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chin with it. ‘Yours and Marceline’s ideas are good,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps we can do both?’ She smiled at the class. ‘Yes. I’ll contact the RFDS and let them know what our plans are. I think they will be thrilled that we’re doing two different fundraisers.’
    Marceline glared at Josh.

    â€˜Hey Dad,’ said Josh as his father dropped onto a kitchen chair. ‘Got some news.’
    Dad stretched, yawned and leaned back, closing his eyes. Josh was making dinner for them tonight. He was sick of baked beans, so he had offered to cook. Bacon and eggs on toast was usually more of a breakfast thing, but it was something he knew how to make, and something he really liked.
    â€˜Dad?’ said Josh, when his father hadn’t responded.
    Dad opened his eyes with a sigh. ‘Yeah, what is it?’
    â€˜We talked about the fundraising ideas at school today,’ said Josh, as he pushed the bacon to one side of the pan and crackedthe eggs into the sizzling fat. ‘And we’re gonna do my idea.’
    â€˜That’s great, son.’ Dad stifled another yawn.
    The toast sprung out of the toaster with a little metallic clang.
    â€˜We’re showing The Flying Doctors mini-series at the drive-in,’ continued Josh, when he realised his dad wasn’t going to ask him about it. ‘We’ll be making posters and flyers. Not just for the locals. We’re also going to … target the tourist dollar.’
    â€˜I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,’ said Dad. ‘Sounds like an awful lot of work. Don’t forget you’ve got chores here too. I don’t want them falling off.’
    â€˜Don’t worry. I’ll do my chores.’ Josh tried to sound responsible. ‘I’ve alreadydone this month’s muck out of the chook shed. The poddy calves are doing well. I took the trail bike out and checked the north fence today. All good. And I’ll check the south fence tomorrow. I’m keeping the kitchen clean while Mum is away. And dinner is ready.’
    Josh buttered the toast and served up the bacon and eggs. He hung back for a while, the mention of Mum reminding him how much he missed her and how worried he still was. He bit at his lip and tried to push his anxiety away before sitting down at the table with Dad. He took a deep breath. ‘Will you come to the show?’
    â€˜I don’t know, son,’ said Dad, shovelling food into his mouth. He continued to talk. ‘I’ve got a lot on my plate. And yourmother’s not here. Not even sure when she’ll be getting home with your brother.’
    Josh looked down at his own plate. He’d lost his appetite. He had planned to quiz Dad about how Nate was doing, hoping to get some more details … but now decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
    After Dad finished eating, he went to bed, leaving Josh to wash up.

The next week was a blur of activity. Josh tried to focus as much as he could on the fundraiser. It kept his mind occupied with something positive, and while it didn’t stop him worrying about Mum and Nate, it did push the anxiety into the background.
    Not just the Grade 6 class was involved. The whole school got behind the fundraisingprojects. But Marceline seemed determined to turn it into a competition and to come out the winner.
    Josh and his friends worked hard. They drew posters. They created a flyer, which the school photocopied so they could hand it out to people.
    Marceline did that too. Her posters were larger and more colourful. Her flyers were professionally designed because her dad was a graphic artist.
    Josh got one of the kids in the class to make a page to put on the school’s website. Marceline got her dad to register a domain name and create a whole website.
    Marceline set the date of the market for Friday in two weeks. Ratchet suggested having the screening on Friday, Saturdayand Sunday