This was terrible. Horrible. I was half dog, half boy. It wasn’t what I wanted.
I closed my eyes again.
Then I saw something else.
Maggot. Walking across the grass.
‘Mate,’ he said. ‘I know that’s you. That’s a great mask. You’ve even scared Fearless. We have to talk. Your mum told me that you think you can turn into a bear. That’s …’
He never finished the sentence.
I opened my jaws to speak.
‘Woof, woof, woof,’ I said.
Maggot grinned and gave my nose a little pinch.
I started to dribble onto him. Maggot looked at his wet hand. Then he stared at my long, flopping tongue. And the place where my ears should have been.
‘Aargh,’ he screamed. ‘What’s happened to you, mate?’
I started to relax a bit. He was a friend. He would understand. He would help.
‘Relax,’ I thought. ‘Relax, relax, relax.’
Maggot just stared.
‘Relax, relax, relax.’
Slowly I started to change. My rubbery nose disappeared from sight.
And I was normal again. This is when I realised how it all worked. I could turn the chameleon effect on and off by relaxing. I was starting to get control over the whole thing.
Maggot rubbed his eyes.
‘Did I just see what I think I saw?’ he said.
I nodded.
‘You were half dog?’
I nodded again.
Maggot sat down next to me and I told him the whole story. Everything. How I changed into a copy of something when I was scared. How I was once a spider. How I was trying to do it on purpose by relaxing. And how I was trying to find my dad. All that.
Maggot was hanging on to my hand. Squeezing it. Really tight. He banged his head with his spare hand as if he was trying to knock the whole crazy idea out of it. He was finding it hard to speak.
‘You have to get help, mate,’ he shrieked.
I looked at him.
‘What sort of help?’ I said.
‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘Hospital maybe. Or a clinic.’
I just stared at him. I would never find my father if they put me in hospital.
‘I’m a freak,’ I said. ‘I know that. There’s no one else in the world like me.’
Maggot put his hand on my shoulder. He tried to calm himself. ‘You are right,’ he said. ‘There is no one else like you. But you are not a freak. Every person is different. But there’s always someone else somewhere who has got the same problem as you. Everything that has happened to you has happened to someone else.’
Maggot’s words made me feel better. Someone else with my problem? That was good. But not what he said next.
‘We need to get you into hospital. Let’s go.’
‘No,’ I said.
‘Yes,’ said Maggot. ‘It will be okay.’
He patted my head with a shaking hand.
‘I don’t want anyone to know,’ I said. ‘Not yet.’
‘Come on, mate,’ said Maggot. ‘Now.’
I jumped to my feet.
‘No,’ I yelled. ‘Not now. I have to find my father first. I’m not going to a clinic.’
I started to run across the grass. I could hear him yelling something, but I didn’t take any notice.
In no time at all I was on the street.
I looked behind.
Maggot was after me. He turned and sprinted towards his motorbike.
I had to escape so that I could make myself into a man and search the country for my dad. I raced along the street looking for a place where Maggot wouldn’t find me. Right then I saw it. Just the shot.
The town museum.
I ran inside.
I looked around the museum for a spot to hide. I couldn’t see anywhere good enough.
There was a lot of stuff. A dinosaur skeleton. A human skeleton. Pictures on the wall. Old pots. Statues. Stuffed animals. Dead butterflies and insects. An old-fashioned plane hanging from the ceiling. A mummy inside an open coffin.
I looked around in panic.
‘Blend in, blend in,’ I said to myself.
Nothing happened. I stayed a boy. I heard the sound of hurried footsteps outside. Maggot was going to find me. And take me to see the doctor. And they would take me away from Mum. And I would never find my dad.
‘Change, change, change,’ I said.
Still nothing happened.
Then I remembered. Relax. Think of something nice.
I stared at a picture on the wall. Just a peaceful woman with a little smile. That was relaxing. I let my mind wander.
