Shark Frenzy!

by J. E. Fison

  And the dead shark with no fins won't leave my mind.

  I imagine a whole school of bull sharks cutting through the water, stingrays patrolling the riverbed and a giant squid lurking in the depths.

  Lachlan is ahead of me. The water is almost up to his armpits.

  The Master of Disaster is going to have to explore the next sandbank on his own.

  ‘I'm going back,’ I call to Lachlan. ‘Ben might be getting scared.’

  It's a lie. I don't want to go with him. I'm the one getting scared. We're hunting a giant squid. We have no idea what could be hunting us …

  Sharks hunt at night. Everyone knows that. This is a dangerous time to be in the water.

  I watch the torchlight moving further into the darkness from the safety of Pelican Island. Then I start heading back to the boat. But where is the boat? I scan the island looking for its outline. The moon has disappeared behind a cloud. All I can see is blackness. The boat is nowhere to be seen … Then I spot it, or rather I spot Ben's sword. It's making purple patterns in the darkness and it's moving further away.

  Bouncing banana muffins! The boat is disappearing.

  ‘Help! Help me!’ I shout.

  No one hears. Lachlan has disappeared into the darkness and Ben is drifting off. The incoming tide has washed the boat off the sandbank. It's floating along in the current with my little brother on board.

  ‘Ben!’ I shout as I run across Pelican Island. ‘Come back!’

  I stand at the edge of the water and try to wish the boat back to Pelican Island. But the tide has hold of it. The boat is not coming back. Panic rises inside me, like a battalion of hairy caterpillars, marching through my chest. I close my eyes. A jumble of sharks, stingrays and giant squid swim through my mind. They try to stop me getting into the water. They fill me with fear. But I must save Ben.

  I fight them off. I dive into the river.

  I'm halfway to the boat when my worst nightmare comes true. Something brushes past my leg. Something is in the water beside me. I don't think it's a mermaid. Sharks often nudge their prey before they attack. Have I just been nudged? Am I about to be attacked?

  ‘Help!!!’ I'm in a seafood restaurant and I'm on the menu!

  ‘I'm too bony to be a kebab! I'm too tough for schoolboy sushi!’ I yell at my underwater attacker. Then I put my head down. I swim for my life.

  I imagine it's the final of the 100 metres freestyle. I'm in lane four, going for gold at the Olympics. It's USA in lane three, Germany in lane two, a big fat bull shark in lane five. Two jellyfish are floating behind in the outside lanes. The competition is deadly. But I'm going to win. I'll be the one standing at the top of the podium, singing ‘Advance Australia Fair’, when the medals are handed out. I know I can do it.

  ‘Jack, look what I can do with my sword,’ Ben says when I eventually clamber over the back of the boat.

  I'm on my hands and knees. I can hardly breathe. My whole body is shaking and my teeth won't stop chattering. The boat is spinning and Ben wants to show me his glow-in-the-dark sword. There are no medals, no prizes, no anthems. He doesn't even clap. Can't he see I'm a hero?

  ‘The boat is drifting,’ I splutter, unable to get to my feet. ‘Aren't you going to thank me for saving your life?’

  Ben looks at my wet clothes, then looks out towards Pelican Island. He taps me on each shoulder with his glow-in-the-dark sword. He thinks he's a king, turning me into a knight.

  ‘Arise, Sir Jack Drippypants,’ he says in his poshest voice.

  But it's a bit early for royal celebrations. The drama has just begun.

  Letting Lachlan drive a boat at night is pretty dumb. Putting me in charge is lunacy, as my father would say. But we have no choice. I fumble around in the darkness, find the key and turn it. The motor starts to rumble.

  ‘Make way for Captain Sir Jack Drippypants,’ Ben says, giving me a salute.

  I return his salute and push the throttle forward. The boat speeds off down Hazard River, headed for home. This is more like it. The wind in my face, the roar of the engine, no Mum and Dad to bug me, no Lachlan to bully me. Wait. No Lachlan to bully me – because I've left him on Pelican Island!

  About face! About face!

  ‘Look out for beacons,’ I say, turning the boat around. I try to remember what Lachlan said about beacons.

  Keep the green ones on the left and the red ones on the right. Or was it green ones on the right? Perhaps Lachlan said something about yellow beacons. I can't remember.

