by R. A. Spratt
‘I’m fine,’ called Friday, waving her arm to reassure the rest of her team.
They all waved back. Friday thought this was nice for a millisecond before her brain registered – they were all waving.
‘One of you needs to grab the rope!’ cried Friday.
On the bank, it was hard to hear over the sound of the pounding waterfall.
‘What did she say?’ asked Melanie.
‘One of us needs to have hope?’ suggested Wai-Yi.
‘That doesn’t make sense,’ said Patel. ‘Surely we should all have hope.’
‘Maybe she said, “One of you needs to call the Pope”?’ said Harvey.
‘But the Pope lives in Italy,’ said Susan. ‘He’d probably be in bed right now.’
‘And I doubt he’d take our call,’ said Melanie.
Suddenly the tail end of the rope whipped through the groups’ legs and splashed into the river.
‘Grab the rope!’ cried Patel. ‘She said, “Grab the rope”!’
Melanie leapt forward and dived into the river.
‘Oh no,’ said Susan. ‘Now Melanie is going to drown too!’
Melanie was underwater for what seemed like a long time, then she burst through the surface. ‘Got it!’ she cried happily, holding up the tail end of the rope.
Harvey waded in and grabbed Melanie by the hand, helping her out of the river.
Friday was watching her friends tie the rope to the winch, so she didn’t notice that she had reached the Houseboat until she slammed into the back of it.
‘I really need to cut down on the number of head injuries I get,’ Friday muttered to herself as she rubbed the sore spot.
The water was pushing her hard against the underside of the boat. She had to be careful or she would be pulled beneath it. Friday gripped the timber and dragged herself around to the side. She was glad she had worn the life vest. Swimming was never easy. Particularly after a long day of playing weird sports.
Friday clambered on board. She managed to untie the rope from the life vest, but it took a while because her fingers were cold and slippery. Then she had to retie it to the gunwale. Once she was sure it was secure, she waved to her friends on the bank. She couldn’t really see them because her eyesight was terrible, but she was hoping one of them could see her.
Friday turned and started making her way to the engine room. Everything was wet and on a steep slope, so it was like walking up a hill. When she got to the engine room she yanked open the door and stepped inside, bracing herself against the wall to stay upright. It was only now, as she was looking at the internal combustion engine in front of her, that Friday realised it may not go if it was on such an extreme angle. The fluids in the engine may be sitting in the wrong place to get the engine started.
‘Gluteus maximus,’ said Friday. She didn’t normally like to swear, but when circumstances made it impossible to avoid she preferred to do it in Latin.
Suddenly there was a dreadful creaking sound and the whole boat began to move.
‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Friday.
She scrambled to the door, planning to leap free of the boat before it went over the waterfall. But as she got to the doorway, she could see the rope was taut, stretching out to the bank. The rope creaked under the strain. Her friends had done it. They had the winch working. That meant they were pulling the boat upright.
Unfortunately, it took Friday’s brain longer to realise this than it took the winch to perform the task. The boat tipped over the balance point and suddenly dropped onto the surface of the water, knocking Friday flat on the deck of the boat. There was a shooting pain through Friday’s nose. But she would have to worry about that later. Friday struggled to her feet and hurried to the old diesel engine. She pulled out the choke, and revved it hard. The engine sputtered reluctantly.
‘Come on,’ Friday pleaded. She wasn’t normally one for talking to inanimate objects, but in this case it seemed to work because the engine roared to life. She grabbed the rudder and began steering the boat back up the river. It was working! Friday checked the instruments. The boat was old, but the engine was simple. There wasn’t much that could go wrong. Except …
Friday noticed the fuel gauge. The tank was practically empty.
‘Think!’ she urged herself. ‘A diesel engine can run on almost any type of oil. There must be some oil on the boat somewhere.’
Friday suddenly remembered Patel’s hair oil. She ran around to the boys’ room. It was in chaos, but there amongst the mess on the floor was a half-litre bottle of revitalising hair oil. Friday snatched it up and ran to the engine room, where she tipped it into the thirsty machine.
