by S R Silcox
“Just get it sorted,” he says into the phone and hangs up. He walks over and sits on the lounge beside me. “Hey, Riles. You look like you’re in a good mood. Did you have a good night last night?”
I hand him the cup. “Yeah. Brooks and I stayed up late catching up.”
He nods and sips his coffee. “Riles, I’m sorry about our argument.”
“It’s okay,” I reply. “I know you’ve got a lot of stuff on your mind.”
“It’s not okay,” Dad says. “I’m just trying to sort out some last minute stuff with the development, but that’s no excuse for getting upset with you for no reason.”
I look down at my hands and shrug.
He twists the mug in his hand. “I’m sorry about your mum, Riles. And I’m sorry I haven’t been around.”
I don’t say anything because I’m not sure what he wants me to say. I want to say it’s okay, even though it’s really not, because I don’t want to make him feel worse than he obviously is. He continues. “Once all this stuff is over, the development stuff, we’ll sit down and have a good talk, yeah?” His phone rings and I can see he wants to answer it.
“It’s okay, Dad. I know you’re busy.”
He lets the phone ring out, and since I don’t really want to talk to him about Mum right now, I change the subject. “Jason said you wanted to take me over to the island to show me the site.”
Dad brightens. “Yeah, I do.” His phone rings again and he sighs. “I just have all of this stuff to sort out and then we can organise a time.”
“What sort of stuff?” I ask. Everyone seems to be having problems with ‘stuff’ at the moment.
“Well,” he says. “That storm last night was pretty fierce. It took down a couple of big branches on some of the trees on the island. The contractors have a bit of cleaning up to do before the Minister gets here next week.”
“Will it be ready?”
“Yeah. If it’s not, we’ll just take her to somewhere that looks tidier. The site’s pretty big so it doesn’t really matter where we do the official stuff. It’s all for show anyway.” He takes another sip of coffee. “What are you up to today?”
“Jason’s going to take me paddle boarding.”
“Really? Have you done it before?”
“No. He’s going to teach me. Is it hard?”
Dad shrugs. “It’s a little tricky to start off with, but the water’s flat most of the time, so you shouldn’t have any trouble picking it up.”
“Jason said he goes with you in the mornings.”
Dad relaxes back into the lounge. “Yeah, most mornings I try to get out there. You should come with us, if you can get out of bed early enough.” He nudges my shoulder with his.
“Why don’t you come with us today?”
“Oh,” he says, looking back at his desk. “I have a few things I need to get done today.” He looks back at me. “I’ll try to get it all done today so we can go out in the morning. Is that okay?”
“I guess so.” I stand up. “I should get going. I have to have some breakfast before I go.”
“Don’t you mean lunch?”
“I just got up. I haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“Fair enough,” Dad says. He smiles. “I should get back to it. I’ll see you later, hey?”
“Yeah.” I head back out to the kitchen.
After falling off three times before I even get going, making Jason crack up laughing, I finally manage to stand on the paddle board and do a few tentative strokes.
“Stand up straighter,” Jason calls to me. He’s way out in the deeper water, while I’m still paddling around where I can at least touch the bottom if I fall off again. I rock a little as I reset my footing and I stand up straight, just like he’s told me and after a few more rows, I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.
“Paddle like this and you’ll turn towards me,” Jason calls. I watch him as he pushes the paddle further away from the board and turns to face me. I do the same thing, and what do you know, I slowly turn the board to face him. He paddles over so he’s closer to me and doesn’t have to yell. “You’re doing great,” he says, grinning at me. “Want to go a little deeper out?”
I’m feeling a little braver, so I say, “Yeah. Why not?”
Jason turns his board around and I follow him as he paddles out into deeper water. I’m slow at first, while Jason shoots ahead, with his long deliberate strokes. He slows down further out and turns to wait for me. When I get to him we follow the shoreline for a bit and then Jason suggests we have a break. As we’re making our way back to the beach, Jason says, “Look who’s come down.”
I look up to see Dad in his rashie and boardshorts, his board under his arm. When we get to the beach, we drag our boards up onto the sand and grab a cold drink from the soft cooler we brought down. Dad sits down beside us on the sand.
“I thought you had a heap of work to do?” I ask.
“Well, I wanted to show you the development before work got started, and I need to go across to have a look at the damage from the storm last night, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”
“You want me to paddle all the way across to the island?” I ask.
“It’s not that far,” Jason says. “We do it all the time.”
“Easy for you. You’ve been doing this for years,” I reply.
“You were doing great out there, Riles,” Dad says. “You shouldn’t have any problems getting across. The water’s flat and there’s hardly any breeze so it’ll be a cinch.”
I’m glad Dad’s come down to the beach to paddle board with us. I’m a bit iffy about being able to get over to the island and back without falling off at least once, or getting sore arms, but the fact that Dad’s taken the afternoon off means a lot. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Dad smiles and gives me a one-armed hug. As we head down to the water, Dad says, “Did you tell Mrs Harper your mother got hit by a car?”
