"I'm pleased," her father responded. "People weren't made to be alone."
Aggie glanced up at his downcast eyes. "Yet, that is exactly what you were for years. Why Dad?"
"Circumstances, Aggie. I rejected humanity and it was only after John and Fiona came into my life that I realized I was wrong. Not all humans are self centred and covetous."
Doctor Angelina Bentley frowned. "Would you like to talk about it, Dad?" she said in a soft voice.
"Not now, Aggie," he replied. "Perhaps one day I will, but the past is the past. There is a future now." He smiled and stared at the rain hitting the windowpane. "With Fiona and now you..."
"You like her, don't you Dad and I believe the feelings are mutual?" she responded
"Fiona, you mean?"
"Who else?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door and the person in question walked in. "Hi," she announced and placed a plastic bag on the bench. "I whipped up some doughnuts for morning coffee break."
*
The next morning, even though it was still raining, Harold and John took the Bedford up to the top plateau with a load of fence posts and invited Fiona and Aggie along. The visitor examined the tiny cottage in grim silence before turning to her father. "I'm glad you decided to move down to John's cottage," she said. "It's too isolated here."
"I had Sissy." Harold shrugged and patted the little dog's ears. "Anyhow, after I help John unload the posts I'll take you to see my tree daisies."
"You'll like them," Fiona added.
Both Aggie and John, who hadn't visited the gully either, were fascinated by the forested gully. Only large drips from the rain dripped through the foliage above and the cold breeze on the plateau was absent in this sheltered spot. After he pushed through the undergrowth, Harold pointed out the unspectacular tree daisies, now devoid of leaves but with new shoots beginning to poke through the bark.
"In a few weeks they'll be covered in flowers." He explained.
Aggie gazed around. "You did many of your drawings here, didn't you, Dad? I recognize the undergrowth."
"Yes, it was Sissy's and my favourite place," he answered. “Not so much in this weather but in the summer it was always cool down here, like another world."
"A place to hide?" his daughter queried and glanced at Fiona.
Harold shrugged. "I guess," he muttered.
Later that afternoon when they were alone, Aggie asked Fiona about her father's life on the plateau.
"I really know no more than you," Fiona replied. "He was quite ill when I first met him, we rushed him to hospital and, afterwards he was persuaded to shift into our cottage." She explained everything she knew about her companion's father.
"But what caused him to withdraw from society?" Aggie asked. "It wasn't my mother. Their separation happened years earlier."
"I'm not sure," Fiona replied. "Something happened at the university where he worked, I know that much. He worked on those topographical maps for a few months before he shifted into the cabin."
"Well, I'm going to find out," Aggie replied. "There must be records somewhere."
"I don't think he wants anyone to know," Fiona responded.
"True, but even if it's something incriminating I still need to know. "She frowned. "Personally, Dad is such a moral person, I can't believe he would have done anything illegal."
"But if he had?" Fiona asked.
"I will be discrete," Aggie added. "If there is anything the least suspicious, I'll withdraw. No way do I want to hurt Dad more than he already has been. Personally, I'd say it was something like research gone wrong or perhaps he discovered something dangerous he did not want to pursue." she frowned. "In my own research, results are, at times, completely different from what I anticipate."
"If I can help, tell me," Fiona added. "I'm getting quite good at searching the Internet. I found you, didn't I?"
"You did." the younger woman replied.
*
On Saturday, the family took Aggie down to Palmerston North airport for her flight back to Dunedin. It wasn't a sad occasion, though, but more of a temporary parting. Now father and daughter were reunited they knew they would keep in touch, Harold promised to visit Dunedin later in the year and Fiona pledged to keep an eye on him.
"Thanks Fiona. Bye, John, Kylena and you two girls. See you at Christmas." Aggie turned to her father. "And Dad, what can I say except I love you.”
She gave him a hug and was gone.
"I would say she was everything you'd wanted in a daughter," John said to Harold as they walked upstairs to watch the aircraft fly out.
