This guy is going to try to show me up and push the whole trip. There is always one of these know-it-alls in the group. But hours in and almost losing an eye is a new low.
“Meg, watch them for me. I’m going to go check the area.”
She raises her eyebrows and makes quotation marks with her fingers. “Area.”
I lift my chin. “Are you going to help me or what?”
“Take five minutes to sulk, you mean. I just need to clarify. It’s for entertainment purposes only.”
“Check the area,” I snarl at her playfully.
Meg winks at me. “Sure, go check the area. Protect us from those evil blades of grass.”
I give her a flat unimpressed look. “Just for that, you can check their boo-boos.”
Her face blanches. “No! You are so mean? Why?”
“Oh, yes. Blister check. Should not have told me about the guy with the foot fetish.”
“Aw, fuck you. He looked at my feet too closely. It was disturbing.”
“Maybe he’ll let you kiss them.”
Meg retches. “You’re sick, Sanderson.”
I give her a mock salute and trot back up the trail, heading to the beautiful overhang that we stopped at earlier. There’s still plenty of daylight today, but it won’t be the case over the next few days. Today is a partial day where we will teach them how to set up tents and cook. I get the fun task of assessing how much of a liability they will be.
The trees seem to part like a curtain and reveal a sky that I feel like I could fall into. The terrain is glorious, but I’m biased. My dad’s been bringing me here all my life. It’s my favourite place in the whole world. It’s like the gateway to the wilds, and half of the time, I want to walk out of here and never come back.
Locklier Park is massive, and, from here, I can see the distant mountains, the rugged terrain, the thick forests. In my mind, I can see all the landmarks and hear my father softly telling me everything he knows.
This is my safe place.
So, what are they doing here?
Why are they here in my space, and why didn’t Dad tell me?
I pull out the satellite phone and stab at his contact. While it’s ringing, I turn and scan the tree line before relaxing and letting myself turn back to the big blue sky and incredible landscape.
“Wild child!”
I grit my teeth, fuming. “Don’t call me wild child when I’m mad at you.”
He just laughs. “You didn’t like my surprise? I thought you might love it.”
I can just picture him sitting on the couch, his arm around my mum, probably playing with her hair or stroking her earlobe, wearing his big plaid jacket, jeans, and boots. The same way he’s always been. Smiling too huge, too friendly because my dad thinks he’s the worlds funniest trickster! I overheard him one night role-playing Loki with my very into it mother.
There is no saving my imagination after that. I just torched it all.
“What are you thinking? It’s a horrible idea for them to be out here. They are going to ruin me! Daaaad!”
“You know, I know I’ve done my best work as a dad when you break out that tone and say ‘Daaad’ like that. Haha, I can rest easy tonight, knowing I tortured my offspring into deep annoyance. Consider it my gift to you.”
I snarl. He just laughs.
“Get your revenge and heal, baby, and then come home. I’ll take you hunting to make up for it.”
“You could have told me. Warned me, something, anything.”
