Raintree Valley

by Violet Winspear

  ‘Yes, I think I had reached the stage where I was ready to be nudged out of my little hole in the country.

  ‘Does Queensland frighten you a little, being so big?’ Cherry asked. ‘I lived in the city with Jeff for nine years, and when we came out here I used to lie awake at night and listen to the strange noises and feel certain I’d never get used to the sheer spaciousness of it all.’

  Cherry shot a smile at Adam. ‘To a man like Corraine it’s his very skin and he loves it, don’t you, cobber?’

  ‘It’s one of the things I love,’ he said in that soft drawl.

  Mandy made eyes at him. ‘I love you,’ she said, sticky-faced and so darned cute that Joanna wanted to hug her close ... close against her heart that was opening wide to this warm land and these people with their rugged warmth.

  All at once a boy came strolling round the side of the house. He wore jeans but no shirt. His hair was like burned wheat, and his face was a freckled wedge set with his father’s eyes. ‘Hi, Adam!’ He leapt the veranda steps and broke into a wide smile. ‘I heard the plane coming in over the hill, but I was busy fixing the dynamo for the bore of the pool. D’you feel like a swim? The water comes in from deep down and is pretty cool.’

  ‘Would you like to take a swim, Joanna?’

  ‘I’d love it.’ She looked from Adam to the boy, who blinked a little with his surprise at seeing a stranger, a girlish one in a cyclamen shirt and blue jeans.

  ‘This is my son Terry,’ said Jeff, a note of pride in his voice. ‘The pool was his idea, Joanna. He had me and the boys lugging stones and mixing cement for the lining.’

  ‘Joanna.’ Terry thrust a hand through his shock of hair. ‘That’s a nice sort of name.’

  ‘Mandy wants to swim.’ The child danced round the chairs. ‘I can swim, Uncle Dam.’

  ‘In a rubber belt,’ Terry mocked. ‘And does she splash, so watch out, everyone.’

  Cherry took Joanna to her bedroom to change into a swimsuit, and the two girls had to laugh at the contrast between Joanna’s pale skin and Cherry’s, which was deeply sun-tanned. ‘Being here at Monkey Tree Hill has made me really well again,’ she said happily. ‘Jeff was awfully worried at the time, and so was I! He was due for a big promotion at the meat-works, and it would have killed me if he hadn’t made a go of sheep-farming. Adam has been a marvellous standby. Our first year was a financially bad one, but he saw to it that we didn’t go downhill, and through his contacts Jeff found a really good market for his wool.’

  Mention of Adam made Joanna feel suddenly shy of being seen by him in the pale gold, one-piece bathing suit. She wouldn’t feel half so shy with Vance.

  ‘It’s a good thing I hung on to that suit,’ said Cherry. ‘I’ve filled out since having Mandy. Oh, for the days when I had a slim figure like yours! Jeff could span my waist with his hands, almost.’

  ‘You have two fine children,’ Joanna said warmly.

  ‘My city boy and my country girl. It’s funny, but Terry will want to go to the city to make a career, and Mandy loves the country. You should see her with the new lambs.’

  ‘I can imagine.’

  ‘Adam is very fond of her. She was christened here in the lounge at Monkey Tree. The parson flew from a city church. Some homestead folks are married that way.’ They joined the others at the pool, which was surprisingly attractive with its paved border set with canvas chairs, and trees to shade those who wanted to sun-lounge. Adam was splashing in the water with the two children and their laughter was good to hear. The water caught the inviting sparkle of the sun, and a thrill of pleasure ran through Joanna as she slipped into the pool and swam towards Mandy, who was kicking water all over Adam.

  His laughing eyes flashed to meet Joanna’s, then a big coloured ball whizzed over from Terry and she ducked, as if it were the ball she avoided rather than the eyes that glinted like crystal against the brown face with water in its crevices and a lance of hair plastered across his forehead. His shoulders were wide and coppery, and dark hair daggered his chest. He looked younger, his cares thrown off those strong shoulders for an hour or two.

  They played volley-ball in the pool, and tired at last they joined Cherry and Jeff under the shade trees. Joanna savoured the warm stillness as Mandy fell asleep in the circle of Adam’s arm, and she watched the strong repose of his face through her lashes. He cared about the people who were part of Raintree, and he treasured these friends of his, yet she had the feeling that part of him was lonely, as if he had always been too busy to fall in love. Was it possible that pretty, self-centred Bonney could fill the gap in the heart of this man? Perhaps all he wanted now was a son like Terry, and a little girl of his own to sleep with her tousled head against his shoulder.

