Finch, page 4
Now she thought about it, Audrey felt critically endangered herself. Tomorrow morning was the first day of school. She tried not to think about it.
*
As it turned out, the kids were a lot like the kids at her old school. There were twenty-five in her class, boys and girls, and they seemed friendly enough. Quite a few of them said hello to her, and a tall fair-haired girl who said her name was Chelsea showed Audrey where her locker was.
The teacher for her grade, Mr Scardino, was a grey-bearded guy who wore socks with health sandals. (Audrey could just imagine what Chloe would say about that.) When the siren went for recess he asked her to stay behind in the classroom for a moment.
“Audrey,” he said. “That’s a fairly unusual name nowadays, isn’t it? Why Audrey?”
“I don’t know for sure. I guess my parents just liked it.”
“Fans of Audrey Hepburn, perhaps? The film star?”
“Maybe.” And there’s no need to say it. She was beautiful, and I don’t look a bit like her.
“Well, Audrey. Tell me about yourself. What subjects do you like best?”
“Um, science, I guess. And maths, a bit.”
“Science and maths, eh? I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Why do you like science?”
“I don’t know. I … just like finding out about things.”
“And which area of science do you find most interesting?”
“Zoology, I guess. Animals. Birds, mainly.”
“I see. Any particular aspect of birds?”
“Oh, pretty much everything! I’ve been interested in them ever since I was little. I want to find out all about them, like how they fly, and why they sing, and how dinosaurs evolved into birds in the first place, and how – why – they are all so different. Like, why are there eagles and hummingbirds and ostriches, but they’re all birds? It’s sort of like people, although people aren’t that different, I guess …” Her voice trailed off.
Mr Scardino smiled. “Ah, the marvellous theory of evolution,” he said. “I have a great fondness for the natural sciences too. Now, how about sport? Here in the country we love our sport. Do you enjoy it?”
I like him, his eyes are kind. “Not so much.”
“Play anything?”
“I was in the B netball team at my old school.” And I only made the team because there wasn’t anybody else. “That’s all.”
“Never mind. Sport isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, is it? What else are you interested in? Rock climbing, horseriding, music, art?”
“Art, definitely. I’d love to learn how to draw.” As she said this, Audrey remembered Mavis’s painting of the emu-wrens. It would be great to be able to do something like that! “I’d like to draw birds. You know, properly.”
“We have an extremely good art teacher at this school, so your wish may be fulfilled. Let’s hope so.” He smiled at her again. “Now, have you got any questions about the year ahead? You’ll probably find we do some things a little differently here, being a country school.”
“How will it be different from the city? I mean, are there special subjects I’ll have to study?”
Mr Scardino stroked his beard. “We find that it can be difficult for our non-rural students at first. I’ll be organising catch-up milking lessons for you, and I suggest you also take a few optional extras like sheep-herding and elementary bull-wrangling. All very useful skills.”
“Really?” A second later Audrey saw the twinkle in his eyes. “Oh. You’re joking.”
“Me? I never joke.” Mr Scardino went to the door and stuck his head out into the corridor. “Thanks for waiting, girls. Please come in.” Two girls came into the classroom, Chelsea and another girl, smaller, slender and dark-haired. Mr Scardino turned to Audrey. “Chel and Huong will look after you and show you the ropes. I’m sure you’ll settle in very quickly.”
*
When Mum picked them up in the car, Chloe was bubbling with excitement. She’d made a new best friend already. Her name was Emma, and her mum owned Goosey Gander, that cafe in the main street they’d been to. (“Oh, really?” Mum said, looking interested.) And Chloe had put her name down for tennis, and swimming, and kanga cricket, and there were only nine boys in her class, and her teacher Ms Petersen was really cool, with pink hair and little diamond stars in each ear and a unicorn tattoo on her shoulder.
“And how about you, Audrey?” Mum asked. “Have you got a new best friend too?”
