Pyro Watson and the Hidden Treasure (8 page)

They were just different. That was all. Just different. It'd get done eventually and Geezer and Pyro would have as much fun as Min and Pyro.

Probably.

It was hard to feel good about knowing his best friend wasn't going to be the most fun in the hide-out. He tried. He made a log of all the things that they'd done together. Watching
Pirate Movie
so many times they could say all the funny bits together. Acting the
movie and leaping around in the lounge room being Captain Hook and Peter Pan and dragging all of Boa's dolls and bears out to be the crew. Geezer didn't even laugh when Winnie came out and he was Pyro's own special bear who still lived on the bed in the daytime. He still lived in the bed at night when the wind whistled around the corner of the eaves and branches scratched their fingernails on the window. Geezer had a stuffed dog called Turby, whose tail had come off in a terrible accident when he was almost taken by a true dog.

It helped a bit, thinking of things that they'd done. And listing them.

It still didn't make Pyro feel any better about wanting Min to build the hide-out with him and not Geezer.

It was probably just that Min was here and ready to go and Geezer was away, away back at school.

That was probably it.

Geezer'd be organising their project and being the boss and everything and that made Pyro feel a bit better.

It was good to be boss of the project because you were all by yourself.

Almost.

Jenna was with him.

And he was probably letting Jenna do the crow's nest.

A small thought but it sent out angry little spikes that jabbed at him. He just bet, he just jolly-well bet, that Geezer would give Jenna that special job that he knew Pyro had really wanted to do.

That'd be right.

He'd forgotten all about that. Geezer liked the way Jenna was always happy to do as she was told. It was why they let her into their group. Actually, it was why nobody else would have her. If you didn't tell Jenna to do it and do it this way, she didn't do anything at all. And everyone knew, as Mzzz Cllump was always reminding them, that groups only worked happily if EVERYONE JOINED IN. Jenna's way of joining in, unless you got her going, was to roll around and chew the ends off pencils. Or poke her nose.

For sure Geezer would have told her to work on the crow's nest. And that meant he would have already drawn it and they both knew that Pyro was the best at drawing masts and crow's nests and rigging and stuff.

It'd be just like Geezer to do that!

Probably.

San Simeon didn't look up from his log. He was fixing up spelling mistakes and writing it in big letters so the crew would get it right.

But … and it was a biggy … someone, Simeon was sure, was spilling his guts to the enemy.

Someone was selling them out.

Someone was trying to be the new leader and would, surely, lead them into danger.

‘Hidey-hodey!'

Pyro nearly jumped out of his skin as Mr Stig swung around the corner of the camper and in under the awning. ‘Guess what?'

There should be a rule about people creeping up on other people when they aren't ready.

Auntie Mor didn't scare all that easily and she simply yawned and stretched herself before tying her dressing-gown around her and clumping down the steps. ‘I give up,' she said without even trying.

‘How about this!' Mr Stig waved his newspaper around. It was open to a page that had lots of coloured pictures. It was collapsing in the middle a bit so it was impossible to see exactly what they were supposed to be looking at. ‘I reckon we need to go and look at some proper ships and some proper maps and have a proper nosh-up at a proper restaurant that used to be a ferry!'

Pyro would have put his postcards away but Auntie Mor had already scooped them up and put them in her shopping bag.

‘And where is all this exciting stuff going to happen?' she asked. ‘I don't recall seeing any ships or ferries in the main street of town last time I looked.'

‘Sydney!' Mr Stig opened the newspaper and spread it across the table. ‘Down at Darling Harbour. The Maritime Museum is there and so is the ferry and so is the
Endeavour
. It's not an actual pirate ship but we can pretend. So, what d'you reckon? We can chuck everything into the camper and drive it to the station. It'll be all right down there and they'll keep our possie here, I already checked …' He looked at Mor who had opened her mouth to say
And what about our spot here?
‘… And then a train all the way up the mountains to the top and off to Sydney!'

Auntie Mor stretched again. She stretched so far that Pyro half expected her to sag in the middle like the old elastics that the girls used to play jumping games with at school. ‘It's a long way to Sydney,' she said.

‘Not too far.'

But far enough, Pyro was sure, to be too far away to be back here in time for after school and hide-out building.

Min would arrive and they wouldn't be here. He might even think they'd gone forever and not come back.

Pyro didn't even know his last name.

It was going to be perfect building that hide-out and it would have taken all the time up to when he was going home.

‘How about it?' Auntie Mor was saying. ‘It'll be a great chance to have a look at some of those old maps with dragons and things on them. I've never been to the Maritime Museum! What d'you say, Pyro?'

They were doing it for him. He could feel it and tried to look really happy. ‘Great. It'll be great!'

Auntie Mor looked at Mr Stig and they both then looked at Pyro. ‘So how come you look about as happy as the man who lost a sixpence and found a penny?'

Now Mr Stig looked back at Mor. ‘What?'

‘Forget it,' she said. ‘So, Pyro, what's making you so gloomy? Come on, spark out of it!'

Pyro took a deep breath. Sometimes when adults asked what was wrong, he'd found, they didn't really want to know. They just wanted you to get over it but this time, he felt, it just might be that they could do something. Like maybe go tomorrow.

‘Could we go tomorrow?' he asked.

Auntie looked at Stig. ‘Why tomorrow? Today's much better. We'll have the whole museum to ourselves on a Friday. All the kids are in school …' She scruffled her hand into his hair, ‘… except you!'

‘It was just that we found a cubbyhouse.' He nearly said ‘hide-out' but that would give the game away and he didn't want Auntie Mor and Mr Stig making pirate jokes all day and talking in piratey voices. ‘We were going to fix it up.'

Auntie Mor was gathering up her towel and wash bag. ‘Is that all! Lordy, lordy, you're your mother's child!' she said. ‘Never knew anyone like her for making mountains out of molehills. I'm sure you could do it tomorrow, couldn't you? You'll have all day instead of just after school time. Come on. Buck up!'

She took off over to the toilet block, turning once on the way to send him a big, long smile. ‘Cheer up!' she called. ‘It might never happen!'

Mr Stig pulled his towel around his shoulders. ‘She means the worry, not the cubbyhouse. But it will be all right. Your new friend Min will be here at sparrow crack in the morning to get onto it. Just you wait and see!'

Pyro wasn't too sure what a sparrow crack was. At home his mother always made a point of explaining exactly what she meant.

He wasn't too sure, either, that Min would be here then anyway.

New friends who were just happening came unstuck easily. It was like the glue hadn't had time to set properly.

As he walked over to the showers he kept thinking about him and Min.

The glue had hardly had time to even get out of the tube, let alone paste itself around them like they were friends.

It would have been nice though.