  ‘I can see a big white beacon,’ Ben says pointing into the sky.

  ‘No that's the moon,’ I say. ‘Don't you know anything?’

  I give up on beacons. I can just make out a lonely branch standing on the beach. Pelican Island is just ahead, but Lachlan is nowhere in sight. I wonder if he too has been washed away by the tide. Will I have to rescue Lachlan as well? I imagine appearing on the evening news. I'll tell the world how I saved my brother and then rescued my friend from drowning.

  Then I realise I'll be banned from PlayStation for life, if my parents discover we've been out on a late-night boating adventure.

  We hit the sand at Pelican Island. ‘This time we'll put the anchor in,’ I say.

  I untangle the chain and throw the heavy lump of metal towards the beach. It lands with a thud. By the time we have secured the boat, I can see Lachlan's torch. It's headed our way.

  ‘You should see the size of the stingray out there,’ Lachlan shouts when he eventually gets back to the boat. ‘It's enormous. Maybe not big enough to kill a shark, but almost.’

  He's sprinted over the shrinking strip of sand to tell us about his discovery.

  ‘It has eyes like cricket balls. A tail like a tree trunk.’

  I feel sick. I've just been in the water with that monster. It's a miracle I survived long enough to save Ben.

  ‘Jack had to rescue me. I was floating out to sea in the boat,’ Ben says.

  Lachlan looks shocked.

  ‘I was washed half way to China. A boat full of pirates was after me. They had swords and guns, smelly beards, crooked teeth. Sharks were circling around the boat,’ Ben blurts out without pausing for breath.

  Ben is the storyteller of our family. Ask him a simple question and you might still be hearing the answer two days later. Dad says he has a very good imagination. I would say he's a good liar.

  ‘The pirates were just about to jump on board. I was crying “Mama help me”. But it was Jack who saved me. He swam to the boat. Then we sped away so fast the pirates couldn't catch us.

  ‘I scared the sharks away with my sword,’ he adds with a dramatic swish of his plastic weapon.

  Lachlan looks at me to check if any of Ben's pirate story is true.

  ‘The boat did drift away. I did have to swim out to save him,’ I say.

  ‘How did the boat get back here?’ Lachlan asks. He's not sure what to believe.

  ‘I drove it.’

  Lachlan stumbles over the anchor rope. He shines the torch down to where the anchor is wedged into the sand.

  ‘Who put this …’ he begins. Then it occurs to him that he didn't put the anchor in. Maybe the boat has moved. Maybe I am telling the truth.

  ‘Let's get back before anyone notices we're gone,’ Lachlan says, taking charge once more.

  I shiver all the way home. I'm thinking about the sharks that probably followed me as I swam to the boat. Rows and rows of teeth were most likely snapping at my heels the whole way.

  ‘Did you really see sharks circling the boat?’ I ask Ben.

  ‘Yes. I scared them away with my sword,’ he says.

  I don't want to believe him. But I have to accept that I've broken my deal. Now it's only a matter of time before a team of sharks turns up for a game of cricket. I wonder if they'll be wearing whites.

  Hazard River looks friendlier the next morning. The dead shark with no fins has vanished. The tide that brought it in, has washed it away again. The sun is bright and our late-night adventure seem
s more like a dream. The only reminder is a pile of wet clothes sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe.

  ‘Why can't you hang up your wet clothes?’ Mum calls from the bedroom, as if reading my mind. ‘I spend my whole life picking up after you boys.’

  I hold my breath. If she starts asking questions, Ben is bound to crack. And if the truth comes out, we'll both be in deep doggy doo-doo.

  Mum hangs out the clothes and picks up a book. I breathe out. The crisis is over. I get back to my crab-catching lesson.

  Lachlan is showing Ben and me how to bait a crab pot. Lachlan has a new theory. He thinks that a giant crab, with huge bone-crushing claws, cut the fins off the dead shark. It would have to be a monster of a crab. And Lachlan plans to catch it.

  My brother is more interested in the bait than the lesson. He inspects a dead mullet. When he thinks no one's watching, he tucks it behind his back. No doubt it's headed for his collection of dead things.

  Ben the Stink Collector strikes again.

  ‘How about a game of cricket while we wait for the crab?’ Lachlan says throwing the crab pot off the end of our jetty. The trap is set.

