Novels 01 Blue Skies (13 page)

Chapter 29

Amanda attached the spotlight to the battery of the ute and flicked the switch to make sure the alligator clips were hooked up properly. She was rewarded by the bright glow that sent mice scuttling for cover as she shone the light around the shed. Her dad’s .243 rifle sat on the bench with the safety on; the bullets were in the ute.

Sharna adjusted her beanie and hugged her jacket close to her body. ‘Why did we decide tonight?’ she asked again as the cold night air swirled around them.

‘It’s dark, there’s no moon and it’s going to be cold whatever night we do it,’ Amanda reminded her. ‘Toughen up!’

‘Well I don’t see you offering to be on the back of the ute with the spotlight.’

‘I don’t see you offering to pull the trigger – I’m happy to let you if you want to, though.’

The ute leaned to one side as Sharna swung herself onto the back and held her hand out for the spotlight. ‘Nah, I’ll leave that to you. How did you learn to shoot?’

‘Mum taught me. We had to do it on the sly so Dad didn’t know – he wouldn’t have liked it. Mum was a great shot. We used to practise with Coke cans over near the sheep yards. She could blow a tin away from nearly a hundred and fifty paces but didn’t do a lot of shooting though; all the guns are Dad’s. They were handed down from my pop and Dad was really funny about anyone else using them.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t mind learning, if you’d teach me.’

‘No worries, but not with this one. The kickback would set you on your bum and leave you bruised for weeks. We’ll start you on a small twenty-two – and in daylight!’ Amanda climbed into the ute.‘Okay, now you know what we’re looking for?’

‘Foxes around your lambing AI ewes,’ Sharna said.

‘You got it. Righto, hanging on?’Amanda backed out of the shed and turned the ute towards her beloved AI ewes.

There had been some miscarriages due to dehydration. Amanda had gathered up the tiny foetuses and buried them in the bush, vowing that it would never happen again. Not only was it a waste of money, it was a waste of a ewe – she would be barren for another twelve months and Amanda would have to carry her through, knowing that the reason she lost her lamb was thanks to her own carelessness. She wasn’t going to lose any more lambs, if she could help it – and foxes loved newborns.

As Amanda had been checking around the commercial ewes earlier in the week, she’d noticed a dead ewe with her back end chewed out.That meant there were definitely foxes around. And although the big White Suffolk ewes could give a lone fox a run for its money by stamping and charging it, when the foxes paired up the ewe didn’t stand a chance of keeping all her lambs safe, especially if she had twins or triplets to defend.

Amanda had seen foxes working in pairs, one at the front of the ewe, distracting her from her babies and one hidden in the darkness.The ewe would concentrate on the fox she could see, while the other whipped in and grabbed a lamb. The first the ewe would know about losing a lamb was when there was a bleat of fright and then a silence. Amanda, like most farmers, hated foxes with a passion. They were cruel and unrelenting in their pursuit of food.

Amanda’s eyes followed the spotlight, wherever Sharna pointed it, looking for bright red eyes shining in the dark.

After half an hour of slowly cruising around the paddock, Amanda heard a gentle tap on the roof and stuck her head out the window.

‘Where is it?’ she asked.

‘About three o’clock, maybe a couple of hundred metres away.’

Amanda looked out into the light and located the pair of eyes. She lowered the rifle and lined the eyes up in the sights. The fox moved slightly to the left – it seemed to be listening. Amanda adjusted her aim then squeezed the trigger.

The shot echoed loudly through the night and sent some plovers squawking into the air in fright, but with the loud noise there had also come a resounding thud, and Amanda knew that she’d hit her target. She put the ute in gear and drove towards where the fox had been.

Sharna leaned over the ute’s side, looked down at the mangled body and said, ‘Well I don’t think I could fix him up, even if I had finished my training! Good shot, I’m impressed.’ She flashed the spotlight around in case the fox had had a mate, but there was no sign of one.

‘Let’s head over to the commercial ewes now and have a look over there,’ Amanda suggested.

