Leaving No Footprints

By Elaine Forrestal

Then Kip gets angry too. ‘You just don’t know what it’s like. ‘
’What?‘
Our eyes blaze at each other. He looks away. ‘I have to watch my back, that’s all,’ he says, more gently.
Henny can’t work Kip out. Where is his fam­ily? Where does he live? Why do waves of sad­ness and anger some­times over­take him?
The answers to these questions only come when the two friends’ boat is trapped in a dark storm. In the urgent battle to survive, the limits of friendship and trust will be stretched to breaking point.

The holiday setting, the sense of freedom that the two children enjoy ... the adven­tures they have and the general feeling that they can work ... Julie Long — Reading Time

“You’ll have to read this exciting book for yourself and make up your own mind about what happens to Kip in the end.” - The West Australian Ed Magazine

“Another sensitive and compassionate story about children dealing with difficult issues in their daily lives” ... Dani Colvin The Sunday Tasmanian

“The author is skilful at developing the different but complimentary characters of Kip and Henny ... The smell and sounds of the sea, the sand.” ... Anne Hanzl — Magpies

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elaine Forrestal
• Release date: Apr 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476026589

Book preview

LEAVING NO FOOTPRINTS ©

by

Elaine Forrestal

© 2001

eBook Version 1.0

ELAINE

FORRESTAL

Elaine Forrestal is a full-time writer of fiction for all ages.

She lives and works in Scarborough, a beach suburb of Perth, Western Australia, but has travelled extensively and lived in France and Northern Ireland.

She has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award and been shortlisted for many other awards in Australia and the UK.

For more information go to: www.elaineforrestal.com.au

ALSO BY

ELAINE

FORRESTAL

The Watching Lake

Straggler’s Reef

Someone Like Me

Graffiti on the Fence

Winning

Black Jack Anderson

Books in the Eden Glassie Mystery Series:

Deep Water

Stone Circle

Black Earth

Wild Wind

DEDICATION

For Peter, ten years on …

To all those other survivors – bon courage.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks to Nigel Milan, Managing Director of SBS Corporation, for his prompt and generous response to my request for research material; to Lee, Cameron, Scott and Daniel for conducting the Beet Street Survey; and to Ric Thompson of the WA Water Police for patiently providing answers to all my questions. Also to Moira Robinson, Julie Watts and Sandy Webster for their challenging and helpful comments and the quality of their editing.

I have had tremendous support and encouragement from Lyndey Milan, Ronnie, Peta, Katherine and Nick Bennetts, Lesley Reece, Mailee Clark, Kylie Powell and the team from the Fremantle Children's Literature Centre; Susan Hayes, the WA State Literature Officer; Allanah Lucas, Robin Ho and Gary Chard at Arts WA; and everyone at the WA Branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia.

For the beautiful, perceptive artwork on the covers of Someone Like Me, Graffiti on the Fence, Leaving no Footprints and Winning I thank Gregory Rogers.

First published by Penguin Books Australia, 2001

Copyright © Elaine Forrestal, 2001.

ETEXT PRESS PUBLISHING

PO Box 3488, Joondalup,

Western Australia, 6027

Australia

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LEAVING NO FOOTPRINTS

AN ETEXT PRESS BOOK

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 978-1-921968-12-9

This edition published by eText Press Publishing Pty Ltd 2011.

Copyright © Elaine Forrestal 2001

Copyright © eText Press 2011

Elaine Forrestal has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and any and all other applicable international copyright laws to be identified as the sole author of this original work.

This book is a work of fiction and all characters in it are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This eBook (electronic book) is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, transmission or otherwise, be redistributed, sold or hired, without the publisher’s prior written consent. Further, this eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by the applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

First published by Penguin Books Australia, 2001.

Chapter 1

Yey! Fourteen days at the beach without my bossy big brothers. This is going to be the best holiday ever!

Todd is staying home because Uncle Bob is paying him money to fill up people's cars at his petrol station. Hal has gone on a school trip to Mauritius. And I can do what I want, for once. Mum and Dad let us do most things as long as we promise to stay together. But Todd and Hal always want to go surfing at the main beach. Have you seen those waves? They're gi-normous!

And the boys never want to go beachcombing. Or looking for dinosaur eggs in the sand hills. You know those three kids who had their photo in the paper? They found a dinosaur egg at the beach. And the museum paid them a heap of money for it. Only Todd and Hal reckon it's just a waste of good surfing time doing stuff like that.

Our holiday unit is right on the bay. We come here every year. I know Mum and Dad think it's perfect. You can see the whole beach from our balcony. So they can doze in their deck chairs and not feel guilty about letting us go off on our own.

'I am not dozing!' Dad says. 'I'm doing some very important research.'

'He's studying the backs of his eyelids,' Mum explains.

It's no big deal. It's sort of sheltered here. And we all swim like fish. We know every centimetre of this beach. It's a 'dog exercise area'. There are just the regulars, with their dogs, and a few people fishing. It never gets crowded like the main beach. 'Anyone who likes dogs enough to swim at the dog-beach can be trusted with the crown jewels,' Mum always says. Anyway, we've had all the 'stranger danger' lectures.

There's this weird kid on the beach today, though. He's just sitting next to his surfboard and staring out to sea. His dog wanders around, sniffing, and having play fights with other dogs. It finds a bit of driftwood, chews on it for a while, then bounces up and dumps it in front of the kid.

He doesn't move. The dog stares at the kid's face and shoves the stick closer. And closer. When the stick touches the kid's leg he picks it up and throws it into the water. The dog fetches it and brings it straight back. It's one of those dogs with a permanent smile on its face and a tail that goes round in circles.

The wind swings to the west. The waves curl into long tunnels of pale green sunlight. I run down from the balcony and pick up my surfboard at the bottom of the stairs. By the time I get into the water, that kid is already out there, catching