Aurora tentatively hovered around the kitchen doorway when she hit the end of the hallway, unsure of what to say or do. Both women were standing at the sink, looking out the window into the early dawn. With their backs to her, Aurora figured it was up to her to make the first move and she hesitantly spoke.
‘Good morning.’
Both heads turned at once, both faces smiling from ear to ear both saying, ‘Morning,’ virtually at the same time. Aurora inwardly winced. Oh crap, they were morning people. Fiona motioned to the teapot sitting beside the stove.
‘We’ve just made that if you want one. If you are more of a coffee girl, there is instant in the cupboard, or a stovetop percolator behind the second door on the left and ground coffee in the fridge. The stove has been lit, so no problem there.’
Fiona turned so that the side of her hip was resting against the sink, her tea cup in her hand. Aurora felt ever so slightly overwhelmed. They weren’t being too in her face, it was just that she was up and now she had to actually talk and move.
She loved coffee, but not first thing in the morning.
‘I’ll grab myself a cup of tea thanks.’
She wandered over to the sideboard, grabbed one of what she was still thinking were heirloom cups and made herself a tea just the way she liked it, weak, milky and full of sugar, before dropping down in one of the chairs at the table. Fiona and Trudy each pulled out chairs and sat as well. Fiona held her hands round her cup and spoke.
‘Trudy and I are normally in the kitchen here at 6 each morning. Breakfast is a bit of a free for all — we have cereals, toast and we normally cook up something. Everybody eats bits and pieces of what they want, or nothing at all, depending. We aim to have breakfast ready and out on the table for 6:30 when everybody converges for about half an hour before they are off to do whatever they need to do for the day.’
Fiona took a sip from her cup before continuing.
‘There is a general rhythm to the days here. Kate and Harriet are home schooled which usually takes up the whole of the morning. If the others are working close to the homestead here I will lend a hand as well as organise morning tea mid morning and lunch in the middle of the day. If they are working away, we send lunch out with them. If they are around for afternoon tea, well and good, otherwise we don’t see them then until tea time. Although everybody tends to hang around here a bit on Saturdays and Sundays. Sometimes the young ones will head into the Greenvale pub on a Friday or Saturday night, otherwise they sit around outside there and entertain themselves.’
Fiona took another sip from her cup.
‘After we’ve eaten and cleaned up we’ll give you a tour of the other buildings.’
With that Fiona flashed Aurora a smile and got up to start rummaging about in the fridge, half-throwing half-placing stuff on the bench. Trudy’s attention was well and truly out the kitchen window. She glanced back and noticed Aurora looking at her. The most beautiful expression crossed Trudy’s face as she spoke.
‘I really love the mornings here. Slowly everything seems to emerge out of the darkness, almost like a dark mist that is slowly receding until the light is fully in and everything is clear.’
There was movement behind Aurora and next thing Kate, dressed in a nightie with sparkly horses running up the front of it and hair in plaits, pulled out one of the chairs and plopped herself down in it. Harriet was a couple of moments later, hair in the same plaits, her nightie had Dora the Explorer on the front. She dropped into a chair as well. Both girls were yawning and furiously rubbing their eyes.
Trudy snapped into mother-mode.
‘How many times do I have to tell you girls to cover your mouths when you yawn? It’s really rude.’
Both girls dutifully covered their mouths before placing their hands on the table and dropping their heads onto their hands. Trudy addressed Aurora.
‘Neither of the girls are morning people. They both take a really long time to wake up and you can’t talk to them or look sideways at them for at least two hours.’
Aurora started to gently laugh. Trudy looked a little surprised. It was obviously not the reaction she had been expecting. With a grin from ear to ear, Aurora explained herself.
‘You do realise that I am exactly the same. I’m fine in the morning, except if you actually want me to talk to you. I am a shocker for not being very communicative first thing. It used to drive my husband insane.’
Aurora quickly stopped talking and dropped her eyes to her cup, realising that she had said too much when she had mentioned Peter. Her marriage was very much a closed issue with everybody and she hadn’t meant to mention it.
Trudy had been watching Kate and Harriet and didn’t notice the unease that flashed across Aurora’s face. Trudy got up from her chair and flashed a quick smile at Aurora.
‘In which case you and the girls should get along just fine. I’ll potter about in here with Fiona if you want to wander off and do your own thing for a bit. We’ll let you know when brekkie is ready.’
Trudy’s focus then shifted to the girls.
‘Kate, Harriet, you can both go and make your beds, get dressed, do something with your hair and we will see you back here soon. You’re both responsible for setting the table. Off you go.’
Both girls slipped off their chairs and disappeared through the doorway and round the corner into their bedroom. Aurora also took the opportunity to disappear and do the same jobs for herself. She couldn’t help but be impressed by the fact that neither of the girls had complained at all about having jobs to do and being told to do them. Not that she had any direct children experience, but from what colleagues at the university regularly complained about with their own children, their behaviour definitely seemed a little out of the ordinary.
