Hunters: A Trilogy (69 page)

Red, as Jane had done earlier, placed one hand above his eyes to shield them, then stood there and gazed at the dark-haired girl sitting calmly on the porch. If Jane hadn’t have known any better she would have sworn she heard him say: ‘It’s you, ain’t it? You’re the one, I know you…’ But it wasn’t possible, he was at least fifty yards away and as far as Jane knew, Red had never seen the girl before.

Tori’s movement broke the spell – she rose to her feet and moved to the front of the veranda. Mike stepped lightly up the stairs; he was followed closely by Ken who was clutching a brace of dead birds in his hand.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘this is a lovely gaggle of trouble-makers, if ever I saw one!’ He smiled at Maggie and then both he and Mike were introduced to Tori. She hardly noticed them. Her eyes kept slipping to one side, the side where Red was approaching from.

‘Tori…oh, do wake up my dear, hello – earth calling Tori!’ Maggie clapped her hands once and Tori snapped out of the trance she had been sharing with Red.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that…’ She looked at the men and then stepped forward to shake hands with first Ken, and then Mike. ‘So, you’re the saviours I’ve heard so much about,’ she said. ‘My grandma has told me all about you – it’s a fine thing you’ve done here, both for the farm and also for…’ She paused to alter her sentence, and then said, ‘…that you’ve done for this young man,’ nodding towards Red as she spoke.

The young man in question approached the porch. Red climbed the wooden steps and then paused at the top tread to say: ‘Hi y’all, Missus Jones, its real fine to see you, ma’am, and…’ He stopped and looked at Tori. The static between them became almost audible. Then, as if startled into action, Red said to her: ‘Hi to you too, ma’am, I’m Dwayne – Dwayne Tolder. But most o’ my friends just call me by the name o’ Red!’

Tori stepped towards him, saying: ‘So I’ve heard – Red it shall be then! I’m sure that we will be friends, too. Oh, I’m Tori, by the way.’

Red took the last of the stairs and joined her on the veranda. Jane had the distinct impression that she, along with Maggie, Ken and Mike, had been transferred to a cinema where they were just about to witness a sneak preview from a forthcoming blockbuster. They were excluded from this dimension, this moment, a slice of time that only existed for Red and Tori. They watched as the two young adults touched for the first time.

If she had been expecting a clap of thunder or that bolt of white lightning perhaps, Jane would have been sadly disappointed. The only thing that did happen, as Tori and Red touched hands, was a deep reddening of the young man’s neck. They all saw it flush upwards and settle just below his ears. That’s all, no pyrotechnics or flashing lights, just a long pause – during which the sound of a pin dropping would have been as loud as a lump hammer striking an anvil.

The two young adults disengaged from their handshake and stood looking at each other for a few moments. For a second it almost looked as though they might have been quite content to stay there all night, perhaps all week, or maybe just forever. Whatever the time span would have been, it was broken by Jane.

‘Right then,’ she said, ‘who would care for some refreshments?’

Red looked up and smiled at her, Tori returned to her previous position on the chair next to her grandmother. After one last glance in the young woman’s direction, Red said he was going to get cleaned up, before moving away to join the other two men in the kitchen.

Ken and Jane decided that their guests should stay for some food.

‘Are you sure? We don’t want to be of any trouble, my dear,’ Maggie asked.

Her concerns were laid to rest when Jane laughed and handed the old woman a salad knife. ‘You peel and I’ll chop!’ she said, turning to the fridge.

Mike lit some kindling in the metal barbeque, which he had made during the week, and in no time at all the old oil drum was smouldering away. Red and Tori were still hanging around on the veranda, and as he tramped up the stairs to get some more charcoal for the fire, Mike said, ‘Why don’t you two clear off for a bit? There’s nothing happening here just yet, and anyway, you look like you have ants in your pants!’ He grinned at their relieved faces. ‘Hey, Red, why don’t you take Tori out on the Harley? It needs a good run,’ he said, nodding towards the barn.

Not waiting for a second invitation, Red grabbed Tori’s hand, and with a wide grin, flew down the steps and headed for the barn with the girl in tow – moments later, the two of them popped and banged their way out of the barn. Hearing the commotion, Jane joined Mike on the veranda and together they watched as Red wobbled down to the gate. Tori dismounted expertly and lifted the latch. She waited until Red had passed through and then closed the gate behind them.

