We pull back the cannons, sending cannonballs sailing across the water and straight into the unsuspecting ships.
‘We have a hit! And another!’
‘Look out for the boat below!’ I warn.
She jumps down next to me. ‘Thank you, soldier.’ She pats me on the back. ‘Leave this one to me.’
She runs across the court, pretends to grab a gun, and sticks it through one of the windows. She fires, but her ammo is stuck. She calls for help. I leave my position, pick up my gun, and run to save her. I hand her a spare gun, and together we fire until everyone on the boat is dead.
The last ship explodes into the night sky like fireworks.
Chapter Ten
After an exhausting game, we sit on the stone wall, our legs dangling over the edge. We are parched, and I wish I had grabbed a drink before we ran off. We could go to Uncle Albert’s friend’s house—he would have plenty of drinks. But that would mean leaving the fort, and I am not ready to leave yet.
Rudy crosses her legs, resting her elbows on her knees, staring out to the ocean.
‘I’m so glad we came here.’ She sighs. ‘It’s the best decision Mum ever made.’ I think about Ms Gee and how angry she seems to be that Rudy and her mum have returned home, yet still, Rudy is happy to be here.
‘I heard you don’t remember anything about last year. Is that true?’ she asks.
I pull my legs up to my chest and hold them close, as if the waves might rise up and take me. My chest closes in, and I don’t know why she’s asking me this. Gaynah must have been talking about me again. Telling people my business.
I feel Rudy take my hand, and she is smiling at me. ‘It’s OK. I don’t remember things sometimes. My mum says it only happens when I don’t want to do something, like make my bed or put the rubbish out. Selective memory, she calls it.’ She giggles and it forces me to smile.
We sit in silence with only the sound of the waves lapping on to the side of the wall.
‘Did I tell you I want to be a West End star when I’m older?’ She catches my blank face. ‘It’s a place with theatres and lights and hundreds of musicals on all the time. Some of the stages are big; some are small. Sometimes really big celebrities perform there. If you want to be a star, that’s where you have to go.’ She takes a breath. ‘What do you want to be when you grow up? A dancer, a singer, a movie star?’ Her eyes grow wide. ‘A pirate?’
I am afraid to tell her I used to want to be a surfer. I don’t think she would understand why a girl from Sycamore would want to surf. I told Mama once and she asked me why. I told her I didn’t know why—I just knew that was what I wanted to do because I loved the water so much.
‘I want to be a nurse, like Mama used to be,’ I tell her.
She beams. ‘That sounds like a perfect job.’
I can’t tell her what I really want to do. Rudy might be a nice person and she might understand. But if I tell her the truth, that I want to surf all over the world, she will want to know why I no longer surf, and I don’t know why. I just know I’m afraid of the water now.
She stands. ‘Come on, Mrs Nurse Woman. I heard there are hundreds of soldiers out there who need our help. Let’s save them before our enemies get to them first.’
And just like that she is running along the wall and down the steps to a new adventure.
The air feels thick like just before a storm when all the air is sucked out. The sky is a dark grey and the clouds are swollen, like they are about to burst. The water is slow at first. It creeps slowly into the room like a thief in the night. Then, out of nowhere, it grows tall and strong, hovering over my bed, threatening to take me under.
I wake up with a start, gasping for air. Stumbling out of bed, I sit on the floor, my head in my hands, waiting for the fog to clear. These flashbacks are getting more frequent and more frightening.
I put on my slippers and make my way out of the bedroom and into the living room, looking for Mama.
There is a weird air on the hill this morning. Kids are still playing, and dogs are still barking, but everything else feels different.
For a start, Papa is still home. Usually he would be bartering with the stall owners by now, trying to get the best price for the fish he caught that morning. Instead, he is out on the veranda with Mama, and they are talking in low voices. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Papa is rubbing Mama’s back, and she is shaking her head.
I decide to return to my room and stay out of the way. I’ve upset Mama enough already.
I spend the morning cleaning my board in my bedroom. Around lunchtime I hear Rudy’s voice. I go outside and find her with her mother, talking to Mama and Papa.
‘Clara.’ Rudy waves me over.
Mama and Papa seem startled to see me.
Mama mumbles something about having so much to do today. ‘Clara, make sure you’re not under my feet.’ She slips by me and into the house.
Papa gets to his feet, brushing his hands on his torn jeans, which have seen better days, but Papa doesn’t like to buy new things. He says there are more important things to spend money on, like food.
He picks up a familiar basket from the veranda floor. ‘Be good,’ he says, and heads down the hill. I know where he’s going, where he always goes this time of the week: to see his brother. Eldorath.
Rudy has noticed the weird air too. She said Ms Gee actually let her mum cook her breakfast today, and on their way to my house this morning, Pastor Brown was praying on his porch. ‘His face was all screwed up like this—’ she scrunches her face so her eyes are closed and her lips are pursed together’—and he was begging for God’s help.’
I have a feeling that prayer was for me, but I don’t tell Rudy that.
Today Rudy is wearing white trousers that are splashed with red, green, yellow, and blue, as though she threw paint on them herself. Her hair is covered with a white bunny hat with two long ears that fall to her shoulders. She looks so cool, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
‘You look nice.’
She beams. ‘Really? You think so?’ She then goes into detail about why she chose to wear that outfit today. Apparently, she doesn’t just choose the first thing she sees, like I do. For Rudy, there is a story behind everything.
‘Today I was feeling a little sad after the party. It started so nice, but then the happiness was taken away. So the paint on my clothes is me trying to bring back my happiness. You know? Like I’m saying no to sadness.’ She wags her finger at the air with an exaggerated frown.
I don’t know what to say to that.
‘O… kay’ is all I muster.
‘I like what you’re wearing,’ she continues, taking in my old blue shorts and black T-shirt. ‘It really suits you.’
I frown, looking down at myself. ‘Really?’
She nods. ‘Yep. Blue is definitely your colour.’
No one’s ever said they liked what I was wearing before. I imagine Gaynah’s face if she were here. She would scoff at Rudy and tell her she was clearly still jet-lagged from the plane.
I climb off the veranda wall we have been sitting on. ‘Want to know a secret?’
Her eyes light up. ‘Yes!’