I glance up at him and he doesn’t seem angry, so I say, “Maybe.”
He shakes his head. “Why on earth would you do something like that, Riles?”
We lay our boards in the water and apparently that wasn’t a rhetorical question, because he lays his hand on my board, preventing me from pushing off.
“Because,” I say. “I was just sick of the sympathy over Mum’s cancer.”
Dad doesn’t say anything and I get the feeling it’s not really the answer he’s looking for. I sigh. “Your mum dies of cancer, people want to tell you about their aunt or their mother or their grandmother or whatever, and how they had cancer too. And I have to relive it all again while they tell me all about what they went through. You tell them your mum got hit by a car, and they just go away.”
Dad considers this and finally he says, “I get it. Just don’t go saying that to anyone else, okay?” He smiles at me.
“Okay,” I reply.
As we push off on our boards, Dad says, “I’ll race you.” Before I can even stand up on my board, he and Jason are off. I finally feel like I might be a part of this family.
Twenty Two
Brooks
Riley didn’t call me back until late afternoon, by which time I was panicking, thinking she was totally freaking out about what had happened last night. Thankfully she was just busy with Scott and Jason most of the day. I haven’t exactly told her what we’re doing tonight, so I’m a little surprised she’s actually happy to come with me, especially when I told her it would be another late night.
“I can’t believe you slept so late,” I say as I lead her down to the beach.
“I can’t believe you came to get me wearing a head torch,” Riley replies. “What are we doing? Digging to China?”
“I told you, all will be revealed soon enough.”
She wraps her arm around mine and pulls me to her. It’s nice being so close to her again. I scan the beach every now and then until I find where I put the canoe. When we get to it, Riley asks, “Are you taking me to the island?”<
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“Yes, I am.” I take Riley’s backpack from her and place it with mine in the middle of the canoe. “Hop in.”
She does as she’s told and I push us off and jump in. The moon is still low behind the trees on the island, but it’s bright enough to navigate by so I turn my head torch off. Gliding across the water this late at night, when you’re not moving, it’s so quiet, your ears ring. But when you’re paddling, the water lapping against the hull with each stroke is like little explosions going off on the side.
“Do you have any idea how romantic this is?” Riley asks from her position up front.
“I have some idea,” I reply. She turns to me but I can’t see her expression because her face is in shadow. I’m hoping she’s smiling.
“I bet this is what you do to impress all the girls.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Just one,” I reply, and though I’m joking with Riley, it’s actually the truth. I’ve never thought of bringing Jo across to help out with the turtle monitoring, or anyone else for that matter.
“Oh, really?” Riley says, clearly not believing me.
“This is kind of my thing,” I reply. “I haven’t really shared it with anyone else.”
“Well, I feel honoured that you’re sharing whatever it is you’re doing with me. It better be good.”
I laugh. “You’ll see.”
When we get close to the beach on the island, I jump out of the canoe and push it onto the sand. Riley helps me pull it up out of the water so it doesn’t go floating off on us while we’re over on the other side. We grab our backpacks, and I lead Riley up into the dunes and onto the track to go meet Rosie. As we get to the edge of the trees, Riley takes my hand. “I can’t see where I’m going,” she says. I don’t believe her, but I’ll happily hold her hand for as long as she needs me to.
“Give it a bit of time and you’ll get your night vision. The trick is to look above or beside the thing that you want to look at to see it properly.”
“How do you know this stuff?” Riley asks as we weave through the bush.
“Grandad used to be in the army. He taught me when I was little.”
“I don’t think I ever met your grandad,” Riley says. She’s walking closer to me than she needs to but I don’t mind.
“He lived in a nursing home in Townsville. He died when I was seven or eight.”
“You never told me that,” Riley says.
“I never thought to. It’s not something you tell someone you only get to see for a few weeks over summer.” I push up a low branch and hold it up for Riley to duck under.
“I guess not.”
I can hear the waves breaking, which means we’re getting close to the ocean side of the island. If Rosie is where she said she’d be, she should be about a hundred metres up the beach from where we’ll come out on the track. We emerge from the trees and out onto the top of the dune. I lead Riley down onto the harder packed sand so it’s easier to walk and I look for Rosie’s head torch. The moon is brighter on this side of the island now that there are no trees to block it out.
“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing,” Riley says.
I squeeze her hand. “You’ll see. You’ll love it, I promise.” I scan the beach, resisting the urge to turn on my head torch, when I spot the feint glow of Rosie’s torch just up ahead. I point it out to Riley so she knows where I’m taking her. “When we get up there, you can decide whether you just want to watch or want to help us out. It’s totally up to you.”
“There are other people on this date?”
I stop. “Who said anything about a date?”
Now that Riley’s so close to me, I can see the expression on her face. She’s got a cheeky one-sided grin and before I can say anything she leans in and kisses me. When she pulls away, I say, “Okay. You win. It’s a date.”
