Survivors of the Sun

by Kingslie, Mia

  ‘I haven’t finished my eggs,’ Rebecca wailed.

  ‘You can take them with you,’ Georgia said, without looking at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Deedee hastily buttering more rolls, then shamelessly stuffing them down her t-shirt.

  Tom seemed gratified by Georgia’s announcement, barely hiding his relief. It seemed that he wanted them gone as badly as she wanted to go.

  ‘Well, I will say my goodbyes then,’ he said, standing abruptly, and nearly knocking his coffee cup over. ‘Lovely to have met you all.’ As he stepped away from the table he leaned over and whispered something to Lola. Lola looked momentarily stunned, then gave a half laugh. Tom looked over at Georgia,

  ‘No need to clear up. Bryce will do that.’ Then he turned and left the room.

  Everyone looked at Bryce, who shrugged his shoulders as he continued slowly chewing on his breakfast. ‘That’s the way he is, don’t take umbrage.’

  ‘Umbrage? Who uses the word umbrage?’ Georgia thought, as she called the dogs to follow them down to the jetty.

  Twenty minutes later, they had loaded up the canoes, or rather Lola, Rebecca and the Apaches had. They insisted she take it easy, let them do the heavy work. So while they lugged the canoes down to the water’s edge and stowed everything on board, she helped Ruby take out her curlers, and change into clean clothes. They could bathe later.

  There was no sign of Bryce or Tom, as Team Lola and Team Georgia set off once more. Georgia turned several times as they paddled away, to see if they had come down. The last time she turned to look at the jetty dwindling rapidly behind them, she spied two forlorn figures standing at the water’s edge. She raised her arm in farewell, and after a moment the figures waved back. Lola did not turn around, not even when Georgia told her they had come to see them off after all.

  ‘Do you know what he said to me back in the kitchen?’ Lola asked.

  ‘Nuh uh, he was whispering.’

  ‘He told me that even if I came back crawling on my hands and knees for a second chance he would turn me away, and to think about that when we ran out of food.’

  ‘Wow that was really harsh.’

  ‘Yeah, but not unexpected though, some guys can’t handle rejection.’

  The sun was hot on their shoulders as they paddled, but for the first time, it seemed to Georgia that it did not quite have the unrelenting force of previous weeks. Another reminder that fall was on its way.

  In places, the river meandered through forested areas, turning a magical green and deep blue as the water twisted and turned. Shafts of sunlight splitting through the leafy canopy, highlighting dancing butterflies. All about them was the constant chorus of birds and Katy-dids and the far off humming as bees and other tiny insects flitted amongst the reeds. Today nature had dressed and bejeweled herself for their visit.

  At one point Deedee spotted a deer and they paused in their paddling, the canoes side by side, whispering in hushed tones as they slowly drifted past. The doe had come down to drink at the river’s edge, and a little way behind her, nearly out of sight in the shadows was the tiniest of fawns.

  ‘Oh, so cute,’ Lola and Rebecca sighed together.

  Georgia, just before spotting the ‘cute’ fawn, had been contemplating just how much food the doe would supply. In her mind it was already dead and dressed. She decided to keep this thought to herself, instead agreeing that ‘yes it was really cute.’

  The river widened again, and they passed many more homes. Sometimes people were there, and sometimes the houses had an empty and lonely look. They glided on, through a hilly area, dotted with a few pine trees and covered in long grass, with bulrushes growing in abundance along the shore. Here the water changed color again. Clouds floated high above, reflecting in its surface, turning it a steely grey and a light breeze began to catch at their hair and clothes.

  Georgia studied the clouds for a moment, wondering if this meant rain was coming, but there was no sign of that. As she dropped her gaze she saw a herd of animals high upon one of the hills.

  ‘Look,’ she cried, ‘are those cows or…,’

  Lola squinted to see better. ‘Not sure.’

  Then Deedee reached for the binoculars. ‘Not cows silly,’ she said, ‘those are horses.’

  For a moment Georgia was surprised, she had not expected to see horses out here, then she remembered that she had seen advertising for horse trekking back at the resort.

