“Pappou likes to keep his eye on things, even when they’re not always his business. He likes you.”
Flynn took a sip from his coffee, embarrassed at the compliment. “How much longer can you stay?” he asked, to change the subject.
“A few more days. I was able to delay my flight home and Mal has been very understanding. Everything is organised and there’s still plenty of time before we leave for Singapore.” She bit her lip.
“Everything will work out, Kat. This is a great opportunity. Not only is it a fantastic job but it sounds like you get the bloke as well.”
He envied the longing in her eyes as she smiled a dreamy smile.
“Mal is very special. I can’t believe I kept him from Mum and Dad. They’ve been great. It’s funny how you expect the worst reaction from your parents.”
“What do you mean?”
“I came to Margaret River to think things through and get support from my grandparents. It turned out Pappou was the one who didn’t want me to go and my parents have been the ones to encourage me. I should have been up-front with them from the start, instead of anticipating their reaction.”
“You’re lucky.” Flynn sat back as he recalled his parting words with Euan. They’d argued about him going, although Flynn couldn’t understand why Euan wouldn’t want the place to himself, with Dianna coming.
Euan had made vague comments about Keely needing company but she had her job at the school and Flynn had the impression she was going to go north with her friends, Marty and co. She’d been particularly close to Marty, and since his bungled kiss on Saturday night, Flynn had kept his distance. At least he could support Kat if he was in Perth.
“Things will work out for you too, Flynn. The Scarecrow Dry White is very good and it’s only the beginning.”
“That depends on Euan.” Flynn had decided they all needed some space. He was thinking he’d jump on a plane and check out the job in the Adelaide Hills. If it worked out Euan could have Levallier Dell to himself with his new woman.
“It’s your wine and it’s good.” Kat leaned in. “Don’t give it up too easily.”
“We’ll see.” Flynn smiled at her and raised his coffee cup. “Now, let’s drink to a new job for you and this bloke you reckon is a bit of alright.”
Kat laughed. “It feels so good to have made the decision. I’m actually going to Singapore and Mal will be waiting for me.”
Her happiness was infectious. She was right; some things were worth fighting for. He knew he wanted to make good wine and the Whipcracker blend was still in the barrels. He didn’t want to leave it, or Margaret River if it came to that. He’d spent enough time away. He looked again at Kat’s happy face and realised something else. Levallier Dell wouldn’t be as much fun without Keely to share it.
* * *
The gentle touch on her shoulder made Keely gasp. She turned to see Euan, his face creased into a myriad of lines. She’d been lost in her thoughts, mesmerised by the river, and hadn’t heard him approach.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I called you but you didn’t seem to hear. Are you alright?”
Keely knew her face would be red and blotchy from crying. She turned back to the river and he came and sat beside her on the old seat. Tears welled in her eyes again and rolled down her cheeks.
“What is it?” he asked gently.
Keely had replayed the incident in the classroom over and over in her head. Nothing had happened and yet here she was, a blubbering wreck.
“Nothing, It’s just…just me. I’m hopeless.”
Euan shook his head and put an arm around her shoulder. “Keely, Keely, Keely,” he murmured. “What are we going to do with you?”
“I don’t know.” She allowed her head to rest against him. His kindness overwhelmed her and a fresh sob hiccupped from her chest.
She didn’t know how long they sat. Neither of them spoke and the river was the only other witness to the floods of tears she cried. Eventually her sobbing subsided and she felt empty and exhausted. She sat up and rubbed the shoulder of Euan’s shirt, which she’d soaked with her tears.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Do you feel you can talk now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come back to the studio and I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
She followed him up the path, sat on one of the wicker chairs on the verandah and concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths. This was a world away from everything that troubled her. If only she could stay.
“Here you are.” He put the cup into her hands, then sat down in the other chair.
“That’s the second time you’ve rescued me.” She managed a smile. “I owe you a life debt.”
“We can talk about how you can repay me later,” he said, then worry creased his face again. “I’m more concerned about what has brought this on. Ken rang, he was worried when you didn’t answer your phone. That’s why I came looking for you.”
Keely clutched the cup unsteadily and she put it down beside her to cool off. She’d left her phone in her bag inside, not wanting to talk to anyone. “He must think I’m an idiot.”
“Not at all. He was quite worried about you. Said something about wanting to explain about a special needs boy called Raff. Ken said he’d call out here later.”
Keely shook her head. “No, please tell him not to bother. It doesn’t matter.”
“Ken seemed to think it did.”
She gripped the arms of the old chair and looked at him. “Please, Euan. I can’t face him.”
“Ken’s a good bloke.”
“You don’t understand. No one can.”
“I can listen.”
Keely sank back and watched the river again. Perhaps he was right. It wouldn’t change anything but she’d bottled up her despair for so long that the thought of telling him seemed intoxicatingly simple.
