The Sunburnt Country

by Palmer, Fiona

  ‘What did you want?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh, um, I was just wondering if you’d been back to Ryan’s. I left my . . .’

  Jonny pointed to the side of the shed where an old freezer sat pushed up against the wall. On top of it sat his black briefcase.

  ‘Brilliant, thank you.’ He looked relieved as he walked over to grab it. ‘How come you have a freezer in a mechanic’s shop?’

  Jonny walked over and lifted up the lid. Inside it was packed with meat in labelled plastic bags. Porterhouse, sausages, rump, mince.

  ‘Do you like to barbecue a lot or something?’ he asked.

  ‘No more than the next person. But some of the farmers who can’t afford to pay me sometimes cut up a cow or sheep as payment.’

  Dan’s mouth dropped open. ‘You’re kidding me?’

  ‘No. Do you know how much meat is worth a kilo? You’re looking at around thirty bucks for a good porterhouse, and these guys can get it cut up cheap. It’s a way they feel they can pay me. Everyone needs to eat.’

  ‘But your freezer is full.’

  Jonny shrugged. ‘I just haven’t taken it out to the farm yet.’

  ‘Does this happen a lot?’ he asked her.

  ‘If people want to pay me in food, like the old days, I see no problem with that. Better than not getting anything.’ How could Jonny refuse the people she’d known her whole life, especially when she knew they had no money? It took some guts for them to offer what they could give.

  ‘Maybe you shouldn’t do the work?’ he stressed.

  Jonny could feel the hairs on her neck raise like the hackles on a dog. Now she knew why she disliked him. ‘You don’t get it, do you, Dan? If I don’t fix their truck, then they can’t shift their grain or cart water for their sheep, which then die and they end up further down shit creek. I know these people. Don’t you try to help out your friends? When they get the money, they’ll pay up in full.’

  ‘And meanwhile you fall further behind with the bank. How are you going to find the money, Jonelle?’

  ‘We just have to wait. It’s how it works out here.’ Jonny screwed up her face and shrugged. Oh how his smooth, handsome features irritated her so.

  Dan shook his head then paused as something caught his eye behind the Volvo.

  ‘Whose is that?’ he asked, already heading towards the car in the back corner.

  Jonny followed behind and sighed, glad of the change in conversation. Then she actually smiled. She couldn’t help herself. Just seeing her racing car brought her immense joy. She loved everything about it. This second Torana was painted blue and had Jonny’s Mechanical printed down each side. Nothing like self-promotion. On the top of the gutted race car was a square of tin with the number seventy-three painted on it. She always raced with that number; it had been Coot’s number originally. She still had the black-and-white picture in her room of him, young and strapping, standing beside his car. They just wore boots and normal overalls in those days. Now it was all fireproof underwear, neck braces, gloves, balaclavas and racing boots.

  ‘It’s mine,’ she said proudly. How could she stay angry with someone who got excited by the sight of her cars?

  Daniel’s eyes bulged. ‘Really?’

  She nodded. ‘Have you ever been to a speedway meeting?’

  ‘No. I used to go to the V8s all the time but never to a speedway. Is there a track around here?’

  ‘In Narrogin. It’s a bit of a drive but it’s worth it.’ Coot had got her into racing when she first began her apprenticeship with him. Said it was a great way for her to finetune her car knowledge, and he hadn’t been wrong. Coot had pulled out a metal case and showed her all his old racing photos. Now she was addicted to the adrenaline and the mateship that came with it.

  She watched Daniel run his hand along the bonnet and touch the pins that held it on. The corner of the fibreglass was cracked from her last race, where she’d rubbed against another car. Daniel moved on, sticking his head inside the open window and admiring all the gauges. He felt the thick straps on the five-point racing harness and grinned. He spotted the radiator in the back where the rear seats would have been.

  ‘This is so amazing. I thought your other Torana was cool, but a race car! Sweet. How long have you been racing?’

  ‘Um, around ten years, on and off.’

  ‘So what do they call these cars?’ he asked as he did the full lap.

  ‘Production sedans. It’s almost a step up from street stocks. We can have bar work around the car.’ She pointed out the bars under the bumpers and down the side of the car. ‘And a few extra modifications to make them go faster.’

