Chapter Twenty Three
July 18, Day 8
It was Lola, who finally demanded they stop. She had been complaining about the heat and her feet and how tired she was and….
‘Okay, okay, we will stop,’ Georgia exclaimed finally, ‘but we need cover, we can’t sit out in the open, not in this heat.’
‘Well I am just over it, over it, I tell you,’ Lola’s voice becoming more and more shrill, as she spoke and with a sudden violent motion, she flung down the handle of the shopping caddy. It promptly lost balance and fell over, sending a little puff of dust up into the air. ‘Just look at my arms.’
They had been crossing yet another field that seemed to stretch for miles, filled with rows of waist high plants that looked as dry as the dusty soil they were growing in. Rebecca had said they were cotton plants. The going had been tough, walking across the endless ridges and furrows under the unrelenting, burning sun, the damn cotton plants scratching their bare skin.
Cotton was not at all, as Georgia had envisaged the plants to be. The mention of cotton plants in the past had evoked thoughts of soft green leaves and puffs of white. The reality was very different. In truth, the plants did not have thorns as such, but even so, they scratched like hell and they were downright evil.
They only had to walk through them; she could not even begin to imagine how terrible it had been for the slaves on top of everything else they had to endure. Somehow, she did not think that the cotton pickers of old, had been supplied with gloves.
Georgia pursed her lips, Lola was not the only one who was suffering. All of them were badly scratched; their bare skin crisscrossed with angry red lines.
‘I am over it I tell you,’ Lola screamed again, as though Georgia and the kids had not heard her the first few times. Millie stared at her, head tilted to one side, she gave a half wiggle of her bottom, then stopped.
‘I am seriously beginning to be over you,’ Georgia thought. Her head throbbed with pain, partly from the heat and dry air but mostly from the constant bickering and complaining. Lola had moaned about everything and the mood had begun to affect the girls. It seemed that Rebecca and Deedee had been squabbling constantly since they had set out that morning and both of them were being as mean as a den full of quolls to Jamie.
Jamie had finally retreated into silence. Occasionally shifting his bag from one shoulder to the other, eventually he had begun walking beside her, and after a time had slipped his hand in hers. Georgia glanced around; a few hundred feet ahead, stood a thick line of trees, with a little scrub growing along one side.
‘How about,’ she pointed as she spoke, ‘we walk over there, at least there will be shade and it will be a little cooler.’ Lola sat down abruptly, crossing her legs.
‘Well how about we don’t, I am not walking another step; it won’t be any cooler over there anyway.’ She looked over at the children, her eyes flashing, as she patted the ground next to her. ‘Here kids, come and sit down, rest a while. Georgia can go hide her paranoid self, and we will just sit down here and take it easy.’
Badger half sat in the furrow, next to Lola, her bottom wiggling enthusiastically as she gazed up at Lola. Georgia felt a flush of anger rise to her face, her head throbbing unmercifully. That remark, was absolutely, uncalled for. However, she did not rise to this obvious baiting. This seemed so out of character for Lola, the little she knew of her anyway. She was trying to be understanding, but this last outburst was unexpected, and somewhat shocked, Georgia realized that this was turning nasty.
Rebecca and Deedee silently stepped from between the cotton bushes and stood next to Georgia as Jamie squeezed her hand nervously. Lola narrowed her eyes at this show of loyalty.
‘Just as dumb as your step-mother, the lot of you, not smart like Badger,’ she said as she massaged the Boston terrier’s ears. ‘It isn’t like the area is teaming with people, and apart from those two men we saw earlier today we haven’t seen a single person in two days and they seemed really nice and I think it was really rude of you to take the stance you did.’ This last part she addressed to Georgia, staring up at her with open antagonism.
For someone who is so exhausted you certainly have a lot to say. Aloud she said, ‘maybe it was rude,’ doing her utmost to keep her voice level, ‘but personally, I think it was rude of them to keep heading towards us when I asked them to keep their distance, so of course, I leveled the shotgun at them.’
