Charlotte's Creek

by Therese Creed

  ‘Ted!’ Lucy called after him, looking dubiously at the large boulders and the tangle of vines on the other side of the fence.

  He called something back, but over the rustling of branches and cracking of twigs she only deciphered ‘cattle up this gully’ and ‘keep on following’, so she urged the reluctant Pagan after the fast-disappearing rear end of Harpy.

  Their progress was slow, and Lucy leaned low over the mare’s muscular neck to avoid the grabbing branches and tendrils. Soon she could no longer even hear Ted, and the pad she was following seemed to peter out. Then all at once there was a leafy crashing up ahead, accompanied by indignant bellowing, and a mob of cattle came bursting through the greenery towards her. They saw her and, in their panic, turned and scattered in all directions.

  She heard Ted’s voice cursing. He soon appeared, reined in his agitated mount and frowned. ‘What the heck are you doing here?’ he said. ‘Didn’t I tell you to keep following the fence?’

  ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear!’ Lucy cried, mortified.

  ‘Just get back through the fence so I can try to collect these rumpers before they all ping off.’ Ted whistled to his dogs, spun the wild-eyed Harpy and disappeared back up the gully again.

  Lucy turned Pagan and, reckless in her embarrassment, urged her on with a big kick. The old mare, more than happy to return to the paddock, put her head down and lunged forward suddenly in a clattering canter over the rough rocks of the gully bank. For a split second, Lucy found herself sitting in mid-air, before she fell heavily onto her side on the stony slope and rolled to the bottom. She lay still, half in the water, afraid to move and discover herself hurt. But the sound of Pagan departing spurred her into action, and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her hip and shoulder were throbbing, but she was able to move, and with a whimper she clambered up and stumbled after her horse. Thankfully, when she arrived at the flattened fence, there stood Pagan, broken reins dangling in front of her, looking at Lucy scornfully.

  Hearing distant sounds of approaching cattle from up the gully, Lucy hastily knotted the reins together, remounted quickly and trotted away, keeping close to the fence. To her amazement she discovered she’d at last found her rhythm. It felt wonderful. She stopped on the next ridge and watched while the cattle emerged through the opening in the wires and began to gallop wildly out into the paddock. If only she’d known how to block and hold them. But then the kelpies appeared; going out wide, they slowed the cattle in their flight and wheeled the mob around. Ted was through the fence now too, and he hunted the troublesome cows along the fence line towards Lucy, then sent his dogs with them while he made a hurried job of fixing the broken wires.

  Lucy had the sense then to move out into the paddock, and came around behind the cows once they’d passed by. Ted caught up to her. She knew he was examining her half-soaked clothes, the mud on her shoulder, and her grazed cheek, which was now smarting. She felt herself colouring again but looked him defiantly in the eye. He raised one eyebrow but refrained from commenting.

  Turning a corner in the fence line, they left the forested country behind them. Now Swan paddock was on the other side of the fence, and Lucy could see part of another mirror-like lake in the distance, edged with reeds. By the time they joined the other riders waiting with the main herd on the bank of Coffee Pot Lagoon, she and Ted had gathered quite a large ruck of cattle. The newly arrived cows melted into the mob. Ted continued around to the far side of the herd where Noel was waiting, but Lucy stopped with Dennis and the two kids.

  Dennis chuckled at the sight of Lucy. ‘Your horse had a foal, eh?’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ Lucy said, confused.

  Cooper interpreted: ‘That means you had a buster.’ He laughed heartlessly.

  ‘At least she got back on again,’ Billie said, with unusual loyalty. ‘You got some bark off your face, Lucy.’

  They sat and waited for a while, to allow the mob time to resettle. Then, obeying some signal that everyone but Lucy seemed to see, the riders and dogs moved in on the resting cows and began to push them along the fence towards the home stockyards. They herded the whole mob through an open gate into the adjoining Swan paddock. Most of the cattle went calmly enough, but a large-framed tan cow, her udder swollen with milk, hung back, reluctant to leave her paddock.

  ‘Why are we taking them into Swan?’ Lucy asked when Cooper had finally bullied the cow through the gate.

  ‘They played up near those suckers last time,’ Cooper said. ‘Dad’s probably reckoning that if we get them outside their own paddock, they’ll just hang on the fence and we’ll get them to the yards real easy.’

