Free The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden Page A

other two soldiers.
I was hardly aware of them, but the wardsman told me all about it
later. He was a bit of a wimp and he hadn’t done a thing to help me
when I was getting beaten up, but he wasn’t a bad bloke. So in came
these two soldiers and one of them was hurt, and they made the
doctor leave Corrie and treat him. He had a sprained ankle, and how
do you think he got it? Chasing two people through the bush out at
my uncle’s place, that’s how. Geez, I tell you, did they ever show
up at the critical time. Saved my life. The doc called the two
sentries who were giving me the third degree and made the other two
repeat their story. When they said they’d fired a few shots at some
dark shapes in the bush, the soldiers realised what an honest,
respectable person I was. We’d still been naughty, according to
them, but we hadn’t been sabotaging stuff and that was the
important thing. We were just average naughty, instead of highly
trained professional naughty.
    ‘“Naughty” is one of their favourite words.
“Bad boy” and “naughty boy”, that’s what they were always calling
me.
    ‘But I tell you what, guys, if we ever get
caught, don’t get lagged for any of the things you’ve done, the
bridge and the ride-on mower, and getting Lee out of Wirrawee.
They’re still steaming about all those things.’
    ‘What about blowing up
    Turner Street
    ?’ Homer asked, with just a touch of
smugness.
    Kevin sat up. He got so excited. ‘Was that
you? Was that really you? Unbelievable! Some people said it was
you, but I couldn’t believe it. That must have been about a tonne
of TNT! How did you do that? My God, it was a hell of a bang. I
thought someone had nuked Wirrawee. Wow, I tell you, if they ever
bust you for that, you’re dead.’
    ‘Thanks a lot.’
    But we were proud and excited by Kevin’s
response. It was nice to be able to boast a bit. That was one of
the worst things about our isolation. We felt no one was
appreciating or even noticing the battles we’d fought and the risks
we’d run – risks that made me go giddy every time I thought about
them. The way Kevin went on made us feel, for a few minutes at
least, like we were the Foreign Legion, the Green Berets and the
Rats of Tobruk, all rolled into one.
    ‘How the heck did you do it?’
    We spent ten minutes telling him, tripping
over ourselves with corrections and contradictions, having a
wonderful time being heroes. But it didn’t last too long, as we
then had to go on and tell him about the death of Chris. That
sobered us up again, fast enough. Kevin didn’t seem all that shaken
by it, though. I guess he was getting immune to death.
    ‘So, anyway,’ I said finally, ‘tell us what
happened to you after the hospital, and then we’ll tell you the
rest of our stuff.’
    ‘OK. Where was I up to? Getting my head beaten
off my shoulders? OK. So, in the end they generously let Corrie
stay in the hospital but she had to be moved to the Prisoners’
Block, where you don’t exactly get five-star service. And that’s
where you guys caught up with her. Mrs Slater told me you’d been
there and she’d had a good goss with you.’
    ‘Yeah, that’s right.’
    ‘Well, I haven’t seen her since the night I
drove her in there. They wouldn’t let me stay – I got chucked in
the back of a station wagon and taken to the Showground, feeling
like a bloody mess. I was one, too. We had a big family reunion but
I don’t remember much about it. I got nursed there and eventually I
recovered. Took about three weeks. It wasn’t easy, though – I guess
my nerve had gone, a bit, so I wasn’t good for much for a
while.
    ‘The Showground was getting ugly. People were
so stressed. Conditions probably weren’t bad at first but they
didn’t stay that way for long. I don’t think it was ever planned as
a long-term residential centre for a thousand people. Most of the
buildings are galvanised iron, so they got very hot. The food was
OK though, most of the time.