Forest Secrets (3 page)

‘Oh? How do you mean?'

I gave him a condensed version of this afternoon especially the bit about him snubbing Gloria on the bus.

Snook thought for a while and then said, ‘If all that's true then what I did after I saw that kid wouldn't have helped.'

‘Why? What'd you do?'

Leaning forward and in a low voice, he said, ‘One minute I was talkin' to Gloria, askin' her what she made of it all, the vision, and the next I was in a sort of daze, like I didn't know what I was doin'. I dunno what Gloria thought about me actin' like that; maybe she thought I'd gone bonkers or somethin'.'

Trying to picture Gloria's role in all of this, I asked, ‘What happened then? Did Gloria help you?'

‘That's it; I dunno if she did or not. All I do know is that I ended up back home … in bed. That's when somethin' else happened.
It was like I was having a nightmare, but I know now that it wasn't.'

Now it was my turn to sit forward. Snook's story was more than just interesting; it was downright scary. I was getting worried about him too. His eyes, stretched and frantic, were now wandering all over the place, looking like they might go pop at any minute. ‘What then? What did you see then?' I asked.

‘You won't believe me if I tell you. I can hardly believe it myself.'

‘What?'

‘Last night, I saw the asteroid Stormy was talkin' about today. It came from somewhere behind the stars and it was massive. It was goin' flat out towards earth!'

Like a river of fire, Snook's words burned and tumbled around in my head … asteroid … kid … nightmare, and, for some reason I felt they were trying to tell me something. Sitting on the edge of the chair, I leaned forward and whispered, ‘So you actually saw the asteroid Stormy was telling us about and it wasn't just a dream.'

‘That's right. The asteroid Stormy was talkin' about this arvo was the one I saw last night. That's for sure.'

I drew a deep breath. I needed to calm down. My heart was racing and thumping against my chest like a bongo drum. I sat back and told myself that I had to face the facts. What Snook had seen was real. There was no denying that.

And then I remembered.

I'd seen something last night too – at about nine o'clock. I'd been fairly tired when we got home yesterday so I'd gone to bed early, and like Snook, I'd dreamed. I hadn't given it a second thought when I woke up this morning or for the rest of the day; it was one of those dreams that you have and then think no more about it.

‘Look,' I said to Snook, feeling slightly wimpy about what I was going to say. ‘Don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't go around spruiking about what you saw if I were you. People might find your story hard to accept. After all, what you saw was pretty incredible. They'll probably try and tell you that your imagination's playing tricks, or that you've been dreaming. I don't reckon they'll believe that what you saw was real. For some reason, people find it hard to believe the unbelievable – even when it's true.'

‘I don't care what other people think or believe.' His voice was low, almost deadpan. ‘I know what I saw.' Then suddenly, he leaped from his chair, crossed the room and disappeared through the doorway waving his arms in the air like an orang-utan. ‘The other people,' he called back from the passageway, ‘can go jump in the nearest lake!'

I could have kicked myself. I'd hurt his feelings and no wonder. I'd handled that with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. I got up and hurried after him. Shadow, ears pricked, head cocked to one side, rose from his prone position at the foot of my chair and followed. I caught up with Snook in the passage just before the kitchen. Turning him towards me so that his face was inches from mine, I said, ‘Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to warn you about what other people might make of your story because it's so … awesomely jaw dropping. I didn't mean to suggest anything else.'

My next words seemed to just pop out. ‘Did you see anything else besides the kid and the asteroid?'

He looked directly into my eyes and said, ‘You know the planet Venus, the real bright one?'

‘Yes, the one that sits low in the western sky. I know it.'

He nodded with his chin towards the lounge-room. ‘Let's go back in there. You might wanna sit down for this.'

Seeing that he'd calmed down I did as he suggested and walked back into the lounge. I sat down in the chair once again. Shadow, with a sigh, followed and settled once more at my feet. I sat back and waited.

‘I'm pretty sure the asteroid came from behind Venus,' he began. ‘It happened real sudden. It kinda burst from behind the planet like it was explodin' into itself, but it didn't fly into bits like you'd expect – nothin' like that. It just turned into a humungous fireball and then started comin' towards the earth … goin' flat out and drawin' closer and closer, gettin' bigger and bigger. Then I saw how big it really was. It was as big as a … a mountain.'

‘What then?'

‘I saw it crash into the sea and then I saw it make one of those tsunamis. There was a huge wind too. The wind was awesome. It was blowin' down every tree in its path like they were made of straw. It must have been a really hot wind too, 'cause fires were startin' up everywhere.'

I had to ask. ‘Did you see anything else? Were there any animals?'

‘Yeah, I saw a dinosaur. It looked like it was scared out of its wits. I felt really sorry for it.'

A cold shiver scraped like a claw down my spine. ‘Let's forget all about the asteroid and dinosaur for now,' I said, feeling my lips go all wobbly and realising that I didn't need to hear anymore. ‘Let's go into town. I'll shout you an ice-cream at Sam's shop.'

Snook and I had seen the same dinosaur.

S
am's shop sold lots of things: grocery items, knick-knacks, books, magazines, newspapers, plus all kinds of lollies, soft drinks and ice-creams. It was the sort of place that if you didn't know where to look for something, then it was probably a waste of time looking. Snook's mum reckoned it was clean, though. We often went to Sam's.

The customer bell dinged as we pushed the door open and walked inside. It was just after four-thirty. Shadow, who'd tagged along, took up his usual spot on the footpath just outside the door; he didn't mind it there; he liked all the pats from the locals and anyone else that happened to walk past.

