‘Lucky you,’ Lillie gushed, touching the fabric. ‘It’s gorgeous.’
‘You like it?’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Ma said.
Deb looked at Lillie in her red skirt and white top. ‘And you look great.’
Again Lillie tried not to be jealous of Deb’s dress. But it made her feel drab. Even so, she was pleased for Deb, as she knew how much she’d coveted that dress, which was unusual for her. Deb normally only wore jeans. Lillie looked at Ronan and wondered if the dress was to impress him.
‘Mum and Dad are over there,’ Deb said, pointing to a group of adults. ‘I’m sure they’d love to talk to you, Mr and Mrs O’Sullivan.’
Lillie went over with Dad, Ma and Ronan to talk to Deb’s parents and was glad she hadn’t told them about Deb’s mother’s first marriage and how she and Deb’s father got together. It could have been awkward if she had. Thankfully it didn’t seem as though Sandra and her parents were there — that would be even more awkward. Particularly as she knew Ma wanted to suss out whether Winifred, Sandra’s mum, had seen Uncle Finn before he died, and would be bound to approach her.
Leaving their parents to talk between themselves, Deb and Lillie went to join a group of girls from school and Ronan sauntered over to a few of his friends on the far side of the hall. Now a fellow who caught the school bus came over and asked Deb to dance. And then Lillie’s heart gave a flip. Brad Hickey was sauntering across the floor, looking as handsome as ever. The closer he got the more she realised he was coming towards her.
‘Hi, Lillie,’ he said with a lopsided grin. ‘Like a dance?’
Lillie’s heart turned a massive somersault. And she just knew her face was as red as that shiny fire engine parked outside the door. Even so, she said confidently, ‘Sure, why not?’ and stood up to take his hand. As she did she saw Deb wink at her over her partner’s shoulder. She had never really danced with a boy before, although at school the girls often danced with each other to music from the transistor radio. She wished that she could have practised with another boy before dancing with Brad Hickey. But when he led her to the dance floor and put his arm around her as the band played a Frank Ifield ballad, she soon found she was moving to the music easily. She was sure she was the envy of most of the other girls, many far prettier than she was. Why Brad had asked her to dance she was at a loss to know.
‘Where’s your girlfriend?’ she asked, looking up at him.
‘Away up north. Tenterfield. Her sister lives there. So,’ he added, glancing over at Ma and Dad, ‘your parents took over Finn Malone’s place. He and my dad were mates.’
‘Oh. Really?’
‘He was a great bloke. Let me exercise a couple of his racehorses out at Eureka a few times. It’s a mighty great place, being on the river like that.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I wonder why he committed suicide? He didn’t seem the sort to do that.’
‘That’s what everyone says.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘You knew he was an alcoholic?’
‘I knew he liked his grog. Then so does my old man. When he’s in his slops he gets all maudlin and reckons there’s no way Finn Malone would’ve killed himself.’
‘Really!’ Lillie stepped back and looked up at him. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because he reckons he was a happy drunk whenever he was with him. And if he was going to kill himself he would’ve done it when his wife left, he was so cut up about it.’
‘I only met his wife once, but she seemed nice.’
‘My mum was sad when she took off. They went to school together. Anyway,’ he grinned, ‘how’re you liking living in our part of the world?’
Lillie felt like saying that right this minute she could think of no better place to be than in the arms of Brad Hickey, whether in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Instead she said, ‘It’s a lot different to Ireland, but I really like it.’
‘Yeah, it’s not a bad place, though I’d like to travel one day. Wouldn’t mind heading to Ireland. I’ve always wanted to go hunting. They reckon Ireland’s the place to do that.’ Lillie told him how her parents went hunting in Kerry and before she knew it she was telling him about Merlin and how much she missed him, even though she now had Muffin. Then the music speeded up and they pulled apart to twist and jive to the beat. She was really enjoying herself when the band stopped for a break and he saw her back to her seat. ‘Thanks for that,’ he said. ‘No doubt I’ll see you around some time.’
‘Yeah,’ Lillie said. ‘And thanks a lot. It was great.’
‘Wow,’ Deb said, sitting down beside her. ‘Lucky you. You really fancy him, don’t you?’
