On Saturday, Leo rode his bike like a bullet round the lagoon. The sun was barely awake but already blinding and bright, as if it had never slept. Cockatoos dotted the trees, kangaroos chewed tufts of grass, and clouds of yellow butterflies swept all around. Leo pedalled hard and laughed even harder. Laughed because he couldn’t help it, because it was a beautiful day, but mostly because his best friend Ralph was right there with him, clinging on like a furry backpack.

As he zoomed around for another lap, Mum, Dad and Peg set up a barbecue breakfast in the nearby park. It was a big circuit and he was mostly out of their sight, which made it easier to talk to Ralph.

‘Am I going too fast?’

‘Never!’

‘Wanna go faster?’

‘Yes!’

Leo pumped his legs harder. The pedals spun in blurry circles. Ducks flapped off the path and dragonflies veered out of the way. Ralph’s sun-kissed fur danced in the wind and Leo felt the warmth of it against his neck. His big mushroom nose drank in the morning air right next to Leo’s face.

‘Stop!’ Ralph pointed a hairy paw. He had spotted the tower.

Leo stopped the bike. He felt something shift in Ralph.

‘I want a closer look,’ his friend said.

Leo steered off the path and bumped the bike along the dirt. He pedalled into the tower’s shadow, slowed down and looked up. It was even bigger up close. Birds wheeled around the roof, clouds floated past, and it seemed everything was moving except the tower, like the whole world was spinning around this bulging metal tank.

Leo took his feet off the pedals and planted them on the ground. Ralph slid off his back and stood at the wire fence that bordered the tower.

‘Dad said it’s for holding water,’ said Leo. ‘But not for plants or the pool. More important stuff.’

Ralph’s ears lifted. His fur was yellow. ‘Yeah, important stuff.’

Leo rested his bike on the ground and crouched next to his friend, staring up. ‘Are you okay?’

Ralph blinked. ‘Yeah. I’m glad I saw it.’ Then he shook himself like he was waking from a dream. ‘Let’s get back to breakfast.’

He turned and waited next to the bike. Leo picked it up, hopped on and started pedalling. Ralph ran alongside, then threw himself onto Leo’s back, like he was jumping onto a moving train. They rode out of the tower’s shadow and around the dry lagoon. By the time they reached the family, Ralph’s fur was as bright as it had ever been.