Wind Across the Playground

by Ross Richdale

  "What's wrong, Sarah?" Noel asked after waiting for the sobbing voice to gain composure.

  "Andy!" Sarah whispered. "The news of Lisa's death, you know. He loved her, Noel. I knew you were trying to cope so didn't tell you. "

  "Tell me what, Sarah?"

  "He had another heart attack just after you phoned the news through."

  "Damn!" Noel muttered more to himself than over the phone.

  "He's dead, Noel," Sarah blurted out. "Three hours ago." Her voice broke and another voice came on line.

  "Hello Noel," said a stranger's voice. "This is Hilda Woolstone, Lisa's aunt speaking. Everything is under control here but Sarah insists on flying down to Lisa's funeral. As you realize, she is under considerable distress. Can you arrange for someone to meet her flight at Dunedin Airport? It arrives at eleven thirty tomorrow morning."

  "I'll meet her," Noel replied.

  "But Lisa's funeral?"

  "It's at four," Noel replied. "Everything is being done here."

  "Are you sure?" the worried voice asked.

  "Yes," Noel replied. "I need to help."

  He hung up and stared around the bedroom. It was no different. Lisa's clothes were still in the closet and her shoes in the corner. With heavy heart, he walked out to the kitchen, grabbed a coat and walked out into the darkness. A full moon was shining from the frigid sky but Noel never noticed. He just wanted to walk so stopped only to grab his old torch and headed down the road, all alone with only memories for company.

  It was after two in the small hours when a Falcon pulled to a stop in front of the lonely man and a woman leaped out.

  "Come on, Noel," she said. "We'll get you home, shall we?"

  Noel glanced up and saw Margaret. "I'm okay," he said. "I needed to get away."

  "You're four miles down a dead end road, Noel," Margaret replied. "I've been looking for you over an hour."

  "Why?" Noel replied in a vague voice.

  "We care, Noel," Margaret replied. "We all do. Old Tom noticed you walk by the shop. You know the one streetlight they've got? Anyhow, he tried to catch you but by the time he got the old truck started, you'd disappeared. There are only three possible routes you could have taken if you stuck to a road." She grimaced. "I drove along Highway 92 and then checked out this road. Tom and Stan are checking the other direction."

  "Oh Margaret," Noel replied. "Lisa's gone and so has her father."

  Margaret took Noel's freezing hand and found his eyes. "What do you mean, Noel?" she whispered.

  In short stuttering sentences, Noel repeated the news.

  "Oh shit," the woman replied and tucked the tormented man into her arms.

  The two lonely figures stood as one on that remote road The full moon made their faint elongated shadows shimmer in the white light while a morepork called it's plaintiff cry from a nearby tree. For several moments, the pair remained talking softly before the woman kissed the man's forehead and guided him into the warmth of the waiting vehicle. She started the engine, turned the Falcon in the next gateway and they headed back home.

  THE FUNERALS WERE OVER. Lisa and Andy were interned in a double grave in the local Taihape cemetery on a hill above the town and, the following morning, Hilda Woolstone waited to take Noel back to Palmerston North airport for his afternoon flight south.

  Just after Noel threw his small overnight bag in the back of Hilda's station wagon, Sarah appeared at the back door of her house where they had both been staying.

  The woman walked up to Noel but stopped in front of him. "Noel?" she asked. "What about baby Alexia?"

  "I'm taking her home, Sarah," Noel responded. "I don't want strangers bring her up. Lisa wouldn't have wanted that."

  "But your school?"

  "I can take leave," Noel replied. "I'm thinking of applying for three months compassion leave and then..." he shrugged. "I haven't thought beyond that."

  "Can I come back with you Noel?" Sarah said and stumbled over her explanation. "I mean to look after Lisa's baby. There's nothing left here, Hilda and Henry have told me they can manage the farm. Henry and Andy always worked together anyhow and..."

  My God, her facial expressions were like Lisa's. Noel heaved. It was the wrong way around. Lisa looked like Sarah, not visa-versa.