  As the evening sun went down the day grew cool and they went indoors to change out of their swim-suits and to enjoy a cream tea. The lounge grew dim and when Cherry switched on the light it flickered and shone dull in the lamps.

  ‘Something’s crook with the generator.’ Terry jumped to his feet, wiped cream off his lips with his table napkin, and hurried off to put the matter right.

  ‘It’s handy having an electrician in the house,’ Jeff grinned. ‘Our lighting is operated by a diesel generator. Acts up now and again and Terry fixes it. For my part I’d be happy with kerosene lamps. They’re more reliable.’

  ‘Anyone for another cup of tea?’ Cherry was standing with the teapot poised in her hand when there was a sudden flash, a dull bang, and everything went dark.

  ‘Terry!’

  ‘The oil-lamps, let’s get them alight!’ The table shook as Jeff blundered against it, and Joanna felt her heart beat fast with alarm. Mandy began to cry and she reached for the child and held her. ‘Hush, poppet. In a minute we’ll have some light and will find out what went bang.’

  ‘Went bang,’ Mandy echoed, her face pressed against Joanna for comfort.

  Jeff got the lamps alight, and Adam took one and they strode out to the veranda and ran down the steps, Cherry following with a frightened look in her eyes. Joanna held on to Mandy and tried not to tremble. The day had been too perfect. Calamity had arrived to cast its shadow - that nice boy with his thatch of wheat-coloured hair had been hurt, the shock of it had penetrated the house from the generator shed.

  Adam returned first, carrying the unconscious boy in his arms with great care. Jeff followed with his arm around Cherry, who was weeping. ‘Now, now, old girl. He’s shocked and a bit burned, but he’s breathing. We’ll see what’s to do, and then I’ll get on to the FJD.S.by radio.’

  ‘Jeff, his arm!’

  ‘I know, old dear,’ Jeff soothed, while Mandy broke into renewed howls, which Joanna quietened as best she could.

  In that strong, silent way of his Adam laid the boy on the sofa and examined carefully the extent of his burns. He turned an expressionless face to Cherry and Jeff. ‘We’ll just cover these, and I’ll fly him straight to the nearest hospital - yes, Cherry! Burns can’t be treated here as they should be – now be a good girl and get me the first-aid box. And, Jeff, will you get a couple of blankets to wrap him in.’

  ‘Terry—’

  ‘The sooner we get him some professional help the better he’ll be, Cherry,’ Adam said practically.

  ‘I ... I know. Adam, he looks so small and hurt, a-and only a little while ago he was eating fruit and cream ...’ Cherry crushed a hand against her mouth and hurried into the adjoining room, where something fell and broke as she dragged the medical box out of a cupboard. Joanna met Adam’s eyes over the scared child in her arms.

  ‘Cherry will want to fly to the hospital with her boy—’

  ‘Yes.’ He stroked the wheaten hair out of the boy’s closed eyes. ‘You stay here and look after Mandy. I’ll ask Jeff to get through to Raintree by radio-phone to let them know we’ll be delayed getting home. Don’t look so worried, Joanna. Terry is going to be all right. He’s concussed and has some nasty burns on his arm, but it shouldn’t take me more than a couple of hours to reach
the nearest hospital ... you don’t mind staying here? Mandy needs a woman, and you’ll be company for Jeff.’

  ‘Of course I’ll stay. I’m only sorry that such an enjoyable trip should have ended in this way...’

  ‘It may be morning before I can get back to you.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, so long as Terry gets the treatment he needs.’

  ‘Crazy kid, so anxious to be a man before he’s half out of short pants. Reminds me of myself ... it’s something about the country. So much to conquer, so much to take, too little time to play in the yard with childhood things.’ A quarter of an hour later Terry was wrapped in a blanket and carried out to the car. Joanna watched from the veranda as Jeff took the wheel. ‘Don’t be nervous,’ Adam had said to her. ‘It won’t take Jeff more than a few minutes to drive us to the plane.’

  ‘Safe journey,’ she had said to him.

  He had looked at her for a long moment. ‘You don’t flap when there’s trouble, do you, Joanna Dowling? I’ll see you around sunrise.’

