by Janet Woods
She should leave, walk away from him. They stared at each other through the grimy glass, and Liam looked as miserable as she felt.
When the whistle blew he placed his palm against the window. She wanted to go with him, but her feet wouldn’t move, and she shoved her own hands in her pocket. Get off the train, she silently implored, but he didn’t. Two seconds later the train lurched forward, taking Liam and the remains of her pride with him. Picking up her bag, she turned and walked away.
It had been a messy end to her first real love affair, if one could call it that, certainly nothing like the movies. It had left her feeling soiled.
Meggie was waiting for her, her eyes wide with worry. Esmé was wrapped in her hug. ‘I thought you might get on the train with him. Then I thought you might need me if you didn’t.’
‘I nearly did . . . and I do need you Meggie, love. Thank you for waiting.’
‘Don’t you love Liam any more?’
‘I’ll always love him a little, but perhaps what’s happened is for the best.’ She felt too hollow to cry.
‘Will you be staying home now?’
‘It isn’t really my home, Meggie Moo. It belongs to your family. I’m grateful for being included as part of it all these years.’
‘Where will you go?’
‘I’m going to telephone the shipping company I work for and ask them to re-engage me as a nurse for the cruise to Australia. I need to know that my friend Minnie is all right. We’d made plans, you know, and she might need me. I’ll write to you when I get there.’
Her sister would argue, but it was about time Livia learned that Esmé’s world didn’t revolve about her sun, but had an orbit all of its own to complete. ‘Hold out your hand.’ When Meggie did, Esmé dropped her discarded engagement ring in the palm. There was a twinge of remorse when she realized it had probably cost Liam more than he could afford. ‘You can have this if you’d like it.’
Meggie slid it on to her finger and admired it. ‘It’s lovely . . . so shiny. The rubies are pretty.’
Although she felt like kicking the nearest tree, Esmé managed a smile. ‘Don’t be fooled by its glitter, they’re garnets. I have it on good authority that the ring is not worth much.’
‘You’re wrong, Aunt Es . . . everyone and everything has got a value, it’s just that some people place a lesser price on their own worth than it deserves.’
Meggie constantly surprised her with her insights, and she was probably right, Esmé thought.
Eight
If that noisy kookaburra didn’t keep its beak shut she’d wring its stupid neck. ‘We’ll see if you laugh then,’ Minnie muttered. And if Wally didn’t stop snoring she’d do the same to him.
But at least the roof was now repaired, and the holes were more or less patched.
She went to the room that served as a kitchen and stoked the stove up with the dead sticks she’d collected from those that littered the ground outside. The fire began to crack and snap.
The mine shop had provided her with eggs. The chicks were long gone so the promised chicken coop had never been needed.
‘Snakes would have eaten them,’ Wally had said, laughing when she’d cried over the fate of the sweet fluffy creatures that had disappeared one by one. She cursed when she noticed that the goat had gnawed through its rope. There would be no milk until it was found.
Wally had eaten the last of the bread and she didn’t have time to make any now. It would have to be pancakes. She made a pan of porridge, as well, and ate hers with honey. That would have to do for breakfast.
She could have lived in the small flat attached to the nurse’s post at the mine site, with meals thrown in, but there wasn’t room for two people to live comfortably inside it for any length of time, and Wally had scorned the job he was offered there at the time, in favour of self-sufficiency.
They’d been here for two months, and she was coming to the conclusion that she couldn’t keep this up. Wally wasn’t pulling his weight. Apart from fixing the roof, a temporary effort by the looks of it, he’d cleared some of the debris away from the house, and had dug over and planted a vegetable patch. Seedlings had been planted, and the tender little shoots had disappeared by morning.
They’d laughed about it, but as a forerunner of things to come, it hadn’t really been funny. Wally hadn’t bothered to replant them. She didn’t know what he did all day when she was at work. The whitewash she’d bought to brighten up the place was still untouched, except for a slap or two on the bedroom wall.
