Outback Born

by K'Anne Meinel

  Alinta made lunch, tiffin she was told it was called. This was another dual word that confused the woman. Explaining that lunch was American, and tiffin was Australian, meant nothing to the aboriginal woman. Mel’s smiles showed she didn’t mind the woman’s confusion and didn’t mean any harm by laughter. Alinta just accepted these odd differences, adding to her vocabulary daily.

  That night, Alinta heard the dingoes, and Mel was ready. She killed another one. Mel seemed tired and irritable as she worked hard to finish more of the permanent fold they were building. Over the next few days, they continued to bring wood, Mel chopping down whole trees and Alinta moving plants until it was a sturdily constructed fold. Mel seemed relieved when it was built, herding the flock into it and taking her dirty clothes to a billabong to wash. Mel got in but despite her best efforts, she was unable to entice Alinta to join her. She couldn’t convince the young woman to immerse herself in the waters of the pond. She did eventually convince her to change into a clean shirt-dress, so the one she was wearing could be washed. Later, she would convince Alinta to wear drawers and eventually, pants, but only after the weather turned colder and the rain finally came. With the colder weather, Alinta realized that having additional clothes on made her warmer.

  The dingoes continued their efforts to get at the sheep despite the sturdy, new fold. Mel took Alinta and a couple of the dogs along with her to hunt them. Once Alinta realized that Mel wanted the den, she tracked them back to it easily. The holes were nearly invisible against the dusky dirt around the rocks where they had dug. Knowing the dingoes would be back from hunting in the morning, Mel piled stones up around all the holes she could find. The dogs were eager to dig at the holes, whining and smelling their nemeses, but Mel commanded them away. She and Alinta gathered wood and dried grass. They left them near the holes but not so near that the human smell would distract the wild dogs.

  Early the next morning, leaving the hungry sheep in the fold, they hurried with several of the dogs back to the den and filled the higher holes with the rocks, then started a fire with the wood and grasses and pushed them in the lower holes. Remembering the stockman’s tale of how he had done this, Mel tried to duplicate his efforts, and this proved to be successful. The dingoes, tired from a night of hunting, tried to get out of their holes, but the rocks were too heavy, and they were suffocated in their den. The dogs were agitated and would have dug the dingoes out to fight them, but Mel kept them away, and none of the dingoes in this den escaped.

  The threat was now eliminated, and Mel strengthened the fold while the sheep were out of it during the day. This fold was large and could hold the entire flock. During the day when she was out, she scouted around, going farther and farther afield until she found a place where she wanted to build another permanent fold. The sheep were again hunted by dingoes in the new location, but Mel was a good shot, and Alinta was so in tune with nature that she spotted them long before the dogs. Now that Alinta understood Mel wanted to kill the dingoes, she would spot them and point them out to Mel. They eliminated another smaller den. This one had pups in it by the sounds they heard coming out of it. Mel was sad at the thought of killing the young, but the young would grow up and begin hunting, and she couldn’t afford to have them around the sheep she intended to raise on these acres. Alinta, listening as Mel explained this to her, was surprised that Mel would hunt these dingoes and then be sad that she had to kill their young. She was thoughtful as she tried to understand these odd white people’s ways.

  A few showers fell as they built the folds, but it wasn’t until they were done building the third fold that the rain came in earnest. The creeks rose and the rivers overflowed. Entire areas that were normally quite dry were flooded out. Alinta recognized the signs of ancient floods and always led her horse and the packhorses to higher ground where they could make their huts. Some days, they were miserable as it rained, and the sheep cropped the grass despite the wet. Mel explained her worry about disease and even the cold for the poor sodden sheep. One of the sheep was lost to a snake bite, another to some plants it ate along a creek where they had stopped, and still others were lost to dingoes.

