by SR Silcox
“You’re talking from experience,” the girl replied, pulling her pants leg back down.
“When you ride bikes and spend your holidays on a farm, you get a lot of grazes.”
The girl smiled. “You’re from around here then?”
“I live in town. I stay out here with my grandparents on the holidays.”
The girl nodded. There was an awkward silence, so Tess asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“I’m staying in the house up the road for a few weeks.”
“Holidays?”
“Sort of.”
It had been ages since the last time any of the holidayers staying at the McGregor’s had been Tess’s age. It would be fun having someone to hang out with while Lizzie and Will were away. “Well, since we’ll be neighbours for a few weeks, I guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Tess.” Tess stuck out her hand.
The girl dusted her hand off on her pants, took Tess’s hand, gave it a shake and said, “Maddie.”
“Why are you running in a tracksuit in the middle of the day?” Tess asked, sitting down beside Maddie.
“It burns more calories,” Maddie replied.
Burning calories had never been something Tess had ever really thought about. “Well, if you’re going to run during the day, you should probably stick to Fitzy’s farm. He doesn't work the side closest to the McGregor house anymore.”
“So no run-ins with reckless motorbike riders on that side?”
Her nose crinkled when she smiled, Tess noticed. “Highly unlikely,” Tess replied. “Though in this weather, you should probably watch out for snakes."
“Really?” Maddie shifted forward a little, away from the long grass.
“It’s summer,” Tess shrugged. “They'll be out everywhere and Fitzy’s is so overgrown, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a whole country full of them over there.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for them,” Maddie said.
Tess checked her watch. “Bugger. I’m late.”
“What for?”
“I’m just dropping off some lunch to my Pop.”
“You should get going then.”
“I should.” Tess hesitated. She thought about Maddie’s possible sprained ankle. It was a long walk back to the McGregor house, even without a limp. "I can take you back if you like,” she offered.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. It’ll save you limping all that way on a sore ankle. I’ll just have to drop off lunch first though, if that's okay.”
“Sure,” Maddie said. “I’d never turn down a free ride."
Tess stood and helped Maddie up. Maddie tried to brush off the red dirt from her tracksuit again. “God, is all the dirt around here this red?”
“Yeah. Can’t get it out of anything once it gets in. White probably wasn’t the best choice to wear out here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maddie replied.
Tess helped Maddie over to the bike. She picked it up, kick started it and adjusted the soft cooler she’d strapped to the handle bars, hoping that the drinks hadn’t been shaken up too much. She turned to Maddie and said, “Hop on.”
The seat dropped under the extra weight and Tess felt Maddie take hold of her shirt. “You might want to hang on a bit tighter,” Tess said. “Don't want you hitting the dirt again.”
Maddie’s arm snaked around Tess’s waist. In her hurry to get going, Tess let out the clutch too fast causing the bike to jolt forward. Maddie squealed and squeezed Tess tighter. The last time Tess had doubled someone on the bike was when Will's bike had run out of fuel last summer. It occurred to her that Will holding her around the waist didn’?t feel as good as it did with Maddie.
∞
It was easy to spot where the men were harvesting thanks to the plume of red dust billowing out from behind the harvester and haul out truck. This was the last big block to be done before they made a start on the small blocks near the house, so the farm was almost entirely an ocean of red dirt, criss-crossed with grassy tracks and dirt roads and cane trash waiting to be raked into rows. Further out past the watery heat mirages were the green tops of new sugar cane growth, and on a clear day, you could see right across three farms and almost to the edge of town.
As they crested a hill, Tess slowed and pointed out the harvester and haul out truck following beside it to Maddie. Pop’s Ute was parked at the end of the block. He’d probably be sitting in the cab waiting. At least Tess had a good excuse for why she was late.
She pulled the bike up at the back of the Ute and killed the engine. Maddie stepped off and Tess unstrapped the cooler. The passenger-side door opened and Pop stepped out. “Man’s not a camel,” he said, his leathery face crinkling up with his smile.
“Sorry. Almost had an accident,” Tess said, handing the cooler to Pop.
Pop looked from Tess to Maddie and Tess explained, “I almost ran her over.”
“On purpose?” Pop asked.
Tess knew he was teasing, so instead of taking the bait she said, “Pop, this is Maddie. She’s staying in the McGregor house.”
“I know,” Pop said. “How are you finding it? Got everything you need?” He dug into the cooler and pulled out a can of soft drink. He rolled it across his forehead and then popped the top and had a long drink.
“It’s good. Thanks,” Maddie replied.
Pop nodded.
“Are you going to be finished in time to start setting up?” Tess asked.
Pop glanced toward the harvester, scratched the back of his head and said, “We should be, but it doesn’t matter. Lonny and Pete will just come back and finish it off tomorrow if they have to. There’s still plenty of time to set up. Don’t worry.”
The one thing Tess looked forward to all year was spending the week leading up to the Crush Festival with Gran and Pop, helping them with the set up and then helping out during the festival. “Weather looks good this weekend for the burn.”
“How do you know that?” Pop asked. He popped the lid on a plastic container and dug out a biscuit.
“I have a weather app on my phone.”