  Cricket. A game of cricket. What about the sharks? I think. They're bound to show up.

  I've broken a deal.

  I can't face a pace delivery from a great white. And what if there are tiger sharks in slips? And a bull shark at silly mid-on? I couldn't stand the pressure.

  It's not going to happen.

  ‘I'd love to play cricket!’ comes a voice from a dinghy on the river.

  It's Mimi Fairweather, our resident yachtie. She and her parents don't live in a house. They live on a sailing boat. And Mimi doesn't walk to visit neighbours. She comes in her very own Zodiac inflatable dinghy. I am so envious.

  ‘I faced a few balls from Joel Garner when I was in Barbados. He's probably the most famous West Indian bowler ever,’ she says. Mimi ties up the Zodiac and clambers onto the jetty.

  Lachlan screws up his face. He wasn't planning to invite Mimi.

  ‘Does she have to come?’ he mumbles.

  Mimi has sailed around the world. She's seen orang-utans in Borneo and iguanas in South America. She's eaten fried grasshoppers with villagers in Indonesia. She's dined in a palace with the king of Thailand (her mother knows him well).

  She's been everywhere and knows everything. She's Professor Bigbrains.

  And Lachlan doesn't like that.

  ‘Jack, you find a ball,’ Lachlan says, grabbing his mango-stained bat from the grass. ‘We'll go to Ribbon Beach.’

  ‘I think I'll stay here,’ I say. ‘Just in case we get a crab.’

  ‘Come on, Jack,’ Lachlan says. ‘You can bowl first.’

  I hesitate for a moment, then get to my feet. What am I scared of? Just how good can a team of sharks be anyway? I bet they're totally rubbish.

  ‘I've never been to Ribbon Beach. Where's that?’ Mimi asks.

  ‘It's not far,’ Lachlan says, pleased to find some place Mimi doesn't know about. ‘It's just down the track, across Stingray Creek, over the sand dunes and you're there. I'll show you the way.’

  By the time I find a ball, the others have already set off. Lachlan leads the way down a dingo track through the bush. Mimi and Ben are dawdling behind, looking for kangaroos.

  ‘Let's try to lose Mimi,’ Lachlan whispers in my ear when I catch up.

  Mimi stops to pick some prickles out of Ben's T-shirt. Lachlan and I speed up. Just ahead of us is a pile of dead branches – home to a family of deadly black snakes, no doubt.

  ‘Quick,’ Lachlan says, pointing towards the branches. ‘Jump behind there.’

  Is he joking or is he really the Master of Disaster?

  Does he think Mrs Black Snake will welcome us into her log-pile home?

  Come and sit down. I'll get you a lemonade. So nice of you to drop in. These are my children: Slimy, Slippery and Slithery.

  I don't think so.

  Hold still while I inject you with deadly poison.

  More like it.

  ‘I don't want to die today,’ I say, ignoring Lachlan's hiding spot.

  We are almost at Stingray Creek, when Lachlan ducks behind a tree. I hide behind another. It looks safe enough.

  A brand new fishing boat is tucked into the mangroves, just ahead of me. I try to read the name on the side of the boat. It is partly blocked by leaves. I can make out the first three letters – KIL. I change position. Now I can see the last three letters – LER.

  KILLER.

  That's a name you don't forget in a hurry.

  Mimi and Ben pass by without noticing our hiding places. But it's not long before they are calling out my name. Guilt starts ganging up on me. Ben is my little brother. Sure he's annoying, but he doesn't really deserve to get lost in the bush. And Mimi doesn't deserve it, either. She might be a know-it-all, but that's because she does know it all. And Professor Mimi Bigbrains is really not too bad (for a girl).

  ‘Back here,’ I call from behind the tree. ‘We just had to make a pee stop.’

  Lachlan slowly emerges. I've ruined his plan. I know I'll have to pay for it. But I would rather deal with Lachlan's bad mood than return home without my brother.

  We wade through the shallow water of Stingray Creek. Large shapes flap out of the sand ahead of us. The creek certainly lives up to its name. There are stingrays everywhere. A poisonous barbed tail flicks off the creek bed, just centimetres away from my foot.

  ‘Yaaahhhh,’ I scream, jumping backwards. ‘I nearly stepped on one.’

