Jane Bransgrove couldn’t understand it. ‘Why do some people have so much and others hardly have anything? That fat, ugly Lucille Hardy’s got a horse, a tennis court, a bike – everything! Yet poor little Emma White has holes in her jumper, holes in her shoes and holes in her lunchbox where some food should be.’

Emma lived in a caravan park with her mum and four brothers and sisters. She hadn’t seen her dad for years. He used to write to her sometimes, but even that stopped. ‘He’s just really busy,’ Emma told Jane.

Jane played with Emma most nights at the caravan park. And there was never anything to eat. Nothing. Girls get hungry after school, but poor Emma’s mum never seemed to have any money, even for food. So Emma always looked thin and pale and sad. And Jane was tired of feeling bad about it.

One night, Jane lay in bed thinking. What could she do to help? Maybe she could sell some of her toys and give the money to Emma’s mum. But who’d want a doll’s house the dog sleeps in, or old Britney Spears posters?

Perhaps she and Emma could get jobs after school. But where? Jobs were hard enough to get for grown-ups.

Then she thought of it. Old Billy Dunn. Billy Dunn was a nice old man who lived next door and used to collect newspapers and bottles and sell them. Until he found something better. Much better. Panning for gold.

‘There’s plenty of gold still around, if you want to look for it,’ Billy was always saying. ‘Especially in the hills up the back.’

Jane knew he was telling the truth because Billy had just bought a new truck. So Jane pestered Billy to take her and Emma with him one weekend.

Billy didn’t want to, at first. He said it was no place for a little girl. Much too dangerous. There were old mine shafts you couldn’t see, snakes, spiders…

‘I’m not scared of any of that!’ said Jane. ‘Emma and I see snakes all the time. At the back of the caravan park.’

‘What about your parents?’ asked Billy.

‘They won’t mind,’ said Jane. Secretly, she knew they would mind. A lot. So she’d have to ask them when they were in a good mood.

‘Well,’ said Billy. ‘All right. Just the once. And just to make sure your parents are happy, I’ll ask them myself. Tomorrow.’

Jane knew she’d have to work fast. Her best hope, she thought, was to do jobs. Jane hated jobs, but if this was the only way of getting money for Emma, helping out a bit at home wouldn’t hurt.

First she tidied her room and then dragged out a pair of undies she’d seen under her bed last week and put them in the wash.

‘What’s got into you?’ asked her mother.

‘Oh, nothing,’ said Jane. ‘You know how I like to help.’

‘Do you?’ wondered her mother.

‘If we all do something,’ said Jane, ‘it makes it so much easier for everyone.’

Jane’s mother didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. That’s exactly what she’d been saying to Jane for as long as she could remember.

‘I think I might clean the toilet now,’ said Jane.

Her mother had to hang on to a chair to stop herself from falling over.

Cleaning the toilet was a job Jane hoped she’d never have to do again, ever. She looked in the toilet bowl, almost threw up, and looked at it again. She flushed it. Flushed it again. And then once more.

‘There, that should do,’ said Jane.

Next, Jane swept the kitchen floor. And that was when her mother said, ‘OK, something’s going on!’

‘No, really, Mum,’ said Jane.‘I just thought it was time I grew up a bit.’

Jane could see tears of happiness in her mother’s eyes, so she thought she’d better not lay it on too thick.

‘I really am so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter,’ said her mum. ‘Give me a big hug.’

And while her mum gave her a cuddle, Jane asked if it would be all right if she and Emma went gold-panning with Billy on the weekend.

‘Yes, of course,’ said her mum.

Jane couldn’t believe her ears. Her mum had said yes, just like that! How unfair. All those jobs for nothing.

That weekend, Billy, Jane and Emma set out for the hills in Billy’s new truck. The girls were excited. It was like a big adventure. Their first chance in life to make mega-bucks!