  ‘Can you ride a horse Lola?’ Georgia asked, their canoes were drifting close to each other, making conversation easy.

  ‘I can,’ Lola said, ‘how about you?’

  ‘No, never ridden.’

  Lola laughed. ‘I thought all Australians could ride.’

  ‘Well not this one, truth is horses and I just don’t seem to get along.’

  ‘Yeah, they can be ornery creatures,’

  ‘I agree with you there, when I was six my parents went to visit friends who kept horses. I was sitting on the stockyard rails, swinging my feet, and next thing this huge black horse yanked me off the fence by the front of my top. Don’t remember too much after that, except at one point I was rolled up in a ball. I had instinctively put my arms over my head, as the horse, black and terrifying, reared up above me.’

  Lola whistled. ‘That was one mean horse.’

  ‘Not kidding, then I heard my mother screaming and saw a whole lot of people running down the hill towards me. Everyone said I was lucky to be alive, but apart from being bruised all over, I was fine. They made us tough back in those days! But ever since then I have been wary of them.’

  ‘Guess riding is out then,’ Lola said.

  ‘I think we should catch some horses anyway,’ Deedee said, ‘that way Granny won’t have to walk.’

  ‘I agree,’ Jamie said.

  They all stared up at the hill at the horses, who unaware of their scrutiny, ignored them totally.

  ‘Well,’ Lola said, ‘I reckon we could, but to start with, those horses are on the wrong side of the water. Even if we managed to catch one, we would have to somehow get it to the other side, either that or go a really long way round.’

  ‘We could tie its legs together, and put it on its back in the canoe,’ Deedee said.

  ‘That wouldn’t work,’ Jamie said, ‘it would fall out and drown.’

  ‘Well then we could swim it across,’ Deedee insisted, not wanting to let go of the idea.’

  ‘Can horses swim?’ Georgia asked. ‘It’s over half a mile wide here, I know they can cross rivers, but isn’t that when their hooves can reach the bottom?’

  None of them knew for sure and it was almost with relief to Georgia, that the horses in question, suddenly took fright and galloped en masse up and over the top of the hill and out of sight.

  As the afternoon stretched towards evening they studied the shoreline on both sides, looking for an area suited to camping. But there were houses as far as the eye could see.

  ‘Perhaps we could ask someone, if they minded if we camped on their lawn?’ Rebecca asked. ‘Tom did say everyone was pretty friendly.’

  ‘Lawn?’ Georgia thought, lawns were a thing of the past, there were no neatly mown strips of land, just scraggly high grass at best. But she knew what she meant.

  ‘He did, but I think it would be rather an imposition to camp out on a stranger’s lawn, even with permission.’

  ‘I second that,’ Lola said, ‘Tom seemed real nice, but for all his being a scientist and all that, he sure wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I reckon he is a little out of touch with reality, and definitely not someone I would take advice from.’

  Rebecca opened her mouth to say something, then seeing the single-minded look on Lola’s face, shut it again and the subject was closed.

  So they paddled a little further and then on the right bank they saw a rather luxurious home with what appeared to be a small wooded area further along the shore.

  ‘That might be a good place,’ Lola suggested.

  They paddl
ed slowly towards it. This headland seemed to be totally deserted. Certainly the house appeared unoccupied. It had been shuttered, probably before the owners had left at the end of their holidays. Leaves and twigs scattered across the Mexican tiled porch. The house almost looked indignant, as though it had never been in this state of neglect before. Georgie nearly giggled at the thought. Must be getting tired.

  Together they dragged the canoes ashore and helped Ruby up onto dry land, standing for a moment as they stretched their aching bodies.

  ‘So where shall we set up,’ Lola asked?

  ‘I’m for sleeping in a real bed,’ Deedee said.

  ‘Me too,’ Jamie said.

  Georgia stared at the house, with its hidden temptation of soft beds and clean sheets, its promise of nothing scuttling over them in the night. ‘I guess we could see if we can get in,’ Georgia said, without too much enthusiasm. She still did not feel comfortable with the idea of breaking into someone’s house.

