‘You all right, sweetheart?’
‘Yeah, I …’
‘Any sign of the boys?’
Grace shook her head.
‘All right, stay by me now,’ he whispered, his hand on her shoulder. ‘We’re nearly home.’ She nodded, so relieved at the words that she didn’t know whether she was about to cry or hug him.
They stopped for a cuppa before covering the last stretch into town. Grace thought it was about three or four o’clock. The crooked-toothed farmer already had the makings out and had built a small fire of twigs underneath a billyful of creek water. Pop squatted and looked at the map with another man and Grace sat down at his side, exhausted, and watched the fire flare into life. The tea-maker handed her a mug of tea when it had been made and smiled at her.
‘Thank you, Mr Meaney,’ she said and as she did she looked about, her proximity to Pop fuelling her confidence. She wanted to tell him about the man behind the tree, but then Mr Steele came into the clearing, talking to Artie McKinnon.
‘Percy,’ said Mr Meaney.
‘Pardon?’
‘Percy. Call me Percy.’
‘Oh. Thank you, Percy.’
Percy beamed.
‘Percy?’
‘Yes?’
‘There was no one else searching with us, was there? Just the six of us?’
‘I believe so. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing.’
Grace glanced across at Mr Steele as she sipped her tea. He was looking straight at her, a cigarette only a little thicker than a matchstick in the side of his mouth, a slight grin on his face. She frowned at him and turned away, but when she looked back a little later he was grinning even harder.
It took another hour to get back to Angel Rock and Grace stayed close to her father the whole way. They traipsed wearily into the park and stood around the war memorial just as the sun was sinking behind the Rock. The other search parties were as tired and grubby as they and had found nothing either. Not a thing. While Pop wrote down the names of those available to search the next day Grace walked very slowly back to the station house with her head down. The little kids playing in the street stopped their games for a moment and watched, wide-eyed and silent, as she walked by. Back in the station house her fearfulness during the day seemed almost silly, and she didn’t tell Pop about the man that night, or the following day. She pushed the image of him right to the back of her mind and it sat there, almost, but not quite, forgotten.
The gully was cool when Tom woke and he shivered a little as he walked down to the water to drink. When he’d filled his belly and cleaned his face he jumped around to get the blood flowing. He felt better and more optimistic than he thought he should be. He set off up the creekbank, water sloshing in his empty stomach, grimly determined to find Flynn, and confident that he would.
He followed the creek for a half-hour or so and then he rounded a long bend and saw Flynn curled up fast asleep in the middle of a stretch of bare rock. He ran over and looked down at him, his relief rendering him speechless. Flynn sniffed in his sleep and then moaned. Two candles of yellow snot sat under his nostrils. Tom bent down and shook him. Flynn opened his eyes sleepily and looked up at his brother.
‘What were you doing?’ Tom shouted down at him, all his worry suddenly venting itself. ‘You got yourself bloody lost!’
Flynn started to cry and Tom dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms round him and held him tight.
‘Did you see him, Tom?’ he said, when his tears had subsided a little.
‘Who?’
‘The kangaroo.’
‘Yeah, I saw him! Didn’t you hear me calling?’
‘Yeah, and I called back, but you didn’t come.’ His dirty little face creased and he began to cry again.
‘It’s all right,’ Tom said, unable to shout any more. He patted Flynn’s shoulder. ‘You’re found, and we’ll be all right now. We’ll walk back up to the road and find a farm.’
Flynn nodded and wiped his nose with his forearm.
‘Tom?’
‘What?’
‘I’m hungry.’
‘Yeah. So am I. Come on, the sooner we go, the sooner we’ll eat.’
They set off downstream, Tom holding Flynn’s hand tightly in his and talking about anything to keep their minds off their predicament.
‘You know Ham, the chimpanzee?’ Tom asked his brother. ‘The one they sent up to space in a rocket?’
‘No.’
‘Yes, you do. I’ve told you about him enough times.’
‘Oh, yeah.’
‘Well, when he landed in the sea and they opened up the hatch on his capsule, do you remember what he was doing?’
‘No,’ said Flynn, shaking his head.
‘He was eating an apple. He was sitting there at his flippin’ flight deck eating an apple.’
Flynn laughed and they both felt a little better for a while.
‘Tom?’
‘Yes?’
‘Why’d they send a chim-pan-zee into space?’
‘They wanted to see if something alive would be all right up there. Before they sent people. It wouldn’t be so bad if a chimpanzee got killed.’
‘Why not?’
‘They don’t understand things.’ Tom shrugged. ‘They wouldn’t get as scared too.’
‘Oh. Tom?’
‘Yes?’
‘Will Dad be mad at us?’
‘I suppose so. Probably.’
They walked for half an hour and Flynn kept grumbling about his stomach. Tom was suddenly dizzy in the head and he had to sit down for a moment to let it pass. Flynn squatted down next to him. He looked worried and then he began to cry again. He was dirty and his shirt was ripped down the front. Tom could see that he’d had a hard night as well, maybe harder than his own.
‘Don’t be a bloody baby, Flynn,’ said Tom, very softly, with no venom in his voice.
It took a long while for his brother’s tears to stop this time and as Tom waited for him the sun cleared the trees and bathed them in warm yellow light.
‘We’ll get home, Flynn. I promise we will. Come on,