She stood, circling the table to stand beside him. ‘I’ll read you Mr Kipling’s description of the drawing,’ she said. ‘All of his pictures have wonderful descriptions and they explain the story in great detail.’

She proceeded to do so, while Ant traced with his finger each feature mentioned, from the Mariner’s jack-knife to the buttony-things on his suspenders. He laughed when she said the Whale’s name was Smiler.

Then they went on to finish the story, Amelia reading to him the description of the second illustration also. ‘Each story has two pictures,’ she told him. This was the one of the Whale looking for the little ’Stute Fish who was hiding under the Door-sills of the Equator, and Ant studied it with equal wonderment. And then they came to the end.

‘… And that is the end of that tale,’ Ant read before looking up at her victoriously.

‘Well done, Ant,’ she said. ‘That really was excellent.’

‘Can we read another one?’ he asked.

His eagerness delighted her, but she remained in school-teacher mode. ‘No, not until next time,’ she said firmly. ‘We’ll practise some writing now.’ She stood, moving her chair around the table to sit beside him. ‘We’ll write some words from the story, shall we?’

‘Yes’m,’ he said, taking the pencil she handed him.

Whatever inhibitions Ant had had upon his arrival had well and truly disappeared. He was perfectly comfortable now. Mrs Sanderson was his friend. And Mr Kipling was too.

Betty’s plan was put into action on that same Sunday, the last Sunday in April. She and Kasey both had that Sunday clear, which meant they’d be able to get an early start. And they did, boarding the first ferry that morning bound for Magnetic Island.

A rough, choppy crossing of one hour, the wooden ferry called in to Picnic Bay and Nelly Bay and finally Arcadia, which was their destination.

She’d told him previously of her childhood school holidays spent in the family’s shack at Arcadia. She’d talked of the island’s beauty, of the magic of the place and the swimming and the fishing, and she’d told him also of the Aboriginal family she and her brother had befriended.