The Sunburnt Country

by Palmer, Fiona

  A trickle of sweat trailed down her neck as she controlled the machine in the heat of the day.

  A crack of metal sounded as the chassis split. Jonelle put the large claw down and motioned to a guy standing near the power pack, which all the hydraulic lines led back to. ‘Thanks, Jas,’ she said, after he turned the lever off.

  ‘See how easy it went through the pillar. These are the best points to cut through,’ she said to the crowd of nodding men. ‘So who wants to cut through the door hinges? Richo? Jas? Carlos?’

  Carlos stepped forward, taking the hard hat from Jonelle, who stood back with the crowd to watch Carlos cut something else off the car wreck.

  A guy turned around and spotted Dan. It was Diff, a bloke Zac had introduced him to at the pub one night. Diff was the typical young truckie in blue shorts, fluoro work shirt and boots with thick socks. He was solid and the hair on his chest made up for the empty landscape on his head.

  ‘Hey, Diff,’ he said as Diff joined him up on the metal box.

  ‘Dan the Man.’

  ‘Nice handlebars, mate,’ said Dan, nodding to Diff’s new facial hair.

  ‘Yeah, Movember. So what’s happening? You gonna join us?’ he asked.

  ‘Nah, I’m just watching. Besides, I’m not staying in Bundara for long.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. We could always use more volunteers, even just for a day.’

  Volunteer. Dan had never volunteered for anything. Not even at work. If you wanted to fight fires in the city, you were paid for it. Therefore, he didn’t have to do it. He struggled to comprehend that the fire fighters and rescue teams out here were all unpaid. No wonder small communities were so close-knit. You could quite literally owe the shirt on your back to your friends and neighbours.

  ‘You know, some of these old blokes have been doing this for thirty-odd years and they keep doing it because there’s not enough people around to help out.’

  He saw Diff point to a guy at the edge of the crowd. With his floppy hat, wrinkled face and knobbly knees, the man would have to be in his late sixties. Kind of impressive, especially when compared to his father, who had never even made it to one of Dan’s footy games, let alone ever volunteering to help out at one.

  ‘Come on, why don’t you have a crack? It’s good fun,’ said Diff. ‘Jonny’s a good teacher. Since she’s been with the VFRS we’ve never lost a volunteer and have even signed up three more young blokes,’ he said with a guffaw.

  Dan smiled at his comment. He could understand why. ‘Nah, sorry. I’ve gotta get back to work.’ Dan checked his watch. ‘I’ll be late if I don’t head back now. Nice seeing you, though, Diff. Keep up the good work,’ he said before getting down from the box. He opened his drink as he made his hasty retreat.

  No, he didn’t belong with these people. He was no fire fighter or rescuer. He’d leave that job to the real heroes.

  Chapter 19

  IT was Friday afternoon and Jonny had already tried on three different outfits before settling on her jeans and a white T-shirt with Little Miss Messy on the front, a birthday present from Zac. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard so she opted for what she would have worn if Daniel wasn’t accompanying her to Ryan’s house. She didn’t need to impress Dan. Damn it, she thought as she struggled to control the jingly nerves he caused in her. It’s not like he was even close to boyfriend material. For a start he needed to be a country boy; he also needed to own a pair of workboots and he needed to have work-hardened hands.

  Nonetheless, she still felt something funny zing through her body as she knocked on his door. It was six o’clock and the heat had eased off as the sun began to drop. ‘The Doctor’ had just blown in, as the locals said.

  Daniel opened the door wearing jeans as well, although his were probably five times more expensive than Jonny’s and they probably had a fancy brand name. In any case, they looked great on him.

  ‘Hi, I like your shirt,’ he said with a smirk.

  She thought his brand-name shirt was nice too, especially as it fitted snugly around his toned body.

  ‘Shall we hit the road?’

  ‘Yep. Wanna take my car this time?’ he asked, pointing to it.

  ‘Well, I’d prefer to drive you, seeing as you’re helping us out, you know. And I’ve brought the Torrie.’ They both smiled. ‘I just won you over, didn’t I?’ she said with a laugh as she offered him the keys.

  ‘No, she’s right. I’m happy to sit back and enjoy the ride.’

