The Forgotten Pearl Read Online Free PDF

Manly. We swim all the time – but there we don’t need to worry about man-eating crocodiles or poisonous jellyfish!’
    Poppy grabbed Maude’s ankle again, dragging her under. Maude spluttered to the surface.
    â€˜The crocs mostly stick to the rivers, and it’s a bit early for box jellyfish, but did I tell you about the sharks?’ cried Poppy, glancing around with a worried frown. Maude’s head jerked around, searching for fins.
    Poppy splashed her. ‘Only kidding!’
    Poppy glanced back towards the shore, where something unexpected caught her eye: a dark shape breaking the water, then disappearing. Poppy frowned. The dark shadow broke the surface again, then subsided, sinking without a trace.
    Without pausing to explain, Poppy raced towards the beach, showering Maude with a powerful kick. Maude waited a moment, then chased after her friend.
    Close to shore, Poppy dived under water momentarily, then her sleek, dark head reappeared. She dived again and again. Poppy resurfaced with a gasp, flipped on her back and swam to shore, hugging something to her chest with one arm. She kicked urgently, powering to the beach.
    By the time Maude reached the sand, Poppy had dragged a small, limp body from the water.
    â€˜Hello, can you hear me?’ Poppy begged, squeezing the child’s hand. ‘Are you all right?’
    Poppy took a few seconds, checking for breath and a pulse.
    It was a child – a girl about five years old – and she wasn’t breathing. Poppy ran her fingers through the girl’s mouth, searching for any obstructions, such as seaweed or mud. Poppy thought back to the resuscitation instructions her parents had taught her. First, she lifted the girl by the waist to drain the seawater from her throat.
    Then she lay the girl face-down on the sand, head resting on her forearm. Poppy straddled the limp body, placing both of her own hands in the middle of the girl’s back, then concentrated on rocking herself back and forth, pushing all her weight down on the patient and then releasing rhythmically.
    Poppy could feel the panic welling up inside her. The girl might die! What if I can’t save her? What if I’m pushing too hard or not hard enough? Why isn’t Mum here?
    Poppy took a deep breath and willed herself to be calm.
    Focus, Poppy told herself sternly . Okay, breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
    â€˜What are you doing, Poppy?’ demanded Maude, panicking.
    â€˜She’s not breathing, Maude,’ replied Poppy, continuing to rock back and forth on her palms. ‘I’m pushing the air out of her lungs with my weight, then releasing the lungs so they can drag in air. My father taught me how to do it – the Schaefer method.’
    â€˜Is it working?’ asked Maude.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ admitted Poppy. ‘Mum says it can take hours – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.’
    â€˜Is there something I can do?’
    â€˜Get help,’ gasped Poppy, continuing her rhythmic pumping. ‘Get my mum.’
    Maude picked up her towel and sprinted up the beach.
    â€˜Shinju!’ screamed a voice from the path. ‘Shinju!’
    Mrs Murata ran down the beach, her face creased in fear. Poppy paused to check the girl’s chest – nothing. Maude stopped and turned back towards them all, reluctant to leave.
    Mrs Murata collapsed in the sand beside the inert body. Poppy kept rocking, forcing air into Shinju’s lungs.
    â€˜Poppy pulled her from the water –’ Maude began to explain.
    â€˜Doctor Trehearne,’ Mrs Murata gasped, clutching at her shirt, tears rolling down her face. ‘We need Doctor Trehearne.’
    â€˜I’m on my way,’ Maude assured her. She took off again, her feet kicking up puffs of soft sand as she raced towards the path to Myilly Point.
    Poppy continued rocking back and forth for a few more minutes when suddenly Shinju began