Drowning in Her Eyes (16 page)

“So am I,
” said Susan
,
“we may be in the same classes, especially if you are taking history.
”

Margie
's ears pricked up at the accent.
“Great. I
'm d
o
ing American history. You will be a good friend to have.
”

Bob said,
“Mike is here somewhere. Look for a short dark well-
endowed girl called Marlene. Anyhow, we
're g
o
ing to dance.
” The music was modern, plenty of Be
atles and other popular groups.

Jack looked at Susan.
“Would you like to dance?
” She smiled and held out her arms. For the first time, Jack took her in his arms. Susan came in close to him, putting her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. He drank in the nearness of her, placing his hands around her waist as they drifted across the floor to a Beatles ballad.
I could do this forever
, thought Jack,
forever and ever
.

Sometimes the Gods are crazy, sometimes they are kind. Tonight they were well satisfied, and the evening was a huge success. There was a feeling of goodwill and bonhomie across the whole crowd. Jack looked at them all.
There must be four hundred people here
, he mused,
people with dreams, people filled with excitement at starting their adult lives, people looking to a great future. What will happen to us all?

It was merciful that he did not know.

* * * *

The evening seemed to end
suddenly. Jack looked at his watch. It was
eleven-
thirty
and the party
goers
w
ere
disper
s
ing. They bade their acquaintances good night, old and new alike, and climbed into the car. This time Susan moved across to Jack and put her head on his
shoulder.
“I feel as though I
'
m in a dream,
” she said.
“Please don
't wake me up.
”

As they approached Susan
's house, she asked Jack to go up to the lookout once again. They parked as before, looking down on the city that had become a new home for both of them. Jack put his arm around her shoulder
s
, tilted up her chin and began to kiss her, softly at first, brushing her lips and cheeks with his. He looked into her eyes again, glittering in the distant lights.
I am lost
, he thought.
I will never escape her beauty and her lovely eyes
.

They kissed again, hungrily this time, tongues seeking out each other. He could taste her lipstick, her perfume, a faint trace of mouthwash
—
the whole of her. She twisted on the seat to place bot
h arms around his neck, so
she could face him, and pressed her body into his. He felt her soft breasts against his chest and almost swooned with the plea
s
ure of it. He placed his hand on her knee then gently ran it up under her dress. He could feel glossy nylon, then the lacy top of her stocking and the wonderful soft, warm texture of her upper leg. She moaned softly and eased down in the seat to give him access to the sweet silken skin of her inner thigh. She moaned again and kissed him harder.
“Oh my
.
Oh my,
” she whispered.

Something made him stop. He looked down at that sweet face.
“Not here,
” he whispered.
“When it happens, I want it to be perfect.
” He kissed her with great passion for a long time.
“Your parents will be waiting,
” he said,
“it
's time to go home.
”

She kissed him again, and pressed his hands to her breasts.
“I don
't want to go home. Stay with me forever.
”

“I can
't,
”
he said.
“I can
't
.
”

When they reached
the
door
, he kissed her
. She clung to him, pressing her body into his, twining her legs around his thigh and pushing herself
against him.
“Soon,
” she whi
s
pered,
“Please
.
I love you and I want you so much.
”

Meanwhile, in a large oval office in a large white building on Pennsylvania A
v
enue in Washington, DC, a big man from Texas called Johnson had finished his meeting. He had instructed his Joint Chiefs to place the 101
^st
Airborne at combat readiness. Before long, he would be adding further units to the list.

Armidale, New South Wales, Australia: 1964

Susan slipped quietly through the door. As usual, her mother was sitting up waiting for her. Marci had fallen asleep in the chair, a magazine spilled from her hands. In the yellow light, she looked old and tired. For the first time, S
u
san noticed a few s
ilver strands in her dark hair.