  Sarah turned away. "It doesn't matter, Noel," she replied with her face lined with disappointment. She must have misinterpreted his sigh. "Who would want a middle-aged ex-mother-in-law hanging around? It was a stupid idea."

  Hell, she sounded like Lisa, too.

  Noel gulped and made an instant decision. "I would be proud to have you come home with me, Sarah," he said in a low voice. "Quite frankly, I had no idea how I would manage looking after Alexia on my own." He smiled slightly, "Being a dumb male, and all that."

  Sarah stopped and turned from the kitchen door. "Make it three months, Noel," she said in a quiet voice. "If after that, it doesn't work out, you can tell me to leave. Okay!"

  "Okay," Noel replied. He stepped forward and took Sarah's hands. "I have a funny feeling our Alexia is going to be a very well cared for young lady."

  "Spoiled rotten, probably," Hilda interrupted, "Hurry, though. It takes an hour and a half to drive to the airport."

  "The ticket for Sarah?"

  "It's all taken care of." Hilda said with a smile. "We pick it up at the airport. I telephoned through on the off chance you would agree to Sarah accompanying you."

  "My God!" Noel broke into a smile for the first time. "I can see where Lisa got her cheek from, her mother and auntie. I suppose all Sarah's bags are packed, too."

  "They're all ready in the wagon," Lisa's mother replied in a serious voice. "Just on the off chance, you see."

  BY IMMERSING HIMSELF in the school, Noel managed to get through the next few weeks with only the nights being unbearable when memories of Lisa flooded back in the wee hours. Sarah, though, was really his saviour and they often spent hours together in the middle of the night taking turns to feed and change Alexia or just talking. Sarah talked about Lisa's childhood from when she was at primary school to being somewhat of a rebel at high school. As well, she talked about her own life on the farm with Andy. It had been a sheltered and happy life overall but Noel detected a touch of sadness as if Sarah regretted years of just being on the farm for years on end.

  "One day, you look at yourself in the mirror and realize two decades have slipped by and you have really done nothing with your life," she said

  "Well, you are doing something useful now," Noel replied. "It is appreciated, you know."

  "Yes," Sarah replied. "Having a baby to care for makes me feel young again." She stood up as a tiny wail came from the bedroom. "Talking about babies, I believe our little girl demands attention again."

  Noel grinned watched his companion disappear up the corridor and retreated back to bed. It was after three and only a few hours before another school day arrived.

  WITH THESE SLEEPLESS nights, Noel would often become exhausted at school and the final hour became a sort of project time where the children just carried on with work while he just sat at his desk and stared vacantly out the window.

  The senior room pupils rose to the occasion and the problems were minimal, though the class was noisier than what Noel would normally expect. Wendy, the only Form Two pupil this year, became almost a substitute teacher who simply had to glower at the nine and ten-year-olds to get them back on task. She'd often even assign them extra work and reprimand them if their language work or projects became behind schedule or, in her opinion, weren't up to scratch.

  "Why should I do it again," Tony, the biggest problem in the room, snorted one afternoon when Wendy told him his nature study project was a scruffy mess and he needed to do the cover and title page again.

  "Because you don't draw scribbles of fighter planes on the cover of a project about native trees," Wendy snorted. "You either do it again or I'll ring Uncle Eddy tonight."

  Wendy's uncle and Tony's father, Edward McEwen was an old fashioned fa
rmer who believed in the values of a past era, including the theory that a good wallop did not harm his offspring. The threat to tell him was enough to motivate Tony into spending the next half-hour drawing quite a respectable picture of rata tree.

  The boy grinned at his effort and took it to his teacher for approval. Noel, who had hardly said a word to the class over the last quarter of an hour smiled at the cover.

  "Tony," he said. "That's marvellous. I always knew you were a great artist." He glanced up and winked at Wendy. "It's lucky your big cousin motivated you, isn't it?"

  "I drew it all myself, Mr. Overworth," Tony retorted.

