Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor Read Free Book Online

– heaps of stuff: everything they needed to hide a couple of kids from the smiling soldier until . . . what? Until she could get them somewhere safe. Like where?
    Lucy had a sinking feeling that she was out of her depth. She tried to ignore it, but deep down, she knew something weird was going on, something too weird to wrap her head around. One thing she did understand: these two kids might not be safe at either end of the tunnel.
    Like an action replay, something Lucy had seen once on the news at Grandma’s flashed into her mind. A boat full of refugees – the man on the news had called them ‘illegals’ – had been sailing to Australia, but the Prime Minister had sent the Navy to stop them. The Navy had made the boat captain turn around and head back out into the middle of the ocean. Mum and Grandma had had a big fight about it. Grandma felt sorry for the people on the boat because they were running away from a war, but Mum said the government had done the right thing. Lucy still remembered the looks on the boat people’s faces. A woman holding a little baby was crying. Some people looked angry and were shaking their fists at the news helicopter, others sat hunched on the deck with their heads in their hands. There were kids too! They looked really scared.
    Grandma said Lucy’s mum didn’t know what it was like to be in trouble, which made Mum really mad! She said Grandma didn’t know what she was talking about and working all night at the hospital for crap money was no picnic. And Grandma told her not to say crap in her house and Mum said Grandma still treated her like a baby. Then Mum turned off the TV and sent Lucy to bed.
    ‘You’re treating me like a baby,’ said Lucy, but it had no effect.
    Now, looking at the two kids in the miners’ cubby, Lucy knew she couldn’t risk telling anyone about them. She didn’t know who they were, or why they were in that horrible jail, but she did not want them to go back there. If Mum found out they’d escaped from jail, Lucy just knew she wouldn’t approve. Grandma would feel sorry for the kids but she’d tell all her friends and then it would be all over Kurrawong by lunchtime. And maybe the Prime Minister would find out . . .
    Lucy squatted down on the floor and put a candle between herself and the kids. It lit up their faces and made them look skinnier than ever. Ricardo sat down next to her. T-Tongue had given up hoping anyone was going to give him anything to eat and gone to sleep with his nose between his paws.
    ‘Who are you?’ Lucy asked the children.
    The Tiger-cat jumped down as though it wanted to hear.
    ‘Rahel,’ answered the girl. Putting her arm around the boy, she said, ‘Toro’. Her voice was soft and accented, but every word was clear.
    ‘I’m Lucy and he’s Ricardo and he’s T-Tongue and she’s the Tiger-cat.’
    ‘I’m Ricardo and she’s Lucy and he’s T-Tongue and he’s the Tiger-cat.’
    Lucy glared at Ricardo and turned back to the girl. ‘Where are your mum and dad?’ she asked. The girl’s eyes filled with tears and the boy looked away. Lucy wished she hadn’t asked.
    ‘Soldiers got them,’ said Ricardo with certainty.
    ‘How would you know?’ demanded Lucy.
    ‘Duh . . . the Tiger-cat told me!’
    Lucy looked at the Tiger-cat but it didn’t say anything, just kept staring at her with those golden eyes. Then, all of a sudden, that feeling came again . Her body melted into the cold air of the room, her mind holding tight to the Tiger-cat’s mind-rope. Then the Tiger-cat was gone, and in its place . . .
    An open door. A man steps out onto the verandah and lights a cigarette. It is the smiling soldier. More soldiers drag a dark-haired woman through the door, onto the verandah and down the stairs. She cries out in a strange language. Lucy understands two words: ‘Toro’ and ‘Rahel’. Another soldier appears in the doorway, carrying Toro, who is crying and struggling. The soldier hauls him across the verandah