“I’m too spooked after last night to go there!” Ruth said with a shake of her head and a lick of her ice cream.
“Okay, let’s go into this craft shop.”
It was a small area covered from top to toe with hand-painted aboriginal art pieces. The small stones started at five bucks and the didgeridoos went up as high as two hundred bucks. In between were hand-painted boomerangs and kangaroo skins.
“I love the patterns and designs so much. It really is a magical style of art,”
Ruth said, running her fingers over the stones.
“Hey, why don’t I get you a stone and you pick one out for me and we can have them when I go home to remind us of our time here?” Julia suggested.
“Okay – you pick first for me then!” Ruth said.
There were ten different motifs ranging from kangaroos to dolphins and various other animals of the outback. They were then painted on different-coloured backgrounds, making up a variety of combinations.
Ruth went up to the owner of the stall and bought her stone for Julia and when Julia had done the same they exchanged the good-luck stones.
Ruth looked down to see a Prussian blue turtle in her palm. It was the very same stone that she had picked out for Julia.
Julia laughed loudly as she opened the bag with her gift.
“I can’t believe we picked the same stone for each other. It’s just as well that we never picked the same men!”
Ruth agreed. But maybe with time their tastes were becoming similar. Ruth had liked Brian but wasn’t going to say that to Julia the night before. As she had sat listening to Marty she had one eye on Brian and couldn’t help listening to what he was saying. She felt bad and wondered if she liked him because Julia did. She had to question why she constantly liked men that were already attached and this one man who wasn’t suddenly became more interesting when she saw him with her friend. It was for the best that she was thousands of miles away from home. If only she could control her desires with Steve – it was easy now that Julia was here but how would she be when Julia went home?
Chapter Thirty-one
Michael was elated to see the two girls at Perth airport. He hugged his sister tightly and gave Ruth a warm kiss on the cheek. He was chattier than usual as they walked out to Ruth’s jeep in the car park.
“How was your flight?” Julia asked.
“I can’t believe that I slept most of the way – I’m ready for you girls to take me on the razz in Perth tonight!” he said excitedly.
“We were going to take it easy tonight as we were on Rotto last night!” said Julia.
“Ju, you are not going to do that to me – I’ve been with every decent single ex-pat girl in Singapore – I want some passion after coming all this way.”
The two girls looked at each other. Another night on the tiles was called for!
The three sat in the plush surroundings of the Red Sea Club in Subiaco.
It was Julia who caved in first.
“I have to go home to bed – sorry, guys. We were up very late last night.”
“It’s okay, sis – Ruth, give her the keys and we can stay here.”
Ruth looked at him with raised brows. “Oh Michael, I’m exhausted too – do you mind if we go home?”
Michael shrugged. “Okay, I get the hint – I’m too old to be out with you two hot young women!”
Ruth punched him affectionately on the arm. “Don’t be silly – we really are tired. All that fresh air and we were cycling on Rotto at all hours this morning!”
Michael shook his head in mock wonder. “I know! My little sister cycling! I’d love to have been there – she hasn’t been on a bike since she was six!”
It was Julia’s turn to punch her brother.
“Okay, I give in, we’ll go home,” he said with a sigh. “How many thousand miles did I fly for this – remind me again?”
The three hadn’t far to walk home and when they got back to Ruth’s little bungalow she opened a bottle of wine.
“I know I’ll regret this in the morning!” she exclaimed as she began to pour.
“None for me!” said Julia. “I’m for bed!”
Julia kissed Michael on the cheek and went to her room.
“So what did you two get up to last night?” Michael asked. “Julia seems very unsettled about something.”
Ruth shrugged. “I’m not sure – she’s upset about Odette and Craig – I think they’re having a rough time.”
“Yeah, I noticed that at Christmas – I think he’s got problems at work. I’m amazed at the stress people are under in Ireland. There’s a blanket of debt hanging on everyone’s head. Doom and gloom like I don’t even remember in the late eighties!”
Ruth nodded. “It’s so different here – there are things that you forget when you move away and then again things that you miss terribly that you took totally for granted when you were at home.”
“It takes a full year to get used to living in any place. I was only in Singapore a couple of months when Dad died. I’ll never forget it – it was so awful to be so far away and hear that terrible news. You have to experience it to understand it. The flight home was the worst I’ve ever travelled.”
Ruth took a gulp – she had never thought about that before. She was so fond of Michael’s father – he used to call her his third daughter.
“They forgot to tell me then when the dog died – he was my dog! I know it sounds a bit silly but things like that really make you realise how difficult it is to be far from home. My Uncle Paddy, my mum’s brother, died a year later and they didn’t tell me in time to make the funeral – they didn’t want to upset me. I was so mad but Julia calmed me down – they couldn’t have waited for me and I wouldn’t have made it on time. But it was the fact that it was hidden from me until it was absolutely too late for me to even try to get home that really upset me.”
Ruth felt so sad for Michael. She raised her glass and clinked it off his. “Well, I’m one of the Diaspora now so I guess I’ll get to know pretty quickly the pitfalls and difficulties.” She took a gulp of her wine and it made her feel instantly better.