After breakfast was done and cleared away — again a job done by Kate and Harriet — Aurora sat on one of the timber benches out in the courtyard and waited for Fiona to show her around the other buildings. Rough and Tumble came from around the side of the house and sat at her feet, well more sat on her feet, seeking her attention. She leant over to pat them but the waistband of her jeans started to dig into her and after a couple of minutes and she was forced to stop. Straightening up, Aurora realised that she had overeaten a little and was now paying the price. There was no way that she could eat toast, bacon, sausages, eggs and baked beans every morning without having a backside like the back end of a bus by the time she went home. It had tasted good though, and she had enjoyed every mouthful. These ladies sure could cook. She mentally snorted at her own feeble efforts at cooking. They might be better off if they gave her something else to do while she was here. After having eaten their efforts, she didn’t think that they would appreciate hers too much. She stretched her legs out in front of her and leant back slightly trying to ease the pressure on her stomach. Tomorrow she would eat less.
Fiona came out, wiping her hands on the bum of her jeans.
‘Ok. Let’s do it.’
Aurora used her hands to push herself up from the timber bench. Fiona came to stand beside her and pointed to the building with the many doors.
‘This is the barracks building where our staff live. We have one married couple, Heather and Con who live in the end rooms. They have a bedroom, a living room, a kitchenette and a bathroom. That’s the first two doors. Then the next two doors are another bathroom and toilet. Then there are four guys in the next four rooms, Matt, Keith, Gerry and Mike. Callan, my grandson, lives in the next room along. Theresa is the next room and the last two doors are another bathroom and toilet.’
Fiona looked at Aurora’s face which held an expression of information overload.
‘Don’t panic too much. You won’t be expected to remember everybody’s name straight up and it will be easier once you have faces to put to each name.’
Fiona inched around a little and pointed to the building behind the cactus garden.
‘This is our stables and tack room.’
There was a series of stepping sto
nes set in the rocks between the plants and Fiona went through and opened the door.
‘Come and have a sticky beak. You will love it. It’s really something else. Cal has done a great job.’
The puppies went to follow them. Fiona turned around.
‘No you pair don’t.’ She pointed at them and her voice turned incredibly stern. ‘Stay.’ Aurora was really surprised to see both puppies head under the table and flop on their bellies. Fiona disappeared through the doorway, leaving Aurora to follow along behind her.
The closer she got to the doorway, the more Aurora was struck by the smell. It smelled so strongly of hay. Once she got inside she could see why. The room was about thirty feet square and all along one wall, to her left, hay was stacked almost to the rafters. On the opposite wall to her right hung rows of bridles, halters, brushes, saddle blankets, horse rugs and a whole stack of bits and pieces that she couldn’t put a name to. Quite a number of saddles sat on smallish logs set out at right angles from the wall. Overall, it was very orderly. At the end of the wall that housed the tack was a large doorway to outside. Opposite that was another large opening that was the beginning of a long, wide corridor.
Aurora was surprised by how light and airy it felt. The fact that the opposite wall of the corridor was open and had yards with white, timber fences running out from it, creating a number of individual, long yards, allowed what would have otherwise been a dark, dank space to be a pleasant area. Painting the interior walls white had no doubt helped as well.
Aurora followed Fiona through the opening. More of the white fenced paddocks came off on the left, a separate one for each of the dozen horse stalls that were located on the right. Fiona lifted her left hand to indicate the first stall.
‘This one usually has Cal’s Australian Stockhorse stallion, Alpheus, but he’s out servicing a few mares at a neighbouring property at the moment. Not quite sure when Cal will bring him back.’
She stopped in front of the second one and leant her hip against the wall beside a half-door.
‘This is where the mare that arrives tomorrow will go for a bit, once the stallion comes back. Cal likes to leave them in stalls side by side overnight so that they can get the smell of each other etc. before he introduces them. She’ll have her own permanent stall further down the row.’ Fiona continued with amusement in her voice, ‘Hopefully Cal will get back in time to organise it, otherwise I s’pose I’ll be doing it first thing in the morning. I’d rather he did it as he’s a bit fussier than me with them. Actually, he’s down right fanatical about them, truth be told.’ Fiona laughed briefly. ‘See what time they all arrive back this arvo.’
A nose appeared over the half door of the third stall down. Aurora hung back behind Fiona a little and after they had taken a couple more steps, a whole head popped over, which was eyeing Aurora curiously. Aurora remained that couple of steps back. Fiona walked straight up and ran her hand up the nose of the horse, rubbing it between the eyes.
‘How you going Lolly? Aren’t you a good girl. That’s nice, hey? You’re a bit spoilt you are.’
Despite the attention, the horse hadn’t taken her eyes of Aurora. The mare’s nostrils flaring ever so slightly as it noticed the new smell. Fiona continued rubbing and talking gently.
‘This is Aurora. She’s not going to hurt you. You’ll like her. Yes you will. You’re the favourite aren’t you. Know it too don’t you, hmm?’
Eventually the mare’s attention shifted to Fiona, temporarily satisfied that Aurora wasn’t a major threat. Aurora wasn’t quite so sure that the reverse was true. She was scared shitless of horses. They were so big and they kicked and they bit and people died falling off the things. Aurora watched positively horrified as the mare gently nuzzled Fiona’s cheek with her nose. Fiona rested her forehead against the horse’s — they were in effect nose to nose. Aurora’s brain couldn’t take that in.
