When we finally arrived at Kings Canyon, we dumped our bags at the hotel, ate hamburgers for lunch (except for Dad, who had to have a kangaroo burger) and headed outside. We could walk around the bottom of the gorge, but we were going on the longer walk around the rim of the canyon. There were lots of people on the trail, which was sort of good. There definitely wouldn't be any crocs because we were too far inland. Lucky crocs couldn't live in the desert. But snakes and spiders could. I picked up a big stick, just in case.
As usual, Mom and Dad stopped to read every word of the humungous sign at the beginning of the walk. They loved dragging everything out like they had all the time in the world.
"We'll wait for you at the end of the trail," Charlie said to them.
Then we ran off along the red dirt track before they had time to disagree. Although the first bit was really steep we ran and ran, so they couldn't catch up. A few times, I glanced down into the canyon. It was a long, long way down. You wouldn't want to fall. You'd end up dead - very dead.
We passed lots of people on the track. They looked us up and down, like we were crazy. I knew what they were thinking. It's not a race, you silly boys. Take your time and look at the views.
But we weren't crazy. We just didn't like doing walks with Mom and Dad. I knew they'd stop and look at every view of the canyon from every possible place they could. Dad would've gone on and on about how the canyon was made millions and millions of years ago by water carving out a big chunk of the ground. Like we cared. We were on holidays, not at school.
There was a rock shaped like a wave not far from the trail. We sat inside it and got our breath. I picked up a red stone and drew a croc on the orange wall. I made the lines real simple like it was an Aboriginal rock painting. Charlie copied me. He drew a snake.
Then I got a brilliant idea. I drew a spaceship and a bunch of aliens with three eyes. Charlie laughed and added a comet, some stars and a bunch of figures.
"We should wait for Mom and Dad," I said, "and pretend we found this rock art."
"Mom knows when we're lying. She knows us too well."
I was going to argue with him, but he was probably right. "Well, let's try to convince someone else that we've just found these pictures."
He thought about it for a second. "See if you can convince someone. And then I'll have a go."
Typical. Charlie had to make every single thing into a competition. I went out onto the track. A few people passed, but I didn't stop them. They looked real serious and were walking fast without talking. Next, an old couple came up the track. They were walking pretty slow and chatting about how magnificent the canyon was. Perfect victims, I reckoned.
I backed back so I was out of sight. Then, when they were at just the right spot, I came running out looking real excited.
"Come and have a look at this!" I waved for them to follow me. Their wrinkled faces lit up and they followed. It was easy. I could be the Pied Piper leading them over the edge of the cliff for all they knew.
We reached the wave rock and I showed them the Aboriginal rock art. "Charlie and me just found it," I said, real excited.
"How exciting," said the old woman.
"Goodness me," said the old man.
The old woman smiled at me and took a closer look. She bent her head one way and then the other, like she was some sort of expert on Aboriginal rock art. Then she looked down and picked up my red rock.
I should've chucked it away. Mega-dumb!
She laughed. Lucky it was a nice kind laugh and not a mean nasty vicious laugh. She said to the old man, "Arthur, I think we've got a couple of practical jokers here." She said to me, "You remind me of my grandson; he'd play a joke like this. When I get home, I'll tell him about your ancient Aboriginal rock art. He'll love hearing about it."
"Oh well," I said, "I tried."
They laughed, said it was nice to meet us and went back to the track.
Charlie gave me a smug look.
I chucked my red rock away and told him to do better. He went out to the trail while I waited. Five minutes later, Charlie was back with twin boys, who must've been about five years old. What? That wasn't fair. Any idiot could convince a five year old.
Charlie whispered as though his discovery was a big secret only they were allowed to share. Their eyes widened in amazement. Charlie had them hanging on to every word like he'd made the most important discovery in the history of Australia.
I wondered where their parents were. What sort of parents let their five-year-old boys disappear with a strange teenager? Any minute they might appear and think we'd kidnapped their kids. Then we'd be sent to prison. And it'd be all Charlie's fault.
Charlie got so confident he told them that the aliens gave the Aboriginal people Uluru as a gift. And after the aliens had finished in Australia, they flew off to Egypt in their spaceship and gave the Pyramids to the Egyptians.
I could tell those two boys had never heard of the Pyramids. But it didn't matter to them. They totally believed everything Charlie said.
He finished by saying, "Don't tell anyone, okay? It's our secret. I'm going to sell the story to TV and make lots of money."
The boys nodded and ran off with big smiles like they knew the biggest secret ever.
"That's not fair." I pointed my finger at Charlie. "Any idiot could fool two five-year-old kids."
"They were six. I asked them."
"That doesn't count," I said as we walked back to the track. I was so mad. Charlie always cheated.
He huffed. "You agreed we just had to convince someone. If you meant an adult, you should have said so."
I huffed. He was right as usual. Not that I'd admit it.
"You think up the next competition."
"I will." We reached the track and kept going. Some bits were flat and easy and in some bits you had to climb over rocks. I had to be very careful choosing the next competition, because Charlie was older, taller and stronger. I had to choose a game where he didn't have an advantage. We reached another flat section. They were the best parts. And in some places we could see over the whole canyon. It mightn't have been the Grand Canyon, but it was pretty amazing. There were small posts along the path, just every now and again. They were a bit weird. It was like they were there to jump over. They didn't have a sign stuck to them or anything. I was checking out one of the posts when a brilliant idea sped across the dark side of the galaxy and flashed into my head.
I collected a bunch of rocks and shoved them in my pockets. "Okay," I said to Charlie, "here's what we're going to do. The first person to hit the rock sitting on top of three different posts wins."
"Easy." Charlie grinned as if there wasn't a chance he could lose.
I placed a rock on top of the first post. We both got back a fair way and waited till there was no one nearby. Charlie threw three times and missed every time.
Then I threw and I knocked it off first time. I know - I'm smart and skillful.
Charlie muttered something about luck.
I said nothing. I'd just let him sweat.
At the next post, I went first. I hit it off on the third go. If Charlie hit it off on the first or second go, then he'd win. He had his turn and the closest he got was hitting the side of the post. He was getting real mad with himself; I could tell. Charlie hated losing more than anything.
"Well," he said, "you won that one. We're even." He gave me a real sneaky look and said, "It's my turn to choose the next competition. This one will be easy. Whoever gets closest to the edge of the canyon wins."
"Yeah, easy," I said.