‘Fine lot of good it’ll do me. It’s just that his girlfriend’s away.’
Deb laughed. ‘Well, at least you got to dance with him. And maybe he’ll ask you again.’
Much to Lillie’s regret that was the last she saw of him that night as he left shortly afterwards. When Deb got up to go to the loo she wandered over and sat down beside her parents.
‘I saw you dancing with that young man,’ Ma said. ‘You made a lovely couple.’
‘Ma! He probably felt sorry for me. That’s why he asked me.’
‘Nonsense. You look very pretty tonight, darling.’
‘He said his father used to be a friend of Uncle Finn’s and he can’t believe he killed himself. Do you still think he did?’
Ma nodded. ‘There’s no other possible explanation. People don’t like to think of people doing something like that. It’s much easier to imagine a different scenario.’
‘Like what?’
‘Oh … I don’t know. That it was an accident or something.’
‘How could it have been an accident? You said he had the gun right next to him. And that there were whisky bottles everywhere.’
‘That’s what I mean. Maybe he got drunk and started to play with his gun. Then it happened.’
Lillie shrugged. ‘Down that mine in the middle of nowhere? Ma, that’s not very likely.’
‘You’re probably right.’
Lillie looked outside to the sausage sizzle. ‘You want me to get you a sausage in bread?’ she asked. ‘They’ve got lots of onions cooked as well.’
Her mother nodded. ‘Thank you, darling. That’d be great.’
As Lillie went over to where they were handing out the sausages, she wondered again about what Brad Hickey had said. And how many other people in this hall didn’t think Uncle Finn had killed himself on purpose.
* * *
On the night of the end-of-year prize-giving at Christian Brothers, Ronan was excited to receive an award for best and fairest in rugby. Although he passed all his exams, he didn’t win any academic prizes, but his results were good enough to get him into the degree in agriculture he wanted to do at the university in Armidale. Tea and biscuits and cocktail frankfurts and sausage rolls with tomato sauce were served after the ceremony in the school hall. Some of the talk turned to Prime Minister Robert Menzies’s introduction of national service the year before. A few of Ronan’s mates wondered if they’d be conscripted. Some even wondered if they’d be sent to Vietnam, as the war seemed to be escalating.
‘You’ll be right, mate,’ Dave said to him. ‘You’re not an Aussie citizen.’
Later he asked his father what he thought. ‘You reckon we should become Aussie citizens?’
‘We certainly plan to,’ James said. ‘It’s something your mother and I’ve talked about quite a bit. What do you think?’
Ronan was about to tell his father he was still aiming to go home to Ireland when he had saved up enough money, so it wouldn’t really affect him. Then he decided to play along, rather than upset his father at this stage.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I reckon it’s a good idea to become citizens.’
‘You might get conscripted if we do.’
Ronan thought through the ramifications. If he was conscripted, it might put an end to his plans of returning to Ireland. Or would it? In the Army he should be able to save more money than
if he was at uni and working part-time. If he saved enough maybe he would get back sooner and be able to see Clara. Ronan still hadn’t heard from her since that Christmas card before she went down to Kerry; she owed him at least two letters. He wondered if she had met someone else. He’d tried to take his mind off her by asking a couple of girls out on dates, including Meg, who he had taken to the movies and then back to Fitzroy’s one afternoon. But he’d backed away when he realised she was taking it more seriously than he was. Hovering always in his mind was Clara.
‘If I get conscripted,’ he said to his father, ‘I suppose I’ll have to take it on the chin.’
‘Well, let’s see what pans out. We won’t rush to become naturalised yet. The next thing you’ve got to do is get your driver’s licence. And find somewhere to live in Armidale while you’re doing your agricultural course up there.’
Ronan looked across to where Dave was talking to another friend of his. ‘Pete and Dave are going up there too. It’d be great if we could board together. Pete’s looking out for some digs.’
‘That sounds good,’ his father said, picking up a sausage roll and dipping it in tomato sauce. ‘And, Ronan, your mother and I are very proud of what you’ve achieved. I know it wasn’t easy coming to Australia at your age and having to leave your friends behind. What you’ve done is to be admired.’