She took his mug of tea through and gave him a nudge. ‘Wake up, Wally. Breakfast’s ready, and I want to talk to you before I go to work.’
He came to the table a couple of minutes later, unshaven and bleary-eyed, and scratching his stomach. ‘You forgot to put milk in my tea.’
‘There isn’t any; the goat’s run away. You’ll have to find her before you do anything else. And I haven’t got time to make any bread. Drop me off at the nursing post then you can go to the store and buy some to tide us over.’
‘I haven’t got any money.’
‘Take it from the pot.’
‘I used that for fuel for the generator.’
‘For God’s sake Wally, you can spend money faster than I can earn it. I’m running myself ragged while you’re sitting around on your backside, and I’m still trying to save up enough to pay Esmé back that money you stole from her. Why don’t you take that job they offered you at the mine site?’
‘I didn’t steal that money, I borrowed it, so don’t start nagging me about that, again. I’ve got plenty to do around here.’
‘Then why don’t you get on with it? This place is a disgrace. The whitewash has been sitting there for a month, and the windows need cleaning.’
‘Lay off it, Minnie. They’ll only get dusty again. Besides, it will rain soon. I’ll run a cloth over them, then.’
She rummaged in her bag and came out with a florin. ‘That’s all I’ve got until pay day. If it’s not enough they’ll have to put it on the slate.’
She was glad to get to work. The nursing post at Pepperpot Creek had been built, and was maintained, by the mining company. The area was gently hilly, the lower slopes thickly wooded. As it got higher the peaks steepled and the trees thinned out. Bald patches appeared where trees had been felled, signalling the workings of the mines. Tunnels were bored into the hills like giant wormholes. Carts on rails came and went all day. The creek trickled off downhill, thick with tailings and sludge, and past various private claims that had been bought up by the company.
As well as the nursing post, there was an assay office, a general store, a mine office and a canteen.
The nursing post consisted of a small waiting room with a bench on the veranda for the overflow of patients. At the back was a consulting room with an examination table and a cupboard filled with lotions, potions and pills. Beyond that was a small office where the files were kept and the pedal radio housed. It was similar to the one the company had installed in a small corner of her living room, and it didn’t take long to learn how to use it.
The premises were as clean as a building in a mining town could get, and were kept that way by one of the miner’s wives, a thin-faced woman called Sally Bowers. Sally had some previous nursing experience, though she had never qualified. Minnie had started coaching her, so she could qualify as a practical nurse at some later date if she got the opportunity. Her assistance was available whenever it was needed.
‘Good morning, Sally,’ she said, and nodded to another, younger, woman, who followed her in with a baby in her arms. ‘You’re a bit early for Charlie’s check-up?’
‘Yes, Nurse Prichard, but I’ve heard there’s an outbreak of chicken pox up at the mission, and those nuns might take it into their heads to bring those kids in. I don’t want my Charlie to be exposed to it.’
‘The sisters aren’t daft,’ Sally told her, scoffing at the young mother’s fear. ‘It wouldn’t do him any harm. It’s a mild disease, and onc
e he’s been exposed to it he would be immune.’
‘That’s usually the case, Sally. But there can be complications, like high fever, which might cause convulsions. It’s highly contagious because it’s passed on through the air when people who have the disease cough.’ She tickled the child’s stomach. ‘You’ve picked yourself a good mum, Charlie, boy. Well done. In you come, then.’
Mother and child smiled at the compliment.
Wally honked the horn and waved as he drove off. The baby jerked and gave a yelp of fright.
‘The bloody idiot,’ Sally Bowers said, not bothering that she’d been overheard by the bloody idiot’s wife.
Minnie agreed. Wally had forgotten to stop off at the store for bread.
After checking Charlie over, she logged in with the mining company, informing them she was open for business. She then contacted the mission.
‘Good morning, Sister Bernadine,’ she tapped out. ‘I’m given to understand you have a chicken pox outbreak. Over.’