‘I hope this works,’ she muttered.
She listened anxiously to the note of the motor as the oil drained into the tank.
There was a sputter. Friday held her breath. Then the motor started running again – much more smoothly.
Friday looked at the empty bottle of hair oil in her hand. ‘Who would have thought that such a wildly overpriced hair product would make such good motor oil,’ she said.
Chapter 18
What Happened?
By the time Friday motored the Houseboat back to its proper mooring, word had got around camp of what was going on. So all the students had gathered along the bank to watch. Some of them still were eating the remnants of their dinner. The dinner the Houseboaters had missed out on.
‘Are you all right?’ called Melanie as Friday came out of the engine room to throw the tow rope around the bollard.
‘Fine,’ said Friday. ‘A bit cold, but I’ll be all right after I dry out.’
‘What happened?’ asked Ian. He had come down to watch, like all the others.
‘Someone cut the rope,’ said Friday.
‘Are you sure it didn’t just snap?’ asked Ian. ‘Everything around here is pretty old and decrepit.’
Friday held up the end of the rope. ‘It’s not a clean cut. It took a few hacks, but that’s definitely not natural wear and tear.’
‘But who would do such a thing?’ asked Susan.
‘It’s pretty extreme,’ added Harvey.
‘Lots of people don’t like us,’ said Patel.
‘I don’t know,’ said Friday, ‘most people don’t think about us much. They may have contempt for us, but this takes real spite. They literally would have had to go out of their way with an axe to do it. I think there is another motive here. There must be a reason they threw all those things in the river as well. We should investigate the scene of the crime.’
‘You want to investigate the waterfall?’ said Melanie. ‘That sounds a bit dangerous.’
‘No, I mean inside the Houseboat,’ said Friday.
‘That’s a better idea,’ agreed Melanie. ‘There are beds in there. I could lie down while you look around.’
The exhausted Houseboaters trooped inside. It was a mess. The common room looked like it had been turned over. Anything that could roll or slide was heaped up against the wall from where the Houseboat had been tipped up near the waterfall. Patel emerged from the boys’ room.
‘Everything is okay in here,’ he said. ‘Although my hair oil is missing from the bathroom.’
Friday went over to see. The room looked like an explosive device had gone off inside it. Clothes and possessions were strewn everywhere.
‘But it’s been ransacked,’ said Friday.
Harvey peered into the room. ‘No, this is what it always looks like.’
‘Melanie, how’s our room?’ Friday called across to her friend, who she’d seen disappear into their room moments earlier. There was no response. Friday walked over. Melanie was fast asleep on her bed already.
‘Three seconds!’ exclaimed Friday. ‘She went from walking to asleep in three seconds. That must be a new record, even for Melanie.’
‘To be fair,’ said Patel, ‘it has been a long day.’
Friday looked about at their room. It had been jumbled about, but everything still seemed to be there. Melanie
and Friday hadn’t really brought much with them, except books, and it was unlikely anyone would want to steal those.
‘You’d better come and see our room,’ called Wai-Yi.
Friday headed over to the other girls’ room. There was nothing to see. Apart from the beds, the room had been completely stripped bare.
‘I guess that explains all the stuff floating in the river,’ said Friday. ‘Don’t worry, you can borrow our spare clothes.’
Wai-Yi and Susan exchanged a look.
‘You can borrow Melanie’s spare clothes,’ said Friday.
Wai-Yi and Susan smiled. ‘No offence, Friday,’ said Susan. ‘You know we love you. We just don’t think we could pull off a brown cardigan as well as you can.’
‘Now we’ve got a mystery to solve. Somebody came on board and threw all your stuff out the window,’ said Friday, ‘then used an axe to cut the whole Houseboat adrift and let it float down the river and over a waterfall. Do either of you have any enemies?’
Wai-Yi and Susan shook their heads.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Friday. ‘Because it’s such a specific time to do it. There was such a small window of opportunity while we were at the medal presentation ceremony. Are you certain you didn’t make any enemies sometime in the last two hours?’
‘It was Drake!’ Melanie called from the other room.
