Free Carrier by Vanessa Garden Page B

frown.
    â€˜Turn around,’ I said, my teeth suddenly chattering, ‘...then I’ll get out.’
    She rolled her eyes and turned. ‘Whatever.’
    Watching her back like a hawk, I rushed out of the water, but swore under my breath when I had nothing to dry myself with. I considered my clothes, dangling nearby, but I didn’t want to soak them and have to wear them all night so I did the only thing I could think of — shook my body and head from side to side like I’d seen my dingos do. It worked for them, so why not me?
    But after a few seconds, the action made me dizzy and before I knew it I was face down in the soft mud of the bank.
    Dirt seeped into my mouth and I spat it out repeatedly before staring up into the face of the girl who had turned back around to face me. My cheeks throbbed with the heat, with mortifying embarrassment, as I watched her smooth shoulders shaking with amusement.
    â€˜What the hell was that?’ she said, before covering her grinning mouth.
    After several failed attempts at getting to my feet while desperately trying to cover my nudity with my arms and fingers, the girl stuck out a thin, heavy-knuckled hand.
    â€˜Come on, take it,’ she spluttered out between laughs. ‘I haven’t got a disease.’
    I stared at the proffered hand and threw her a sharp, scrutinising glance.
    â€˜Do I look dead to you? Like I’m melting inside?’ the girl said, rolling her eyes again. ‘You’ve sort of got no choice. Take my hand or stay there and roll around like a pig in its own shit.’
    For some reason, instead of anger or shame I felt a certain warmth building up inside of me. It bubbled up my throat and out of my mouth, into something I hadn’t done for a long time. I clutched at the girl’s hand, but slid back down into the mud again, this time weakened with laughter.
    She fell down beside me, clutching her slim stomach, the mud beneath her making a squelching sound.
    â€˜I was watching your reflection in the water,’ she said, slapping her thighs and laughing between words, ‘and you shook...like a dog...like some crazy bitch.’
    The laughter made me grip my own naked stomach and fall back against the bank, the cold mud slapping against my back hard. Ouch .
    The impending storm glowered down at me through the green canopy above, daring me to waste another minute. It would probably hit on my way to Patrick’s place, but, right now, strangely enough, I didn’t care.
    â€˜Why are you so scared of people seeing you in your birthday kit?’ said the girl, her laughter now subdued into random giggles. ‘Everyone I know has seen me naked.’
    I stood up and waded into the water to wash off the mud, keeping my back to the girl, but talking over my shoulder.
    â€˜How old are you?’ I asked, ignoring her question.
    â€˜How old do you think?’ She put her hands to her hips, struck a pose. The blue cotton dress she wore rode up her thighs. It was several sizes too small.
    I shrugged. ‘Seventeen?’
    â€˜Try sixteen. My cousins and I, we come here to the waterhole all the time.’ She gnawed on her bottom lip. ‘And sometimes we walk around the edge of your property. We’ve wanted to get your attention for a long time. But my grandmother warned me how crazy your mum is with her big gun and everything so we don’t get too close.’
    Goose bumps prickled my wet skin as I remembered the creepy silhouettes from the night before.
    â€˜Did you come to my bedroom window last night, with somebody else?’ I asked, hoping she’d say yes.
    She frowned and drew her head back like I’d slapped her.
    â€˜Are you insane? Your mum is way too scary.’
    With a nod of my head, I continued to wash the mud off my body, at the same time trying to mentally scrub the terrifying thought from my brain that two people, strangers , had stood at my bedroom window last night for