Daniel was a lonely child, he lived in worlds unknown,
He always played games that he invented on his own,
Once he wrote his details on a koala made of porcelain,
He left it in the room where people wait for a train.
He had to guess how long it would take someone,
To return it to his home or maybe they would phone.
He looked around and wrote 3 days in his note book.
And settled down to wait to see how long it took.
Three days later his Father got a strange phone call,
Apparently a lady found Daniel’s ornament in the Mall,
His father was a dangerous man and drank quite a bit,
He grabbed Daniel and screamed and screamed and wouldn’t quit.
“You stupid boy what have you done with that koala,
That was given to you by your grandmother,
Some women just rang to say she found it in the Mall.
That is it. You go to your room. You will have no supper tonight.”
Daniel crawled under his bed and drew pictures of his favourite world.
He called the world “The Underland”.
This world was a beautiful world of warratahs and orchids and eucalyptus trees,
He would wander through and wave at the koalas.
Daniel who was 10 had a younger brother Lachlen who was 6.
Lachlen would hide in Daniels room when their Dad was screaming and hitting.
Once Lachlen came in with blood coming from his nose and he was crying.
Daniel cleaned him up a bit and decided to make a game of it.
“Now when Dad gets angry I want you come here and go to Underland.
It is a beautiful place where there are wonderful coloured flowers
and friendly animals like Kangaroos and Koalas and possums.”
That night their Dad got very drunk and starting smacking Lachlen again.
Lachlen knew what to do.
He yelled in his loudest voiced.
“You can’t hurt me I will go to Underland and be happy.”