  Lucy nodded, grateful for the thorough explanation, and they started off after the moving mob. But the tan cow was still clearly agitated, stopping to bellow. Several times it tried to turn back the way they’d come. But Billie was onto her, blocking her expertly while Cooper turned her and hunted her forward. With a bellow and a snort she trotted resentfully after her companions.

  ‘What’s the matter with her?’ Lucy called to Billie.

  ‘Probably got a new little calf planted back there in the grass,’ Billie yelled. ‘Doesn’t want to leave it behind. But she’ll be back soon enough.’

  They all moved along peacefully for a while, the cows stringing themselves out in a line along the fence. Lucy, trailing along well behind the cattle, looked around in wonder, reminding herself to drink it all in. Here she was, on a horse, mustering a herd of cows. She noted the smell of the cattle and the crushed grass, the aroma of horse and leather, the sound of the multitude of hooves in the dirt, and the sight of the grassy plains stretching out on either side, and beyond them the blue-green hills. She had to stop herself from beaming stupidly; it was a dream come true.

  Suddenly her reverie was rudely interrupted. There was some sort of disturbance involving one of Dennis’s young collies near the tail of the mob, and several cows stopped and turned away from the fence in alarm. At this, the tan cow broke out of the herd. Slipping back along the fence, she made a determined beeline for home, bringing a few others along with her. The two children, who had moved up alongside the mob, spotted her; wheeling their horses, they came thundering back towards Lucy.

  ‘Block that yella bitch, Lucy!’ shouted Cooper, who was galloping in a wide semicircle.

  Without any instruction from Lucy, Pagan jumped to attention as the small line of fugitive cattle approached. The old horse put herself in the path of the yellow cow and made a sudden lunge towards her. Taken by surprise, Lucy was just regaining her balance when the cow swerved in an attempt to get past Pagan. The enormous mare lurched forward a second time, and Lucy tumbled straight off, and jumping up, she cowered against the fence in fear of being trampled. Apparently oblivious to the fact that she was riderless, Pagan shouldered the tan cow, turning her back against her fleeing companions to slow their escape. By now the two children had arrived; with a lot of cursing and shooing, they managed to turn the cows. But some of the main mob had halted to inspect the commotion, and they were soon trotting back en masse towards the gate. Dennis’s errant pup was on their heels, barking joyfully and speeding them on their way.

  Cooper, who’d jumped off Shunter to check on Lucy, quickly remounted, and he and Billie began a zigzagging advance towards the approaching mob. Lucy, utterly petrified by now, scrambled back up onto Pagan; clinging tightly to the horse’s mane, she braced herself for the onslaught. She felt the mob passing in a confusion of vibration, dust, bellowing, barking and shouting; through the chaos she saw Ted, galloping flat out on Harpy after the forerunners. Lucy stayed with the two children, and between them they managed to slow and block the remainder of the cattle.

  A red-faced Dennis pulled up beside Lucy. They all looked after Ted and the escapees. ‘I hope you shut the gate behind us, Coop,’ he said, frowning at his son. Cooper looked suddenly stricken. Seeing his face, Dennis shook his head and swore.

  Finally Noel cantered over. ‘Where the hell were you?
’ Dennis shouted at his father. ‘You were supposed to be on the wing—didn’t you see what was going on?’

  ‘All I saw was your bloody mutt, stirring up trouble as usual!’ Spit flew from Noel’s mouth. Lucy looked from one to the other, and then helplessly at the children, but they were both looking down, their faces sullen. ‘That pup wants a bullet, if you ask me.’ Noel went on. ‘Reminds me why I never used dogs.’

  ‘’Course.’ Dennis nodded furiously. ‘It’d have to be my dog’s fault, wouldn’t it. Nothing to do with you being too slow or anything. Left it up to the kids and the bloody guvvie to do the blocking!’

  ‘I thought that’s why you got these dogs!’ Noel retorted loudly. ‘If they were doing their job it wouldn’t have happened. What’re the bloody mongrels for, then? They just for display or what?’

  At that point, to Lucy’s relief, Ted and his kelpies returned with several head of cattle that he’d beaten to the gate. ‘Settle down, fellas,’ he warned. ‘We’ll lose the rest of them while you’re caught up here gasbagging.’ With a hand signal he sent a dog to block another trio of cows threatening to slip past.

