Read Online Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor - Free Book Online

food!’
    Silence.
    ‘How long does a packet of Cocoa Puffs last?’

13
Feline Flashback

    Grandma had set up her sewing machine in the kitchen and said she was going to make them both a pair of cargo pants with lots of pockets. Ricardo asked her for a pouch to hold a Ninja sword. She said she’d see what she could do.
    ‘What’s a Ninja?’ she whispered to Lucy.
    ‘You know. Martial arts.’
    ‘Oh! The chaps in the white pyjamas.’
    Grandma didn’t watch enough action videos. It didn’t matter. It meant Grandma had the afternoon sewn up and Lucy and Ricardo were free. Grandma thought it was great they wanted to go on a bush walk and said it was terrible that they hadn’t had lunch. She pulled heaps of food out of her bottomless bag – bread rolls, cheese, muesli bars, grapes. Grandma took food wherever she went, just in case war was declared or the stock market crashed while she was at the hairdresser or something.
    They formed a production line in the kitchen, making cheese and salad rolls. Grandma cut them each another slice of chocolate cake and asked when they’d be back.
    ‘Midnight?’ she grinned. They nodded. Grandma cut them even more cake and said, ‘Actually, six o’clock would be better because I’ll have to try your new pants on you. If you leave me alone until then, they might be ready.’
    OK, they said, and disappeared.
    Charging up the hill, they met the Tiger-cat and, this time, Lucy abseiled into the pit even as the Tiger-cat was leaping at the solid wall. She landed like a professional and raced over the freshly materialised rubble and down the tunnel – until she remembered all the blankets and picnic gear. Oops.
    Then she remembered the snake in the rug. When they finally arrived, both Lucy and Ricardo were thoroughly spooked and charged in the door without knocking. Rahel and Toro jumped.
    ‘Sorry! We’ve got some more food and blankets for you.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Rahel, and shoved Toro.
    He looked at them with big brown eyes and said, ‘Fank you’.
    ‘My grandma’s making me Ninja pants,’ Ricardo said importantly.
    What could you say to that? Lucy handed Rahel and Toro a blanket each and began getting out the food. They all sat at the table, the Tiger-cat too, with Rahel and Toro wrapped up in their new blankets. T-Tongue sneaked onto the lounge.
    Then Ricardo said the fateful words, ‘I have to go’.
    ‘You’ll just have to wait,’ said Lucy, exasperated. But Lucy realised she hadn’t thought of the most basic thing! Rahel and Toro couldn’t stay down here without a toilet.
    Rahel’s announcement was even worse: ‘We must return to the jail’.
    ‘What? What about your auntie?’ exclaimed Lucy.
    ‘It is my duty to assist the other prisoners. Mama and Papa would expect it of me.’
    Why did she always talk like that, as if she were giving a school speech? And she couldn’t be serious about going back!
    ‘How are you going to do it? The Bulls will shoot you!’
    ‘The four of us will sneak back under cover of darkness. Two of us will distract the guards and two will assist the children to escape one by one. We will deliver them here and then later trek across the mountain to my aunt.’
    ‘Cool,’ said Ricardo.
    ‘ Crap! ’ thought Lucy.
    The Tiger-cat padded over, looked into Lucy’s eyes and . . .
    ‘Here we go again,’ thought Lucy, as she began to shiver and felt the tug of the Tiger-cat’s mind-rope.
    She’s inside the jungle jail, behind the gates! Kids are marching right past her, as if she doesn’t exist. Some of them are so little! They should be in kindergarten . . . They look so scared and unhappy. The smallest, a tiny girl with dirty, tangled curls matted into dreadlocks, is turning, looking directly into Lucy’s eyes as though she alone can see her. She’s wrapped in an old sack, like a Roman toga. It’s the little girl from Lucy’s first dream, the one taken away from her mum when the smiling soldier’s men stormed the