Queen of the Road

by Tricia Stringer

  Angela relaxed. ‘Oh, only paperwork. I was worried you’d come to deliver bad news.’

  ‘Fortunately, not today. And if you can just show me your permit to drive on this road we can both be on our way.’

  Angela was about to climb back into the cab to retrieve her folder but she stopped herself. She looked at Barry. ‘What do you mean, “this road”?’

  ‘B-doubles have to stick to the main roads unless …’

  ‘They have a council permit,’ she finished. Her high spirits had now completely vanished.

  ‘I’m guessing from the look on your face you don’t have one.’

  ‘Normally I don’t deliver out to farms but I did today so that Ken … as a favour for Ken Harris.’ Angela rubbed her fingers across her forehead. This could not be happening. She’d been so careful since the oversize load debacle.

  ‘Ken can get a bit … let’s say, overexcited at times.’ Barry studied her for a moment. ‘I presume all your other paperwork is correct?’

  ‘Yes. It’s just, well, I forgot. This is my first country job. Normally I only fill in around the city.’

  ‘From your plates, I guess that’s Melbourne?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re a long way from home.’

  ‘It’s my dad’s business. His regular driver is injured and I offered to do the run.’

  He flicked his eyes from her to the truck as if he was deliberating. ‘I’m going to give you a warning this time. Make sure you’ve got the relevant permits in future.’ He straightened up and there was a smile on his face. ‘The town’s glad to have you here, Angela.’

  She reached up and gripped the truck door for support, trying to look casual. ‘Thanks,’ she croaked, then cleared her throat. ‘I appreciate it.’

  He gave her a nod and returned to his car.

  Angela pulled herself carefully back into the cab, not trusting her legs to hold her up. The police car turned and headed back the way it had come. She rested her head back on the seat for a few moments. He’d been kind to just give her a warning, but how unlucky was she to meet him out here in the first place?

  She sat forward and looked at the road ahead, thinking. Barry had turned back towards town after speaking with her rather than continuing up the road. He said there was a report of trucks without permits. Damn! Angela slammed the steering wheel with her hand. Barry had come specifically to find her. She had a pretty good idea who’d made that report too. Cliff bloody Berl Senior.

  The jelly in her legs was replaced by adrenalin and anger as she set the truck in motion. With no Claudia to overhear, Angela vented her fury with some well-chosen words.

  Chapter 31

  Coop’s ute was parked in the yard by the office. There was no sign of him inside it, but it was hard to see through the glass in the darkness. Angela went straight to the truck, switched on the motor, then headed to the office. She unlocked the door and grabbed her folder and laptop.

  With Claudia spending the night at Leanne’s Angela had cleaned up the flat and gone to bed not long after dark. It hadn’t seemed any time at all before her alarm woke her at 3:30, but the anticipation of travelling with Coop had bounced her out of bed. She didn’t feel tired at all – there was even a spring in her step.

  She switched off the light and locked up the office. There was still no sign of life in the ute, so she went round to the driver’s door and peered in. She could just make out Coop slumped back in the seat. She tapped on the window but he didn’t move. She pulled open the door.

  ‘Coop!’ She tugged at his arm.

  He groaned and blinked his eyes in the dim glow. ‘Sorry. Must have gone into a deep sleep, I didn’t hear you.’ He flung his arms out in a long, languorous stretch.

  Something deep inside her hummed. ‘Time to get going,’ she said, turning away quickly and making for the truck. She didn’t trust herself to stay and watch him any longer. Something about this guy was making her giddy – making her feel things she didn’t want to acknowledge.

  Coop followed her lazily and climbed into the truck, stowing a backpack at his feet and tossing his sleeping bag onto the bed. ‘I don’t mean to be rude but do you mind if I go straight back to sleep?’

  ‘No.’ She smiled.

  ‘I was on the tractor for twelve hours,’ he explained. ‘Didn’t think there was much point going to bed so I slept in the ute. Drove in just before midnight.’ He rolled his shoulders. ‘Not the most comfortable spot.’

