Bilgarra Springs (8 page)

It didn’t take long for Fiona, Kate and Harriet to emerge. Aurora was quite touched when Fiona came over and kissed her husband on the mouth. It was nice to see a couple that still observed such nice, little touches after a lifetime together. As though responding to some unheard signal, the group then seemed to start to move and act with purpose, all the while continuing to chat to each other. Con pulled out a large barbeque, Heather retrieved tablecloths. Mike returned with a couple of full salad bowls. Next thing Fiona was herding backsides off the table and flicking tablecloths. Gerry dropped a mass of cutlery in the middle of the table, Callan placed piles of plates at both ends. Kate and Harriet brought out coleslaw and potato salad. Arthur emerged from the house with a large tray covered in sausages, steak and flat rissoles. Trevor was the proud bearer of a delicious smelling potato bake. Theresa brought out a container full of chopped onions, oil, salt and paper towels. Matt and Keith did a drinks run. They were working like a well-oiled machine. Each person was doing something, without anybody directing proceedings. Aurora was the only one not participating and she felt distinctly out of place.

Dinner turned out to be a noisy affair. No wonder Fiona and Trudy had enjoyed the quiet of last night. Conversations flowed in all directions. She ended up being squeezed between Casanova Keith and Matt. The latter turned out to be quite surly in nature. Then again, maybe he was just uncommunicative and it was his shaved head and bulky body that made her think he was surly. Either way, he wasn’t interested in a steady stream of dinner conversation. She didn’t feel personally offended as he didn’t talk to Theresa on the other side of him, or to Con and Heather on the other side of the table either.

Trudy, Rick and the girls sat across the table from Aurora and Aurora noticed that Trudy spent most of the meal with a very funny look on her face. Little did Aurora know that Trudy found Keith’s outlandish flirting hilarious in itself, but even funnier still was Aurora’s complete inability to realise what he was up to. Whilst his blatant flattery didn’t have the desired effect, the seriousness with which Aurora was treating his attempts at conversation was priceless. Each time Aurora met Trudy’s eyes they were twinkling in amusement which just puzzled Aurora even more. Trudy even had to bite her lip to keep the laughter in after one particularly over-the-top attempt by Keith. This one did get Aurora’s attention and she eventually rolled her eyes at Trudy, hoping like mad that Keith couldn’t see it. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but please...

Trudy eventually rode to the rescue, cutting into the conversation whilst elbowing Rick to get his attention away from his father and pointedly asking a question related to what they had in store for Aurora next week. Kate and Harriet weren’t much help, they had their little, blonde heads together, engrossed in their own world. In the end, Rick and Trudy had carried the conversation and Keith had pulled his head in.

After dinner Trudy and Aurora were in the kitchen together clearing off, stacking and rinsing plates. Aurora wasn’t sure whether the subtle change in Trudy’s treatment of her was due to the return of her husband and friends, putting Trudy at ease, or whether sometime during the day the barrier had just come down, but either way, Trudy seemed to have come out of her shell. She flashed Aurora a particularly smirky look.

‘I think you have an admirer.’

Aurora snorted before responding.

‘If I’m not mistaken, Keith admires all the girls.’

Nothing else needed to be said and the two women erupted into full belly laughs, Trudy finally letting go of the restraint that she had shown during dinner. When they had finished doing their bit in the kitchen, Trudy went to organise the girls for baths and bed. By this stage the remaining people were lounging about all over the place again. A wide cupboard on the other side of the doorway to the crockery cupboard had been opened and a large TV had been turned on. The younger half of the group had their attention firmly fixed on the screen. Aurora went and quietly excused herself, wishing Fiona, Arthur and Rick a good night. She wasn’t used to all the noise and being surrounded by people and she was desperately seeking the sanctuary of her room.

In all the hubbub of the last couple of hours Aurora hadn’t had a chance to mull over the journal or what she had read so far. On returning to her room, she saw it lying open on the bed where she had left it. After closing the house door, she rounded the end of the bed to close the French doors that she had opened earlier and then threw herself facedown across the bed and brought Gran’s journal over in front of her.

