Outback Hero (5 page)

"Oh," replied Mom before she turned back to
her book.

Then I realized I'd been mega-dumb. I
should've pretended to want to be an astronaut. Astronauts were
smart and special. That would've made me look interesting and good
and Charlie look greedy and bad.

"How much longer to Uluru?" Charlie asked
Dad.

"That's tomorrow," he said. "We're walking
around Kings Canyon today."

"How much longer?" Charlie whined.

"About an hour."

Charlie and me looked at each other. We both
knew that meant two hours. However long Dad reckoned driving
somewhere would take, it always took twice as long.

"So," I said, "we're just walking around the
canyon. Nothing else? Nothing dangerous?"

Mom sighed. "No, Max, it's just an easy walk
with great views of the canyon."

"What about dangerous animals? Vicious
dingoes? Poisonous snakes? Killer spiders?"

"I'm sure there'll be snakes and spiders,
but they'll be hiding from all the people walking around the
canyon."

"A killer spider might drop down from a tree
and bite me."

Charlie and Dad laughed out loud even though
I wasn't joking.

Mom said, "Charlie can throw a stone at the
killer spider before it bites you."

I groaned inside. Now Charlie was the family
hero. That wasn't fair - I wanted to be the hero.

W
hen 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.

W
e had to wait till there
wasn't anyone around. Charlie said someone might think we'd made a
suicide pact if they saw us standing right on the edge of the
canyon and they might start screaming. We found a really good spot
where we could see most of the canyon. Charlie stood on top of a
rock and looked out to see that no one was coming along the
track.

I called out to him, "The problem with this
competition is that we can both win it. Then we'll have to think up
another competition. And by that time, Mom and Dad will have caught
up to us."

"Nah, one of us will win."

He was always so sure about everything. He
was the biggest know-it-all in the world. He jumped down from the
rock and we went over to the edge.

It was one humungous hole. Beneath me I
could see a small tree trying to grow out of the side of the
canyon. I wished I had wings so I could fly over the canyon and
eventually drift down to the bottom. Our feet were a few
centimeters from the edge when Charlie made a weird sound.

I glanced at him and realized he looked
different. His face had turned grey. He was staring at the bottom
of the canyon and he looked real scared. That was good for me. I'd
win and I'd show the smarty-pants. I crept closer so the toes of my
shoes were just over the edge. Charlie didn't move; he was still a
fair way from the edge. He wasn't going to make it, I could tell.
That was weird. Charlie wasn't a scaredy cat. I should've felt
great, except I didn't.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Dunno." His voice came out croaky and he
didn't look at me; he was still staring at the bottom of the
canyon.

Suddenly, I was scared. I'd never seen
Charlie like this. It was like he was frozen and couldn't move.
"Let's forget this game," I said. "Let's just make sure we get to
the end of the track before Mom and Dad."

His head gave a slight nod.

I went to step toward him, away from the
edge, but then the ground fell out from under me. I screamed. A
scary, piercing scream - like out of a horror movie. I fell,
hitting the side of the canyon wall. I fell faster and faster. OH
MY GOD! I WAS REALLY DEAD THIS TIME.

My feet hit something hard. Then I
remembered the tree I'd seen growing out of the side of the canyon
wall. My legs crashed through it. I grabbed a branch with both
hands. My legs swung out into the big empty sky and back in,
hitting the canyon wall.

"MAAAX!" I heard Charlie's voice above
me.

I couldn't yell back. I had to use all my
strength to hang on. And I couldn't look up. My hands might slip;
they were already sweaty. How long could I hang on?

I heard Charlie's voice again. "I'm getting
help!"

Brilliant. By the time he'd got a rope, I'd
be splattered all over the canyon floor. I had to think, but it was
hard when my hands were slipping, my legs were dangling and I was
sure my jeans had slipped below my undies. And they were red, so
everyone would be looking at them.

If I were strong, I could lift one leg up
over the branch and hoist myself up onto the branch. But I didn't
think I could. And even if I could, I wasn't sure that the branch
would be strong enough to hold my weight. If it wasn't, then I'd be
dead for sure. But if I could hang on until help arrived, then I
might be okay. But where was Charlie going to find help and a rope?
I knew the answer. He wasn't.

Just then I had a cosmic insight. It was my
time to die. That's why I'd ended up in that croc-filled river. But
I'd lived, so I wrecked the plan. So now I was here, hanging off a
branch and about to fall a million miles. I might die in the end,
but I sure would fight to stay alive.

And Charlie had said it was a well-known
fact that
only the good die young.
That must mean I was good. I tried to work out why I was so good. I
thought about it for a few moments. I couldn't think of anything.
But maybe that was because my hands were slipping. That made it a
bit hard to concentrate.

"MAAAX!" I heard Charlie's voice again.

I wanted to look up, but I couldn't.

"Someone's going to lower me down and then
you can grab on to my hands."

WHAT? That was the worst plan I'd ever
heard. Where was the rope? Where was the park ranger? Where was a
chopper? How could my skinny brother hold my weight? He must be
desperate. FAR OUT! We could both die.

I forced myself to look up. I saw Charlie
being lowered down headfirst. There were two men at the top. Surely
he wouldn't reach me. But then I realized I hadn't fallen that far
... it just felt like a long way. I stared at Charlie as he got
closer to me. I could see his face. He was terrified. The front of
his body was covered in red dirt from sliding down the wall of the
canyon. I couldn't take my eyes off him.