by Sam Jasper
‘They’re back already,’ Gull says standing up. ‘I can hear the ute.’
‘Oh, Gull, let’s not mention the overdraft to anyone yet. I think it might be too much for Harry. And I don’t want to worry my lot until I’ve thought things through.’
‘Okay, fine,’ Gull nods. ‘Think I’ll show them my “secret project” now. That should cheer them up. And then I’ll see if I’ve got any bites.’
Running out to the ute, Gull helps them bring in the empty lunch baskets. ‘How’d you go?’ Gull asks Lucy.
‘She’s a natural,’ Ted says as he climbs out of the ute. ‘She’s a first class driver.’
‘Thanks, Ted,’ Lucy beams. ‘I love it: I love the big gears, sitting up high, looking down on the poor, lowly workers,’ she adds looking over at her brothers.
‘You’re a worker too, you know,’ Tom grumbles. ‘Just because you’re sitting up high doesn’t change the fact. Even the Queen on her throne is a worker.’
‘And how is my “queen bee”?’ Helen asks joining them. ‘Come in, Ted. Mind you, you won’t see much of Harry.’
‘Not still asleep?’ Ted says.
‘Like a lamb! Oh, by the way, how are my brothers doing? Doris says they’re camping at her place. Away from all the other “infectious” Harvesters.’
‘Ah yes!’ Ted says. ‘Well, you know how “that woman” split the district?’
They all nod.
‘Well, guess what?’
Helen shrugs. ‘What?’
‘The same thing’s happening on every farm. A few days into harvesting, the hemp starts to look a bit wobbly and not long after, it’s beginning to fall over.’
‘So the problem isn’t coming from here?’ Helen says elated. ‘Well, that’s good news.’
‘Sort of,’ Ted murmurs. ‘It just means that there’s more work for everyone else. Now we’ve got people camping on other people’s doorsteps so they don’t use petrol travelling around. It’s as if every farm has become a motel, which does have its good side too. Everybody’s got a common goal. People who probably haven’t spoken to each other in years are now yarning and backslapping. It’s great to see, if we all don’t drop dead from exhaustion in the meantime.’
Helen and Gull give each other a quick look.
‘Shirley’s contacting all the Pitt Street farmers from the city and seeing if they’re able to do anything for us.’
‘Pitt Street farmers?’ Gull repeats. ‘I didn’t know there were any farms in Pitt Street. Is there enough room?’
Ted looks over at Gull and starts laughing. ‘That’s what we call the weekend farmers, Gull. They only farm two days a week not eight days, like us.’ He looks back at Helen. ‘And good old Doris is ringing around the other CWAs to see if they can come up and help because we need to transport the hemp as quickly as possible. Then it can go to auction and the cash can start flowing.’ Ted stops and has a few sips of hot tea he’s poured while speaking, and an Anzac biscuit. ‘Are you sure Harry’s still asleep?’ he asks. ‘Maybe I’ll just go and check on him.’ With that, he gets up and goes off to find Harry.
‘Come on everybody. I want to show you what I’ve been doing on the computer while you’ve been working so hard.’
Without another word, everyone follows Gull into the study. Curious watches closely from her cage as Gull sits down. Then with a twitch of the hairless mouse by Gull, the web page appears.
‘Oh!’ Lucy exclaims. Helen laughs. ‘Mum, have you seen this already?’ Helen and Gull look at each other, remembering the phone call.
‘Just before you arrived,’ Helen says smoothly.
Tom grabs the mouse and starts scrolling through the different pictures. ‘They’re moving,’ he says.
‘They look so adorable,’ Lucy sighs. ‘I wish they were mine. Oh,’ she says laughing at herself, ‘they are.’
Jake grabs the mouse from his brother and clicks on the price. ‘One hundred and fifty dollars?’ he yells. ‘You’re kidding. No one in their right mind would pay that much for a mutt.’
‘Not from around here,’ Gull agrees. ‘But what about the Pitt Street farmers? And their friends? And the tourists? Just think of the market when Getalong becomes well known.’
‘I can see it now,’ Tom says in full flight. ‘Bigger than Canberra and no chance of going around in circles. Because there’s just one road in and one road out. Getalong, puppy paradise of the nation.’
‘Where’s your “off” switch, brother?’ Jake asks tackling him. They roll around the floor in mock combat.
