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He turned to walk away when he felt Apanie grab his shoulder and whisper in
his ear.
"Don't you see? He is Bangarra. You are Gula. We are the smallest creatures,
but we must win. We can defeat him. Use your voice, Jason. It's been waiting for
you all along."
Despite the terror in his belly, Jason couldn’t help but feel a rush of joy that his
friends had decided to give him a second chance and come to his aid. He felt a
jolt of strength and purpose. Jason finally knew how he would do it. He grabbed
the steak knife from his apron and ran to the other side of the office where there
was a large water pipe going through the wall. Gripping his knife in his non-
injured hand, he thrusted the knife into the main pipe running through the side
of the building - bursting a large gaping hole into it. The water inside the pipe
gushed out, and was so powerful that it broke an opening in the office wall. The
water continued to flow out so much that eventually it would weaken the soil
and rocks above the mineshafts and cause a rockslide which would block up the
mines, shutting them down and letting the rest of the water flow out in a
magnificent flash flood that replenished the parched earth.
But there were more pressing matters to address.
Jason looked at his father, and the frown increased on his face.
He ran to the hole, hearing shouts behind him, and dived through it, only
seeing blue and brown. He dodged the shrapnel around him and eventually saw
light. Dodge, duck, turn. Dodge, duck, turn. His vision started to go fuzzy from
the lack of breath - but eventually burst through the surface, looking behind
him and seeing the ruins start to settle and block the path he had come through.
The only thing he could see now was sunshine.
Next to him, he looked and saw his father.
He had come too.
"It's ok, son. I have realized what I have done and I promise to stop harming the
world with my mining and I will help you become a famous chef. But from the
looks of things, you probably won't need it."
His dad put his arm around Jason.
"It's ok."
There they were: father and son, girl and ostrich, and the rusty red pickup
truck. All gathered at the base of a newly flowing, clear lagoon. The once
barren plains had been replenished, and wildlife drank happily, as vines and
leaves twisted their way around the rocks and gullies. Jason’s father looked down
at his son, more of a man now, and felt pride in him for the very first time.
“Son.”
Jason looked up to see his father tear off the emerald pendant that sit around his
neck and throw it purposefully into the lagoon.