  They trooped up the wide sweeping stairs to the imposing front door, peering through the stained glass window section. Millie scratched at the door as Lola reached for the handle.

  Georgia stopped her. ‘Wait, we should knock first, in case.’

  ‘Okay, I guess.’

  They knocked timidly at first, then a little louder, then Deedee found a rope twisted with tiny gold bells and pulled it. There was a loud clanging in Georgia’s ear. The rope had been attached to a large bronze bell suspended just above their heads.

  ‘Well if someone is home, they most certainly would have heard that,’ she said. But no one came.

  ‘Okay, no one is here,’ Lola said, ‘can I try the door now?’

  It was locked. As of course Georgia had known it would be. Deedee knelt down and flipped up the doormat. ‘Key is here,’ she said, handing it triumphantly up to Georgia.

  She unlocked the door and stepped inside. For all its austere exterior the house was very comfortable inside; furnished mainly from Ikea catalogues by the looks of it and ever so quiet. The sound of their voices, and the dogs barking echoed down the hall as they explored. Georgia felt like the intruder she was, her stomach tight as they moved from room to room.

  The kitchen was old world style, wooden cabinets and café curtains. The pantry was totally empty, on one shelf was a scattering of tiny mouse droppings. The fridge door was ajar and clean. On the top tray stood a small orange and blue box of baking soda, the lid torn off.

  On the front of the fridge were the obligatory photos, held in place by an assortment of magnets. Mostly rabbits. She stared at the strangers depicted there. A Man holding up a fish beaming proudly. Had to be his first catch, that fish was way too small for it to be anything else, a dark haired woman beaming tipsily, as she held up a half full wine glass at the camera. Her lipstick garishly lit up by the flash light. Three children sitting on the front steps dressed in frilly white dresses. Pink bows in their hair, their feet neat in black ballet type shoes. The photo was grainy, but clearly they were sisters. A passport photo of an older woman, unsmiling, severe. All strangers and yet they belonged here and she did not.

  The house was neat as a pin. Everything tidied away, even the children’s rooms were orderly. A cot folded up against one wall. Blankets stacked on the small single bed. Teddy bears and dollies neatly arranged on a shelf.

  It did not look as though it had been left in a hurry. It was left vacant, ready for the Christmas holidays, or next summer.

  The master bedroom was the same, and after staring into the room for a moment, Georgia turned to the others. ‘Okay, I guess this is us for the night.’

  Chapter Fifty Four

  While Georgia searched the cupboards for sheets and towels, Lola and the others went outside to fetch the gear from the canoes. Ruby had offered to help make up the beds, but Georgia, realizing the poor woman looked exhausted and even more confused than usual, insisted she settle herself on the sofa in the living room and take a nap. Passing by a few moments later with an armful of cotton sheets, she noticed she had already fallen asleep, her stockinged feet propped up on cushions and the dogs curled up around her.

  Lola and company had been absent for less than ten minutes when Deedee suddenly came hurrying in, thrusting the master bedroom door wide open. ‘Guess what? Guess what we found?’

  ‘What?’ Georgia asked, neatly tucking in the last corner of the sheet in and smoothing the surface with her palms.

  ‘There is a huge corral out the back, and a barn, and Lola says they must have kept horses in it at one time.’

  ‘That’s great,’ she said, trying to sound excited for Deedee’s sake, and sensing she was failing. After all there was not a lot they could do with an empty corral. Now if there had actually been horses out the back, well that would have been something else altogether. Mind you, if there had been horses out the back, shut up in the corral, the poor creatures would have starved to death by now.

  But fortunately Deedee did not seem to notice her somewhat insipid reply, chatting on enthusiastically. ‘Yeah, Lola says that if we stay here long enough we might be able to catch some horses and tame them, and then we can all ride down to Bethel.’

  ‘I see,’ Georgia said, as she began stuffing pillows into pillow cases. And just how long did Lola think they were going to be staying here?

  ‘Do you want to come and see the barn?’ Deedee asked as, she ran her fingers across the layer of dust on the dressing table and then pulled open the wardrobe doors and peered inside.

  ‘Sure in a bit, just let me get this bed made up first.’