A couple of hours, four dead foxes and two misses later, they pulled back into the shed.

‘Want a coffee before you head back into town?’ Amanda offered.

‘Nah, it’s past midnight, I think I’ll just head home. I’ve got to open up the store tomorrow morning.’ She walked towards her little yellow Datsun car and opened the door. ‘Thanks for having me out. Let me know when you want to go again, I’d be happy to spot for you.’ She slid behind the wheel and drove away.

Back in the house, Amanda let Mingus out of the laundry for his nightly walk and poured herself a glass of wine.As she sat down her eyes roamed over the kitchen and stopped at the bench.There was a coffee cup sitting on it that she distinctly remembered wiping down before she left with Sharna. How had that got there? She picked it up and looked inside. There was a ring of tea left inside and it felt vaguely warm. Amanda went over to the kettle and put her hand on it. It was still hot. How strange! She shrugged, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach as Mingus whined at the door.

‘Have you been making yourself a cup of tea, while I’m not here?’ she asked, patting him. Mingus pricked his ears up at her and then growled quietly. Amanda stopped stroking and listened.Then she saw lights flash across the ceiling of the kitchen.

She froze, then realised that it was probably Sharna coming back – perhaps she had left something behind. She opened the door for Mingus then went into the lounge room to see down the front drive.

There was nothing but darkness. Her heart started to beat a little faster.

With Mingus at her heels she returned to the kitchen and listened. Nothing.

Still feeling a little anxious, she poured herself another glass of wine and sat at the table again. Half an hour and three glasses of wine later, there had been no further disturbances. She must have imagined the lights, she decided as she made her way unsteadily to her bedroom. Still, just this once Mingus could sleep in her room.

Chapter 30

Amanda drove into the AI ewe paddock. It was only a few days before they were due to start lambing and she couldn’t wait.

The ewes had long since stopped taking any notice of her when she entered the paddock, and they continued to graze as she looked out over all of them with pleasure. She was pleased with what she had achieved with her stud in the last three years. Of course it helped that she had bought quality stock to begin with, and for that she had Adrian to thank. He had insisted on coming with her when she inspected the stock at a dispersal sale, and thanks to his bargaining skills she’d ended up getting four stud ewes for free!

Amanda caught sight of a white spot deep in the bush and shoved the ute in to gear. Driving cautiously over she got out in time to watch as a new mum licked her newborn lamb all over. The ram lamb tried to stand, his legs wobbly. He fell as quickly as he’d stood, but three tries later and he was balancing unsteadily on his legs as he nosed in under the ewe’s belly, looking for her udder and his first drink. The ewe turned her head and sniffed at his rump, then bleated softly.

Not wanting to upset the newly bonded couple, but knowing she had to, she quietly grabbed a pen and piece of paper from the glove box then walked around to the ute’s tray and took out a bucket and a set of scales. She pushed a tag engraved with the number 0001 into her pocket along with the tagging gun.

The ewe watched her suspiciously, knowing what was about to happen from experience of the past years, and tried to nudge her lamb further into the bush, out of Amanda’s reach. But the lamb wasn’t yet sure enough on its wonky legs.

With one swift movement, Amanda snatched up the lamb and there was a bleat of alarm, while the lamb struggled weakly. She talked to it soothingly. The ewe baaed and stamped its front foot at Amanda and followed her back to the ute, baaing the whole way to reassure her lamb that she was still nearby.

Amanda gently slipped the lamb into the bucket and clipped the handle onto a hook attached to the scales. The ram wiggled as she read the weight and wrote it down quickly, while his mother continued to sniff and reassure her baby that she was there. Amanda scratched the ewe’s head and said, ‘Not long now, girl, and you can have him back,’ as Mingus whined softly in the back of the ute.‘Shh,’ she told him.

Unhooking the lamb, she swiftly punched a hole in its ear, slipped the tag through and released him to his mother.

The lamb stood unsteadily again, looking around and shaking his head as the tag pulled his ear downwards with its unfamiliar weight. His mum nudged him away from Amanda. He walked unsteadily for a couple of steps then, once again, looked for the comfort of the udder.