The mission sister answered her immediately. The woman was more qualified than Minnie in experience, and it must have been irksome for her to take orders. But it was part of Minnie’s job to make sure the mission sisters were doing the right thing, since the government paid her wages.
‘You know the treatment, Sister. Keep the children as cool as possible and use plenty of soothing lotion. Report any high fevers or complications to me and I’ll get the mine manager to bring me out . . . over and out.’
The small waiting room filled up quickly. There were various ailments, mostly minor; a festering splinter embedded in a thumb, a cut that needed a couple of stitches, a foreign object to be removed from an eye . . . two newly expectant mothers to be advised. Her job was interesting, and she enjoyed the responsibility that came with it, though she hoped she didn’t get anything too big to handle. She was glad that the matron in charge of her training had been thorough. That busy, but sheltered life on the wards seemed remote to her now.
She wondered what Esmé was doing, and felt bad about Wally stealing from her friend. She’d lost her own money to him too, in a card game. She shouldn’t have told him that Esmé had that money, and couldn’t imagine how she’d ever been attracted to him. She wished he’d deserted her. He’d turned out to be a lazy so-and-so.
The morning went by quickly. Waiting until dusk was falling she made her way through to the mine office to cadge a lift home.
Ben Smith, the grizzled mine foreman smiled at her. ‘I’ll take you.’
‘Thanks, Ben. I don’t know where Wally is. Perhaps the car’s broken down.’
‘I reckon it must have, at that. You should move into the nurse’s quarters.’
‘It would be more convenient, but it’s too small for both of us.’ The flat consisted of one bedroom, and one living room and kitchen combined. There was a cold shower on the veranda with canvas surrounds for privacy, and the usual facilities situated a discreet distance to the house.
‘We’d be tripping over each other all the time, and Wally said he wants to get the property up to scratch.’
‘Wanting to and doing it is two different things. That land has had it, and the next strong blow will probably take the house off its stumps. His uncle should have sold it to the mining company when he had the chance.’
The house was in darkness when they got there and the car was missing. The goat was chained to a veranda post with her kid suckling at her teat. She offered Minnie a plaintive bleat.
‘I’ll see you safely indoors, love.’
The generator wouldn’t start, and she didn’t know where Wally kept the fuel. He said he’d bought fuel for it. A hand over the stove told her it was cold too. There was a note on the kitchen table.
I’ve gone to the city for a few days, and I might go back to sea if I can get a berth. I’ll come back and fetch a few things in a couple of days. But don’t count on it. See you Blondie. Love Wally
Feeling only relief, she checked her small store of money, which she kept in the toe of one of her shoes. There was ten pounds. It looked pathetically small, and it would take her ages to save up a hundred.
A moment of self-pity thickened in Minnie’s throat and she drew in a long breath to calm herself before doing what felt more appropriate, which was throwing Wally’s note at the wall.
Ben smiled at the gesture. ‘It saves you chucking him out, aye, lass.’
‘You’re right about that, Ben. I only wish I could, but I’m married to him.’
How had she managed to get herself into such a situation? She wished Esmé were here to lean on. Her friend was always so calm and rational. ‘How does he think I’m going to get to work and back?’
The reply was blunt. ‘The man’s a fool, just like his uncle was. Look love, I can’t leave you all alone out here. Fetch everything you need for the next few days. You can stay at the nurse’s quarters till he comes back.’
‘What about the goat?’
‘Set her free. She won’t wander far, and she and the kid can forage for themselves for a while, though she’ll probably join one of the wild herds eventually.’
When Wally hadn’t put in an appearance after several days, Minnie began to worry.
‘I’m going to the city on business,’ Ben Smith told her. ‘Didn’t his folks have a hotel? Give me the address and I’ll drop in and see what he’s up to.’
Ben was back a couple of days later. ‘Wally’s old man upped and died, and he’s helping his mother out until she decides whether to sell the hotel or not.’
