Danny Allen Was Here Read Free Page A

as little rivers began running around Danny’s feet.
    ‘Okay!’ Sam said. ‘Let’s go!’
    Danny looked at the creek.
    Through a curtain of wild rain and beads of water hanging from his furrowed brow, Danny saw Vicki reach for the tin. ‘I’ll save the tadpoles,’ she cried. With two hands wrapped around the wire handle Vicki bent her knees slightly to lift the tin. She wobbled and teetered, then skidded and slipped. She was like a newborn lamb trying to stand.
    Sam moved to help. ‘Put the tin down!’ he called. ‘It’s too heavy for you! You’re going to dr . . .’
    Too late. Down she tumbled. The tin fell from her hands and rolled bumping and rattling down the bank toward the dam. The water flowed from the tin in a flood and emptied the tadpoles into the dam.
    The tadpoles were gone and Sam was furious.
    Vicki squinted through the rain and sat in the mud sad and silent.
    Sam ground his teeth angrily. ‘You just don’t listen, do you?’ he yelled as he marched to stand over Vicki. ‘I told you to leave it! I said when we came that you had to do what I said!’
    Sam turned his back and climbed up the bank. ‘You can get the tin. I’m not!’ He marched up and hit Danny on the arm as he passed. ‘Let’s go!’
    Danny looked back at Vicki. She was wet and muddy and her hair hung like cooked spaghetti. The tin was lying at the edge of the water.
    ‘Bring the tin,’ said Danny, turning his back on her. ‘We have to go home.’ He trotted off to catch Sam.
    Along the track the boys ran, bombing big puddles with their pounding feet. They laughed. Tippy dodged their explosions.
    They ran across the road, down the driveway and into the back shed. The sound of the rain on the tin roof was loud as they shook themselves like dogs. Thedoors were open and water streamed over the gutter. Danny felt as though he were behind a waterfall in a cave.
    With flat hands Sam suddenly chopped at the waterfall and splashed Danny. ‘Ha, ha, ha. I got you in the face!’ he said.
    Danny retaliated, but Sam jumped back. ‘Ha, ha, you missed, Danny! You missed!’ The game was on.
    Tippy barked at the frenzy of the water war. The boys laughed hard and played wildly. In some places the water made thin panes like glass. The boys loved shattering them.
    The rain was easing when they heard their mother open the back door. ‘Children, come inside and dry yourselves,’ she called. ‘Hurry up.’
    Pushing and bumping, dripping and skidding, the boys stumbled into the kitchen. It was warm and smelt of biscuits.
    Tippy shook himself and so did the boys. They were giggling.
    Their mother turned and smiled. Specks of flour dotted her cheeks. With a funny puff from her bottom lip she tried to blow an annoying strand of hair from her eyes. ‘Haven’t I told you not to stay out in the open when there’s lightning about?’ She paused and looked toward the back door. ‘And where’s Vicki?’ she asked, matter-of-factly.

    Danny stopped giggling.
    Drips fell from his nose. His breathing quickened. His eyelashes fluttered wildly and his heart pounded up to his throat.
    Vicki!
    He looked sharply at Sam.
    The dam!
    He could feel his mother staring at him. ‘Was Vicki out there with you?’ she asked.
    Silence. Danny’s eyes darted to Sam then back to his mother. Suddenly Danny felt icy cold and began to shake. He felt his jaw drop as his mother looked into his shifting eyes. It was as if she could see behind them into Danny’s mind. Her happy face changed, just like the sky at the dam, to dark and gloomy.
    She knew there was something wrong. She turned to Sam and frantically wiped her hands with her apron.
    ‘Where is she, Sam?’
    Danny’s eyes were bulging when he looked to his older brother. Please tell her , he thought, please. The dam! The water is so cold and the sides so slippery.
    Sam took short sharp breaths. His nose was twitching and his dark eyebrows folded and unfolded. ‘I’m . . . I’m sorry, Mum, we . . . we