  Jonny didn’t protest. She loved any excuse to get in her beast and cruise the bitumen. And who knew how long it would be before it sold.

  ‘I had this great guy, Coot,’ Jonny said, putting her thoughts into words. ‘And he taught me that cars are for driving, not hiding undercover away from the road they were built for. He’s why I drive this baby around and every time I’m in it, I remember him.’

  ‘Well, he sounds like a smart guy,’ said Dan. ‘Who is this Coot guy?’ he asked.

  ‘He was important to me. He took me on for my apprenticeships, motor mechanic and heavy diesel, and then he sold the workshop to me when he retired and left Bundara to travel the outback. It’s all he wanted to do; he loved the red earth and bush tracks and was always telling me stories about where he’d go. So he finally got to live his dreams, and thirteen months later he passed away.’ Her voice still caught in her throat at the thought of Coot dying.

  ‘I’m sorry, Jonelle. He sounds like he was a character.’

  ‘Oh, he was that, all right. I should show you his postcards. Some of them are blank but he sent them just to show he was thinking about me.’

  ‘You were lucky to have someone like that in your life,’ said Dan.

  She detected a tone in his voice, regret or maybe sadness, before he turned to stare out the window.

  A minute passed in silence and Jonny felt this weird connection. The air felt thick with electricity and the hairs on her arms stood up.

  ‘Care for some music?’ She pushed a tape into the deck. The sound of John Farnham flowed through the speakers. Jonny started singing.

  Dan glanced across at her.

  ‘Hey, if you don’t have Farnsy or Barnsy in your repertoire, then you’re not a true Aussie, right?’

  He laughed. ‘I agree. I was more shocked at seeing a tape. I’m surprised there are any left in the world.’

  ‘I know. They’re rarer than a Walkinshaw in mint condition.’ Jonny opened up the console. ‘These are all I have.’

  Dan pulled out the tapes, straining to read the faded words on the cases. ‘Oh my God, Jonelle. Your life’s a relic,’ he said, laughing.

  ‘Don’t you worry. I’m still up to date with the latest tunes, but I do appreciate the old stuff.’

  ‘So this is where I can admit to listening to the Stones and the Beatles?’

  ‘The Stones I can understand but the Beatles? Seriously?’

  Dan put the tapes back carefully. ‘Blame my mum. We grew up listening to them. We had no choice and in the end we grew to love them too.’

  ‘We? You have brothers and sisters?’ She’d never thought about Dan’s home life before. Did he come from a big family? She’d assumed he’d be an only child.

  ‘Just a brother. Cameron’s four years younger.’

  ‘Cool. What’s he do?’

  ‘I’m not sure. He was doing an electrician’s apprenticeship last I heard.’

  Jonny’s brow creased. ‘Last time you heard?’

  ‘When my parents split up I went with my dad and he stayed with Mum, so over the years we kind of lost contact.’ Dan gave a half-hearted shrug.

  ‘Well, that’s just sad, Daniel. I’m sorry. I don’t know how I could live without my brothers. I mean, they drive me nuts but I wouldn’t give them up for the world. Family is really important. You should make the effort.’

  Jonny pulled up outside Ryan’s place and turned to Dan, but he was already getting out of the car. She hoped she hadn’t hit a nerve. It was probably no
ne of her business.

  She got out, saw Ryan on the verandah, and again it hit her how close she had been to losing him.

  ‘Hey, mate,’ she said, throwing her arms around him. He lifted her up and squeezed hard until she yelped. ‘You bugger. I hate your bear hugs.’ She slapped his arm before turning to Dan.

  ‘Ryan, you haven’t met Dan officially.’ She gestured to him. They checked each other out like two new dogs and Jonny wondered if Ryan had any resentment or if Daniel was still a little scarred from his first encounter with Ryan. She realised she was holding her breath.

  Ryan held out his hand and cleared his throat, his face flushing slightly. ‘Thanks for coming and helping out. It means a lot.’

  Dan gave him a gentle smile back and shook his hand. ‘No worries.’

  She wondered if Dan still had flashes of Ryan’s face from that horrible day. Hers were fading now, thank God.

