Return to the High Country

by Tony Parsons

  ‘I still love him, Sue-Ellen. David has been my life since I was a small girl. Although I can assure you that for several years I rated much lower in David’s eyes than his dogs and horses. At one stage I became so desperate I offered to get pregnant so we could be married. I was stunned when he refused and told me I didn’t understand him at all. I didn’t, either. David would never have chosen that route to marry me,’ Catriona said.

  ‘Catriona,’ Sue-Ellen said with her eyes wide and with a new appreciation of her mother-in-law, ‘you must have been desperately in love and terribly frustrated.’

  ‘All that, Sue-Ellen. And my parents pushing me to marry from a heap of well-bred young men. There wasn’t one of them that meant a thing to me. They didn’t rate with David. My parents couldn’t understand why I wanted him because at that stage the MacLeods were still battling. Some of those same young men who wouldn’t have anything to do with David in those days, now chase after him. Funny how money changes things, isn’t it?’

  ‘I understand what you mean, Catriona. I think it is really awesome to be able to say that you still love a man after years of marriage. I mean, really love him. So many marriages don’t last the distance these days,’ Sue-Ellen said.

  ‘I couldn’t imagine life without David, Sue-Ellen. I really couldn’t. There wouldn’t be any purpose in it. I suppose that sounds silly when one has three children, but it’s the way I feel. David and I have been through so much together from such an early age, shared so many experiences, that it would be simply awful not to be with him. I don’t know how Anne got through those years when Andrew was away shearing. And then to lose him. I have always felt terribly sorry for Anne. She was my ally right from the very beginning and in some ways I have been closer to her than I was to my own mother. Anne is such a very understanding and commonsense person,’ Catriona said.

  Sue-Ellen looked at her mother-in-law and wondered how she managed to stay looking so young. Her body still looked great and her skin was fresh and virtually wrinkle-free. Maybe her gaze wandered a shade long because Catriona caught it and raised her long eyebrows. ‘What is it, Sue-Ellen?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m amazed how well you look, Catriona. If I’m in the same shape at your age I shall be very happy,’ Sue-Ellen said.

  ‘Good cosmetics and plenty of exercise, Sue-Ellen. You have to work at looking good. I should hate to have David regard me as a frump,’ she said, and laughed.

  ‘Not much danger of that, Catriona,’ Sue-Ellen said and laughed with her.

  ‘Besides, I like to be fit and well for David. He never stops working and I have a job to get him to take a holiday. He doesn’t have time for sheepdog trials or campdrafts any more. I’m his only relaxation, if you know what I mean,’ Catriona said with a hint of wickedness.

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Sue-Ellen said and laughed again. ‘I should imagine that going to bed with the young David would have been quite an experience,’ she said.

  ‘It’s still an experience, Sue-Ellen,’ Catriona said.

  Sue-Ellen returned to Strath Fillan with increased respect and admiration for her mother-in-law. It seemed to her that in the last couple of hours she had come closer to her than at any time since she came to the high country to live.

  ‘How were things up at High Peaks?’ Angus asked her that night as they sat over dinner.

  ‘Very fair. I saw Nanna Anne and had lunch with your mother. What remarkable women they both are. Anne is just a lovely person but up until today I hadn’t got really close to your mother. Catriona opened up a little this afternoon and I found her a much warmer person. Maybe Andrew James made the difference. And maybe it was getting her to talk about your father as a boy. Anne suggested I do that, and it worked a treat. When your mother talks about David she’s a different person. She still loves him to distraction,’ Sue-Ellen said.

  ‘I worked out long ago that I – well, me, Dougal and Moy – rated second to Dad where Mum was concerned,’ Angus said. ‘It was one of the reasons I ran off the rails a bit. I reckoned Mum didn’t really love me and Dad expected far too much from me. It seemed Dougal had let him down and Moira was a girl so I was the big hope. I couldn’t say that we were ever neglected except that we had a nurse so Mum could spend more time with Dad. Mum wanted us away at school for the same reason. Mum’s still crazy about Dad. She must spend a whack of money keeping herself looking the way she does. Mum’s always been dead scared some other woman – a young woman – would take him from her. Bit pathetic, really.’

