by David Warner
Nippers! They all looked at each other.
‘Where did they come from?’ Kevin said in a quiet voice. ‘What are they doing here?’
Sunil tried to use his captain’s voice, but his heart was clearly not in it. ‘Must be the annual state carnival. They’ve had it here before – years ago.’
‘Why didn’t someone tell us?’ Davey asked. ‘You’d think there’d have been a sign or something. And there are heaps of Nippers at school. You’d think someone would have said something . . .’ He kicked the sand with his bare toe.
George turned to look back at the surf club. ‘Um, they did tell us. Look.’ He pointed.
They all turned then, and for the first time noticed an enormous sign slung across the front of the club. ‘Annual Nippers Carnival’ it said in big red and yellow letters, with the dates in even bigger letters. A blind octopus six metres under water and two hundred metres offshore would have seen it.
‘Why’d they just put it up today?’ Davey shook his head. ‘People need to plan better,’ he said firmly.
‘Yoo-hoo!’ A cheerful voice interrupted their blame-storming. Gambolling over the sandhills towards them was Bella Ferosi, dressed in the yellow rashie and cap of the Sandhill Flats Nippers.
She waved cheerfully. ‘Hi, guys!’ She pulled up beside them, panting. ‘Great day for a carnival!’
‘Well, I wish they’d put the sign up a bit earlier,’ Davey said. He frowned. ‘We’ve got a Test match on here.’
The others mumbled in agreement. Even Sunil seemed unable to form a whole sentence.
Bella laughed. ‘That sign’s been up for more than a month, Davey. You mustn’t have noticed it, that’s all.’ She gave her ponytail a firm flick. ‘Not that anyone could miss it. You just don’t pay attention.’ She tilted her head to one side and put on her school captain’s voice. ‘You might have to postpone your game. Do it next week. Or go somewhere else.’
Then she appeared to remember something. ‘Oh, but I must run. I need to gather the team. I’m captain, you know, so I’ve got a lot to do.’
She blew on the fingernails of one hand before polishing them on her rashie. ‘I’ll be giving out the team trophies at the end. Except the ones I win, obviously.’ She curtsied as if they’d just applauded her, then ran off in the direction of the car park.
The cricketers watched her go. They were all thinking the same thing. There was nowhere else to go – Flatter Park, where they usually played, had been a mud bath since the big pipe burst. And they couldn’t play any other week – this was the only week the stars had aligned, as Sunil said.
‘We’ll have to get out there and stake out our spot.’ Sunil sounded defiant. He pointed. ‘Look, there’s still a big patch down near the rocks. Let’s go! Fast as we can!’
Davey, Sunil, George and Kevin ran whooping down the sandhill and onto the beach. Nothing was going to stop the Test! Nothing!
CHAPTER 4
DOPPELGANGER DISCON-TENT
As it turned out, Sunil was right: near one end of the beach there was just enough space to play a Test match. So the cricketers quickly set up the wickets and George and Kevin drew a boundary line in the sand with a piece of driftwood.
There was a chance the incoming tide might later wash the eastern boundary away, but they decided it was worth the risk. They were also a bit too close to the Nippers for comfort, but they’d have to put up with it. After all, they were only playing with a tennis ball, which didn’t hurt too much if it hit you, as Sunil pointed out to Davey.
The two teams gathered. Josh’s so-called secret weapon, Mikey, still hadn’t arrived, but Sunil, as captain of the Sandhill Flats crew, agreed he’d be allowed to play when he did turn up. Meanwhile, Ivy and Tay were snapping photos left and right and laughing loudly at the result each time. They were taking the job very seriously, Davey noticed.
Josh won the toss and elected to bat.
As he took his place at third slip, Kevin seemed a little downcast – he’d been hoping the Sandhill Flats kids would bat first, so he could get started on the treasure hunt. Instead, he’d be fielding for the next hour or two.
In fact, everyone was keen to get started on the treasure hunt now they knew about it – Kevin had filled in Tay, who’d told Ivy, who’d explained it to Caspar . . . and so on. Davey wondered whether the whole beach was on to it by now, but Kevin had the map, so nothing could happen without him.