‘What?’ said Friday.
Melanie sat up and yawned. ‘Sorry, I was asleep and my unconscious could still hear you talking.’
‘What do you mean it was Drake?’ asked Friday.
‘You asked if Wai-Yi or Susan upset anyone in the last two hours,’ said Melanie.
‘But I never upset anyone,’ said Wai-Yi. ‘That’s a big part of why I don’t talk to people – I don’t want to appear rude.’
‘I try to avoid talking too,’ added Susan. ‘It makes me blush. I can’t stop myself. And then my head looks like a beetroot.’
‘But when Drake wanted to carry you in the piggyback race, you rebuffed him,’ said Melanie, emerging from the bedroom. ‘Boys hate that. Especially if they’re secretly in love with you. Isn’t that right, Ian?’
Ian didn’t respond, except to roll his eyes.
‘Oh my gosh!’ exclaimed Wai-Yi. ‘Melanie’s right. He gave you a rock!’
‘What?’ asked Friday. ‘Do you have a shared interest in geology?’
‘No, we were making pet rocks in bushcraft class,’ explained Susan.
‘This camp has the strangest ways of teaching wilderness survival skills,’ said Friday.
‘Drake was at the table next to us,’ said Wai-Yi, ‘and when he finished, he gave Susan his rock.’
‘I didn’t think anything of it at the time,’ said Susan. ‘I just assumed he didn’t want it.’
‘Where’s the rock now?’ asked Friday.
‘You remember how the toilet wasn’t flushing?’ said Susan. ‘It’s because the handle wasn’t balanced properly.’
‘Susan’s father has a plumbing empire,’ explained Wai-Yi.
‘I stuck the rock in the cistern to hold the valve in place,’ said Susan.
‘Let’s have a look,’ said Friday.
They all went to the bathroom. Friday tried to get the lid off the cistern, but then stood back and let Susan do it because she was clearly the expert.
‘Here it is,’ said Susan as she reached in and fished out a wet rock. It had googly eyes and wet wool glued to the top.
‘Oh, how sweet,’ said Melanie. ‘It’s actually rather cute for a rock.’
‘But it’s still just a rock, not a motive,’ said Friday, peering closely at the pet rock’s face. She turned it over in her hand. ‘Hang on a minute. Look at this …’
There were three symbols painted on the underside.
‘What is that?’ asked Ian, peering over Friday’s shoulder.
‘It looks like an archery target, a love heart and a rain cloud,’ said Susan.
‘Is it some sort of coded message?’ asked Melanie.
‘Yes, it is,’ said Friday. ‘Is Drake any good at art?’
‘Not really,’ said Susan. ‘That pet rock didn’t look much better before I put it in the cistern.’
‘Then I know what this is saying,’ said Friday. ‘The archery target isn’t a target. It’s an eye. The inner circle is the pupil, the middle circle is the retina and the outer circle is the white of the eye.’
‘Then what’s the love heart?’ asked Ian.
‘A love heart,’ said Friday.
‘And the rain cloud?’ asked Melanie.
‘I don’t think it’s a rain cloud,’ said Friday. ‘I think it’s meant to be a drawing of a woolly sheep.’
‘I love sheep,’ said Melanie. ‘But that’s a strange message to give a girl.’
‘A female sheep is called a “ewe”,’ said Friday. ‘He’s saying, “I love ewe” or rather “I love you”.’
‘That’s so romantic!’ said Melanie. ‘Slightly confusing, but very romantic. You should give Friday a rock like that, Ian.’
Susan took the rock from Friday’s hand. ‘So are you saying that Drake likes me and that’s why he ransacked our room and set the Houseboat floating down the river?’
‘Yes,’ said Friday. ‘When you rebuffed him, he must have panicked and thought you didn’t like him, then panicked more because he’d given you this rock, so he was desperate to get rid of it before you realised what the message said. So he sabotaged his own team by crashing into Ian and me in the piggyback race. Then while we were celebrating our victory and everyone was distracted, he raced down to the Houseboat to retrieve the rock.’
