Drain Surfing

by Claire Saxby

Chapter One

"A car tire tube?"

"Yep."

"In a drain?"

"Yep."

"In the rain?"

"Yep."

"And you call it surfing?"

"Yep."

"Right." Jai shook his head. Carlo had lost it. This was a weird idea of fun. They'd been walking for almost fifteen minutes, turning left then right, right then left. Jai knew he'd never find his way home from here. The rain made everything look gray. Gray ground, gray buildings, gray air, gray sky. Even the rain looked gray. He hoisted the tube higher. He had to keep following Carlo. He had no choice. Carrying these stupid tubes. And Jai'd said this was the shortcut. How could the long way be any longer? Jai wiped his hand across his face.

Carlo climbed through a hole in a fence.

"Not much further now," said Carlo.

Jai said nothing, just clenched his jaw tight. There was a bend up ahead. If they didn't stop there, Jai was turning back. He'd find his way home somehow.

They reached the bend. There was the drain. A wide, deep, open concrete drain. As gray as the day.

"We might have to wait a bit," said Carlo.

Jai looked down. There was a trickle of water running through the middle. From here, it looked to be about ankle deep. It was moving fast, but surfing? Huh! They'd come all this way and now they had to stand in the rain and wait?

Carlo slid-walked down the drain side. Jai followed. They stepped into the water and faced up stream. The flow was stronger than it looked and splashed up to their knees.
There seemed to be more water now they were in it. More than there had seemed from the edge of the drain. Either that or it was rising fast. The stream was now about as wide as a car.

Carlo stopped.

"Nah, this'll be fine. All you do is sit on the tube, lean back and hold on." Carlo pointed at some graffiti on the drain wall. "Wait until I get to there and then you go." He stood in the water, facing downstream. He sat down on the tube and lifted his legs. In seconds, Carlo reached the graffiti and gave the thumbs-up. Then he disappeared around a bend.
Jai stood in the stream. The water was getting deeper, up to his knees now. He put the tube behind him and sat. In the water. Minus the tube. The tube slid sideways up onto the concrete. Jai felt his face go red. At least Carlo was gone and there was no one else around.

Stupid idea. Stupid place.

Chapter Two

He grabbed the tube and stood up. This time he held the tube tighter. He sat again, a bit slower. He could feel the ground under the tube. He was sitting on the bottom again, but at least he was on the tube. The water rushed around him. He leant back a bit, lifted his feet and began to move.

Cool. This could be cool. Not like surfing, but cool.

He rode the flow, bouncing and swaying. He reached the bend and saw Carlo. Carlo was moving from side to side, like a snake. The water was wider where he was. A side drain tunnel was emptying into this one. He reached the place where the tunnel water joined in.

He was pushed right, then swept back across to the other side.

"Whoa!" This was out of control. He rolled and rocked, back and across. Then the flow steadied. Ahead he could see more drains on both sides. He watched Carlo. Carlo seemed to lean just before he hit the wild water. He was using his body to steer the tube.

Jai leaned to the left. He moved left. He leaned to the right. He moved right. As he hit the next drain-flow he leaned the way Carlo had. He shot across the water.

"Wild!" He could feel his heart pounding. It was like riding a wave, only not. In a quiet patch between side-drains, he looked ahead. The rain had stopped. Carlo was holding his legs out of the water and spinning around and around.

Jai tried. He nearly tipped off. He tried again and got stuck backwards. Freaky! He twisted around and moved forwards again. He glanced at Carlo. Then stared.

Carlo was headed into a tunnel. As he watched, Carlo disappeared into the darkness.

The tunnel was bigger than the side ones that he'd seen so far. Still, the closer Jai got, the faster his breathing became. The tunnel was dark. Black-hole-dark. Way-too-small-black-hole-dark. Jai could hear Carlo, whooping and yelling. It wasn't mad panic, I'm-gonna-die type yelling. It was the same noise he made when they were skateboarding and he was flying down a wall. The sound echoed and bounced from the tunnel.

It must be okay, thought Jai. Carlo's okay.

A second later, Jai plunged into the darkness of the tunnel.

Chapter Three

It didn't feel okay. The water seemed to be flowing faster and everything sounded weird. Carlo's voice seemed to come from behind him and in front of him and above him. Even the water sounds echoed. Jai rocked from side to side. He hit his head on the wall, then hit his feet on the other side. He was sure any minute he was going to be upside down. It was like being dumped by a wave and not knowing which way was up. The roof of the tunnel seemed way too close. He clung tightly to the tube and tried to keep his body in line with the flow. It helped a bit. Something rough scraped skin from his fingers but he held on.

He was going to kill Carlo. If he made it through here.

Jai looked ahead. There was a circle of light, getting bigger. The end. There was an end.

He let out his breath.

He burst into the light, landing with a splash. He squinted at the sudden brightness. He was in a large pool. Carlo was at the edge of the pool, grinning.

"Wild, hey!"

"Wild," agreed Jai. "Does it ever fill right up?"

"Nah. But there's a mark on the wall, about half way up," said Carlo. "If you can't see the mark, don't get in the water."

"Why?"

"Too dangerous. The water goes so fast, you'd be out at sea before you slowed down."

Jai was silent. Faster than this?

"I should have warned you about the tunnel," Carlo said. "It can be a bit weird the first time. There are three more tunnels close together, right at the end, but they're not so long." He was paddling towards the middle of the pool.

"Anything else you want to tell me about?" asked Jai. But Carlo didn't hear him. The current had picked him up and he was speeding away.

Chapter Four

Even without paddling, Jai was moving closer to the middle, drawn by the current. Ahead he could see Carlo. The water was really wide, wider than a road. It must be deep too. It was almost up to where the side tunnels let in. They were pouring water now, like mini-waterfalls. The water pushed deep under the surface and made whirlpools.

Carlo was spinning and spinning. Jai leaned to the left, then straightened up as he nearly tipped. He leaned right and spun around.

"Whoa." He tried it again, faster this time. He came out of the spin and shot across the current. "Wwwwhhhooooaaa!" He could feel his fingers and toes tingling. This was WILD!

He caught up with Carlo. They held onto each other's tubes and did a double spin. And again. Then Carlo let go. He sped across the water so fast he looked like a skipping stone. They linked again and again, taking turns to ride the water.

Carlo pointed and Jai saw the tunnel. He let Carlo go ahead and took another deep breath.

Carlo disappeared again and seconds later, Jai was in the tunnel too. But Carlo was right, this was much shorter than the first one. He sped through and burst again into light.

Before he had time to adjust to the light, he was in darkness again. The second and third tunnels were even shorter. Jai was spewed out into another large pool. Here, the water seemed to slow right down. There were no concrete walls, only grass on the banks and a few reeds.

Jai looked around for Carlo.

"Over here." Carlo was waving his arms. Jai recognized where they were. It was where they'd found the tubes. He paddled over to Carlo and they half-sat, half-lay on the bank, catching their breath.

"So what did you think? Cool or what?"

"Way cool." Jai picked up his tube. "C'mon."

"Where to?" asked Carlo.

"Let's do it again."

The End.

Claire Saxby has written more than 25 fiction and nonfiction books for
primary-aged children. She has visited schools throughout Australia
conducting author visits and workshops. She lives in Melbourne, Victoria in
Australia, which she considers has the best climate in the world. She
shares her home with three sons and a everchanging variety of wildlife.
Currently that means possums, mice and a ferret.

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