Outback Read Online Free Page B

alternative, but as I watch Mel pouring clean water onto the desert sand, the uneasiness in my belly solidifies into something more like dread.
    Eventually we have the truck reloaded, minus the fuel drums, and we are heading north again. We cross the first dunes, great rolling mounds in the otherwise flat red earth. It is beyond desolate. At one point we drive by the rusted ruins of an abandoned Land Rover, and I can’t hold back a shudder. I can’t imagine a lonelier place. I lean out the window and click a few photographs to distract myself, but it is a relief when the landscape begins to change. More shrubbery and actual trees—desert oaks, offering scraps of dappled shade—and finally Durba Springs, an oasis in the desert. Towering rocky cliffs, white-trunked gum trees leaning out over the still water in the gorge, clumps of long grass lining the banks: It is breathtaking.
    We set up camp on the grassy banks of the creek. Above us, the rock walls glow vivid red in the late afternoon sun. I dip my hands in the water. It is still and green with algae but feels wonderful against my hot dry skin. Above me, electric-green birds scatter from a treetop, and I watch in silent amazement, suddenly overwhelmed. Glad to be here. Glad to be alive.
    The evening passes peacefully, the temperature poised between the heat of the day and the chill of the night. We eat baked beans for dinner. Then Nat lies down in her tent, and Mel and I play Crazy Eights by the campfire. The sand beneath my sleeping bag radiates warmth, and I sleep like a baby, despite Mel’s thunderous snoring beside me.
    In the morning, I wake early and wander around, taking photographs. I imagine having a big show back home, maybe in a gallery or something. My pictures of the desert glowing on white walls…
    â€œYo, Jayden?”
    I spin around. “Nat?”
    â€œSnap happy, aren’t you?” She laughs.
    â€œTime to go, dude. Mel’s starting to twitch and Lake Disappointment awaits.”
    It is a long drive over countless dunes: long sand ridges running from east to west, stretching out like massive waves in an endless line to the horizon. Hot and hard and bumpy. In places our wheels spin in deep sand, and I wonder how we’d have managed if we were still loaded down with fuel. In other spots, the track is completely overgrown. I am so focused on not losing sight of it beneath the spinifex that I miss the first glimpse of our destination.
    â€œThere it is!” Mel shouts. “Look at that!”
    A vast expanse of silvery white glimmers in the distance. I blink a few times, trying to focus. “That’s Lake Disappointment?”
    â€œThat’s it, my boy! We’ve made it!” Mel’s eyes are an intense, piercing blue against his sun-reddened skin. “This is what I’ve been waiting for. The culmination of my hard work. The zenith! The pinnacle! The summit!”
    The truck hits a pothole with a bang that practically knocks my teeth out of my head. Nat grabs the steering wheel. “Mel!”
    â€œRelax, my dear girl. Relax.” He takes the wheel again, pulling us back onto the track with another bump.
    Ahead of us the lake is becoming clearer and less like a mirage. Vast, salt-encrusted, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We’ve arrived.

Chapter Seven
    We get out of the jeep, legs cramped and backs aching. Mel shoots off into the shrubbery to hunt for wildlife, and Nat and I set up camp on our own. We work in silence for a few minutes, putting up the tents, and then Nat turns to me. “Jayden?”
    She sounds hesitant and I realize it is the first time we’ve been alone together since Mel interrupted our conversation in the dark. “You were right,” I say quickly. “The other night, what you said about Mel being sort of crazy? I think you’re right. All that stuff about pinnacles and summits…”
    â€œThat was nothing compared to other stuff