Audrey made a face. “No way. I’m getting to know some of the kids, though. Mr Scardino got two of the girls from my class to look after me, Chelsea and Huong. They seem okay.”
“Just okay?”
“I don’t know; I haven’t got to know them yet. They’re nice, I think. At least they don’t talk about tractors.”
Mum gave her a quizzical look. “Did you expect them to?”
“I didn’t know what to expect. Actually they mostly talked about netball, or else they were checking their mobiles like everyone else except me.” She gave her mother a meaningful look which, as she expected, was ignored. “Mum, Mr Scardino’s really great. I like him a lot.”
“I’m glad to hear it. It’s important to get on well with your teachers. And I’m glad the day wasn’t too much of an ordeal for either of you,” said Mum. “That’s another hurdle overcome, I suppose.” But she didn’t say anything else, and neither did Audrey. Chloe, in the back seat, chattered away for most of the trip home.
Freddy trotted out to meet the car as it turned into the driveway.
“Isn’t he clever the way he always knows it’s us?” said Chloe. “He’s such a smart kitty.” The moment she was out of the car she dropped her backpack on the ground and grabbed him, making cooing sounds and cradling him in her arms as she walked towards the house. Audrey picked up her sister’s backpack and slung it over her shoulder next to her own.
As Mum went to the boot to get out some bags of groceries, Audrey noticed that her mother’s brown hair was beginning to go grey. Immediately she felt a rush of fear. Mum, please don’t be old. I don’t want you to be old. Everything’s changing, and it’s happening so quickly, and I don’t want it to change.
“Pass me one of those bags, Mum,” she said. “You shouldn’t be carrying heavy stuff. You know you have to be extra careful with your back.”
“Nonsense. My back isn’t too bad at the moment. And you’re loaded up like a packhorse.”
“I’ve got a whole free arm. Give me something.” Audrey clicked her fingers. “Come on, I have to look after you.”
Mum handed over one of the bags. “Thank you, Audrey. But really, you don’t need to look after me at all. It’s me who has to look after you two, not the other way round.”
“Except Chloe doesn’t need much looking after, does she?” Audrey said. “Things always seem to turn out okay for her.” She tried not to sound resentful – after all, she loved her little sister. But it was true: Chloe never had to try to fit in, was never afraid of not being liked, was never the last to be picked for a team. “I wish I was more like that.”
“Chloe is like Freddy. They’ll both always land on their feet. But we’re all different, aren’t we? You have qualities and talents Chloe doesn’t have. Remember that.”
“I guess,” said Audrey. “Mum?”
“Yes?”
“You haven’t landed on your feet yet, have you? Do you think you’ll ever like living here?”
“Oh dear, is it that obvious?” Mum laughed, and then looked sad. “It’s rather complicated. But perhaps this place can teach us all something. I certainly hope so.”
“Me too,” Audrey said. She wasn’t sure what the farm might teach her, or any of them. But she felt a bit better, a bit more hopeful, as she followed Mum along the path to the back door.
CHAPTER 7
It was Saturday again. Hooray! Not that the week had been all that bad. Audrey decided that she really liked Chel and Huong, and through them she had a foothold in a small, gossipy group of girls who ate their lunch together. She was relieved not to have to suffer the embarrassment of eating alone, and as a useful bonus she learned a lot about her other classmates. Apart from that, school was relatively undemanding, and so far she hadn’t been singled out for any unwanted attention. It was as good as she could have expected.
Chloe came home every day with a description of what Ms Petersen was wearing: yesterday it was the coolest green top with sequins. (“I don’t care what she’s wearing,” Dad said. “What’s she teaching you?”) And Chloe’s new best friend, Emma, had asked her to stay over next weekend. They were going to have dinner in her mum’s cafe – so cool, they could have anything at all on the menu. They planned to make popcorn and watch Emma’s Goosebumps DVD.
“And scare yourselves silly, I suppose,” said Mum. “Remember when we watched that old movie Ghostbusters, Chlo? You had nightmares for weeks.”