Oh Momma
, she thought,
you worry so for us all. I know Daddy is very ill. I have seen the bloody handke
r
chiefs. I have heard his ragged breathing and seen the lines on his face. Mom, you
cannot be everything to all
of us. You cannot live our lives for us. Be nice to Jack for I love him with all my heart. My time in your care is ending. My life will be with him now, forever, and ever.

Later, in her bed, Susan remembered the feel of him, the smell of him, and the taste of him. She remembered his ge
n
tle touch on her thigh, how the desire had flooded through her, turning her legs to jelly, making her wet with anticip
a
tion. God, how she wanted him.
Please God make it soon, make it soon!

In the morning, she was surprised her mother did not remark on her late homecoming. She looked around the t
a
ble.
“Mom, where is Daddy?
”

Marci looked gravely at her little family.
“Your father is feeling poorly today, and won
't be going to work. I will be taking him to the doctor later. Susan, did you have an enjo
y
able evening?
”

“Yes, Mom, it was wonderful. Jack is such a nice boy.
”

“Ha, ha, Suzie
's in love,
” jeered James Junior
.
“
W
hen
's the wedding?
”

Marci rounded on him.
“Stop that, stop it!
” The girls stared at her. This was not like their mother.

Susan thought she saw a trace of fear in Marci
's eyes.

Meanwhile, just off a small country in Indochina, two US aircraft carriers and their escorts began to patrol the coastline, combat aircraft on standby, in a code yellow state of readiness. Combat air patrols
are
launched at dawn
and
dusk.

Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia
—1964

“I hope Jack and Denni are all right,
” said Paddy.
“De
n
ni writes, but that bloody boy hasn
't put pen to paper since he left here a month ago.
”

Helen patted his shoulder.
“He
'll be fine. There must be so much new for him to take in, so many things he has to do.
”

“Well, I hope the silly young bugger hasn
't fallen in love or something.
”

Helen remembered Paddy
's nieces. If Jack had fallen in love, it was probably with one or both of them, but that was a different kind of love. She prayed for him, for her only son. Sometimes she thought Jack had grown up too fast, learning to shoot, to drive, to ride, and all the other things to do on a station. For Paddy, Jack had been as good as another station hand for at least five years. He was more than a son. He was a good mate, and there is no finer description of a man in the Australian vernacular.

Paddy was failing. She knew that. He had lost more weight and there were lines on his face that had no business being there in a man of his age. He missed his son, not only for the work he could do, but also for the companionship he provided. He spent long hours driving around the station. Like Jack, he was renewing his link with the land. He would stop in the shade and look over grazing sheep, or endless wheat fields, remembering how it was when he had co
m
menced his labours here. He knew he was nearing the end. He knew his achievements here had been extraordinary. He wanted to be sure his son would replace him as the steward of
Ballinrobe
.

The last visit to the specialist in Brisbane had been di
s
appointing. The medics had nothing new to offer. They had tried different diets, different medications
—
none had been helpful. As they left the clinic, the heart specialist had taken Helen aside.
“Helen, you have to get him to slow down. He is doing far too much. If he continues, he may not have much longer.
”

As much as his condition, Paddy
's frustration at his forced inability to work was killing him. He had always been a larger than life man, an older version of
Action Jackson
. His life was physical, it always had been. From the logging trucks to the land clearing and hard labour that had turned
Ballinrobe
from a wasteland of Prickly Pear to a prosperous and producti
ve station, he had always been o
n the front line. Having to sit on the veranda and watch Ollie and Mick do the work was galling.

“I don
't know where the kids get their thirst for book learning,
” he would say.
“I never read a bloody word in my life that wasn
't in an instruction manual or the like.
” Men are wont to forget that the women in their lives have brains too, and quite a few of his relatives were not lacking in inte
l
lect
—
not t
o mention Helen and her family.

The phone rang. Paddy answered.
“Yes, what? Who
's that?
” The phone at
Ballinrobe
was still on a primitive ma
n
ual exchange.
“Righto
,
put him on
.
“G
'day
mate
,
how are you... Yeah
… Yeah... You bloody little beauty, see you then
.
”