“I shouldn’t be a teacher.” She sighed. Just saying it out loud was a wonderful release. “I did it because I knew it was what my parents expected but I’ve never been very good at it. I love art and I enjoyed planning things that I thought would interest kids and I did have some successes, but then I’d have to move on to another school. I’ve been teaching for five years and I’ve worked in eight different schools, always contracts, filling in for someone on leave. I know I was not always good at dealing with bad behaviour but it was bearable, until this year.”
She stopped and reached for her tea. Her mouth felt dry. She was aware of Euan sitting beside her but she didn’t look at him. She sipped her tea, then put it down again.
“This year I had a contract at a big high school. It was for three terms. I was pleased. That’s the longest I’d been in one school. I thought it would give me a chance to actually settle in. Turns out it was the worst experience.”
She stopped at the sound of footsteps. Ken came around the corner of the studio.
“Join us,” Euan got up from his chair and brought another out from inside. “Keely was just explaining what happened at her previous school.”
She didn’t look at Ken but focused on the river again. She pretended he wasn’t there. What did it matter what he heard anyway? She wasn’t going back to his school. She really would have to move on now.
“At first I enjoyed it. There were only a few on the staff under about forty-five, but everyone was friendly enough to begin with. The students were much the same as anywhere. I found they responded well to my style of teaching, which was less formal than what I observed in other parts of the school. I liked to play music in my classes once the students were working on their projects. They’d often chat over the top but I called it productive noise.
“My first indication that some of the staff didn’t like it was when a senior teacher walked into my class, stormed across the room and unplugged the speaker. The kids and I were stunned into silence. He said his senior class were trying to study next door and left, slamming the door behind him. I was so embarrassed and the kids all looked to me to do
something about it, but what could I do? I was mortified.”
She remembered the moment so well, it was as if she’d been stripped bare in front of her class. She took another sip of her tea, then leaned forward in her chair, clasping the cup in both hands.
“After that I’d put the music on softly, but the kids would want to turn it up and I was constantly on edge if their talk got any louder than a murmur. That was the start of the decline. I got so worried about the noise that I decided to leave the music off and then the students complained. They started pushing the boundaries. I’d do anything to try to keep them quiet and they knew it. They started playing up, even the normally compliant kids gave me trouble. I spoke to my senior teacher but he said I just needed to use some discipline. Other teachers avoided talking to me. I could see them looking down their noses at me.”
Keely stopped again. The only sounds were the birds and the gentle rustle of the leaves in the trees. It was another perfect afternoon. Neither Euan nor Ken spoke. She could stop there and they wouldn’t know any different but she’d come this far and knew she had to say the rest.
“One of the boys in my class had an older brother who was a senior boy. He was popular, good at sport and a school captain. He burst into my class one day, wanting to speak to his brother. I asked him to come back at the end of the lesson. He ignored me and, as he left, I asked him to come and see me before he went home. I didn’t expect he would but he did. He came into my class after everyone was gone. He shut the door behind him, roughed up his hair and pulled the shirt out of his trousers. Then he…he came right up to me and said…he said I had the hots for him and that his mates were just outside and if I gave him any trouble he’d tell them I’d come on to him.”
Euan stood up. “The little bugger, I’d…”
“Wait, Euan,” Ken said. “Let her finish.”
Keely kept looking at the river. She heard Euan sit back in his chair.
“Go on, Keely.” Ken’s tone was low and encouraging.
“I went straight to my senior teacher and told him what had happened. He virtually accused me of overreacting and misunderstanding what the student had said, but I knew I hadn’t. The boy was a school captain. It was my word against his. I let it go but that wasn’t the end of it. The boy started harassing me. It was subtle and never when another adult was around. He would bump into me in a corridor, whisper suggestive comments, make rude gestures…One day a group of boys jostled me and he…he squeezed my breast.”
She heard Ken draw in a sharp breath. She couldn’t look at him.
“The spineless little bugger,” Euan snapped.
“Did you report it to anyone?” Ken asked.
“I did try but I was told that, without evidence, it would be difficult to do anything. My senior said the boy had never given a moment’s grief to any other teacher and perhaps I was misunderstanding. He insinuated that as I had difficulty controlling my classes, I may be reading something more into what was probably just high spirits.”
“Was there no one else on campus you could talk to?” Ken asked.
“I tried, but by then I was struggling with my classes and I didn’t want anyone to know how badly I was doing. I avoided the staffroom. Some days I would lock the classroom door and eat my lunch alone. I put up with unruly classes, with senior teachers walking in and telling them off without a look or a word to me and then, wherever I went in the school, I was always watching my back…I felt powerless. Every afternoon, I would collect my things and go home and, when my parents asked me how my day had been, I would say fine, as if it all was.”
“You couldn’t talk to them?” Euan asked.
“They’re such perfect teachers. They never have trouble with their classes. They wouldn’t understand.”
“Perhaps you didn’t give them the chance,” Euan said. “Although it sounds like the management of that school needed a kick up the bum. This wouldn’t happen at your school would it, Ken?”
“I would like to think not.”
“It’s not the school,” Keely said. “It’s me. It must be something I do. That boy this afternoon…it was just the same.”
