harry walked fast and they pulled ahead of the mums. He was puffing, and his left toe was rubbing, but they were really racing and he was almost starting to enjoy this whole hiking thing. That’s when he saw the snake.

  It wasn’t on a yellow triangle, tacked onto the bark of a tree. It was lying half on the track, half in the bushes, soaking up the sun.

  It took him less than a second to start screaming. He backed away, smashing into Deepika and knocking them both to the ground. ‘Snake! Snake!’

  Deepika twisted for a better look, wrestling with his body and their packs to get a glimpse of the threat.

  It was still there, its scaly body half-on and half-off the track. How fast could a snake move? Did snakes chase you? Sometimes ants could chase you. Probably snakes could too. ‘Snake,’ he repeated, breathless and squeaky and pointing right at it.

  ‘Shhh …’ Deepika’s voice was quiet and tense. She held an urgent finger to her lips. ‘We need to get up. Slowly.’

  Silently, carefully, they untangled and scrambled to their feet. Harry didn’t take his eyes off the snake. Why hadn’t it moved? Perhaps it was dead. Or maybe it was gathering its strength.

  ‘Now we back away,’ Deepika whispered, her fingers guiding him into reverse.

  The only sound was Harry’s panicked breath.

  Then he tripped over a root, screamed, and fell writhing to the ground.

  Deepika grabbed his arm and tried to haul him up. ‘It’s on the move!’ she gasped. ‘Quick!’ And then she collapsed to the ground, too, wheezing. It was an incredulous, delirious sort of sound.

  Was she bitten?

  But no, she was laughing, and looking relieved. ‘Not a snake,’ she said. ‘A goanna. Look.’

  There, further down the track but now right in the middle, was a lizard. Its long, striped tail looked exactly like a snake.

  ‘Goannas are fine,’ said Deepika. ‘They’re not poisonous.’

  ‘Do they attack?’ Harry croaked.

  ‘Not unless they think you’re a tree.’ Deepika grinned. ‘I was so scared, Harry. I was so, so scared.’

  He’d been pretty scared too, but he’d never admit it. Then he remembered how he’d screamed and fallen to the ground, and he figured Deepika already knew. ‘Me too,’ he said.

  By a lizard.

  Harry looked at Deepika and she looked at him and they both just started laughing. Their laughter spooked the goanna and it raced off into the bushes, its snake-like tail following quickly after. It ran like a hula-hooping knock-kneed miniature crocodile, which made Harry laugh even more.

  Just then Ana arrived, making them jump. Harry braced himself, ready for Deepika to tell the oh-so-hilarious story of how Harry had screamed and collapsed and mistaken a lizard’s tail for a snake.

  But all she said was ‘Hey, Mum.’

  ‘Hey, you two.’ Ana looked at them both, seeming to sense something was up. ‘All okay here? I thought I heard something.’

  ‘All good,’ grinned Deepika.

  Harry flashed her a grateful smile.

  Then Mum arrived, panting. ‘Harry!’ she called. ‘I have to show you these photos.’ She waved her phone at him, flicking through shots. ‘Look at this amazing tree. And that sky. And this rock.’

  Harry wanted to point out that they were surrounded by amazing trees and sky and rocks. He also wanted to explain that if he’d had his phone, he could’ve taken an amazing photo of the goanna. But that required telling the story. And after facing off with a man-eating lizard-snake, all this talking about photos was pretty boring. So was having to sulk about his phone.

  Soon they were walking again, but Harry and Deepika didn’t get too far ahead before Harry heard something beep from behind him. His heart fell.

  Mum whooped with surprise. ‘Oh! Reception! Harry, wait a second darling, come back a wee way. Looks like we’ve got some reception.’

  Mum’s phone beeped again and again as her messages came through, one after the other. She stopped right where she was, under the baking sun, totally engrossed.

  Harry and Deepika backtracked a short way to the shade of a tree. Ana joined them, and after a minute, she heaved off her pack. ‘Come into the shade, Charl,’ she called to Mum.

  Mum looked up. ‘I will, I just have to …’ She looked down again.