  Noel threw up his hands and his horse skittered sideways. ‘Let them go. We’ve blown this muster!’

  ‘We’ll keep going with the ones we’ve got,’ Dennis said firmly. ‘It’s well over half.’

  ‘You’re dreaming,’ Noel scoffed. ‘Never could count, could you?’

  ‘This paddock’s not stocked to the hilt anymore, Dad, in case you hadn’t noticed,’ said Dennis. ‘It doesn’t stand the caning it took in your day.’

  Noel glared at his son, but Dennis urged his horse forward and began pushing the mob. The children followed suit, and Lucy tagged along after them. With sober faces they followed the cattle, now docile and compliant, all the way to the yards.

  ‘You all right after your fall, love?’ Noel asked Lucy. They were having smoko at the slab table near the stockyards, giving the cows a chance to settle in the large external yard or ‘cooler’, before their drenching.

  Lucy suspected that Noel was using her mishap to take the focus off his own blunder. ‘Yes, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m not a very good rider, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.’

  Noel chuckled. In a voice loud enough to get his son’s attention, he said, ‘Poor little thing. Wouldn’t of had to risk your neck if we’d done as I said and taken the cattle the usual way.’

  ‘Funny, Dad,’ Dennis said, his face flushing, ‘but I don’t reckon I heard you say any such thing. Did you hear him say anything about which way we oughta take the cattle, Goldy? Lucy?’

  Ted continued sipping his tea as though he hadn’t heard the question. The two children did likewise, apparently unperturbed. But Lucy began to stammer, ‘Oh . . . I was just concentrating on staying on Pagan. I wasn’t really listening . . . It all goes over my head . . .’

  ‘Leave her out of it, you gutless wonder!’ Noel shouted, fragments of cake flying out of his mouth. ‘Why don’t you just admit that you stuffed—’

  ‘I won’t be bloody admitting anything to a clapped-out old bastard that can’t even . . .’

  As their shouting voices merged, Lucy looked from one to the other in distress, and then helplessly at Ted, who was calmly and slowly eating his cake. Their eyes met and he winked and gave her a wry half-smile, his dimple appearing between chews. Raising his enamel mug a fraction, he mouthed the word ‘cheers’.

  Chapter 23

  It was a Thursday that felt like it should have been a Friday. The tension between the Charlotte’s Creek adults seemed to have infected the schoolroom too. School had carried over into the afternoon, as Dennis had once again needed the kids at the yards that morning. Ted was away at Prussia, and the Wests senior had left for their European tour. With Mel so heavily pregnant there was no one else to work the slide gates and bring up the cattle, so the children had filled in. At least, Lucy consoled herself, Dennis had checked with her first this time, explaining the emergency and telling the children firmly that they would be doing school after lunch.

  But afternoon school was invariably a disaster, and morale in the schoolroom was low. Every few minutes there was a sigh or an exclamation of protest, someone slamming down a pencil or carelessly scribbling out a mistake.

  ‘It’s not fair!’ Billie pushed the page away roughly. ‘I know this is one of your sneaky extra activities, Lucy. Mrs Teal never sent these with the Distance Ed stuff before you came along.’

  ‘Well, Mrs Teal doesn’t know how dismal your times-tables are,’ Lucy replied, a sharp edge to her voice.

  ‘I’m finished!’ yelled Cooper triumphantly.

  ‘The whole thing?’ Lucy asked doubtfully, going over to examine his book. ‘Yes, Cooper, but those last six are multiplication, not addition. And there’s still the other side of the page to do yet.’

  ‘Holy hell!’ Cooper exploded.

  ‘Just get on with it!’ Lucy’s tiredness was getting to her and she was on the verge of shouting herself.

  ‘Natalie always let me use the calculator,’ Cooper muttered. ‘You’re a flaming slave driver, Lucy.’

  Lucy gritted her teeth. ‘The difference is that slaves actually did their work. And they had to dig all day with picks and shovels, not sit in a comfy schoolroom.’

  ‘I like digging! Dad says I’m pretty handy on the end of a shovel now. I’d much rather be—’

  ‘Just do it, Cooper!’ Now she was shouting. ‘Don’t waste time talking about it!’

