Read The Audrey of the Outback Collection for Free Online Page B

knee over the other, then smoothed down her yellow dress. It was the only one of her three dresses that had no patches on it. She thumped her elbows on the kitchen table and pushed the pencil and paper away.
    ‘What’s the matter, Audrey?’ Mrs Barlow removed her apron and hung it behind the door.
    ‘I don’t like lessons.’
    ‘You must learn to read and write properly.’
    Audrey sighed noisily. ‘Birds don’t read or write and they get on all right.’
    ‘But all they do is fly around and look for things to eat. You’d soon be bored with that.’
    From where Audrey was sitting, the kitchen window was a square of blue sky. A black crow flew across it. Its caa, caa, caa cry made Audrey feel even more restless. She imagined skimming on a warm updraft of air. Everything on the ground would look small. Even the people. The crow was free to fly wherever it wanted. It didn’t have to do chores like emptying chookyards or fixing dunny holes. Nor did it have to do lessons.
    Somewhere outside, Toothless was walking the track, feeling the wind on his face. He would be clutching his chaff bag full of sheep jaws, dreaming about yanking their teeth.
    Also out there, swaying on the back of a dusty camel, would be her dad. Audrey pictured him with his hat-brim low, shading his eyes from the sun. His pipe would be in his mouth. Not lit. He didn’t smoke any more, but he couldn’t give up the pipe. He liked the feel of it. A bit like little Douglas when he was teething. He had chewed on a stick and wouldn’t let anyone take it from him.
    Stumpy was just outside the kitchen, humming. Audrey could hear him, but she didn’t know the tune. He wanted her to know he was there. He made noises sometimes, humming or coughing to get her attention. But she couldn’t play until lessons were over.
    ‘I don’t want to be a girl learning to write,’ she protested. ‘Fair dinkum.’
    When they were younger, she and Price sometimes ran and hid in the scrub at lesson time. But they didn’t do that any more. It wasn’t fair to run away from a mother who had a gammy leg.
    ‘What do you want to be then, Audrey?’ asked Mrs Barlow.
    Frowning, Audrey thought hard. The swagman idea hadn’t worked. Swaggies had to hunt their own food, find water and look after themselves when they were sick. At night, a swaggie had to lie in the dark, listening to all the other creatures who shared the bush. Knowing that some of them bit or chewed.
    Being a man wasn’t too good either. They blew up dunnies and singed their hair. Sure, they used words that girls were not allowed to say. But a man always had to know what he was doing. Or, at least, he had to pretend that he did. Men didn’t get to play games like hide-and-seek or have cubbyhouses and pretend pirate ships.
    Suddenly she had a new idea.

Eighteen
    Audrey looked down at the paper and pencil on the table. ‘I don’t want to be the girl having lessons. I want to be the teacher. Can I, Mum? Can I be the teacher? It’s easy. All you have to do is tell people what to do.’
    ‘Is that so?’ Her mum raised one eyebrow. ‘All right, Audrey. You might find out how hard it is for me to get you and Price to sit still.’
    She limped to the kitchen door and opened it. ‘Price,’ she called. ‘Now, please!’
    Price yelled something. His words were muffled.
    ‘Be quick,’ said Mrs Barlow. ‘Gentlemen to the left of the house, remember. Ladies to the right.’
    Audrey giggled. Since the dunny blew up, the family had to kick the bushes instead. It was a bit of a nuisance tramping out to the bushes several times a day for privacy. But Audrey didn’t mind too much. Not everyone got to explode a dunny. Audrey had already written it all down in a letter to her cousin, Jimmy, in Adelaide. He’d be so jealous.
    ‘Quick. Quick,’ said Douglas.
    ‘Can Stumpy come in for lessons too?’ Audrey asked her mum.
    ‘I don’t think so, Audrey. There aren’t enough chairs.’
    Audrey’s shoulders