  Daniel suddenly looked up at her. ‘It would be worth a fair bit, wouldn’t it?’ His hands rested on his hips. Jonny hated the way his shoulders and arms looked so . . . nice. She tried to focus.

  ‘This car cost me four grand,’ she said. ‘The insurance to race each year seems to go up and up, and then fuel . . . It’s not the cheapest of sports, but by far the most enjoyable.’ She smiled thinking just how much she loved the thrill of motorsport. But the excitement had faded from Daniel’s face.

  ‘How can you afford it?’ he asked.

  ‘Pardon?’ she asked.

  ‘How can you afford to be racing in your financial situation?’

  Okay, now he was getting annoying again. ‘What are you on about?’

  Daniel sighed and ran his hand through his hair. ‘Look, Jonelle. Your business is struggling, you aren’t keeping up at all, and you’re not doing yourself any favours by not charging the locals properly. Do you really think spending money on racing is a good idea?’

  Now he’d hit a nerve. She walked up to him, her finger pointed. ‘How dare you come in here, into my workshop, and lecture me? You don’t know shit about me and my business. I don’t know you from a bar of soap and you think you can tell me how to live my life?’

  Daniel’s jaw dropped. ‘It’s the bank’s money,’ was all he could say.

  ‘Well, you and the bank can take a flying leap for all I care. No one in this town wants you here, not some city snob who acts like a heartless robot,’ she seethed, breathing heavily.

  ‘Yeah, I kind of got that vibe from you,’ he said, as she turned away. ‘But I’m not heartless, Jonelle.’

  She would have laughed if she wasn’t busy trying to control the anger and hurt simmering away. One one thousand, two one thousand.

  ‘What have you got against me, Jonelle? Tell me, because I’m just doing my job. If it’s not me, then it’ll be some other poor manager just around the corner having to do the same thing.’

  Five one thousand . . .

  ‘You know I’m right,’ he added. ‘I’m just the poor schmuck who’s stuck telling you the truth. I can’t help it if you can’t see the blindingly obvious. Deep down you know it too, but you’re just too afraid to admit it.’

  She stopped counting at eight. Daniel had a point, much as she hated to admit it. But if she could see it from his point of view, why couldn’t he see it from hers? Did he have any idea of just how much power he had over this whole town? He could make and break lives. Hadn’t he seen that already, with Coop? What could she do to get through to this guy?

  ‘Will you come somewhere with me?’ Jonny said, spinning around and startling him. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’

  Dan’s brow creased. ‘I . . . I guess.’

  She smiled, wondering if he thought she was going to take him to a back paddock and make him dig his own grave. The thought had crossed her mind.

  ‘Don’t worry. It won’t hurt. Follow me,’ she said, leading him out to the ute.

  ‘Shouldn’t you lock up?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Nah, this is Bundara. And anyway, we won’t be long.’ They drove through town, coming to a stop outside a small house. Jonny walked up to the front door. She checked Daniel was still behind her and then knocked.

  ‘Hey, Uncle Rex. It’s just me,’ she called, before letting herself in.


  Daniel paused at the door.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, waving him through.

  Inside they took a few steps down the narrow passageway to the small living room. Jonny bent down to pick up the mail and newspapers along the floor, putting them on top of the growing pile beside the big armchair. On the other side of the chair was a beer carton, half-full of empties.

  ‘Jonny,’ said her uncle with a smile. She bent down and gave him a kiss.

  ‘Did you have something for dinner?’ she asked, eyeing off the empty beer cans.

  He pointed to the foam cup on the small dining table behind him.

  ‘Two minute noodles? Gee, Uncle Rex, you can do better than that.’ Jonny stepped to the side and waved at Daniel. ‘Uncle Rex, this is Daniel.’

  ‘G’day,’ said Rex as he shifted his beer so he could shake hands before his eyes gravitated back to his TV.

  ‘Come with me,’ she said to Daniel, leading him into the dining room. It was a cramped little house, perfect for a single old bloke. On one of the walls was Jonny’s family picture. As she pointed it out, Daniel took a step closer.

