‘Let’s play Alt-World,’ he says, fitting the binocular cap over my head. ‘It’s HAIR tech. We can go inside together.’
‘What’s HAIR tech?’ It sounds like an app Ruby might like, because she loves playing hairdressers and makeup artists.
Digby looks at me like I’m an idiot.
‘Hyper-Augmented Integrated Reality,’ he says. ‘It’s realer than real. Dad got it from work. There’s real people in Alt-World. I can go inside whenever I want.’
‘Cool.’ I’ve heard a bit about Alt-World from the kids at school. First it was Minecraft and then it was Fortnite and then it was Joglo and Fusion-X and Bandidos and Gigabitten and now it’s Alt-World. Mum never lets me play those types of games though, she says living in the real world should be enough for everyone.
I adjust the goggles to focus on the big purple Alt-World symbol floating on the laptop screen.
‘This is where I went down yesterday,’ says Digby, pulling his own cap down over his ears and fixing his goggles. ‘But no dobbing, Jackson. If you dob, I won’t be your friend any more.’
Ruby says that a lot, especially when I catch her raiding the biscuit barrel at home. I never ever dob though, because I like eating Oreos as much as Ruby. So we usually make a deal and take three cookies each, then we eat them together behind the laundry room door where no one else can find us.
Digby presses play on the laptop and we both stand there wearing our goggles, waiting for the scan. It’s going to take a few minutes to load, so we eat half a blueberry muffin each. Digby goes to the big silver fridge and takes out a tub of white stuff he calls mask-a-pone. He spreads some of it onto his muffin and offers me some too, but I can’t figure out if it’s cheese or cream so I say, ‘No, thanks.’
‘You can try it in Alt-World, without really eating it,’ he says. ‘There’s heaps of stuff you can try with HAIR tech. You can see anything you want, too. Have you ever seen a lady naked?’
Suddenly the scanner beeps and flashes red and then the game starts. Whoosh, the goggles suck me down-down-down into this really long cobbled tunnel and I get a bit puffed because I’m running inside Alt-World, following Digby into the centre of the earth.
When we get to the end of the tunnel there’s this big dim room that’s a bit like a cave. It’s foggy and I can even smell the sea, only it’s not the summer saltiness of Queenscliff beach, it’s a rotten fish sort of smell. Maybe we’ll go hunting for buried treasure down here?
In the shadows I notice there are other people too, adults. There’s a short blonde lady wearing floppy rabbit ears who’s sort of hiding behind a rock and a muscly man wearing a pig mask who’s trying to catch her with a lasso. There are other people hanging around just watching them and some of them are calling out like they’re taking sides, so that must be part of the game.
The rabbit-lady scoots out from behind the rock and I get a big surprise because she’s not wearing any trousers. She bolts away up another tunnel and the pig-man starts chasing her, swinging his lasso around and making these grunting sounds I don’t like. He’s much taller than her so he’s catching up really easily, then Digby starts following them.
‘Come on, Jackson, let’s go rabbit hunting!’
I don’t want to chase a lady with no trousers, but I don’t want to lose Digby in Alt-World either, so I follow him and Pig Man. I jog along the tunnel, but I can’t see much through the fog and then I turn a corner and bang! Suddenly they’re right there in front of me.
The pig-man has caught the lady and he’s holding her against the slimy wall and pushing her around a bit, saying, ‘Slut-slut-slut.’ Digby grins at me and says, ‘It’s another word for girl.’ I’ve got two sisters and a mum and two grandmas, but I’ve never heard that word for girl before.
Then I notice my thing waking up inside my soccer shorts, it’s started doing that a lot more lately, ever since I started growing hair under my armpits. I get really embarrassed and try to cover it with my hand, but Digby notices it too. Everything looks bigger because of the HAIR tech goggles.
‘Look, Curtis! Your dragon’s getting bigger and stronger.’ He points at the green dragon picture on my soccer shorts stretching tighter and tighter across my thing. ‘You’ll have to tell Coach about that! He likes big strong dragons.’
Digby laughs like crazy, but I wish I could just fall into one of the lava pits in Alt-World and get vaporised.
I’m getting worried for the lady now. She looks hurt and sad and the pig-man is bothering her and she starts crying and that makes me scared.
I turn to Digby to ask if please-please-please we can just play chess instead?
Then I hear this super-loud knocking sound from further down the tunnel and whoosh, suddenly we’re being reverse-sucked right back up into the kitchen.
Digby rips the goggles off my head and slams down the laptop screen.
‘Someone’s at the front door,’ he pants.
My heart is beating so loudly, I thought maybe it was making the sound.
‘Cool, wasn’t it?’ Digby races across the room to open the door. ‘Remember, no dobbing, it’s our special secret.’
But it doesn’t feel very special. Not when my heartbeat is going doof-doof-doof inside my brain and down in that dark tunnel somewhere, there’s a lady who might still be crying.
4
Digby opens the door. Nanna Pam is standing on the doorstep like Mary Poppins, all crisp and neat in her nice woollen skirt and peachy blouse.
I’m so happy to see her.
‘Hello Jackson.’ She waves at me. ‘It’s home time, darling. I’ve done a roast lamb.’
Nanna Pam’s roasts are the best. She makes crispy potatoes and honeyed carrots and green beans cut up into tiny diagonal pieces that melt in your mouth. She’s so good at cooking, she’d definitely win at Kitchen Maestro if she ever went on the show.
‘How was soccer training?’ Nanna Pam asks, but Digby’s already tapping on his dad’s office door.
When Digby’s dad opens it, he looks a bit cross because he’s still on the phone. Then he sees Nanna Pam and waves in a much nicer way, but he still keeps talking.
Nanna Pam just smiles and says, ‘Got everything, Jackson? What do you say to Digby and his dad?’
I’m not sure what to say to Digby, because I hated playing Alt-World.
Nanna Pam helps me out. ‘Thank you for having Jackson, Digby. Please say thanks to your father, when he’s off the phone.’
Digby nods and says to me, ‘See you at school.’
He shuts the door behind us, then we’re walking down the steps and back to Nanna Pam’s car. I want to tell Nanna Pam everything about Alt-World and find out what a slut is, but I’m guessing it isn’t a nice word. Nanna Pam doesn’t even like the word fart, so I decide not to ask.
In the car, Nanna Pam starts talking about how Milla got a ribbon at the gymnastics gala and how Ruby got a ‘most improved’ award, and how Mum’s still singing for the Special Ps at the Mother’s Day concert at Care Cottage.
I just nod and smile, because that’s what Nanna Pam likes. Whenever Dad’s overseas we see a lot more of Nanna Pam, especially on Mum’s workdays. Nanna Pam comes over after school to help Milla make the dinner or to help Ruby with her homework, or just to sit and drink about six cups of tea and natter away to me. I’ve learned to nod and smile a lot.