‘Thanks,’ Ronan said. He laughed. ‘And you and Ma haven’t done too badly either.’
As he went over to join his friends, Ronan realised he was looking forward to the future. The only cloud on the horizon was Clara. If he at least got a letter from her he would feel so much better.
But when New Year 1965 came and he still hadn’t heard from her, despite sending another letter and a Christmas card, he decided she really had met someone else and didn’t want to tell him. Jessica had said in her card to the family that they were going to Ireland again for Christmas, which made him wonder if it wasn’t someone in Ireland who had captured her. In any case he decided to try and put her out of his mind and spent the break before uni started working hard on the stud with Jack and his father, and going out to Dave’s uncle’s place, where he helped with the cattle branding and drenching and even learnt how to crutch a sheep. A few nights a week he worked at the Telegraph Hotel helping Barney behind the bar. He’d got his driver’s licence, so his father let him borrow the ute to drive in and out.
‘Make sure you drive safely,’ Ma said, the first night he went in. ‘I won’t sleep a wink until you get back.’
He enjoyed working with Barney and talking to the locals. Many of them had farmed the land for generations.
‘One thing you’ve gotta know if you’re going to make a living from the land,’ one farmer told him when he heard Ronan was going to do an agriculture course, ‘is that you don’t own the land, mate. The land owns you.’
The only patron he didn’t like was a hefty bloke who he soon worked out was the father of the girl who had bullied Lillie at school. He was a big talker with an ugly mouth and smoked constantly, ashing his cigarettes messily on the bar and wiping the ashes onto the floor where Ronan had to sweep them up.
‘Over here, mate,’ he’d shout at Ronan, knocking his empty glass on the bar. ‘What’s a bloke got to do to get another goddamn drink around here?’
Barney had told Ronan to try and slow down his drinks. ‘He’s a fricken ugly drunk. Got into more brawls than a prize fighter.’
‘So how’s the lucky O’Sullivan family doing out at Malone’s place?’ he asked Ronan one night when he was the only patron in the bar and Barney was out the back fetching a new keg. ‘You lucky buggers landed on your feet all right, didn’t you? Just as well the bastard topped himself, eh?’
Ronan was about to tell him to get lost when two farmers came in and he went to serve them. Then the bar filled up and Ronan made sure he steered clear of him, apart from pouring him another beer when he looked like creating merry hell if he didn’t. At the end of his shift when Ronan went outside to get in the ute, the man was there, leaning against the back of the ute.
‘Yeah,’ he said, coming forward and poking Ronan in the chest. ‘Bloody lucky Malone did what he did.’
‘If you’ll excuse me,’ Ronan said, moving to the driver’s door. ‘I need to get on home now.’
The man staggered towards him and Ronan pushed him away, but not before he threw a punch and got Ronan on the nose. With blood pouring down his chin, Ronan gave him another push and the man reeled back, then rallied and staggered forward again, raising his hand. Ronan was just managing to fend him off when he heard a car drive into the yard and a woman called out.
‘Leave him alone, Jim. Come over here. I’ll take you home.’
The man shouted, his voice slurred, ‘Don’t you bloody well tell me what to do, Winifred.’
‘I think you should go,’ Ronan said calmly, wiping his nose and trying to ignore the shooting pain, ‘before you do something you might regret.’
He opened the door of the ute and got in. As he drove out of the yard he saw the man stagger over to the car where the woman called Winifred was waiting. What was all that about? When he’d put a bit of distance between himself and the pub he pulled over and got out a handkerchief to wipe his face He felt his nose. It didn’t seem broken, but it sure did hurt. Was the man just an ugly drunk, as Barney said? Or did he have something else on his mind?
The next day he told Lillie what had happened.
‘Sounds like he’s a real bully,’ Lillie said, getting up to inspect his nose. ‘Just like his daughter. You be careful of him.’
Lillie told him how Deb’s mother had once been married to him, and how she had ended up with Deb’s father.
When Ronan got over the shock, he said, ‘Well, that explains a lot. He and his daughter obviously hate us because you’re Deb’s friend.’
‘Yeah … but don’t go telling Ma and Dad what I told you. Makes it awkward for Deb and her parents.’
‘But everyone must know.’
