Crab Apples: Part 4

By GED MAYBURY

Randy set off at speed, skirting the dead end of the creek on the seaward side and heading back inland towards the main road on the far side.

"Hey," called Beau suddenly from across the way, "if you see any more ..?"

"Yeah, okay!" he called back cheerfully. Like sure: I'll just drag around bits of rotting crap for ya, Beau, and smell like a dead whale. Sure.

But as it happened he did find some, snagged low in the vegetation near where the road bridge crossed the creek, and it was quite dry and clean-smelling too. He took it, figuring it would save him being stunk out while Beau did arty things to her grotty old 'found object' for the rest of this dead-end, dead-boring holiday in dead-end, dead-boring Haulaway Bay.

It wasn't such a bad place, really, and it would have been great if he'd had more money, or if his parents had a speedboat or something. But he'd already done his dough down at the video game place. At least it was not like the Zap-Zone back in his home town. He had been banned for life from the Zap-Zone by the guy who owned it _ a really nasty piece of work called Barry Boyd.

That's one plus about this holiday, he had to admit to himself, at least I don't have to be in Boyd-Avoid Mode every day.

Publisher: Scholastic

Price: $13.95

Age group: 11 plus years