‘But that’s so extreme,’ said Ian.
‘Teenage boys are hormonal, their brains process information differently to regular humans,’ said Friday. ‘They’re impulsive and extreme.’
‘I told you it was romantic,’ said Melanie.
‘He threw all of our stuff into the river. Then when he couldn’t find the rock, he got desperate and set the Houseboat adrift,’ said Susan.
‘Yeah, but he gave you a very sweet rock,’ said Wai-Yi.
‘The course of true love never did run smooth,’ said Melanie.
‘Are you quoting Shakespeare now?’ asked Friday.
‘Just because I sleep through most of English, doesn’t mean I don’t pick up on some of the good bits,’ said Melanie.
‘So what are you going to do?’ asked Ian. ‘Report him to Geraldine? Or the police?’
‘The Houseboat is fine,’ said Friday, ‘and Susan and Wai-Yi aren’t too worried about their stuff. I think Susan should attempt to engage Drake in some sort of social ritual. Whatever the custom for adolescent courting-couples is these days.’
‘She could talk to him,’ said Melanie.
‘There you go,’ said Friday. ‘Case closed.’
Most of the crowd outside had drifted away, but Drake was still standing on the riverbank. Susan looked terrified.
‘Just say the first thing that comes into your head,’ said Melanie. ‘Unless the first thing is “I’m a serial killer”, in which case say something different.’ She gave Susan a firm push in Drake’s direction.
Susan blushed. Drake stared at the ground and scuffed the dirt with his foot.
‘So,’ said Susan.
‘So,’ said Drake.
There was another long pause.
‘Do you want to go for a walk with me?’ asked Susan. ‘I’m going to take a flashlight and go down the river searching for any of my stuff that may have washed up on the bank.’
‘Sure!’ said Drake. ‘Would you like me to carry the flashlight for you?’
‘Sure,’ said Susan. She handed him the flashlight and they headed off together.
Melanie sighed. ‘Why can’t you two be so easy to get together?’ she asked Friday and Ian.
‘At least I don’t go around setting houseboats adrift,’ said Ian.
‘It would be so romantic if you did, though,’ said Melanie.
Friday didn’t respond. She was too busy staring at the duffel bag by Ian’s feet.
‘From the I.W. on that bag I deduce that it’s yours,’ said Friday. ‘It’s highly unusual to be taking such a large bag for a walk this late at night. Unless it contains some sort of contraband that you’re trying to smuggle under the cover of darkness.’
‘Nothing that exciting, I’m afraid,’ said Ian. ‘The bag contains all my worldly possessions. At least, the ones I brought with me to camp.’
‘You’re taking your belongings for a late-night walk then?’ asked Melanie.
‘I’ve been thrown out of the Treehouse,’ said Ian. ‘The rest of the team had a vote. They’re expelling me for losing the final challenge.’
‘Why are you here?’ asked Friday.
‘Oh, Friday,’ said Melanie, ‘how can you be so obtuse?’
‘The Houseboat is the only place with free beds,’ said Ian. ‘I had to come here. It was either that or build a shelter in the woods, and the counsellors have never gotten around to teaching us how to do that.’
‘Welcome!’ said Harvey. ‘We could do with another boy. Come on, we’ll show you where the spare beds are in the boys’ room.’
The three boys went back into the Houseboat.
‘Well done, Friday!’ said Melanie, giving her friend a hug.
‘I didn’t do anything,’ said Friday.
‘You tumbled over Ian’s head, smashing his face into the ground, which did result in him being here,’ said Melanie. ‘Maybe on some subconscious level you instinctively knew to do that.’
‘Aaaggghhh!’ they heard Susan screaming from far away in the forest.
‘What was that?’ asked Melanie.
‘Susan,’ said Friday.
They took off running down the bank. But they hadn’t gone far when they collided head-on with Susan herself.
‘Aaaaggghhh!’ said Susan again.
Drake caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her. ‘It’s all right, you’re safe now,’ he said.
‘What happened?’ asked Friday.
‘We saw it,’ said Drake.
‘Saw what?’ asked Melanie.