  They moved on despite the rains. Mel made sure they always crossed a creek or river before they settled on higher ground for the night. She explained that it was a good practice because you never knew what rain was coming down from upstream. Alinta understood this because her English had improved, and she was no longer thinking in the aboriginal language. After all this time spent in the constant presence of Mel, she now thought in English. She liked that Mel took the time to explain things to her, even if she didn’t always understand everything. She didn’t ask questions, but Mel sometimes saw that she didn’t understand a concept and explained further, talking to hear herself talk.

  The wild animals fascinated Mel, and she watched them while talking to Alinta. She was trying to know her language but was mainly teaching her the names of things she knew in English. The words kangaroo or wallaby were easy, even cockatoo or bird, but Mel didn’t know some of the animals and had no one to ask. The teaching wasn’t always one-sided. One time, Alinta warned Mel about a snake, the worm-like twitching of its tail the only thing visible in the leaves as it tried to entice its prey, then sprang out to strike and kill whatever dared come near. Alinta sensed it and threw pebbles until it sprang up, attacking, and then slithered off. Mel was amazed when her friend showed her things like this.

  Alinta was astonished that Mel didn’t know what seemed like such ordinary things to her, and she was pleased to teach her what she knew. The white man/woman had so many wondrous things and seemed to know so much, but Alinta could still show her things that her parents had shown her long ago.

  Despite the rain, Mel slowly got the fourth fold built. She was really honing her skills with the axe, and her arm muscles were building up. Alinta admired the body she occasionally saw, although it was usually covered up with clothes. Alinta’s scavenged plants and fruits added to their diet and helped to stretch their meager supplies. She even convinced Mel to shoot a kangaroo. It was delicious, a nice change from mutton, and Alinta prepared several of their meals with the meat.

  Mel had taken the skins of the wethers they had butchered for food and stretched them on the roofs of their shelters to dry and scrape the fat from them. This was something Alinta was happy to help with as it didn’t require anything but the use of her hands, arms, and shoulders. She learned from Mel to rub the skins with something she called peppermint, which she got from certain trees. It gave the pelts a nice smell. Next, Mel showed Alinta, who was fascinated with the needle, how to stitch the hides together. Mel’s first project was a stockman’s coat made from warm wool that would keep out the elements. When she made a much smaller version for Alinta, the woman refused to wear it at first. It was heavy, and the Aborigine was unused to carrying such weight. When Mel finally convinced Alinta to wear it for warmth, she used it both as a coat and as a blanket. Not only were the coats warm but they were rainproof, and Alinta learned to appreciate hers.

  * * * * *

  Alinta noticed the dogs’ reactions, and she tensed up, sensing danger. When she recognized Carmen, Fabiola, several stockmen, and the vaqueros approaching their camp, she relaxed. It had been hard to peer through the driving rain, but she recognized the two women and watched as Mel greeted them.

  “Hello, Alinta,” the two women greeted the aboriginal woman, noting how pregnant she looked as she sat sideways on her horse while watching the sheep and wearing her sheepskin coat.

  “Misses Carmen, Misses Fabiola,” she said in reply, having trouble with the second name as it didn’t come easy to her. She’d practiced as Mel had talked often and admiringly about these two women.

  “Alinta would you mind showing the men where to put our supplies in the hut?” Mel asked her, making it her choice, but the eager young woman immediately set off on her horse with a couple of the men following behind her pulling the packhorses.

  They unloaded the heavily la
den packhorses into the bark hut Mel and Alinta had built for this campsite. The men wouldn’t let her carry anything but a light package or two. They avoided looking at her heavily pregnant stomach.

  Alinta was not aware of the conversation that occurred after she left the sheep.

  “She’s gotten so big,” Carmen commented when the pregnant woman was out of earshot.

  Mel nodded. “I estimate she’s due right after the sheep.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work,” Fabiola mentioned, wondering how Mel was going to cope. She knew she wouldn’t want to have a flock this big and a pregnant woman to worry about.

