Tuesdays were different from other school days. Instead of catching the bus, Josh got to stay in town after class and get a lift with Pete’s older brother. Every Tuesday afternoon, he got to hang out with Sally and Pete – his best friends. He had met the two of them on his first day at school in Coober Pedy. Pete was also coming there for the first time, after having done School of the Air. And Sally had just moved to town. The three of them were new kids. And the three of them had stuck together ever since.

This Tuesday they walked up the main street of Coober Pedy towards the supermarket, intending to buy ice-creams.

Hutchinson Street came off the Stuart Highway, ran down the middle of the town and out the other side. Most of the shops in Coober Pedy were positioned along it. It was pretty busy for an outback town, with tourists looking for food and souvenirs, or simply on their way to search for opals. That’s what the town was famous for and the main reason tourists came – gemstones. In fact, the town was known as the opal capital of the world.

Josh looked over at the large opal store on the other side of the road. In the car park next to it was a spaceship. Not a real one, of course. Some old movie prop, according to Pete. Josh didn’t really care. He wasn’t interested in opals or spaceships. He looked down at his feet.

‘Any ideas?’ asked Josh, kicking a stray stone off the footpath.

‘’Bout what?’ responded Pete.

‘Duh!’ Josh rolled his eyes. ‘What do you think? The fundraiser, of course.’

‘Oh yeah, the RFDS.’ Pete looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then shook his head. ‘No idea.’

‘How about a car wash?’ suggested Sally.

‘In this heat?’ grumbled Pete. ‘No way.’

‘It is getting close to summer,’ said Josh. ‘It’s just going to get hotter.’

‘And no one around here washes their cars anyway,’ said Pete.

‘The tourists?’ suggested Sally. ‘They come in off the dirt roads in their filthy four-wheel drives. They might want a wash.’

‘Nah,’ said Pete. ‘They don’t stay long and then it’s back to the dirt roads. They’ll get their fancy cars washed when they get home.’

‘What then?’ said Josh in frustration. ‘A cake stall?’

‘Well,’ said Pete, ‘your mum does make great cakes.’

‘Mum’s still in Adelaide with Nate,’ said Josh. A pang of sadness caught in his chest.

‘And it’s not going to raise a huge amount of money,’ said Sally. ‘We need something bigger.’

‘Oh!’ Pete started jumping up and down. ‘I’ve got it! I’ve got it! There’s this bunch of old black-and-white films.’

‘So what?’ said Sally.

‘They’re all about people needing to raise money to save something or other,’ continued Pete. ‘But the thing is, what they always do is put on a show!’

‘A show?’ Sally came to a stop outside the supermarket, putting her hands on her hips. ‘You are joking. Right?’

Pete seemed to visibly shrink. ‘Well, it works in the movies.’

‘You and your films,’ said Josh, walking into the supermarket and going for the ice-cream chest. ‘Films aren’t the answer to everything.’

‘What?’ said Pete, following. ‘There’s plenty of good advice in films.’

‘Like what?’ mocked Sally.

‘Well, like, never split up if you’re going into a haunted house, ’cause if you do, you’re all gonna die, one by one, in really horrible ways, with lots and lots of blood and –’

‘Haunted houses aren’t real,’ Sally interrupted. ‘What about proper advice?’

The three of them arrived at the freezer and picked their ice-creams.

‘Well,’ said Pete, digging through the different choices. ‘There is this 1960s film called Born Free and it shows you how to raise orphaned lion cubs.’

‘Yeah,’ laughed Sally. ‘’Cause that happens all the time.’

‘You watch too many movies,’ said Josh, heading off to the cashier.

‘There is no such thing as watching too many movies. And besides, I don’t just watch films,’ said Pete, ‘I also watch television.’

‘That makes it all okay, then,’ said Sally with a giggle.

The three of them bought their ice-creams and walked down the street. They had a couple of hours to kill before Pete’s brother would pick them up. There was a lull in conversation as they ate. Josh powered through his choc paddle pop as he pondered the fundraising question.

Finishing his ice-cream, he looked around at the familiar sights. There were fewer shops now. They passed a couple of opal places, a few vacant lots and then his eyes came to rest on the drive-in cinema, which reared up above the buildings.

He’d never gone there, although he’d seen it often. His parents were always too busy or too tired every time he’d asked to go.

As they came up to it, he stopped along the high wire fence, leaned against it, fingers curling into the spaces, and peered in at the screen.