  ‘That was taken about seven years ago. Uncle Rex never married so he’s close to us kids.’

  ‘You have more brothers?’

  ‘Yep, this is Jonathan and Edward, or JB and Ted, as we call them.’

  ‘Good-looking family.’

  She ignored his comment and pointed to the next photo on the wall. Framed in timber, the image showed lush green paddocks surrounding a homestead. ‘That was Crescent View. The original farm was split between the two brothers and Uncle Rex managed this all on his own.’ Jonny turned to Dan. ‘The bank took it off him last year.’

  Daniel closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Jonelle, they would have had good reason to.’

  ‘Yeah, but that was his whole life,’ she said with hushed tones, even though her uncle was engrossed in his TV show. ‘And he was a bloody good farmer. Losing the farm didn’t have anything to do with him, either. He was ripped off by a dodgy bloke, the same arsehole who ripped me off. He sold him a truck and trailer that weren’t his to sell and Uncle Rex ended up out of pocket. He lost a lot of money taking it to court and in the end he gave up. He had to. It chewed up all his money and he still couldn’t make the con man pay. He lost his farm to a dickhead who’s probably still out there ripping off good folk like my uncle.’

  Daniel was looking at her vacantly, trying to work out her point.

  ‘These are real people, Daniel,’ she continued. ‘You have their whole lives in your hands. It’s worse out here: people are born and bred on the land, and when you take that away from them they lose everything.’ She rolled her eyes towards her uncle. ‘He was a great farmer and he could have made it work, but the bank never gave him a chance. Look what’s become of him now.’

  She left Daniel there while she went into the kitchen and checked out what was in the fridge. Daniel came up behind her as she was halfway through making a grocery list.

  ‘So what does he do now?’

  Jonny studied Daniel. Was he asking just for her sake or was he really interested? There was a hint of curiosity on his handsome face.

  ‘Besides drink his sorrows away? Not much. The farmers around here try to give him work but everyone’s doing it tough. He’s old, he’s got nothing to retire on. We help support him and Dad offers him work, but Uncle Rex finds it hard working under his younger brother.’ Jonny glanced back to the armchair, her uncle’s bald head just visible. ‘He’s aged so much in the last year and he’s not the man he used to be.’ Her voice cracked as the emotion threatened to overwhelm her. Uncle Rex used to have her for weekends when she was younger, just her so that she could escape her brothers. It was at his farm that she was treated like a cherished only child, spoilt even. Uncle Rex always listened to her or asked for her opinion. She got to play lady of the house and cook him his meals, just like her mother did at home. ‘Uncle Rex taught me how to play chess and canasta. We played a lot of cards,’ she said. Embarrassed at the emotions welling in her chest, she turned back to her list and wrote down a few extra items. She busied herself tidying up the kitchen area, chucking leftover food in the bin before turning to Daniel, who was back looking at the other photos on the wall.

  ‘I can see who his favourite was,’ said Dan, with a knowing smile.

  Yes, she was.

  ‘Hey, Uncle Rex,’ she said, going back into the lounge room and standing in front of him so she had his full attention. ‘I’ll be back tomorrow morning with some supplies once Gabby and Carlo open up, okay?’

  ‘Thanks, love,’ he said and tried a smile but his face was riddled with shame.

  She reached out and squeezed his hand. ‘Don’t fall asleep on the chair again. You know how it stuffs up your back.’

  She called out to Daniel, ‘Ready to go?’

  He joined her in the lounge room. ‘See you, Rex. Nice to meet you.’

  ‘You too, Daniel. Jonny’s never brought a fella with her before. Guess I might see you again,’ he said, giving him a wink.

  Jonny couldn’t be bothered setting Uncle Rex straight. By morning he probably wouldn’t even remember it.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she said, pulling Daniel by the hand.

  Back in the ute, Jonny leaned against the steering wheel, breathing deeply. After a few seconds, she turned towards Daniel, half his face visible in the glow of the streetlight. He sat there patiently, waiting. Daniel was a really good-looking fellow. Shame his day job sucked. Glancing at him now, Jonny wondered whether he would help her. Did Daniel have any compassion?