‘Hey,’ Gull says suddenly, ‘I’ve got five hits already. And I only finished it this morning.’
‘What?’ Tom and Jake yell scrambling up from the floor. Gull brings up the five enquiries one after the other.
‘They all want to know where to stay. What do I tell them?’
‘Tell them about Mrs Bailey’s B&B. Hold on, I’ll ring her and see if she’s got space for the next few weekends,’ Helen says dashing out to the phone. Within five minutes, she’s back and grinning. ‘All set. She’s got room for the next four weeks. Gull, did you know her son’s the vet?’
‘Oh, I’ve already spoken to him,’ Gull says pleased with herself. ‘He’s going to bill us at the end for micro-chipping and inoculations.’
‘Well, his mum says she’ll have a word with him too: she’ll organise “mate’s rates” for us.’
‘Huh?’
‘It’s just that when you know somebody really well, you offer them a lower rate. We call it “mate’s rates”.’
‘Yeah,’ Tom says. ‘And,’ he winks at his brother, ‘I think we should give you “mate’s rates” too.’
‘Me?’ Gull says surprised. ‘What for?’
‘Well, we’re letting you sell our puppies aren’t we?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So we won’t charge you much for the honour of selling them.’
‘But the money’s for you,’ Gull frowns bemused.
‘See? That’s what I mean. We could make much more money if we charged you too. After all, strictly speaking, they’re our puppies. But we won’t charge you that much,’ Tom says.
‘But I thought it was the other way around.’ Gull says looking bewildered. Helen and Lucy burst out laughing.
‘Tom’s pulling your leg again,’ Jake grins, trying not to laugh.
‘I wish I could get used to your teasing,’ Gull sighs shaking her head.
‘No, don’t. Please,’ Tom begs. ‘I’m having fun.’
‘Well, I’d better answer these queries before they find other puppies,’ Gull says turning back to the computer. ‘I’ll have to give them directions on how to get here.’
‘I’ll tell you the best way,’ Helen says. And as Gull types it in, Helen describes the road to the Folly. ‘It’ll be nice to be giving rather than receiving, for a change,’ she adds, picturing the boxes of puppies left on the front step. ‘Oh, Jake, would you check on Harry? And ask Ted if he wants something to eat?’
Jake strolls into the bedroom. Ted is sitting by the bed filling Harry in on the day’s events. Jakes wanders over to the bed. He looks down at his father, then up again at Ted.
‘Who are you talking to, Ted?’
‘Your father.’
‘But he’s sound asleep.’
Ted sighs. ‘I know, Jake. I know. I just thought if I kept talking about what’s going on, he might suddenly wake up.’ He scratches his head absent-mindedly. ‘I must be pretty boring to have him sleep through everything I’ve said.’
Jake sits down on the bed. ‘Probably sleep until tomorrow morning,’ Jake says. ‘He looks dead to the world.’
‘Yeah,’ Ted nods, looking more tired than usual. ‘And the last thing we need is more calls from that bank manager.’
‘Huh?’
‘Oh, I suppose I shouldn’t tell you but that Cyril what’s-his-name saw Shirley. He’s talking about calling in our overdraft in a few weeks. And having an auction the next day.’
/> ‘Oh, no!’
‘I mean, the Bank knows we won’t have the money from the sale of the hemp for at least a month. They were willing to wait before now. But suddenly there’s all this urgency. Can’t understand it myself. It’s worrying Shirley no end: she’s like a blowfly in a bottle she’s that mad.’
‘Is Harry awake?’ Helen asks walking in.
‘Nope,’ Jake murmurs looking downcast. ‘Ted thought he’d try talking him into waking up. But it hasn’t worked yet.’ Jake looks at Ted. ‘Have you told Mum yet?’ asks Jake.
‘Told me what?’
‘About the Bank!’ A chill runs through Helen. Jake gets up and Helen sits down in his place. ‘I’ll bring you both some cake and tea,’ Jake says softly as he heads out the door. Within minutes, he’s back, leaving the tray on the bed.
Then Jakes rushes into the lounge room. The gang huddles around the computer while Gull answers the e-mails.
‘What’s up, Jake?’ Tom asks turning, as Gull finishes the last e-mail. The others turn to look at him.
‘Ted’s in trouble,’ he says frowning.
‘Why?’ Tom asks.
‘The Bank is calling in his overdraft.’