Pop shook his head. He still used the weather service bulletins from the Rural Fire Service. They said the same thing, but Tess’s way was more up-to-date. She’d never tell him that though.
“Are you having a bonfire or something?” Maddie asked.
“We’ve got the Crush Festival on,” Tess said. “The grand finale is burning the small block of cane near the house.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Don’t get too excited,” Pop said. “We only got a couple hundred people last year.” He sighed. “Crowds have been getting smaller every year.”
“Will, Lizzie and I are giving up Schoolies to be here this year,” Tess said. “We’ll get people in. We always do.”
“We’ll see,” Pop said. “I should have some lunch so I can give Lonny his break.”
“I’ll see you back at the house,” Tess said, climbing onto the bike and starting it up. Maddie slid on behind her, wrapping both arms around Tess this time. Tess waved to Pop and then headed off up to the McGregor house.
∞
When they pulled up out front of the McGregor house, a woman rushed out onto the veranda and stopped dead on the top of the steps. “Maddie?” she said. She didn’t look happy.
“Everything’s fine. I’ll be up in a minute.”
The woman glared at Tess and then turned and walked back inside.
“I hope I didn’t upset your mum,” Tess said.
“She’s not my mum, and no, if anyone’s upset her, it’s me."
“Are you going to be okay? Getting up the stairs I mean.”
“I can manage. And I’ll get some of that ointment you told me about, for my knee. Thanks for dropping me back.”
“No problem. See that place over there?” Tess pointed to the old stucco farm house a hundred or so metres up on the other side of the road.
Maddie shielded her eyes with her hand and said, “
Yeah.”
“That’s my grandparents’ farm. I’m staying up there for the next few weeks if you need anything.”
Maddie smiled and said, “Thanks. I’ll be fine.”
Tess started the bike and said, “I guess I’ll catch you later then.”
“I guess so.”
As she rode back to the house, Tess mentally kicked herself for not giving Maddie her phone number. Just in case she needed anything.
FOUR
“What have you done this time?” Jo took Maddie’s arm and draped it over her shoulder, leading her into the kitchen.
“You say that like I injure myself all the time,” Maddie said, limping beside Jo.
“Tripping down the steps of a caravan,” Jo said. “Running into a glass door at a motel. Catching your toe on the corner of a coffee table. And that’s just in the last month. Should I go on?”
“No,” Maddie replied. She didn’t need to hear about slamming her finger in the limousine door last week or banging her head on the bottom of her desk a couple of days ago.
“So? What happened?” Jo asked again.
“I was running,” Maddie said.
Jo didn’t look like she believed it but she said, “Come and sit down and I’ll have a look.”
“I’m fine,” Maddie said, trying not to wince as she hobbled along the hallway using Jo as support. She dropped down onto a chair at the table and Jo sat down across from her. She lifted Maddie’s leg onto her lap and examined her ankle.
“There’s a little bit of swelling,” she said, turning it carefully in her hands. She moved Maddie’s foot sideways, making Maddie wince. “It doesn’t look like it’s enough to be broken though.” She stood up, pushed her chair closer to Maddie and placed her foot down. She took some ice from the freezer, wrapped it in a tea towel and wet it under the tap. “Hold,” she said, placing it on Maddie’s ankle.
Maddie did as she was told, and Jo sat down on the other side of the table. She folded her arms across her chest and though Maddie wasn’t looking at her, she could feel Jo’s glare.
This was one of Jo’s tactics. Sit and stare and not say anything until Maddie got too uncomfortable and just had to say something. Maddie didn’t give in this time though, because she was too focused on her sore ankle. She moved it a little and sucked in a breath. The cold got too much so she moved the ice pack to the other side of her ankle.
Finally, Jo uncrossed her arms and asked, “Who’s the girl?”
“Her name is Tess and she lives up the road.”
“And why was she bringing you back here on the back of a motorbike?”
“Because she’s nice.”
“That still doesn’t explain what happened.”
Maddie sighed. “I was running and not paying attention and I ran out in front of her. She almost ran over me but—”
Jo slapped her hand on the table. “Jesus, Maddie. You know I have to take you back in one piece, right?”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “It’s just a sprain.”
“We’ll let a doctor decide that I think.”
“I’m fine,” Maddie said. “Really."
“You don’t have a choice,” Jo said.
“Fine,” Maddie said. “But it’ll have to be after my hair appointment."
Jo shook her head.
“What?” Maddie took the ice pack off and put it on the table. Jo raised her eyebrows and Maddie placed the ice pack back on her ankle.
“Don’t you think that’s going a bit too far?” Jo asked.
“Doing something I want with my hair instead of what someone else thinks I should do? Why is that a bad thing?” Maddie couldn’t remember the last time she'd had a say over her ‘look’.
“You won’t be getting the same type of service up here. Not like the salons in Sydney.”
It was Maddie’s turn to shake her head. “I don’t care. This,” she said, holding out a handful of her bleached-blond hair, “was not my choice. I never wanted to be blond. But oh no, image is everything, isn’t it? And no-one pays attention to the girl with mousy-brown hair.” That’s what her own mother had said to her just over a year ago. It had been easier then to just let her mother have her own way, but she wasn’t going to let either of her parents run her life any more.
