Next morning Mum insists that we are still going out, even if Nanna is in hospital. ‘You can’t help her anyway.’ Mum is packing lunch for us. ‘I’ll stay with Nanna today.’ She tilts her head to the side. ‘Rob’s happy to take you kids out. He loves rollercoaster rides, don’t you?’
‘Right.’ Rob rubs Mum’s cheek.
We run through the hospital corridors looking for Nanna. Anna is wearing her silver wings again and looks like she’s flying. There is a nervous knot in my stomach as we get near Nanna’s ward. She was so pale when she collapsed. I feel scared inside for her.
‘Here, here,’ Samantha squeals as she turns into a ward. There are six hospital beds with five other ladies and Nanna. She is lying flat except for two pillows under her head. The back of her head is bandaged and her puffed hair has a hole in it. Luckily Nanna can’t see it. Her left wrist is in plaster. When she notices us, her face breaks into a crinkly smile. She looks much better. My stomach unknots and it’s easier to breathe. There is careful kissing because Nanna says she is sore. There are bruises down her leg. Poor Nanna.
Nanna strokes Anna’s silver wings with her good hand. ‘Pretty,’ she grins. I am so glad Mum didn’t wash Anna’s T-shirt.
Nanna yawns and Mum tells us that we better leave. ‘But we just got here, Mum.’
‘I love theme parks.’ Nanna’s green eyes twinkle. ‘You have to have a good time for me there.’ I’m not sure about this. Samantha snuggles beside me. Then Nanna stretches her good hand out to both of us. ‘Please go. It’d make me happy.’ She holds up her broken wrist. ‘And I need to rest today.’
I hug Nanna, then Samantha and Anna do. Nanna smiles. ‘Leo, come on. Give me a hug too.’
Leo presses his cheek against Nanna’s. It’s like watching a stick cuddling cotton wool. Nanna is the cotton wool. Rob puts his arm on Leo’s shoulder and smiles.
This is getting crazy. Can’t Rob see that Leo doesn’t want us? Leo doesn’t want Nanna to hug him.
Suddenly Nanna notices Rob’s socks. ‘Those socks,’ she grins. They are the poo ones. We all start laughing, except for Mum.
‘These socks are comfortable. I never liked white socks anyway.’ Rob winks at me.
Mum shakes her head. ‘That was a terrible wash. At least I didn’t shrink you kids or Rob.’ Mum bends down and pats Rob’s socks. ‘Go. Go. I don’t want to see those socks here any more.’
Rob laughs. ‘All right. All right. The socks are leaving.’ Rob piggy-backs Samantha all the way to the car. ‘Nanna is going to be fine.’
I know that is true, even though Nanna’s head is bandaged and her hair wrecked. ‘Hey, do you remember when I did Hector’s hair?’
‘Poor Hector. Not even a rat deserves that.’ Anna twiddles her licorice curls.
‘He didn’t mind. I gave him extra cheese.’
Samantha asks Rob to put on a tape — rock. There aren’t any moans. We are relieved Mum isn’t in control of the music for once.
It’s late morning already as we drive towards the theme park. Suddenly we see it, standing out on the horizon like a castle. ‘Looks fantastic.’ Samantha sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth, concentrating. I try to grab it, but she is fast. Her tongue is back in her mouth quicker than a blink.
We park, load Mum’s sandwiches and drinks into my backpack, put on our hats and sun cream. Samantha grabs Rob’s hand and I grab my camera. A big fat two-metre-tall koala gives a furry wave. We are definitely in the right place.
Map open. That must be the signal for everyone to shove their heads over my shoulder. It is very annoying. Problems. Anna points to the paddle wheeler. ‘I’d love to go on that.’ Then Samantha’s stubby finger discovers the lagoon, but I have been hanging out for the Tower of Terror. The fastest, tallest ride in the world. Leo wants the dodgem cars. We are arguing when Samantha interrupts. ‘Got to go.’
‘Why didn’t you go BEFORE we left the hospital?’