"More than I'd hoped, John," Harold replied. "You don't know what it is like just to have her. My wife is dead, you know."
*
With Aggie gone, life returned to normal on the farm. October rolled into November and with it, spring growth and the busiest farm season. Lambs and calves were being born and it was a busy time for all. Across the boundary, the hillside where the pine plantation had been was now a slope of brown soil, smooth and peppered with green as the new grass sprouted. One steep cavity had been used to bury the stumps ripped from the hillside and one other small gully had been left in native trees that had never been replaced when the plantation was originally planted. The boundary fence was almost finished with only section to complete.
John stood on the edge of the plateau and gazed down at his neighbour's. "I must admit, Kelvin has got it looking good," he commented.
"Yes, but I wish he'd left more trees. Even with the grass established he could have slips." Harold glanced down at the soft mud beneath his gumboots. “We’ve had enough rain over the last month. Any more will be a hindrance."
John nodded, "At least its stopped today. If we can get the fence up, I can start using the paddock." He grinned. "I doubt if Kelvin will appreciate our cattle cutting up his hillside of new grass." He gazed across the edge. "Perhaps we should have used that fencing contractor he employed to do his half."
Harold, though, shook his head. "The guy did a good job but was too expensive. I reckon if Kelvin did a little more work himself he would be able to run his place at a profit. Those bulldozers he had pulling the stumps and preparing the hill for the plough must have cost him a fortune. I counted six there one day. Afterwards he used a contractor to plough and sow. He could have done that himself."
"True," John replied. "Anyhow, let's get going. The fence won't build itself."
Three hours later the two perspiring men glanced up to see the Land Rover approach. It almost slithered to a halt in the soft grass and Kylena poked her head out the driver's door.
"Lunch," she called and produced a basket with two massive thermos flasks and a plastic container of sandwiches.
"You shouldn't be driving up the track in your condition," John scolded as his wife wriggled out from behind the wheel and Fiona appeared from the passenger’s side.
"Why not? I'm pregnant, not crippled."
"Okay," John replied. He reached for the basket and kissed her lips.
"What a view," Fiona interrupted. "I can even see the school. The kids are outside."
They all turned and followed her gaze. The view below looked almost as if they were flying over in an aircraft. The brown hillside of Kelvin's ploughed land contrasted to the green of the other hills and darker colours of forested slopes. Long Valley Road twisted in from the left, along the small straight in front of the school before disappearing through the valley to their right. As they watched, a car drove along the road in front of a cloud of dust.
"I hear the district council are going to tarseal the road this season," Kylena said. “They should do the big saddle and up about a kilometre beyond the school.”
"Tarseal?" John raised his eyebrows.
"Oh my dear," Kylena said. "What do you call it? Bitumen, blacktop or what?"
"I know what you mean," John said. He stood behind her, tucked his arms around and ran his chin through her hair. "Better up here than teaching, isn't
it?"
"Yes," sighed Kylena. "Especially Junction Road. The children were just coming right but I guess with Bruce back they'll just slip into their usual ways." She smiled up at her husband. "But our school seems to be going okay. Helen likes Vicky and Courtney is just continuing my programs in the senior room. I said I would go and help prepare for the school concert at the end of the year."
"I can't keep you away from the place, can I?" John chuckled.
"No." Kylena laughed. "Any more than I can keep you off the farm."
They turned and walked across to where Fiona had poured hot coffee into four tin mugs and Harold had seated himself on one of the posts lying on the grass. In the distance, the snow covered Mount Ruapehu stretched across the eastern horizon with just a few white clouds tucked around its summit. It was a perfect spring day.
*
CHAPTER 15
Julie ambled in from the back veranda in stocking feet and hair plastered down over her soaked face. "Hell, it's wet out there." She shivered and rushed across to warm her hands in front of the electric wall heater. "Those lambs are real little pains and Toodles is the worst." Toodles was her pet lamb being raised for the school Calf and Lamb Day later in the year. "Aren't you lucky being able to stay home?" She grinned at her stepmother.
