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think we'd
kidnapped their kids. Then we'd be sent to prison. And it'd be all
Charlie's fault.
    Charlie got so confident he told them that
the aliens gave the Aboriginal people Uluru as a gift. And after
the aliens had finished in Australia, they flew off to Egypt in
their spaceship and gave the Pyramids to the Egyptians.
    I could tell those two boys had never heard
of the Pyramids. But it didn't matter to them. They totally
believed everything Charlie said.
    He finished by saying, "Don't tell anyone,
okay? It's our secret. I'm going to sell the story to TV and make
lots of money."
    The boys nodded and ran off with big smiles
like they knew the biggest secret ever.
    "That's not fair." I pointed my finger at
Charlie. "Any idiot could fool two five-year-old kids."
    "They were six. I asked them."
    "That doesn't count," I said as we walked
back to the track. I was so mad. Charlie always cheated.
    He huffed. "You agreed we just had to
convince someone. If you meant an
adult, you should have said so."
    I huffed. He was right as usual. Not that
I'd admit it.
    "You think up the next competition."
    "I will." We reached the track and kept
going. Some bits were flat and easy and in some bits you had to
climb over rocks. I had to be very careful choosing the next
competition, because Charlie was older, taller and stronger. I had
to choose a game where he didn't have an advantage. We reached
another flat section. They were the best parts. And in some places
we could see over the whole canyon. It mightn't have been the Grand
Canyon, but it was pretty amazing. There were small posts along the
path, just every now and again. They were a bit weird. It was like
they were there to jump over. They didn't have a sign stuck to them
or anything. I was checking out one of the posts when a brilliant
idea sped across the dark side of the galaxy and flashed into my
head.
     
    I collected a bunch of rocks and shoved them
in my pockets. "Okay," I said to Charlie, "here's what we're going
to do. The first person to hit the rock sitting on top of three
different posts wins."
    "Easy." Charlie grinned as if there wasn't a
chance he could lose.
    I placed a rock on top of the first post. We
both got back a fair way and waited till there was no one nearby.
Charlie threw three times and missed every time.
    Then I threw and I knocked it off first
time. I know - I'm smart and skillful.
    Charlie muttered something about luck.
    I said nothing. I'd just let him sweat.
    At the next post, I went first. I hit it off
on the third go. If Charlie hit it off on the first or second go,
then he'd win. He had his turn and the closest he got was hitting
the side of the post. He was getting real mad with himself; I could
tell. Charlie hated losing more than anything.
    "Well," he said, "you won that one. We're
even." He gave me a real sneaky look and said, "It's my turn to
choose the next competition. This one will be easy. Whoever gets
closest to the edge of the canyon wins."
    "Yeah, easy," I said.

3. SAVED
AGAIN
    W e had to wait till there
wasn't anyone around. Charlie said someone might think we'd made a
suicide pact if they saw us standing right on the edge of the
canyon and they might start screaming. We found a really good spot
where we could see most of the canyon. Charlie stood on top of a
rock and looked out to see that no one was coming along the
track.
    I called out to him, "The problem with this
competition is that we can both win it. Then we'll have to think up
another competition. And by that time, Mom and Dad will have caught
up to us."
    "Nah, one of us will win."
    He was always so sure about everything. He
was the biggest know-it-all in the world. He jumped down from the
rock and we went over to the edge.
    It was one humungous hole. Beneath me I
could see a small tree trying to grow out of the side of the
canyon. I wished I had wings so I could fly over the canyon and
eventually drift down to the bottom. Our feet were a few
centimeters from the edge when Charlie