I thought of my dad. He was driving his Ferrari to the air force base. He was getting into his phantom jet plane.
It was a lovely thought. ‘Relax,’ I said. ‘Relax.’
I continued to look at the painting of the peaceful woman. ‘Blend in,’ I said. ‘Blend in. Change, change, change.’
Yes.
Something had happened. It worked. I had changed but at first I didn’t know what I had turned into. I could move my eyes and nothing else.
People were moving along looking at things hanging on the wall. Two old ladies were staring at me.
‘They’re both the same,’ said the tall one.
‘They’re both copies,’ said the short one.
The two old ladies peered at me.
‘Yes, very bad copies,’ said the taller one. ‘I’ve seen the real Mona Lisa in Paris. It’s much smaller than these.’
They stood there staring. Then the short one walked around a bit. She kept looking at me as she went.
‘Its eyes seem to follow you around the room,’ she said.
The other one nodded.
‘That’s the sign of a good portrait,’ she said. ‘But they are still just copies.’
That’s when I realised what had happened. I had copied the painting. I was a copy of a copy. I was a painting of the Mona Lisa.
I stared down from the wall as the two old ladies moved away.
Maggot burst through the door with a crash.
‘Shh,’ said the old ladies.
‘Sorry,’ said Maggot. ‘But I’ve lost a kid.’
The old ladies nodded. ‘We’ll help you,’ said the short one.
‘Thanks,’ said Maggot.
‘What does he look like?’ the other one asked.
‘To tell the truth,’ said Maggot, ‘I don’t really know. Could be anything.’
The tall one nodded. ‘You never know what they will look like these days,’ she said. ‘My grandson has green hair and a ring in his nose.’
Maggot didn’t seem to hear. He stood staring at the two statues. They held spears and shields. Two Greek Gods that looked alike. He went over to one of them.
‘Is that you, mate?’ he said.
‘That’s a sculpture, dear,’ said the old lady next to him.
‘Look at the eyes,’ said Maggot. ‘You can tell by the eyes.’
‘I didn’t know it worked for sculptures,’ she said.
Maggot took off his leather jacket and hung it over one of the naked statues so that it covered the rude bits.
‘Come on, mate,’ he said to the statue. ‘Calm down. Come back home and talk it over with your mother.’
The statue didn’t answer. Maggot waved his hand in front of its eyes. It didn’t move.
‘It’s not him,’ he said.
Maggot took his jacket back and moved on. The two old ladies followed him.
He stopped in front of two stuffed Tasmanian devils. They had snarling mouths and sharp teeth. Maggot patted one of them on the head.
‘Is that you, kiddo?’ he said.
There was no answer.
He stared into its glass eyes. ‘Don’t look like that, mate,’ Maggot said to the Tasmanian devil.
‘Its eyes don’t follow you around the room,’ said the tall lady.
Maggot moved on to two lumps of brown stuff. He picked one of them up. Surely he didn’
t think that it was me.
‘What is it?’ said the short lady.
The other one read the label.
‘Woolly mammoth poo,’ she said.
Maggot hastily dropped the poo and moved into the next room, followed by the ladies.
‘He might be in here,’ he said.
But I wasn’t in there. As soon as he was gone I started to relax. I willed myself to change back. And it began to work.
In no time at all I was myself again. I slipped off the wall and ran out into the sunshine.
As I jogged along my mind was in a whirl.
All I could think about now was my father. I had to find him. He would help me. But then a nasty thought entered my mind. Even if I did find him, he might not come home. He had vowed not to return until he had beaten his fear of spiders.
Behind me I could hear Maggot yelling. He had seen me.
‘Stop,’ he yelled. ‘Stop, stop, stop.’
People in the street stopped and stared. They wondered what all the fuss was about. Maybe they thought I was a thief. All eyes were on me.