  Unbelievable. So, Harry couldn’t bring his phone, but she could use hers whenever she liked? Harry tried to catch Mum’s eye, so she’d realise the situation. But she only had eyes for her phone.

  Ana shifted uncomfortably. ‘Okay. Well …’ She looked at Harry and Deepika. ‘It’s a bit soon for a snack. I don’t suppose you guys are hungry?’

  Harry and Deepika exchanged a look and Harry tried not to laugh. ‘Starving,’ he said, and slumped in the tree’s delicious shade. Deepika dropped down next to him, digging in her pack for the jelly snakes. She offered him first pick, so he grabbed a red one. Usually he bit off their heads, but this time he started with the tail.

  Ten minutes later they were still waiting. Even a second snake didn’t help. And the third just made Harry feel sick.

  ‘Oh,’ Mum frowned at her phone, stabbing with her fingers. She’d joined them in the tree’s shade, but this only seemed to have increased her email endurance. Now she huffed. ‘Can’t they do anything right?’ She looked up, face apologetic. ‘Sorry, I just have to …’

  Five minutes after that, Deepika sighed, stretching a yellow snake from her teeth like a piece of elastic straw. ‘Can we go ahead, Mum? I mean properly ahead. Not just five minutes. Pleeeease?’

  Ana took a swig of water, watching Mum on her phone. So far she’d been pretty strict about everyone staying within minutes of each other. ‘At the pace of the slowest hiker,’ she’d insisted. But since that hiker was addicted to selfies and email, the pace was painfully slow. They were constantly waiting for Mum to catch up.

  ‘We’ll be totally responsible,’ said Deepika. ‘And we’ll be safe, because we can use the walkie-talkies, can’t we Harry?’

  What? This was the first Harry had heard of walkie-talkies.

  ‘Remember?’ said Deepika. ‘I was telling you, on the way up.’

  Ah. Walkie-talkies. Right. Harry just nodded and tried to look like a good listener.

  ‘Pleeeeease,’ said Deepika. She turned the full force of her enormous smile onto her mum.

  Ana looked resigned and pulled out a map, studying the twist of wriggling lines. ‘This could be a great lunch spot,’ she said, pointing. ‘There could even be views.’ She looked at Harry and Deepika, as if assessing them. ‘You can go ahead and find somewhere to stop for lunch, and we’ll meet you there. What do you think?’

  The only maps Harry could read were in computer games, but Deepika nodded enthusiastically.

  Ana looked across to where Mum was still gawping at her phone. ‘Charl?’ she asked.

  Mum looked up. ‘Sorry, this won’t take …’

  ‘Do you mind if the kids go ahead? Just to the top of the hill?’

  Mum actually looked at them then. Harry was too excited about going ahead to bother looking sad about his phone. He readjusted his pack and tried to look fresh and ready, as if all his life he’d dreamed of a hiking holiday.

  Mum did a half-
nod-half-shrug at Ana, and Ana pulled two walkie-talkies from her pack. ‘One for you,’ she said to Deepika. ‘And one for us. Treat them carefully, they’re not toys.’

  Deepika held a handset to her mouth. ‘Testing, testing,’ she said. ‘This is not a drill. Over.’

  Her voice broadcast through Ana’s handset. ‘I read you,’ said Ana. ‘And this is a drill. So …’ She turned to Mum. ‘What do you think? The kids can use theirs to stay in touch. They’re good for up to a kilometre away.’

  Mum flicked her eyes to Harry’s, then back to her phone, then back to Harry. He tried to imagine the war raging in her head. She’d be torn between concern for her only child, and concern that she’d miss someone’s message. He already knew which would win.

  ‘Sounds great,’ she said. ‘Just not too far, okay?’

  ‘Okay,’ said Harry, smiling his thanks. Though what was the point? He was already looking at the top of Mum’s head.

  Ana spoke into her walkie-talkie. ‘Watch for Waugal markers,’ she said.

  ‘Roger that,’ Deepika radioed back. ‘Over.’

  ‘And stick together,’ radioed Ana. Then she spoke without the walkie-talkie, which made it seem more serious. ‘And no running. All this pea gravel makes it easy to fall. Take it easy, okay?’

  Deepika nodded furiously. Harry tried to appear competent.

