Novels 01 Blue Skies (11 page)

Chapter 24
Autumn 1936

Michael watched as the boat docked at the wharf
and the passengers started to make their way onto
the jetty. Children ran in front of their mothers,
shouting with joy to be free from the confines of
the ship, while their fathers struggled with the
luggage.

Michael could well remember his own feelings as
he touched dry land in Esperance. The apprehension,
the excitement and fear – just what these men would
be feeling now. Michael longed to stop them and tell
of the exciting things they would experience, but he
was too tense.

He searched the crowd for Grace, but couldn’t see
her. He moved closer to the ship as a group of five
ladies wearing large hats and full dresses felt their
way uncertainly down the gangplank. He looked
carefully at their faces, but none was her.

Then he felt a hand on his elbow and heard a soft
voice in his ear.

‘Hello, Michael. It’s been a long time.’

He turned and saw Grace’s serious face staring
back at him. He drew a deep breath, startled by her
beauty. She had altered so much in the past two years.
Her white skin was tinged with brown from the days
on the boat and her nose had a smattering of freckles.
Her vivid blue eyes were serious, but held a hint of
mischief. Yet it was her exquisite face that held him
silent and made his mouth dry. His eyes pinned to
hers, he raised his hand and ran his fingers down her
cheek, noting how clear her eyes were.

Michael finally found his voice.‘He didn’t hurt you,
did he? Mother said he made threats against you.’

‘He managed to get into the house somehow –
but Edward was in the garden and heard my call
for help. That’s when it was decided that I should
join you. I’m grateful that you will have me. I must
confess, I thought I’d never see you again, after you
left so suddenly.’

‘Oh, Grace, I thought the same, but I am pleased
to have you here. Although I regret to say that you
may find life difficult – I have nothing but a small
shack, a few cows, sheep, chickens and a dog. I can’t
offer the comforts that you are used to. It is isolated.
The neighbours are few and far between, but a
friendly lot.’

‘Then we will make it better. Together.’ She put
her hand over Michael’s and he knew then by her
determined voice that she would be all right on
Kyleena and it was time to banish his thoughts of
Kathleen for good.

‘Well, we must be married as soon as possible.
Before we return to Kyleena. I have reserved a room
for you at the boarding house. It is comfortable,
although the lady who runs it can be quite severe
at times.’ Michael didn’t mention the icy reception
he faced when booking Grace’s room, or the reason
behind it. ‘Let’s walk there and I will return for your
luggage. While you rest, I’ll organise the wedding and
see to our supplies. We can leave for Kyleena straight
after the nuptials. I am suddenly in a hurry to show
you your home.’

She smiled up at him for the first time since she
arrived. ‘ And I am in a hurry to see it.’

Chapter 25
2006

‘You look terrible, what’s wrong?’ asked Adrian as he arrived at the shearing shed.

Amanda forced a smile. ‘Nothing really. I just didn’t sleep very well last night.’

‘Why not?’ Adrian’s forehead wrinkled in concern.

‘Oh, I did something stupid.’ Amanda flapped her hand, trying to brush the memory away. ‘I watched a scary movie, then kept imagining every groan and creak of the house was an alien from the red planet coming to Kyleena to take me back to his lair for research!’

‘Well I keep offering and you keep declining,’ Adrian grinned at her.‘But perhaps you shouldn’t do that again.’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t be!’

‘So did you manage to get everything ready for today?’

Amanda looked over the ewes that were standing on the grating of the shearing shed, waiting.

‘Yep, they’re all ready to meet the plastic penis!’

Adrian cringed. ‘Mandy!’

‘Well that’s what it is. That’s why it’s called artificial insemination. The pipette is plastic, and it holds semen!’

She broke off her teasing as an old ute rattled up to the shed and stopped. Jim, the AI vet, got out and stretched. ‘G’day, Mandy, how’s things?’

‘Hi, Jim.’ Amanda clattered down the steps of the shed to shake his hand as a tall, willowy girl got out of the passenger’s side.

Amanda smiled in greeting. It seemed that every year he’d arrive with a new beautiful technician.