I started to pant. I went cold. Then hot. It was like I was drowning. I couldn’t get enough air. But I fought it. I stayed calm. Even though I was running and people were looking, I didn’t change. I was definitely getting control of this thing.
Maggot continued to shout. ‘Mate. Stop. We need to talk.’
I had to escape. I had to hide.
I looked to the left. I looked to the right. I looked up.
Yes, yes, yes. The very thing.
A tall gum tree with twisted branches.
I began to climb. Up, up, up.
I could hear Maggot’s footsteps pounding on the footpath. Nearer and nearer.
I kept climbing. And climbing. Soon I was in the highest branches. If I fell, I would be history. Just a mangled mess on the ground.
Far below, the sound of footsteps died.
Maggot’s voice floated up to me.
‘Where are you, mate?’
He walked over to the letterbox that I had once copied. Not that Maggot knew about that.
Maggot spoke to it. ‘Is that you?’ he said. There was no answer, of course. He turned and searched the park with his eyes.
He looked up, and saw me.
‘Don’t move,’ he yelled. ‘I’m coming to get you.’
I clung to my branch as I stared down. Maggot began to climb.
‘Don’t look down,’ he said. ‘Just stay calm.’
‘I’m okay,’ I said. But I wasn’t. It was a long way down. My head began to swim. ‘Stay calm,’ I said to myself. ‘Stay calm.’
Maggot reached my branch. He stretched out a hand.
There was something about that hand being stretched out to me. A helping hand. You can’t refuse a helping hand.
I reached out and put my hand in Maggot’s.
And slipped.
And fell.
But Maggot had me. He hung on tight as I swung beneath him, high above the ground. He was sitting on a branch, holding on to me with one hand and a branch above his head with the other.
I dangled helplessly. I couldn’t even get a word out. I wondered how long Maggot could last without letting me go. I could hear him panting and see sweat running down his face. My fingers were beginning to slip out of his grasp. I started to pant. I went cold. Then hot. It was like I was drowning. I couldn’t get enough air.
Fight it, fight it, fight it. Relax and then use it. Maybe I could copy something. A possum or a koala. But there was nothing to copy except trees and branches.
That’s when I saw it.
The spider. The huntsman spider. The one that fell from the ceiling of the old railway station. I had been carrying it around all this time in my backpack without knowing it. The spider scampered along my arm.
I went cold all over. Don’t change. Don’t change. Maggot would fall for sure.
The spider ran onto Maggot’s hand. He saw it. His face went white but he hung on to me desperately.
The spider began to crawl along his arm. It was moving really quickly. Up, up, up. Towards his face.
‘Don’t change, don’t change,’ I gasped.
I could see Maggot’s eyes rolling. My eyes were rolling. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing Maggot could do to stop the spider’s terrible journey. A shiver ran down my spine.
If Maggot let go with the hand holding me I would fall to my death. And if he let go with the other one we would both fall.
The spider ran onto Maggot’s chest.
A strange look came into his eyes. They grew calm. I knew that he was fighting fear.
The spider was on Maggot’s shoulders. Any second it would be on his face. It was moving like lightning. Maggot gave a squeal. Then he did the bravest thing I had ever seen.
He shot out a long, long tongue and grabbed the spider with it. He whipped his tongue back into his mouth like a frog eating an insect. Then he clamped his teeth together.
The spider was in his mouth. It was trapped.
I couldn’t believe it. What a man. He had the spider in his mouth. I could see from his rolling eyes that the spider was probably walking around inside his cheeks.
Maggot suddenly spat the spider out into midair. It disappeared down below.
‘Hang on,’ said Maggot. He started to pull me up. His face was red. Sweat poured off him. I could hear him groaning. Slowly, slowly, slowly he pulled me up onto the branch next to him.
I was safe. And so was he. I could breathe again.
It took quite a while, but finally we climbed down to the ground with Maggot hanging on to me the whole way.
When we reached the ground Maggot spotted the wet, struggling spider on the footpath. For a moment I thought he was going to step on it.