  ‘Not if you love someone the way your mother does,’ Sue-Ellen said sharply.

  ‘Dad would never touch another woman. He had plenty of opportunity when Sarah Matheson worked for him. If Dad could withstand Sarah’s charms, he could withstand any woman. Mum has never had any cause to worry that Dad would play around elsewhere. Mind you, I think she keeps him well occupied. Moira lived with Dad and Mum for years and knows more than she lets on. She says Mum does some way-out things to keep Dad interested in her,’ Angus said, and grinned.

  ‘Why are you looking like that, Angus? Aren’t I way-out enough for you?’ Sue-Ellen asked.

  ‘Nothing like that, sweetheart. It just seems a bit silly a woman Mum’s age working so hard to stay looking good for her husband when we all know he has never thought about anyone but her,’ Angus said.

  ‘I think it’s really sweet – a lot of women don’t bother. I must say that my admiration for your mother has increased enormously, Angus.’

  ‘Oh, she’s some woman all right, sweetheart. There’s a lot more to Mum than what you see, and what you see is pretty good,’ Angus said.

  Catriona went up to see Anne and took with her one of the presents she had bought for her mother-in-law’s birthday. It was a dark green woollen pants-suit she had purchased on her last visit to Sydney. Anne had been wearing slacks suits for some years chiefly, so she told people, because her legs weren’t what they had been.

  ‘It’s lovely, Catriona. So soft. Thank you very much,’ Anne said. She realised the suit would have cost a lot of money because Catriona never skimped on clothes. She went out of the lounge room and when she returned she was carrying two thick leather-bound diaries.

  ‘This is the record of my life on High Peaks, Catriona. These diaries also contain all that I have been able to find out about my own and the MacLeod families. The diary finishes today. I want you to take over now, Catriona. My eyes are not the best and it is time for a younger person to look after the record,’ Anne said.

  Catriona was overwhelmed. She opened the top diary and flipped through some pages. They were all written in Anne’s lovely clear script and on some pages there were newspaper cuttings of David’s exploits.

  ‘Are you sure you want me to take over the diaries now? You could go on for years yet,’ Catriona suggested.

  ‘Perhaps I could. But quite apart from my eyes, what would a woman my age have to record? All the main incidents and happenings from the past are there and although David tries to keep me up to date on what is going on, I find it hard to concentrate now. You are at the centre of things and have been for years. You had university training so you should manage the records very well. It is time, Catriona,’ Anne said firmly.

  When David called in to see his mother he found her in her garden watering plants. She sat down on a garden seat beneath a large grevillea and he sat down beside her.

  ‘I’m wondering what you would like for your birthday,’ he began.

  She looked at him and marvelled again that she had produced so remarkable a man; the boy who had become a millionaire grazier yet whose essential character had never changed.

  ‘Nothing material, dear,’ she said and smiled at him. ‘If I were able, I should very much like to ride up Yellow Rock with you and Catriona and to stand on the top for one last time.’

  David smiled. ‘Is that what you want, to stand on top of Yellow Rock?’ he asked.

  ‘If I were able,’ she said.

  There was virtually not
hing he wouldn’t do for her so if she wanted to stand on Yellow Rock, that was what he would give her.

  ‘That shouldn’t be a problem,’ he said. ‘I will hire a helicopter to take us there.’

  She looked at him with surprise in her eyes. ‘Do you mean that?’ she asked.

  ‘I wouldn’t joke about anything to do with you, Mum,’ he answered.

  She touched his arm and then put her hand over his. ‘No, I don’t suppose you would. Well, I have a special reason for wanting to be there one last time,’ she said.

  ‘Leave it to me, Mum,’ he replied.

  ‘I’d like to have lunch up there,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll get Catriona to lay on lunch,’ he said.

  ‘And boil the billy.’

  ‘That too,’ he said. He got up and looked down at her. ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Nothing else.’

  ‘Right. I’ll book it for two days hence. The weather forecast looks okay. You can go back to your watering,’ he said.

