Free Fast Flight by George Ivanoff

stuff to the east. Then there’s the cemetery …’
    Dad was now in full-on Dad Tourist Mode. He loved adventure and seeing things. He was always bursting with stories of overseas travel that he and Mum had done before they had kids. This trip, driving to Uluru and back, was supposed to be a test. The first big holiday the whole family did together, now that Emma was old enough. And if things worked out, they would consider an overseas trip the following year.
    But things hadn’t quite worked out. Mum hadn’t been able to come with them. Shewas stuck back in Adelaide, finishing off a case. She was a lawyer, and the company she worked for needed her to stay an extra week. So the rest of the family had started the trip without her. She intended to fly to Uluru later and meet them there, then they would do the trip back by car.
    As Dad droned on about the history of Farina and what they would see in the morning, Dawson’s thoughts drifted to his family, the Millers. They were a bit annoying, but not too bad. He guessed that he loved them, even though they drove him crazy sometimes.
    Samantha was his older sister. She was twelve.
    Sam loved exploring, so Dawson knew this trip was right up her alley. She wasadventurous and daring. Dawson admired the way she just did things, no matter what anybody else said … but it also scared him a little. He sometimes wished he could be a bit more like her.
    Emma was his younger sister. She was seven.
    Everyone loved Em. She was cheeky but cute, mischievous but kind, and the baby of the family. She often made Dawson laugh – even when she was being irritating. For her, everything was a game. No wonder she was so good at hide and seek.
    At almost eleven, Dawson was stuck in the middle. Em and Sam always called him Daws. But Em, with her little-kid way of saying things very carefully, made it sound like ‘Doors’. Dad always called him ‘son’,almost like an acknowledgement that he was a boy trapped between two sisters.
    Dawson sighed. His sisters were enjoying this camping holiday more than he was. He didn’t mind camping usually, but the thought of doing it all the way to Uluru and back didn’t thrill him. Especially since they had to pack and unpack every day or two.
    He would have liked it better if Mum was with them. Dad was a bit intense with the touristy stuff, wanting to stop and examine absolutely everything. (‘Look, there’s a historic building.’ ‘Look, there’s a cultural landmark.’ ‘Look, there’s a brick that might have been part of an important structure a century ago.’) Mum was more reasonable. A bit touristy, yeah, but in a fun way.
    Dawson also missed his Xbox. Not that he would admit it. Dad was always going on about how he spent too much time playing video games.
    Dawson tuned back into the conversation. Dad was now prattling on about the animals they’d seen so far and others they might encounter on their trip – kangaroos, emus, lizards, echidnas and something called a thorny devil.
    â€˜Hey,’ said Dad. ‘What’s the collective noun for a group of emus?’
    â€˜Herd,’ said Sam.
    â€˜Flock,’ said Dawson, looking at his sister as if she knew nothing. ‘They’re birds.’
    â€˜Nope,’ said Dad.
    Sam poked her tongue out at Dawson.
    â€˜Crowd?’ said Em, hopefully.
    Sam laughed.
    â€˜Actually,’ said Dad. ‘That’s pretty close.’
    Em smiled proudly.
    â€˜It’s a mob of emus,’ Dad finally revealed.
    Em giggled and Dawson smiled at her.
    â€˜A marauding mob of elegant emus.’ Dad was putting on his radio announcer’s voice, while extending his neck back and forth with a strange movement that he obviously thought made him resemble an emu. He was wrong. It just looked silly. ‘Casually cruising for cacti across the desolate desert.’
    Em laughed. Sam groaned. Dawson