Tomorrow 7 - The Other Side Of Dawn by John Marsden Read Free Book Online Page B

there are no deals. It’s as simple as that.’
    Before he could say anything else I added: ‘It’ll be hard enough for us to get them into the helicopter, believe me. It’ll take all the influence we’ve got, just to achieve that.’
    ‘That’s exactly right,’ Homer said.
    I was relieved when Homer spoke, because no-one else had said anything and I didn’t know if they were going to support me.
    Ryan just shook his head again. ‘There’s got to be another solution,’ he said. ‘Taking them in the chopper is simply not on.’
    After a long silence from us he added: ‘Let’s leave it for a while. We’ll come back to it later.’
    ‘It’s impossible for us to help you in any way unless you take them,’ I said firmly.
    ‘I can’t!’ he said. He almost wailed it. ‘Sweet Mary! You don’t know what you’re asking.’
    I pressed my lips together, folded my arms, and refused to say any more.
    He tried reason then.
    ‘The helicopter takes me straight from here to a base behind enemy lines,’ he said. ‘I’m there fifteen hours and then off again, to meet another group like yours. Put yourself in my position. How can I do anything with a bunch of kids?’
    ‘There must be people going backwards and forwards to New Zealand all the time,’ I guessed. ‘You can send them on one of those flights.’
    ‘Those flights are always packed to the gunwales.’
    ‘They’re only little kids. They don’t take up much space.’
    Ryan’s shoulders slumped and he said: ‘Colonel Finley’s going to kill me.’
    Now no-one said anything, and I guess Ryan realised he was on his own. As a matter of fact I didn’t envy him a trip in a helicopter with that bunch of monkeys. They’d probably hijack it and make him fly to Disneyland.
    The meeting seemed to be over so I went back to get the kids. When I saw them sitting there with their drawing and colouring in, what I’d done suddenly hit me. I’d just arranged to send away these little ankle-biters, and what shocked me was that I’d gotten so fond of them I didn’t know how I was going to survive without them. I stood staring at Jack and Gavin in amazement, till Casey looked up and said: ‘ What’s wrong, Ellie?’
    ‘Nothing,’ I mumbled.
    ‘Has that man finished yet?’
    ‘Yes. Yes, you go back there. I’ll be along in a minute. I’m just going to the toilet. Don’t pig out on all the chocolate, OK?’
    Before they went though they made me admire their artwork. Even the promise of chocolate wasn’t enough to stop them wanting praise and attention. To make matters worse Casey kissed me and put her arm around my neck before running off to catch up with the others.
    After she’d gone I sat there feeling like I’d been rammed in the guts by a boar with a blowtorch up his backside. How had this happened? How had I become so caught up in the lives of these little tackers? One minute they’d been a hopeless nuisance, marching off on their own, getting lost, causing Darina’s death; the next they had wound fifty metres of baling twine around my heart and pulled it so tight that I wasn’t sure I could survive the pain of losing them. I had an intense desire to rush back to Ryan and say, ‘Look, I’ve changed my mind again, sorry, but the kids’ll have to stay, and we’ll make other arrangements’.
    I knew I couldn’t do that though. A little bit of it was my pride, but most of it was knowing that the kids would be better off safe in New Zealand – safe for the first time in over a year. I knew for the sake of the war I had to do this.
    Another bloody sacrifice. Sacrifices suck. But you don’t achieve anything without a sacrifice. Nothing’s gained unless you give something up. According to Ryan we were on the brink of bringing this horrible war to an end. If that meant letting go of the kids for a while, then I had to bite back my feelings and say goodbye.
    And the cold harsh reality was that with Hell lost to us there was nowhere safe we could