NO WAY, NO HOW.
No, No, No.
Absolutely not.
There was no way that she could ever be that comfortable with an animal that had to weigh at least half a tonne. Fiona lifted her head.
‘If you step back a little I will open these gates up and let her out. May as well do the morning rounds while we’re here.’
Aurora didn’t need to be asked twice to get out of the road. She stood back and watched silently as Fiona pulled out sliding gates that ran inside the walls of the stall and locked them into place on the wall on the other side of the corridor. She then swung open the gate from the paddock and swung the gate on the horse stall. Lolly then moved out of the stall, ears pricked and her eyes firmly planted on Aurora. Once Lolly got across the corridor into the paddock she broke loose, racing around kicking her back legs up and looking like she was having the time of her life. Fiona moved across and closed the gate to the paddock, closed the gate to the stall and slid the first of the sliding gates back into place, leaving the one that adjoined the next stall locked in place. Fiona climbed through the gate and moved to the next stall, stopping in front of it and placing her hands on the top of the half door.
Aurora couldn’t quite decide whether she wanted to move to the next horse, or run like mad. This one didn’t have its nose poking over the door like the last one. She decided that at least she should probably climb through the gate as Fiona had done, grateful that she stood all of five feet two tall — much easier to bend a small body than a tall one. She stood beside Fiona, but shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans; less chance of getting accidentally bitten if they were out of the way. Fiona quickly glanced at her and then back at the horse.
‘This is Biddy. She doesn’t love people. Lolly laps up as much affection as you can give her, whereas Biddy is more inclined to bite than love you back. She doesn’t have a very sparkling personality, but she throws the most beautiful foals, which more than makes up for the fact that she is a bit on the nasty side.’
Fiona went through the gate into the stall. Personally Aurora thought she was mad. Bad enough being in a small space with something that size, let alone with such a huge creature that you knew actually wanted to harm you. Fiona stood beside her and gently ran her hand down the mare’s neck.
‘The horses in the last two stalls are hers. So far she has given us one little girl, Poppy, and one little boy, Hamlet. They are beautiful animals and Cal has been putting a fair bit of work into them to see exactly how good a performance he can get out of them. So far, they look promising.’
Fiona moved around in front of the mare, rubbing its nose like she had for Lolly.
‘You’re not quite as grumpy as you would have us believe, are you? How about we let you out and you can go for a bit of a run.’
Fiona stepped back and came back out of the stall again, latching the door behind her.
‘If you wouldn’t mind pulling that other sliding gate out and latching it for me, I will let her out.’
Aurora quickly grabbed the gate and pulled hard, expecting it to be stiff. Instead it came out with a rush that took her by surprise and knocked her a little off balance. She recovered herself quickly and tried to latch the gate with nervous, bumbling fingers. She desperately wanted to have the gate latched and be through before the stall gate was opened, but the hurry was making her movements jerky and made fitting the pin in to lock the gate difficult. Fiona meanwhile had opened the paddock gate and was about to open the stall door. Aurora secured the pin and virtually threw herself through the sliding gate in her hurry to be out of the way. Fiona thankfully had her attention firmly placed on Biddy.
‘Come on. Out you come. Stop being such a grump.’
Fiona moved closer to the mare and she flattened her ears and starting doing funny things with what Aurora supposed you would call her lips. Fiona when she spoke was gentle but her voice held a note of warning.
‘Pick your ears up and don’t be such an old bitch. We both know that you are not going to bite me. You’ll find yourself in a whole world of hurt if you do.’
The mare
raised her hind leg as though she was going to kick. The tone of Fiona’s voice changed dramatically. She didn’t yell, but the authority rang through clearly.
‘I wouldn’t if I were you. That’s a really quick way to end up at the sausage factory.’
The mare placed her foot back on the ground. She was clearly intelligent enough to understand what the tone meant, if not the words. Fiona stepped back out of the doorway to the stall and the mare very slowly made her way through to the paddock. If the pace were anything to go by, she had all day. Once the mare was out of kicking distance, Fiona came out and slid the bolt home on the door. She then did the same to the paddock gate. She looked at Aurora and rolled her eyes.
‘Bloody old bitch. She’s never bitten or kicked me, but she has had a couple of goes at Con, although he dodged at the right time and she didn’t connect. She has nipped Theresa once and planted a really good kick on Gerry. We were a bit worried that she had broken his leg, but fortunately not.’
Fiona climbed through the gate.
‘She’s one that you have to keep your eye on.’
Aurora’s palms went sweaty just at the thought of having to go anywhere near her. She wiped them down the front of her jeans. She hoped that she was nowhere near here when it was time to put the horses away again. This was way, way, more up close and personal than the quick tour that they had done at an acquaintance’s breeding property near Scone in the Hunter Valley. That had been a quick walk through. No touching required, no interaction encouraged, which had suited her just fine.
Bilgarra Springs Page 5