Koala Calamity

“I was?” said Dude, stifling a yawn. “Oh, right, I was. I was having this really weird dream too.”

“Oh, yeah?” said Bro.

“Yeah,” said Dude. “Dreamt I was a trampoline.”

Bro was puzzled. “You mean, you were on a trampoline?”

“No,” said Dude. “I dreamt I was a trampoline.”

“That was me jumping up and down on your tummy!” said Squirt.

“Heh-heh-heh,” chuckled Bro.

Dude looked at Squirt. “What d’ya do that for?”

“To wake you up!” said Squirt. “We all fell asleep!”

Dude and Bro turned to each other and shrugged.

“What’s the problem?” said Bro.

“We weren’t supposed to!” said Squirt.

“We weren’t?” said Dude.

“They’ve all gone!” said Squirt, beginning to get more and more agitated.

Dude was beginning to get more and more puzzled. “Who’s gone?”

“Ma! Pa! Everyone!”

“Ohhhh!” said Bro. “You mean…”

Squirt nodded vigorously. “All the other koalas! We missed the truck to the big zoo! It’s nearly lunchtime!”

“Nearly lunchtime?” said Dude, suddenly perking up. “Excellent!”

“It’s not excellent!” said Squirt. “It’s… it’s… it’s… whatever the opposite of excellent is!”

“Unexcellent?” suggested Dude.

“Yes! Exactly. So what are we gonna do?” said Squirt, looking at his big brother.

Bro thought for a moment. But only a moment. “Chillax, Squirt. Let’s all just catch a few rays. Everything will be cool.”

“Chillax?” said Squirt, getting more and more agitated. “How am I supposed to chillax? We’ve missed the truck! We were supposed to be going to the big zoo! We’ve been left behind!”

“I totally hear what you’re saying, mini-dude,” said Dude, helping himself to a eucalyptus branch. “But d’ya reckon this can wait till after lunch?”

“No, it can not wait till after lunch!” squeaked Squirt. “We’ve got to do something! Now!”

“Do something?” said Bro, utterly horrified.

“Whoa,” said Dude.

“Are you serious?” said Bro.

“Of course I’m serious!” said Squirt. “Ma and Pa are going to be worried sick! And Ma’s having a baby, remember?”

“Aw, yeah,” said Dude. “The little feller’s right. Your ma’s having a joey any time now, Bro.”

“I know that!” snapped Bro.

“I know you know that, Bro,” said Dude. “I was just saying…”

“Well, don’t, Dude,” said Bro.

“Stop arguing, you two!” said Squirt, acting more like a big brother than a little one.

“Yeah, Dude,” said Bro. “Stop arguing.”

“No, you stop arguing, Bro,” said Dude.

“No, you stop arguing, Dude,” said Bro.

“BOTH OF YOU STOP ARGUING!” yelled Squirt.

“Cool,” said Dude and Bro, together.

Squirt sighed and gave himself a scratch. Scratching was good. Not only did it feel nice, but it also helped Squirt to think. And boy, did Squirt need to think!

By now the sun had risen even higher in the cloudless blue sky. Below, visitors were beginning to tuck into picnics, seemingly unconcerned by the lack of koalas. Luckily, there was much more to The Acacia Koala Sanctuary than just koalas. There were kangaroos and wallabies, platypus and wombats, dingoes, snakes, crocodiles, Tasmanian devils – and not forgetting some extremely noisy birds!

“SQUAWK! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!” went the sulphur-crested cockatoo.

“Put a sock in it, beaky!” cried Bro.

“Yeah, some of us are trying to sleep here,” said Dude.

Squirt glared at Dude.

“Not me, obviously,” said Dude quickly.

“SQUAWK!” went the sulphur-crested cockatoo again, clearly getting very excited about something it had seen.

Squirt looked down and straightaway saw what it was. The buggy was on its way. The buggy full of food.

“It’s the keeper!” said Squirt excitedly.