The Audrey of the Outback Collection Read Free

sniffed. ‘Heads.’

Six
    Audrey gasped.
    Toothless leaned over to drag the chaff bag closer. It rattled again.
    He pulled the string at the top of the bag and the knot fell undone.
    Perspiration broke out on Audrey’s back.
    Toothless reached inside the bag with his large sun-browned hand and pulled out a skull.
    ‘I don’t really have whole heads, mind you,’ he said. ‘Mostly jaws, with a skull or two.’
    The skull was the wrong shape to be human.
    Audrey relaxed. ‘It’s a sheep.’
    ‘No flies on you, are there?’ Toothless put the skull on the ground and dug around in his bag again. This time he pulled out a long jaw. The teeth were a funny shape, not like the teeth that Audrey had lost.
    ‘Why do you carry sheep skulls around with you?’
    Balancing the jawbone in his left palm, Toothless slipped his other hand into his back pocket. He pulled out a large pair of pliers, then fastened them onto a tooth. He wriggled the tooth back and forth.
    Audrey’s mouth dropped open. She only realised it when a bush fly got too close to her lips. Quickly, she clamped them shut again.
    Cracking sounds came from the tooth. Then, with one last twist of the swagman’s wrist and an even louder crack, the tooth popped out.
    The swagman held it up, still pinched in the pliers. ‘See?’
    Audrey nodded. ‘My tooth came out by itself.’ She touched the gap with her forefinger. ‘When I was asleep.’
    ‘I always wanted to be a dentist,’ said Toothless, ‘but never had much schooling. Not that good with the three R’s.’
    ‘Three what?’ asked Audrey.
    ‘Reading, ’riting and ’rithmetic.’ He flicked the sheep’s tooth away, slipped the pliers into his pocket and replaced the sheep jaw in the bag. ‘But I can be a bush dentist. All I need is a bit of practice, like. That’s why they call me Toothless. Because I like pullin’ teeth.’
    ‘I know a swaggie called Bloke. She’s a girl swaggie,’ said Audrey. ‘She’s got no teeth. Not one. She sucks her meat off the bone. Bloke has lots of saliva that sort of melts her meat.’
    ‘Too right?’
    ‘Bloke gave me a nickname. Two-Bob, cos she reckoned I’m crazy as a two-bob watch,’ said Audrey. ‘I do have two arms like a watch, and a round face. But I don’t have numbers.’
    They sat without speaking for a few minutes, busy with their own thoughts. A tiny skink darted across the sand and behind a rock.
    Then Audrey said, ‘I reckon you’d make a good dentist.’
    Above his beard, the swagman’s cheeks went red and shiny. ‘It’s a good thing to know who you are. What you want to be.’
    ‘Maybe grown-ups ask children what they want to be because they’re looking for ideas. Axshully …’ Audrey took a breath and tried again. ‘Actually, I’ve got a really good idea.’

Seven
    Audrey strode towards home. It didn’t take long to put some distance between her and the swagman’s camp. She wiped perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand. ‘Stumpy, I can’t stop now.’
    She kept walking, trying not to let him sidetrack her. ‘I can see you behind that tree. I know hide-and-seek is your favourite game, but I’ve got things to do.’
    Stumpy gave up and followed her, as he always did.
    ‘Do you know why trees grow up and not sideways?’ she asked.
    Stumpy didn’t answer.
    ‘I don’t know, either. But Toothless might. He’s seen more trees than most people. I might ask him. Mum reckons I ask too many questions. She says some things don’t have answers. But if there are questions, there has to be answers.’
    Audrey waved her hand to frighten the flies away from her face. ‘Should have brought my hat.’ She knew there would also be flies on her back. But it was best not to disturb them or they would go for her face.
    As she crossed the clearing around the house, she saw Price near the vegetable patch. He was squatting on his heels, stretching fresh rabbit skins over bent wires to dry them. A mob of flies hovered