Page 17 of The Cocky for Cody
I inhaled so deeply I almost swallowed my tongue. “Yes! Yes! That! Yes! There are koalas on this island?”
He laughed. “Yes there are koalas on this island. Most of Maggie is national park. We’ve got one of the biggest koala populations in the country.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I paused to add, “And don’t worry, I’ll wear sunscreen… and a hat… and a long-sleeved shirt. I promise!”
The Forts Walk was a trail leading up to a peak overlooking the sea, popular with backpackers and hikers, although on that particular day we didn’t see another soul on the deserted track. Cody explained that the fort had been built during the Second World War when the Coral Sea became a battleground between Japanese and Australian air and naval forces. The three-mile track leading up to the fort had now become one of the best places to spot koalas in their natural habitat.
“Gosh, how did anyone build this track?” I was puffing and panting and had to lean against a nearby tree. The trail was rocky and steep, and how anyone had managed to lug the materials needed to build a fort at the top of this hill in the middle of the bush was beyond me.
“With great difficulty,” was Cody’s reply. Naturally he had barely broken a sweat, while I was dripping with perspiration beneath my wide-brimmed hat and long-sleeved shirt.
Suddenly his eyes caught something in the tree above me.
Instantly I panicked, thinking that Kevin had returned. “What is it? He’s back, isn’t he? That feathered devil is back!”
Cody held up a hand to calm me. “No! Shhhh! Keep still a moment.”
“Oh fuck! It’s not a drop bear, is it?”
“No. I told you they’re not real.” He pointed above me with a smile. “But that sure is.”
With a wary look on my face, I peered above me.
There, snuggled in the crook of a branch like a teddy bear no more than three feet above my head, was the cutest, cuddliest little critter I’d ever seen in my life, sleeping peacefully in the afternoon sun.
“A koala!” I gushed so softly the words came out as nothing more than a breath of wonder. “It’s a real-life koala! Look at that ball of fluff! He’s beautiful!”
“Shhhh! Don’t wake him. Stay calm and pass me your phone. I’ll take a photo of you standing beneath him.”
I was shaking with excitement when I passed my phone to Cody, who took a step back and snapped a picture of me and the koala asleep on the branch. “That’s great, let me take another,” he said, eyes focused on the screen as he took another step back. “Perfect. One more.” He took another step back. He was getting precariously close to the shoulder of the track, the land sloping down steeply on either side of the trail.
“Cody, watch your step.”
He didn’t seem to hear me. “Aw, look at that cutie. And the koala looks pretty cuddly too,” he joked. “Just one more—”
But with one last step backward, the rocks beneath his feet gave way.
Cody’s arms flailed. “Woah!”
I raced toward him. “Cody!”
But before I could reach him, he lost his balance, setting off a small rockslide as he tumbled head over ass down the embankment on the side of the trail.
His shoulder slammed into a big old gum tree.
He ricocheted into an ant mound.
He toppled over the uneven terrain for another few meters and then—
I gasped as his head hit a rock, and there he lay, motionless, scuffed and bleeding.
“Cody!” I screamed, launching myself down the embankment as fast as I could, slipping and sliding on the rocks, through the long spiny grass, until I skidded to a halt beside him, trembling and panting with fear.
“Cody? Can you hear me?” I took his head in my hands, but there was no response. “Cody! Oh God, Cody!”
I lowered my ear to his lips and felt his warm, shallow breaths.
I looked around for my phone which was no longer in his hand.
