Australian Tea Party

by Sandra Pavlic

I woke up to the rainy morning and I immediately said to myself: “Something bad will happen today.” So far stormy clouds didn’t bring us anything good and I started to believe that they are bringing me bad luck. It was my turn to make breakfast so I woke up sooner than usual. I met Alice in the hallway, she was watering flowers. I didn’t see Will anywhere, he woke up before me. When breakfast was ready I woke up Mike. I heard from the next room Alice who was reading my notes.

  “If only she knew the reality. I admit it is my fault, but nothing more can be done. I can see that he doesn’t like it here. I would change somethings myself…” she was reading a chapter. I entered the room right away. She was looking at me like I fell out of the moon.

  “Sorry Caroline, I didn’t know things were like this. It is not good for you to keep everything to yourself.” She started talking.

  “Well, now you know. Please don’t read any more of my notes.” I was mad at her. I closed the door without saying a word and went to Mike’s room to wake him up. We finished breakfast in silence. Will didn’t join us for breakfast.

  “I must go to the village. Will you come with me Caroline?” asked Alice nicely. I nodded yes. She knew that I had to get away for a while. We put sheep cheese to the truck. When I was sitting down in the truck Will came by.

  “Are you going somewhere?” he asked.

  “Yes. Me and Alice are going to the village.”

  “What about Mike? Should I take care of him?” he slowly raised his voice. I looked at Alice and said: “It is your child too.” Sat down at closed the door. We drove away. We drove in silence until we drove to the village we were heading to.

  “I forgot to mention you. The rest of the cheese is for Sydney. We will not be home for a whole day.”

  “OK.” I said peaceful. Although I was quiet she could read that I wanted this.

  “Can we make a stop in the hospital first?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  Kerry was happy to see us. She explained what she was doing the day before and what she did this morning. She didn’t ask about Will. But it wasn’t a surprise because there were times before that just one of us showed up sometimes. After visiting Kerry, Alice and I drove off to Sydney.

  “I wonder what will Will say,” I was thinking out loud.

  “Don’t care about it Caroline. Every marriage has ups and downs and fights that seem unsolvable. For today, try not to think about the fight. That is why I wanted to bring you with. Let him think about it for a while alone.” She was nice to me. I agreed.

  “Tell me something. Do you too feel sorry that you came to our country?” she wanted to know. Of course, she was also hurt by my written words.

  “No. I’m glad I met you and Josh. It is very nice here. But I really do miss England too. We moved too quickly and there was too much change to adapt so fast.”

  “I believe you.” She was thinking something. After a few hour drives we came to Sydney. We bring cheese to some factory and then we went sightseeing in Sydney.

  “OK.” She finally said. We drove from one museum to another, walked on paths many celebrities walked on and went to see Sydney’s opera house. If we were closer we would definitely see an opera sometimes here. After two hours of walking through city we had to go home. Alice was right; Will was very sweet that evening and he could not stop apologizing.

  We were very happy about Kerry’s arrival to the farm. Alice suggested having an afternoon picnic in her honour. While she was preparing the last details Will and I went to pick up Kerry. The doctor explained how long she must stay near, when her appointments will be,…

  “And don’t forget. What happened isn’t your fault.” He added when we were saying goodbye.

  “Yeah right.” Said Will rudely. I gave him a look and thought it would be enough. After we came home we changed our clothes and then Kerry went with Josh on tour of their land. Will and I were left alone in the room.

  “And what did that look mean?” asked Will.

  “My look? That you should be quiet. I don’t know why you have to say yeah right out loud?”

  “I was just telling the truth.”

  “OK, everyone knows it’s my fault. Can’t be at least try for Kerry?” I was angry.

  “You are right.” He finally agreed.

  “I think it would be good if you came back to this room for sleep.”

  “You are right.” He agreed again.