  When David returned from the old homestead Catriona sensed he had a mission.

  ‘Mum wants to have lunch with us on top of Yellow Rock in a couple of days, Cat. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, and that’s what she asked for. Can you lay on a good lunch and pack a billy?’ he announced.

  ‘How on earth are you going to get your mother up Yellow Rock, David?’ Catriona asked.

  ‘Hire a helicopter. Mum didn’t turn a hair when I said I would do that. I’m just going in to organise it. Manny Thompson owes me a few favours so I reckon he won’t mind taking us up there,’ he said. Manny Thompson was an American who owned one property in Merriwa and another in North Queensland. He had come to Australia on a visit, and liked the country and Australians so much that he stayed. He now bred Angus cattle on his Merriwa property and Brahman-cross cattle further north. It hadn’t taken Manny long to hear about David MacLeod and he had come to him for advice on several occasions. The two men got on famously, which was helped by the fact that both were keen horsemen.

  ‘Am I included in this aerial shivoo?’ Catriona asked.

  ‘Of course. Mum asked for you too.’

  Two days later Manny Thompson picked them up from a paddock by the old High Peaks homestead.

  ‘Got everything?’ the grazier pilot asked.

  David nodded. ‘Down to the last item.’

  The helicopter lifted off in a shower of dust and twigs. In no time at all they were rising well above High Peaks in the direction of Yellow Rock. Anne, Catriona and David were all treated to views of the High Peaks hill country they had never before experienced. But the flight ended all too quickly.

  David looked at his watch and then up at Manny. ‘Would you pick us up at three, Manny?’

  ‘Will do, David.’

  Once they had landed David assembled the three collapsible chairs and sat his mother in one before starting to gather wood for the fire.

  Anne stood up and looked out over the surrounding countryside. ‘Oh, this air, isn’t it incredible?’

  ‘It always seems that way,’ David agreed. He got a fire going while Catriona laid out food and plates on a small table. His mother didn’t eat big meals and he had brought the pick of their fillet steak. It was from a steer fed in their own feedlot and its taste and succulence could hardly be bettered.

  ‘This is where Andy proposed to me,’ Anne said nostalgically when she had finished the meal. David thought she had enjoyed it. She was talking now between sips of tea made in the much-loved blackened billy. ‘Of course, I had been hoping he would propose to me for months. He hadn’t even kissed me, which was surprising, but it seemed his mother had told him not to rush a girl. When he did kiss me – twice actually – it was rather wonderful. I suppose I could say that our life together really started up here that day. Something inside me turned over the first time I saw Andy at a dance in Merriwa and I had been going riding with him for months. I knew he was the man for me but I wasn’t sure he thought I was the woman for him. When he asked me to marry him that day we were here, it was a big relief,’ Anne said with a brief smile.

  ‘The MacLeod men seem to choose odd places for their proposals,’ Catriona said. ‘David proposed to me across there, in the big cave on Wallaby Rocks. I waited a great deal longer than you did, Anne. It was a huge relief, too. And Sue-Ellen told me that Angus proposed to her initially in a sheep yard at Longreach. Not very romantic sites for committing oneself to a man, Anne.’

  ‘I couldn’t think of a more perfect place for a proposal than Yellow Rock. Look out there. Could you find anything more wonderful?’ Anne asked, and pointed to where the creek threaded its way like a silver snake towards Merriwa. ‘This is a world beyond the world. Everything was so wonderful that day. And then we were married and I had my own house – and not too long after I had you, David. Andy did so much want more children but he never by word or deed indicated his disappointment. You gave him so much pleasure, David. Yes, it all really began up here.’

  ‘Oh, look there. It’s a black rabbit. I’ve never seen one before,’ Catriona exclaimed with delight, and pointed through the fence to where the all-black animal sat beside a splintered rock.

  ‘That’s the first black rabbit I’ve seen here since I was a boy. Dad and I saw one when we were up here mustering,’ David said.

  As he spoke there was a rush of mighty wings from behind them and a shadow passed them by. ‘Oh, he’s after the black rabbit,’ Catriona screamed in David’s ear.