  ‘Only a couple of dressing gowns in here, oh and a mousetrap.’ Her voice sounded a little muffled. ‘No mouse though.’

  ‘So has all the gear been brought in then?’ She asked, surprised that they had done it so quickly.

  Deedee closed the wardrobe doors with a soft click. ‘Not yet, Lola wanted to check out the place first.’

  ‘So is someone watching our stuff?’ When Deedee didn’t reply, Georgia looked up from her pillow stuffing, to find she was alone in the room, the door slowly swinging shut. Sighing she put down the pillows and headed outside to find out for herself. And it was just as she had suspected, no one was watching over the canoes, or the gear that was still stashed aboard. She hesitated for a moment on the top step, scanning the pathways and the shrubbery, hoping that she was mistaken, for surely, one of them at least, was nearby. But there was no sign at all of anyone. She could scarcely believe that they could be so careless and while she knew that Lola could be as brainless as a galah at times, she expected better from Jamie.

  Maybe this whole Team Lola, Team Georgia was not such a good idea after all, Georgia decided, as she strode down the steps. But whatever the reason, and she would talk to them later about it, the gear needed to be taken indoors. Frustrated she grabbed two of the packs, hoisting one over her shoulders and awkwardly lugging the other one like an old suitcase until she had them safely indoors.

  She had just finished dragging the last of it into the kitchen, muttering to herself about how heavy everything seemed to be, and what a pack of irresponsible idiots the others were, when the kitchen door swung open and the irresponsible idiots in question came in, followed closely by the dogs.

  ‘Oh, we were going to do that,’ Rebecca said, flopping down in seat at the kitchen table, just as Deedee said, ‘Lola found a patch of blackberries round the side of the barn, look our fingers are all purple.’ And she held up her hands, waving her fingers in the air, completely oblivious to the fact that Georgia was on a slow boil.

  Lola pulled out another chair, and sat down. ‘Sorry, didn’t bring you any, but there are probably some left out there if you wanted to go and see for yourself.’

  Georgia shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Did they really think it was okay to leave the gear alone to go blackberry picking? And what was almost worse, was that they didn’t even seem to care that they had eaten their fill of the fruit and not thought to bring any back for her or Ruby. This
was not a fun outing in the countryside. This was about survival.

  Determined not to be drawn into conversation, she calmly turned her back on the others and hoisted the shopping caddy up onto the table. She needed to get the last of the canned spam out, so she could feed the dogs. Behind her they kept on chatting and joking amongst themselves. Each giggle or inane comment irritating her further, and despite this, she held her tongue, knowing that if she opened her mouth, nothing very nice would come out of it. She would wait, she decided, until she had completely calmed down, then, and only then, would she bring up her concerns.

  Feeling pleased at her resolve to remain cool, calm and collected, she unzipped the shopping caddy, flipped the top back, and then stared in confusion at its contents, her eyebrows furrowed. It appeared to be stuffed full of sealed foil packs of milk powder, sugar and coffee.

  The room behind her grew silent as she slowly tipped the caddy on its side, the contents sliding over each other, and scattering across the kitchen table. A couple fell onto the floor. She picked up one of the shiny foil packets, this one labelled Darjeeling tea and slowly turned to face the others.

  ‘Did Tom give us all this?’

  Lola smirked. ‘Not exactly.’

  Georgia stared at her, somewhat baffled. ‘What do you mean, not exactly?’

  ‘Well we hossed it didn’t we,’ Deedee giggled.

  ‘We?’ Georgia echoed, staring at her in disbelief, then she slowly looked at each of them, studying their faces, trying to understand. ‘You mean,’ she began slowly, ‘that while we were staying with Tom, as his guests, you stole from him?’

  ‘Wasn’t just me,’ Deedee said, ‘it was Lola and Rebecca too.’

  ‘Not me,’ Jamie said, ‘I didn’t have anything to do with it, I only found out last night after they had done it.’

  ‘And you didn’t think to tell me?’ In response, he shrugged his shoulders, turning as though to leave the kitchen. ‘I didn’t think it was that big a deal, anyway it’s nothing to do with me.’