  There was only one way to find out.

  ‘I need to ask you a favour and you can’t say no.’

  Chapter 14

  DANIEL paced around the kitchen, tidying up an already clean house as he worried over the events of the coming day. His dad wouldn’t be pleased with him at all, but for some reason, just like Jonelle had said, he hadn’t been able to say no. The scene at Ryan’s house had tormented him, but he had to admit it – this was about Jonelle, too. Somehow she had worked her way right under his skin. When she’d asked for his help, he’d accepted without hesitation. Was he trying to make up for not offering her an extension on her loan? He wasn’t sure. But she was such a stunning, vivacious woman, with her emotions laid bare on her on her greasy mechanic’s sleeve. Every time he gazed at her he felt like he was staring right into her soul. It was so bright she almost glowed. He wasn’t used to seeing honesty like this. There was certainly none of that growing up, and his last girlfriend had been so hard to read, but Jonelle . . . well, she was an open book of compassion, and her loyalty was admirable. She was so intriguing, perhaps made all the more so given how much she disliked him.

  Maybe, too, she reminded him just a little of his mother. He thought back to his childhood, past all the horrors of the divorce to how much she had loved and cared for them. She’d been everything a child could ask for in a mother, always making sure they were busy with sports and activities. He hadn’t talked to her in years. But that was what he’d wanted, right? To punish his mother for what she’d done to their family. Oh, she had tried to keep in touch at the beginning, but he had seen the pain in his father’s eyes and having anything to do with his mum would be a betrayal to John. So he’d pushed her away, and had lumped onto her all the anger he had over the break up of their family. In a way, he sometimes wished she’d never stopped trying to reach out to him. Shouldn’t a mother always keep trying to have her child in her life? They might have reconciled. But she’d abandoned him, gave up on him. Now he’d never know.

  He pushed the memories from his mind and checked his watch again. Jonelle did say she would pick him up just after nine. It was 9:07 a.m. With a bit of luck she’d changed her mind, decided that spending time with him was too much to handle. As much as he liked being with her, learning more about her, he didn’t want to go back to Ryan’s house. He didn’t want the visions to return and haunt his sleep again.

  A
knock at the door made him jump. He was on edge.

  The door swung open and there she was, her blonde hair swept up into a cute ponytail, a checked shirt over a singlet and little denim shorts that showed off her perfect legs. He decided then and there that this trip was worth it.

  ‘Hi,’ she said, surprised. ‘Um, you look different.’ She gave his blue linen shorts and grey polo shirt the once-over, and when she got to his thongs she smiled. He got the feeling she approved of them.

  She headed back to the street and her orange Torana.

  ‘I thought you might need an extra cherry on top,’ she said, nodding to the driver’s side. ‘You can drive.’ She ran her hand over the bonnet, obviously in love with her vehicle.

  ‘Really? Cool.’ His reply brought another small smile to her lips. He’d never met a girl who’d been into cars before. She had a classic and she knew how to fix it.

  He got in behind the wheel and took a moment to appreciate the old-car smell and the feel of it. God, if only his Uncle Darryl could see him now. The desire to call him tore through his chest; he hadn’t seen him for years either.

  Turning the key, he brought the beast to life. The pulse of the V8 rippled through him.

  ‘I like a guy who appreciates a classic,’ said Jonelle, her smile reaching her eyes this time. It was the first compliment she’d ever paid him and would probably be the last.

  ‘Open her up,’ she said when they were a few minutes out of town. ‘She likes her pipes cleaned out.’

  Daniel didn’t need to be told twice as he let the V8 beast out with a drop of his foot. Just a little burst, before he settled back to the speed limit.

  ‘You know quite a lot about cars. I’m impressed,’ she said after they’d discussed diffs and five-litre engines.

  ‘Just don’t ask me to pull one apart and put it back together, or change a tyre,’ he said. ‘I know roughly how it’s done, I’ve just never had to change one before.’ Daniel loved talking cars with Jonelle. She treated him just like a mate, and she really lit up with enthusiasm and passion. It was a beautiful combination. Her eyes were iridescent, so enchanting that he had to remind himself to watch the road.