Page 17 of Nothing Without You

He pushed her with his shoulder. ‘You’ll be right. You’ve got me there. I’ll watch out for you.’

She dug in the sand, letting the cool particles run through her finger. Digging the hole deeper she pushed her feet into the wet sand. Something hard was underneath, and she pulled her foot back out, digging with her hand to find what was buried.

‘A penny.’ She held it up to the sun, brushing the last bits of sand from it. ‘A 1924 penny. Wow. That’s…’ she calculated it quickly in her head. ‘That’s exactly fifty years old. I wonder who it belonged to?’

When she passed it to Chris, he tilted his head to the side and ran his finger over the top of the coin. ‘1924. Fifty years ago. Do you ever wonder what the world will be like in another fifty years? Like in the year 2024?’

Evie thought about how far in the future that year was. ‘It sounds so futuristic. Imagine when we get to the year 2000. I can’t think about that ever happening.’

‘Maybe it’ll be like in the TV show, The Jetsons.’ Chris looked at her, his face animated. ‘We might be like them and have an alarm clock that talks to you, a watch you can see the cartoons on, or maybe we’ll be able to talk through a TV screen to each other.’

They laughed at the thought of such crazy ideas. ‘I wonder if this beach will still be the same in fifty years?’ Evie said, as she leaned over and took another look at the coin.

Chris turned it over. ‘Find a penny, pick it up. All that day you’ll have good luck.’ He grinned and looked closely at it. ‘That’s King George on the back. It’s good luck to find a penny.’

When he handed it back, she closed her hand over it and made a wish.

‘What did you wish?’ he asked.

‘I always wish the same thing.’

‘What?’

‘That Dad, Mum, and I are always happy.’

Chapter Thirteen

Over the next couple of days it rained, and Evie spent most of the time reading. It was a relief when the sky cleared and Chris appeared on the front veranda. He always wore the same shorts and striped T-shirt, his hair messy and sun-bleached. ‘Want to come fishing?’

She jumped up off the day bed. ‘Yes. I haven’t been because of the rain.’

‘Me and Dad have been surfing every day. The waves are big.’

She called out to her mother, who was hanging out the washing in the backyard. Yesterday, between showers of rain, they had driven to Point Lookout so her mother could ring home and talk to Dad. From the look on her mother’s face when she came out of the phone box, Evie didn’t need to ask if her father would get over to the island for a couple of days.

Her mother slammed the car door so hard the entire car shook, and when she drove off, she didn’t talk until they were back at The Magic Fish.

Eventually, her mother’s stiff demeanour passed. ‘Okay. We have two days left. Your father can’t make it, but that’s okay. It’s been a lovely holiday, and I’m looking forward to the sun and some more relaxing until we leave.’

Now, as Evie skipped along the track and then ran to catch up with Chris, she pushed the thought of her absent father to the back of her mind. ‘Where’s Lily and Rose? she asked.

Chris’s legs were longer than hers, and she had to walk more quickly to keep up with him. ‘Gone to the boys’ camp. They’re all leaving in the morning.’

‘Oh.’

‘I don’t want to go back,’ Chris said. ‘I asked Dad if we could come and live here. There’s no high school though. You have to catch the ferry over every day. How good would that be? I could surf every day.’

‘I’d live here. It’s my favourite place in the entire world,’ Evie said, as they made their way up the beach. Their favourite gutter was just ahead, and she looked closely at the swirling water as it plunged into a deep part and then surged back out again.

‘You wouldn’t swim in there,’ Chris said. ‘See the rip? It’d take you out as quickly as anything.’

‘I wish I could swim better. I hate cold water anyway.’

He laughed. ‘C’mon. I’m ahead in the fishing competition. Let’s see what happens today.’

That day the blue sky stretched wide, the air clean and crisp after the recent rain. Even the trees sparkled, heavy dew still dripping from the leaves that pointed down to the ground. The sand was white and clean, and the water crystal clear in front of them. It was the ideal fishing day, and it did not take long to fill the bucket. Four each. They were even.

When the fishing was done, they sat further up on the sand, the mid-morning heat radiating from it, making it hot to walk on. Now and then a gust of wind picked up some loose sand and threw it against their legs. ‘Time to go up,’ Chris said. ‘I said I’d help Dad and the girls clean up. We’ll be ready to leave tomorrow then.’

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