When Jane explained to Billy that she and Emma wanted to find gold to help Emma’s mum, Billy said, ‘Well, we’d better go to the best spot then. My secret spot. Willow Bend. But no telling anyone. Ever. OK?’

‘Promise,’ said the girls excitedly.

‘You never know,’ said Billy, as they drove along a bumpy track. ‘You girls might bring me luck. You see, there’s an old story that says there’s still a huge lump of gold out this way that’s never been found. The mystery of Willow Bend, I call it. About twenty years ago, this strange old bloke came into the pub and said he’d found a fantastic piece of gold. It was so big he still hadn’t found the bottom of it. Of course, he wouldn’t tell anyone exactly where it was, but he kept giving us hints. It was as if he wanted to tease us by giving us little clues. Suddenly he stood on a chair and said this mad poem:

Where the cricket bat turns
Towards the hedge
A tree when it burns
A knife on its edge.’

Billy whistled. ‘Why he did that, I don’t know. Perhaps he knew he was going to die. Because die he did. The very next day. So as far as I know, the gold’s still there. Sure, I find lots of little bits, but never the big one.’

After that story, the girls could hardly wait to start panning and digging! But there was still a little way to drive and after that, a two-kilometre walk.

‘What I think,’ said Billy, ‘is that the poem twists everything around. I’ve thought about it for years. Take the line where the cricket bat turns. Cricket bats are sometimes made out of willow. And turns could mean bend. Willow Bend.’

‘What about towards the hedge?’ asked Emma.

‘Could be the old hedge up on the hill near Cummings’ place,’ said Billy. ‘The hedge is dead now, but you could definitely see it from Willow Bend. And where the tree burns – well there’s plenty of old burnt trees around. But the line I’ve never been able to work out is a knife on its edge. I must have thought about it a thousand times.’

Jane and Emma started to think very hard about it, too.

Finally, they arrived at Willow Bend and Billy showed the girls how to pan for gold at the edge of the river. They loved it. The girls didn’t find much – in fact none, really – but it was great fun. Especially when Billy fell in. And all the while, around and around in their heads went the line, a knife on its edge.

‘Edge,’ said Emma to herself. ‘Edge, sharp, cut, blunt edge...’

‘Knife,’ said Jane thoughtfully. ‘Knife, spoon, fork –’

‘Yes!’ yelled Billy. ‘That’s it!’

‘What’s it?’ asked Jane.

‘Fork!’ said Billy. ‘There’s a fork in the river just up ahead. And there’s a cliff there. That’s what he meant. The edge of the cliffs where the river forks.’

Billy wasn’t walking up the creek anymore. He was running. Faster then he’d run for years. With the girls at his side.

‘Now,’ he said puffing, ‘here’s the fork and there are the cliffs I meant. If I walk up here I can see Cummings’ Hedge. It’s been twenty years since the poem so the burnt tree will be long gone, but let’s start digging anyway!’

Billy was so excited he didn’t know whether to dig or dance or sing or what. But he dug, and so did the girls. Like crazy. Dirt flew everywhere. And sure enough, there soon came a clink sound as their spades hit something.

Could this be it? Could this be the piece of gold that would help Emma’s mum? The prize that Billy had dreamed about for so many years?

Jane had seen some beautiful things in her life, but she’ll never forget the look on old Billy’s face when he reached into the ground and pulled out the biggest, shiniest, most fantastic lump of gold you have ever seen. The three of them screamed and laughed and danced and hugged. And hugged some more.

The people in town couldn’t believe it. They were all so excited. ‘It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke,’ they said.

‘It didn’t just happen to me,’ said Billy. ‘There were three of us. Everything we found is shared.’ And they found a lot.

Emma’s mum’s got some money now. And so has Billy. And Jane too – put in the bank until she’s twenty-one. Well, most of it, anyway. Jane went into the city on a small shopping trip. Make that a large shopping trip.

It’s important to remember that the three of them discovered something else at Willow Bend that day. A special sort of friendship. The sort that lasts forever. Which is a lot longer than money ever lasts.