  ‘I really appreciate you doing this for me … for the company, I mean.’ Angela stumbled over her words. Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken up Leanne’s offer to mind Claudia after all. Being in close proximity to Coop without her little chaperone was going to be tough. She looked into his sleepy green eyes and watched his face light up with a charming smile.

  ‘I had to get to Adelaide somehow,’ he said. ‘Happy to help.’ Then he climbed into the bunk and crawled into his sleeping bag. Angela busied herself with the final checks, painfully aware that he was stretched out only a short distance behind her. At least she was wide awake – there’d be no feeling sleepy on this trip.

  She moved the truck forward, out the gates and along the dirt road. ‘We’re off,’ she said. ‘Hopefully an uneventful trip.’

  She glanced over her shoulder and one of the few streetlights lit up Coop’s face. His eyes were closed and he’d already assumed the relaxed pose of sleep. She fixed her eyes on the road ahead as rain began to splash across the windscreen. The adrenalin ebbed from her body.

  She clicked her tongue and flicked on the CB radio. Maybe there’d be some banal chatter she could listen to without having to worry about Claudia’s little ears. Almost immediately a loud voice filled the cab with a lurid description of his recent escapades. She switched the CB off and turned the CD player on. One of Nigel’s tunes blared out. She pushed stop. How did that get in there? Claudia must have been fiddling with it. Angela turned the radio on. Someone was lamenting the demise of another football star on talkback. She cruised channels but nothing interested her. As a last resort she put the CD back on. Nigel’s music washed over her and she relaxed into her seat with a sigh. Guess it was going to be a long, lonely drive to Adelaide after all.

  ***

  Coop stood up to stretch his legs, pacing the corridor in front of the lifts. He’d slept all the way to Adelaide, only waking up as Angela pulled into the truck depot. He’d made use of the depot’s basic facilities to smarten himself up but still felt like something the cat had dragged in.

  This wasn’t helped by being in a hospital. All his memories of hospitals consisted of visits to his mother – either when she’d really gone over the top with the booze, or had been beaten up by one of the losers she got drunk with. The last time he saw her she was calling out to him from a hospital bed, her face barely recognisable beneath the bruising. She’d fallen down a flight of stairs, supposedly. The guilt of walking away still haunted him whenever he let himself think about it.

  It was Jeff who’d urged Coop to make a new life for himself. He convinced him that if he didn’t leave he’d end up being dragged down with his mother or, even worse, back inside. And that was somewhere Coop definitely didn’t want to find himself again. So he walked away that day and had kept moving ever since, never staying too long in the one place. Until now, that is. He’d been in Munirilla nearly two years because of Alice.

  He stopped pacing, took a deep breath and sat back down on the hard vinyl bench. He’d come here to visit her, not dredge up the past. If he could just see that she was making some progress, he could think ahead to when he might move on. But the staff weren’t letting him in just yet. Evidently Alice hadn’t had a good morning. They were currently bathing her and waiting for a doctor.

  He clutched the bunch of flowers he’d bought from a stall in Rundle Mall. The woman at the truck depot, Shell, had suggested he’d find some there. Angela hadn’t been able to help when he’d asked her where he might find flowers. Her only knowledge
of Adelaide was the truck depot surrounds and how to get to and from the various pick-ups and drop-offs she made. Coop couldn’t care less about being in the city but Angela looked at him so longingly when he mentioned it that he almost asked her to come with him, even though he knew there was no point in that. She’d be flat out making deliveries and reloading ready for their pick-up later.

  Coop watched as one of the lifts opened and several security guards stepped out and strode in the direction of Alice’s ward. He afforded himself a small grin. Perhaps Alice was causing trouble. He patted the photos in his shirt pocket for the tenth time and reread the poster on the wall urging people to quit smoking.

  ‘Mr Cooper?’

  He looked up. A nurse was beckoning him.

  ‘Alice is ready to see you.’

  Coop struggled to his feet. His knees were aching after his long day on the tractor and a night curled up on the bunk. He followed the nurse down the long corridor. Obscenities echoed from a side room as they walked past and Coop caught a glimpse of the security staff gathered around a bed.

  The nurse kept walking, not taking any notice. ‘Alice has brightened up considerably since we told her you’re here. The doctor would like to talk to you.’