‘Nothing like mother’s milk is there little one?’ Amanda smiled and watched them for a bit longer as the ewe eyed her warily but let her baby drink.

Amanda turned back to the ute and got out her stud book. She filled in the date of birth, weight, the ewe’s tag number as well as the lamb’s, and all the information that the White Suffolk breed society would need in order to register this little bloke as a White Suffolk ram.

Two weeks later Amanda had two hundred AI lambs listed in her stud book. They had come thick and fast once they had started lambing and all of her time had been spent in that one paddock. If she wasn’t weighing and tagging lambs, or making sure the right lambs were with their mums, she was out at night patrolling the boundary of the paddock for foxes. She was tired but knew it would be worth it in the end.

Tonight, though, it was time to enter all the information into the computer and send it off to the White Suffolk society so they could all be registered. A glass of wine rested by the keyboard and Mingus was at her feet. As she plugged in the information, she listened intently for the sound of rocks on her roof. She’d been hearing them over the past month and couldn’t work out where they were coming from. Soon she became so involved in her task, she didn’t hear anything until Mingus suddenly cocked his head and barked.

Brought back to reality, she heard a car engine in the drive. Pushing back her chair, she checked the time and went into the lounge to see who it was. It was after nine o’clock and she wasn’t expecting visitors.

There were lights swinging across her shed but in the darkness she couldn’t see what sort of vehicle it was. She waited for it to come to the house, but it didn’t. It stopped at the shed with the lights trained firmly on her house. Then, without warning, it reversed and sped a little way down the drive.

Running to the gun cabinet, she took out a shotgun and ran down to the shed. Flicking on all the lights, she looked around, trying to see if anything had been taken, but it didn’t look like anything had been disturbed. Her heart pounding now, she turned and went back to the house and shut and locked the kitchen door. As she did, more lights swung across her line of sight.

The car was still in the drive. She squinted against the glare and held up her hand to shade her eyes, trying to see what sort of car it was, but the lights were too bright. Then the car revved its engine and spun its wheels as it reversed down the driveway.

The noise of the motor started to fade and, as it turned on to the main road, Amanda heard the squeal of tyres and the engine drop back a gear as it gathered speed and headed towards Esperance.

Shaking, Amanda ran to the house and picked up the phone to dial the police. Then she stopped. What would they be able to do? And what if it was just some young bloke playing silly buggers? Yes, that’s probably what it was – a young bloke who had had too much to drink, being stupid.

Amanda put down the phone and walked out onto the verandah to listen again. She couldn’t hear anything except the haunting bark of a fox coming from down towards the river. She shivered.

Chapter 31

‘Mandy-Mands! Jonno here. In town for a day or two. Wanna catch up?’

A grin spread across her face as she listened to the message. Jonno was in town! She quickly dialled his mobile number.

‘You idiot! Of course I want to catch up,’ she said. ‘Where are you and what are you doing down here?’

‘Mands! How are you, chicky? I’ve come down to do some interviews about the season.Thought I’d look you up.’

Amanda closed her eyes, relishing the sound of Jonno’s familiar, rough tones.

‘Do you want to come out here or shall I head into town?’

‘It’d be great if you could come to town. I’ve got a couple of things to do this morning but we could have lunch. Then I’ve gotta head out and do one of the interviews.’

‘No worries. How about we meet up at the pub around twelve?’

‘Sounds good.’

Amanda hung up the phone just as the roof of her house exploded with noise. Cringing, she raced outside to see what was causing it.

Adrian had laughed off her fears when she’d told him the lights incident the other night, and when she had mentioned that someone had been throwing rocks at the roof he had told her it was probably the tin expanding. She hadn’t mentioned the cup and hot kettle – that had been too strange for words. Deep down she knew he must be right, but she still couldn’t shake the anxiety she felt every time she heard a strange noise.

Staring at the roof now, she couldn’t see anything. She wondered if a bird flying over could’ve dropped something, but instantly dismissed the idea.