  Lachlan laughs. I don't see the joke.

  ‘Standing on a stingray is like being stung by a thousand bees,’ Mimi says. ‘It's not funny.’

  Lachlan's still laughing when we get to the other side of the creek. I lunge at his legs, trying to knock him over. But he's too quick. He jumps out of the way and sprints off.

  ‘Come on,’ Lachlan calls. ‘Race you to the beach.’

  Ribbon Beach is just ahead. Our match can begin. But it's no ordinary game of cricket.

  Our cricket game is worthy of the Gabba. Mimi is pretty handy with the bat. I test her defence with some spin bowling that would make Shane Warne proud. Even Lachlan is fooled by my wrong-uns spinning off the hard sand. The only thing that lets us down is the outfielder. Ben is not much use at the best of times. He spends more time with his eyes on the sand, looking for signs of buried treasure, than he spends waiting for a catch.

  ‘Ben, it's coming your way!’ I shout. Lachlan smacks one straight over my little brother's head. He turns to see the ball fly past. He slowly trots after it. The ball disappears into the surf. Ben carries on running. Ahead he can see something far more interesting. There is a large dark shape on the edge of the water.

  ‘It's a sack of gold!’ Ben calls.

  I'd like to believe it is. But the smell of Ben's ‘gold’ confirms my worst fears.

  It's not a bag of gold. It's not even a bag at all …

  There lying on the sand is another dead shark. And just like the one we found last night, this one has no fins. The tide has left the carcass behind like a pile of unwanted rubbish.

  Ben inspects the dead fish. ‘More pirates,’ he concludes.

  ‘We found another dead shark last night at Hazard River,’ I explain to Mimi. ‘It also had its fins missing.’

  Mimi takes a look at the shark.

  ‘Don't think it's pirates,’ she says. ‘You don't find them around here. There are plenty around Asia though.’

  Lachlan rolls his eyes and then cartwheels up the beach as Mimi starts one of her ‘interesting facts from around the world’ lessons.

  Watch out. Professor Bigbrains is on the loose.

  ‘Pirates rob tankers in the South China Sea. And in the Philippines they board boats, steal the valuables and feed everyone to the sharks. It doesn't happen in Australia. But there's something strange going on here.’

  And I think I know what it is.

  I was the one who promised to stay out of the wate
r if sharks kept away from cricket pitches. I broke the deal. I swam out to the boat to save Ben last night. Now a shark is right in the middle of our game. Well, somewhere near the boundary anyway. It may be dead and it may be smelly, but I can't avoid the facts.

  This is all my fault.

  We back away from the terrible stink. The surf washes at my feet as I look out to sea. In the distance is an island. It's small. It's hardly interesting enough to deserve any attention at all. But Mimi is interested.

  ‘What's the name of that island?’ she asks.

  ‘Flat Rock,’ Lachlan replies.

  That is certainly an apt name for it. It looks more like a rock than an island and it's flat. A pretty lazy person must have named that one. Even I could think of a better name. ‘Wilde Island’ for instance has a good ring to it.

  ‘Whatever killed that shark is out there somewhere,’ Mimi says. ‘And strange things wash up on islands. Flat Rock might just have the answer to what is killing the sharks.’

  ‘I think the shark-killer is right here,’ I admit, looking at the sorry creature. ‘I killed it.’

  ‘Don't be so stupid, Jack,’ Lachlan says. ‘You couldn't kill a pet goldfish. You couldn't even kill a jellyfish. You certainly couldn't kill a shark.’

  ‘I could so kill a jellyfish,’ I reply. ‘I nearly stepped on one yesterday. It would have been dead in a second. I would have smashed it into a million pieces. And I'm pretty sure I killed that shark.’

  ‘Jack,’ Mimi says. She gives me a look that I'm sure she borrowed from my teacher Mrs Wordswobble. ‘You didn't kill the shark. But there's something big and mean out there that did.’

  ‘A giant crab,’ Lachlan says confidently. ‘I saw one on TV with legs as long as my arms and claws like gardening clippers.’

  ‘Secateurs,’ Mimi says, providing the correct name for gardening clippers.

  How would she know that? She doesn't even have a garden.

  ‘The water's too warm for giant crabs,’ Mimi says. ‘You won't find them here.’