  “And two of my bitches are pregnant too,” Mel lamented with a laugh at her situation. It was of her own making. She should have delayed letting the rams in among her sheep until later, but there was nothing she could have done about Alinta’s due date. They were only guessing anyway, having no idea when the carter had impregnated the poor woman.

  Carmen laughed with her, and after a moment, Fabiola joined in. “Do you want me to send some of my men to help?” Carmen asked helpfully.

  “You’ll have enough to tend to with your own flocks. I knew what the work entailed before I set off on this adventure,” Mel reminded her well-meaning friend.

  “I’m sure you did,” she consoled. “If you need–” she began, but Mel cut her off.

  “Thank you.”

  “Damned independent cuss. We could send a couple–” Fabiola began again exasperatedly.

  “I know,” Mel returned, sounding just as exasperated.

  Carmen shook her head but laughed, so Fabiola wouldn’t get angry. She knew Mel was independent, headstrong, and probably out to prove a point. Still, the land she had chosen was beautiful. It had taken them a while to find her, following the path the sheep had taken as they grazed and finding the well-made folds.

  Both women were glad to help bring in the flock of sheep to the nearly finished fold that Mel had been building despite the winter rains. The rope stretched across on two sides, but the sheep were relatively safe. Dinner was a grand affair, and they continued talking about stock. Mel further admitted two of her Brumby mares were in foal, probably due to Carmen’s fine stallion covering them on the trip out. Fortunately, they weren’t due for a while. Carmen and Fabiola had a good laugh over the burgeoning increases in Mel’s stock, glancing at Alinta as she busily and ponderously walked about washing up after dinner. They would have helped, but the aboriginal woman had insisted on doing the dishes and feeding the dogs herself.

  “Just as independent as a Yank I know,” Carmen whispered, loud enough that Fabiola heard her too, and Mel started to laugh at the dig. Mel had complained good-naturedly how Alinta was becoming more assertive as she learned English.

  “She has learned to speak her mind when she knows the words,” Mel bragged, proud of the woman and her prowess in the English language.

  Carmen smiled for her friend, realizing that she had fallen in love with the pregnant woman. Fabiola was surprised to see that too. She hadn’t thought about it herself, and now, knowing that Mel was a woman and not the man she had thought her to be, she realized the relationship that might ensue from this unusual woman. It gave her food for thought.

  They only stayed two days while helping to finish building the fold and listening to Mel’s plans. Mel sent them on their way, a couple of letters she had written in their possession to be mailed as soon as anyone came to the station. When they left on their way back to civilization, they could take her mail along with the station mail. Mel had told them she intended to buy more sheep, cattle, and horses, and she would also be hiring a couple of stockmen. “But not until next year or maybe the year after next,” she insisted, still wanting her peace and quiet.

  Mel waved as they left, the empty packsaddles on the extra horses. The two women and a couple of vaqueros who knew her returned the wave. The stockmen nodded, wondering at the odd man who preferred to be all alone in the far Outback with his woman and large flock. They hadn’t been privy to the conversations between the women, knowing their place was not with the station owners.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  They were heading out to build their sixth fold when Mel stumbled across a beautiful valley that was hidden among the hills and dips of land that encompassed what she hoped would eventually become her station. The only reason she found the hidden valley was because she was searching for some of her sheep that had broken out of the fold. She didn’t know if they escaped because they were due to give birth soon or were just flighty, as some sheep were. While using the dogs to find them, she came across a path she knew was not man-made and followed it. Her horse stepped carefully, and as they crested a hill, which gave her a beautiful view of the Outback, she happened to look over the edge and caught her breath at the sight. The green valley held not only her missing sheep but kangaroos, wallabies, and other animals she didn’t recognize. A small waterfall fell from the rocks on one side, and a stream meandered through it, becoming lost on the far side. She realized this might be the very spot she wanted for her home paddock. The valley itself, hidden by the countless hills that led up to it, could be her secure backyard and for her own uses only. The beauty of it alone was something she coveted and wanted to call her own. It was to the east and slightly south of the fifth fold they had built. They had decided they had gone far enough north and were now swinging back.