  So far only Alice knows that Will has been sleeping in another room. Actually this “picnic” of hers is also meant for us. She also invited a few married couple so that we can bear the picnic somehow. In the afternoon guest came and Josh started grilling. First came the Grandy’s, than Sarah and Mathew Cornwell and then the priest Barry. Everyone sit down and left two seats empty.

  “You know Caroline, Sarah and Mathew also came from England.” told Alice.

  “Really’ Do you miss it?” I asked.

  “Sometimes, but a day after day, less. Here, life is somewhat more careless, don’t you think?”

  “Well, I feel very sorry for leaving England.” joined Will.

  “Well then you can say that this picnic is Australian tea party. Maybe it will be easier.”

  “Hehe, maybe.” I laughed.

  “Where are Kate and Patrick?” asked Alice.

  “Late as usual.” said Barry. Then they came.

  “Caroline, these are my best friends – Kate and Patrick Swayn. This is Caroline Ward, and there is her husband Will, the children are here somewhere.” We greet and for the first time I stare to the blue in Patrick’s eyes. While we were eating I saw him looking at me several times but I didn’t give much thought in it. I am new.

  “Do you like it here?” asked Sarah.

  “Yes, very much.” I answered.

  “It is so quite you can hear grass growing.” I added. Mathew laughed a little.

  “You can really focus on yourself here.” He said.

  “Yes.” Will shortly added. I looked at Kerry. She nodded to Alice and Alice to Josh. I had no idea what they were up to.

  Josh took the leading speech: “Listen our dear guests. So that you won’t just sit here, Alice and I are inviting you to our garden where children made something.” We all looked at each other and slowly went behind the house. We would all turn around when we saw that some sort of competition is waiting for us.

  Alice explained: “We will compete in pairs. First you will compete with running in bags, than you will go on bicycle for two – men in the front, and then you will ride a horse until the finish line. The winning couple is the one who will reach the finish line first. Good luck!”

  We went in pairs and stood where we were told. The Grandys were yellow couple, Sarah and Mathew the red, Kate and Patrick black, and we were the blue. Josh whistled what meant that the competition started. We awkwardly went into the bag, jumped five times, fell on the ground and stood up and jumped a few more times until the bicycles. Will was sitting in the front and we were starting to cycle and catch up to Kate and Patrick who were in front of us when we fell. We passed by them and gained a few time for horse riding. They catch up to us again and we were at the same time in the finish line. After the game we sat down at the table. Because they were near us we could talk a little more.

  “How come we didn’t see each other until now if you are best friends?” asked Will.

  “We had a lot of work in the farm and our land is 1 hour horse ride away,” said Kate.

  “I thought you live nearby.” I interfered.

  “No. We know each other through our parents. They were friends for a long time and my dad and their dad saved a forest where quite a few protected animals live. Of course they were protected later,” explained Patrick.

  “Well darling, I’m quite sure they are not interested in history of our forest, am I right?”

  Interfered Kate. Will nodded yes but I said that I am interested, that it is always good to know of a place where you are staying.”

  �
�It is true,” agreed Patrick and got ready for his next story.

  “Why don’t you go away from us then?” suggested Will.

  “I agree. I can’t listen to this. Go for a walk or something if Caroline is so interested in saving the forest,” also agreed Kate. Patrick and I looked at each other and he indicated me to stand up.

  We were walking on Britey’s land and spoke about how the villagers tried to cut down the forest to gain more land and at first only Jack Britey (Alice’s and Josh’s father) and Frank Swayn insisted to save the forest because it was also a part of their land. At first the conflicts were bad and then they found nearby a family of wild horses and a lake with hot fountain.

  “Interesting,” I said when I heard that they changed they mind about it and declared the forest as a landmark.

  “Me and Josh were the first to be chirstened here. People started to believe that the lake had a magical power so in the summer people would bath in it and in the winter no one gets ill,” he finished his story.

  “I am wondering if this would help Kerry.” I said more for a joke than serious.

  “Maybe, it can’t hurt,” was serious Patrick.

