Drowning in Her Eyes (11 page)

Crestfallen, Jack went off to prepare horses and dogs, blanket roll, and supplies. A week later, he was on the road with
two hundred
cows and their calves, and an old drover named Ned Scully. Ned had been around stations and cattle for near sixty years. He proved to be good company and r
e
galed Jack with many tales of the outback and its characters. Around the campfire at night, they discussed all kinds of topics. One night the World Wars came up. Ned had been too old for World War
II
. Instead, he had enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps, a kind of
h
ome
g
uard.
“We had no rifles at the beginning, just broomsticks to drill with. Then, when we got rifles, most were from the First World War and they wouldn
't bloody well shoot straight. They gave us all ten rounds of ammo and told us not to waste it. The Japs must have been shitting themselves!
”

Jack was more than interested in this conversation.
“Did
you
go to the First War?
” he asked.

“Nah, I went to join up in 1915, but they said me eyes was no bloody good.
”

“You should have gone back in 1917,
” said Jack
.
“If you could have crawled across the doorstep they
'd have ta
k
en you.
”

“Fuck
‘em. The bastards had their chance.
”

Once more nature intervened and good rain began to fall. They turned the cattle for home. As they went, the rain went with them, turning the roads into quagmires. They a
r
rived home a week before Christmas, exhausted, wet, and filthy. Paddy drove down to the stockyards to meet them and was pleased to see how well the cattle had done. He paid off Ned, who rode off with the rejoinder:
“Thanks, boss, and you owe me a good bottle of rum for putting up with this young fella. Christ, he can talk. I couldn
't get a bloody word in!
”

“Jeez, Dad, he hardly shut up the whole bloody time,
” said Jack.

“Doesn
't like competition, old Ned,
”
said his father.
“T
hat was faint praise coming from him.
”

* *
*
*

They drove back to the homestead in companionable s
i
lence. As they pulled up to the veranda, Paddy said,
“That was good thinking, about putting those cattle on the road. We
'll have a head start on our neighbours when it
's time to sell. Clean
up
and
come
have a beer. We
've some serious talking in front of us tonight.
” The legal drinking age was still twenty-
one, but Paddy, although he banned Jack from the pubs, was quite happy to share a drink with him after work. That way he could keep an eye on him and not let things get out of hand. After dinner, they convened in the large living room. Jack had noticed that his father ate only a meagre meal and looked as if he may have lost some weight recently.

Helen began their conversation.
“Jack, I know you want to join the army but I
'm afraid that won
't be possible.
”

“But, Mum
…
” Jack interjected.

“Don
't interrupt me, my boy. You
'll get your say later!
” She continued:
“As I said, the army
's out of the question. You are too young and we won
't sign your application an
y
way. There is another reason as well. Your father will pr
o
test, but he is not a well man. We have been seeing all kinds of specialists, and it appears that he has a problem with his heart. He will not be able to work hard ever again. There will be no more long days in the saddle or on the tractor. Ollie and Mick can cope as long as you are home from time to time, especially in the busy periods.
”

Jack looked at his father. Paddy said
“Sorry, mate. We
've known for a while now but we didn
't want you to worry too much while you were doing your exams. I
'll be all right as long as I take it easy.
”

Helen cut in.
“Your version of easy is very different
from
mine.
”

Paddy shook his head ruefully.
“Bloody women,
” he muttered.

“Let
's press on,
” said Helen,
“If you go to university, you will be home about ten or twelve weeks a year. You will be finished each year in time for the wheat harvest. You should be here in May to help with the planting, provided we have sufficient rain. We can move shearing to August to a
c
commodate your term break then. Denni is going to Bri
s
bane. Perhaps you could study agricultural science at the same time and share a flat.
”

Paddy said,
“Are you sure he needs to go away to un
i
versity?
”

Helen rounded on him.
“Paddy,
” she said fiercely,
“We
've had
that
conversion a hundred times. You know we need a well-
educated manager to take over
Ballinrobe
. Jack is clever but he needs to expand on his knowledge. Things happen fast nowadays, and he has not the time to gather e
x
perience like you did. You have given him a great start, but science and economics are going to be more important in the future than knowing how to drive a tractor or skin a
roo.
”

Obviously, Jack was off to university, like it or not. He did not like the idea of living in Brisbane, with or without Denni. He had had enough of big cities. Four years in Sy
d
ney had seen to that. He said as much. It
was a stalemate.

