The Healing Season

by Catherine Evans

  When Lachlan got his food, he went and sat outside with a few of the other newcomers. Daniel and Zara had worked on the empty shopfront next door to the Ag Store. They’d arrived a couple of months before him and were in their mid-twenties like him. He liked them and found them easy to be with.

  ‘Lachlan, you know a heck of a lot of the people here. We don’t know many at all.’ Zara’s comment made him realise how lucky he was.

  ‘It’s from work. Everyone seems to come into the shop. Not just the farmers but townspeople too. Lots of men but also the women and kids.’

  ‘I didn’t think it’d be the place where the women shopped.’ Zara worked in Orange and drove there every day so Lachlan didn’t think she’d have ever been into the shop.

  ‘Women and kids come to get stuff if they’re in town for other things. But the shop stocks everything you could possibly imagine.’

  ‘Like what?’ she asked.

  ‘Clothes, shoes, boots, wet-weather gear, and sporting goods. Most farming needs and lots of other odds and sods, like hardware or gardening supplies, irrigation bits, pet and stock feed.’

  Zara’s eyes were wide open when he’d finished rattling off the stuff they carried. ‘Wow. I’m going to have to visit.’

  Daniel laughed and put his hand over his wife’s shoulder. ‘No, Zars. It’s better you keep out. The credit card can’t handle it.’

  Lachlan laughed with them. He enjoyed watching the gentle way Daniel teased Zara, and she always responded positively. They seemed to care for each other in such easy, subtle ways. He’d never seen a relationship as relaxed and contented as theirs. It gave him hope that one day he might experience a relationship similar to what they shared.

  After lunch, everyone got stuck in to painting. Lachlan and Alicia worked together on their shop while Daniel and Zara were painting the building next door.

  Lachlan introduced them to Alicia, hoping that she’d enjoy their company as much as he did.

  ‘This working bee’s a great idea, Alicia. Evelyn said it was your idea.’ Zara bubbled with enthusiasm and smiled as she wiped hair from her eyes.

  ‘Not just my idea, Lachlan’s too.’

  Alicia never took credit for all she did but he was pleased that she acknowledged him. ‘I didn’t do too much.’

  ‘You came up with the colours. And they look fabulous, don’t they?’ Alicia grinned as she started doing the window trims in sky blue.

  Zara looked from Alicia to Lachlan with one of those puzzled looks. He knew that she’d be quizzing him later about his relationship with Alicia. She’d been intrigued every time he’d spoken about work. After meeting Alicia, Zara was only going to pester him more, unless he could get Daniel to keep her in check.

  ‘The colours are great,’ Daniel said with a chuckle. ‘I didn’t know colours were your thing, mate.’

  Lachlan waved his hand as he kept rolling the yellow onto the walls.

  Alicia and Zara kept chatting while Lachlan kept working on the walls. The girls were painting shop windows quite close together. ‘Thanks for coming to help, both of you,’ Alicia said.

  ‘Oh, the day’s been fabulous. We’ve only been here a short time but the working bee’s made us feel a part of Dulili already.’ Zara’s words all ran together like a song.

  Lachlan climbed the scaffolding and painted up high. When he finished, they’d roll the scaff along and Daniel could paint the top of his shopfront.

  The two girls chatted, creating a background noise so that Lachlan didn’t really hear words. It was laughter and Daniel’s jesting that drew his attention back to the chatter.

  ‘What did I miss?’ he asked when he came to their side of the building.

  ‘These girls can’t seem to talk and paint.’ Daniel pointed to the tiny amount of window they’d both painted and to the huge expanse of wall Lachlan had done in the same time.

  ‘Do we need to move them apart?’ Lachlan asked with a wink.

  Alicia blushed a delicate pink that soon went darker. She chewed her lips together and painted with a vengeance. Zara was doing pretty much the same thing. Daniel grinned and winked. ‘I’ve got them under control, mate, go back to your wall.’

  Lachlan laughed and went back to pushing the roller over the wall. The sand colour looked good, freshening up the tired façade. He was painting right up under the eaves. It was hot and he’d taken off his shirt and was painting in a blue singlet, like most of the blokes. When he looked along the street, not only did he know most of the people but he fitted in. He wasn’t an outsider. He even had the right gear. He felt like part of the place.