“You shouldn’t listen to me too much, Ruth – I think I’m at the end of my time abroad. I really want to go home and settle down – but I’m concerned about finding work. I read the Irish Times every day and every second article is about people leaving the country because they can’t find work.”
Ruth agreed but was optimistic about Michael’s situation. “A lot of the people leaving are doing so because of all the debt they have accumulated. You don’t have that problem, Michael – you could return and live frugally until you find something, couldn’t you? On the plus side things have got cheaper at home – although they are loading on new taxes with each budget.”
“Okay, enough of the morose talk – what’s the story with your love life?”
Ruth laughed. “You probably know about my friend Ian?”
“The married man? Yeah, Julia hates him. Did you blow him out?”
Ruth took another sip from her glass of wine before answering. “We got blown out naturally, I think – it’s strange but I was only saying to Julia today that out of sight is out of mind as far as he is concerned.”
“Lucky you – I’ve been driving myself mad thinking about Lydia. Julia said I’ve messed up for good there. The awful thing is I don’t think I’ll ever find anyone like her again.”
Ruth put her hand on his comfortingly. “I’m sure you will.”
“Thanks, Ruth, but I know I only have myself to blame for the mess that I’ve created with my life.”
“Michael – you are forty – give yourself a break. And a fella at forty is like a woman at twenty-five – believe me. I’ve been having serious biological-clock-ticking issues for the last few months.”
Michael laughed and held up his glass. “Hey, if we can’t find anyone ourselves in a year we can hook up together and make a go of it – I’ve always thought you were cute, Ruth!”
R
uth lifted her glass to his. “Deal!” she said and finished the contents. “But now I have to go to sleep before I pass out on the spot.”
Michael sat back on his chair. “Okay but I’ll hold you to it!”
“Come on and I’ll show you to your room!”
They didn’t have to walk far and Ruth pushed open the door and switched on the light.
“The bathroom is next door,” she said, pointing.
Michael stopped and looked at the bed. He then looked at Ruth.
“You know, I can’t remember the last time that I shared my bed with another body – all night long!”
“Don’t forget the ‘all night long’ bit, Michael. Knowing you, there was someone in it for a couple of hours last night!”
Michael paused. “I’m lonely, Ruth – can we have a sleepover in your bed?”
Ruth was thrown. “What – like six-year-olds?”
Michael nodded.
This was the strangest request. She knew him well but this was too weird. But she wanted to be gentle with her reply.
“Michael, I think you’re losing it a bit – it’s not a good idea with Julia next door. You know what she’s like! She’ll only get carried away and start ordering a hat for our wedding!”
Michael grinned. “It was worth a try!” He kissed Ruth on the forehead. “Sleep well.”
Ruth shut the door behind him. She felt very strange as she walked to her room. It was true that while you lived away you did things that you wouldn’t do at home but she would never have imagined Michael making such a request. How could he still be homesick after so many years? She didn’t want to end up like this. Then she wondered if this was the reason why her mother had packed up and returned to Dublin. She could always quiz her mother but she wasn’t the sort of mother that you could sit down and have a real heart-to-heart with. It suited Ruth having a mother this way while she was living the life of a mistress and her mother’s lack of interest was a relief. Now that she was so many miles away she wished that she had spoken with her heart open when she lived around the corner from her.
Chapter Thirty-two
The next morning was as bright and sunny as the one before.
“It’s going to be very hot today!” Ruth said to Julia as she came into her room with a cup of tea in hand. “What do you want to do?”
Julia rose up onto her elbows. “Morning, Ju – I don’t know, you tell me?”
“There’s lots that we could do. Go up to Hillary’s – nice shops up there. Try the beach?”
“We better see what Michael wants to do too.”
“Of course,” Ruth said. How could she forget? “Maybe he’d like the beach – we’d better go early.”
“Ruth, this early rising thing is killing me – can we not go later?”
Ruth shook her head. “It’ll be too hot – unless we go much later this afternoon?”
Julia put one foot out of the bed and then the other. “Okay, early start it is. I’ll go in and wake Michael.”
Ruth went into the kitchen and started to mix pancakes. She was a little apprehensive about seeing Michael in the light of day after the words that had passed between them the night before, but she needn’t have worried.
“Morning, Ruth,” Michael said, bounding into the kitchen. He went straight over to the fridge and poured himself some orange juice. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, thanks, and you?”
“Yeah, great – could have been better though!” he said with a naughty wink aimed at her.
Julia didn’t notice and proceeded to fill the kettle with water.
“Ruth says we have to get an early start if we want to go to the beach.”
“Beach sounds good to me,” Michael agreed.
Ruth stalled for a second. “Hey, if you don’t mind the drive, we could go to an inland lake that Steve told me about. He said it’s really beautiful – it’s called Lake Leschenaultia and about an hour along the Great Eastern Highway.”
“Sounds like a bit of an adventure – let’s do it!” Julia said.
Michael shrugged. “Fine by me.”
Ruth packed up some salad and crackers and picnic food. Then she went to the fridge and took out the ice packs. “Pass me the Esky there, please, Julia.”
