by Tony Parsons
Stunned, Moira watched her mother for a few moments before switching off the tape recorder. The music stopped abruptly and so did her mother’s movements. Catriona turned quickly and Moira felt she saw relief on her mother’s face, which was streaming with sweat, running in rivulets down her neck.
‘How long has this been going on?’ Moira asked.
‘Since I weaned Dougal,’ Catriona said.
‘You’re kidding.’
‘I’m not, Moira.’
‘Does Dad know?’
Catriona shook her head as she picked up a big towel and began wiping the sweat from her face.
‘Why?’ Moira asked. She could now understand how her mother had kept her figure for so long.
‘I couldn’t risk losing him,’ Catriona said.
‘You love Dad that much?’
‘David is my life, Moira. He’s been my life since I was a little girl.’
‘But Dad wouldn’t leave you if you put on a bit of weight – he loves you. You’re the only woman he ever wanted. I doubt he’s ever looked at another woman. Dad is a decent man,’ Moira said indignantly.
‘I’ve seen the way women look at him, Moira. And a young woman can be hard to resist,’ Catriona replied.
And then the penny dropped because Moira remembered her mother’s initial opposition to her father employing Sarah Matheson.
‘You don’t think that Dad and Sarah would …?’ The thought was so awful she couldn’t finish the sentence.
‘I sincerely hope not, Moira. It would kill me if that happened. I once went through a very difficult time when I knew Susan was chasing David. Men are men, sweetheart. I’ve tried to stay fit and young in body so I’ll be attractive as long as possible.’
‘Dad wouldn’t touch Sarah. I’d bet my life on it. Are you sure all this strenuous exercise is healthy?’ Moira asked, concerned.
‘I have regular full check-ups and I’m in perfect condition,’ Catriona assured her.
‘And you’ve been doing this for twenty-odd years?’
‘As I told you – from when I weaned Dougal. I couldn’t do it when I was pregnant with you and Angus but I did it in between and as soon as I could,’ Catriona said.
‘Wow,’ Moira said, as she temporarily forgot her tongue and her boarding-school training. ‘Have you finished?’
‘I’m only about half-way through,’ Catriona said as she put down the towel.
‘Has no one else ever caught you at this?’ Moira asked.
‘Lottie knew about it. She used to take you children for walks so I could work out.’
‘Good heavens. How blind I’ve been not to wake up before now. I should have known you couldn’t keep your figure on dieting and a little bit of bike work. Not your figure, Mum.’
‘Thank you. Maybe one day you’ll love someone enough to make this kind of effort. It is an effort, Moira.’
‘I can see that,’ Moira agreed, as she eyed her mother’s sweat-soaked towel. A lot of things made sense now. Like the clothes her mother wore, chosen to show off her trim, taut condition.
‘Do you think it’s worth it?’ Moira asked.
‘It’s worth it when David tells me I look fantastic, and when I catch him watching me and know he still thinks I’m desirable,’ Catriona said, and smiled.
‘Wow,’ Moira said for the second time. She could see she had a lot to learn about the love game. ‘I guess if I had a husband like Dad I might go to similar efforts to keep him.’
‘You might and you might not, sweetheart. The important thing is never to take your man for granted. Weren’t you going to Muswellbrook?’
‘I can take a hint,’ Moira said, and smiled. ‘You want to get rid of me.’
‘No, I don’t want to get rid of you; I simply want to finish my routine, have a shower and then go to visit Mother,’ Catriona said, and patted her daughter’s arm.
‘You’re amazing, Mum,’ Moira said, and picked up her wallet and set out again.
Moira thought about her mother most of the way to Muswellbrook. This was a surprising change because most of the time she thought about her father. She realised that people in love often made sacrifices but she had never thought her mother was in that category. Nanna Anne was supposed to have been very much in love with Grandfather Andrew but she couldn’t imagine her doing aerobics to maintain his interest in her. She would bet any money that her father would never touch Sarah – or any other woman for that matter.