Audrey had nothing special to look forward to. Her plans for next weekend were the same as for this one: 1) help Dad with the vines, 2) help Mum in the house and 3) clean out the finch cage.
In the end, working in the vineyard took up nearly all of Saturday. Chloe helped too, for a while, but she was soon bored. She went back to the house, saying she wanted to bake choc-chip cookies with Mum instead.
Audrey stayed with Dad, pulling up weeds and checking drippers, and then she helped him hoist up four large plastic hawk shapes to scare away the starlings that kept pigging out on the ripening grapes. “Starlings are nothing but flying rats,” Dad said. “They aren’t even native to this country. They shouldn’t be here in the first place.” Other vineyard owners used bird-scarers that sounded like guns going off every few minutes. It had taken Audrey a while to get used to the sudden loud noises, but now she hardly noticed. Sounds like that had already become part of the normal background to her life.
*
Sunday brunch was a late lazy meal of sausages and scrambled egg. Chloe was reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which she’d borrowed from Emma. Mum was doing the crossword from yesterday’s newspaper, and Dad sat calculating what he hoped would be his profit from the grape crop on the back of an envelope. Freddy lay stretched out in a slice of warm sunlight beside the back door.
Audrey didn’t feel like reading, but she had nothing else to do except homework, and she wasn’t quite ready to do that. It would be school tomorrow, and all she’d done was work with Dad or waste time. The memory of the distant shadow in the rocks came into her mind, teasing her with its mystery. The more she thought about it, the more she longed to find out what it was. A quick look, that was all she wanted. How could it hurt? Nobody needed to know. And even if they did, who would care?
“You want to go exploring?” she asked Chloe. “We could see if there really is a cave down the creek. You know, near that crooked tree.”
“Why? You didn’t want to, before.”
“I do now.”
“You’ll be trespassing.”
“I know.” Why do I want to see it so much?
Chloe narrowed her eyes. “You’ll probably just stop about a thousand times to look at insects or something. I’m staying here. I want to finish my book.”
“Your loss,” said Audrey. She raised her voice. “I’m going for a walk, Mum.”
Mum looked up from her crossword. “Don’t be long,” she said. “And watch out for snakes.”
“Sure.” Audrey dropped a kiss on her mother’s head as she left.
The sun was still high in the sky. On the hill paddock waves of pale grass shimmered, stretching away like a billowing sea. Bees in a blossoming gum tree hummed. The ducks on the dam rose from the water in a flurry of wings, their quacking sounding like hoarse laughter.
When Audrey was halfway across the paddock, she stopped.
The dog had appeared silently in front of her. Where had it come from?
Audrey squatted and stretched out her hand. “Here, boy!” She clicked her tongue.
The dog turned and looked at her, then started to trot away down the hill, towards the creek. After a moment it stopped and turned its head again.
Audrey laughed. “You want me to follow you?”
The little dog seemed to laugh back at her. It was moving quickly now, and Audrey had to jog to keep up. The dog led her straight to the boundary fence, and disappeared.
How did it get through? Audrey couldn’t see a gap anywhere. But if the dog had got through, there must be a way.
She looked at the fence more closely, and then pushed aside some tall dry grass to find quite a large gap, close to the ground, where the chicken wire had been bent upward. Yes! She slithered through on her back, taking care not to tear her clothes.
The rocky creek bed wound away ahead of her, a string of drying puddles fringed with reeds. But where was the dog?
“Here, boy!” she called again.
And there it was, closer than she’d expected. It was standing on a large rock, gazing at her with liquid brown eyes.
The dog bounded off down the creek bed. Audrey ran after it, stumbling on the rocks. There was a clatter of loose stones, and a thud as she landed on her bottom. Ouch! There was no way she could keep up with the dog. And now it had gone again. How could it do that? One second it was there, the next it had vanished.
Audrey scrambled to her feet, and wondered what to do.
A gust of wind whirled around her, rustling the reeds. The crooked tree was only a few metres away. It grew among rocks, its roots at eye level.