  Dan and Jonny followed Ryan into the kitchen, where his parents sat at the table. Ryan finished the introductions while Jonny took a seat across from Barry and Debbie.

  Dan sat beside Jonny, his arm brushing hers. She tried to let it go, but her whole body reacted to his touch.

  ‘Um, so where shall we start?’ she said, eager to get the ball rolling and take her mind off the clean scent of Daniel.

  Mrs C had a big sheet of paper spread out on the table and some pens.

  Daniel spoke up. ‘From the bank’s point of view, you’ve already had extensions due to financial hardship with the bad seasons, and the bank is at its limit. They won’t loan you any more money to keep farming. You’re sitting around fifty-five per cent equity. I know it sounds awful, but you can still come back from that. We just need a plan.’

  Ryan stared at the blank paper, a frown on his face, but he was nodding and obviously taking it all in.

  Dan continued. ‘So, we will have instant money from the sale of the house, if it’s sold. But who knows how long that will take. No one locally will want it but you may get interest from the rest of the state. The sale won’t affect the value of your land but will give you money in hand for operating expenses, right? Which of these expenses is most important?’

  Ryan groaned. ‘All of them.’ His hand was buried in his hair, making the strands sit at odd angles. ‘Well, fuel and insurance are the main ones, then sheep feed, chemicals and fertiliser next.’ His mum wrote these down.

  ‘So, if we value the house around two hundred thousand, what do you estimate the cost of these?’ Dan pointed to the operating expenses.

  And on it went. Jonny leaned back as Dan took the floor, talking a language that was totally foreign to her. He was quite amazing. She didn’t know what they’d have done if Dan hadn’t come on board. With his knowledge he was able to guide them and keep the ball rolling.

  ‘You’ll still fall short,’ he continued, ‘and I’m not sure how much you want to cut corners —’

  ‘We could sell our caravan,’ said Barry.

  ‘No, Dad!’ said Ryan, his face full of guilt as he squeezed his hands into fists.

  ‘Now, Ryan,’ his mum placated. ‘You let us do this, all right? We don’t want to see this place go any more than you do. We’ve already seen a lot of this country, and if we want to sell our van to pay for the bloody fuel to get next year’s crop in, then so bloody well be it. You can’t stop us,’ she said, then smiled sweetly as if she hadn’t just cursed at her boy.

  Ryan glanced at Dan for backup.

  Dan shrugged. ‘It would give you a little breathing room.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Ryan with a sigh. ‘But once this place is up on its feet again, you’ll be getting it back.’ His parents smiled with so much love that Jonny felt her eyes smart with tears.

  An hour later, discussions were still going but by now Jonny was out of the loop. She got up to help Debbie finish dinner.

  ‘Thanks, Jonny,’ she said, handing her the potato masher.

  ‘I’m afraid I’m struggling to keep up with all the money talk,’ she said with a grin. ‘Give me a carburettor any day.’

  ‘Yes, well, Barry always did our farm books so I’m no good either. But at least we won’t starve, Jonny,’ she said, holding up the roast lamb.

  Jonny carved up the meat next while Debbie filled the plates. ‘I can’t believe you’ve had someone ring up about the house already. The ad’s only been out a few days,’ Jonny said.

  ‘He was a city bloke of course, it may amount to nothing because of the distance but we’ll see. I tell you, the internet is a handy thing. Did you know how many sites I found on knitting patterns? Lordy!’

  Jonny threw her head back and laughed. ‘Come on. Let’s go and serve this.’

  Over dinner, the topic changed from saving the farm to Barry and Debbie’s travels around Australia. Barry said he’d had enough of talking business for one night.

  ‘While we were in South Australia we picked grapes and sometimes strawberries. There are plenty of jobs out there if you’re not afraid of hard work,’ said Barry.

  ‘It was enough to keep us ticking along,’ Deb added.

  ‘Maybe I should just sell the farm and I’ll travel too?’ said Ryan.

  Jonny frowned at him. ‘Seriously? You could do that?’

  ‘Yep.’

  She leaned closer to Ryan, who sat on her right side, and studied his laugh lines for the telltale twitch of a lie. Relief flooded her when she spotted it. She touched the corner of his eye gently. ‘You couldn’t lie straight in bed, Ryan Cooper.’

