Drowning in Her Eyes (5 page)

“Do you, err, like, go all the way with your boyfriend?
” said a tall, pimply youth called Karl who was suntanned and had peroxide blonde hair.

Susan replied that she did not have a steady boyfriend, and it was none of his business anyway. Sarah became coy about it, and a blush worked its way up her fair-
skinned neck and face. Karl boasted that he had joined the Marine Corps and been posted to Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, int
i
mating that plentiful sun, surfing, and sex were to be had by all. He suggested off-
hand that he could offer them the ben
e
fit of his experience with women. When that garnered no r
e
sponse, he slyly offered them a
‘smoke
'. It was hand rolled and the tobacco was a funny green colour. The girls thought it was time to say goodbye to Cousin Karl.

Marci had learned that there was a small bequest for her in the will, some personal jewelry, and a few thousand do
l
lars. The house was to be sold and the proceeds divided b
e
tween all the siblings and, since there were seven of them, that would not amount to much. Aunt Sophie was not happy about this arrangement. As she had been her mother
's prim
a
ry care
give
r, she thought the house should have been hers alone. Her complaints about this did not endear her to the others, and they parted in a rather restrained manner.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
—1962

In Albuquerque, life returned to normal for a little while. Jimmy had caught some flu-
like infection. At first, he assumed he had some kind of reaction to the unaccustomed cold weather in Worcester, but it grew worse. He visited the family doctor, Willie Hammond, who prescribed some of the new antibiotics.

“These should clear it up, Jimmy,
” he said.
“One good thing the war gave us was Penicillin and it works just dandy. Come and see me in a week
;
you should be fit as a fiddle by then.
”

However, the symptoms persisted and the doctor gave Jimmy a second course of the wonder drug. By the end of the second week, Jimmy felt better, apart from a persistent dry cough. As winter approached, the cough became worse and Jimmy began to feel run down. He was continually tired, and struggled to meet the demands of his important job. One day, after a bad fit of coughing, he found that he had begun to cough up blood. For a while, he ignored the problem. Then, one day at work, in the middle of a meeting with his
‘Master Sergeant
', Margaret, a paroxysm of cough
ing caught him in mid-
sentence.

Margaret was immediately concerned. Her hospital e
x
perience told her that this was something serious.
“Get down to the doctor pronto,
” she said.
“That looks bad, and the longer you leave it, the worse it will become.
”

Nobody argued with Margaret. Jimmy came to attention and delivered a mock salute.
“Yes. Ma
'am!
” he retorted and straight away phoned his doctor. Dr
.
Hammond sounded s
e
rious.
“I think you should get over to the hospital right away, Jimmy. I
'll phone them and tell them what tests I want done.
”

Jimmy came home that afternoon after having x-
rays, lung function tests, and all manner of blood tests. He confi
d
ed in Marci.
“I don
't want the kids to worry. Susan is in her Grad year and needs no distractions like this. In any case, it may be nothing. Look. I
'm only
forty-
two
, and that
's too young for anything serious.
” They spent a normal weekend with the children
—
little league baseball, hot dogs, basketball for Sarah. Susan, the quiet studious one, spent some time in the library
;
she had a history assignment to finish. History
was her favourite subject.

Most did not know that, along with more than
three thousand
US military adv
i
sors, US Army helicopters were ferrying troops around a small country in Indochina.

Goondiwindi, Queensland, Australia
—1962

This year the wheat crop had been down in yield. Se
p
tember did not bring the finishing rain to make it a good crop. Once home from boarding school, Denni and Jack had joined in with the work as usual. It was a dry, hot summer. For weeks on end, the daily temperatures had climbed above
one hundred degrees
F
ahrenheit as t
he sun blazed down from a clear blue sky. Waterholes dried up and had to be fenced to prevent sheep bogging down in a desperate effort to get a drink.

For the next six weeks, nothing changed. Paddy and Jack, Mick and Ollie spent days on end checking stock and water holes. Many sheep were dragged from the mud, but not all survived. Paddy had reduced his sheep numbers, and replaced them with more wheat and some cattle. He had a flair for dealing. He sometimes travelled throughout western Queensland, attending cattle sales. Occasionally, he would sell some of these at a profit at the next sale, but mostly they were put in charge of a drover and walked the many miles to
Ballinrobe
on stock routes especially chosen for any grass available on them. They would arrive in good condition, having taken advantage of the feed on the stock routes and were usually sold soon after at a good profit. The Australian
cattlemen called this practice
using the long paddock
.