Yip! Yip!
The barking sounded very near.
Audrey walked forward, step by careful step – and there it was.
The entrance was a narrow gap in the rocks. The dog stood just outside it, wagging his tail. He had a pleased, alert look.
“Wow!” Audrey said aloud. “I knew there was a cave!”
The dog turned and scampered away into the shadows. His white body glimmered for a second, and then disappeared again.
Audrey sniffed: she could smell a trace of smoke. Not cigarette smoke, but cooking smoke, like a barbecue. Could someone be in the cave? She hadn’t thought of that.
Her mind raced. What if it was a feral, or (worse) a drug addict, or (even worse) someone on the run from the police?
Once again she felt that there was something strange about this place, something warning her to keep away. But the pull towards it was stronger. Perhaps whoever was in the cave needed help. Could that be why the dog had brought her here?
Go home, her careful self told her. You have no idea what sort of person could be in that cave. It could be someone really dangerous. Go home now.
But I’ve walked all this way! argued her braver self. And I want to see what’s inside it.
You know what Mum would say, warned her careful self.
Of course her braver self knew what Mum would say, but … I’ll have a really, really quick look. If it’s scary, I’ll just run away.
Her heart beating crazily, she squeezed into the cave entrance.
The narrow tunnel was less than two metres long. It opened out into a low chamber. And inside–
Audrey stared.
CHAPTER 8
On a flat rock in the middle of the cave chamber a candle, wedged into a bottle, burned with a long tapering flame. Someone was living here: Audrey could see an enamel mug, a suitcase with things spilling out of it, the ashy remains of a fire. The dog was lying on what looked like a heap of blankets.
Shadows leaped and wavered.
At first the cave seemed empty, apart from the dog, and Audrey was both relieved and disappointed. Then, away from the light, at the back of the cave, she made out a darker shadow. A human-sized shape. Her heart thumped.
The shape stood up, became a person, moved towards her.
“Get out! This is private property!” It was a male voice.
“I’m sorry – I just wanted–”
“Hop it.”
“I didn’t mean–”
“Get out!”
“Sorry,” Audrey said again. Fear was making her hands sweat. She wiped them on her jeans. “I didn’t know anyone was here, but your dog–”
The boy – he was only a boy – came a little closer. In the candlelight his face was all hollows and angles. “What about my dog?”
“We’ve seen him around our place, and we thought he was a stray,” Audrey said, the words coming out in a rush. “Then, when I saw him again today, it was kind of like he wanted me to follow him, so I did, and I ended up here.”
“Oh.” The boy was still wary. “You’re on your own?”
“Yes.” What was this boy doing in the cave? He didn’t seem to be very old, maybe fifteen, or even younger. He was wearing what looked like a school uniform – long pants and a light-coloured shirt with the sleeves partly rolled up.
“And … you’re only here because of my dog?”
“He was in our garden the other night,” Audrey said. At last her heart was beginning to slow down. “He scared our cat.”
“Ah.” The boy grinned now, a slow grin, half his mouth quirking upwards. “Snowy’s not too keen on cats.” He spoke with a distinctive country drawl, like a lot of the kids in Audrey’s class at school.
“I guess not,” said Audrey. “Our cat wasn’t too keen on him either.”
“Hope the little bloke didn’t make a nuisance of himself.”
Audrey shook her head. “We just didn’t know where he’d come from.”
In the dim light the boy’s face was mask-like. “Sorry if I was rude,” he said. “It’s just that–” He stopped.
“Just that … what?”
The boy didn’t reply. He sat down beside the dog, which moved to rest its head on his thigh. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he said. “You live around here?”
“We’ve got the farm further down the creek.” Audrey waved her hand vaguely in that direction.
“What, the Keppler place?”
“Yes, that’s the people who owned it before us.” There was nothing at all threatening about this boy, she decided. Earlier he’d been like a male pigeon, puffing up his feathers before a fight, trying to make himself look bigger. “So what are you doing in this cave?”
