Bailey Finch Takes a Stand by Ingrid Laguna

Author:Ingrid Laguna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2021-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Bailey pulled herself up from the first branch onto the next, looking back to check Israel was following. Bailey saw that his knuckles were white where he gripped the branch. ‘Are you okay?’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ he replied.

Bailey climbed a little higher and sat on a thick branch. ‘This one is strong,’ she said.

Israel climbed up to sit beside her. There were beads of sweat on his lip.

‘Look up and plan ahead,’ said Bailey. She took hold of the branch above her and pulled herself up. The branch bent when she stepped onto it. ‘I wouldn’t put all my weight on this skinny one for long. But you can step on it close to the trunk to get onto this one over here.’

‘Got it,’ said Israel. His voice sounded shaky, but he kept climbing.

Up and up they climbed until they had reached as far as they could go.

‘You did it,’ said Bailey.

‘My legs are shaking,’ said Israel. A smile crept onto his face. ‘But yeah, I did it. I forgot how good it feels to climb. And you can see…everything from here!’

‘Look through these,’ said Bailey, handing Israel the binoculars.

Israel held them to his eyes and looked down to the creek and across to the oval. ‘It’s someone’s birthday,’ he said.

‘How do you know?’ asked Bailey.

Israel pointed to a house beside the gravel walkway through to the creek. ‘Balloons on the gate,’ he said.

Bailey looked through the binoculars and saw three red balloons tied to the front gate of a house.

‘We have to do something,’ said Israel. ‘Balloons are bad.’

‘Do what?’ said Bailey. ‘Burst them?’

‘They could get washed into the street drain when the party’s over,’ said Israel. ‘We have to get rid of them safely.’

‘Wait,’ said Bailey. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Birds think deflated balloons are food. A bird can choke or the balloon can clog its stomach and it starves to death. Not just birds, but other animals too—turtles, platypuses.’

‘That’s awful,’ said Bailey.

‘Let’s go,’ said Israel, starting to climb down. He felt his way carefully from branch to branch.

Bailey thought about all the balloons she had blown up with her mum and dad for her parties.

Israel jumped from the last branch and landed on the ground with a thud, and then Bailey did the same. She brushed leaves off her hands as they headed for the birthday house.

‘It’s someone’s birthday,’ said Bailey. ‘Their best day of the year! We can’t ruin it.’

Israel stopped walking. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I have an idea, but we need to take a small detour.’

Bailey had to skip every few steps to keep up. They reached a bushy area of the creek and Israel led the way through the trees. He picked up a small bird’s nest and handed it to Bailey. ‘I found this a few days ago,’ he said. ‘It must have fallen out of the tree, I guess.’

Bailey looked at the nest. It was made of dried grasses woven together. There was a fluffy grey feather caught in it. ‘This was probably a finch’s nest,’ said Bailey.

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