Pool by Justin D'Ath Read Free Book Online Page A

Audrey’s hand.
    ‘We’re in the way here,’ he said softly. ‘Come with me.’
    Wolfgang led her to an out-of-the-way corner, where the walkway broadened and made a ninety degree turn to the right. Standing her in the angle of the railing beneath the dew-dropped foliage of a six-metre bangalow palm, he dug a small plastic bottle from his backpack.
    ‘Hold your hand out.’
    ‘What is it?’ asked Audrey, grimacing as he smeared a sticky paste on her wrist.
    ‘My secret love potion,’ Wolfgang said, then blushed when he realised how that must have sounded. ‘For butterflies,’ he added quickly. ‘It’s a mixture of beer, rum and jam. They find it pretty much irresistible.’
    Audrey raised her wrist and sniffed it. She screwed up her nose. ‘Smells rank,’ she said.
    ‘Butterflies love it, trust me. Hold your arm up a bit. That’s it. It shouldn’t take too long.’
    The first butterfly arrived within thirty seconds. It darted twice around Audrey’s hand, then landed on the base of her thumb. She tensed.
    ‘I can feel something,’ she whispered.
    ‘Feet,’ Wolfgang told her. ‘It’s an Australian lurcher. Orange and brown. Quite pretty.’
    ‘It tickles!’
    ‘Butterflies taste with their feet, did you know that?’
    She shook her head.
    ‘Do you want to touch it?’
    Audrey shook her head again, her face tight with concentration. ‘Tell me what it’s doing.’
    ‘It’s feeding. You don’t have to whisper.’
    ‘Can’t they hear?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Wolfgang, watching a female orange lacewing flicker overhead, a smaller male dancing attendance around her. ‘But noise doesn’t seem to bother them.’
    ‘This is so cool!’ Audrey said.
    A green triangle came next, then another lurcher, then a big blue Ulysses. Wolfgang named and described each butterfly as it arrived. Soon, six insects had settled on Audrey’s hand and wrist; several more circled. A man with a small boy on his shoulders stopped to watch.
    ‘Here,’ Wolfgang said, and gently took some of the weight of Audrey’s raised arm. ‘I’ve got an idea.’
    With his other hand he bent her elbow, bringing her scented wrist within centimetres of her face. When a big male birdwing flew down, its flashing green and yellow wings brushed across Audrey’s eyelashes and cheek.
    She drew in her breath. ‘Was that –?’
    ‘Wings,’ Wolfgang told her.
    Audrey’s mouth quivered and two tears gathered on the lower lids of her sightless blue eyes.
    ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
    She nodded. ‘I’m just happy.’

    Twenty or twenty-five minutes later, when finally Wolfgang was able to coax her away from the butterflies, Audrey stopped him in the middle of the road outside the Elephant Village, felt along his arm for his hand and gently turned him towards her.
    ‘Thank you, Wolfgang,’ she said up into his face. ‘That was the loveliest thing anybody’s ever done for me.’

14
    Wolfgang wished he hadn’t taken Keith’s four hundred dollars. The whole thing felt wrong. Dishonest. It wasn’t fair on Audrey. She’d been so grateful to him on the way back from the zoo. He didn’t want her gratitude, didn’t deserve it. Part of him wished he could simply give Keith’s money back and forget the whole deal. But it was too late for that. He and Audrey’s father had an agreement. Wolfgang had taken the money, now it was up to him to keep his end of the bargain. It was only for a week, he rationalised. Less than that – six more days. Then he could tell Keith it wasn’t working and walk away with a clear conscience. And with four hundred dollars.
    At lunchtime on Wednesday, Wolfgang made his way over to the shade of the peppercorn tree by the fence. He patted Campbell on the head, then reached carefully across Audrey and pulled the earphone jack out of her MP3 player. She didn’t move.
    ‘Audrey?’
    She gave a start. ‘Huh?’
    ‘Hi, it’s me. Do you want to go for a walk?’
    Audrey reached up under her hat –