Fleeced (6 page)

‘Where does he live now?' asked Amy.

‘On a farm.'

Amy thought about those numbers. ‘When did your son walk the Track?'

‘A few weeks ago.' Then Gertrude's face looked sad. ‘He'll be cross that I nearly lost my watch in the river. He likes unusual watches. He gave me that.'

‘But you've still got it.' said Amy comfortingly. Sometimes Gertrude didn't seem veryclever. Was there some reason that her son thought she might remember those numbers? Could he have been the one to leave the half photo? But there must have been several trekkers using that backpack in-between. Amy noticed that Gertrude put her uneaten sandwich into her pack. Perhaps she just wasn't hungry? Or was there another reason?

‘Don't you like crunchy peanut butter sandwiches?' Amy asked.

Gertrude shrugged. ‘Not today. I'm saving it for later.'

Zoe was hurrying the stragglers to start. Dr Al was already at the top of the roughly built steps made from sleepers. They were moving into a dank and green forested area now.

‘Keep your eyes open for tiny native orchids,' said Zoe.

‘Could you pretend to sling your pack on again, please, Dr Al?' Dad was sheltering his lens from the rain.

The drizzle had turned into a regular shower.

‘Now?' Dr Al was very obliging.

It wasn't like Dad to mess up shots. But the constant rain was making filming difficult as Dr Al climbed the sleeper steps, again. The camera also picked up Gertrude's numbered pack as she walked down the track. 801.

Amy decided to check on how often packs were recycled.

Chapter 7

‘Lights out! Sing,' directed Dad.

‘Happy birthday dear Dr Al, Happy 70th to you.'

Christopher helped Zoe carry the cake. The 7 and the O candles were stuck on top. Trekkers sang loudly, in their own languages. Birthdays were international.

After blowing out the candles, Dr Al seemed overwhelmed. ‘Where did you get the special candles?'

‘Christopher's backpack.' said Amy. ‘ Zipped side pocket.'

‘Carried instead of that computer game,' said Mum quickly.

‘Thank you Amy and everybody else. Have a slice of my cake.'

‘Dr Al's 70th birthday is tomorrow. That's why we're making the documentary,'

Dad told Hiroshi as they ate the cake. ‘The Milford Track is where he started training for his explorations.'

‘Pompolona is an unusual name for a hut,' said Hiroshi in very correct English, checking the map.

‘Like the wart thing I got on my foot?' asked Amy. Last term she'd gone to the doctor about her sore foot.

‘That was a pap- something.'

‘Papaloma? No. ‘ Zoe shook her head. ‘ This is named after a pan scone. We'll have some for supper. The explorer Mackinnon used to melt mutton fat candles into a pan when he was cooking pancakes. A special flavour. The original spelling of the dish and the hut was Pampalona. But someone got it wrong.'

That made Amy think about the backpack numbers and the sign. Had someone got something wrong there? Had things been left by accident? Or planned?

Gertrude gave Dr Al a golf ball for his birthday. Then Christopher gave a hand-drawn card. It showed Dr Al flying over the International Date Line, wearing boots and a walking stick. ‘ Happy Birthday International Explorer' was written in Christopher's best calligraphy.

Puzzled, Big Jon looked at the birthday card. ‘What is it? Dog poo?'

‘No. It's a line of dates. This is how I see an international date line,' said Christopher quickly. ‘Would you like me to draw a rugby match?'

‘What d'you mean?'

Christopher knew that people thought in different ways. He thought in pictures.

Amy thought in words. Dad said he thought in camera shots. But Christopher wasn't sure how Big Jon thought, so he drew a match stick and then he drew a rugby scarf wrapped around it. ‘A rugby match? What's your team's colours?'

‘The All Blacks?' said Big Jon, amazed that anyone should ask. The New Zealand ‘All Blacks' were so famous. ‘They play the game , not the match of rugby.'

Christopher used black texta to make the scarf black. When he showed the picture to Big Jon, he stared so long, Christopher began to feel uncomfortable.

‘ER, it's great Christopher. Is it meant to be a goal post? In rugby, the post is shaped like an H. Here, let me draw it for you.' Big Jon seized the pen.

Amy looked at Big Jon's giant watch. ‘When you fly over the International Date Line, you have to alter your watch. As you fly from east to west you go back in time by a day . As you fly from west to east you go forward in time. We've flown over it a few times. It's an imaginary line down the world.'

‘Dr Al , if you had a birthday when you were flying over the International Date Line, would you have one birthday, two or none?' asked Christopher.

‘That's a thought. Depends which direction I'm flying,' said Dr Al. ‘Love the card. Thanks Christopher.'

Amy had been thinking.' Maybe it's like Leap Year. If you're born on 29th February, you only have an official birthday once every four years. Then you'd only be seventeen and a half Dr Al!'

‘You don't look seventy, Dr Al,' said Stan, admiring his walking stick.

Dr Al whipped his passport out of his bum bag. ‘Proof.' He proudly showed them the date of birth and the photo. Christopher was reminded of Stan's passport photo.