  ‘See you at lunch,’ said Deepika. ‘Over.’

  ‘See you at lunch,’ agreed Ana. ‘Over and out.’

  ‘Bye Mum,’ said Harry.

  ‘Bye,’ mumbled Mum. ‘I’ll just be a minute …’

  So Deepika and Harry set off, for real this time, just the two of them, entirely alone, and even after the first step it felt different.

  Of course, they weren’t really alone. Mum and Ana were right behind, just as they’d always been, because there was only one track and they were all on it. But somehow now it felt like an entirely different adventure. As if Deepika and Harry were the only two people on the whole planet. And all the trees and all the rocks and all the animals were a special part of their private and wild and incredible world.

  ‘Yes!’ crowed Deepika, the moment they were out of earshot.

  Harry just breathed it all in. They walked and Deepika talked and Harry hardly noticed his backpack, or the heat. And sometimes, when Deepika literally jumped over fallen branches, Harry jumped too.

  SNOTTY GOBBLE

  They’d been walking only a few minutes when Deepika spotted the next black-and-yellow triangle on a nearby tree. ‘Waugal,’ she said. She pressed the walkie-talkie button. ‘We’re on track, over.’

  Ana’s voice chimed through, steady and confident. ‘Great stuff. Over.’

  They slogged up the hill, Harry’s heart pumping hard and his left heel rubbing like crazy. He wondered briefly whether his feet might wear away, but forgot to care too much. Around them leaves rustled and birds sang and he felt alive. Like a mountaineer, breaking new ground in an unexplored land.

  He didn’t even mind that Deepika talked so much. In fact, it was sometimes kind of interesting. She seemed to know all the names of all the flowers and all the rocks and probably all the ants too. Every single one. That’s Michael, he imagined her saying. And that’s Matilda.

  ‘That’s a wandoo,’ she said, pointing at a tree. ‘See its bark flaking off? And that’s from an emu,’ she said, pointing at a chunky dollop of super-gross poo. ‘See how it’s full of seeds? And they’re carnivorous flowers.’ She showed Harry some tiny pincushions that shone with beads of sticky dew. ‘But don’t worry,’ she grinned, ‘they only eat insects.’

  Soon they were hiking up and alongside another sunny ridge. The day’s heat rose in waves around them, the song of crickets rang out. Even the feel of the path had changed. It was less like a sandpit and more a mosaic of coloured leaves and rusty soil. And there were flowers everywhere, white and yellow, purple and red, and even blue.

  Deepika pointed at a tree oozing sap into a puddle on the ground. ‘That’s a marri,’ she said. ‘They make the honky nuts, plus you can use their flowers to make tea. And did you know that marri means blood?’

  Harry gulped. It did look like blood, slowly dripping down to the forest floor. For some reason it reminded him of the stolen car and the diamonds.

  And then, after maybe half an hour, they reached the top: a huge carpet of granite, rolling across the crest of the hill and edging down the other side. There was a cool breeze and shady trees. There were even rock pools where the last of the rain had collected, and tiny bell-like flowers tufting at the sides. Harry spotted another lizard, smaller this time. Then another. They weren’t goannas, they were smaller, the size of bananas, and they watched the walkers from the rocks.

  ‘They’re crevice dragons,’ said Deepika. ‘Check it out.’ She turned to one and spoke right to it. ‘Is this the top, dragon?’ The lizard bobbed its head up and down. Harry couldn’t believe it.

  ‘You think we’re total legends, dragon?’ she asked, and it bobbed up and down again. Harry laughed.

  ‘You think it’s time for more chocolate?’ she asked the lizard, but it scampered away, disappearing into the twists and folds of the rock. ‘Well, I think it’s time for chocolate,’ she said, and Harry agreed.

  ‘I’ll grab the frogs, you tell the parents we’re here,’ said Deepika, offering him the walkie-talkie.

  They plonked themselves onto the sun-warmed rock. He could see all the way across the world, right into the green of the valley. They’d done it! They’d climbed the mountain. Alone. And he still had most of his feet. Nothing had ever felt better.

  He radioed the good news. ‘Made it. Waiting for lunch delivery, over.’