A couple of days later, Paddy said at breakfast,
“I had an idea yesterday and rang Lillian in Armidale
.
” Lillian was Paddy
's sister.
“
She says they have a good university there, with special courses in agriculture. Apparently, all the st
u
dents live in colleges and have their own rooms. I was thin
k
ing that we could take a run down there after Christmas and look the place over. Lil has a heap of kids, and they could look after our little wide-
eyed boy from the bush until he finds his feet. It
's time he got to know his cousins anyway. What do you th
ink?
”

They all thought it was a good idea. Jack shot off a letter to the University for Course Information. Denni said she was pleased Jack would not be in Brisbane anyway. She did not want him disrupting her social life, mucking up the bat
h
room, and trying to seduce all her friends.
“Can you imagine all that wet and smelly Rugby gear lying around? Ugh.
”

On Christmas Day, Denni and Jack woke to find ever
y
thing very quiet. They walked around on eggshells for a while before they realised their parents were not even in the house. Jack went to the kitchen window. There were two strange cars parked outside.
“Bugger,
” yelled Denni,
“the bloody neighbours are here for their Christmas drinks a
l
ready and I look awful. Look after them, Jack, my life d
e
pends on it!
” She disappeared at
a
run towards the bathroom.

Jack decided to cut off the visitors before they got to the house. Perhaps he could keep them on the veranda while Denni made herself beautiful.
Shit!
That would take more than an hour, two if she washed her hair!
He hurriedly put on
a
tee shirt and shorts and bounded down the steps toward the visitors
' cars. There was no one in sight! Jack looked around. Nothing stirred. He moved towards the cars. They looked new to him. Whose could they be? One was a Morris Mini, crouched low to the ground, bright red and very sporty.
Not much good in the bush
, t
hought Jack.
You would tear the suspension out of it in a week
. The other was a Holden utility. This was more like it. He could do with one of these. He would probably need a ca
r if he were to go to Armidale.

I wonder
ed
if Paddy would come to the party. It was a long way for the old Land Rover. Then the penny dropped. Jack could hardly believe it. Paddy
had
come to the party, and in a big way. He called,
“You can come out now, you pair of crafty old buggers!
” He swung back towards the house.
“It
's all right, Denni, it
's only the Jacksons.
” When she heard that, Denni screamed again. The Jacksons were neighbours and had a son about Denni
's age who had taken a fancy to her. She thought he was a bore.
“He thinks with his groin, and only talks about the weather and wool prices,
” she would
say when teased by her family.

Denni finally emerged. By then the Jacksons
were
there, along with several others, so Denni was able to avoid the son
's attentions. They all trooped out to show her the new car. She gave an excited scream.

Helen said,
“We thought you would need these vehicles when you both go away. The only condition is that you use them to come home frequently.
”

Christmas at
Ballinrobe
was a big day. Relatives and friends gathered for Christmas dinner. In the English trad
i
tion of the time, this consisted of roast turkey, baked ham and all the trimmings, followed by traditional Christmas pudding, complete with a silver sixpenny coin. Finding this in your pudding guaranteed good luck for the year to come. Jack didn
't find it. Denni did.

* *
*
*

Soon after New Year, they all travelled to Armidale. It was about a three-
hour drive and the last hour or so took them along the top of the New England ranges. They stopped in the small town of Glen Innes, where Paddy revealed that his grandparents had lived here and were buried in the local cemetery. In Armidale, their relatives greeted them warmly. Lillian and her husband Bill had settled here many years b
e
fore. Paddy and Lil saw each other infrequently, so there was plenty to discuss.

After supper, the adults retired to the lounge for a long gossip. Jack and Denni gathered with their older cousins Maree, Bernadette, and John. Lil
's children were attractive and pleasant. Jack found the two girls, both stunning, one dark haired, the other a blonde version of her sister, fascina
t
ing. He reckoned that such attractive girls would have plenty of friends of the same stature. He was not wrong.