‘Oh no! Not them too,’ Gull sighs. Then she gulps. ‘Oops’.
‘What do you mean “them too”?’ Lucy asks suspiciously.
Gull clicks the e-mail closed and looks up at Lucy. ‘Please don’t tell Helen: I said I wouldn’t say anything. She didn’t want to worry you.’
‘Well, you’ll have to spill the beans now,’ Jake says.
‘Alright,’ Gull says awkwardly. ‘The bank manager was here.’
‘And?’ Tom prompts.
‘Harry and Helen have got two weeks before the Bank forecloses. Otherwise, the Folly goes to auction the next day.’
Lucy gasps. ‘But how much does the Bank want?’
‘About $30,000,’ Gull says quietly.
‘Thirty!’ the cousins repeat loudly together.
‘And now, if I can sell your puppies, that would be a good money-making scheme to help save the farm.’ Tom looks hard at her. ‘I know Tom: to stop Harry making puppy pie.’
‘How much for the puppies?’ Tom asks shaken.
‘About $3,000 to $4,000 if I sell them all,’ Gull says glumly.
For a few minutes, there’s dead silence as the cousins try to think of solutions.
‘Well,’ Lucy says at last as she looks around the room, ‘if we sold Trixie and Dot, maybe we could get another, say, $2,000.’
‘More likely to end up in the glue factory.’
‘Don’t say that,’ Lucy groans cuffing Tom.
‘I could sell cakes to the tourists in the main street,’ Jake says.
‘Too much competition from the CWA,’ Lucy tells him.
Jake thinks hard. Suddenly he says, ‘What about Mum doing psychic readings? We could dress her up in an old black dress with lots of scarves and loopy gold earrings. She could read palms because we don’t have a crystal ball.’
‘Or she could just stare into the distance, as if she’s seeing the future.’ Tom adds. When this is greeted with silence, he tries again. ‘Maybe Lucy could sell her artwork. Oh, hang on. What about Lucy doing sketches of people, like those quick sketch artists you see in old movies?’
‘I’m not that quick,’ Lucy murmurs. ‘I know,’ she says brightly. Maybe we could just sell Tom.’
‘On the Internet,’ Jake says. ‘Gull could do it in five minutes flat.’
‘Be serious,’ Tom says. ‘This is no time for joking.’
‘Who says we’re joking, brother?’ Jake answers giving Tom a friendly shove. ‘Although we might not get more than 50 cents.’ Tom looks hard at his brother who grins cheekily at him.
‘Any heirlooms?’ Gull asks desperately.
‘Only the Folly! That’s the family’s favourite heirloom,’ Lucy mumbles despondently.
When Helen comes in a few minutes later, she sees four very downcast faces. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Jake told us about Ted and the Bank. Then Gull told us about the bank manager coming out here,’ Tom says.
‘Thanks, Tom,’ Gull says exasperated.
‘Ugh, sorry,’ Tom gulps, turning bright red.
‘Well, you would have found out eventually,’ Helen says, shrugging. ‘It’s just that I didn’t want to worry you. It’s alright, Gull,’ she smiles sadly looking over at her worried niece.
‘What about Dad?’ Jake asks.
‘He’s still snoring his head off,’ Helen sighs. ‘So, we’ll have to think up something by ourselves.’
‘We’ve been trying to think of things we could sell,’ Lucy pipes up.
‘They even wanted to sell me,’ Tom tells her indignantly.
‘I’ll miss you, Tom,’ Helen says looking serious. Tom looks crestfallen. ‘Only kidding,’ she says grabbing him and giving him a big hug. ‘I forgot, my boy: it’s the teasers who can’t be teased.’ Letting Tom go, she says, ‘Even if we could sell everything, we’d have to do it quickly.’
‘Oh, that’s easy,’ Gull smiles. ‘I could just put everything on eBay. People buy the stupidest junk. I mean,’ she stumbles, ‘er, people buy unbelievable stuff.’ As she’s talking, she clicks onto eBay and starts scrolling through.
‘You were right the first time,’ Jake says as she scrolls down through the list of items. ‘I mean, who’s going to want a 60s butterfly chair? Or a lava lamp?’
‘Ah, those things are selling like crazy,’ Gull tells him.
