Isaac had nodded Something might happen An awesome holiday might happen I’ll be fine he promised You’ll make sensible decisions Mum asked Super-sensible Isaac had assured her So here he was sensibly standing in the middle of a jetty the size of a small nation trying not to fall off or jump in He scanned for kids his age but only saw littlies running and screaming and drooling There was no one interesting No one to hang out with and explore with And then he saw the girl She was climbing on the wall of boulders Racing across them If Mum saw she’d have a heart attack The girl had long bronzed hair and although it was winter she was wearing just a T-shirt with shorts the khaki sort with lots of pockets Isaac checked his own clothes He was trussed up in so many layers he could hardly bend his arms to scratch his nose Mum had smiled 8
and called that a sensible decision It didn’t feel so sensible now The girl saw Isaac staring and made a horrible face at him Isaac made his own face back She grinned right at him Isaac said Mum Keep an eye out for our bikes High above them loads of bicycles were lined across the ferry’s deck in a twist of colourful metal There weren’t many cars on the island so almost everyone rode bikes Up on deck a man with sticking-up hair was rolling bikes down a narrow ramp and onto the jetty Isaac’s bike was up there Somewhere It was a blue mountain bike with an all-black helmet and chunky pedals He’d never done actual mountain biking because Mum thought actual mountain biking was dangerous but since there were no actual mountains on the island he might be okay There were loads of hills and trails He couldn’t wait 9
The next bike down the ramp wasn’t a mountain bike It was a white BMX with pegs out the sides for doing tricks The bronze-haired girl in the khaki shorts jumped down from the boulders She thanked the crewman grabbed the BMX in her strong brown hands and rode away down the jetty Alone With her helmet dangling on her handlebars There’s your bike Mum said pointing to the sticking-up hair guy high above them on the deck Isaac watched the girl Was she really alone Where were her parents Then he spotted a tall man in jeans and a red jacket He seemed to be calling out to the girl but Isaac couldn’t hear what he was saying Neither could the girl because she didn’t stop and she didn’t turn around The man’s words were swept into the salty wind where only seagulls would hear them Isaac watched as the man swung a bag 10
onto his back then heaved a wriggling toddler into the seat on the front of his bike A kindy kid streaked past him on a balance bike Come on Dad the kindy kid yelled racing ahead Balance bikes have no brakes Isaac thought Mum would’ve been wailing about the edge and the cracks and be careful of seagull poop But the man was busy juggling his bike and backpack and small child He had no time for anything else And the bronze-haired girl was way ahead And there’s mine Mum sounded relieved to spot her slightly larger but equally unused bike Isaac got his bike and waited while Mum collected hers and waited while she double checked that the luggage truck wouldn’t forget their bags and that the weather wasn’t going to be stormy Then he waited while she triple-checked that the island wouldn’t sink or flood or otherwise be struck by catastrophe Then about an hour 11