  ‘No, he’s not. There’s a rabbit beyond the black one. It’s in the open,’ he said. The great bird banked slightly and fell like a stone with claws extended and picked up the second rabbit, which screamed pitifully. The eagle lifted like their helicopter and soared away into the vault of blue sky.

  ‘Nothing has changed up here since I first came to Yellow Rock,’ Anne observed. ‘The eagles were taking rabbits then and they’re still taking them now. But at long last I’ve seen a black rabbit in the wild. He’s gone now but I’ll remember seeing him.’

  ‘I was told that the trappers caught quite a few just after the war. They got a quarter of a million rabbits off one place in six months. There were gingers and blacks and even an odd pure white. The whites don’t last long as they’re too easily seen,’ David told them. ‘Had enough tea, Mum?’

  ‘I’ve had an elegant sufficiency of everything. It was lovely, and lovely of you to get me up here, David. When I told you I wanted to be here for one last time I didn’t dream you would actually be able to arrange it,’ Anne said.

  ‘David has a way of making things happen, Anne. If you mention that you’d like something, you’ll find it on your lap, so to speak. This wasn’t a hard wish to grant,’ Catriona said.

  ‘Well it’s just lovely – you can’t imagine what this day has meant to me. And if I had my time over I would do it all again. Maybe I wouldn’t want Andy to go away shearing to help us buy Poitrel, but Wilf wanted us to have it so there you are,’ Anne said.

  ‘Speaking of Poitrel, it’s going to be unoccupied for a while,’ David said.

  ‘Why is that, David?’ Anne asked.

  ‘Jean and Julian can’t cope any longer. They’re too old to look after the house and garden at Poitrel and have decided to move to Merriwa. So after all these years, we will need a new occupant. I must say I will miss Jean, in particular, enormously, because she has been a terrific help and a very sweet person. There is no doubt that old age is a pain in the butt,’ David said.

  ‘What will you do, David?’ Anne asked.

  ‘I don’t know right now, Mum. Moira is going to feed the animals for a while but we’ll need someone there. You can’t leave a property unoccupied these days – there are too many vandals and stock thieves on the go. Lew keeps his eyes open but he’s an old man now and hardly the tough police officer he used to be,’ David said.

  ‘The old order changeth,’ Anne mused.

  ‘I’m afraid it does. There’s just not the honesty there used t
o be. The politicians are giving the land a tough time, too. Men used to dream about owning land in Australia and it was land and what it produced – wool, initially – that made Australia. Now they’re even telling us how much rainfall we can store on our properties. Damned ridiculous,’ David said fiercely.

  ‘Steady, darling,’ Catriona said. David had become increasingly bitter about what was happening to the land and its people. He hadn’t spared himself from the time they had decided to purchase Poitrel yet the returns on all the properties were very low. Costs were beating the rural industries.

  ‘There’s over twelve million dollars tied up in properties and stock and it’s returning us about half of what you could get from a bank investment. Except that I’m a land and animal person I would be better off selling up everything. Then I think of High Peaks owned by strangers and I know I couldn’t let it go. And there’s Moira and Angus to consider,’ David said. ‘Maybe Dougal was right to make his own way. He’ll earn a good living without the government on his back. Why are politicians so lacking in vision? The world wants our produce because it’s generally cleaner than anywhere else but costs and damned regulations are killing us. They really are,’ David said. He got up and proceeded to douse the fire. ‘Take a good look, Mum. One of these days this may all be national park. Who can say? I don’t have anything against national parks and if we can’t make a profit from wool and beef in this country, that might be the only option.’

  Any further discussion on the matter was interrupted by the beat-beat sound of the helicopter.

  ‘Thank you, David. It has been lovely to come here again,’ Anne said and kissed her son.

  ‘It was no big deal, Mum,’ David said gruffly.

  ‘It is for me, David,’ Anne said, with tears in her eyes.

  As the helicopter settled he picked his mother up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather, and carried her across to the craft. ‘There she is, Manny,’ he said, as he handed her up to his friend.