  “If you have some free time next week we can check it out,” he added

  “I can get a free time,” I agreed. I let him think that I believe villager’s rumours. I somehow need to interact with their society. We are here too long and the only people I know are Alice and Josh. The rest of them we met today. We set a date and time for our visit of the lake.

  “OK, I will come with a horse, is that OK?” he offered.

  “Of course,” I accepted.

  “Now we must hurry back, these people are quick to judge,” he said and we walked back to the table.

  “So did you found out everything you were interested in?” asked Will after we came back.

  “Almost,” I answered. He looked at Patrick reproachfully so I was ready for his long speech, but instead he just said: “OK.”

  Kate said to Patrick: “Did you tell her all the details?”

  “About the forest yes, but she still has a lot to know,” he gave her an answer. Soon the guests were started to leave and I helped Alice with the cleaning.

  “Caroline, I think Will will tell you something this evening.” She warned me.

  “About what?” I was curious.

  “Well, while you were walking around with Patrick he was watching when will you show up. When I told him to relax he said he was stupid to let you go, but he didn’t want to make a scene, so he was quite.

  “But he was the one who suggested for us to have a walk.” I explained.

  “Really? Well….” She didn’t explain any further.

  I was scared to enter the room. First I went to Kerry and Mike.

  “You are not sleeping yet?” I asked them when I saw that they were still awake.

  “Not yet,” answered Kerry.

  “Do you like it here?” I asked her.

  “Yes mum, it is so quiet,” she was calm. I agreed. It’s peaceful. It’s silent. I wished them good night and went to my room. I slowly opened the door and hoped my husband was already sleeping. Only he wasn’t.

  “Did you have a good time today?” he asked.

  “It was OK.” I answered carefully.

  “Good. What did you talk about with Patrick?” he asked.

  “About the forest.”

  “So long?” he was suspicious.

  “Yes. There were a lot of things I needed to know.” I answered.

  He turned away from me. I knew he was jealous but I acted like I didn’t notice. We fell asleep without any other word.

  In the morning Alice woke me very early.

  “Come to Sydney with me,” she invited me.

  “Ahhh, you are going there again?” I was still asleep.

  “Yes for a reporter. I promised I will pick her up,” she was whispering.

  “But there is no room for me.” I added still asleep.

  “I know, but I hate to go alone. I thought we could go with your car.”

  “OK, it is on the parking lot.”

  After breakfast I took the keys out of my husband’s jacket and we went to the parking lot where the car was parked. When we came to the larger town we went to car wash.

  “So, a reporter? You didn’t yet tell me why she is coming,” I was curious.

  “She writes about the health resort and about our lands so I invited her to come to us,” she explained.

  “Do you personally know her?” I asked.

  “Well, no, we are doing a favour for our neighbour. I am sure you’ve heard about Mrs. Trippin. A little before you came to town she sold her house and moved to live with her daughter. Last week I received a letter that her daughter is coming here and she said she would be grateful if I took her in for a while. We have the room so I said yes,” she explained.

  “I didn’t hear of Mrs. Trippin.”

  “Really? She was a good friend of my dad’s since my mum died. She became a part of our family.”

  “And after his death she moved…” I said.

  “Well, not exactly but something like that, yes.”

  After we came to Sydney we welcomed an interesting person, dark coloured, about my age, named Christie Trippin. We went together to a photograph’s show and then we were headed for a long trip. We were not bored during the long drive, because she was talking about her cases, about the most shocking and unbelievable stories, about the most boring ones and the funniest ones. Her first story was about the dog hero in a small fire. She wasn’t excited about the story because she thought it would be really boring but it was quite fascinating and with it Christie became one of the respectable young journalists.

  At home Will was listening to her with a surprise and looked at her as if he saw a woman for the first time. But it didn’t surprise me. Me and Alice prepared her a room, while she was playing with my children. She was really natural with it, so I asked her about her kids. She said she really wants them, but somehow she doesn’t have them yet.