  He was here with two new friends and his work mate. They were achieving something together for the good of the community. It gave him a strange feeling. There was a buzz of excitement, a flutter of anticipation as he waited to see how the street would look when finished, and there was a deep contentment that he hoped would never leave. Is this what belonging felt like?

  For the rest of the afternoon the town chatted and painted. Together. Lachlan had never been a part of anything like it. Watching the colour spread across shop fronts was one of the most exciting things he’d ever done. And the ridiculousness of that wasn’t lost on him.

  Chapter 4

  Almost a week after the street painting, on a Thursday afternoon in late March, just on closing, the heavens opened and rain fell. It wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan storm but a steady soaking rain that looked like it had taken up residence. Alicia walked out the back to Lachlan and shouted, ‘This’ll test us.’ She hadn’t realised he was locking the gates.

  He looked up and gave a nod but was engrossed in clipping the padlock on the gate closed and keeping himself dry. He had a Driza-Bone slung over his head and shoulders and looked like a huge brown rock with water sluicing from him.

  He came back under cover and shook the rain off, before hanging up the coat. ‘That’s heavier than I expected.’

  ‘Sowing panic’ll happen tomorrow. Do you reckon we’re ready?’ They walked inside the shed together. They’d organised the seed a couple of weeks ago and it was still towards the front, close to the roller doors but away from any rain that might blow inside.

  ‘I don’t know that I’ll get it all right. There’s so much to remember.’ He looked around as he spoke, which was odd. Usually he was attentive when speaking. She hadn’t seen him concerned before but sowing rush would be a good test of nerves. She’d explained what it would be like but even she wasn’t really sure. She’d been in similar stores at sowing but had never been the one responsible.

  They’d get through this, even if it meant bluffing. ‘Don’t let them fluster you. They’ll all be in a panic but we don’t need to be.’

  ‘What’s the panic for?’

  ‘They want to get sowing done as quickly as possible. The sooner things are in the ground, the sooner they start to grow, and that’s their income. All the critical times have farmers worrying.’

  ‘Oh, right.’

  ‘Most blokes will only want oats. The other seed isn’t sown this early, so they’ll probably leave that here until they need it.’

  Lachlan’s knowledge of agricultural products was improving but he needed to get through each portion of the seasons to learn what was required. For sowing, they’d grouped the seed so all the oats were together, all the clover and wheat were together but there were varieties of each type, and other random bags of seed. It wouldn’t be easy and with busy farmers pressuring him, Lachlan could run into strife. She planned to help out when she could but sowing was a crazy time and she’d likely be busy in the shop and with answering queries.

  ‘So there’s certain times to sow different things?’

  She nodded. ‘Oats goes in early because it’s dual purpose.’ He opened his mouth but she rushed on, knowing what he was going to ask. ‘It means they can graze it with livestock early in the season when they need the feed, then after winter turn the stock onto pasture that’ll be starting to grow well as we come into spring.
Then the oats are allowed to grow and come to seed, for harvesting the grain in December.’

  ‘Don’t all crops do that?’

  ‘No. Most crops are sown later and don’t have the extra time for grazing. These were bred especially for this role.’

  ‘Neat.’ He nodded as if he really was impressed by the information. ‘So oats tomorrow.’

  She nodded. ‘Yep.’ She couldn’t help but give extra tips. She grinned so it wasn’t like she was lecturing. He knew his job. She just wasn’t sure he realised how crazy it would be. ‘Make the trolley and the forklift work. Don’t lug all those bags of seed yourself. And watch who’s taking what if they help themselves.’

  Lachlan grinned and his gaze met hers. ‘Honesty, huh?’

  She smiled. ‘They’ll say it’s honest because they’ve just forgotten what they took.’

  Lachlan nodded and flexed his arms. ‘Guess I’d better be prepared for a big day.’