  Noel caught the boy's eyes. "You know what I mean, don't you?"

  "I guess," the boy replied with a grin.

  "So make sure the rest of your project is just as good," Noel concluded.

  He stared round the classroom and smiled. It had taken a while but he was now coping with his grief and loneliness. At home, Sarah was totally efficient and Alexia was growing like as mushroom. As well, the house was kept far tidier than he'd ever seen and Sarah cooked them both a full meal every night.

  Though Noel never realized it at the time, the friends around him were responsible for his recovery so by the August school holidays the numbness had begun to fade and life more or less returned to normal. In the second week of the holidays, Kate returned to the district after a week at home with her parents in Dunedin and the pair spent many hours at school preparing for the new term. Noel found his assistant a very conscientious teacher who put hours of her time preparing work. She had also had her position at Ashleyvale extended until the end of the year and there was a very good chance she'd get the permanent position when it was advertised sometime before Christmas.

  Though Noel never said a lot, he was glad Kate was staying. It was as if she gave the school some stability that was needed. He would not admit, though, that she was becoming a close friend who filled more and more of the vacuum in his life.

  Margaret, too began to meet his needs in a different way. In early October, Sarah had to go back to Taihape to see the lawyer about Andy's estate and insisted on taking Alexia with her for the week so Noel found himself alone for the first time since Lisa's death. It was, however, not a pleasant experience as all the memories flooded back into the empty house and by the third night. He was so lonely and frustrated he considered taking up an offer by Stan to stay at his place until Sarah returned.

  It was mid-evening when there was a knock on the door and Margaret walked in with Cindy, her daughter. The six-year-old looked tired and distressed and cuddled a large doll as she stared at Noel with large red eyes. Margaret, if anything, looked worse. Her pale face had a large bruise down one side, a lip was swollen and one eye appeared half closed.

  "Wesley beat me up and threw us out," she said in a humble voice. "There's nowhere else to go this late. Can I stay? Tomorrow, I'm moving home to Mum's in Balclutha."

  "Yes, of course," Noel replied. He noticed Cindy had been crying and his heart went out to the little girl. He bent down by her. "What say I get you a nice drink of orange and we can put you down in Alexia's room? We have a brand new bed there that hasn't been used yet. You can take your dolly and Alexia's big teddy bear, too."

  "Can Mummy stay with me?" Cindy replied.

  "Of course, Dear," Margaret replied. "Tomorrow we'll go and stay with Grandma. Okay?"

  "And Daddy won't come and scream at us and hit you?" Cindy's voice trembled.

  "No Darling. Mr. Overworth will look after us until we get to Grandma's. It's too far to go tonight, isn't it?"

  Cindy nodded and cheered up a little when she saw the baby's room with soft toys and colourful pictures everywhere. She crawled in bed and fell asleep while her mother read several stories from a school library book that they'd brought with them.

  Afterwards, Margaret slipped out to where Noel had boiled the kettle and prepared supper.

  "He came home drunk and accused me of sleeping around," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Our arguing became so heated poor Cindy woke up.

  "Then he hit you," Noel said.

  Margaret nodded. "This was just one of many things, Noel. It wasn't just the drink. We are having money problems but Wesley won't try any new methods on the farm." She sighed. "I told him I was leaving and he grew violent..."

  Noel listened as Margaret told of her unhappy marriage, the frequent verbal abuses and, in recent weeks, physical assaults that ended with the quite violent thrashing an hour earlier that evening.

  "So here we are," the woman gulped. "I'm sorry, Noel but with Cindy, I could think of nowhere else to go."

  "That's fine," Noel replied. It briefly crossed his mind that Margaret had several relations in the district she could have stayed with but he guessed they were in-laws who would side with Wesley in any matrimonial dispute. "It's been damn lonely here without Sarah and Alexia, anyway. I'll get the other spare bed made up for you."

  He grinned as he found sheets in the cupboard and Margaret made the bed. This was the same one they had used during their brief affair but she made no mention of the fact. They talked for an hour before Margaret took her small bag and slipped into the room while Noel went to his own room.