‘Why? There were only two of them, and they only wanted to know if…,’
I don’t care what they wanted to know,’ Georgia interrupted, ‘they were asking far too many questions, I have three children to think about, four if I include you, and if they had been genuine then they would have stayed the hell back, given us some space, been a little understanding of our position. But to just keep walking towards us…,’
‘So, what’s wrong with asking us if we were alone and how much food we had?’
Georgia was stunned. ‘Didn’t that kind of questioning concern you Lola?’
Lola laughed, a nasty sound. ‘Your problem is that you really are paranoid, the way I see it, is that they were just being nice, maybe they were going to offer us food and…,’
Georgia felt something threatening to snap in her head. What food, they didn’t have anything with them, nothing that could have held provisions. Those men were trouble and it surprised her that Lola couldn’t see that.
‘You know what Lola, why don’t you just sit there and do as you please, the kids and I are going to rest under those trees. I totally accept that you are tired, and sore and need to rest, but I have no time or inclination to deal with tantrums.’
‘Oh y’all can go kiss my go-to-hell,’ Lola spat.
Georgia decided to ignore her. She turned to the kids, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ Jamie let go of her hand as she started walking, and for one awful moment, she thought he was going to join Lola and Badger, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw him lean down and retrieve the caddy.
She did not call Badger to heel, chances were that Badger would not come anyway, and that would only make matters worse.
As they walked away, Deedee said loudly, ‘someone needs their mouth washed out with soap.’
Georgia shushed her. There was no need to make matters any worse than they already were.
They had nearly reached the trees when Deedee looked around. ‘She is following us,’ she whispered.
‘What should we do?’ Rebecca asked, her voice sounding nervous.
‘Nothing, nothing at all,’ Georgia replied, then added, ‘she is just hot and tired,’ and no doubt run out of her happy pills.
Millie who had been sniffing the air; her nose held high, suddenly gave a little bark and took off for the trees. Badger, abandoning Lola, came flying past, and the two of them disappeared into the scrub. There go two dogs that really want to be in the shade. Ant gave a little whine and wanted out of the bag.
‘Everything is okay, Princess,’ Georgia soothed, ‘we are nearly in the shade.’ Ant stared up at her, tongue lolling, she looked so hot; they all were. They reached the trees, found themselves surrounded by a chorus of crickets and discovered that the thick foliage had secreted a dell, roughly about two hundred yards across, a dappled oasis of silver birch and oak trees, the ground covered with a soft thick layer of dead leaves, and the occasional moss covered log. To Georgia’s exhausted eyes, it looked like a slice of heaven. It was marginally cooler under the trees but the shade had not been what had excited the dogs.
Below them, there was the sparkle of sunlight reflecting from a ribbon of water, partly hidden by the scrub. Georgia heard the delightful sound of splashing. The dogs were in the water, chest deep, lapping as though they intended to drink the stream dry.
‘Oh,’ Jamie said, as he caught side of the stream.
‘Water,’ Georgia exclaimed, relief flooding through her, as she set Ant down. This was the first source of water they had seen in two days. Then she exclaimed, ‘oh shit, the dogs are getting
their saddlebags wet. ‘Have to get them off, quick.’
As one, they awkwardly scrambled down the bank somewhat hampered by their bags, Ant hop skipping down the slope after them. Georgia reached Badger first, grabbing at the harness to pull her closer and with a quick click, had the bag off her back. Water streamed out of it as she held it up. She threw it onto the grassy verge as Rebecca recovered Millie’s harness.
Maybe they had not been such a good idea after all, though a quick check inside the pockets, revealed that it wasn’t as bad as she had thought. Only one of the small bags of biscuits had taken on water. The dogs would have to eat those tonight.
‘It’s okay,’ she said to no one in particular, ‘most of this will dry.’
The stream was little more than four feet across, and seemed very shallow in parts but it was surprisingly fast moving and looked clean, well upstream it was anyway. The dogs had stirred up the water and thin tendrils of dark muddy water were twisting and spreading downstream.