  The day I was supposed to meet Patrick to look at the magic lake came. He came a little early so he saddled me a horse while I was having breakfast. I joined him in the stables and we went to the forest. For a little while we were walking on the path from where he came and then we turned right to the deep forest.

  “Don’t worry, If you will come alone, you would too find it, it is near the main road,” he ensured me because he saw I was a little confused and worried.

  “Thank you.”

  It wasn’t long when we stopped.

  “The horses can rest a bit and drink some fresh water. We still have about an hour to walk,” he suggested.

  “OK.” I agreed.

  “Will didn’t come along?” he was curious.

  “No. Some reporter came and he has too much work with her.” I said which was true.

  “I see. And the children are sleeping?”

  “Yes, Mike has a little cold so I decided we postpone the picnic. On the other hand I needed an escape from there.”

  “Your husband drives you crazy, yes?” he asked.

  “You could say that.” I said. After half an hour of rest we went further.

  “You see, there is only one road to the lake, you can’t miss it,” he explained one more time. We were really walking for an hour when we saw the lake. It wasn’t big or deep. Around it there were beautiful glades which were drenched by the sun.

  “Come, we will have a picnic here.”

  Nevertheless it was warm Patrick unfolded the blanket on which we sat on.

  “So, how did you say the lake can help?” I asked because I forgot some things. He explained to me once more, that you must dip in the lake for at least 10 minutes and concentrate on your body. But the villagers still believe that you have luck in life if you are baptized in it.

  “In the summer the lake is quiet full so you have to be here early if you want a free space for picnic.” He explained.<
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  “I believe.” I added.

  “Would you like to soak your feet?” He asked. I really wanted to know how warm the hot spring is so I said yes.

  “Is it slippery?” I asked.

  “No.”

  He was right. I could easily step in the warm water. Although it was only April the water was very warm.

  “I think I will bring my kids here tomorrow.”

  “You see, I was right” He gets a log from somewhere and put it near the water so that we sat on it and soak are legs.

  Tom Cage, the guard of the National park came to us and explained that the children from the hospital will be here on Saturday and he must put some trash cans here and make it more attractive for tourists. We saw that he was busy with it so we hurried back.

  “We will stop and the wild horses for which I somehow take care of.” Patrick explained.

  “Great.”

  We hurried back. We were walking on the same path as before only in the end we were not turning to my place but his.

  “If you will go alone to my house you will probably get lost,” he interrupted the silence.

  “Is there so many ways?”

  “Of course.”

  We turned again. When we were out of the forest we saw a valley of multi coloured wild horses.

  “Uh.” I sighed, “How nice.”

  “Yes, I am also always stunt. There are more horses in September.”

  “How come?” I was curious.

  “I don’t know. They come from different parts. Every year there are a lot of new horses, but some are regular and are coming here from the time my father was alive. He told me that every time a new member of our village is born, on horse comes and stays here. My father named them soul mates. Every person has a soul mate here.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Really. My grandfather’s horse was Wind, but unfortunately he died right before I was born, my father’s is the brown one with white stripe on his back. My father named him Windy because he assumed he was Wind’s son. Mine is the white one, I call him Snowy. Of course there are others here. You won’t believe it, but I think that your soul mate is here also.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ever since I found out you and your family move here I noticed a bright brown horse, which is here every time I am here.”

  “This can be just a coincidence.” I said.

  “I don’t think so. He wasn’t here before. I see him around for the past 4 months. I think that horse really wants your attention and that you name him.”

  “Hm…” I didn’t really believe him, although it sounded really nice.

  “Here’s my deal, if he will be here for another month I will name him.” I said sceptically.

  “OK, deal. But will you believe me If tell you he is still here?”

  “Probably not.” I told him the truth.

  “You see. It is best that you will be coming with me, then.”

  “OK, fair enough.”

  “Every other week on Thursdays. We can meet at four o’ clock where the parts join.” He suggested.

  “OK, I will see you then 14 days from now.”

  It was getting dark in the forest so we must hurry. I told him I will find a way so we separated.