Just before she turned back to the bike, Tori looked up at Mike and Jane saw her mouth the words: ‘Thank you!’ Mike gave her a thumbs-up; Tori waved back, their casual gestures were almost as though they had known each other forever.

The girl turned, and with the ease of an expert, vaulted straight onto the pillion seat. Red twisted the throttle, with the sound of laughter, and a few misfires, they clattered off towards the lake. Mike and Jane waved again and stood watching them until they had disappeared.

Mike and Red had spent hours getting the old bike into some kind of working order, it had lain under an old tarpaulin for years and Red said that he doubted it would ever start. Mike had told Red not to worry about it. Red had watched in wonderment as Mike did his thing. By that night, the Australian had the bike running and had also shown Red how to ride – the two of them puttering around the courtyard like school kids. There were a couple of things on the bike that still needed sorting out, but Mike had said it was good enough for now.

He appeared to have been right, because at present, Red and Tori seemed to be making the very best of his efforts. It was four hours later when the young couple returned. The others had long since finished their meal and had kept some steak sandwiches on hold for the two riders.

Well, actually they turned out to be ‘walkers’…

Hearing the back gate creaking, Jane, who was relaxing on the porch with the other three, looked up in time to see Red and Tori walking out of the darkness. They were pushing the old bike back to the house.

Jane shouted out: ‘Hey, are you guys okay, did it break down?’ hearing Mike snort derisively next to her as she did so.

The couple pushed the machine up to the porch, Red leaned it against the balustrade. He grinned up at them. ‘No ma’am, we were having such a fine time, it’s just that, well…I forgot to put any juice in her!’ he said, sheepishly patting the tank with his hand.

Tori laughed. ‘It’s as empty as our heads,’ she chimed. ‘But we had such fun! We went everywhere and we had just the best time! The old girl only ran out a little ways down the path, so I guess that we’re lucky,’ her eyes reflected the burning coals from the smouldering barbeque. ‘Yes, I think I just had the best day of my life!’ the young woman said, as she turned to Red and touched his arm. Her touch made his eyes shine too, but their gleam didn’t have much to do with any glowing fire, well… not the one Mike had lit, anyway.

Red looked at Mike and said, ‘Mike, uuh…do you mind ifen I give this-here machine a name, sir?’ Mike said he should go right ahead. Red looked up at them happily. ‘Well, ma’am,’ he said, looking at Tori. ‘I was thinking of naming her Glory, Tori’s Glory!’ His face beamed in the flickering light. Tori shrieked with delight, clapped her hands and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on his cheek – it was about then that Red’s face made a damned fine attempt at drowning out the red firelight.

The on-looking adults laughed at the name, and also at the reactions of the young ‘couple’. It’s the way in which Jane had already started to think of them, a couple. She said, ‘Red, that’s a lovely gesture, Tori is such an unusual name anyway, ‘Tori’s Glory’ it must be then – that’s brilliant!’

Red and Tori grinned up at her, and then together they pushed the old grey Harley into the barn before returning to be with the others on the porch. Jane fetched some food for them, and with tales of Red and Tori’s adventures, accompanying the heaps of beef and mustard sandwiches, they wound the day down to a close. After clearing away the remnants of their meal, and collecting her paintings, Maggie said it was time for them to depart.

‘My goodness me – look at the time, young lady! Goodness, these fine folk must be waiting to see the back of us, come along my dear, tomorrow’s another day!’ Tori gathered her things and accompanied the old woman down to the car.

They all said their goodbyes, during which Jane reassured them. ‘You’re more than welcome to come by anytime, anytime at all!’ she said, giving each of the other women a hug.

They stood and watched as Maggie turned the car around and drove down the track, its headlights making the shadows run like wild animals from the car as it bumped its way back to the main road. They watched the lights fade into the distance. Jane turned and said, ‘Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m completely done in! It’s this beautiful fresh air I think – it makes me so tired.’

‘Yeah, that and old age, they knock the hell out of you, don’t they?’ Ken said, squawking in fake agony as she poked him in the ribs.