Definitely clean enough to boil up, and refill all the bottles, she thought as she watched the dogs.
‘Ooh I want to swim,’ Rebecca said
‘Me too,’ Jamie and Deedee exclaimed together.
Georgia took a long hard look at their surroundings. It did not look as though anyone had been here in a long time, and they were well hidden from anyone passing this way. Of course, that was unless someone came searching for shade as they had. However, she was certain that Millie would give fair warning, should someone come near.
‘Well, it looks safe enough so I guess we can rest here a while.’ Georgia said finally. The water looked so cool and inviting, and she felt so hot and dirty, she longed to just sit right in the middle of it, but there were things to do first. Set up camp, take the axe and get some firewood, and sort out Lola.
‘Can we stop the night here then?’ Jamie asked.
‘Can we?’ The others echoed.
Georgia felt a twinge of guilt as she took in their dusty, worn out appearance and their plaintive, hopeful expressions. She knew she had been pushing them, but she had been desperate to get them all to somewhere safer. The poor darlings, this was really tough on them, they looked ready to drop. She nodded. ‘I don’t see why not. I think we could all do with a break and this is as good a place, as any.’ Then she added, ‘I’ll go and look for the best spot to set up camp.’
‘Can we help with anything?’ Rebecca asked.
No, it’s okay honey, go play in the water, cool down, just keep an eye on Ant for me, I will be back down in a bit.’
She walked back up to the top. Lola was standing shame faced near her backpack.
Georgia ignored her, just the sight of her right now, made her want to scream, and bent over the pack, untying the blanket roll. She needed to calm down a little, then she would talk to Lola, sort out the problem. She straightened up, her back to Lola as she looked for a suitable spot. There was a small flat area about a third of the way around the tiny valley. It looked perfect. She started towards it.
‘Georgia?’
Lola’s voice sounded small, almost pitiful, but Georgia was still fuming inside at her outburst, so she kept on walking. After a moment, she heard a branch crack behind her. Lola was following her.
‘Georgia? I…,’ Lola began.
Georgia spun around, ready to spit tacks. ‘What now?’
‘I’m sorry, I am really sorry Georgia, I don’t know what came over me, I know you have our best interests at heart. I think …,’
Huge tears began to well at the corners of her eyes, ‘I think you are wonderful, really and…,’ She hesitated and then began sobbing. ‘Can you ever forgive me?’ She wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks in earnest now. Her hair was tangled and stringy. She looked gaunt, with dark rings under her eyes, the tears forming rivulets in the caked dust on her face.
‘Oh damn,’ Georgia thought, she looks so forlorn. Lola wasn’t much more than a child herself, maybe she had been too hard on her, on all of them, and after all they had been walking, virtually nonstop for the last two days, halting only when it was too dark to see where they were going.
She had been driven by a desperate need, to get away from the more populated area, as well as the constant fear of not finding water to replenish their supplies. Now, looking at Lola, and remembering the way the children looked, she knew she had pushed them too hard. Lola held out her arms plaintively, looking for all the world, like a toddler wanting to be picked up.
‘It’s alright,’ Georgia said, ‘I guess we are all tired, there’s nothing to forgive. I am the one who should be sorry.’ She put her arms around Lola, holding her close, feeling hot tears, damp against her neck as Lola began to cry.
‘I’m so scared,’ she sobbed.
‘I know,’ Georgia said as she rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. Believe me, you are not the only one. However, she did not share this bit of information with Lola. Georgia rather suspected that if Lola knew just how worried she was, she would become inconsolable. Instead she said, ‘Everything is going to be okay, we are going to stop here for a while, you will feel much better after you have had a wash and cooled down.’ And possibly Lola was right, maybe I really am a little paranoid, funny how fear will do that to a person.
After a few moments, Lola dried her eyes and looking somewhat subdued and more than a little ashamed she began helping Georgia set up the camp. Together they stretched the tent canopy overhead, tying the ends to several lower branches and then gathered up small rocks and made a rough circle where they could safely light a fire. The last thing Georgia wanted to do, was set this shady oasis alight.
