Lara had always wished she was a dog, and one day, just for a short time, she actually became one.
This is how it happened.
It was on a day when Lara was going with her mother to work, because it was the school holidays. They had to get up very early in the pale morning to take first the bus, then the long train journey along the snaking tracks while the engine buzzed and the train stopped and started again at station after station. Lara thought it would never end. Finally they burst, the two of them, out of the train, down the escalator and into the dazzling wideness of Circular Quay and the row of wharves with ferries moving in and out like slow dancers across the glassy harbour.
Lara breathed in the salty air and the sunshine burned her throat and she felt like she was floating.
Flying! Now the sky was blue, not white, and the air was warm and would only become warmer.
‘Quickly,’ said Lara’s mother, ‘and we’ll just make it.’
So they rushed through the turnstiles, their bags bouncing, hanging onto their hats, down to where their ferry was waiting impatiently, pulling on its mooring.
Lara and her mother crossed the gangplank onto the ferry. Lara wanted to run up and across the curving metal bridge by herself, but her mother held her hand tightly in case she fell over into the waves below. It was impossible, as the barrier on either side of the gangplank was too high, unless Lara took it into her head to dive over the edge. She didn’t mind her mother’s grasp. She liked the feel of the familiar fingers wrapped around her own, like a rope she could hold onto and use to pull herself upwards, out of the depths, if she had to.
The deckhand shouted, trundled in the gangplank and a horn blew a long whinnying cry. The ferry broke loose from the wharf and pushed out onto the waves and as the ground moved beneath her, Lara felt as if she was heading into another world.
The muddle of passengers dashed to find seats, indoors, out on the deck, up the stairs. Lara felt something stab her inside as she saw her mother heading for one of the indoor seats.
‘Can’t we sit outside?’ she cried. ‘Please!’
She couldn’t bear to be stuck in the stuffy grey room with the small windows and the heat and hum of the motor. She had to be outside – to be free!
‘Yes, all right,’ said Lara’s mother. She had already taken out her book from her bag, ready to sit and read. ‘Off you go, then, and find us a spot.’
Lara ran out onto the deck.
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