Jim had proved a godsend since Amanda had begun breeding. Not only did he offer AI services, he catered for all the requirements of the stud associations. He had spent hours patiently explaining to her how the industry worked and the technical terms.

‘Genetics being genetics,’ he’d said, ‘if you mate a sheep with a small chop to a sheep with a big chop, you’ll get a medium chop. Butchers are looking for as big a chop as they can get, so you work out the genetics on that.’

In the midst of the clatter and clanging of unloading the steel cradles, Damo and another young bloke, Chris, arrived to help load the ewes into the cradles.

Jenny, the technician, lugged in big cans full of nitrogen and semen, then set up steaming thermoses – known as Dilvacs – also full of nitrogen; they would transfer the semen into these so it could be easily reached. A microscope, kettle and clipboard were laid out, while Jim wheeled in his office chair and set up all of his veterinary scoping instruments, chatting all the while about the genetics industry and new discoveries that had been made over the past year.

‘Right, are we ready?’ Jim asked, rubbing his hands together. ‘Jen, set that fan up please, it’s a bit warm in here. You blokes understand how to use these cradles? Drag a ewe out, then one of you will need to be at the front feet, the other at the back. Grab her legs and tip her onto her back, then lift her up into the cradle. Her front feet hook under these U-shaped arms so she can’t move. Got that?’

Amanda laughed inwardly as Damo looked from the ewes to the cradle. Yeah, they were big girls – eighty or ninety kilos maybe – and he had to lift every one. That’d get him back for going on about her driving the chaser bin too slowly!

Amanda held her breath as Jim inserted the laparoscope and semen pipette. Looking through the eyepiece, he gently pumped a small amount of carbon dioxide into the first ewe so he could see through the innards to the uterus. After a little time, he quietly said, ‘Push’. Jenny, whose hand was on the pipette, gave a small push and used her other hand to write something on a piece of paper.

‘Push,’ Jim repeated.

Jenny pushed the plunger that released the semen into the uterus and withdrew the pipette as Jim pulled out the laparoscope and put it in some disinfectant.

‘Next,’ he called, and the boys rushed to do his bidding.

By the end of the day, one hundred ewes had been inseminated and were now back out in the paddock. Damo and Chris were slumped against the wall of the shed, exhausted, while Adrian was discussing the latest ram sellers with Jim. The previous Perth Royal Show had seen some new merino studs emerge and Adrian was keen to know about the quality of the wool.

Amanda quietly slipped out the back of the shed to fetch some beer, then walked through the sheep yards to the fence where she could see the ewes grazing in the paddock closest to the yards. She was excited about what these ewes held for her future. When their lambs were born, they would be her best lambs yet.

Jim came and stood alongside her. ‘Happy are you, love?’

Amanda nodded. ‘Thanks for what you’ve done today, Jim. I always look forward to you coming.’

‘Those rams you chose will do a lot of good to your flock. Stretch out some of your smaller ewes – there’s a fair bit of meat and muscle in those rams too. Think you made a good choice.’

Amanda was pleased.‘That means a lot coming from someone like you.’

‘You’ve got the ability to see the sheep under its skin. You need to keep on with what you’re doing. Don’t worry about breeding lambs for the commercial market – you make sure you breed the rams for farmers to buy from you. Let them breed the meat.

‘I reckon at some stage you should hold an open day. Explain to your clients what you’re trying to achieve. Start getting your name out there a bit more. Advertise! Get those stock agents to take you seriously. I’ll come down for it and back you every step of the way. You’ve got a talent; it would be a shame to see it wasted.’ He glanced back to where Adrian was standing as he said that, and Amanda got the feeling that he thought Adrian might interfere with the way she ran the stud.

‘No one has any say on my farm except me, Jim,’ she said softly. ‘Thanks for your belief in me. I hope I can live up to it. The stud income is a good supplement but the commercial business is making more money at the moment, so I guess I’ll just have to stick to both for the time being.’

‘You remember what I said,’ he told her gruffly, then called over his shoulder, ‘C’mon, Jenny, time to go.’

Adrian stood beside Amanda as the vet’s car disappeared down the drive.