Samantha just turns up her nose at me. ‘I have to wee, so there.’ She begs Anna to go with her. I don’t think girls can go to the bathroom alone.
While Rob, Leo and I stand around doing nothing, I notice Bengal Tigers on the map. ‘There are only about 400 white tigers left in the whole world,’ I read from the information leaflet. As Samantha and Anna run towards us, I shout, ‘Tigers, tigers.’ There is giggly excitement. Yes, they want to see them. We all do. Agreed.
‘Look, look,’ Samantha squeaks when we get there. Two striped tigers are lolling around under the trees. Two white ones are rumbling with their keepers in a clearing.
Anna leans over the railing. ‘The tigers are beautiful.’ She flashes her dimples and quivers her wings. Meltdown. I flash my gappy smile at her.
‘I wish the tigers were free.’ Anna presses her lips together.
‘They’re endangered.’ Rob rests on the railing overlooking the moat that separates the tigers from us. ‘The breeding program helps them survive.’ Samantha stands close to Rob, of course. ‘But it would be great if they were free.’ The tigers wrestle each other and the big one gets flattened. ‘Now, one of those tigers reminds me of Jack.’ Rob pushes his hands together. ‘The squashed one,’ he jokes.
I swing a few air punches at him. He blocks my attack. Samantha squeals, ‘Don’t hurt Rob!’ which makes Rob call out, ‘My little girl.’
Little girl? What a crawler. I take another swipe at Rob. He laughs and we tussle with each other, then Leo joins in. There are a few more defensive moves and attacks when Samantha grabs Rob’s hand. ‘Rides, Rob. Rides.’ He is being dragged away when Leo takes a swipe that nearly gets me.
‘Hey, what are you doing? You could have hit me.’
‘Well, I didn’t.’
I squint at him. I’m not sure about that.
We all end up on the swinging aerial chair rides, flying to nowhere. I rock my swing so that I nearly zap Samantha. She squiggles. ‘Don’t, don’t, Jack.’ So I do it again. Zap. Squeal. Zap. Squeal. This is fun.
The ride is over and Rob and I make a pact. We are going to stand up against the opposition. That is Anna and Samantha. ‘The Tower of Terror next.’
They start to argue. ‘What about the …’
‘Tower of Terror time is now. If you don’t want to ride the best thriller out, then you’ll have to just watch.’ I poke Samantha’s arm. ‘Don’t break your neck looking up. It’s only thirty-eight storeys high.’
As we all march towards the tower, Samantha blurts out, ‘As if you’d go on that. Look at it.’
It’s hard to miss the eleven-metre-high, crimson-eyed, metallic skull over the entrance. I squint at Rob. ‘It’s nothing.’ I stick my thumb up at the girls. ‘We’re going to ride.’
‘Leo, are you coming?’ Rob asks.
He shuffles a bit.
‘He doesn’t have to, if he doesn’t want to.’ Anna stands next to him with her wings flapping. Leo stays with the girls and I’m relieved. This is Rob’s and my ride.
Rob and I walk inside this maze of concrete and steel. There are huge crevasses and killing steel traps. One slip and we’ve had it. The launch pad at last. We line up to get inside the escape pod, a six-tonne steel case. We slide into the seats and buckle up. Warnings come over the intercom. Okay, okay. It’s making me nervous now. I’ll never admit it, though. Come on. Locked in. Start. Whoosh. We’re blasted like jet-propelled cannons upwards fast, very fast. Over 160 kilometres per hour in seven seconds. The screams are deafening. My stomach. Where is it? We hit the top. Phew. Oh no, what’s happening? We’re falling, freefalling backwards like we’re airborne, weightless spacemen. More screaming. My stomach. Landed stomach first, Jack second.
‘That was some trip,’ Rob says as we clamber shakily out of our pod.
‘Some trip.’ I pretend to punch Rob in the arm and he grabs my fist. He has me in an arm lock as we exit.
‘It was the best.’ The girls don’t believe me.
‘Leo, you missed out on a great ride,’ I whisper under my breath. I don’t call him a loser, but that’s what I think he is.