"I guess, but come and have breakfast," Kylena replied. "It's waiting for you. Where's Helen?"
"She's coming. Her lamb wouldn't do what she said and she's getting frustrated with it. Dad's has just returned on the farm bike, too." Julie glanced up as Fiona walked in the room. "Will you give us a ride to school in the Land Rover, Grandma? It's too wet to walk."
"I suppose." her grandmother frowned. "I remember when I was your age..."
"I know," Julie retorted. "It was thirty below and you trudged two miles through three feet of snow pulling your little brother on a sled."
"Well, it wasn't quite that bad but the weather at home was far worse than here." Fiona replied. "Okay, I want to drop in to see Harold anyway. Be ready in ten minutes."
"Thanks Grandma," Julie said and leapt up from the breakfast table. "I'll go and find Helen." She ran to the back door, stuck her head out and screamed. "Get in here, Helen or you'll be walking to school!"
Within fifteen minutes the rush was over and Kylena sat down at the kitchen table and smiled across at John. "My back aches, I feel like an elephant, I reckon if we get any more orphaned lambs we'll have to buy another dairy cow to provide milk to feed them, but I feel strangely satisfied."
"And so you should," John answered. He grimaced as the sky outside lit up with forked lightning and, three seconds later, a clap of thunder rumbled through the hills.
"Three kilometres away," Kylena observed. "It's about a kilometre a second."
"Is it?" John laughed. "I'm still getting used to this metric measure." He glanced at the calendar pinned to the wall. " What's today's date circled for?"
"I'm due to visit the doctor in Hunterville. She'll have the results of last week's scan."
"Phone and ask her for the result. It's a terrible day to go out. There could even be slips on the big hill."
"No, I'd better pay her a visit," Kylena replied. "If we leave soon we can be back by one. Fiona will be here if we're held up."
"Okay, but we'll take the Land Rover. It's better if there are any slips."
*
It was a slow journey with the gravel road a sea of mud in several parts but, except for a small wash out and thick fog on the top hill, the pair made it to town in time for Kylena's appointment.
Doctor Simone Downie, a pleasant woman only a little older than Kylena, smiled as her patient walked in.
"I didn't expect you in this terrible weather," she commented. "Let's get you on the table. How has it been?"
"The scan, doctor?" Kylena asked.
"All's well and we have the baby's gender. Do you wish to know or would you rather wait until the birth?"
"Now please. John and I had a bet. He reckons it'll be a girl and I went for a boy because, as you know, he already has two daughters."
"Not a large bet, I hope," Simone smiled as she extracted a negative from a large yellow envelope.
"Twenty dollars."
"So will you give him cash or..."
"It's a girl!" Kylena whispered
"Yes," the doctor laughed. She slipped on rubber gloves and began her examination,
There was silence for a moment as Simone examined her patient. "Everything appears fine, Kylena," she commented a moment later, "I'd say the date of early January is right on target."
Kylena's mind was content she walked into the waiting room and tucked a twenty-dollar bill in John's hand. "The doctor said our daughter is on target," she chuckled and kissed his lips.
John broke into a wide grin. He held her close, returned the kiss and held a monstrous raincoat out for her to slip into. However, he never said a word as held the surgery door open and ushered her across to the Land Rover. He remained grinning and rushed around to the driver's door. With water pouring off his hat, he climbed in and started the engine.
"It's such a miserable day, I hope Harold put off going up to the top plateau to finish the boundary fence. I told him there was no hurry," he finally muttered.
"John," screamed Kylena and hit his arm. "Stop teasing me. Are you disappointed that we are going to have a daughter? What are your thoughts?"
John slowed at the intersection to the main highway, waited for a couple of cars to swish past, headed across and towards home. "No, I'm thrilled," he said, turned his gentle eyes towards her and reached out to squeeze her leg, "And I'm sure the girls will be, too."
