“Not really. We had to drive to find this one.”
Bree offered her phone to Eddie. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all.”
Her arm around Bree, Eliza turned until the background behind them was nothing but slices and scratches on the rock wall. Andy trudged toward them, Sloaney all but carrying him under one arm.
“Where’d the other bloke go?” Eddie handed back the phone.
Eliza shrugged as she sat on the soft sand at the edge of the water hole and unlaced her shoes. She wiped the sweat from her eyes and lowered her toes into the water. The coolness surged through her. Relief. She patted the sand next to her and Bree took a seat.
“Not game enough to put your toes in, Breezy?”
Bree laughed as she hugged her arms to herself. “They’d probably be taken off by a crocodile.”
“Out here?”
Birds twittered to their left, the gentle breeze waving through the valley on their right. The soundtrack of the outback bounced back at them from a sounding board carved from ancient rock.
Eliza stretched into the comfortable silence. “I’m so sorry if you felt like I hadn’t talked to you last night, but you have to believe me.”
“That’s okay.” Bree smiled. “I’d like to think we’re honest with each other.”
“Me too.” Eliza’s forehead puckered and a crinkle appeared above her nose. “Why couldn’t you tell us about what it was like to play at the Apollo Theater?”
Bree blanched. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you seemed really upset about that audition, and I would have thought it would be easy to talk about it, that’s all.”
Bree glared at the sand underneath them, unable—or unwilling—to meet her eyes.
“Come to think of it, I don’t think you’ve ever told me what that audition was like.”
Bree’s jaw clenched, a quiver on her lip.
“How hard can it be to talk about it? You really need to, even if it’s to move on. And I think while we’re away would be a good time. When you’re ready, I’ll be ready to listen.”
* * *
Lincoln’s voice rained down on Bree from high up the rock wall. “Get up here. It’s amazing!”
Her feet planted firmly in the red sand, Bree held the rope in a limp grip as she squinted up into the fierce blue of the afternoon sky. Her two helmeted friends dangled above her, swinging against the jagged wall. There was no chance of her joining them. Not with her fear of heights.
The third rope remained empty and still. While Andy had reluctantly scaled to the top, he hadn’t reappeared. Perhaps Eddie was talking him down.
Bree took out her phone. In every direction was a picture-perfect scene waiting for capture. The girls would have loved this. Sam too. She sighed hard. They would never travel as a family without some kind of financial miracle. Her dream of seeing the world had withered with her dream of a musical career. She stepped closer to a bush, its thin, olive-green leaves studded with bursts of white and yellow flowers. She held up her phone for another postcard image.
“It’s wattle, and it’s edible.”
Bree jumped a mile as Sloaney appeared behind her. “The flowers?”
“No, the seeds. Grind them into flour and make bread. The bush is full of life, you know.”
“What else can you eat from this bush?”
Sloaney beamed. “Not this bush, the bush.” He strode to a squat bush laden with rich-red berries. He snapped off a few and popped them in his mouth, biting down hard, the juice dribbling down his chin. The other berries balanced on his weathered hand. “Here.”
Bree took one and gingerly placed it between her lips. She bit down, and a tart burst of sweet juice flooded her mouth.
Sloaney grinned as he shoved the remaining berries into his mouth. “See? Full of life.” He marched to the base of the cliff and steadied one of the ropes gyrating wildly. “Lincoln! Legs straight like I told you.”
The rope slowed its frenetic swinging and Sloaney rejoined her. “There is life out here—food everywhere, clean air, clean water. I wouldn’t live anywhere else for a million bucks.”
“How does it all stay alive when it doesn’t rain?”
Sloaney chuckled as he pointed beyond the wall on which her friends dangled. “I’ll take care of your mates. Follow the path. You’ll find some rock carvings that have been there for millennia. Go ahead and have a look, but no photos please. The rock carvings are sacred and we respect that.”
Bree walked past the dangling ropes and followed a track that veered around the cliff’s base. Twenty yards later, the path was split in two by an enormous gum tree, its mottled branches jutting beyond the shade into sunlight. Underneath it sat a rounded boulder, long sweeping scratches adorning its surface. She padded along the track, and as she stood in front of it, she only saw thick gouges in the rock that occasionally crossed, smaller sweeps that lost their meaning.
It was no longer a picture. She felt, rather than saw, the slightest movement a couple of feet above her head. Her heart started to pound as she let her eyes drift slowly up, and she gazed into the softest, fluffiest, most gorgeous face of the one creature she wanted to see on this trip.
In the crook of the mottled branches sat a koala, nonchalantly chewing eucalyptus leaves while surveying her with casual disdain.
“Oh, how beautiful.” Bree raised her phone and rattled off nearly a hundred photos.
“You’re gorgeous.” She eased her hand toward it. The chewing slowed and the koala’s eyes narrowed.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Sloaney moved in next to her. “Take all the photos you want, but I’d leave that fella alone.”
“Why is that? He’s adorable.”
“See how he’s holding on to the gum tree? You wouldn’t want to get in the way of those, and there’s the chlamydia too.”
Long, thick nails like talons sprung from the ends of the koala’s claws and were embedded in the tree.
“Wild koalas aren’t as cute as you think they might be, but I think your girls might like a photo of you two together.”
Bree handed over her phone and backed slowly, nervously, toward the tree, one eye fixed on the koala, whose interest in Bree had all but evaporated.
“Smile, you’ll be fine.” Sloaney took a picture, then handed back her phone. “Fantastic!”
Bree snuck one last look at the koala. “Now all I need to see is a kangaroo.”
“We’ll be lucky to see one during the day. Wait until dusk and you’ll see mobs of them. Now, these rock carvings. Come with me.” He curled his finger and Bree followed him back along the path. He turned her shoulders until she was facing the carved boulder again.
“Now you’re standing in the best place to see it. Everyone goes too close and they lose the perspective.”
The lines converged, their sweeping breadth joining together to make sense. Bree could make out a turtle or some kind of animal. A harsh, rich cackle burst from the trees on the ridge above their path and Bree ducked.
Sloaney reached for the near-vertical rock wall. “That’s a kookaburra. A beautiful bird. There’s no need to worry about him.” He scaled the first few feet. “I’ve got to get up there and rescue your friend. Lincoln is giving him a hard time.” Bree’s gaze followed Sloaney as he clambered up the wall.