‘He’s got a soft spot for you, Mandy,’ said Adrian.

‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe he just enjoys coming here.’

‘No, he likes you. I saw you having a bit of a heart-to-heart with him there. I don’t know what he said, but don’t take it too seriously, eh? I’ve heard him talking to stud breeders before and I think he’s often just telling them what they want to hear.’

Amanda took a sip of her beer to try and hide the disappointment that had shot through her at Adrian’s words. Why couldn’t he have let her enjoy the feeling of achievement for a little longer?

Chapter 26
2006

As Amanda turned the tap over from one water tank to another, she went to wipe away the sweat that was running into her eyes, but the strong hot northerly dried it before she could. As she straightened up, she heard the trickling of water running through the black poly pipe. Satisfied that the tank further down the laneway would be receiving water, she turned and jumped into her ute.

January could be a stinker of a month and on days like today water was crucial for the stock. Earlier in the day, she’d found one of the troughs nearly empty, and when she’d traced it back to the tank, she found the tank was empty. There was no way that should have happened. It would be fine now though. Fresh, clean, cold water was on its way. Beautiful!

What a crappy day
, she thought as she jumped into the ute and put the air-con on full blast. Mingus sat on the floor on the passenger’s side, panting hard.

‘Stop puffing, Mingus! You’re just making it hotter in here.’ She watched the trees bend in the wind and the sand in the gateway shifting with each gust. Some of the sheep pads were beginning to blow now and Amanda was frightened that early rains may not arrive. If it didn’t rain on time, more of her farm would blow away and she didn’t like the thought of that.

As she looked across the paddocks, the grass was now a sun-bleached gold and a mirage shimmered in the distance. None of the stock were out in the sun – they were all camped under trees with their heads down, trying to avoid the dust that blew. A lone sheep, thirsty enough to brave the direct sunlight, stumbled towards the trough with its head down and, once there, took long, gulping slurps before turning and walking back to the shade of the big gum trees that ran along the fence line.

It was too hot to be outside, Amanda decided as a particularly strong gust of wind shook the ute. Surely there was paperwork that needed doing in the cool of the office. Her two-way crackled to life as she drove back towards the house.

‘On channel, Mandy?’

‘Yeah, Mandy here,’ she answered, not recognising the voice.

‘Mandy, it’s Ken Hargreave.’

Amanda’s stomach took a dive as she looked around trying to spot smoke. Ken was the captain of her fire brigade.

‘Just wanted to let you know that we’ve issued a harvest and movement of vehicle ban starting at nine-thirty. The only exception is getting water to animals.’

Amanda nodded to herself; it made sense. It meant that the less machinery in the paddock, the less chance of a header or tractor having a bearing break causing the hot steel balls to shatter over the ground and start a fire.

‘Yeah, no worries, Ken. It’s a foul day! Can I let anyone know for you?’

He named a few more people in the brigade’s area then signed off with, ‘We’ll review it at five this afternoon.’

‘Okay, well I might head into town. There’s not much I can do out here and I’ve got to get some supplies. I’ll probably go in the next hour and be back by around lunchtime. I’ll have my mobile with me if there’re any problems.’

‘Thanks for the heads-up, Mandy. Hopefully there won’t be any fires today. Cheers.’

‘Catch you later,’ replied Amanda, then looked at Mingus and said, ‘Well, looks like we’ve got the day off, old mate.’

Back at the house, Amanda made the phone calls about the harvest ban then jumped into the shower and stood there with the cool water running over her. There were always days like this in summer and they scared her. Mother Nature’s power could undo in an instant all the hard work of a year. She could be friend or foe and the display she was putting on today definitely had her in the foe category.

Locking Mingus in the laundry, where he could stretch out over the tiled floor to keep cool, she dressed in the lightest T-shirt and pair of shorts she owned and drove to town.

The only shopping she really liked doing was for the farm, but today she welcomed the coolness of the shopping centre as she headed to the supermarket.

As she pushed the trolley around, she noticed a group of young people, obviously on holidays from uni. Dressed in skimpy tops and short shorts, skin bronzed from hours spent basking in the summer sun, they seemed not to have a care in the world. For a brief moment, Amanda felt such a pang of envy it surprised her. It had been a long time since she’d felt carefree.

