Rachel's Story by Leigh Russell

Author:Leigh Russell [Russell, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

12

The Secret

Working at the school turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable. Some of the teachers lived and slept at school with the children, but I was pleased to leave at the end of the day, and enjoy a respite from my small charges. The individual children were all very different, and Eve and I chatted about them on our way to the food clinic, speculating about what the future might hold for them.

‘Absalom’s a born leader,’ Eve said.

‘Not a very good one,’ I replied, laughing. ‘He’s a bully.’

When he was not pushing other children out of his way, Absalom was grabbing handfuls of sand from them and throwing it on the floor.

Eve grinned back at me. ‘He’s a strong child, with a forceful personality. Have you noticed how the other children are in awe of him?’ She lowered her voice. ‘Don’t you think Daniel must have been like Absalom when he was a child?’

‘I can’t imagine Daniel ever being a child,’ I said, when I stopped giggling.

‘Jacob will be a desert walker,’ she went on, more seriously.

‘What makes you say that?’

I was still not quite sure what a desert walker was, but was embarrassed to ask.

‘Haven’t you noticed how the desert draws him?’ she replied. ‘He loves to explore, and if we don’t keep an eye on him, he wanders off and we lose him among the huts. And unlike most of the children, he’s not afraid to leave the camp. We’ve caught him climbing up the slope several times. It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets out one day and wanders off into the desert. It’s like a magnet for him. But if we manage to keep hold of him for long enough for him to understand what’s out there, and how to navigate his way around, he has the makings of a desert walker.’

‘What is a desert walker, exactly?’ I asked finally, and was relieved when Eve evinced no surprise at my ignorance.

‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I keep forgetting you haven’t grown up here. Desert walkers are the ones who can find their way in the desert. It’s like an instinct for them.’

‘How do they do it?’

She shrugged. ‘No one knows. Even they don’t know how they do it, but they just find their way across the desert. It’s like they have a map in their heads. It must be something to do with the way they read the sky.’

I would have thought she was joking, had I not seen Matthew striding across the endless monotonous sand, as though he was walking along a clearly marked road.

‘Matthew’s a desert walker,’ I said.

‘One of the best,’ she replied.

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