But he didn’t. It crawled off under a bush.
He gave me a great big smile. We just stood there on the footpath grinning at each other for ages and ages.
I didn’t really know what to say. He had saved my life.
I nodded at the spider.
‘My dad would never have been able to do that,’ I said.
Maggot grinned. Then he said the most amazing thing. The magic words. The best words I had ever heard.
‘Mate,’ he said. ‘I am your dad.’
I just stood there like I was made of rock. Thoughts ran around inside my head so quickly that I could hardly catch them. Maggot was my father. He had just faced his biggest fear. He had caught a spider with his tongue. To save me.
I ran to Dad and hugged him. My best mate was my father.
‘You’re a hero,’ I said to Maggot. ‘No one else in the history of the world has ever caught a spider in their mouth.’
Maggot smiled and looked a bit shy. ‘I won’t say it was easy,’ he said.
‘I’m telling Mum,’ I said. ‘I’m telling her how you saved me from the spider. You saved my life.’
His smile grew even bigger. I could see that he wanted her to know how brave he was.
Our eyes met. We were both thinking the same thing. He was coming home.
For good.
‘Give Mum a ring,’ I said. ‘Tell her what happened. Go on, go on. You can do it … Dad.’
He took out his phone and tapped at the numbers.
‘It’s David,’ I heard him say. He walked down the path. He didn’t want me to hear. I didn’t care. I was so happy. After a bit he came back.
‘I’m going to get your mum,’ he said. ‘You wait here. I’ll be back soon.’ He jumped on his bike and was gone.
I stared around the park. Everything was lovely. Flowers gently dancing in the breeze. Birds chirping a last goodnight. Long shadows reaching the end of their daily journey.
Life was good. Maggot was my father. That meant that The Chief and Jaws and Metal Mouth were my uncles. And Granny was my great-grandmother. I had a lot of friends now. I didn’t really need a friend my own age.
That last thought sort of clung inside my head.
&nb
sp; It made me think. About the two statues I had seen. And the two bushes. And the two dogs. And the two possums. Almost exact copies of each other. What was going on?
I looked around for more pairs. But there were none. I couldn’t work it out. But then the answer came into my head. I knew where to go.
I jogged back to the edge of the park. And stared up at the two stone boys.
Yes, two again. And one of them was a copy. It blinked. His eyes followed me around.
This boy knew more than me. He must have had more practice. He had copied the bush and the dog and the possum. He could copy anything. And do it quickly. He was really good at it.
‘It’s okay,’ I said to him. ‘Watch this.’
I walked over to the letterbox. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Slowly, slowly I could feel myself changing. Then there were two letterboxes. And one of them was me.
Nothing happened. The two stone boys stood together without moving. I needed to demonstrate all I could do.
‘Relax,’ I said to myself. ‘Relax.’
In a flash I was myself again. I was getting better and better at changing.
I looked at the stone boy. Nothing happened.
I needed something else to copy.
Yes. A seat.
I changed into a seat, but still nothing happened. The two stone boys didn’t move. I didn’t move either. I stayed a seat to see what he would do.
His lips trembled. His stone clothes came to life with colour. He was alive. He was a person. Just like me.
I relaxed a little and in a flash I was myself again. I didn’t even have to try. It was like throwing a switch.
Our eyes met. He smiled. I smiled back. He had turned himself back into a real boy. He stepped down onto the path.
‘You think copying a letterbox is good,’ he said. ‘Just watch this.’
In no time at all he changed and I found myself looking at …
Myself. The cheeky boy had copied me. It was like looking into a mirror. It felt really weird.
I laughed and laughed.
At that moment I heard the sound of engines. It was Granny and the whole bikie gang. Sandy sat behind The Chief with his tongue hanging out.
The gang parked their bikes and formed a great circle with us in the middle.
The Unforgettable What's His Name Page 7