3 January 1946

We have spent the last week and a half travelling and now find ourselves quite by accident at Bilgarra Springs. Charles was desperate to take a motoring holiday now that the war is over and movement is easier. With all the restrictions that the war imposed and his having spent his time so far studying and going into practice with his father, he was desperate to get away. I don’t disagree with him but think that we would have received a lot less resistance had we left after Christmas rather than the day after the wedding. No doubt once we start a family as he is keen to do, any travel will be severely curtailed. So we set off on our honeymoon, driving for a few hours each day and sightseeing for the rest of the time. Charles had been keen to see the ‘outback’ so we went inland. Unfortunately, there has been a fair bit of rain out here, and Charles’ ’41 Ford De Luxe, his pride and joy, was not up to the post-rain roads out here. The rough road and stones damaged the suspension badly and then even though we were only travelling very slowly, we became bogged. Luckily two brothers came along in a logging truck. They very kindly picked us up and knowing the owner of the closest property, brought us to here to Bilgarra Springs.

Aurora started to chuckle. She had a very clear mental picture of her grandparents when they were young, bogged and standing on the side of the road. She shook her head and wondered at her grandfather bringing a conventional car out here all those years ago. He always had been more an academic man than practical and she could only wonder at what he had been thinking. No wonder they had ended up stranded. So, Bilgarra Springs had been an accident. Aurora read the remainder of the entry.

Luckily the truck was empty as they were on their way back and in true gentlemanly fashion, they put me in the cab where they thought I would be most comfortable, and Charles and one of the brothers rode on the flat bed of the truck. The ride in the truck made me appreciate the comfort of our car. Charles is so proud of that car. Being the end of the war, new cars are impossible to find. He had found the Ford in almost mint condition and had jumped at the chance to own it. The brothers are going to see if others at the station can give them a hand to get the car to someplace where it can be fixed. I don’t think that an extended stay at a station was what Charles had in mind when he wanted to see the outback. No matter, the experience will be more real than anything else that we could have done. We were greeted very warmly by the owners and invited to stay as long as necessary. Charles has said that he is very eager to go back to retrieve the car. I understand his urgency. Other than our home, the Ford was his first major expenditure, and as such, he is very eager to have it somewhere safe. Being late in the afternoon, it was decided that the best thing would be to take a look first thing in the morning. Poor Charles, he seemed a little agitated at that news but there is nothing to be done.

Aurora closed the journal, rolled over and clasped it to her chest. This insight into her grandparents lives as newlyweds had thrown her a bit and she was filled her with an intense longing to speak to them again, followed by a wave of sadness due to the impossibility of it. She didn’t have either of them anymore. She would have loved to have sat down with them and talked and laughed over the contents of the journal but that wasn’t possible. In that brief second, she felt incredibly isolated she was on this property surrounded by strangers, and the journal that she had thought would bring her a greater connection with Gran at a time when she so desperately needed it, had revealed a young couple with a life and background that she hadn’t known about, making them in a sense strangers as well.

six

W
ildest
D
reams

Despite Aurora feeling very much out of place now that the full crew had returned, the weekend passed quietly. Cal’s mare, Arabella, had arrived mid morning on the Saturday and the whole crew, Aurora included, had gathered around to see her unloaded. The mare seemed to have taken the transportation in her stride and wasn’t spooked or jumpy. Cal had thoroughly inspected her physically then run her through her gaits while everybody had watched on. She’d moved beautifully. Even Aurora, who was in no way initiated into the horse scene, had been able to see that she moved with grace. Cal certainly seemed to know what he was doing and together they’d made a fantastic show.

Theresa had stood beside Aurora as Cal was working the horse and had explained what he was doing and why. He’d then signalled to Theresa for her to come and take his place because he had wanted to watch the mare in action. Theresa had easily swung herself up into the saddle and had then repeated the gaits and figures that Cal had done. Aurora had been amazed that such a little person could flick herself up on top of such a big horse so easily. Aurora had studied Callan as he watched Arabella. His eyes hadn’t wavered from the horse for a second. She’d had the feeling that it wouldn’t matter what happened around him, his attention at that point was only for what was happening in the yard in front of him. When Cal had seen enough, he’d motioned to Theresa and she had dismounted and they’d led the horse over to the wash down bays.