Sighing, she turned around and tripped over Mingus. ‘Sorry, mate.’ She bent to fondle his ears. ‘What do you think? Am I losing my marbles?’ Mingus licked her hand and stared up with adoring eyes.

She straightened up and headed towards the laundry. She had a load of washing to hang out before a small mob of ewes that needed drenching were waiting for her attention. She was glad that Malcolm Mackay had convinced her to spread her lambing over four or five months in order to help with the cash flow, but it created a little more work than if they all lambed at the same time.

The weather had gone from pleasantly warm to bitterly cold in the space of three weeks, and even though there had been enough rain to get the grass germinated, the follow-up rains were proving elusive. As a result, feed was still in short supply, which in turn had caused an outbreak of worms in the last few weeks.

She filled up the drench bag and hoisted it onto her back, checked the dosage and then sent Mingus into the yards while she held the gate open into the race.

‘Pack ’em in,’ she instructed and watched as Mingus worked them from behind and pushed them over to the gateway. The sheep baulked at the entrance and, without being told, Mingus jumped onto their backs, made his way to the front of them then jumped down and forced the sheep into the race by crawling back under their bellies. Amanda smiled as she chained the gate and bent down to pat the dog. ‘That’s why I love you!’

She walked to the front of the race and grabbed the first sheep under its chin, inserted the thin metal gun into its mouth and squeezed the trigger. White liquid shot into the sheep’s mouth and the ewe bobbed her head up and down as she swallowed. Amanda repeated the process with all the sheep in the race, then opened the gate at the front of the race and let them run into the big yard. They were ready to go back out into the paddock when Amanda had finished the rest of the mob.

Another race full and then another and, before she knew it, Mingus had herded the last of the sheep into the race.

Opening the gate out into the laneway, she ran the sheep past her slowly to get a count. Wouldn’t hurt to get a fix on the number of sheep around, she’d decided.

Even though the day was cool, it was sunny and calm and the pale blue sky had wisps of white cloud streaking across it, so Amanda decided to use the motorbike to take the sheep back to their paddock. Puttering slowly behind them, with Mingus running from side to side, she looked around. The grass, though short, was green, and Amanda knew that as soon as the cold fronts started sweeping through she could hope to receive regular rainfall – up to an inch and a half per week if she was lucky. Then the weather would warm up a bit, the grass would start to grow beautiful and lush, and the spring would be a good one.

The sheep trickled through the gate and quickly spread out in a fan, their heads down, eating. As she shut the gate and looped the chain around the strainer post, she noticed a ewe with an udder larger than the others. It looked like she was beginning to spring up and, quickly calculating the time elapsed between now and the mating date, Amanda realised they were only about two weeks off lambing. She would have to keep a closer eye on them from now on.

Showered and changed, Amanda entered the local pub at twelve on the dot and looked around. There was no sign of Jonno. Knowing that he was often late, she got a drink and then a table, nodding and smiling hello to a few locals she knew. She was looking at the menu when a pair of warm hands covered her eyes. Amanda gasped and ripped the hands away, her heart pounding.

‘What’s wrong, Mands, did I scare the crap outta you?’ Jonno grinned as he smacked her cheek with a kiss and slid into the chair opposite at her.

She frowned at him and said angrily, ‘Don’t do that. Yeah, you did.’

‘Sorry, mate, didn’t think you were so sensitive. Hey, you looked buggered. What’s the problem?’

Summoning up a smile, she flicked back her fringe and said, ‘Nothing. Hey, it’s great to see you! How’s things? What farmers are you interviewing?’

Jonno laughed. ‘First things first. Have you ordered and why are you drinking lemonade when you could be having a beer?’

‘Well you can’t have anything to drink – you’re working! And no, I haven’t ordered.’