  ‘Roger that,’ came the reply. ‘Well done.’

  Harry beamed. Deepika handed him another frog. ‘Now, try this,’ she said, jumping to her feet. She began walking across the rock with a bounce in her feet, like an astronaut on the moon. ‘Feels like you’re floating. It’s because you’re used to having such a heavy pack, and then suddenly you don’t, so it feels really weird …’

  She looked really weird, walking like a cartoon character across the rock. But she did seem to be having fun, and there was no one else around …

  Harry gave it a try. She was right. It felt like he was floating.

  And they were still floating when Mum and Ana arrived.

  Ana swung off her pack and pulled out a little cooker. In no time she had a pot of water bubbling away, and soon all four of them were sitting on the breezy rock, spooning curly chicken noodles into their mouths and feasting on the view. Best lunch ever. Best lunch spot too.

  Harry gave Mum a big smile, and she smiled back. And then her phone beeped.

  ‘Oh, that’s lucky!’ she said. ‘I didn’t realise we’d have reception here. I just have to …’ And that was that.

  Phone stuff. Always with the phone stuff. It felt dumb, sitting in the best lunch spot ever, waiting round while Mum checked her phone. It spoiled it somehow. And when Mum looked up, everyone was watching her, even Ana. Mum put her phone away.

  ‘It’s only work,’ she said. ‘I’ll get back to them later.’

  Harry was impressed.

  The rest of lunch was fun. They chatted and ate juicy apples and laughed at the lizards, and when Harry and Deepika asked if they could go ahead again, Mum and Ana actually talked about it and agreed. ‘Not too far ahead,’ Ana added. ‘Stay in range of the walkie-talkies.’

  Harry felt as if he could fly all the way to the three-walled hut. He and Deepika took turns in the lead, following the rolling path down into a valley. The ground was covered in ankle-wrecking honky nuts and marble-like pea gravel, but they took their time and stuck together, soon falling into the routine of hiking. Deepika even left some space for Harry to talk, now that he felt like talking. They told jokes and crunched on smarties. They spotted more carnivorous pincushions, plus a plant with tiny white flowers that showered like snowflakes if you bumped into it. And Waugals. Lots of
Waugals.

  ‘There’s one,’ said Harry, pointing to the yellow triangle on a patchworked trunk.

  They crossed a dry creek, then found an ancient tree so enormous they couldn’t reach around it, not even when they joined hands to try. And a clearing with moss so soft Harry wanted to try it out for a pillow. Then they came to the sickly smell of something dead.

  ‘Maybe a roo,’ said Deepika. ‘Come on, let’s get past.’

  They covered their noses and ran along the track, trying not to breathe. Harry imagined the roo, rotten and bloated and crawling with flies. That sort of thing could happen, out here in the bush.

  But soon the stench was gone and the air everywhere was sweet.

  The walkie-talkie crackled. ‘You guys okay?’ came Ana’s voice.

  ‘Yep,’ Deepika answered. ‘All good, over.’

  ‘Great stuff,’ answered Ana.

  And on they walked.

  ‘Waugal,’ said Deepika, pointing to another marker. Then she pointed to a vivid-green tree with a shady umbrella. ‘And that’s a snottygobble,’ she announced.

  ‘It’s so not,’ said Harry.

  ‘It so is,’ she grinned. ‘It even has snotty fruit, like jelly beans, look. You can eat them … wanna try?’

  ‘After you,’ said Harry, but neither of them did.

  They spent a while exploring the hollowed remains of a burned-out forest giant. Inside the trunk was space enough to fit them both, and several spiders too, so they didn’t stay long. ‘It’s still growing,’ marvelled Harry, staring up. And it was, still green and tall and reaching for the clouds.

  They walked on and on, spotting Waugals as they went. ‘Check this out,’ Deepika said, stopping beside a sapling gum. ‘You can make a whistle from the leaves, the red ones, you just fold them back, like this …’

  She showed him how to crease a newborn leaf to reveal its stretchy membrane, then they made the worst shrieking sounds ever by curling a leaf into their tongues. Harry was glad Mum wasn’t around to tell them to stop that dreadful racket.

  Soon the track left the bush and joined a wider, unsealed road.