‘I didn’t. And you didn’t until now. It’s his wife, Winifred, I feel sorry for. It was probably her who came to pick him up. Deb says she’s really nice.’
‘Yeah … it was a Winifred he called out to.’
‘Poor woman.’
From then on Ronan tried to ensure that Barney was the one who served Sandra’s father his beer. He also took to parking the ute near the back door under the light from the window. Even so, as he finished his shift each night Ronan always looked around in case he was ready to jump him.
When it came time for him to start at the New England University in Armidale, his parents drove him to the station in Tamworth to catch the train up with his mates Dave and Pete.
‘Good luck,’ James said, shaking his hand.
‘Thanks, Dad,’ he said. ‘I’ll try and make you proud.’ He went over to his mother and gave her a kiss. ‘I’ll write and let you know how it goes, Ma.’
As he walked to the train with Dave and Pete he looked back and swore he could see tears in Ma’s eyes. Although he would still be coming home to Eureka often, he supposed she thought this was one more step he was taking to a life away from her.
A few minutes later he leant out the window and held her eyes. ‘Take care,’ he called out. ‘And make sure the others do as well.’
That night the boys checked into the rambling weatherboard house they were sharing around the corner from the university. Even though the rooms were tiny, they each had one of their own and there was a kitchen and bathroom and a second toilet off the back verandah.
In Ronan’s first week he managed to find a job at night in a local pub, and before too long he’d saved up enough money to buy himself a second-hand Mini, which he drove back and forth to Eureka. He really liked uni and living in Armidale, particularly as he managed to get into the uni rugby team and played a few games. He also enjoyed the night life, going to a few dances. There was even a disco he, Dave and Pete would go to, along with the drive-in theatre, which sh
owed some damn good films.
‘You still going back to Ireland by the time you’re twenty-one?’ Lillie asked him one long weekend when he’d driven home and they were down by the river. Ronan had a fishing line in the water and Lillie was holding a piece of meat on a string, hoping to snare a yabby.
‘Of course.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You gonna come with me? Remember I promised to take you.’
‘I remember.’ Now she raised an eyebrow. ‘So it’s only Grandma you want to see?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Nothing. I just wonder why you haven’t got a serious girlfriend here, that’s all. And Ma said Clara seems to be spending a lot of time in Ireland lately.’
‘So?’
‘Forget it. As sure as anything Clara’s forgotten about all of us. I haven’t had a letter for so long I can’t remember. We didn’t even get a Christmas card this year. At least Sheelagh sent me a card.’
At that moment Ronan’s line jumped with a fish on the end. By the time he’d hauled it in and put it in the bucket along with the ones he’d caught earlier, he had enough to feed the whole family. He’d light the fire he’d made out of river stones in the back garden and cook them on the grate over the flames. As he climbed the embankment to the homestead beside Lillie, he thought she was probably right. He should forget Clara and get serious with someone over here. There was one girl at uni he’d been eyeing off. Perhaps he should ask her out?
CHAPTER
27
That winter of 1965 was unusually cold with a heavy frost lying on the ground for many hours some days. When the nights closed in, Kathleen would draw the curtains and light the fire in the living room, where the family would gather at weekends, playing cards, reading, singing along as Ronan played the guitar or watching television on a second-hand TV set the Hogans had kindly given them when they won a new set in a raffle. Although it was warm and cosy in the house, it was often freezing when they were exercising the horses early in the mornings. So when spring arrived and the elm tree in the front garden suddenly sprouted shiny new leaves, the prunus burst into bloom by the front gate, the daffodils Kathleen had planted beside the garden path waved gleefully in the warmer weather and the foals ran around in wide-eyed wonder, tails swishing, legs going in all directions, everyone’s hearts lifted. Shannon Boy, who was turning into a fine specimen, brought Kathleen such joy as he gambolled in the paddock with the other foals. Although they’d sold off a number of yearlings over the past twelve months, there was no way Kathleen wanted to part with Shannon Boy, though the time was soon arriving when he’d have to be broken in if he was going to be the great racehorse she envisaged. In the meantime she wanted him to enjoy his carefree childhood for as long as he could before he went to Tommy Brown.
The Homestead on the River Page 25