Kakadu Calling Read Free Page B

couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw people sliding up a big stairway and others sliding down. Her mother called it an ‘escalator’ and she told Mardjibi that they too had to ride the escalator to get to the shops. Mardjibiwas terrified that her toes would get caught, but she leapt onto the moving steps and held firmly on to the rails.
    There were people everywhere. Mardjibi had never seen so many people in one place. They all seemed to be very busy and many of them were rushing in and out of shops holding bags and pushing trolleys. Mardjibi made sure that she was holding her mother’s hand tightly, just in case her mother got lost.
    They went into a shop that sold clothes, so Mardjibi was able to get some dresses and a pair of thongs. At first the thongs were hard on her feet and kept slipping sideways, but she slowly got used to walking in them.

    In the afternoon, they caught another taxi to the hospital to see Mardjibi’s father. This time a door opened by itself and people stepped into a tiny room! It was called a ‘lift’ and Mardjibi’s stomachhit the roof of her mouth when it started to go up. She was terrified, but before she could get the words out and tell her mother, the lift stopped and the doors opened.
    She looked around and happily she saw her father in a bed opposite. He had a big, white leg and it was raised up off the bed. It looked so funny that Mardjibi asked her father why the doctor had given him one white leg and one black leg. Her father laughed and told her that it was called a ‘plaster’. He explained that when his leg was better, they would take the plaster off and he would look the same again.

    Through the hospital window Mardjibi could see the ocean. ‘Can we drink that water?’ she asked.
    â€˜No,’ said her father, ‘That water is salty.’
    â€˜Can we go and have a look at it?’
    Mardjibi’s father knew that his young daughter had never seen the sea before and he said, ‘Yourmother will take you tomorrow.’
    The next morning as soon as she got up, Mardjibi begged her mother to take them down to the beach.
    â€˜After breakfast,’ her mother said.

    Mardjibi walked along the footpath with her mother and Gillie, and they carefully crossed the road at the pedestrian crossing. Mardjibi was a little nervous as the cars stopped to let them cross, but she did think the white stripes on the road looked funny. However, she soon forgot about the stripes when they walked over the grass and climbed down the steps onto the beach.
    Mardjibi’s mouth fell open. She stared and stared and stared. She had never seen so muchwater. This water could make big waves. She watched the water as it slowly moved towards her and then rushed out again. The sand was soft between her toes, and she walked down to the shoreline and stood still while the water covered her feet. She scooped up two handfuls of water and tried to drink it.
    â€˜Yuk!’ she spluttered. ‘I don’t like this water at all.’
    Mardjibi went back up to the soft sand and sat with her mum and little Gillie. She scooped up some sand and let it run through her fingers. After a while Mardjibi felt tired sitting in the hot sun, so she found a shady tree and lay down to watch the seagulls flying and skittering along the beach.
    She could hear rustling in the leaves under the trees, and she called out to her mother, ‘I can hear strange noises. Maybe it’s a snake!’
    â€˜No, look there,’ said her mother, pointing towards the base of the tree.
    Mardjibi turned and saw shells walking around. ‘What are they?’ she asked.
    â€˜They’re called hermit crabs,’ said her mother, as she walked over and put Gillie down in the sand.
    Mardjibi picked up a tiny crab but it closed up into its shell.
    â€˜Just whistle and the crab will open up,’ said her mother.
    Mardjibi whistled and suddenly the crab turned over and