Free Red by Libby Gleeson Page B

and dangerous and we have to keep it a secret. You can’t tell anyone.’ She glared at Jazz.
    â€˜You mustn’t tell anyone,’ she said to Kate. ‘If police come and ask if you’ve seen us, don’t tell them anything, please, especially what she started to say.’
    The train pulled into Goulburn station.
    â€˜Maybe we should get out here.’ Jazz pressed her face to the window.
    â€˜No. We’re getting out at Wagga.’ Red let her eyes close and her head drop forward. Why had Jazz come? It had been fine before with just Peri. She opened one eye to look at him. He was sitting with his arms folded, looking straight ahead. What was he thinking about? Who was he really? Why was he on his own? He had to have a family. Everyone had that. She slumped in her seat. Maybe he’d had a fight with his mum and dad and had run away and he’d got into trouble with the police. Or he’d been in a place where they put kids who were in trouble. Hadn’t he said something about that on the first day she met him?
    The train moved on through increasingly flat open country with occasional clumps of low bushes, a few straggly gum trees and fences stretching into the distance. From time to time Red caught a glimpse of sunlight bouncing off the tin roof of a farmhouse or shed.
    â€˜How much longer to Wagga?’ Peri was talking to Kate.
    She glanced at her phone. ‘Half an hour. What are you going to do when you get there?’
    â€˜We’ll be OK.’
    â€˜But you want to go to Melbourne, don’t you?’
    He nodded. ‘Are there buses?’
    â€˜Yes, they go from the railway station but I don’t know when they leave. Or you could get a ride with a truckie. There are lots that go to Melbourne. We aren’t on the freeway but they join up with it pretty quickly.’
    Peri nodded again.
    â€˜I should give you my mum’s number,’ said Kate. ‘Then if you get into any hassles you could ring us and we might be able to help.’
    â€˜Thanks, but we’ll be all right.’
    â€¢ • • • •
    The train pulled into the station at Wagga. As they stood up and dragged their bags from overhead, Kate scribbled something on a piece of paper and pressed it into Red’s hand.
    â€˜You never know,’ she whispered.
    Crowds swarmed over the platform. People were calling out names, waving their arms and seizing those who came off the train. Kate disappeared, engulfed by a huge woman, her thick grey hair tamed into a plait that hung below her shoulders.
    Red couldn’t take her eyes off them.
    â€˜Come on,’ hissed Peri. He grabbed her arm and they moved with the crowd slowly towards the station exit.
    They stood for a moment watching people climbing into cars and taking off in all directions. Peri headed off along the wide footpath.
    â€˜Where are we going?’ Jazz called.
    â€˜To find somewhere we can sit and work out what to do,’ said Peri.
    Red said nothing.
    After ten minutes they reached a park. In the centre was an oval with cricket nets and there was a team of kids practising their bowling. Peri crossed the grass to a band rotunda and they tossed their bags down and fell onto the wooden seats.
    â€˜I don’t think this was such a good idea,’ said Jazz. She felt into the pocket of her backpack and took out the last of her sandwiches. ‘I mean, we could be stuck here for ages with just the odd bottle of water and a stale sandwich to stop us starving to death.’
    â€˜Quit whingeing.’ Peri was feeling in his own pockets. ‘We just need to think of ways to get to Melbourne. What did that woman Kate say – there are buses that go there.’
    â€˜We’ve got no money.’
    â€˜What about your mum’s credit card?’
    â€˜She probably stopped that after we got the train tickets.’
    Red sat with her feet up on the seat, her chin resting on her knees. She