  TWO HOURS LATER HE awoke and though of the woman across the corridor. Oh shit! He was immediately aroused and an enforced chastity since Lisa's death didn't help. He flung the blankets aside and stood up. He peeped out and hoped that Cindy was still asleep. Perhaps he should go back! He pushed on the other bedroom door and jumped in fright when is squeaked

  "I thought you'd never come," Margaret whispered and switched the bed light on. She sat up and he could see she was wearing absolutely nothing. My God! He'd forgotten what wonderful boobs she had....

  "Come here," he whispered in a choking voice.

  Noel watched while Margaret tossed the blankets aside and stood up

  She moved forward into his arms and all thought of modesty was gone. Without a word, she lay back with her legs apart. She moaned and held on while he made frantic love with her.

  "There's no guilt, Noel," Margaret finally whispered. "I'm not going back so there's nothing to be guilty about."

  AFTER THAT DAY, HE began a regular affair with her. She moved to Balclutha, rented a small apartment in the town and invited Noel in during the weekend. He'd drive in on Friday evening and stay over night. It was an informal arrangement with no long-term arrangement discussed. Two lonely people took pleasure in each other's company and the physical intercourse that always followed was stimulating and exciting. Still, Noel always felt guilty when he drove in on Saturday to meet Sarah's silent gaze. In some ways, he enjoyed Sunday afternoons better when Kate would arrive at school to prepare her week's work and they'd spend most of the time just chatting. Kate always made a point of cuddling Alexia and became Sarah's friend too.

  So more and more, Margaret provided for his physical needs while Kate became a platonic friend and companion, almost a younger Sarah.

  CHAPTER 10

  November arrived. Noel and Kate had both been accepted to a four-day residential conference held for country principals and their assistants at Rosehedge House, a rural conference centre just south of Dunedin.

  On the Tuesday morning, he picked her up from the teacher's apartment in Owaka she shared with two other teachers. She walked out, placed her bag in the back seat of his car and grinned at him.

  "Four days without children, Noel," she said. "It'll be a change, won't it?"

  "And no sleepless nights," Noel replied. "Not that it is too bad now with Alexia three months old. I never knew newborn babies were such hard work."

  "Yes, It's lucky you have Sarah to help," Kate said.

  "I could never have coped." Noel could smell the aroma of the scent she used and appreciated the light brown skirt with a white blouse that made her slightly fuller figure look very attractive. Her clothes were quite different from the skirt and lose fitting tops she wore to school and she had her dark hair recently c
ut in a modern short style.

  "Right, back to school for us," he chuckled as they drove off. "I haven't been to something like this since teacher's college days."

  "Yes, I miss the company from those days some times. You know, all the parties and things we did together. I grew up a lot at teachers' college."

  "Me, too, I guess," Noel said and settled down to listen to Kate chat away as they headed north.

  It was just after nine and half an hour before the official starting time when they drove into the conference centre. The main building was once a large colonial farmhouse that had later been turned into a private boarding school. Added to the original building was a two story dormitory block, a large dining room, recreation centre and classroom block. The whole complex was set on large grounds of well-maintained lawns and trees backed by a rocky stream. It was an ideal spot for this type of conference.

  The days went quickly with lecturers, working groups and brainstorming times, so by Thursday night there was one final evening session to attend a workshop about multi-classroom teaching.

  As the session continued, a tired Noel found he wasn't really listening to the group he ended up with. As is often the case in this type of conference, the lecturer taking the workshop had begun the session by swapping everyone around and he ended up with a woman who couldn't stop talking. He was tempted to be abrupt with her but smiled faintly at her remarks while, every so often, he managed to add a little to the conversation.

  At the end of the workshop, he smiled when he saw Kate waiting for him at the door and took the chance to excuse himself from the overbearing teacher.

  "I reckon the ones that make the most noise at these courses are the worst teachers," he commented.