Page 18 of The Cocky for Cody
I saw sunlight glinting off the screen of my cell phone a few meters back up the embankment and scrambled for it.
When I picked the phone up, I saw the screen was shattered, the phone lifeless and useless.
I slid back down to Cody and reached into the backpack which was still on his back. I fumbled for his phone, pulled it out, but realized I didn’t know his password. I held it to his face, placed his finger on it, but he hadn’t set the phone to facial or fingerprint recognition.
I was stranded without any way to call for help except—
“Help!Somebodyhelp!”
Heaving for air I crawled back up to the track. I looked up and down and saw nobody.
“Help! We need help!” I continued to call as loud as I could, but my cries simply echoed away into the bush and vanished. The only creature that seemed to hear me was the koala in the tree who woke momentarily, gave me a lazy look, then decided to go back to sleep.
I thought about racing back down the trail for help, but then glanced at Cody lying unconscious in the grass, a sitting duck for snakes or spiders or scorpions or God only knew what else.
I couldn’t leave him alone.
But I didn’t know what else to do.
I wasn’t the world traveler he was, resourceful and brave and able to survive any predicament the world threw at him. I was wondering why I’d ever decided to leave the safety of my nook in Mulligan’s Mill… why on earth I’d thought I could take on an adventure like Cody could. Then from above—
“Squark!What’s the matter princess? Stub your toe on a rock?”
I looked up, and there on a branch above me was Kevin.
I’d never been so happy to see that sadistic little fucker. “Kevin! Cody’s had a fall. I need help!”
Kevin’s usual sarcastic, abusive tone shifted instantly. “What? What’s happened to Cody? What have you done to him?”
I pointed down the embankment.
Immediately Kevin spread his wings and swooped down to Cody.
I followed, slipping and sliding back down the hill.
By the time I reached them, Kevin was sitting on Cody’s chest, swaying back and forth and bobbing his head up and down in a panic. “Cody! Cody! Wake up!” He looked at me and flared his head feathers furiously. “What did you do? Did you murder him? Murderer!Squark!Murderer!”
“No, I didn’t touch him. He slipped. He was taking photos and he slipped. Kevin, I know you and I have had our differences, but I need your help right now. You need to get help! You need to find someone to come and help us!”
“Find someone? Like who?”
“A doctor. The police.” I suddenly remembered—“Bazza! Do you know who Bazza is?”
“Of course I do.Squark!”
“Kevin, you need to find Bazza! Go find Bazza!”
With a puff of his chest and a shimmer of feathers that reminded me of Aunt Bea about to save the day, Kevin screeched and soared into the sky.
I watched him disappear into the distance, then rested Cody’s head in my lap. “It’s okay, babe,” I murmured. “Help will be coming soon. I hope. Unless Kevin’s about to play another one of his tricks on us. In which case we’re probably gonna die out here. Which reminds me…” I reached into his backpack again. “I should probably reapply some sunscreen. Nobody wants to go to their grave looking like Peppa Pig.”
Thankfully, Kevin wasn’t playing another one of his tricks on us.
Within half an hour, not only had he returned with Bazza from the police station, but he’d also brought with him the island’s doctor and several others to help carry Cody up the embankment and down the Forts Walk trail.
Cody regained consciousness later that day in the emergency room at the small but well-equipped medical center on the island. The doctor diagnosed him with a mild concussion andwanted to keep him overnight for observation, but apart from a nasty bump on the head, Cody was going to be alright.
“I’ll give the two of you some space,” the doctor said as he exited the room, closing the door behind him.