Once everything was in place, Georgia emptied out all the bags, they definitely needed airing, propping them up, open in the sun, then she collected up all the clothes, Rebecca’s conditioner and a bar of soap.
‘I’m going to take these down to wash,’ she said as she headed back down towards the children, Lola following closely behind.
The afternoon, for all its horrid start, was an absolute delight. It was glorious in the water, the sunlight sparkling around them, laughter floating in the air from time to time. Thank goodness, the kids were no longer squabbling.
Everyone took part in washing the clothes, with Georgia soaping them, and Jamie and Deedee then stomping all over them in the shallows, a brutal but effective method, because by the time they chucked the sopping items over to Rebecca to rinse, they were as clean as if they had been through the ‘heavy duty’ cycle several times over. Rebecca in turn, threw them across to Lola, who wrung them out and then draped them over nearby bushes.
By now, they were all down to their underwear, and thank God, Lola was wearing a bra and a sensible, modest pair of panties, the iniquitous G-string, from their first meeting, now hanging from a branch to dry. Though seriously, the garment was so tiny that Georgia doubted it could even have managed to absorb enough water for it to need drying!
The frenetic activity was too much for the dogs, they retreated from the water and lay, wet and exhausted, in the shade, Ant using Millie’s stomach as a pillow. The laundry done, Georgia helped Rebecca wash her hair. Deedee and Jamie were playing together, building a small castle from pebbles, giggling as they watched the tiny stream of water they had redirected, flood the tiny moat they had dug around it. Jamie in his camouflage boxer shorts, the ones his dad had bought him only a couple of weeks ago, and Deedee wearing a new pair of Wal-Mart panties.
Watching them over the top of Rebecca’s head, Georgia, suddenly felt self-pity flood through her, she missed Nathan so badly, it was all so damn unfair, unfair that Nathan had been at work, and now they were out here in the middle of nowhere, the children needing their father! Suddenly she realized she was feeling something else as well, resentment. Wow where had that sprung from? Resentment, because her husband had gone to work? Because anything else was just a suspicion, brought on by lonely nights and self-doubt and not based on fact at all.
As she massaged a little shampoo in
to Rebecca’s hair she found herself exploring that unexpected sentiment. No, not because he had gone to work, but because he hadn’t come back. It wasn’t his fault, how was he to know that this was going to happen?
‘Hey Georgia,’ Lola called, ‘throw over the soap, it’s Deedee’s turn, I will help her.’ Lola was sitting in the middle of the stream, her freshly washed hair piled up on her hair with the aid of one of Deedee’s hairclips. She looked pink and shiny and for the first time since they had met, she looked happy.
Rebecca ducked her head under water, rinsing out the shampoo and in the background, Deedee giggled as Lola lathered soap all over her.
Rebecca surfaced. ‘Can you comb my hair out for me?’ Georgia nodded and together they waded ashore. They sat on a fallen log, and Georgia began painstakingly combing out all the knots in her long hair. The comb snagged.
‘Ooh sorry, did I hurt you?’ Georgia exclaimed.
‘Nah,’ Rebecca smiled. ‘Remember when I was little and it used to get like this all the time?’
‘Yes, I do remember, one big knot at the back, you insisted on doing your own hair, and you always forgot the back.’
They fell silent, Georgia carefully separating the hair, then working at combing out one section at a time. After a moment she said, ‘I am thinking about keeping my hair in braids, do you think you might like to do that too?’
Rebecca looked over her shoulder, ‘If you do, I will too.’
Georgia leaned in close to whisper in Rebecca’s ear, ‘We might have to persuade Deedee to part with some of her hair ties!’
Rebecca laughed aloud. ‘That might be easier said than done!’
The clothes had dried stiff from the hot sun and the hard water, but they were clean and smelt of roses. Jamie’s hair smelt of roses too, he had insisted on using soap to wash his hair.
‘Like Dad does,’ he had said and Georgia had smiled, and put down the shampoo.
Survivors of the Sun Page 22