Laughing loudly, husband and wife made their way over to the comfort of the big bed in the RV. Within minutes the farmhouse was in almost complete darkness, only the shadow of the barn owl disturbed the silver moonlight cascading over the land outside. She had a growing family to feed and the silent predator made the most of the welcome light, many rodents would sense the sudden pulse of air that night. But, once the rush of her wings is felt, that sudden beating pressure from above, then it’s too late, far too late. Death rides in the rush of those silent wings.

In the distance, beyond the hills, the storm clouds were gathering. Big, black, mushrooming clouds began to rise menacingly in the invisible air as it lifted like a barrier from the warm earth below. Eventually they would have their way and sooner or later the clouds would breach the top of the hills, breaking free from their invisible clutches to run down the valley – their coming would cover everything in a sinister cloak of darkness.

The clouds weren’t the only dark thing approaching through the night. Billowing smoke and crashing gears signalled the coming of another type of blackness, a different kind of Darkness altogether. It raced towards the farm with only a cloud of blue smoke and a half-empty bottle of cheap rye for company. Oh, a big chunk of madness had hitched a ride with it as well, just for the hell of it.

And, rather like the beautiful owl, their passing also caused a rush of wind, a hot blast of thick, oily wind. It, too, carried death upon its wings.

Over the next few weeks the relationship between the young couple blossomed like the proverbial flowers in springtime. They became constant companions and were very rarely seen apart. The only periods of separation they endured were during the working week. Maggie ensured that Tori earned her keep and kept the headstrong young lady gainfully employed alongside her good self in the shop.

Red, in the meantime, had his hands full on the farm. Mike had decided it would a good idea to get the old windmill back into some kind of working order; the three men had no previous experience at such a project and the task did daunt them somewhat. But, as Mike had said: ‘It’s only a machine, guys; just some bits of wood, a few cogs and a couple of drive-shafts. How hard can it be?’

And that was that, it became an obsession for all of them…the second of Red’s…and they worked tirelessly at it. Ken spent hours up to his knees in mud and water, clearing out the overgrown and collapsed water channels. It wasn’t long before the old mill began to regain some of its former glory.

Jane was delighted by the idea and helped them in any way she could. Ken didn’t let her do any heavy lifting or other strenuous tasks, even though she brushed off his concerns, he knew that she still wasn’t fully healed and had seen her occasional wince of pain when she didn’t think anyone was watching. A lot of the time, Jane simply took a hamper of food down to the mill and then happily sat and painted all day.

She had begun to realise what the writing on the note had meant, ‘Look and you will see…’ Jane had been looking, and she did see – she saw a whole lot. She saw the beauty of the farm, for a start. It had thrown off the dirty veil of neglect and washed away the mantle of bitter poison that it had worn for the best part of sixteen long years. It seemed to flourish and in doing so rewarded them in many pleasant ways. The gardens were growing magnificently, the lake teemed with fish, and even the house itself seemed to have taken on a different persona. It felt happy and alive, which, just so happened to coincide with exactly how Jane had begun to feel.

Sitting and looking at the men as they worked, she saw their surroundings were also having a positive effect on them. All three were lean and tanned – the sweat glistened on their naked torsos, sinews and muscles standing out sharply as they manoeuvred yet another heavy oak beam into place. Sitting in the warm sun, she watched them and smiled. As she did so, Jane knew this moment in their lives had been decided long ago, it was the way things were supposed to be. Knowing that helped push the fear of an unknown future to the back of her mind. ‘One day at time, just enjoy it and let’s see where we end up, shall we?’ She marvelled at the easy way in which the thought trickled through her mind, but she knew it was the truth.

***

Every day after lunch, Mike would take Red into town and drop him off at the store. Maggie had said that he may visit whenever he chose and Jane had struck up a deal with her. ‘Let him come,’ she said. ‘But you should get him to help out, Maggie. He’s a big guy and I don’t see that having him moping around like a love-sick puppy will be achieving anything.’

Maggie had looked at her knowingly. ‘Ah, Jane, my dear,’ she said, ‘you are so wise and so forthright; yes, it is the perfect solution, actually I do need some help. The big boxes are getting too much for me and Tori’s up to her eyes with the accounts. Yes, he can be of use and I will pay him for his time, after all, he is a man now and should be learning the value of work.’