The Last Resort(68)
‘Well, you islanders have nothing better to do than climb up your one silly little hill all day long.’
‘Aww . . . our silly little hill, eh? Just you wait until we get to the top.’
She starts walking again, leaning into the hill to try and make it easier. George is right though, about stamina. She’d thought she was fairly fit with her four-times-a-week swimming, but hiking at a steep incline is something else altogether. Her legs will be aching tomorrow, but it might give her more strength to the back of her thighs if she keeps it up. Imagine how strong her freestyle would be if she could power it even more with her legs? The coach is always telling her she needs to do more land training.
She powers on, and before long she’s caught up with George, who turns to her and grins. ‘Nice work, city girl. Are you looking forward to the secret place?’
‘Sure,’ she says. ‘Although I’m kind of surprised that anything is secret on this island. It’s not exactly difficult to explore it.’
‘Yeah, but no one comes up that path . . . couldn’t you tell? An old woman slipped on loose stones there a few years ago and fell down it and died. The island council said it wasn’t to be used anymore. Only they couldn’t afford to block it off, so they just put up that wire fence and a “Keep Out” sign – but that’s long gone, and so is most of the fence.’
‘So who comes up here now?’
‘Mostly just me . . . although Jago follows occasionally. He likes to take pictures,’ George says with a shrug. ‘The others obey the rules of the island council . . . and also, they’re kind of scared of me, so they think if I’m up here, they’re better to stay away.’
‘Scared of you? Why?’ She looks George up and down and doesn’t find anything particularly scary. But then, they’ve only just met. For all she knows, anything George says could be a total fib.
George sighs. ‘I’m not going to tell you, because it’s nonsense, but you’d probably be scared too, and I’d quite like to have you as a friend . . . I think we were meant to meet, Anne. I think bumping into you was meant to be. Today is only the start.’
She thinks about this for a moment. She stops and turns. Looks back down the path, then takes in the view from being so high up. It’s enough to snatch your breath away. The beaches, the beautiful blue sea. The seagulls swooping by, shrieking their cries – letting them know who’s boss around here. It’s all so far removed from her real life. Alone, she’d been bored, and despite the intensity and that wild gleam in George’s eyes, the island has come alive for her since they met.
‘OK,’ she says, giving George a huge grin.
‘Oh, fantastic. You won’t regret it! I’ve got so many things to show you. They’re all up here, in my den.’ George points to a hollowed-out tree. The limbs have long fallen off, leaving an array of fat stumps. In front, there’s a large round boulder. George rushes over and bends down, pushes it away, revealing an entrance to the tree.
‘Wow,’ she says, genuinely awed. ‘This is so cool.’
‘Told you!’ George smiles shyly. ‘We’ll be safe in here.’
‘Safe from what?’
‘Never mind. I meant to ask . . . do you like sci-fi? You know, like Star Trek and stuff?’
She ducks down and follows George into the hollow. The place is lined with pillows and blankets, and boxes spilling over with comics.
‘Oh, yes,’ she says, grinning. ‘I love science. It’s my favourite subject at school. I keep wondering about all the inventions that we know about, and all the things that haven’t even been invented yet. Do you think the stuff in Star Trek might happen one day? Like teleporting and holograms and finding life on other planets?’
George sits and gestures for her to follow, then flicks down a curtain from the top of the entrance and they are basked in muted darkness, until the light of George’s torch brightens the space again.
‘Definitely,’ George says. ‘Well – I’m not sure about the life on other planets part, or even the type of spaceships they have . . . but the rest of it is definitely going to happen. People are already working on it, you know – in America, and Russia, and Germany too. I can’t wait to leave school and go to university. Because then I’m going to start up my own lab and I’m going to invent all of the things you could ever imagine.’
‘Wow,’ she says. ‘That would be so cool. Maybe I could come and work for you?’
George frowns. ‘Well, I reckon I’m going to have a lot of strong candidates. What makes you so special?’
She grins. She sits up straight and puts on her poshest, most formal voice. ‘I’m loyal. I’m a quick learner . . . and we have the same shared vision.’
‘How loyal?’ George says. ‘Because this is actually the key requirement. In fact, I need someone I know I can rely on.’ George looks away. ‘I don’t just mean in the future. I mean now. I . . . need hope. I need to know that one day, I can get away from this place. Can you help me with that, Anne?’
George’s gaze weighs heavy on her, and she feels butterflies fluttering in her tummy. It’s as if there’s a lot more at stake here than just a fantasy future job idea, and this strange island child is somehow making her feel significant. ‘Of course . . .’ She lets her sentence trail off when she sees what George is doing.