We race to catch the train. Just in time. It puffs through the eucalyptus trees. The grass is really dry. Hot weather and no rain. Firetrap territory, if you ask me. Train stop. This is koala country, with the odd man-eating crocodile.
Samantha discovers the kangaroos. I don’t know why she always gets so excited when she sees them. It is not like there aren’t heaps of them hopping through the countryside. We nearly got killed once, when a big grey kangaroo raced across the road. Mum just missed it, otherwise we’d be dead (and it would, too). ‘You’re choking that kangaroo, Samantha.’ She sticks out her tongue at me. Photo opportunity.
‘I’m not.’ Samantha keeps choking.
Anna and Leo pat them too. ‘See the joey’s head poking out of the pouch?’
The girls drag us over wooden bridges through gum trees and koala sanctuaries, past dingoes and fat-bummed wombats. The emus look like brooms with heads on them. Ha, ha. One of them pecks Samantha’s head. She screams and does a dash behind Rob, who is laughing as well. Samantha isn’t impressed.
Leo flashes a stuffed kangaroo at us. ‘I won it.’ He gives it to Anna.
‘Thank you so much, Leo.’ She has to be kidding.
My stomach is rumbling. The koalas are munching gum leaves. The dingoes are ripping into bones. The rosellas are pecking at birdseed. That fat wombat is burrowing into a hole. I bet he’s found something juicy. I’m hungry. I rub my stomach. ‘Food,’ I pant. Pit stop. Mum’s sandwiches save me from starvation. Leo doesn’t like them, so Rob gives him money to get a hamburger. Rob isn’t looking that happy about it. Leo is starting to lose points with him. At last.
The girls are still eating, but I’ve finished. I go off to check out where Leo has got to. He is not at the kiosk. I scratch my head and wander around looking for him. Where is he? Suddenly I notice the yellow cap. It flickers between the trees away from the pathway. Quietly I creep towards him. He is hunched over a hole with a half-eaten hamburger sticking out of his pocket. He’s piling dry leaves into the hole. I just watch. His back is turned to me as I tread softly towards him. ‘Got you,’ I shout in his ear. He jumps, his mouth open in surprise. ‘What are you doing, Leo?’
‘Nothing.’
I kick the pile of leaves. ‘Doesn’t look like nothing.’
‘Well, it is.’
‘You idiot.’
‘I wasn’t doing anything.’
‘Yeah. Right. Were you going to light that?’
‘With what?’ He shows me his empty hands then gives me the finger.
‘I’ve seen your silver lighter.’
‘It’s my grandfather’s. It’s old.’ Leo suddenly stops. ‘Anyway it’s none of your business, Jack.’
‘Well, if you were going to light a fire, you’d be a rat.’
‘As if I would. What do you take me for?’
‘I don’t know,’ I mutter under my breath. I’m going to keep an eye on him.
We walk back to our lunch spot. Is Leo telling the truth? Should I say something to Rob? He’ll take Leo’s side. I’m not sure about the lighter either. Leo saunters up to Rob like nothing happened. Maybe it was nothing or maybe not.
Samantha is hopping around like a kangaroo. She is excited because we are on our way to the lagoon. I glance at Leo. I shrug and follow Anna’s silver wings. We wind through a replica of a dormant volcano dotted with tropical palms and water slides. Rob finds a comfortable spot and stretches out. We hit the water. A little girl attaches herself to Samantha and ends up swirling with her in a big rubber tyre.
Anna asks Leo to come with us on the big water slide. Wish she hadn’t. We climb the steps up to the top. ‘Go on, Leo. You go first,’ I insist.
‘That’s nice, Jack.’ Anna smiles.
Yeah, it’s really nice. Getting rid of Leo. I wait for a few people to slide before us. Then Anna slides, with me following her and splashing from side to side with water gushing everywhere. We splash together in the pool, laughing.
I take Anna’s hand and pull her out of the water. ‘Let’s do it again.’ I hold her hand all the way to the top of the slide.