The Keeper (10 page)

Mei

The school term's started. A lot's happened. Joel's my friend again. Said he wasn't sore at me any more. I wish there was more but I guess I can wait a bit. Joel's calmer somehow. Zoe and Mrs Billings took him to a doctor in Adelaide and he doesn't get in so much trouble at school now. He's learning his tables again at home. I had no idea he didn't even know three times.

Dev Eagle's moved in with Joel and his gran. Mrs Houser reckons Mrs Billings is setting up a regular boarding house. Mum reckons Mrs Houser's awful but I haven't worked out why yet. Zoe went back to uni in Adelaide. Joel reckons she'll be back in the holidays. It must be so weird to find out you had a mum after all but Joel says his gran's his real mum. Guess I can understand that.

Turns out Dev's related to French royalty (three or four generations back). No big deal, Mum says. Dev's short for Devereux. (With an x!) You never know about people, do you?

Shawn Houser doesn't seem to pick on Joel so much any more. I mean, who can help having a father in jail? It's not Joel's fault and the kids at school think Dev's so cool. He picks Joel up some days on his bike when he's home. Me too. I love the way the noise shakes through me right down to my toes and then there's the wind in my hair . . .

Dev's got a job now on Dad's trawler. Dad really likes him. He says Joel's a lucky kid to catch a dad like Dev Eagle.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following for their interest, tips and favourite fishing stories:

Peter and Trent Bartram; Mac Hayes; Matthew Heaven; Colin Moulden; Gary and Rob Penner; students from St Peter's Grammar School, Glenelg; students from Cummins and Lock Area Schools; and Writers' Ink, from Tyndale Christian School.

Glossary

berley
hookless bait

dropping in a line/drop-in
to put a line in to fish

gaff
big long-handled hook for retrieving larger fish from the water

ganged hooks
three to four hooks linked together for baiting small whole fish

gar
garfish

gent
a maggot used for bait

gutter
deeper water between areas of shallow water

half-blood knot
a simple, strong knot used in attaching hooks and swivel to the line

keeper
a fish worth keeping

lure
artificial bait with hooks attached that attract fish

nanny
a red snapper

old salt
someone who's been fishing or boating for many years

on the bite
when the fish are hungry, biting well

pick
the anchor

pillies
pilchard bait

playing the fish
angling the fish to land or to a boat

pump and wind
the action used to catch a fish with a rod and reel

reading the beach
checking the beach for good fishing possibilities

rig
assembled terminal tackle

set
when the hook is firmly stuck in the fish

spool line
storage area on a reel

strike
moving your rod sharply to hook a fish

swell
long rolling waves in the ocean that don't break

swivel
small figure-of-eight-shaped pieces that connect a fishing line so it's free to rotate

tackle
equipment used for fishing – e.g. rods, line, net

terminal
tackle bits and pieces used on the end of the line – e.g. hooks, bait, sinkers, swivels

tern
small seabird

tinnie
small aluminium fishing boat

tommy
tommy ruff – small edible fish usually caught near jetties

troll
to fish with a moving line

wet a line
to go fishing

Also in this series by Rosanne Hawke

SAILMAKER

Join Joel Billings and his best friend, Mei, and solve a new mystery far more terrifying and dangerous than a ghost!

ISBN 978 0 7022 4972 3

KILLER UTE

Buckle up for a wild ride as Joel and his foster dad, Dev, face off against a killer ute in a sleepy beachside town.

ISBN 978 0 7022 4960 0

First published 2000 by Lothian Children's Books,

an imprint of Hachette Australia

This edition first published 2013 by University of Queensland Press

PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia

www.uqp.com.au

© Rosanne Hawke 2000

This book is copyright. Except for private study, research, criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

Typeset in 11.5/16.5 pt Rotis Semi Sans by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane

Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

National Library of Australia

Hawke, Rosanne.

The keeper / Rosanne Hawke.

For primary school age.

Families – Juvenile fiction

Yorke Peninsula (S. Aust.) – Juvenile fiction.

A823.3

ISBN (pbk) 978 0 7022 4973 0

ISBN (epdf) 978 0 7022 5131 3

ISBN (epub) 978 0 7022 5132 0

ISBN (kindle) 978 0 7022 5133 7

University of Queensland Press uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.