  “Find him sheep?” Alinta asked as she walked laboriously up the hill behind Mel, using her stick to help her.

  “Alinta, you shouldn’t be walking out here,” Mel told her, worrying that she was doing too much again, and it would be bad for the baby that protruded so prominently from her. Mel had seen an arm move across the pregnant woman’s stomach last week, and it looked painful.

  “Baby strong,” Alinta told her, smiling at the other woman’s concern. Her adoration for Mel shone in her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to make Mel realize that she wanted more. She didn’t know how to show her, and she certainly hadn’t learned the words she needed to tell the large woman.

  Mel got off her horse and held her hand out to the aboriginal woman. When Alinta was standing next to her, she said, “Look at that,” pointing to the hidden valley and the sheep grazing in it along with the kangaroos and wallabies.

  “Ohh,” Alinta breathed out, realizing how beautiful the land was and appreciating it. She’d seen more of the Outback than any of her people, she was sure of it. She was so grateful to have someone to share this with, and soon, she would have a child. She rubbed her stomach and felt a well-aimed kick. She smiled as she looked up at Mel, hoping she would want to raise the child with her. Strangely, she wished that Mel was the father but understood that wasn’t possible. Still, she hoped for so many things and wished she had the words to express herself.

  “I think this is where I’ll build our home paddock,” Mel explained.

  “Home?” Alinta asked, unsure of the word.

  “Yes, where we will live permanently. The other paddocks will be where the stockmen will take our sheep…like they do at Twin Station.” She knew she wasn’t explaining it adequately, but she wasn’t always sure how much Alinta understood or what words she remembered. Alinta’s phenomenal memory made Mel feel ashamed whenever she caught herself talking pidgin English to the woman. The intelligent woman unintentionally reminded Mel to always treat her as an equal. Just because she didn’t have the education Mel had didn’t mean she wasn’t knowledgeable. In fact, Alinta had taught Mel a lot since she had met her. Mel wished she could have more, but she didn’t want to take advantage of the pregnant, young woman. The last time she had been involved with a young woman…she immediately squashed all thoughts of Abigail Baxter, now Worthington. Mel had let go of her memories of Abigail on the long ship ride out here. The memories were better in the past.

  “You build fold, hut?” Alinta asked.

  “Yes, we will build a fold there,” she pointed to a spot out of the way of the path that led into the valley. She b
egan squinting as she imagined the house she wanted. The view from the porches would look out into this green and beautiful spot. The sheds and barns she intended to have would be down to the right of the house and out of the way, so they were in no way impeding the view. “We will build sheds, barns, and corrals over there,” Mel pointed to another spot as she got excited. “For now, I’ll get the sheep,” she brought herself back to Earth, knowing she could get excited by her many plans. She sent the dogs down the animal trail after the sheep, who looked up from their grazing when they spotted them. The dogs soon rounded up the sheep and returned them up the path, and Mel sent them back towards the temporary fold they had broken out of.

  Mel walked with Alinta back to their camp, not willing to get back on the horse she now led. She enjoyed walking with this woman and wished desperately she could make her feelings known. She also worried if she would be rejected by Alinta, or the woman would be appalled at the suggestion of two women being together. There was also the fact that Alinta acquiesced to almost everything Mel wanted to do, which was a product of her upbringing, or so Mel thought. If Alinta gave into everything, would she feel compelled to give in if Mel asked her to be her partner? Would she even understand what Mel was asking? Mel had no way to know that Alinta also had feelings she couldn’t make known to the white woman.

  Alinta was often too tired to ride the horse all the time, her bulk impeding her ability to climb into the saddle by herself, and she was too uncomfortable when Mel placed her on top of the horse. She loved being close to Mel, and she liked the touches she received from the gentle woman, curiously wanting it more and more as they traveled together, but she had no idea how to make her wishes known.