Audrey Of The Outback by Christine Harris

Author:Christine Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000, book
ISBN: 9781742735733
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Published: 2008-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

Hot, kerosene-soaked fumes filled Audrey’s throat. There was loud crackling and hissing.

‘Audrey . . . Price!’ Their mum’s anxious voice calling from the chookyard sounded like a distant echo.

Audrey blinked. There seemed to be a lot of blue. Her head was fuzzy, as though she wasn’t properly awake. Then the fuzziness cleared. She realised she was lying on her back. The blue was the sky.

She looked over at Price. He, too, was on his back.

The hessian dunny walls were ablaze. Bluish flames leapt into the air.

Audrey’s stomach squeezed into a knot. ‘You’re not dead, are you, Price?’

He sat up. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Lucky Stumpy is out bush for a while. He doesn’t like fire.’

Mrs Barlow limped towards them, her face tight with worry. ‘Are you two all right?’ She sounded breathless.

Dougie bounced along behind her as though his feet were on springs.

‘Yes,’ answered Audrey. ‘We’re all right.’

She and Price had just meant to clean out the dunny hole with fire. They had almost cleaned themselves up with it. And now there was no hole at all. The sandy soil had collapsed in the explosion.

Red-faced, Mrs Barlow flopped beside Audrey and grabbed her hand. Audrey felt her mother trembling.

Douglas leapt up and down. ‘Pwetty fire.’

‘Lucky we cleared a good patch around the house,’ said Mrs Barlow at last.

Price crawled across to sit beside his mother. He patted her shoulder. ‘Sorry, Mum. But you’ve been wanting proper walls and a door for a long time. Now you can have them.’

His eyebrows and the front of his hair looked odd.

‘You’ve singed your hair,’ said Mrs Barlow.

Price put his hand to his fringe and bits fell off.

‘Lucky he’s a man,’ said Audrey. ‘He knew what he was doing.’

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