‘Is your date of birth on your passport?' Christopher asked Stan.

‘Isn't everybody's?' replied Stan.

Dr Al was a legend. Seventy was old, old. Age was a funny thing, thought Amy. When you were ten you wanted to be eleven. But you were the same inside.

Quickly Christopher tried to think of a reason to get Stan to show his passport again.

‘Does your passport show your height?'

‘Yes, but not my weight.'

‘Is yours an Australian passport?' asked Christopher.

‘Why shouldn't it be?' Stan wiped his walking stick carefully.' I was born there.'

The heli-pad was outside the kitchen window of the lodge. Injured trekkers were flown out from there. On sunny days ,the staff ate their lunch on the heli-pad which was just a flat square.

Dr Al and Gertrude were talking about golf. ‘ Ever played golf in the Antarctic?'

Amused, Gertrude shook her head. ‘Played everywhere else.'

Christopher interrupted,' If you lose a ball down a fish or seal hole, it costs two strokes. Or if you hit out of bounds.'

‘How do you know that? Have you been there?' asked Gertrude.

No ,we went to the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch. It was in the display there.' said Christopher.

‘That's where Mum bought you those penguin underpants,' added Amy.

Christopher blushed. Luckily he'd already managed to lose them.

Dr Al smiled. ‘The Antarctic is a cold desert. I've worked there a few times. But it needs protection too. It shouldn't become a rubbish dump.'

Later, the twins' parents explained that Dr Al's fee from the film was going into an Antarctic Conservation Fund.

‘Do you have any Antarctic stickers?' Amy asked eagerly. She already had some kiwi stickers.

‘Not with me. Some in my backpack,' offered Dr Al. ‘Give you them later.'

‘Want to play a game after dinner?' Amy really missed television. The lodges had only old-fashioned games and books about local birds and trees. Such a time-warp!

‘Will we play Scrabble in English? ‘ asked Mum politely. Two of the Japanese mountaineers bowed.

The German couple shook their heads.

‘Why don't we play in our own languages?' suggested Amy.

‘Not possible with these letters.' said Mum. ‘Let's pair up and play in English.'

Each pair had a person whose second language was English. That made the game just possible. Hiroshi was really good. When he and Amy had seven letters, they made up a word.

‘Seven letters! we've got them all out. F.L.E.E.C.E.D, That's worth an extra fifty.' said Amy excitedly.

Hiroshi bowed. ‘Last time I walked the Track, I wear feet fleece. Very warm.'

‘What's ‘fleeced' mean? Is that a real word?' Kyoto was paired with Mum.

‘Fleeced' also means ripped off,' explained Mum.

‘What is ‘ripped off?' Kyoto scribbled in her notebook. She collected English words. Her climbing gear was the latest fashion. In the evenings she wore soft slippers and a ‘I Walked Milford Track' long shirt which she wore to bed. Most walkers carried only two sets of clothes. The wet ones were in the drying room.

‘If you rip someone off, you take advantage of them.'

‘Thank you.'

Christopher liked Picturegram better. The game was played in pairs. You had to draw pictures as clues for your partner. One would draw and the other would guess the word. He was always trying to find partners. But no-one seemed keen on being his partner. Not everybody thought in Christopher's kind of pictures.

Christopher asked Stan.' If you had a choice of a hamburger or chicken, which would you eat?'

Stan looked puzzled. ‘Why?'

‘Just a game Amy and I made up.'

‘We did?' Amy nearly messed up his investigation.

‘Er, chicken I guess,' said Stan.

‘But I thought you were a vegetarian?' Christopher said quickly. ‘You have special sandwiches.'

Stan was startled. ‘Sometimes.'

‘Why only sometimes?'

‘None of your business young lady.' Stan got up. ‘I'll let you two pack up the game. I'm going to check the drying room. My socks were still damp before.'

Why was he pretending to be a bird watcher? Was that just an excuse to carry the binoculars? Was he just pretending to be vegetarian? But why?

The bathrooms in this hut were uni-sex. The shower was running. Gertrude was inside. He could tell from the golfing towel flung over the shower door. Along the shower stall ledge , like a black caterpillar, he noticed her inside out watch band.

So she did take it off to have a shower!

Only someone whose watch wasn't waterproof would do that! It might just be a habit. Perhaps Gertrude always took off everything? Once when they were camping, Amy how showered in her clothes to save time, water and soap.

But this was different.

Was that proof, the watch was no longer waterproof? Had the back been taken off for some reason? Had something else been put inside? It couldn't be kea smuggling!

But what about nuggets?

‘We were just star gazing,' said Stan. ‘And watching the keas.'

The twins weren't sure about that. Above them, pin points of stars stuck out in the blackness. Maybe star gazing was just an excuse? What else had Stan been doing? Night-bird photos? He had a flash attached to his camera. And there was a rustle as someone walked away, down the track.

Who was the ‘we' he mentioned? Was the mysterious Ms Tree involved?