Fleeced by Hazel Edwards Page B

clubs. His attention had been broken.
    â€˜The beeps must have been this special golf tee.’ Gertrude pulled it out of her pocket.
    â€˜It’s metallic. Shall I go through now? I don’t like to hold up all these people behind me.’
    A queue was gathering. But Christopher was two behind her.
    â€˜Probably right Madam,’ said the guard and began to wave her through. ‘ Seat tickets are unusual for clubs but these seem to be in order.’
    â€˜The belt!’ yelled Amy hobbling forward. Christopher thought she meant the security scanner belt that people put their luggage on.
    â€˜The nugget. On her belt!’ yelled Amy just before she tripped over.
    There was a second security guard at the end of the counter. This one was a woman. At Amy’s yell, she looked
    up. Her eyes swept over the hurrying Gertrude. ‘Just a minute Madam.’
    She looked at Gertrude’s long pants. ‘Underneath that jacket, do you have a belt on your slacks, Madam?’
    Gertrude started to bluster. Her face went red. ‘Do you have the right to ask me all these questions? I’m late for my flight and...’
    Holding her ‘wand’ like a weapon, the security woman advanced.
    â€˜Belts often have metal buckles. That activates our scanner. But your belt looks very unusual, Madam. It looks like a nugget.’
    â€˜Belt up!’ said Gertrude rudely. ‘But for those twins, I would have gone through.’
    â€˜It is illegal to take out undeclared gold,’ said the security officer.’ Let’s go into the examination rooms.’
    â€˜Why should I? My son wasn’t stopped when he carried nuggets through, a few weeks ago,’ blustered Gertrude who’d changed personalities, fast.
    â€˜The wand is also beeping near this watch!’ The security guard touched the sheep brooch-watch.
    Suddenly Gertrude stopped blustering. She undid the belt. Stuck on top of the buckle was a large gold shape, so big, it looked fake.
    â€˜A nugget!’ said a satisfied Christopher. Amy gave him the thumbs up signal from across the barrier, just as their parents hurried up.
    The officials led Gertrude away. They also took her golf clubs to check.
    Later, over kiwi- fruit ice creams, the twins discussed the ‘scam’ with their parents.
    â€˜D’you think she thought officials would notice the cartoon covers and miss the copy watch and the belt?’ said Christopher as he licked his spoon.
    â€˜The guards said smugglers do wear nuggets on their belts. The scanner picks up the metal, but often officials don’t realise it’s real gold,’ explained Mum as she checked their luggage labels. ‘They just think it’s brass or whatever buckles are made of.’
    Christopher flicked back through his sketchpad. ‘I drew an unusual buckle on that man’s belt at Sydney airport. D’you think he might be a smuggler?’
    Mum glanced at the sketch.’ No. He probably just had bad taste in belt buckles.’
    â€˜What’s this?’ She pointed to another sketch on the same page.
    â€˜The fake-bomb,’ explained Christopher. ‘The radio.’
    Mum shivered. ‘I’m glad it’s only a sketch. He must have been very forgetful to leave an expensive birthday present behind.’
    â€˜Other people are forgetful too,’ added Amy thinking of Brian Todd’s backpack as she stamped her postcard.
    â€˜You know there’s a special Milford Track stamp,’ she showed her brother. ‘I collected it.’
    â€˜If you post it to Aunty Viv, you won’t have the stamp anymore.’
    Christopher was right, for once. Amy scribbled an extra message on the card.
    Please keep kea stamp. Love Amy.
    â€˜Oh, ‘Mum looked embarrassed. “Luckily no-one we know is turning 70 soon. I left the 7 and the 0 candles behind, zipped in your backpack. Perhaps the next 108 backpacker will wonder if you were seventy