‘Alright,’ Tom says, ‘let me have a go. What about a chess set made out of marble? Mmm, that sounds nice. Wouldn’t mind it myself. Or what about a box of painted soldiers of Napoleon’s army from the Battle of Waterloo? Wow, that sounds really cool. Or what about…’
‘What about you stop looking for yourself and start thinking about what we can sell?’ Lucy says annoyed.
‘Look, maybe tomorrow, Gull and I can go through the rooms in the house and see what can be sold,’ Helen says looking around the lounge room sadly.
‘But how will you know how much anything is worth?’ Lucy asks.
‘Everything in this house is priceless,’ Helen says very quietly.
‘I’ll just look for similar things on eBay,’ Gull says quickly, ‘and we can go from there.’
Helen looks around at her offspring and Gull. ‘Guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a clean-out. We could sell the clothes you’ve grown out of and the ones your father and I don’t wear.’
‘And I could start looking at ways to cut back on the food bill. Maybe I could make damper instead of bread. I know! I could use pasta to thicken the soup. And I’d really like to try using rice as a pie crust instead of using flour.’
‘Or we could just stop eating altogether,’ Tom says pleasantly. ‘Rice instead of pastry? What a stupid idea. Whoever heard of such a thing, Jake?’
‘You did. I just told you,’ Jake says cuffing his brother as he stands up ready to head for bed.
Half an hour later, the house is eerily quiet. Together, Gull and Helen are standing at the bottom of the stairs, the others having gone up to bed.
‘Don’t worry,’ Gull says gently to Helen. ‘I’m sure something will turn up. I mean, maybe this is just a really bad dream. One minute, things seem to be getting better. And the next minute, things are worse. It’s really mysterious. Say, maybe the bank manager will get transferred and you’ll get a nice one again, like Mr Silver.’
‘Doubt it,’ Helen says trying to smile. ‘This one’s just arrived. I get the impression he’s here for the long haul.’ She sighs heavily. ‘Now, Gull, up to bed with you. And I’ll promise not to worry, if you promise too.’ Mutually promising, Helen and Gull head for bed. And lay awake half the night worrying.
* * *
While waiting and worrying for their 8.00am lift, Lucy is watching her mother sleep in her usual chair in the lounge room.
‘Poor Mum,’ she says softly as she bends down and kisses her gently on t
he cheek before picking up her sketchbook. Sitting down comfortably opposite Helen, she begins putting the finishing touches to yet another sketch of a sleeping Helen. ‘Looks as if she’s standing up, rather than lying down,’ Lucy murmurs looking critically at her sketch. ‘Perspective’s all wrong.’
‘What are you mumbling about?’ Jake asks as he comes in carrying a tea tray.
‘Is it that time already?’ Lucy asks surprised.
‘No, just thought seeing I’ve finished up, you might like a cup of tea too. Plus we could finish off the jam roll before Tom finds it,’ he adds impishly. ‘Anything more?’ asks Jake as Lucy pours their tea.
‘Nothing at all for the last four days,’ Lucy says shrugging. She takes a bite of the jam roll. ‘Yum,’ she mumbles appreciatively.
‘Our very own raspberries,’ Jake says taking a bite himself. ‘Makes all the difference, doesn’t it?’
Lucy nods. Finishing her mouthful, she looks at Jake.
‘What?’ he asks.
‘You know, I think Mum might have run out of ideas and dreams. I mean, she’s still sleeping heavily during the day but for shorter periods. And that seems to be it. No hints, no words, not even any dreams that she can remember. Maybe whatever it is that she’s been picking up on is losing its power.’
‘You mean vanished?’ Jake asks.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lucy says slowly. ‘Otherwise, she’d be awake. No, I think we’ve got all the information we’re going to get this way. Now, the only problem is Dad. I know he’s walking around like a bit of a zombie but it’s getting harder and harder to keep Mum’s sleeping a secret from him, even with Shirley’s help. I mean, what happens if he comes back and finds her asleep?’
‘Or one of the CWA helpers finds out she’s sleeping all the time and lets it slip. You know how news travels.’ A picture of Norah Sprogg immediately springs into their minds.
‘So I’ve been thinking,’ Lucy says slowly.
Jake grins. ‘Thought you might have,’ Jake grins. ‘Have you got a plan? Do we make Mum stand under a cold shower for six hours until she wakes up?’
Lucy shivers. ‘Ooh, not nearly so gruesome. You sound like Tom thinking up something so horrible.’