The opening batters took their place, Sunil set his field and, having opted to start the bowling, made his way to the bowler’s end.
Davey, at mid-off, watched his friend mark his run-up, then stop, turn and prepare to run in for his first delivery. At last, at last, the Test was about to start!
‘Wait!’ Bella Ferosi had appeared out of nowhere and was standing in the middle of the pitch. ‘Stop this game at once!’ she bellowed, both arms in the air.
‘What now?’ Sunil called. He put his hands over his ears as if he couldn’t bear to hear the answer.
‘Sandhill Flats Nippers have reserved this area for our tent.’ Bella waved her arms around as if she was claiming the entire beach.
‘When? How?’ Davey called out. The cricketers all shook their heads and kicked the sand.
‘At seven o’clock this morning with this!’ Bella said, stamping her foot and pointing to a small sign that had been planted in the sand just to the left of the pitch. On it someone had written ‘Sandhill Flats’ in neat letters with black texta.
Where did that come from? Davey wondered. He hadn’t seen the little sign, and no one else had either, he was sure.
‘I put it here!’ Bella flicked her ponytail so hard it almost flew out from under her cap and off her head.
Then, as if by magic, an army of Sandhill Flats Nippers, many of them kids from school, appeared. Quickly they went to work, erecting a tent right in the middle of the cricket pitch. A few parents arrived with bags of gear. They began setting up chairs and a table.
The cricketers gathered in a huddle behind Sunil and Josh. Then, together, they all went to find Bella, who had stalked off in high dudgeon.
They found her behind the tent, counting the Nippers’ trophies, which were carefully packed in a black sports bag.
After some discussion, it was agreed the Nippers would move a little to the right if the cricketers moved a little to the left. The tent came down and went up again, a bit further over, while Kevin and George scuffed out parts of the old boundary and redrew it.
Now the cricketers had a smaller area to play in. ‘We’ll have to change six-hits to fours, and fours to two, Jarrett,’ Sunil said. ‘Otherwise we’ll be hitting sixes all day.’
Josh agreed and the two teams went about setting up the wickets again.
At last everything appeared to be ready. Josh took his place at the batter’s wicket. Sunil measured his run-up again and was ready at his mark.
Davey was at mid-off but already planning his batting innings. He was going to use his switch hit today, he’d decided. If he got a good enough swing, he could pitch the ball right over the top of the Nippers’ tent. What a killer shot that would be!
‘Hey, look who’s here!’ Josh was waving his bat in the air. ‘You made it!’
Davey looked up. A boy in the Shimmer Bay blue boardshorts and grey T-shirt was jogging across the sand towards them.
The Shimmer Bay captain called everyone over. ‘Come and meet Mikey!’ he called. ‘He’s just moved in down the road.’
Davey and the rest of the Sandhill Flats kids wandered over. Mikey stood beside Josh, smiling.
Everyone said hello and gave their names.
‘We should have a bit of fun today, eh?’ Mikey said, winking, after Davey said his name. ‘I love winning at cricket – more than anything.’ He laughed, and the other Shimmer Bay kids laughed too.
‘Mikey will do just about anything to win,’ Josh said, giving his new player a slap on the back. ‘It’s one reason he’s our secret weapon.’ He grinned conspiratorially.
‘Well, great to meet you, Mikey,’ Davey said. But something felt funny, not quite right.
And as they made their way back to their places, Sunil grabbed him by the arm. ‘You’ve met your match,’ he said in Davey’s ear.
‘What do you mean?’ Davey whispered back.
‘Mikey,’ Sunil said under his breath. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘What about him?’ Davey mumbled so no one else could hear.
‘Didn’t you see? Sunil squeezed his arm so firmly it hurt. ‘He looks just like you,’ he hissed. ‘Exactly like you. He’s your match – your doppelganger.’
‘What’s a doppelganger?’ Davey asked.
‘Your double, Warner. He’s like your twin.’
‘Thank god Mudge isn’t here, then,’ Davey joked. ‘It’d kill him.’
But inside Davey wasn’t really laughing. It was unsettling to see yourself staring back at you in real life, even if Mikey was in Shimmer Bay gear.
