Read Online Outback Hero by Sally Gould - Free Book Online

friends, Thomo
and Chook, I could fly. I jumped out of the oak tree, flapped my
arms, fell and broke my leg. The pain was real bad, but I couldn't
cry because my friends were all crowded around. First the school
nurse came, and then the ambulance. The nurse stopped the bleeding
by tying a bandage real tight around the top of my leg. Then she
put something under my head and under my foot. And someone put a
blanket over me. The ambulance guy put on the splint. He said it
was to stop my leg moving and that would help it heal."
    If I'd hurt Harry, he wasn't saying so. He
said, "You were lucky. What if no one rescues us?"
    "Of course they will," I tried to sound real
sure. "Our parents will send a ranger up as soon as they work out
we're not coming down."
    "What if they don't know where to look?"
    "We're on top of a rock, not hidden in the
jungle."
    "What if it gets dark?"
    I shivered. "We won't die or anything. We'll
just get cold."
    "What if the evil spirits come out at night
and they try to kill us?"
    "There's no such thing as evil spirits," I
said. I shivered again. "We'll be rescued before it's dark. It's
not like our parents have ninety kids; they'll notice we're
missing." I hugged my knees. "My mom will only wait about ten
minutes before she looks for a ranger. She says I'm accident-prone.
She'll assume I've broken my leg - trust me."
    "But the ranger won't be able to get me down
to the ground." He sounded like he was about to cry.
    "Of course he will. He'll have a rescue team
and they'll bring a stretcher."
    "It's too steep."
    "People have accidents all the time. The
rangers are always bringing people down. They know what they're
doing. You'll be okay. Last year the rangers rescued sixty-three
people." I tried to sound real certain, but I couldn't see how
they'd get him down either. It was a long, long way down and it was
real steep, especially the bottom bit. And Charlie had told me
there'd been sixty-three accidents, not sixty-three rescues. But I
guess most of them got rescued. Except for the guy who died. Lucky
Harry didn't know about him.
    Harry screwed up his face in pain. I wished
it'd been me who fell and broke my leg. He was so little. He closed
his eyes and slept for ages.
    It was so boring just sitting and waiting
and trying not to think about bad stuff - like maybe we wouldn't
get rescued and we'd be on the top of this great big rock all
night, just us and the evil spirits. The sun belted down on my back
and I just knew I'd be red and sore tomorrow. I listened out for
the sound of people, but all I could hear was the wind. And my
stomach rumbling. I remembered I hadn't eaten lunch and suddenly I
felt starved again.
    Harry just kept sleeping, and when the sun
got low in the sky he got goose bumps, so I covered him with my
surf jacket. For a while I thought about leaving him and climbing
down to get help. But there was no way I could leave him and,
anyway, it was too late because it was getting dark real quick.
    Where were they? What were Mom and Dad
thinking? It's so nice and quiet without Max!
If he hasn't turned up by the morning, we better look for
him. I tried to list the fifty US states in my head, but
it seemed like a stupid thing to do now.
    Harry opened his eyes again. He hadn't
seemed to realize that he'd been asleep for hours. "Max," he
whispered, "do you believe in God?"
    I knew I was older and I was meant to give a
real smart answer, but it was a hard question. "Sometimes," I
replied.
    I know you're thinking, Geez, Max, that's a dumb answer , but it isn't
really. It means sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. So, my mind
is open. It's like having an each-way bet on the Melbourne Cup.
That's smart.
    "I believe in God," Harry said. "Tyson says
everything's random. A big accident. I don't believe him. God made
this rock and everything. God made the stars. See," he said,
pointing to the sky, "you just have to look at those stars and you
know there's a God."
    "Yeah, I guess. Maybe God made the stars so
we