  They had gone and everything was quiet again. He had spoken as if he cared about leaving her and would hurry back ... she turned and hurried indoors to Mandy, who had gone to sleep on the sofa in the aftermath of her tears. Joanna bustled about clearing the tea things, as if she needed to keep busy in order to keep her thoughts at bay.

  She was at breakfast with Jeff and Mandy when the sound of the homing plane broke the morning silence. ‘There’s Adam!’ Jeff gave her a grateful look. ‘You’ve been a brick, Joanna, staying to look after Mandy and me - now don’t worry about the dishes! I’ll drive you to the plane right away. Adam said he’d wait there for us.’

  Cherry was with him and she ran with a glad cry into Jeff’s arms. ‘Terry’s going to be all right! The doctor reckons he’ll be well enough to come home in about a week. They’ll bring him in the flying ambulance...’

  ‘Mamma, Mandy’s here.’ The child clamoured to be noticed, and Cherry bent to her and hugged her close. ‘How’s my big girl? Have you been good while I’ve been away?’

  ‘Jo-yanna told me a story all about a magic motor car.’ Mandy looked around and smiled widely at Adam, who stood tall in the morning sunlight, his eyes holding a lazy smile. ‘Where’s Terry? Why didn’t you bring him back in the plane, Uncle Dam?’

  ‘He hurt his arm, sweetheart, and has to stay in hospital for a little while. He’ll be home soon.’

  Mandy’s eyes grew big and green as she thought this over. ‘Did Terry cry when he hurted his arm?’ she asked.

  ‘He was very brave, darling.’ Cherry pressed a kiss against the little one’s bright hair. ‘He is in a ward with other children, so he won’t miss us too much.’

  ‘All of them hurted, Mamma?’

  ‘Yes, but they’re all getting better. Tonight we’ll see if we can talk to Terry over the radio-phone, shall we?’

  ‘Yes, Mamma. Oh, I do wish it was tonight!’

  As if this underlined the passing of time, Joanna looked at Adam and found him looking at her. ‘We’d better be on our way,’ he said. ‘Say, what have you got in the satchel?’

  ‘There’s a flask of tea and some eatables.’ Jeff held out his hand to Adam. ‘You can enjoy your breakfast in the air, feller. I guessed you’d feel peckish, and saying thanks is not enough.’

  ‘Joanna ...’ Cherry looked at her with eyes still rather puffed and strained. ‘You’ve been so nice about everything - what do I say?’

  ‘You said it a few minutes ago,’ Joanna smiled. ‘Terry is going to be all right.’

  After that goodbyes were brisk, as if to cover up feelings laid a little bare by anxiety and its aftermath of relief. From her seat in the plane Joanna waved at the small group down on the strip. Mandy waved back excitedly, a red-haired moppet in sky-blue pants. Joanna felt a lump in her throat. When she left Raintree she would never see again that delightful child, whose, ‘Bye-bye, Jo-yanna,’ was lost in the roar of the engine as they taxied along the runway for their take-off.

  ‘Bye-bye, little one,’ she murmured, and as they lifted into the air she blinked hard to stop her tears from showing.

  ‘I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea now we’re airborne,’ Adam said to her a few minutes later, as they skimmed through a fluffy layer of clouds.

  Joanna poured out the tea for him and he drank it thirstily. He enjoyed also a couple of the bacon sandwiches she had made for him back at Monkey Tree Hill. Jeff had put a fruit cake into the satchel as well, also some chocolate and biscuits. ‘It’s a fair run to Raintree and you might feel like a bite.’ She remembered his words, and thought how strong and warm were the ties of these friends who lived so many miles apart.

  ‘Mmm, that feels better,’ said Adam. ‘Cherry was so anxious to get back to Jeff and the moppet with the good news about the boy that we didn’t stop for breakfast—’ There he broke off sharply and when Joanna looked at him, he was staring, at the control-panel, his gaze fixed on the fuel gauge.

  ‘Almighty Joe, now I’ve done it!’

  ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ She gave him an anxious look.

  ‘We were thinking so much about Terry - the fact is, Joanna, I forgot to get the plane re-fuelled.’ A frown cleft his brows. ‘We’ll be lucky if we make it as far as Raintree on the fuel we’ve got left! We could turn back, but that hilly terrain would be dicey to land on if we had to go down in a hurry. I think our best plan is to keep straight on—’

  ‘Won’t that mean flying over the sea?’ Joanna asked, her pulses set racing by a meeting with Adam’s grey eyes.