  The boy sat back, his eyes wide with surprise. ‘Jeez, Lucy! Didn’t know you could talk that loud. Are you trying to sound mean or something?’

  The shadows were starting to lengthen outside when Lucy finally released them. They scooted past her out the door and rushed joyfully into the cool afternoon. She stood at the window and listened to their shrill voices coming from various locations around the yards as they happily did their chores.

  ‘They’re good kids, really,’ she told herself, in an effort to quell the feeling of futility that had been threatening to overwhelm her all day. She turned back to face the mess they’d left, and was just beginning to tidy up when the sound of a distant helicopter caught her attention. She began to breathe a little more quickly, but finished packing up before peeking out to see whether it was Adam.

  Lucy felt a rush of adrenaline and gripped her seat as the chopper ascended effortlessly, like a creature released. Adam circled the homestead and hovered for a moment over the toy-sized buildings and yards, and rotating over the running, waving figures of the children.

  ‘Where to?’ Adam mouthed the words at Lucy. With a dashing grin, he passed her a headset. She beamed back, her heart pounding. With a subtle tweaking of levers and pedals, the chopper swung towards the north-east. Lucy looked down with interest. She hadn’t yet been this way on land or in the air. They rose higher than they had on the day of the Hill paddock muster, and Lucy was amazed at how flat the landscape looked from this elevation, all the hills and undulations diminished to mere ripples, the swamps and clumps of vegetation no more than green smudges on the blond expanse below, warmly lit by the afternoon sun. The road looked like a narrow orange ribbon winding its way across the landscape, and the bushy creeks and gullies were dark serpents weaving randomly across the skin of the land.

  After a time, Lucy raised her eyes; shading them with her hand, she looked ahead. The range closer to the coast was rearing up on the horizon. Adam chatted genially and Lucy listened with half an ear, making all the right noises, while watching with fascination as the land below began to transform before her eyes. The dry scrubby country gave way abruptly to more coastal, rising, wooded land. Then all at once, the towering range began to rise up in front of them, obscured by dense tangled vegetation that was positively tropical. Adam turned the chopper due north and began to skirt along the range.

  In a few places, the mountain slopes had fallen away, leaving behind cliff-like rises. Adam flew in close to the face of a spectacular escarpment, s
tained various shades of rust and purple by trickling rivulets. Once they were level with the top of the ridge, Lucy expected that they would veer away into open sky again, but instead they hovered closer to the edge of the cliff. She examined Adam’s face to try to gauge his intent, and followed his gaze to a small clearing on a scrub-covered ledge. He made for the spot and landed the aircraft with confident precision.

  Feeling a little shaky again, Lucy hesitated before climbing out. And as before, Adam was quickly there to help her down. He had a picnic rug under his arm, which he promptly spread out on a patch of smooth rock, rather close to the brink. He made sure Lucy was seated comfortably and directed her gaze to the spectacular vista below, before returning to the helicopter and delving under the seat to produce a spotless-looking esky. Lucy watched with a smile as he arranged its contents artistically at the centre of the rug. There was a bottle of red wine and two tall-stemmed glasses, water crackers and a neat container of slivers of cucumber and carrot for consumption with a selection of dips. Next he produced a long crusty breadstick, which he began to slice into thin rounds. Lucy spied a small block of butter on a white saucer, and leaned over to help, but he held up his hands in protest.

  ‘No, my lady friend! You just kick back and enjoy the view. It’s all under control.’

  Lucy laughed and sat back obediently. In the midst of her amusement, however, she was sensing an air of ritual in the way that Adam smeared a delicate dab of butter across each piece of bread, and topped it with a curl of smoked salmon and a sprig of dill. She strongly suspected that this was not the first time such a picnic had been held in this particular spot.

  A light, cool breeze sprang up as they enjoyed the food; beneath them, the colours deepened in the panorama. Adam indicated all the landmarks to be seen for miles around, leaning in close so that Lucy’s line of sight lay along his pointing arm. He was wonderful company, witty, entertaining and knowledgeable. He also seemed genuinely interested in finding out all about her. His tactfully worded questions brought Lucy out of her shell, and she found herself talking freely and animatedly about her life in Sydney and what had brought her up to Charlotte’s Creek. When she looked at her watch, she was surprised to see how much time had elapsed while they’d been sitting there.