Imagine That: Bruised hero

"Yes, but I want you to stay together in teams and walk. Got that? Walk. And stay together."

Miss Trollop blew the whistle and all the kids charged through the doors. The older ones ran through the mud and across the bridge, spattering each other as they slapped their feet down. They yelled and whooped as they headed for the bushwalk gate. Far behind them came the younger kids, and Tamzina, who wanted to be carried.

"No," said Mr Gamper, "You have to walk. That's why it's called a "bush walk.'"

"But I'm tired."

"You can't be tired yet. We've only just started."

"My feet are wet."

"Have you got any dry socks?"

"No."

"You'll just have to put up with it then."

Miss Trollop waited at the bridge as Tamzina caught up. The sky was grey with cloud and a fresh breeze was beginning to sway the trees and ruffle their leaves. A few small spots of rain fell, like cold dots.

It was not a good time for bush walking. The track was partly gutter, partly ditch. Some lengths of it were washed away altogether, while other bits were covered in a thick cream of brown-orange mud. It looked delicious but nobody ate any. The kids ploughed through the sticky obstacles with gusto. They threw mud at each other, and fell over in it. They ran back and forth, skating on it. Daniel stuffed it into all his pockets. Elizabeth made cakes with it and left them in a row along a log, until John hit them all off with a mossy stick.

The boys at the front collected everything they saw. Soon their arms were wide like hoops, encircling the heaps of branches, leaves, sticks and twigs they had wrenched, ripped and smashed from the sides of the track. They puffed and sweated as they lugged their loads back to the camp and dropped them down in untidy heaps on the floor.

About an hour later, the rest of the kids arrived, each with his or her modest handful of leaves. They stood along the sides of the piles of native bush in wonder, as Miss Trollop struggled through the mud past the bus. The pot-bellied driver watched her with disinterest as she passed.

"Can we have something to eat now?"

"Daniel stole my leaves!"

"I found a feather. Does that count?"