Free Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne Page B

is like her mother,’ Dibs said.
    ‘That’s what I reckon,’ I said. ‘Heck, who wants to study in the holidays?’
    Dibs made a disgusted noise. He couldn’t be bothered with Susan Prosser.
    I went on thinking about her for a few moments, mainly because I was still puzzled at the back of my mind about her and Mr Wiggins driving off in the van the other day, but also because I had not liked the way she snooped this morning, asking questions about our running around in the house, wanting to know why Caroline hadn’t helped with the dishes. Susan Prosser had better watch out, I thought.
    Caroline stopped when Dibs turned from the road towards the hill track.
    ‘This is the way we go,’ I told her. ‘It’s not very steep.’
    ‘Can’t we go on the line?’ she asked.
    ‘There’s a track to the cave further along,’ I said. ‘But it’s much steeper than this one. You’d get very puffed, Caroline.’
    ‘That settles it then,’ she said, smiling. ‘I’ll follow Dibs.’
    ‘I’ll catch you if you slip,’ I said.
    ‘Dear Harry,’ she said. I was probably close to getting another kiss, but she must have decided to save it for me. She followed Dibs.
    Just before we went over the first rise, I looked back at the houses. Susan Prosser was still on her front veranda,she seemed to be looking up at us. I could not see Cal. We went over the rise. Now we couldn’t be seen from the houses.
    It didn’t take us long to reach the cave, even though Caroline made us stop a few times so that she could look across the bay. She seemed to screw up her eyes to look, then she said how blue the bay was, she said what a wonderfully sunny day it was, she said she could not see much of the wharf. I told her we’d take her to where she could get a good view of the wharf—after we had been to the cave.
    She liked the cave. She did not hang back and say it was scary, as I was sure a girl like Susan Prosser would have.
    ‘And what do you boys do in here?’ asked Caroline. She sat down, not far in from the cave mouth.
    ‘We have a good talk,’ I said, sitting opposite Caroline.
    ‘And what else?’ she asked. She was partly shadowed, but the light from the cave mouth fell across her legs.
    I hesitated, then decided it was safe to tell her about the cigarettes. ‘Sometimes we have a smoke,’ I said, watching her legs.
    She laughed. ‘That must be exciting.’
    ‘Don’t think we’ve got any today,’ I said. ‘How’s the fag supply, Dibs?’
    ‘We’ve run out,’ said Dibs.
    ‘Just as well I don’t smoke,’ said Caroline.
    ‘My mother smokes a lot,’ I said. ‘But I don’t take her cigarettes. I like the ones Dibs makes.’
    ‘Perhaps I could try one next time you have some,’ Caroline said. ‘Would you let me try one, Dibs?’
    ‘Sure I will,’ said Dibs. He had taken the lamp fromthe tin, had stood it near the fireplace. ‘I should have got some paraffin for this thing. How about we go down and get some?’
    ‘Let’s sit here a while,’ said Caroline. ‘Isn’t it lovely and secret in here?’
    ‘It’s good,’ I said. ‘This is where we waited for the Emma Cranwell. The day you arrived.’
    ‘What a wonderful idea!’ she said. ‘And what do you boys discuss when you have a good talk in here?’
    ‘Different things,’ I said, noticing Caroline draw up her legs. Her legs were now out of the light. I was used to the darkness, though. I could see that she had her chin on her knees, that she had let her dress fall back from her knees, that she was gazing across the cave at me.
    ‘One time we talked about getting some gun-powder and blowing up the works,’ Dibs said. ‘We could hide the gun-powder here until it was dark, then go down and blow up the works. That was one thing we talked about, eh, Harry?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said, deciding Dibs had not really given away a secret because we weren’t sure we should blow up the works, they were so good for playing in.
    Caroline straightened one leg.