‘Hmm, good point. Well, I guess I’ll have a lemon squash then. So tell me, how are you really, and why do you look so tired? Looks like you’ve started to grow your hair again, thank goodness, but you’ve lost more weight, I reckon – there’s nothing of you! How can you wrestle a fully grown White Suffolk ram to the ground if you don’t have any muscle?’ He paused and looked at her with a mixture of affection and concern.‘Ah shit, what’s wrong, honey?’ Jonno reached across the table and grabbed her hand as tears filled Amanda’s eyes.

Hurriedly she wiped them away and looked around to see if anyone had noticed,‘Sorry,’ she whispered.

Jonno dragged his chair around next to hers and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘What’s up?’ he asked softly, looking into her face.

‘I’m fine, really,’ she said, ‘just a little tired.’

‘Well I can see that! Those rings under your eyes are as dark as night. Tell me what the problem is, hmm? That Adrian putting the hard word on you? Or you’ve got another man and you can’t decide?’

Amanda smiled and thumped his arm. ‘I’m just not sleeping very well, that’s all.We should order, otherwise you’ll need to go and you won’t have eaten.’

‘I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong. That’s what mates are for. C’mon, spill it.’

‘Well I don’t know what’s wrong,’ Amanda exploded. ‘That’s the bloody problem! I can’t sleep because there are strange noises and weird things happening. And yet they’re not weird and can all be explained.’ She paused as she saw Jonno’s worried look. ‘I know I sound like a complete, raving lunatic, but the noises sound like someone throwing rocks on my roof, so it would just be the tin expanding, right? And the lights that went across my roof the other night, well it was probably someone turning around on the road. The car that drove into the shed? Well, I put that down to some young bloke mucking around. But I’m scared shitless in my own home!

‘As for that tap on the water tank, I’m buggered if I can work out how I could’ve stuffed that up and left my girls without water.’

‘Oh yeah, Hannah mentioned something about that. But it was an accident, Mands, that’s all. But the noises you’re hearing, is that why you’re not sleeping? Because you’re scared?’

Amanda nodded miserably.

‘Ah. Now where’s Hannah when you need her?’ Amanda could tell he was trying to fob her off with a joke because he was uncomfortable with the conversation. She understood – it all sounded nuts to her own ears when she said it aloud.

She laughed weakly. ‘I watched a scary movie about three months ago and now I just jump at any noise. I imagine things, like gunshots or cars driving past the house in the middle of the night, and when I get up to have a look there’s nothing there.’

‘What do you want to eat?’

Amanda blinked at the change in conversation and shrugged. ‘Whatever you’re having. I’m not really hungry.’

Jonno got up to order and when he came back he started to talk. ‘Okay, let’s go through the noises – the first time you thought you heard a car outside your house in the middle of the night, did Mingus bark?’ Amanda shook her head.‘Could it have been the wind?’

Amanda thought about that and nodded. ‘Perhaps.’

‘Okay the stones on your roof we’ve established are probably the tin expanding. Lights going across your ceiling – you said that was probably someone turning around on the main road, right?’

‘Yep.’

‘Then we’ve got the car that you’ve actually seen. What did it do?’

As she explained, Jonno nodded. ‘Mandy, do you remember that time we were coming back from the party at Jo’s and we got lost? We had to pull into someone’s driveway and turn around because we’d taken the wrong turn? It was probably just something like that. It’s all small stuff – why are you so freaked out?’

She looked him squarely in the face and said, ‘I don’t know. And you know what’s scaring me most? It’s coming up to the anniversary of Dad’s death.’

Amanda was grateful for the comfort of Jonno’s warm hand in hers, even if he was looking at her strangely. Why not? It was a weird story.

And she still hadn’t told anyone about the letters she’d been receiving.

Amanda was exhausted when she made her way home from the pub. The joy of seeing Jonno was overshadowed by the way she was feeling. She pushed open the kitchen door, Mingus at her heels, and walked in. Opening the fridge door she pulled out a half empty bottle of wine and poured herself a glass.

After a few sips, she walked out to get her clothes off the line – and stopped dead. They weren’t there! But she was sure she hadn’t taken them off before she left for the pub.They wouldn’t have been dry!