  Coop hesitated at the entrance to a large, glass-walled office where a variety of people were either engaged in conversation or scanning computer screens. The nurse pointed him out to a young guy with a stethoscope around his neck. The doctor turned tired eyes in Coop’s direction and nodded. The nurse spoke some more to the doctor, who gave another nod, wrote quickly in his folder, then handed it to the nurse.

  Coop straightened, suddenly anxious by the doctor’s concerned face.

  ‘You’re Coop … Mr Cooper?’ the doctor enquired.

  ‘Just Coop.’

  ‘I’m Dr Patrick Clements. I’m looking after Mrs Tansell … Alice.’ He nodded towards the room behind him. ‘Are you family?’

  ‘No.’ Coop shifted the bunch of flowers from one hand to the other. It’d be a bugger if he’d come all this way and couldn’t see her. ‘I work for her … on her farm.’

  The nurse returned. ‘When you’ve finished here, doctor, I need to see you about Mrs Harrison’s drugs.’

  Dr Clements nodded.

  ‘Let me take those flowers and find something to put them in,’ the nurse said.

  Coop relinquished the bouquet and clenched his fingers in and out. ‘Is Alice okay?’ he asked the doctor. ‘The nurse said she had a bad night.’

  ‘Alice has told me about you several times but I thought you were her son. Possibly a grandson.’

  ‘She doesn’t have children. I’ve been working for her about eighteen months.’

  ‘I can’t really go into detail without her permission.’

  ‘I’ve just come to visit, that’s all. Her cousin thought it would be a good idea for me to see her, tell her about the farm.’ Coop patted his pocket. ‘I’ve brought some photos.’

  ‘What I can tell you is that medically there’s not a lot more we can do. The cancer itself wasn’t as bad as first thought but she’s developed an infection …’ The doctor glanced at the room again. ‘It’s up to Alice now. I hope your visit cheers her up. She’s by the window.’

  Dr Clements moved away as the nurse approached again. Coop hesitated a moment. Was he supposed to just walk in? There were curtains half-drawn around the first two beds and a couple of nurses bustling about. No one took any notice of him, so eventually he stepped into the room. Unsure how to proceed, he hesitated until a curtain beside him was pulled back and a young nurse appeared.

  ‘Can I help you?’ she asked

  ‘I’m looking for Alice Tansell.’

  ‘Right there.’ She pointed to the next bed. ‘I’ll see if I can find you a chair. They’re always in short supply.’

  The nurse hurried away. Coop edged forward a little further. The flowers he’d brought were in a jar on the window ledge amongst some cards. A machine beeped beside the bed and a tube snaked down and disappeared under the covers. The face on the pillow was so pale and lifeless he would never have recognised it as Alice’s. Her hair, which was previously only turning grey, was now completely white. It fanned out on the pillow behind her. Her eyes were closed and the blankets barely showed any shape beneath them.

  ‘Here you are.’ The nurse returned with a chair and pushed it into the space between the bed and the window. She patted Alice’s hand and leaned over her. ‘Alice, you have a visitor.’

  Alice’s lips twitched and her eyes fluttered open, then closed again.

  ‘Come on Alice, wake up.’ The nurse continued to pat her hand.

  ‘Don’t disturb her,’ Coop murmured.

  ‘It’s okay. She needs to see some people besides us.’

  Coop stood with the back of his knees pressed against the chair. He studied the person in the bed for signs of the Alice he knew. Her eyes opened again and her head rolled in his direction but there was no recognition on her face.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it,’ the nurse said, smiling.

  Coop watched her bustle away, wishing she wouldn’t. What if Alice needed something? She looked like she was too weak to even take a breath.

  ‘Coop?’

  He looked back at the stranger in the bed.

  ‘Coop, is it you?’ Alice pulled a hand out from under the blankets and tried to touch him. ‘I can’t see … The light is …’

  Coop sat down and put his hand gently on Alice’s. It felt warm, at least. ‘Yes, Alice, it’s me.’

  Alice wriggled her shoulders and her other hand came out from under the covers. ‘Have you come to take me home?’