  ‘A week at least and we may need to open on Saturday, if that’s okay.’ They didn’t usually open on Saturdays even though it would be good for business in the town. Uncle Mike had insisted that five long days were enough if they allowed Saturdays to be used for busy periods. Or if the town picked up. That was Alicia’s goal. For business to pick up so that the shop opened every Saturday, and maybe had more staff.

  ***

  The next day was crazier than she imagined. The shop opened at seven thirty but people were ringing her from about five am, and it was still raining. No one could get onto their country to sow but they were busting to be organised, today.

  They were behind the eight ball before the shop opened, so they had no hope of catching up, and taking it calmly was impossible when men were bursting with impatience. There were blokes in the shop and in the yard, standing around yarning, while Lachlan and Alicia worked like blue-arsed flies. There was so much noise in the shop she couldn’t think. She could only hope that she caught all the new seed orders. Maybe it was less frantic outside for Lachlan but it wouldn’t be. There was only a bit of cover for loading to keep things dry but it would be chaos at least until the bulk of the seed was removed.

  Most blokes were in picking up their oats, keen to get the crop in for maximum grazing value. Livestock feed requirements were a delicate balancing act—but everything about farming was like that.

  Some of the older farmers were stuck on the older oat varieties. She’d talked about using newer ones that yielded better but without success. Rob Wynther was one of these farmers, and was the second to last customer for the morning. Alan Smith came in after Rob and she was looking forward to chatting to him, sort of like a reward for dealing with Rob.

  Rob’s voice boomed across the shop. ‘So did you get Cooba like I asked, or did you go and get me that new thing you tried to talk me into?’

  ‘I got you Cooba, Rob.’

  ‘Good, good,’ he muttered to himself. Shame he couldn’t give the compliments as loudly as he gave the questions or insults.

  He pointed to the docket she handed him. ‘Can you write down that new one? I want to see if anyone’s fool enough to grow it.’

  Sighing as quietly as she could so he wouldn’t hear her exasperation, she wrote ‘Eurabbie’.

  ‘What’s that?’ He poked a grubby fat finger at the word.

  ‘Eurabbie. It’s spelled like that even though it sounds like U-Robbie. It’s the early sown variety. Do you want me to write the late one too?’

  She wrote ‘Yiddah’ and ‘late’ in brackets after it. He seemed satisfied and headed out to Lachlan. Heaven knows how those two would get along, although they both complained about Alicia using big words all the time so that could be a bonding topic.

  Alan Smith was next up. A couple of years older than her, and married to her best friend, she knew him well. Since there was no one left in the shop, she didn’t mind him quizzing her as to why Rob would still be using an old variety. ‘I wish I had the answers, Alan. I think some people like sticking to what they know. I’m surprised he even grows dual purpose.’

  He picked up the sowing guide handbook and waved it. ‘Doesn’t he look in “the bible”?’

  She smiled as she tapped the glossy cover. A lot of blokes called these books by that name. The books had lived in utes year after year and now were more often found on computers but you could still get a print copy. ‘He probably has the 1990 sowing guide and hasn’t updated.’ She shouldn’t have said it but it slipped out before she could censor herself, and so did the cheeky grin.

  Alan laughed. ‘What’s he use for wheat?’

  She shook her head. ‘He doesn’t grow wheat. It “don’t grow around these parts”.’ Alicia mimicked Rob even though he was her client and she shouldn’t be rude but old habits were hard to break and they’d been taking off Rob since they were kids.

  Alan laughed harder. ‘Liss, you let me down. I thought you’d have them all converted to the new this year.’

  She scrunched her nose. ‘I can’t convert my Dad, let alone anyone else.’

  He tapped her shoulder. ‘Keep your chin up, Liss. You’re doing a good job.’ He took his docket and they chatted briefly about Carol and the kids before he headed out back. She liked Alan but she hadn’t spent nearly enough time with Carol in the past few months. Sure, she popped into the shop and they chatted but Carol was another person Alicia had hidden from after Paul died. Carol was a reminder of what Alicia’s life could have been and she’d had trouble facing that. It was the start of a new growing season, and she should use this as a time to get back in touch. Alan would be busy, which would give them time to chat. She’d drop out as soon as the shop chaos was over.

