Page 23 of Walk on the Wilder Side

“This is so neat!” Doris said from the passenger seat beside me. “Look at all the wild animals!”

“Now, is that a wallaby or a kangaroo?” Sylvie asked.

I looked across the open grassland to a herd of marsupials and answered, “Wallabies. Remember, Bryce said they were the smaller ones.”

“They are so cute!” Doris squealed like she’d done over every animal we’d seen for the past hour while we’d explored the sanctuary. Koalas, dingoes, sugar gliders, and many other animals inhabited the several hundred-acre spread Bryce had recommended. It had been a great suggestion, and after spending the past two days soaking up the sun by the ocean and touring the little Australian towns surrounding our resort, it was nice to get out and see a little bit of the Australian outback.

“This looks like a good place for our picnic lunch.”

I looked at the lone sprawling tree Sylvie pointed toward. “Yeah. That does look nice. Hold on. I’ll pull to the side and park.”

“Are we sure it’s safe to get out?” Doris asked after we rolled to a stop. “I like looking at the wild animals from the safety of the Jeep. I don’t know how I feel about getting out.”

“They said it’s perfectly safe.” Sylvie grabbed the little cooler full of sandwiches and snacks the wonderful staff at our resort had packed for us. “The dingoes and dangerous animals aren’t loose out here. It’s just kangaroos and other vegetarians. The only thing getting gobbled up out here are these sandwiches. And I’m starving.”

“I could eat, too,” Alice answered. “But I’m not eating facing Marge. If I see one more thing get stuck in that hole in her face, I will pack up and fly home.”

I instinctively ran my tongue over the empty space in my mouth. Since I’d lost the original tooth somewhere in the ocean, we found out it would be weeks or months before my mouth would be ready for an implant. So, instead of finishing our trip with a cool diamond tooth to flash around, I was stuck looking like the Grand Canyon had been rebuilt inside my mouth. They’d offered to make a fake “flipper” tooth to hide the hole a little, but it would take longer than we had in Australia to complete. We’d be long gone on our next adventure by the time it was ready. Not to mention, after I realized how much it freaked Alice out, I decided maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to live with what I had until I could get a real replacement.

Still loving the horrified look on her face every time she saw it, I spun in my seat and grinned at Alice.

“Ugh.” She shielded her eyes. “I’m never going to get used to that. Can’t we get her a mask or something? Like that thing they put on Hannibal Lecter’s face? I think that would help.”

“We’re all going to have to get used to it.” Doris pinched her mouth in that sympathetic way she did every time someone brought up my missing tooth. “It’s not Marge’s fault they can’t fix it yet, so let’s not make her feel bad about it.”

I grinned wider. “I don’t feel bad about it. In fact, the longer I have it, the cooler I think it is. I look tough. No one is gonna want to mess with us now.” I flexed my arms and growled, showing off my missing tooth.

Alice lifted her hand in front of her face, blocking her view of mine. “Marge! Close your lips and put that thing away!”

Sylvie laughed when I snapped my teeth together like chompers. “Okay, okay. Enough. Stop torturing Alice. Let’s go have lunch.”

“We’re sure it’s safe?” Doris asked.

“Safer than being in a car with Marge. Let’s go,” Alice said.

Doris scrunched up her face, but after a quick check to ensure we weren’t surrounded by dingoes, she opened the door and hopped out. Alice and Sylvie jumped out from the back seat, and the four of us marched across the small opening to the beautiful tree that would be our dining room.

After spreading out the soft blanket, we all pulled up a spot and settled down for our meal.

“This is really cool.” Sylvie handed out sandwiches and snacks.

“It is beautiful here, I’ll admit,” Alice agreed. She pulled out a bottle of wine and the four plastic glasses from the bag.

“Is there vodka in that, or is it actually wine?” I grabbed an empty cup.

“I drink more than vodka.” She rolled her eyes, then stopped and shrugged. “Well, sometimes.”

Doris shook her head and took a cup as well. “A glass of wine and lunch in the outback. What a wonderful way to spend a day!”

“Our last day,” Alice added as she popped the cork.

We all spun to look at her.

She paused, noting our shocked expressions. “Well, tomorrow is jump day, where we all splat to our deaths. May as well enjoy this last one here.”

Sylvie chuckled and swatted her on the shoulder. “Stop. We all agreed no more raining on Marge’s wish. We pull up our big girl panties and leap together.”

“To our deaths,” Alice mumbled under her breath. “We leap to our deaths.”

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