Amanda’s next stop was the farm merchandise store. Hopefully the weather would ease in the next few days and she’d be able to get out and fix a couple of sagging fences that could do with some more steel posts to keep them upright. Some of the fences needed replacing, but that was still a long way off, since the last time Amanda had researched how much it would cost to build a new one it had worked out at more than eight hundred dollars a kilometre – and she wanted to do ten kilometres! So for the time being the fences would have to make do with a bit of TLC instead.

As she entered the merchandise building she saw that Sharna was on the front desk.

Amanda had met Sharna about eight months ago, when the younger girl had come to work as an assistant to the merch manager. She’d done a year of vet science at uni but was taking a break to earn more money before she finished her study. They both loved animals and had spent some time discussing husbandry practices.

Today Sharna was sitting next to the printer with a roll of paper over her legs and ink on her cheek.

‘Busy I see,’ Amanda said with a grin.

Sharna looked up and, realising who it was, held up a finger. ‘You are not to say a word. My boss thinks that just because I’ve performed a small amount of surgery on animals that were already dead, I can fix this.’

Amanda laughed. ‘Well I can tell you, it’s better in here than out there. If the heat doesn’t get you, the wind will carry you away.’

‘Yeah, it’s not a good day.’ Sharna struggled to her feet. ‘Good thing you didn’t come in this morning. Slay was in picking up his new hand piece. Man, you hurt some serious male pride there! He’s still dirty on you.’

Amanda frowned. She really couldn’t understand why the guy still had such a grudge against her. Yeah, she’d sacked him, but surely three years down the track he would have got over it! The last time Amanda had seen him, Sharna had been with her at the local show. They were watching the ‘Quick Shears’ competition, when Slay had walked up, stood in front of her and just glared. Amanda hadn’t known what to do, so she’d smiled, then walked around him. It had been really unnerving.

‘Oh well, good thing I’m in now and not then,’ she said.

‘You must have really upset him. Anyway what can I get you today, Mandy?’

‘Well, I’m going to do some fencing.’

‘Oh, good idea! The ground’s as hard as hell, you won’t be able to touch the wire because it’ll burn you, and when you bang the staples in the wood it’ll split because it’s so dry.’

‘Surgery must suit you! Maybe you could think about becoming something other than a vet – your bedside manner sucks when you’re angry.’

‘Sorry.’ Sharna looked sheepish. ‘It’s the weather.’

‘I can sympathise – but hey, I’ve got some news that’ll cheer you up.’

‘Have you? What?’

‘You know how you said you’d drive for me when I wanted to shoot foxes? Well I thought I might start in a month or so. Suit you?’

‘Hell, yeah!’ Sharna brightened visibly. ‘That’d be great. Give me a ring when you want to start. Now, what do you need in the way of fencing gear?’

All that night Amanda listened to the wind howl and moan. At least the harvest ban was still on, meaning machinery fires were one less thing to think about. She kicked off her covers restlessly. It was just too hot to sleep.

She knew she could go to Adrian’s, to his air-conditioner and comfortable house. He had called while she was having tea and urged her to come over but, like him, she was unwilling to leave her farm in case Mother Nature took over. She needed to be here.

Two days later she awoke to bright blue skies and a calm day. She could see out the window that overnight a couple of thick branches had fallen across the drive, but they hadn’t damaged anything – which was a minor miracle considering the strength of the winds.

The stock were next on her checklist, and as she drove along the laneway her stomach constricted as she saw her precious AI ewes hanging around a trough.

Puzzled, she stopped and jumped the fence. She knew that she’d swapped the taps over and pushed water down this side of the farm. But when she looked into the trough, it was dry, mud caked to its bottom. The sheep hanging around it were more than thirsty. Judging by the way their eyes were sunk back in their heads, they were dehydrated.

‘I know I turned those taps over yesterday morning,’ Amanda said aloud as a stab of unease shot through her. ‘I’m
sure
I did.’ She raced back to the ute and drove towards the tank. The taps were set the wrong way.