Catriona finished her routine and after a shower she drove across to Inverlochy. She often had lunch with her parents. They still had a housekeeper, so Jane didn’t have to prepare any meals. Angus didn’t do any work now. Stuart really ran Inverlochy. Angus worked his dogs and still went to occasional meetings but he was as good as retired. The big question was whether he and Jane should retire to Port Macquarie or stay put. There were points for and against both options. Jane didn’t fancy being too far from her family – particularly Catriona, upon whom she leant fairly heavily. Angus didn’t like the idea of leaving his dogs at Inverlochy or not being able to look at his bulls when he wanted to. He certainly didn’t like the idea of not being able to talk to Stuart and David on a regular basis. He reckoned they had probably left it a bit late to retire to Port Macquarie. Angus had lived all his life at Inverlochy and it was going to be a wrench to leave the property, if that’s what they ended up doing.
Jane had never achieved anything particularly remarkable in her life but she still considered herself the district’s Queen Bee, even though she had resigned from all her committees. Most of her old friends were elsewhere – some in Sydney and others on the coast; others had passed on. Jane felt the loss of her old friends and thought life would be even lonelier on the coast. There would be no Catriona to come and see her regularly. Stuart and Carol might get over to the coast a couple of times a year but with all of David’s interests Catriona would be lucky to make it once a year. Jane was no fool where her daughter was concerned. She was well aware that David was the biggest thing in Catriona’s life. She had once been prepared to defy her parents to marry David MacLeod and it was clear that she was still in love with her husband.
On this particular day Jane was in a pensive mood. After lunch, when Angus went to have a rest before working a dog, Jane and Catriona went into the lounge where a cheery fire was crackling away in the big fireplace.
‘I want you to know that I think you were right about David, and Angus and I were wrong all those years ago,’ Jane began. ‘Our concern for you clouded our judgement quite badly. David is an exceptional man and you were wise to see it,’ Jane said to her daughter.
‘Is this your absolution, Mother?’ she asked with a smile.
‘Don’t you dare mock me, Catriona. I was wrong about David and I want to tell him so while I can. I realise I may not be living a lot longer and I will feel better for getting that off my chest. You have the best husband a woman could wish for; a man to be proud of, as Angus says.’
‘I was proud of him from the age of ten, Mother,’ Catriona said firmly.
‘It seems to me that Moira takes after David very much, Catriona. That is, as much as a girl can take after a man.’
‘Moira is potent competition for me, Mother. She thinks she owns her father. Moira is always very willing to take my place.’
‘But that’s a daughter–father thing, dear. When Moira meets a nice young man, she’ll transfer her affections to him and you’ll have David to yourself again,’ Jane said.
Catriona rolled her eyes to the ceiling. ‘When is the operative word, Mother. Moira sees herself as the real heir to High Peaks. David told Kate that he regards Moira as “the pick of the bunch” which, considering how much he wanted sons, was – is – a very considerable compliment. David has built Moira into his life with her judging achievements and all the rest of it. It isn’t going to be easy for a nice young man to take her away from High Peaks. There aren’t many David MacLeods in the country and only that kind of man will appeal to M
oira,’ Catriona said.
‘Oh dear, life is so complicated,’ Jane said with a sigh. ‘I have seen so many changes in my life. Once upon a time it seemed so much easier.’
‘It was only easier because girls were expected to make a good marriage. They didn’t have the options they do today, Mother. I’m not going to worry if Moira doesn’t want to get married early. A lot of women are in their mid-thirties before they marry and have children. Even if they marry earlier than that, a lot don’t have their children until even the late thirties. Many women want careers before they have children. Moira has plenty of time.’
‘It’s all so different now. I don’t know what my mother would think if she were here to see it,’ Jane said.
‘I’ll probably make the same comment when I’m your age, Mother. Now, have you had any more thoughts about the operation?’
‘I’ll consider it, dear. Angus says that the next show will be his last with dogs. He would so very much like to win that big trophy he gave to remember Andrew. I won’t do anything before the show. As it seems to mean so much to everyone, I shall probably have the operation after the show,’ Jane said.