“The what?” Julia was confused.
“The Esky – short for Eskimo – the cooler bag over on the shelf.”
Julia did as Ruth asked and took out some bottles of cold water and beer from the fridge.
The Great Eastern Highway took Ruth’s car through John Forrest National Park and the town of Mundarring.
“I texted Steve before we left and he said we should stop off at the Mundarring Weir Hotel on the way back – it’s off the road a bit.”
“I’m dying for a swim, Ruth, I’ll happily go anywhere after that!”
Ruth drove on and took a left at Chidlow, a small outback town with an old-world pub and a couple of stores. The car slowed, making its way now through the meandering roads and the peace of the national park.
“Almost here, I think, if my GPS is working right.”
They took a right into a car park and the sparkling waters of the lake became visible.
“Oh, this is a good call!” Michael said sticking his head between the girls’ seats in the front of the car.
Lush vegetation surrounded the lake, with types of trees that none of the group had ever seen before. An abundance of unusual birds flapped through the trees and onto the water. Herons, geese and swamp-hens cawed and quacked amid the cacophony of screaming children as they jumped from the pontoon into the water. A warm sienna hue laced with gold flowed along at the water’s edge where little children tried to catch the tantalisingly visible fish.
“We should have brought a barbie!” Ruth exclaimed.
“Hey, a picnic is just grand,” Michael and Julia said together and then laughed.
“You are becoming very Aussie, Ruth, with your Eskys and barbies!” Julia joked as she removed the bags from the boot of the jeep.
“Come on, let’s get a nice sheltered spot over by the trees,” Ruth said – she was fitting into the lifestyle well but wasn’t there yet.
The girls had put their bikinis on under their clothes and Michael wasn’t long changing into his shorts. The three waded out into the bath-like water but didn’t have to go far before they could swim out of their depth.
“Come on over to the pontoon – we can dive in!” Michael called.
“My hair is a frizzy mess already!” Julia called back. “You’ll have to go on your own.”
“Yep, it’s all yours, I’m afraid!” Ruth shouted.
The girls went back to their towels and the deck chairs.
“It’s a gorgeous spot – good call,” Julia said while drying off her arms and legs.
She saw something jump in the distance but wasn’t sure if she was seeing things.
“Ruth, is that what I think it is over there?” She stood very still and pointed to the right-hand side of the trees just behind them.
“Oh yeah – it is – your first wild kangaroo. I had no idea that you could see them up here.” Ruth was agog.
“Don’t move or he’ll jump away.”
Skippy eyed them cautiously. He was hiding behind a tree and licking his paws.
“I guess they scavenge for the leftovers from the picnics,” Julia said.
“He’s cute but so skinny. I hope he’s okay.”
“Ruth – he’s a wild animal. I swear between them and the quokkas you’ll end up adopting something before you go home.”
“I know! I was never clucky like this before, was I, Julia? I don’t know what’s got into me.”
Julia didn’t know what was going on for Ruth either but she was definitely changing.
Michael and the girls stopped off at the Mundarring Weir Hotel on their way back to Subiaco. It was off their direct route back to the city but was such a picturesque winding road that they enjoyed the scenery and unusual landscape.
&n
bsp; The hotel had been built over a hundred years before. A red British telephone kiosk nestled against the trees in the car park and the lush landscaped gardens catered for outdoor concerts that were held in the summer. The building was made with red bricks that had been transported from England. It was lovingly restored in the Victorian style and the three went into the old bar and sat up at the counter. The light from the stained-glass windows shone in sparkles against the rows of spirits behind the bar, giving the old colonial building a magical feel.
“I wonder if they have ghosts in this building?” Ruth said, scanning her surroundings.
“Ruth, don’t start,” Julia said, turning to explain her reaction to Michael. “Ruth is convinced that she had a supernatural experience on Rottnest Island.”
“Was it those blokes you was telling me about?” he said with a laugh.
“Seriously,” said Ruth, “I swear something weird happened in the bedroom. Of course Julia was sound asleep in the bed!”
The barmaid was pulling a pint of cider for Michael.
“Are you guys here to see Paddy?” she asked.
“Who’s Paddy?” Ruth asked.
“He’s our ghost – worked on the weir when they built it – he breaks beer glasses and makes tools disappear.”
“Sounds like Horatio!” Michael laughed. “What do you think, Julia?”
Ruth was intensely interested. “Do you know anything about ghosts on Rottnest Island?” she asked the girl.
The girl laughed. “That place is crawling with them. There’s a story of a housemaid who killed herself – a scorned lover. She was pregnant too – or maybe they just added that to the story to be more dramatic. We have to make our history up in Australia!”
She put the pint of cider in front of Michael and started to chat to him, asking if he was enjoying Australia.
Julia turned to Ruth. “I think you’re more interested in these ghosts than finding out about your mother’s history,” she said. “When are we going to check out Peppermint Grove again?”
Ruth was in a daze. “Yeah – I don’t know. Maybe we can call around that way tomorrow – there’s a nice restaurant called Mosmans that I’ve been dying to try. It’s on the river and we can have dinner there if you like?”
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