She laughs. “Let’s get started then.” She pulls me toward Rosie’s light. I can’t wait til she sees what’s up there.
As we approach Rosie and the others, I can see there’s already a turtle up on the dune. Sand is flicking out from behind her, so she must have just started.
“Oh my God,” Riley whispers. “That’s a turtle.”
Rosie turns around. “Hey, Brooks. Is this the friend you were telling me about?”
“Yeah. Rosie, this is Riley. It’s her first time.”
Rosie stands up and shakes Riley’s hand. “Okay, so I’ll read you the riot act then,” Rosie whispers. She pulls Riley and me away from the turtle a bit. “She’s just started digging her egg chamber so you need to stay behind her. Once she starts laying eggs, that’s when we can take measurements and check her tags and if she hasn’t got any, we give her some. We’ll also check for and record any damage. After she’s done, we’ll count her eggs and put in a nest tape recording all the details and then we’re done. Once we mark the location, we head off and wait for the next one to come in. Are you going to help us out tonight, Riley, or just watch?”
“I think I’ll just watch this one, if that’s okay.”
“Sure thing. When you’re ready come on over and we’ll get started.” Rosie pats my arm as she passes and heads back to the others.
Riley grabs my hands and shakes them. “Oh my God this is so cool!”
“I know, right? Are you ready to see the real action?”
Riley nods and I take her hand and lead her back to where the turtle is now starting to lay her eggs. We stand around at the back of the turtle and when she starts laying, I point it out to Riley and encourage her to get closer so she can see. Rosie and Eric, the other volunteer, have their head torches on now so they can see what they’re doing, so when Riley turns and looks at me, I can see the excitement on her face.
“This is really happening,” she says.
I nod and smile. She turns and watches the turtle laying the eggs again and then when Rosie needs to get around to the back, Riley comes and stands beside me. “Cool, huh?” I say.
“Hell yes,” Riley replies. It takes about half an hour for this turtle to lay her eggs and start covering the chamber back over. Once she’s done, Riley and I follow behind her and watch her as she pulls herself back down to the water and disappears.
“What happens now?” Riley asks as we head back up to the dune.
“We count the eggs,” I reply.
By the time we get back up, Rosie and Eric have started pulling the eggs from out of the chamber. Rosie hands one of the eggs to Riley, but she’s reluctant to take it. “It’s okay,” Rosie reassures her. “They’re pretty tough. Just don’t drop it.”
Riley cradles the egg, turning it over slowly in her hands. “There’s a baby turtle in there?” she asks, looking up at me, amazement on her face.
I laugh. “Not yet. It’s just like any other egg. The babies will grow inside over a couple of months.”
Riley hands the egg back to Rosie, who places it gently on the sand beside the others. “So how long before they hatch?” Riley asks.
“Depends on the temperature of the nest and the weather,” I reply. “Usually about eight weeks.”
I can see Riley doing a quick calculation in her head. “So this one would probably be hatching in January or February then?”
“That’ll be about right,” Rosie says.
“Can I come back and see them hatch?” Riley asks.
“Of course you can,” I reply. Riley squeezes my hand and smiles. We watch as Eric puts the eggs back in the chamber and as he starts covering them back over, Rosie’s radio crackles to life.
“Looks like we’ve got another one just up the beach,” she says.
As we follow Rosie and the volunteers over to the next turtle, Riley kisses me on the cheek.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
“For sharing this with me,” Riley says.
“You’re welcome.” I’m glad I brought her across, and I’m really glad she’s as excited by this as I am.
After being on the island for almost four hours and
having just seen off our third turtle for the night, it’s no surprise that Riley’s starting to fade really fast. I pull Rosie aside. “I’m going to head home. Riley looks like she’s asleep on her feet.”
“Okay. Thanks for helping out. I hope Riley enjoyed it.”
“I’m pretty sure she did. Let me know if you need me tomorrow night.”
“I’ve got a couple of students coming down from Townsville tomorrow so we should be right, but I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.”
“You know you’re always welcome any time though.”
“I know.”
I watch as Rosie heads off up the beach to meet the others. We haven’t spotted any other turtles coming in so they’ll probably take a break now and get all their data put into Rosie’s laptop. I pull on my backpack and take Riley’s hand. “Ready to head home?”
She nods tiredly, and we head back down the beach to find the path back to the other side of the island.
Twenty Three
Riley
I can’t believe I got to help out with nesting turtles. It was so amazing! I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I mean, I went to the aquarium at school a couple of years ago and got to hold an octopus and some star fish, but that was nothing compared to getting to touch real, live turtle eggs and watch them being laid by a real live turtle. And even though it’s late, and I really need some sleep, I don’t want the night to end, because the best part, hands down, has been spending time with Brooks.
I never really knew she was into conservation stuff before tonight. I realise now why she’s so worried about Dad’s development. I make a mental note to talk to him tomorrow, I mean today, about it (I think it’s after midnight so it must be the next morning, right?).
“So,” Brooks says. “Did you have a good night?”
