In the Trees by Pauline Fisk

Author:Pauline Fisk [Pauline Fisk]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780571276059
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2010-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

18

CARACOL

The jaguar changed things – not just for Kid and Snow, but for the whole trek. It changed its outcome in unexpected ways. From that point onwards nothing was quite the same. The whole team was changed, and Hal more than the rest of them. He never quite got over the fact that Kid, not him, had seen that jaguar.

Kid was the hero of the hour. ‘He was so calm,’ Snow said. ‘He was amazing. He made me feel so safe. He made me feel protected.’

Hal walked away. He didn’t want to know. Everybody was envious, but not like him. Kid tried to make Snow stop, but the damage was already done.

From then on, Hal’s nickname for Kid was Jaguar-Boy. He said it a couple of times over supper, then started up with it again as soon as they set off next day.

‘Come on, Jaguar-Boy,’ he said. ‘Hurry up. Watch your step. Who’s the hero now? You’re holding everybody up.’

Kid told Hal to leave it off. But Hal carried on all day in similar vein. It was a hot day too, perfect for short tempers. Even by the jungle’s standards the heat was remorseless. The jungle felt like an oven. Yesterday there’d been a bit of sky between the trees, but today they were impenetrable. The foliage created a dense wall on either side of them as they fought their way through. The canopy was heavy overhead, and the little bits of light that seeped through had a strange hardness about them.

And the jungle seemed more humid, too. Kid poured with sweat all day long. His legs, feet, shoulders, head, arms, eyes – everything – were soaked in sweat, and aching too. He started laughing but didn’t know why. Jez said they hadn’t far to go, but Kid didn’t believe him. After all, this was the same Jez who’d billed this trek as a holiday – and look how right he’d been about that!

Other people started laughing too, as if they’d passed some sort of pain threshold and nothing mattered any more. When word came back from somewhere towards the front of the group that Jez was right, nobody at the back where Kid was believed it.

‘What are you laughing at, Jaguar-Boy?’ Hal said.

Kid laughed at him as well. How come he’d never noticed how funny Hal was before? He struggled on, dragging his feet, head down, not noticing the growing light until suddenly it burst in upon him and he found himself standing in a clearing carpeted by coarse grass.

Three tall trees grew right in the middle of the clearing, their roots protruding from a white stone wall. For some reason, Kid found that funny too. He laughed until he thought he’d burst. All around him people were whooping, cheering and throwing down their rucksacks, but he couldn’t take in the fact that they’d actually arrived at their destination. Only when a couple of girls appeared on the far side of the clearing, and started whooping too, did Kid grasp that this was it.

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