Aurora and the others had moved away and things had been very relaxed and quiet for the rest of the afternoon. Eventually Cal and Theresa had rejoined the group and everybody was either hanging about chatting, watching TV, or in her and Matt’s case, reading. Aurora tried to sneak a peek at Matt’s choice of book. She would have bet her life savings on it being some sort of fast-paced army terrorist book. Eventually he had put the book down for a moment to grab another drink. Aurora snuck a look at the title —
Holocaust 15
. She felt quite smug. She had pegged his choice of reading matter exactly. Aurora hadn’t felt that she wanted to read the journal
in front of the others, so she was stuck for the time being with her novel, some run-of-the-mill girl meets boy story that really wasn’t sucking her in.

Over the course of the afternoon Aurora had been struck by the amount of beer that they had consumed. She had come from a teetotaller family and even her husband had never gone past two beers anytime. The group in general had switched from beer to rum come evening and kept on going. What had really surprised her was the fact that they hadn’t reached the rolling drunk, obnoxious stage that she had seen occasionally in the Sydney pubs: they all still seemed unaffected which was a bit of mystery to her.

The others had found much hilarity, in a good natured way, in the fact that a couple of glasses of wine had been her only experience with alcohol. They convinced her to at least try other options and she found herself sampling rum and coke, the choice of the majority, bourbon and coke, the choice of a few, and finally, scotch and coke. At least they had been spaced, but still, three drinks to a non-drinker and she had made her way a little unsteadily to her room, flopped into bed and fallen asleep instantly, the journal quite forgotten.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, a group of five — Cal, Theresa, Heather, Con and Gerry — had saddled up and headed out for a ride for couple of hours. Aurora had been invited but had gently declined, relying on the fact that she had offered to help Trudy out in the kitchen as an excuse. Trudy had vehemently urged her to go, but Aurora had remained steadfast in her refusal.

After the others had gone and they were once again alone in the kitchen, Trudy leaned against the sink, folded her arms and pinned Aurora with a determined look.

‘You can’t ride can you? That’s why you wouldn’t go, isn’t it?’

Aurora wouldn’t meet Trudy’s gaze. She set her jaw and gazed out the window.

‘No, I can’t ride.’

She dragged her attention back inside and busied herself separating eggs for the pavlovas.

‘Horses scare the life out of me.’

‘We’ll have to fix that. You can hardly go mustering with them on Wednesday if you can’t ride a horse.’

‘I am sure that there are other things that I can be doing instead. I would be more hindrance than help.’

Trudy said no more; instead she turned her attention to the bread and butter puddings that she was assembling. Kate and Harriet came and joined them and the four of them had put together a good range of desserts for the next couple of days. A neighbouring elderly couple, Beryl and Gordon, had driven over to visit and were staying for dinner. Fiona and Arthur could be heard chatting and laughing with the pair. Aurora’s lips tugged in a faint smile — how lovely to still enjoy each other’s company after more than sixty years. As the afternoon progressed, the party of four eventually became a party of eighteen when the group came back from their ride and the others joined them in dribs and drabs.

Aurora still felt more of a spectator than part of the group but the conversation was lively and it was a novelty for her to see people who had lived beside each other all their lives. That length of continuity was not something that she had any experience with. Yes, her grandparents had spent their entire married lives in the same house in Rose Bay, but the neighbours had come and gone and everything around them had continually changed. As she sat and listened to the others, her mind was furiously trying to remember if her grandparents had even had friendships that they had maintained for their whole lives.

Lost in her own thoughts and only half tuned in to what was happening around her, she had been taken by surprise when Trudy, Rick and Callan had descended on her to inform her that first thing in the morning they were going to teach her to ride. The colour completely drained from Aurora’s face. She had stupidly thought that as Trudy had said no more, that had been the end of the matter. How wrong she had been. Covertly, Trudy had spoken to Rick, who had in turn spoken to Callan, who had agreed that she needed to be taught and hadn’t minded doing it.

Aurora stayed with the others for another fifteen minutes or so before escaping back to the sanctuary of her room. This time without the impairment of alcohol, she pulled out the journal and settled on the bed to read some more.

