Deeper Water Read Online Free PDF

proving that. Those home-school inspectors had one peek inside, one look around those piled-high bookshelves, and they knew I was learning. Books are for learning, after all, so I was learning, and that was that.
    I didn’t fight it. School seemed pointless anyway. All the rules and regulations, made to be flouted. I’d watched Anja and my siblings become parched and sad with the stupidity of it all, and I figured I wasn’t missing much.
    What did the world have to offer me?
    When I was small, all around me flowed, gentle and sweet like the quiet edge of the creek. Then my brothers grew too big to be hemmed in, and Sophie met a bloke, moved out and had babies, and things became harder. The older I got, the louder those secret things inside me became, all those knowns and unknowns, until—apart from Anja—I’d rather talk to animals than people. Chat with Old Dog, muck around with the crazy cat, or follow the wandering Bessie. Make friends with the magpies and whip birds. Listen for the squeaking of baby mice and leave out crumbs to help them on their way. Sit with my legs dangling in the creek and let the guppies nip at my toes. And it was the same for Mum, ’cause she stopped talking quite so much to me.
    Outside, with Hamish in tow, Anja and I headed off to check the creeks. The rain was falling hard again, not torrential like yesterday, but steady, as though it would never end. Our house is up on a hill and the paddocks curve gently downwards to the closest creek. From above, you can see the creek stretched out across the land like a giant serpent, winding off into the distance. Sometimes the view gets lost in clouds, or mist, or simply the rain, but when it’s clear, it’s magic. Those green hills stretching out forever, like they were sculpted purposefully to please the eye. When it stops raining you can hear the rush of the floodwater and it seems as though the creek is quite close, but actually it’s a series of small hills and plateaus away. Big grassy paddocks. Easier on the way down than the way up. Used to be mostly dairy farms and bananas, but nowadays it’s just the occasional small crop and a scattering of cattle. And then out on the flats, on the other side of town, there are the cane fields.
    Anja started off walking, as sedately as she could, but soon she picked up speed and I knew it wouldn’t be long before she broke into a jog. Running in the rain is quite a pleasure, especially if there isn’t really anywhere you have to be. Anja and I discovered long ago that it could be twice as much fun in company, most specifically with each other.
    Still holding my hand, she pulled me forward, testing my gait.
    ‘How’s the foot holding up today, Mema?’ she asked, tugging on my fingers.
    ‘Good-o,’ I replied, smiling across at Hamish. I wasn’t sure how to explain, and he looked puzzled under his umbrella, walking fast to keep up.
    ‘How about a race down to the old footbridge spot?’ Anja seemed to have decided ignoring Hamish was her best defence against awkwardness. ‘I’ll run in circles and you can go straight.’
    She took off then, in a wide arc around us, like a puppy that was finally unleashed. I glanced at Hamish and shrugged.
    ‘What does she want us to do?’ Hamish asked, swapping the umbrella from hand to hand.
    ‘Race. Down that way.’ I pointed down towards a big tree at a curve in the creek.
    ‘Why?’
    It was hard to explain our rain-running, or the ways we’d invented to even out our discrepancies in pace.
    ‘It’s raining,’ I said, hoping it was enough.
    ‘Why’s she running in circles?’
    I looked down at my foot. ‘To make it fair, I guess.’
    Anja stopped in front of us then, oblivious to the raindrops bouncing off her face.
    ‘Come on, Mema!’ Her eyes were bright.
    She finally spoke to Hamish, ‘Come on, flood guy!’
    ‘It’s better if we do,’ I said to him. ‘Everything is better.’
    Hamish looked from me to Anja, uncertain. A few seconds