We could hear Sam fiddling with something behind a row of fruit and vegetable boxes that ran parallel to the long, wooden shop counter. Hearing us coming in, he poked his head around one of the rows and grinned. ‘It's the Kelly gang,' he said, wiping his hands on the front of his shop apron and then walking over to see us. ‘What's it going to be today? I've got a new batch of drumsticks you might like; chocolate flavoured with crushed nut toppings.'

‘Sounds good,' I said, grinning back. ‘I'll ask Snook.' But when I turned to do just that, he wasn't there. He'd wandered off to the other side of the shop where he was looking at a larger than normal poster that was pinned to the community notice board. I crossed the shop floor and joined him. Looking over his shoulder, I read the notice.

I was pleased that Snook's mind was on something other than exploding asteroids. I was still worried about him though; I strongly suspected that he was feeling a bit like me … confused and still wondering about the strange images we'd both experienced. I continued to gaze at the poster and after reading it about a dozen times, I said, ‘I didn't know you liked photography?'

Tearing his eyes away from the notice board, he told me in a matter-of- fact way, ‘As of today I do. I've just decided that I'm gonna be like one of them paparazzos.'

I couldn't help grinning. ‘A paparazzo?' I said, trying to keep the scepticism out of my voice. ‘You mean like those photographers that go stalking famous people like film stars and royalty just to get their photos. You're not going to do that, are you? A lot of people think they're kind of nasty 'cause they invade people's privacy.'

‘Whatever. Anyway, I wouldn't take photos of famous people; I dunno any for a start. I've got a better idea.'

‘Oh, what's that? And why the sudden interest in …' I didn't wait for an answer. I knew before I'd finished the sentence. ‘Gloria!' I said. ‘You want to win the photography prize so that you can ask her out for a classy dinner. You devil! You'd be in Gloria's good books then, wouldn't you?'

‘Well, it's worth a try. The $250 wouldn't hurt either. I could buy her a bunch of flowers, maybe even a friendship ring. Girls like that sort of stuff, don't they? Whatcha think?'

I couldn't help laughing. ‘Oh, girls like that sort of stuff all right but I think you'd better think about winning the competition first, don't you?'

Although teasing Snook a little was meant to be tongue-in-cheek and good natured, he did look a bit put out. Thinking he was being a bit precious, I was about to say something when he beat me to it. ‘I
have
thought about winning it, Miss Know-it-all, and don't be surprised if I
do
win it. I've got plans.'

I smiled and said, ‘You're full of surprises, Snook Kelly. I won't bother to ask what's on your mind. It's bound to be something out of this world anyway, so c'mon, let's go and do something useful like ask Sam for one of those entry forms. I'll help you fill it in.'

Walking home and licking the chocolate ice-creams that Sam had recommended earlier, we looked over Snook's entry form. Pointing to a section near the bottom, he read out aloud, ‘It says here that the photos are to be about the West Coast. It said that on the poster too. That's where my plan comes in. I'm gonna take photos of the wild animals that live around here.'

‘Yes, you could,' I said, surprised that Snook's idea was a sensible one. ‘And you wouldn't have to go very far, either.'

‘No, I wouldn't. There're lots of wild animals out there. The gorge would be a good spot and it's only a couple of kilometres out of town. So would Snaky Creek and Mucky Lagoon. There're wallabies, wombats, quolls, devils and lots of other animals out there; there'd be different types of birds too. I might even get a photo of one of those rare ones like the orange-bellied parrot. Whatcha think?'

‘You never know what you'll see out there, day or night. You could come across anything. Has your camera got a flash by the way; you'll need it for the nocturnal animals? There are lots of those.'

‘No problem. The digital Mum and Dad gave me for my birthday has one. But I do have one major hurdle to get over … the $10 competition fee.'

‘Don't worry. We'll come up with that somehow,' I said, not really knowing how we were going to do that. ‘But right now you could have a more urgent worry.'

‘Oh?'

‘Yes, I think so. Just as we were leaving Sam's, I saw Quenton Quigley and he was making a beeline for the shop clutching a $10 note. I'll bet you anything you like that he's going to enter the competition too. I wonder if that was what he was talking to Gloria about earlier today, and I wonder if he's got the same idea as you – about winning it and then asking her out to dinner.'

‘He'd better not have. Gloria's my girlfriend, not his.'

‘You know what, I think you should talk to Gloria. Let her know how you feel. From what you've told me, she might just be wondering where she stands, especially after today and last night.'

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. Bringing up last night was the last thing I wanted to do. I was about to apologise when Snook, looking a little sheepish, said, ‘Yeah, okay, I know what you mean. I've been an idiot. The next time I see her I'll apologise. I'll tell Gloria that I'm her boyfriend, not Quigley. I'll tell her that I'm heaps better than him.'

I smiled to myself. Snook was going to need some coaching lessons before talking to Gloria about boy-girl matters. I could see that.

For the second time that day, Snook and I were sitting in the lounge room. It was nearly six o'clock. The television had been switched off and for the past thirty minutes I'd been drilling Snook on the dos and don'ts of boy-girl etiquette. I was no expert, but I figured I knew more about the subject than Snook. It was proving to be hard work, like wading through mud. ‘Stop squirming and looking at the ceiling, Snook,' I said for the umpteenth time. ‘It's not easy trying to turn you into a gentleman.' I was only joking of course, but all the same I think I was getting a tiny bit exasperated with the whole exercise.

‘What are you on about? I
am
a perfect gentleman.' Snook pointed to Shadow who was curled at my feet as usual. ‘Ask that dog of yours; he knows I'm a good guy. He's always trying to lick me.'