‘Did he send a message?’
‘He said he might go back to sea once he sees his mum settled, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from him for several weeks.’
Good riddance, she thought uncharitably, because never seeing Wally again would be soon enough. ‘I won’t do that, but I can’t have you running me back and forth when you have your own work to do. I’m not living at the homestead by myself. The place is too isolated. What’s more, it isn’t fit to house pigs. Will you take me there and wait while I gather a few things together? I’ll try and be quick.’
‘I’ve seen pigs housed in worse. I’ll take the radio back while I’m here. I wouldn’t put it past the bugger to collect it and sell it.’
‘Wally said his uncle had some gold hidden somewhere. He said it’s down a snake hole, so not to put my arm down one looking for it, else I might get a nasty surprise. As if I would. Snakes scare me to pieces. They ate all my poor little chicks when we first came here.’
Ben shook with laughter. ‘His Uncle Jim’s gold is a legend. Wally would have torn the place apart looking for it if he’d believed it. As for snakes, they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them. They’ll move into the scrub when they hear you coming, so tread heavily. They keep the mice down, if nothing else.’
‘I’d prefer the mice.’
Ben shuffled from one foot to the other and he couldn’t quite meet her eye. ‘There’s something else, love.’
‘Let’s be having it then.’
‘Word is that Wally is into stuff that’s not quite legit, and he’s treading on a few toes.’
‘I’m not sure what you mean. He plays cards, but I don’t know any of the crowd he mixes with. We haven’t been married very long, you see.’
His face mottled. ‘There’s that, too.’
‘My marriage . . . what of it? It’s quite legal.’
‘He’s . . . well, he’s got another woman on the go. Lillian, her name is.’
Minnie wasn’t surprised that Wally had turned out to be unfaithful. She tried not to be hard on him. He wasn’t all that bad, and had a good-natured but shallow sort of charm about him. He seemed to lack a sense of responsibility and wasn’t really much of a man at all.
‘Word is that she’s the sister of a man called John Teagan. Wally has known her a long time and has always fancied her. He’s heading for trouble with that one. She’s young and flighty, you see.’
‘Oh, my God,’ she whisper
ed as it sank in. Ma had said John Teagan was a right villain, and he’d been in jail. ‘I wonder if Ma knows?’
‘Ma didn’t, by all accounts, but when she found out she kicked up merry hell and won’t let her in the hotel. My woman said I should tell you, lessen you took it into your head to go to the city to pay him a visit. At least you’d know what to expect.’
Minnie might know what to expect, but that didn’t mean she knew what to do. She told herself that Wally wasn’t her responsibility. But he was, since she was married to him. She had no intention of becoming his proper wife again though, and was going to try to get a divorce.
The first thing she intended to do was go through the homestead and see if there was anything of value she could pawn, to recoup the money he’d taken from Esmé.
‘Do you think the mine would still buy the place? Perhaps I could persuade Wally—’
‘Not a chance, your man was too greedy. Besides, it’s Wally’s name on the deeds. You might as well know why I went to the city; it was to see the mine owner. Between you and me, he intends to close down operations by the end of the year. The amount of gold we’re getting out of the mine isn’t worth the cost of the labour and things are going to get worse. The wife and I will be all right, since I’ll be staying on as a caretaker. I reckon the nursing post will close down, though. The mission can get in touch with the medical services direct.’
Minnie was tempted to hand in her notice and go back to England, but she’d signed a contract for a year. Besides, she’d become aware that this other woman thing might just be empty gossip. If she were to divorce Wally, it would be more difficult to do that from England.
She gathered everything together that was hers – not that it was much – and threw her cases into the truck. She found a couple of shillings in small change.
Ben dismantled the radio and said, ‘Flippin’ wonderful these things are. You wonder what the world’s going to come up with next.’
Two days later Minnie was ensconced in the nurse’s quarters and had just finished hanging out her washing when the pedal radio alerted her to a call.