“I don’t know a teacher who’s never had trouble with a class.” Ken drew his seat up next to hers. “And today was not the same. That’s what I came to talk to you about. I feel a bit responsible. We’re all used to Raff. He can say the wrong thing sometimes but he’s nothing like the boy at your last school. Raff has a type of autism and his parents and teachers have put a lot of effort into his development. They would hate to cause you any grief and, most of all, so would Raff. He came to me, very distressed, after you left. He knew he’d done the wrong thing but he was so upset I couldn’t get a full sentence out of him. What did he say to you exactly?”
Keely dragged her gaze away from the river to look at Ken’s concerned face.
“See how stupid I am? He said I was nice and he liked me or something then he reached towards me. I overreacted.”
“That’s understandable, given what happened at your last school,” Euan said.
“Was it your hair?”
Keely looked at Ken. “My hair?”
“Was he reaching for your hair?”
She thought back. It had all happened in such a rush. She’d thought the boy was reaching to touch her body but…“He could have been,” she said.
“He can get fixated on things. His mother has grown her hair longer and he loves to brush it for her. I imagine he was attracted to your hair. He wouldn’t have meant you any harm. His family and teachers work very hard at trying to get him to understand the difference between appropriate behaviour with family and what’s okay with friends or at school. We’re a relatively small community and everyone at school knows Raff. We have several special needs students, perhaps we need to revisit our procedures for visitors.”
Keely looked at him in amazement. “I really did imagine it. The poor kid must have thought I was crazy.”
“Considering what you’ve been through, I think you’re amazingly sane,” Euan said.
“Keely, I can’t make up for what happened to you at your last school,” Ken said. “What some of the students did to you was beyond misbehaviour, it was harassment, even assault. And the fact that senior management didn’t give you some support was both negligent and appalling.”
Keely could feel the tears brimming in her eyes again. “You can’t imagine how it feels to have someone believe me,” she said.
“Not everyone is suited to be a classroom teacher but from your two days at my school, I can tell you the students are very happy you came. Those painted wine bottles are the talk of the yard at the moment. We’ve had lots of relief art teachers while the current teacher’s been on leave and you’ve sparked more enthusiasm in two days than the rest of us have managed in any of our relief art lessons. I can understand that you may not want to come back tomorrow—”
“I don’t think I could.”
“That’s fair enough. As long as you know your teaching ability is not in question and I would happily have you back as would the students. Raff wants to apologise but I told him I’d see you and pass on his message.”
Keely shook her head. “It wasn’t his fault that I reacted the way I did.”
“He still needs to learn what’s appropriate behaviour and not to cross the boundaries. There will be many people, both strangers and friends, who won’t want him to touch their hair. This will be a good learning point for him. I just don’t want you to stay away because of Raff.”
Keely nodded.
“I’ll head home now.” Ken stood up, his smile caring like Euan’s. “As long as you know you’re welcome at our school and my door is always open if you want to talk anything over more.”
Euan stood up too. “Will you be okay for a while, Keely? I’ll go up with Ken and let Dianna know where I am. She’s probably wondering where I’ve got to.”
“Please don’t tell anyone about this, Euan. I feel so foolish,” Keely said.
> “The only foolish thing you’ve done is harbouring all this anguish. It’s not good for you. The issues from your last school aren’t resolved but at least I hope you feel better having shared them.”
“Yes.” She smiled at him through watery eyes. “I do. Thank you.”
Keely listened as the sound of their footsteps receded, then she walked to the edge of the bank and looked at the gently flowing water. She stretched her arms up into the air. Tears rolled down her cheeks again but this time they were tears of relief. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
CHAPTER 34
“Are you sure you want to sell, Baba? There are other things we could do. Besides, we’ve got some time. It can wait till you feel better.”
Kat sat on the hospital chair, silently watching the exchange between Pappou and her uncle Tony. Pappou had asked her to sit in on the discussion but she didn’t know why. Several days had passed since his heart attack and she was glad to see he was looking much better. Her flight to Melbourne left the next day and she wanted to be able to reassure her mother that he was on the mend.
“I am sure, Tony,” Pappou said. “I have had nothing else to do but lie here and think about things.”
“We should run it past the accountant,” Tony said.
“I rang him first thing this morning and he agrees with me.”
He’d be a brave man to disagree, Kat thought.
“We need to quit some debt and generate some funds,” Pappou said.
“I know, Baba, but you badly wanted that land when we bought it. Are you sure you don’t want to look at other options?”
“That piece of land has given us nothing but grief. It will have the least effect on our plans for River and Ocean Dynasties. I do have some conditions, however.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and Tony raised his eyebrows at Kat across the bed.
“Pappou, should you be discussing business?” she asked. “I don’t know that your doctor would approve.”
His eyes flew open. “He doesn’t approve of anything, that man. He doesn’t even drink red wine. What kind of man doesn’t like red wine? Now, I will tell you what my conditions are.”
Something in the Wine Page 30