4 January 1946

Charles left with the brothers from yesterday and a couple of men from here this morning to go and retrieve the car. Early afternoon, Arthur, Will and their father Harold returned with a message for me from Charles. He had continued on to Townsville with the car to organise repairs and he would be back as soon as he was able. Apparently it would damage the car less to take it to Townsville rather than to bring it here and then have to take it back again. I can see their
reasoning but I am a little stunned that Charles has decided to leave me here, and go on alone. After all we have only been married for 2 weeks. I am sure though that he had his reasons. My stay here will no doubt be different without him to what it would have been with him. Although I shall miss him, the situation may still be a positive one. The women here, Arthur’s wife, Fiona, and her mother-in-law, Eloise, are friendly.

A smile tugged Aurora’s lips as she pictured a younger Fiona. There was a black and white framed photograph in the lounge that she had assumed was Fiona all those years ago. She hadn’t had a chance to ask about the photos yet. She would have to find out who they all were. Gran and Fiona would have been around the same age at the time, but with completely different lives.

They are so very hardworking. I hadn’t realised what a terribly pampered existence I really have had until spending a day in the lives of these two ladies. Not only do they cook meals for the staff here, they milk the house cow for their milk supply, kill and pluck their own chickens for eating, dig and tend their own vegetable gardens. They were the last to retire last night and they rose before everybody this morning. They genuinely work hard. They would have been amazed at the style of life that I had led before I married Charles. I rose whenever I felt like it, usually mid morning, had my breakfast brought to me, was helped to dress and arrange my hair if I desired it, usually went out for luncheon with friends, or Ma and her friends, and spent the afternoon frittering the time away with other ladies. Most evenings we were either invited somewhere for dinner, or we had guests over ourselves. Of course there was always the Theatre. Any meals were prepared, cleared away and the cleaning done by our household staff. I saw the pile of washing that Fiona and Eloise have to get through at some point and I was horrified at the amount of work that will entail. I would like to be a help to them while I am here, but I have no skills that would be of use to them. I hardly think that they will need a charity luncheon organised sometime over the next week or two…

Aurora was taken aback by the level of luxury that her grandmother’s parents had lived. She had never known. As long as she had known her grandmother, she had always done all her own housework and cooking — never an ironing lady or a cleaner. What a change to have come from where she did to live the life that she had. Her grandparents had been well off, but nowhere near the wealth that Gran had started her life with. Aurora’s brain started to tick over and she couldn’t help wondering whether the primitive conditions that Gran encountered out here all those years ago led her to the decision to do her own work, rather than follow in the footsteps of her parents, even though Aurora knew that her grandparents could have afforded domestic help five times over.

Aurora returned her attention to the journal.

5 January 1946

I am thoroughly exhausted. My admiration for these women grows with each day that I spend in their company. I decided that I cannot be a further burden to them even though they insist that I am their guest. My presence here has created even more work for them in terms of washing and housework and I could not in good conscience allow things to keep going as they have been. Today was washing day for bed linen and I decided to give them what help I could. Fiona was determined that there was no need for me to help. I was equally determined that I was going to try. Eventually I talked her round. I don’t think that she realised how useless I really was. We changed all the sheets today. Fiona showed me where the clean linen was kept and asked me to make the beds. I was so embarrassed by the fact that I didn’t even know how to make a bed. Fiona was shocked as well, although she didn’t say anything it was written all over her face. She showed me how to do the first one, complete with hospital corners and left me to do the rest, including the beds for the men in the barracks. I felt very uncomfortable being inside the bedrooms of other people, especially the men. It felt very much as though I was intruding on their privacy and it made me wonder whether domestic staff feel that way at the beginning. It is not something that has ever crossed my mind before. Once I finished with the beds I went to help with the washing of the sheets. I never realised how much work goes into it. They have a big copper that has to have a fire lit under it as there is no electricity here. The water has to be carted from the well. Once boiling the sheets are thrown in and agitated with a large stick. It is very hot work with the steam that comes off the boiling water. I found myself wiping my face with the front of my dress, or on the sleeves. Ma would be horrified at treating my clothes like that. Of course, she would not have accepted that I wanted to do the work to start with... The sheets had to be wrung by hand and then carried in baskets to the line and hung. I have to admit that the wringing was hard on my hands and the baskets full of wet sheets were heavy. There also seems to be a knack of hanging the sheets without letting them hit the ground which would make them dirty again. They were brought in and folded in the afternoon, ready to be ironed after lunch. First thing in the morning we start on the pile of clothes so that they have time to dry. I really am exhausted.