That’s it, he thought. That’s what we could do.

‘Hey Josh, what ya lookin’ at?’ asked Pete.

‘The screen,’ said Josh dreamily. ‘The drive-in screen.’ Then he whirled around to face his friends, a big grin plastered over his face. ‘I’ve got it!’

‘Got what?’ asked Sally, finishing off her ice-cream.

‘Our fundraiser.’ Josh looked pretty pleased with himself. ‘We are going to put on a show. Just not the sort that are in Pete’s movies. The sort of show we’re going to put on … is a movie.’ He pointed at the drive-in. ‘In there.’

‘Hmm,’ mused Sally. ‘That could work. Especially with the tourists. It’s not as if there’s much else to do here in the evenings.’

‘Yeah,’ said Pete, nodding. ‘I like it.’

‘Glad you do,’ said Josh, putting a hand on his shoulder, ‘’cause it’s going to depend on you.’

‘Huh?’ Peter looked confused. ‘How come?’

‘You go there all the time, don’t you?’ asked Josh.

Pete looked down at his feet. ‘Well … yeah.’

‘And you kinda know the guy who runs it?’

‘Yeah, I guess,’ said Pete slowly. ‘Only, it’s not a guy. And … she’s a bit weird. She calls herself Ratchet.’

‘Ratchet?’ Sally pulled a face.

‘Her name’s actually Rachel,’ explained Pete. ‘But she doesn’t like it. Don’t ever call her Rachel … she’ll go ballistic.’

‘So why Ratchet?’ asked Sally.

‘Well, it’s kinda like Rachel, isn’t it?’ said Pete. ‘And she’s always wearing this massive belt with tools hanging off it. And a ratchet is a tool.’

‘Sounds like you know her pretty well,’ said Josh thoughtfully. ‘Well enough to ask her to donate the use of the drive-in?’

‘I dunno,’ said Pete hesitantly. ‘She’s pretty scary.’

‘Look!’ Josh suddenly called out, pointing through the wire.

‘What?’ Peter and Sally stared in the direction he was pointing.

‘I saw someone by that building over there,’ said Josh. ‘It must have been Rach–I mean, Ratchet. Let’s go talk to her right now.’ Josh gave Pete a little shove. ‘You can introduce us.’

‘Um …’ Pete hesitated. ‘I don’t think that’s a good –’

‘Chiii-cken,’ called Sally.

‘What?’ Pete looked horrified at the accusation. ‘Am not! It’s just that –’

‘Chiii-cken,’ repeated Sally, even louder. Then she started flapping her arms about and making clucking sounds. A woman walking past on the other side of the road glared at them.

‘But …’ Pete tried to protest.

Josh joined in with Sally, flapping and clucking and laughing.

‘Oh, okay,’ Pete finally relented, heading off towards the gate in a huff.

Sally leaned over to Josh and spoke in a quiet voice. ‘I can get him to do anything.’ Then, with a knowing look, she followed Pete.

Josh made a mental note to always stay friends with Sally, no matter what, and went after them.

There was a chain and padlock around the gate.

‘Oh well,’ said Pete, turning around, ‘too bad.’

‘Not so fast, Chicken Boy,’ said Sally, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder.

‘Hello!’ Josh shouted through the wire. ‘Hello! Anyone there?’

There was no answer. Nothing stirred within the drive-in.

‘See? No-one home,’ said Pete, an edge of desperation in his voice.

‘Hello!’ Josh shouted again. ‘Hello! Can we talk to you?’ Then he turned to Pete and Sally. ‘I saw someone again. But they didn’t hear me.’

‘Or she was ignoring you,’ said Pete. Then under his breath he added, ‘I know I would.’

‘Oh well, at least we tried,’ said Josh.

‘Gosh, you guys give up easy.’ With a huge grin, Sally reached over and pulled on the gate. The chain stretched out taut, leaving a kid-sized gap. Sally slipped through.

‘Oh … that’s not a good idea,’ said Pete.

‘Cluck, cluck,’ replied Sally.

‘I’m with him on this one,’ said Josh. ‘I don’t think we should go in.’

Sally shrugged and walked off across the drive-in grounds towards the building.

‘Now what do we do?’ asked Pete.

‘Nothing else we can do,’ said Josh, as he slipped through the gate.

‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ grumbled Pete, but he squeezed through and followed.