*
When Harold reached the plateau, misty fog and rain clouds closed in. He turned off the track and engaged low gear so the jeep crawled across the muddy grass to where the last pile of strainers had been set out in a long line ready for erection.
"Right, girls," Harold grunted at the dogs. “You’re going to get wet today, I'm afraid."
He pulled the cape of his heavy oilskin coat close and plunged out through the mist and gloom to the old tractor. With a post hole digger attached it looked like a mini oilrig driller silhouetted against the swirling rain. But something else caught his attention. He frowned, walked through the gap onto Kelvin's side of the slope, slid down the steep bank and came to a small terrace.
"Bugger!" Harold, not one to usually use profanities, swore.
As far as could see in the mist, a massive crack zigzagged across the hillside. Water was pouring out one front section and, even as he watched, the earth shook and a creaking rumble rose from the bowls of the earth.
But it was more than that!
Harold knew this was a gigantic slip ready to go. Thousands of tons of soil, mud and clay would descend into the valley as fast as an express train. Within minutes in this highly unstable soil, the whole hillside would move and turn into and avalanche of mud every bit as devastating as snow. Gray clouds and horizontal rain bellowing across the land hid the valley but Harold knew the school was in direct line below. It was early afternoon and the building would be filled with the children and their teachers.
"Damn!" Harold cursed again and tore back to the jeep.
"The fool!" he muttered as he whistled in the dogs and accelerated back down the track.
*
When he reached the house, Harold braked by the implement shed, jumped out and, with head down against the driving rain, ran to the Bedford truck sitting in the end bay. It was quarter loaded with hay bales covered in a massive tarpaulin ready for the evening's feed out. This green canvas cover was attached to the cross board behind the cab, stretched up over the bales and back to the rear of the tray. Leather straps held the sides onto steel rings protruding from the side of the wooden decking. Designed to protect the hay, it could bellow up or flap in the wind but would be secure.
Harold leapt in, gave a grunt when he saw that the keys, as expected, had been left in, backed around and headed down the driv
e. He reached the school within moments, veered around so the Bedford was racing back towards the farm, left the motor running and tore into the senior room.
"Quick!" he cried. “There’s a slip coming. We have to evacuate the school!"
*
The sudden sound of a male voice made Julie glance up to see Harold's agitated face and waving hands. She had never seen him looking so apprehensive with eyes that darted back at forth at Courtney O'Reilly, the children and finally, herself.
"The hill is about to come crashing down. I've got your Dad's truck out there. Get everyone onto it."
"Now, Doctor Bentley..." Courtney overcame the initial shock of the man's sudden appearance and walked up to him. "It's teeming down outside."
"For God sake woman, if that slip hits the school you'll be buried alive. There's no time to argue!" Harold yelled.
Everyone in the room stopped, frightened faces studied the distraught man and a bubble of voices filled the air. A couple of the younger children shrank back at the wild man in his saturated raincoat, pointy beard and agitated mannerism.
Harold turned to Julie. "I'm not lying. If you stay here you will all be killed."
Julie flushed white and turned to her teacher. "I believe him, Mrs. O'Reilly," she said.
Courtney studied the man, her frightened children and the Year 8 pupil. "Okay class," she said in a quiet voice. "Remember the emergency drills we practiced? I want you to place any thing in your hands down and line up at the door. Everyone find their partner." She glanced up at Julie. "Could you tell Miss Taylor to ..."
"Sure!" Julie replied without waiting for her teacher's sentence to finish. She rushed into the adjacent room and up to the acting principal. "We have to evacuate the building, Miss Taylor," she gasped. There's a slip due to come down. Harold's got Dad's truck and..."
"Julie Berg!" snapped Vicky. "Don't you dare burst in the room like that. Will you please leave and knock."
The Year 8 girl stood looking defiant. "It's an emergency, Miss Taylor," she said through clenched teeth. "We have to leave. Look out the window. Mrs. O'Reilly and the seniors are already going."
Long Valley Road Page 17