Jo held her hands up in surrender and said, “Alright, alright. You’re talking to someone who gets a twenty dollar haircut from whoever can fit her in. Just understand that when your father goes ballistic, I’m not stepping in this time to help you out.”
“Fine,” Maddie shrugged.
“Speaking of your father, he called again.”
“And?” He’d called Maddie’s phone too and left messages that she'd deleted without even listening to. She didn’t need to hear him telling her what he thought she should be doing anymore.
“And, you should talk to him, Maddie. He’s worried.”
Maddie snorted.
“Regardless of what you think of him, he’s still your father, and he just wants what’s best for you.”
“What’s best for him, you mean.”
Jo didn’t counter that point and instead changed tack. “Freya has left a heap of messages too. If you just do one thing, can you please call her? She doesn’t deserve to be left in the dark.”
“She knows what’s going on,” Maddie said, though she knew that wasn’t exactly true. All Freya knew was that Maddie had had a massive fight with her father. She had no idea what it was about, and if she told Freya the truth, she’d be devastated. Besides, Maddie hadn’t decided what she wanted to do yet, so it wasn't fair for her to dump everything on Freya without a solution. And there was Andy to think about too, though he’d probably just shrug and get back to his surfing.
“I’ll call her later,” Maddie said. Though it was to pacify Jo, she did think Freya deserved to at least know she was okay.
“Good,” Jo replied, apparently satisfied. She pushed away from the table and walked over to the fridge and started pulling food out. “I thought we'd do hot dogs for lunch.”
Maddie smiled. “Really? I thought they were full of crap?”
Jo laughed. “You’re on holidays, so a little bit of bad food won’t hurt.”
Maddie decided against telling Jo about the cream bun from this morning. That would count as her bad food allowance for the day, so hot dogs would be off the lunch menu. Thinking about lunch, she thought about what Tess had been talking about with her Pop earlier. “Hey,” she said. "What do you know about the Crush Festival?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Tess mentioned something about it.”
“I didn’t know it was still going,” Jo said.
“What do you mean?”
“The Copeland’s use to burn the last block of cane for the district and I think they just put on a bit of a party for whoever wanted to come.”
“Oh,” Maddie said. “So it’s not very exciting then?" She was mildly disappointed. Though Tess’s Pop had said it wasn’t much at all, Tess seemed to be excited by it.
“It was when I was little I suppose, but I left when I was five or six so I don’t remember too much about it.” Jo turned and leaned against the bench. "I haven’t been back in a long time, Maddie, so it could’ve changed since then. Did Tess say when it’s on?"
“Next weekend.”
“We can go if you like.”
Maddie nodded.
“But,” Jo said, pointing at Maddie with the cheese grater, “only if you stay injury free.”
“Deal,” Maddie replied.
Jo smiled and resumed making lunch.
FIVE
After dinner that night, Tess was in the kitchen helping with the dessert when Gran said, “Pop tells me you’ve met our new neighbours.”
Tess stopped pouring custard into the serving jug and asked, “What did Pop say?”
“That you almost ran her over on the bike.” She jabbed at Tess with a serving spoon. “You know I don’t like you roaring around the farm on that thing. It�
�s not safe.”
“I wasn’t going fast, and she was the one who ran out in front of me anyway.”
“Well I’m just glad you didn’t hurt the poor girl,” Gran said, pouring chocolate sauce over the puddings.
“Actually,” Tess said, “she kind of might have sprained her ankle. And got a graze on her knee. And her white tracksuit is ruined."
Gran clicked her tongue. “Has she got ointment?”
Tess shrugged. “I told her about it.”
“You should take some over to her. And some washing powder. They’re not from around here, so I doubt they’ll have anything that can get red dirt out." Gran bent down and pulled a Tupperware container from the cupboard. She spooned in some chocolate pudding, poured over some custard and said, “And take this. As an apology for almost killing the poor girl.”
“I didn’t almost kill her.”
Gran glared at Tess and Tess put her hands up in surrender. “Okay. I’ll take it over and apologise.” She didn’t need to be told twice.
Gran nodded at the dessert plates and said, “Help me take these out.”
Tess took two plates as well as the custard jug and followed Gran into the dining room where Pop, Lonny and Pete were talking.
Pete nodded his thanks when Tess handed him his dessert. Lonny, as usual didn’t have any. He was skinny as a rake and would eat as much roast meat and vegetables as he could fit in but Tess had never seen him eat dessert. In fact, Tess thought, Gran’s Sunday roast was most probably the main reason Lonny and Pete stayed out late to finish the harvesting. If they’d had to come back tomorrow, celebratory dinner would have been made by her, and the only thing she knew how to cook was spaghetti.
Tess poured custard over her pudding and settled into the conversation.
“Mary’s got another treatment to go,” Lonny said. “Then we have to just wait and see.”
“Is she getting new ones?” Pete asked.
“New ones what?” Tess asked.
“New boobs,” Lonny said.
“Oh,” Tess said. She must have looked confused because Gran said, “Mary opted for a double mastectomy, just in case.”