‘Thank goodness for that. If you get that over and done with you can decide then whether you’re going to stay here or live at Port Macquarie. I wouldn’t worry about it until you get well over the operation,’ Catriona said earnestly.
‘That’s good advice, dear. Now you go back to your lovely man and I shall have a little sleep,’ Jane said, and smiled. ‘Anne and Kate are coming to see me tomorrow.’
Catriona smiled to herself. Her mother couldn’t stop herself from making this last remark. All her married life she had sought to make herself the centre of attention by having people come to her. First there had been the tennis parties and, later, the garden parties and the art discussion group. In later years still it had been a literary group that met at Inverlochy. Now this notion that people still wanted to come and see her.
‘That will be nice for you, Mother. Anne was always my ally and is a very special person, and Kate is part of what makes High Peaks such a wonderful place. Kate is up there very close to Anne in David’s scheme of things. I’ll try and see you tomorrow, Mother,’ Catriona said.
That night as Catriona and David lay in bed David folded her into his arms and told her how much he would miss her while he and Moira were away looking at ewes. Catriona turned to face him.
‘Would you do me a big favour, darling?’ Catriona said.
‘What is it, Cat?’
‘Could you manage to be somewhere else for this year’s Merriwa sheepdog trials?’ she asked. Catriona was aware that David never missed these trials. He had won Angus Campbell’s trophy awarded in his father’s memory several times and when he didn’t win it he was always asked to present it to the winner.
‘Why, Cat?’
‘This is going to be Daddy’s last year. He has so much wanted to win the Open and never has. He believes he can never win it while you compete. It would make me so happy if you could find a legitimate reason not to be there,’ Catriona said.
David chuckled at the request.
‘I’m not the force I was, Cat. I don’t have the same time to train dogs that I used to. And even if I don’t show there are plenty of really good handlers these days. Trialling is a big sport now.’
‘I understand all that, darling. It’s you that Daddy finds most intimidating. He thinks Rob Roy and Jamie are the two best dogs he has ever had and he would like to go out with the Merriwa Open under his belt. It’s been such a sore point that he could never win it,’ she said.
‘I suppose I could invent a sudden reason to be at Aberfeldy. I’ve been promising to take Moira up there.’
David’s suggestion was bittersweet – Catriona loved to accompany David to Aberfeldy because they usually spent a couple of days at the Yeppoon house. She had David to herself there and it was always like a mini-honeymoon, and it gave her the excuse to wear a swimsuit and show off her figure. Moira would be in seventh heaven to go in her place. But if that was what it took to keep David out of the trials so be it.
‘Elders want to talk to me about sending some of the cattle overseas via Karumba,’ David said.
‘That should do it,’ Catriona agreed.
‘I could say I was also looking at a property in New England except that we can’t afford another place,’ David said. He had a dream that some day he would buy a property in New England so he could send his finest-woolled sheep there to try and attain top wool prices. He could use these prices as promotion for his stud rams.
Catriona lowered her face and kissed him. Aberfeldy will be fine,’ she said.
‘It will have to look like a last-minute decision, Cat. I’ll enter dogs and scratch them the day before. How’s that?’
‘Brilliant idea, darling. I’ll make it up to you,’ she promised.
‘You do every day. I don’t need to be there. You can present the big trophy in my place. I’ll suggest it to Bob Howe, the chief steward of the sheepdog trials.’
‘You’re a genius, darling.’
‘I also have to get away early in the morning,’ he said.
‘You will remember me to Bruce, won’t you?’ she asked.
He and Moira were taking in the Riverina and making a long-delayed visit to Bruce McClymont who had leased his great dog Nap for three years. Bruce was an old man now but still breeding kelpies as enthusiastically as ever.
‘Of course, sweetheart.’
‘Do you remember how Bruce and Daddy argued over who was going to shout dinner that night after you won the National and we held hands under the table in the caravan?’ Catriona asked.
