"How long will we be on the road?" Asked Phil.

"If you're not walking like 100 year olds, it should take us an hour." Malcolm said. I laughed and walked next to him.

"Mal?"

"Mh?"

"How do you know the way?" He pulled a map from his vest and unfolded it as we walked on. "How can you read this?" He explained everything to me. "So do we have to go this way?"

"Yes."

"How can you do that?"

"Grandpa taught me." I nodded. At some point I started whining.

"I don't want to go anymore." I whimpered. I had big blisters on my verses that hurt with every step. Mal stopped and bent down. "What are you doing?"

"Sit on my shoulders." I did it slowly. Mal got up again. I put my hands on his head and he took the suitcase. We went on like this. Cliff looked at me enviously and I enjoyed it. At some point I got really tired and suddenly fell asleep. How could he just carry me like that?

*

When I woke up again, I was lying on a blanket. We were alone in a piece of forest. In front of me was a fully erected tent, in front of which I could see Mal's suitcase. Phil, Cliff, and Bon tried to pitch a tent, but couldn't. I laughed at them. Mal came out of the tent.

"Hey, already awake?" He asked gently, caressing my cheek. I blushed a little but nodded. "Who do you want to go into the tent with? To the boys or to me? Mine is smaller, so you can put another one in and three can fit in the other."

"Can I be in one with you?" I asked with doggie eyes. He giggled, took my hand and pulled me into the green tent. Nothing was done yet. Only his suitcase was in front of the tent entrance.

"How do you want to sleep?" I looked at him questioningly. "Either we lie down so that we can see the entrance or that we are looking at the wall. So across." I thought for a moment.

"To the entrance, right?"

"Okay." He nodded and went to his trunk. He pulled out two thin mattresses.

"What is that?" I asked. He unscrewed a valve and blew in twice. The mattresses puffed themselves up. He put them side by side in the tent. Then he unwrapped two pillows. He put one down on each one, as well as a blanket. I lay down on the mattress. "Aw. It's so soft." I raved. Mal giggled and got my suitcase, which he put in front of my mattress. He did the same with his. He took out a pair of pajamas and placed them on his pillow. Also an alarm clock that he set between us. I opened my suitcase and checked what was inside. Food. I looked at Mal questioningly because he had packed the suitcase. He pushed his suitcase towards me.

"Here. The laundry is in my suitcase. Yours too." I pulled out my things and put them next to my mattress. Once empty, we put the suitcase in the corner.

"You really thought of everything." I grinned. Mal giggled.

"Do you think the others are already done?" He asked.

"I don't know. I don't think so. Did you pitch the tent yourself?"

"Yes. It was not hard. But I didn't feel like helping the others because they didn't want to help me either." I giggled a little. We went out of the tent and Mal closed it behind us.

"Why are you closing?" I asked.

"I don't want to sleep with spiders and reptiles." He laughed. The others had almost pitched the tent.

"How long have they been doing this?" I whispered to him.

"Two hours." Mal grinned and turned away. "We're going to get firewood!" The boys shouted synchronously:

"Alright!" So we started. I collected little sticks. Mal watched me amused.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Because what you're collecting doesn't do anything."

"Then what do I have to collect?" He picked up a large branch and broke it in half. He gave it to me. "Like this."

"Then why do you collect cones?"

"Because we need something to harness." I nodded thoughtfully. It was getting dark. Had we been on the road for more than an hour? There was a rustle in the bush and I winced. Mal noticed that. He looked into the distance and began to smile.

"What is?" I asked aloud.

"Sh." He pressed his indexfinger to his lips. So I should be quiet. He held out his hand and I took it. He pulled me in front of a bush and pointed to the river there. There were a lot of kangaroos there. I was shaking with fear because they were really very dangerous. Mal pulled me to himself. "They don't mind us if we don't attack or frighten them." I nodded slowly and watched the little kangaroos frolic in the water. Mal stroked my curls. I smiled. I loved him so much. But no one should ever know! I leaned back against his chest. He automatically put his arms around me because we had put the wood on the floor in front of us. I loved being in his arms. After a while, Mal whispered in my ear:
"We should go back. It's almost dark and the boys will be hungry." I nodded and picked up the wood again. We went back to where the others had finally managed to pitch the tent. Mal started the fire and then we fried sausages over the fire.