Sunil laughed. ‘Yeah, Mudge would freak! Lucky he hates the beach, eh?’
CHAPTER 5
DOGGED BY DISASTER
Shimmer Bay was off to a good start. Josh took only a few balls to find his rhythm and soon was racking up singles and twos. Sunil was struggling with his bowling – because they were playing on sand, it was hard to make the ball bounce. Davey could see he was trying to bowl a full length for the ball to pitch at the batter’s feet, but it was taking a while to get the length right.
Sunil had set an attacking field, and Davey was now at second slip. Next to him was Kevin at third, but Davey could see Kevin’s mind was on other things. Every now and then he’d pull the treasure map from his pocket, examine it closely and look about him, as if he was trying to match the markings on the paper with their surroundings.
When Tay caught Caspar behind for 11, Kevin cheered loudly. ‘We’ve got to get them out as fast as we can, Warner,’ he said. ‘Then we can get started on the treasure hunt. I’ll go first and, once you’re done batting, you can take over.’
Davey nodded, but his heart wasn’t really in the treasure hunt. He was still not convinced there was any treasure, and when he’d looked at the map he couldn’t work out what any of it meant. He wasn’t even sure it was a map of Sandhill Flats beach. It could have been anywhere. Really, all he wanted to do was play cricket for two whole days without any more interruptions (apart from breaks for lunch, ice cream and a swim).
In any case, the way the Shimmer Bay kids were batting, Davey and Kevin would be fielding for some time. Number three in the line-up was a girl called Georgia with purple hair. After a quick photo session with Ivy, she got straight into it, and she was good. She seemed to always find the gap, and was soon scoring runs at a cracking pace.
When Sunil bowled a full toss, she hit it into the water for four, giving the Sandhill Flats outfielders an excuse to get wet. Then she hit it for four again, this time over the boundary to where a group of Nippers were preparing to run flag races. They’d stuck batons in the sand and several Nippers were lying on their tummies, ready to jump up and run to grab the batons.
‘Oh-oh,’ Davey said to Kevin. ‘Here’s trouble.’
Sure enough, Bella stopped the race before it had begun. She grabbed the ball and marched over.
Davey watched as she spoke to Sunil and Josh. She was waving her arms around, pointing and shaking her head.
Sunil and Josh seemed to be smiling in agreement, and finally Bella stomped off.
‘Try to keep clear of the Nippers, guys!’ Josh called to his team. Everyone nodded.
‘Okay, back to it!’ Sunil shouted. ‘Warner?’ Here, you bowl.’ He walked over and handed Davey the ball. ‘See if you can get Jarrett out,’ he said. ‘Once he’s gone, maybe the wickets will start to fall.’
He rubbed his hands together as if he was plotting the downfall of some alien race from outer space. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I wish Max was here. He’s our best fielder.’
‘Except he always runs off with the ball,’ Davey said. ‘But I do miss having a dog on the team.’ He laughed. ‘Anyway, who’s up next?’
‘The new kid, Mikey, I think.’ Sunil pointed in the direction of the waiting batters. ‘At least, that’s what Jarrett told me.’
Davey looked over to where the Shimmer Bay kids were waiting to bat. They were sprawled on the sand, eating ice cream and laughing. But he couldn’t make out Mikey. Maybe he’d gone to get more ice cream.
Davey licked his lips at the thought. But there’d be no ice cream for him until the opposition was all out. So he began to bowl.
A bit of spin on the irregular pitch had Josh and Georgia swinging and missing. Their run rate plummeted, and Sunil moved his fielders in for the kill.
There was a short pause in play so Ivy could take photos of the Shimmer Bay batting line-up. Then Davey got back to work.
Two balls later, Josh took a swipe at a wrong’un and was caught in slips for 24.
‘Yay!’ Sunil ran over and slapped his friend hard on the back! ‘Good one! Now do it again!’
‘Yeah, no worries,’ Davey said, grinning.
‘Next!’ Tay called from behind the wicket. Everyone turned to see who was up to bat. But no one came.
‘Where’s Mikey?’ Jarrett called out to his team as he walked off.