  ‘We should manage to clear the water, but afterwards I’ll take her down on a clear strip of beach. I’m not flying till we run right out of fuel—’

  ‘We’ll be stranded!’ Joanna gasped.

  ‘We’ll be on the right side of the Coral, but it will mean a trek through the forest to Raintree. Sorry this trip is turning into a chapter of accidents, Joanna, but as we say in this part of the world, be prepared for anything. How much tucker did Jeff provide?’

  She took a look at the satchel. ‘There are a few sandwiches left, a fair-sized cake, a slab of chocolate and some biscuits, nice buttery home-made ones.’

  ‘Good old Jeff!’

  ‘You’re being very matter-of-fact about all this,’ she protested. ‘What about your people - shouldn’t you contact them by radio to let them know we’re running out of fuel and in for a forced landing?’

  ‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘Jeff got through to them last night and if we’re delayed, they’ll think we’re still at the Brennans’ place and won’t worry unduly. If Aunt Charly knew we were in for a forced landing she’d organize a search party, which isn’t necessary, and I want those young steers branded. Then there’s Bonney ...’

  Of course, Bonney would be bound to worry ... because Adam was stranded in the rain-forest with another girl, where grew the wild orchids, and where sang the love birds who flew about in pairs. The garden of Eden in which Adam had often roamed ... this time he would have with him a rather reluctant Eve.

  She glanced away from him, and suddenly far below them a shimmer of silvery blue broke through the hazy clouds. ‘We’re approaching the sea,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Are you sure we’ll make it to the other side?’

  Even as she spoke they began to drop down lower, and something about the set of Adam’s face told her that already they were losing altitude.

  ‘Whenever I’ve got to do this,’ he said dryly, ‘I’ll take along a passenger who doesn’t flap. Joanna, you’re a credit to the British Isles. My father always called the Tommies the best mates on earth to be with in a tight corner.’

  After that she had to justify his faith in her, and she sat holding on to her smile, and their satchel of food. The gleaming sea was very close to them now, rippling and winking as the sun touched it, a translucent blue shot with silver, beautiful and dangerous, for fangs of coral lurked under that beguiling surface.

  ‘It’s as if the sun has melted sapphires and they’ve r
un molten through green woods and brought a tinge of emerald with them.’ Joanna spoke her thoughts aloud, but Adam didn’t laugh at her flight of fancy. He glanced at her, at the sun and sea light in her fair hair.

  ‘Do you know what the aborigines say of the sun?’

  ‘No.’ She half-smiled and thought them both crazy to be talking of myths and fancies even as the petrol gauge dropped a few points lower.

  ‘They worship the sun as a young goddess; they say she lights up the sea and land with her bright hair and her skirts of gold.’

  ‘That’s beautiful,’ she said. ‘I expect you must have learned a lot from the aborigines.’

  ‘Including bush craft, in case you’re worried about getting lost in the woods with me.’

  ‘We’re hardly babies,’ she murmured.

  ‘I’m not - but in some ways you’re pretty innocent.’

  ‘I - I don’t understand you.’

  ‘Which proves my point. It might not take too long to fly over a rain-forest, but it takes longer to trek through one.’

  She knew at once what he meant. If they landed safely, it would take them some time to reach Raintree. They might have to spend a night alone among the orchids and the raintrees.

  Below them now she could see the reef of coral that lay about a mile off-shore. The plane was bumping as the engine grew hungry for fuel. ‘Keep your eyes peeled for a likely place where I can bring her down.’ Adam was now controlling the monoplane with an effort, for she seemed to be dipping her nose as if at the pull of gravitation. But they couldn’t go down anywhere - even as land came into sight and there was a flash of blue and yellow flowers, growing closely together to form a carpet, he said grimly: ‘Swamp land. We’d sink like a stone if I went down on to that inviting little patch.’

  Joanna gave a shiver, and then her gaze lit on a sandbar, a creamy-white in the sun patched with the green of palms, jutting out to form a landing strip for them ... if Adam could bring down the plane without too much of a run out, otherwise they’d land in the sea!

  ‘Look!’ She caught at his arm and pointed out the sandbar. ‘Will it do?’