  Decision made, Alicia took a few seconds to stretch her shoulders, neck and back. The morning’s rush had kept her crouched over books and the keyboard without time to stretch and move around. She popped the kettle on to boil before heading out back to see how Lachlan was doing. She could hear Rob, so Lachlan had a couple to go but she expected that. She wanted to see if she could help, especially since she’d had no time to do so before now.

  As she got to the outdoor area, she heard Lachlan say, ‘I’ll get the fertiliser loaded if you find the seed bags. Then I’ll come and load them.’

  He seemed to have a system working and that made a bubble of pleasure rush through her. There was something about Lachlan she hadn’t yet put her finger on. She’d been worried about how he’d cope under pressure but he was doing okay. She was probably being silly and over-protective.

  She stood against the building so she was out of the way and watched while he manoeuvred the forklift. He did it well. He was steady and careful, aware of his surroundings. He climbed off the forklift, loaded four bags of fertiliser on to the ute tray. He got back on the forklift and returned the pallet, making it look simple and not rushed at all. Then he moved to where Rob was standing and loaded the pallet Rob pointed at, while Rob talked to Alan.

  ‘How many bags?’ Lachlan asked as he reversed.

  ‘Twenty.’

  Lachlan stopped the forklift. His fingers waved as he counted the number of bags. Not enough. He retraced his path and placed the pallet carefully down. He loaded the next pallet onto the forks and was off again. Alicia was impressed with his patience.

  When he stopped and got out to load the bags onto the ute, she moved to help. Rob and Alan weren’t going to break their yarn. She climbed up onto the tray and dragged a bag from the pallet, placing it up against the cab. Fifty kilograms was okay for her to drag even if she couldn’t lift it, but her shoulders would complain tonight. As she reached for the second bag, the variety caught her eye. Eurabbie. For Rob?

  ‘Lach?’ she said quietly. When he stopped and looked at her, she asked the next question. ‘This is for Rob, right?’ Lachlan nodded. ‘He’s after Cooba, not Eurabbie.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘This is Eurabbie.’ She pointed to the stencilled word across the belly of the bag.

  Lachlan shook his head. ‘He pointed to
this one. I thought he knew what he wanted.’

  They loaded the bags onto the pallet again and Lachlan drove it back down the shed. She wandered along until she found Rob’s order of Cooba oats, tucked at the back. It was a small order because she’d only ordered enough for him. Lachlan did some rearranging until he could get the pallet out. They then loaded the ute with the correct bags of seed.

  When Rob was gone and Alan was loaded and leaving, Lachlan turned to her. ‘Sorry for mucking it up.’

  ‘Hey. Not your fault. I boiled the jug. Will we have a cuppa?’

  ‘Please. This is thirsty work.’

  While Lachlan rearranged and moved empty pallets out of the way, she made tea and got out the cake she’d made last night. After the busy couple of hours, she was starving and Lachlan had to be too.

  ***

  When Lachlan walked inside for morning tea, Alicia had a cake cut up ready on the small table, and passed across a cup of coffee. ‘So, how did the morning go?’

  ‘It’s kinda crazy.’ He gulped a mouthful of food and chewed slowly. He had to admit his problem and he didn’t think she’d take it well. That was no reflection on her. Everyone he’d told hadn’t taken the news well. If he hadn’t been sacked, then they had treated him like an imbecile after his admission. He wasn’t sure which would be worse in this case.

  He eased into his admission by saying, ‘I thought I had it organised but I don’t.’

  ‘It looked okay to me. No one was held up too much. You didn’t spear holes in bags, or sides of utes.’ Alicia gave a bit of a grin. He appreciated her humour but today he wouldn’t join in by making a joke too. He had to spill, before he messed anything up badly.

  He bit his lips together tightly before saying, ‘The names get all jumbled up.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ She spoke as softly as he had, although there was no reason for her to do so.

  ‘Those oats names. They’re just a jumble.’ He should have a speech to give, he’d said this so many times but he couldn’t seem to get any other words out. This time, it mattered. He didn’t want to lose this job, or Alicia’s respect. This was a new feeling and seemed to be stalling his words, halting his explanation.