‘Went to get ice cream,’ Lydia Limone shouted. She pointed towards the surf club. ‘That was about half an hour ago, though.’
‘In that case, you’re in, Lydia,’ Josh said, handing her the bat. ‘Mikey can follow you.’
But as Lydia made her way across the sand, a shout went up. Everyone turned to look.
The Nippers had started their flag race. Davey could see Bella in the lead. But now the adults had joined in, except they seemed to be running around in circles . . .
Davey heard a bark. He froze. He’d know that sound anywhere. Max!
At that moment, the dog came into view. He was dashing across the sand towards them. He appeared to be smiling. Then Davey realised Max had something in his mouth. It was a baton. No, two batons. Or was it three?
In hot pursuit was an army of Nippers led by – no, it couldn’t be, it was impossible. But as the army approached, Davey had to admit that it was . . .
Mudge. Mr Mudge. And he didn’t look happy.
CHAPTER 6
ICE CREAM, MUDGE SCREAM
How and why Mr Mudge was on the beach Davey would never understand. But he was, and the teacher seemed extremely angry for someone who’d just been walking past and hadn’t actually been involved in the Nippers’ race. It was probably seeing Max that had tipped Mudge over the edge, Davey thought. Mudge and Max went way back, and none of it was good.
Mudge and a few other adults made it clear to Davey in no uncertain terms that he (or at least his parents) were breaking the law by allowing Max on the beach. When they mentioned his parents, Davey saw a vision of his mum’s face. She was screaming, her eyes red and popping, her skin green. With that image in mind, Davey heartily agreed to remove Max forthwith from the vicinity.
All the cricketers crowded around to give Davey moral support. Sunil tried to intervene on his friend’s behalf, nodding and smiling so his dimple showed. But it was to no avail. The adults remained very angry indeed.
‘Davey, you just don’t seem to understand how important this is.’ Bella sounded upset rather than angry. ‘Over in that tent is a bag full of trophies, and the winners today will get to take one home. Some of us will take home a bunch of them. It’s the biggest day of the year for us, isn’t it guys?’
Some of the Nippers nodded, though they seemed less certain than Bella.
‘Sorry,’ Davey said. ‘I’ll take him home now.’
Davey had been holding Max by the collar. Now he bent down and prised the batons from the dog’s mouth before picking him up.
‘Any more incidents like this, Warner, and I’m reporting you to the lifeguard,’ Mudge shouted. ‘You’ll see, that’ll b
e the end of it. He’ll send you home for good.’
‘Get back as soon as you can, Warner,’ Sunil said. ‘We need your spin.’
‘Yeah, make it quick, Warner!’ Kevin shouted, waving his treasure map. ‘We’ve got to start digging.’
‘Don’t rush back, Warner!’ It was Mikey. He winked.
Davey saluted his teammates, then began to make his way up the beach, Max heavy in his arms. As he approached the surf club, a familiar figure rounded the corner. It was Mo Clouter, cricket hater, footy lover, and the most annoying pest at Sandhill Flats Primary.
‘Shorty!’ Mo called. ‘Had enough of that stupid game, have you?’
Davey sighed. ‘Hello-o-o-o, Mo-o-o-o.’ Now, as well as Mudge and Bella, they had Clouter to put up with.
‘I heard about the treasure,’ Mo said, smirking. ‘Thought I’d come and help. I’m good at digging cos I’m strong, see.’ He flexed his biceps and triceps and all his other ceps. ‘Not like you guys.’
‘Yeah, well, I think Kevin’s got it covered.’
Max wriggled in Davey’s arms as if to say, Keep walking!
Davey took the hint. ‘Got to get Max home. Catch you later.’ And with that he jogged off in the direction of his house.
For once it hadn’t been Davey’s fault that Max escaped. Davey’s big brother, Steve, had accidentally opened the back door for about two seconds. It was long enough for Max to make a dash for it.
Davey left the dog with his dad, who was vacuuming, and headed back to the beach and the Test match. Mikey was batting and it looked like he was settled in for the long haul.
At the end of the over, Davey walked onto the pitch. ‘Where do you want me?’ he said to Sunil.
Sunil called him over and spoke quietly so no one else could hear.