‘Done deal!’ growled Ratchet.

Josh dropped his schoolbag with a little yelp and almost fell over with surprise. He had not expected the drive-in owner to be waiting for him as he got off the school bus. The other kids disappeared quickly, giving the scary woman in the khaki get-up a wide berth.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘Pay attention,’ she snapped. ‘Me mate came through with permission from Crawford’s. They’re sending a digital copy of the mini-series next week. So we is all set to rock ’n’ roll.’

Josh gazed up at Ratchet. Rock ’n’ roll? He nodded.

‘You and your friends – youse need to come over some time so we can discuss dates for the screening.’ Josh noticed that Ratchet looked a little different from before. Her eyes seemed … not as manic. The corners of her mouth were twitching a bit higher. Could it be … she was excited?

‘Cool,’ said Josh.

‘Way cool,’ answered Ratchet, as she strode off down the street. ‘C’est fantastique.’

Josh didn’t have the heart to tell her that nothing had been settled yet at school. Today was the day that fundraising ideas would be discussed.

What if no one likes my plan? he worried.

‘I hope you all had a good think about fundraising ideas over the course of the week,’ said Ms Wright. ‘Who would like to go first?’

Josh’s hand shot up in the air.

‘I have a written proposal,’ announced Marceline, jumping to her feet and waving about a plastic folder full of papers.

‘Oh my,’ said Ms Wright. ‘That’s impressive, Marceline. Why don’t you come up and tell us all about it.’

Marceline walked to the front of the class, giving Josh a smug look as she went. ‘My friends and I have been meeting every day after school to brainstorm ideas. And we did some online research. I’ve put together all the statistics into this.’ She smiled sweetly at Ms Wright. ‘Based on what schools across Australia and other countries have done to raise money, car washes are the most successful. But we can’t do that because it’s really dry here and we have water restrictions. Markets and trash and treasure sales were also high on the list. So I think that we should be running a Trash and Treasure Market that includes local souvenirs. We should be targeting the tourist dollar.’

Tourist dollar? Targeting? Josh shook his head. She sounds like some sort of marketing brochure.

Marceline handed the folder to Ms Wright. ‘It’s all in here.’ Then she returned to her seat, giving Josh another smug smirk.

‘This is very impressive,’ mumbled Ms Wright, as she flipped through the pages. ‘I think we may have found our class fundraiser. It’s certainly something we could all be involved in.’

Josh’s arm, still in the air, sagged.

‘Excuse me, Ms Wright,’ said Sally. ‘We held an after-school meeting, too.’ She pointed to Pete and Josh. ‘We didn’t write things down, but we have a pretty good idea.’

‘Oh?’ said the teacher. ‘Well, let’s hear it, Sally.’

Sally gave Josh a little shove from behind. His hand was still half-heartedly in the air.

‘Um,’ started Josh. ‘Well, we thought that –’

‘Out the front please, Josh, Sally, Peter,’ said Ms Wright.

Josh lowered his hand and pushed his chair back. It made a scraping noise along the wooden floor. He moved hesitantly to the front of the room, followed by his two friends. Josh turned to face the class, making a point of not looking at Marceline. Sally stood by his side, while Pete hung back trying to hide behind the other two.

‘We thought we could show The Flying Doctors at the drive-in.’

Marceline made a little noise, like a cross between a giggle and a snort.

‘That’s a nice idea, Josh,’ said Ms Wright. ‘But that might be a bit difficult to organise. A market would be easier.’

‘Actually, it won’t be that hard,’ piped up Sally. ‘We’ve sort of made a start already.’ She looked encouragingly at Josh. He took a deep breath and continued.

‘Yes. We already spoke to Ratch … I mean, the owner of the drive-in. The RFDS saved her life when she was a kid, so she’s keen to help. She said we could use her drive-in. And she’s already organised permission to show The Flying Doctors. That’s the old mini-series from TV. All we have to do is get people to come. And … and … we could target the tourist dollar. It’s set in the outback, so people who’ve come sightseeing here would probably be interested.’

‘And it wouldn’t just be a one-night fundraiser,’ said Sally, again looking to Josh.

‘Yep.’ He nodded, feeling his enthusiasm rise. ‘It’s a mini-series. So we can show it over three nights. Which means more ticket sales. Which means more money for the RFDS.’

‘Wow,’ said Ms Wright, sounding impressed. ‘The three of you did all that?’

Marceline’s face fell.

The teacher rolled up the marketing proposal in her hands and tapped her chin with it. ‘Yours and Marceline’s ideas are good,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps we can do both?’ She smiled at the class. ‘Yes. I’ll contact the RFDS and let them know what our plans are. I think they will be thrilled that we’re doing two different fundraisers.’

Marceline glared at Josh.

‘Hey Dad,’ said Josh as his father dropped onto a kitchen chair. ‘Got some news.’

Dad stretched, yawned and leaned back, closing his eyes. Josh was making dinner for them tonight. He was sick of baked beans, so he had offered to cook. Bacon and eggs on toast was usually more of a breakfast thing, but it was something he knew how to make, and something he really liked.

‘Dad?’ said Josh, when his father hadn’t responded.

Dad opened his eyes with a sigh. ‘Yeah, what is it?’

‘We talked about the fundraising ideas at school today,’ said Josh, as he pushed the bacon to one side of the pan and cracked the eggs into the sizzling fat. ‘And we’re gonna do my idea.’

‘That’s great, son.’ Dad stifled another yawn.

The toast sprung out of the toaster with a little metallic clang.

‘We’re showing The Flying Doctors mini-series at the drive-in,’ continued Josh, when he realised his dad wasn’t going to ask him about it. ‘We’ll be making posters and flyers. Not just for the locals. We’re also going to … target the tourist dollar.’

‘I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,’ said Dad. ‘Sounds like an awful lot of work. Don’t forget you’ve got chores here too. I don’t want them falling off.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll do my chores.’ Josh tried to sound responsible. ‘I’ve already done this month’s muck out of the chook shed. The poddy calves are doing well. I took the trail bike out and checked the north fence today. All good. And I’ll check the south fence tomorrow. I’m keeping the kitchen clean while Mum is away. And dinner is ready.’

Josh buttered the toast and served up the bacon and eggs. He hung back for a while, the mention of Mum reminding him how much he missed her and how worried he still was. He bit at his lip and tried to push his anxiety away before sitting down at the table with Dad. He took a deep breath. ‘Will you come to the show?’

‘I don’t know, son,’ said Dad, shovelling food into his mouth. He continued to talk. ‘I’ve got a lot on my plate. And your mother’s not here. Not even sure when she’ll be getting home with your brother.’

Josh looked down at his own plate. He’d lost his appetite. He had planned to quiz Dad about how Nate was doing, hoping to get some more details … but now decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

After Dad finished eating, he went to bed, leaving Josh to wash up.