  Ryan nudged her back, caught out. ‘Nah. How could I sell the land that I grew up on, that my dad and his dad all grew up on?’

  ‘That’s not why you stay,’ she said while cutting her meat. ‘You stay because you love it out here and you love me too much.’

  Ryan rolled his eyes.

  ‘And he’s loved farming since he could wear his own pair of boots,’ added Debbie. ‘Remember that photo I had of him starkers with just his boots on?’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ said Jonny as she turned to Dan. ‘We were playing under the sprinkler when we were little but there was no way Ryan would take off his boots. I bet you never did anything that silly.’

  ‘I don’t know. I have this memory of my brother and me climbing onto our brick barbecue wearing nothing but gumboots and plastic bags tied around our necks. We were superheroes. Don’t think the naked caped crusader will ever become a worldwide hero,’ he said.

  Jonny took a long drink of her beer – she couldn’t make eye contact with Dan. He was too irresistible when he smiled, especially when he looked right at her. It was as if he were looking at her naked – she felt stripped bare, on display.

  ‘Another round, Jonny?’ Barry asked as he got up.

  ‘Thanks, Mr C.’

  When he returned, he also had one for Ryan. Jonny raised her eyebrows.

  ‘I’m allowed a drink or two under the watchful eyes of my parents,’ said Ryan. ‘But don’t worry, there are no more spirits around. Mum cleaned the house out.’

  ‘So, who’s ready for dessert?’ Debbie asked, deliberately steering the talk away from the painful subject they all wanted to escape for the night. Afterwards they ended up discussing politics, of all things. Jonny tried to steer them towards car talk but only Daniel was interested.

  ‘Hey, why don’t you guys stay and we’ll watch Star Wars?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘I’ve never seen Star Wars,’ said Dan. Jonny watched Ryan’s face as his jaw hit the floor, and she took this moment to make their excuse to depart.

  ‘Sorry, we gotta head home, don’t we, Dan?’ Dan shot her a look of thanks, as if she’d just saved him from being lynched for his lack of classic film knowledge.

  ‘Yes, we must get back. Thanks for dinner.’

  Dan and Jonny headed for the door.

  ‘We’ll meet up again next week or whenever you’re available, Dan. Thank you so much for your help. We really appreciate it,’ said Barry, shaking Dan’s hand with vigour. Dan smiled a little sheep
ishly, but Jonny could see how proud he was to be able to help. Seeing Ryan back on his feet was important to him now, she could tell.

  Jonny hugged them all good night, leaving Ryan for last. ‘See ya later, Coop.’

  ‘You too, squirt,’ he said messing up her hair.

  They waved as they headed out to the car, then Ryan shut the door. Jonny was now alone with Dan in the moonlit night.

  By the front gate, Jonny was watching Dan from the corner of her eye when she tripped on a paver. Dan grabbed her, stopping her from landing on her face. ‘Crap. Thanks.’ She stood up straight, put her hand against her pounding heart and realised Dan was still holding her arm. It felt so right.

  ‘You okay?’ There was humour in his voice.

  She pulled the keys from her pocket as they stood facing each other. Jonny dangled them from her hand. ‘I think you should drive us home.’

  His voice was almost a purr. ‘If you want.’

  His hand reached for the keys, wrapping around hers, and Jonny allowed herself to enjoy the moment. The night was cool, but his hand was warm and electric. All she could hear was their breathing and the beating of her heart. All this fuzziness must have been brought on by the beers, she thought. After all, it had been a hot day and she hadn’t drunk much water.

  ‘You trust me?’ he asked.

  Jonny slowly pulled her hand away but his hand remained on her arm. ‘Enough to get us home safely. Just don’t hit a roo or I’ll have you in the workshop fixing it.’

  ‘Deal.’

  Dan’s fingers were still holding onto her but she continued to the car, letting his hand slip away. Inside the car on the way home, neither of them spoke and the tape player stayed off, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. In fact, Jonny felt relaxed knowing Dan was beside her. Maybe it was because of all the hard work he’d done for the Coopers tonight. Maybe it was because she’d learnt more about him. Or maybe it was just that as much as she tried to deny it, she did actually like him – maybe just a little bit.