In mid-
December, summer storms began to gather. It grew unbearably hot and humid. For a while, the storms were brilliant lightning shows with little rain
—
all piss and wind
—
as Ollie described them. One stinker of a morning, as the workmen, Paddy and the kids gathered just after sunrise to decide on and allocate the day
's tasks, black clouds began to gather in the south-
west, the direction fr
om which the summer rains came.

Mick observed,
“I think this might be it, boss
—
bloody good rain at last.
”

He was right.
By lunchtime, a persistent drizzle had started, and in the early afternoon, thun
der and lightning rolled in. I
t began to rain heavily and did so for more than
twenty-
four
hours. Lying in bed that night, Paddy was jub
i
lant.
“This rain will set us up for the summer and there should be enough sub-
soil moisture for a good start for our crops.
”

Helen nuzzled into his shoulder.
How lucky I am
, she thought.
I have a wonderful family and the best man in the world
. Gently, she began to stroke him. She slipped out of her nightdress and began to make love to him. He responded in kind, and soon they lay gasp
ing for breath, feeling as one.

How Paddy loved this gentle but strong woman who had stood by him in good times and bad, and had given him such a perfect family. Later, in the dark, listening to the rain ra
t
tling on the iron roof, Helen decided to clear up some things about what the future held for Denni and Jack.
“Paddy,
” she murmured,
“we have to talk about the kids. It will be the last year of school for them next year, and we have to do som
e
thing about their future
s
.
”

Paddy, half-
asleep in the afterglow of their lovemaking, was not ready for such a serious discussion. However, Helen had chosen her time well. A man is so vulnerable at this time, sated, warm, and with his soft woman cuddled alon
g
side him, ready to say yes to anything she suggests. Many times over the years, Helen had used this technique to obtain the things she wanted, like a new car, or the just-
renovated laundry.

Helen continued.
“Denni is a youn
g woman now. I
'
ve made sure she knows
about the birds and bees. She
'
s a se
n
sible girl, and I don
't anticipate any trouble in that depar
t
ment. But what about her fut
ure, what will she want in life
?
”

It was all very clear-
cut to Paddy.
“Well, I suppose she will marry some nice bloke and settle down. There are a few young fellas around here who will finish up owning a nice station.
”

“Paddy, she
's a very intelligent girl. Don
't you think she might have other ideas? I know she wants to go to university in Brisbane. I don
't think she wants marriage and kids right away, and I am not sure she wants to be a farmer
's wife.
”

“I don
't know about that,
” said Paddy.
“She is still mad about the horses. In fact, she is keener on the horses than Jack is. All he wants to do is drive the Land Rover and shoot.
”

“All girls love horses. I think it is a sex substitute for them, but times are changing. Look around you. That Da
w
son girl is going to be a doctor. Who would have imagined
that
ten years ago, a female doctor!
” Helen rested her case.

“Oh, well, I suppose we can indulge her. She
's been a good kid and has worked hard,
” replied Paddy.
“She
'll come home after a few years, anyway, I suppose.
” Helen didn
't think so. She would miss her daughter terribly, but the girl deserved her chance in life. She would not stand in her way.

Paddy said,
“At least there is no problem with Jack. He
'll be home with bells on, and won
't that be good? I can teach him all he needs to know about the job.
”

“I
'm not so sure about that, Paddy. The world will r
e
quire a better-
educated farmer in the future. You have been a great man, and a pioneering one, but it is going to get a lot harder down the track. I would like him to study farm ma
n
agement,
” said Helen
.
“
H
ave you talked to him about this? Come to think of it, have you had the birds and bees talk?
”

Paddy was embarrassed to say he had not. His narrow religious upbringing made him reluctant to talk about sex.
“Well, I suppose I will have to do that. He probably knows it all anyway, what with all the breeding animals, and he
is
studying Biology at school.
”