‘And rubbed legs too, as I recall. It was especially thrilling after all the excitement of the afternoon.’
Catriona sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘I will miss you, darling. Don’t be too many days away.’
‘I’ll be as quick as I can, Cat. I have to stock Wirrewarra to help pay off the loan. Right now nothing is much good but it’s the right time to buy sheep. Wool will come good again and then we’ll be sitting pretty. I can’t have Wirrewarra not pulling its weight.’
‘I understand, darling.’
They fell into a deep slumber in each other’s arms.
Chapter Twelve
Merriwa show time had finally arrived and sheepdog enthusiasts from near and far had come to work their dogs. Although not considered a top trial, it was still very popular – there was almost no trial that failed to attract some of the leading handlers. Sheepdog trialling had become a very popular sport in recent decades.
Back some distance from the oval there were dozens of triallers’ ‘camps’. Some competitors had their own caravans and some had campervans. Tied up around these camps were sheepdogs of countless hues and types – border collies with prick ears like kelpies and an odd one with a white head and wall eye. The kelpies, though not as numerous as the border collies, were of different colours and types and there were the occasional kelpies with a lop ear, which would have disqualified them in the show ring. However, every dog on show could work sheep and some could do it exceedingly well.
Angus Campbell had his two dogs, Rob Roy and Jamie, in a crate in the back of his utility. They were tall black-and-white dogs which conformed to what had become known as the Australian border collie type. Both dogs differed markedly from the dogs Angus had imported from Scotland after he took over from his father, Old Angus, at Inverlochy. Those dogs were much heavier in coat and some of them clapped (lay flat) a lot. Angus got walloped every time he worked those dogs at Merriwa. He could never get within a bull’s roar of beating Andrew or David MacLeod, which was a significant prick to his ego.
Luck had changed for Angus when he reluctantly accepted David’s advice and infused kelpie into his border collies. David allowed him to use his great dog Nap and later, Clancy, the dog with which David had won the National. The two crosses of kelpie made a startling difference – they lightened up t
he coat and produced dogs that worked on their feet, while retaining the collie’s calmness and biddability. And instead of breaking wide they had more hold and drive, which was a big plus when holding sheep at the obstacles.
David had spent countless hours coaching both Angus and Stuart in how to train and trial dogs. Neither man had innate ability or natural stockmanship. David knew that if he owned either Rob Roy or Jamie he could win trials with them but it was Angus who wanted to win with them. The Merriwa Open Trial was the last prize Angus sought to win before he retired. Both dogs were capable of winning it if they got fair sheep and if Angus didn’t make mistakes. David had gone over with him any number of eventualities, but nobody could anticipate every move sheep might make. What he had stressed to Angus in preparation for the show was the importance of a dog getting sheep on side from first contact so that the dog completed its cast and finished behind the sheep. Ideally, a dog shouldn’t cast too close, but rather stop and then make a cautious ‘lift’ so that the sheep turn away rather than bolt. Sheep were supposed to be driven in a relatively straight line to the handler at the far end of the ground. If a dog allowed sheep to wander too far from a narrow pathway, points were deducted for being ‘off course’.
A sheepdog trial is one of the truly ‘bush’ events run at an agricultural show. Merriwa had once been a great sheep district and sheep still featured very strongly in the area. Most people who worked sheep had owned sheepdogs and these people took a perennial interest in sheepdogs. There was a fair crowd around the ring before Angus went out to work his dog. Most onlookers were locals or from nearby districts, but there were also some fellow competitors sprinkled among the crowd. Not every show conducted sheepdog trials so it was a matter of prestige to conduct a trial. Moreover, even before Andy and David MacLeod came to the fore with kelpies, there had been some notable sheepdog handlers in the district, including Tom Bower and Paddy Cronin. Angus Campbell had always tried to maintain the trials and to encourage young handlers to compete. He was desperately keen to add his name to the list of people who had won the Merriwa Open Trial.