  ‘I’ve come to visit,’ he said. ‘I don’t think you’re quite well enough to go home yet.’

  ‘They said it was up to me.’ A small glimmer lit her eyes. ‘I want to go home to the farm.’

  ‘I brought pictures.’ Coop fumbled with his shirt pocket and tugged out the packet of prints. ‘We had good rains and your sheep are lambing well.’

  He offered her the photos. Alice pulled one close with one hand and clutched his wrist with the other. ‘Many twins?’ she asked.

  ‘A few. There’re still some to drop. I think you’ll have a high return rate.’

  She dropped the photo and tried to sit up. The hand that gripped him was stronger than it looked. ‘Help me up, can you?’

  ‘Alice, you can’t …’

  ‘I want to sit up,’ she snapped.

  Coop held her hand and steadied her shoulder. He could feel her bones through the pyjama top. He eased her forward and placed a pillow behind her back to prop her up.

  ‘That’s better,’ Alice said brightly. ‘Now show me these photos.’

  They bent their heads together as she looked at each one and he answered her questions. As they chatted her voice grew in strength and some colour returned to her cheeks. Coop felt like he was talking to the old Alice, the woman who managed a farm, who was used to making big decisions and who never shied away from hard work.

  ‘Tell me about these two.’ Alice pointed to a picture she’d put to one aside.

  Coop leaned closer. It was of Angela and Claudia with Jilly and some sheep in the background. It had turned out well, but Coop had meant to keep it for himself rather than leave it in the pack he’d printed for Alice.

  ‘Angela’s doing the Adelaide–Munirilla truck run. That’s her daughter, Claudia.’

  He’d taken Angela’s camera to a photo place in the mall when he bought the flowers. They’d printed everything on it because he hadn’t known what else to do. There were a couple of pictures of Angela and her friends obviously dressed for a wedding. They all had the same style dress, just in different colours. One photo held his attention. Angela was on her own, laughing at whoever was taking the picture. The pale green dress perfectly matched her skin and her hazel eyes. Her hair was swept up and dainty studs gleamed on her ear lobes. She looked like she could have been in a magazine. Coop had stared at the pictur
e for a long time before he stashed it with the others, separate from the farm photos.

  ‘She must be stronger than she looks to manage a truck. They always say good things come in small packages.’ Alice’s lips turned up in a smile.

  Coop shifted in his seat. ‘I hope you don’t mind,’ he said quickly. ‘I invited them out to the farm. Claudia wanted to see some animals.’

  ‘It’s your home too, Coop,’ Alice said. ‘I’m glad you’ve got some friends. You spend too much time alone.’

  ‘It was just a short visit. Jeremy, the new accountant, came too.’

  Alice held the picture up with two hands, studying it closely before looking back at Coop. ‘Is there a Mr Angela?’

  ‘No.’ Coop shifted his weight again. ‘Claudia’s dad has moved on, I believe.’

  ‘Looks like a sweet little girl.’

  ‘She loves the farm. Angela had to get back to work, so Claudia stayed with me a few hours. Ended up helping me deliver twin lambs.’ He chuckled at the memory. ‘Didn’t mind getting her hands dirty, that one.’

  Alice smiled. ‘You know, Coop, we’ve both had some tough times, but I reckon it’s time for the dust to settle. After a storm, it always settles … eventually.’

  He looked at her. Alice was staring out the window with an unreadable expression on her face. Coop glanced behind him but there was nothing to see but the clouds in the pale sky.

  ‘Hello.’

  They both looked up at the sound of the cheery voice. A short, stocky woman with cropped grey hair and glowing cheeks stood at the end of the bed. She was breathing heavily, as if she’d been running. After a moment, Alice spoke.

  ‘Coop, this is my cousin Mary.’

  Mary heaved a shopping bag onto the end of the bed then reached out to shake Coop’s hand as he struggled to his feet. ‘Nice to meet you at last, Coop.’ Mary’s grip was warm and damp.

  ‘I hope there’re clothes in that bag,’ Alice said. ‘Coop’s taking me home.’

  ‘Alice, I can’t …’ he started.

  ‘Not today,’ Mary said.