TheCrone

Thanks to all of you who have written and posted asking about this thread. I had long-lasting computer problems and had more or less forgotten about it, I'm sorry to say.
However, here goes; here's the next instalment!

Almost before I had time to draw breath, Will was on his knees beside her, patting her cheeks, stroking her hands, making soothing noises: "Come on, darling, it's alright, just open your eyes......." and I realized that this wasn't a new situation for Will; he'd obviously slipped into a well-practiced routine. Within a few minutes, Amy's eyes fluttered open, she was helped to her feet and the pair disappeared into their flat. There was nothing I could do to help. There were 6 hamburgers cooking on the grill, another four ordered, the kitchen and cafe to be run and four children to be cared for.
Yes, I felt guilty at having been the catalyst for the fainting-spell, but obviously there was more to this situation that I knew. Equally obviously, answers wouldn't be immediately forthcoming and in the meantime there was work to be done.
When Will reappeared to make a pot of tea later that afternoon, I asked for an explanation. It became apparent that Amy was unstable, both mentally and emotionally. After Jenny's birth, she'd had such a bad attack of post-natal depression that she'd been hospitalised for a couple of years. LSD, then thought to be a wonder-drug, had been used in her treatment, but she'd had a bad reaction. She still suffered occasional flash-backs and hallucinations. The depression had returned with the birth of each of her younger children, though not as severely. She'd also developed numerous phobias - of strangers, of anything that flew, crawled or had feathers. And these were full-blown phobias, not just the kind of shuddering distaste many feel when confronted with some or all of these creatures. As soon as she saw any of these things, her mind couldn't cope, her brain essentially shut down and she passed out, as she'd done earlier. All this, said Will, was the result of a brutal rape at the age of fourteen and the subsequent rejection of her by her father, a strict Chapel-goer, who insisted that she must have 'asked for it' in some way.
I felt enormous pity and compassion for both of them. In Amy's condition, rural Queensland was the entirely wrong place for them and their family. If they wanted to stay in Australia, then the other states would be much better for them. But at the same time, I was wondering where this information left us. Certainly we had no desire to take over the service station and I, in particular, was very disenchanted with the State, oir rather, with the climate. After the dry heat of the Kimberley, I detested the constant humidity, which left me feeling completely drained at the end of each day. I would much prefer to pack up and return to WA - tomorrow, if possible! - but there were other people to consider and plans to be made.

webgum

At last, thanks a million!! Hope the computer's OK, and I look forward to the next (numerous!!!) installments.

Paylia

Welcome back TC

The delay makes the reading of the next installment all the more interesting!

Looking forward to the continuation

Pauline & Iain

Great to see you back TC. Keep it coming!!!!!

purple rain

Lovin' this thread, thanks Crone for sharing your stories, absolutely fascinating
looking forward to the next instalment
jacqui

blackcountrygirl

I`ll look forward to the next episode, glad to see that you are back


Sheila

TheCrone

There was much to consider. Although we'd not been at the roadhouse for long, it was already obvious that it wasn't a paying proposition; it certainly couldn't support 4 adults and four children. We felt that Will and Amy had been ripped off by the (now extinct) petrol company - not unusual in the days of the Bjelke-Petersen government, who didn't rate fair trading very highly in their list of priorities.
Our own finances weren't in particularly healthy shape either. Neither of us had worked much during the previous 6 months and we'd driven 2 vehicles for thousands of Kms across the Top End and down much of the East coast to get here. Will and Amy were incapable of running the roadhouse themselves at this stage and weren't making enough to pay either us or anyone else, yet how could we leave them in this pickle? Could one of us work locally while the other trained them? No, it seemed. There was no employment for either my husband or myself outside Brisbane and neither of us wanted to work there.
The topic was like a big spot on the cheek - it was hard to stop picking at it!
But the answer became very clear for me in about a week.
Jane had joined us in Halls Creek for her 2 week Winter break from school. We'd discussed going to Queensland and she'd seemed quite enthusiastic. So as I put her on the plane in mid-September, I promised to send her ticket and said how much I was looking forward to seeing her at Christmas and what fun she'd have on the beaches during the summer. She was, I thought, quite looking forward to it.
While she was away at school, I'd always written a letter and phoned her twice each week. But when I told her that the ticket would be in the next letter, my beautiful, sweet-tempered, placid daughter - now 15 - suddenly turned into a rebellious teen-ager! No, she wasn't coming to Queensland for Christmas; all her friends and all the parties would be in Perth. And no, she wouldn't go to school in Queensland, she was happy where she was! And I'd moved her away from her home, her school, her friends, her relatives, her own country once - wasn't that enough? Did I HAVE to make her do it again?
Oh my god! The guilt - the guilt! Do you think your children inherit knowledge of all your most vulnerable places from your parents? Suddenly I saw things from a completely different perspective; I wasn't responsible for the well-being of Will, Amy and their family. I was responsible for me and mine. Now all I could think about was getting back to Perth and my daughter.
Nothing and nobody would stand in my way!

TheCrone

M. had no qualms about leaving; in fact he was as keen as I to see the back of the place. He was also happy to go back to WA. But - and this was a major concern - under no circumstances would he live in Perth. The further north, the more remote the area, the happier he would be.This was fine for him, but at that time there were no Senior High Schools in the North West. From Port Hedland and Derby, any child wishing to continue into Years 11 and 12 - and have any chance of tertiary education - was compelled to go to Perth. Many went to private boarding schools - well beyond my means - while others lived in Government hostels which were booked up years in advance. The rest found accommodation with family or friends, as Jane had done. But conversations with her host family made me realize that her teenage rebelliousness was having a disruptive effect on their life; they were not prepared to have her living with them for much longer.
Christmas was - well, there are no words strong enough to describe how awful it was! Will and Amy were determined to have the traditional dinner and Will bought a huge turkey, ignoring the fact that the roadhouse kitchen had no facilities for cooking it. It had to be roasted in the oven in our caravan. And the turkey was so big, the oven so small that the legs had to be cut off to make it fit. All the veges had to be cooked in there too; and as Amy couldn't bring herself to walk the 20metres between the roadhouse and the caravan, the job was mine by default. The day was hot, 98F; the humidity was in the high 70's; the children were fractious; I was hot, resentful and furious; and the other three adults were merrily getting loaded in the air-conditioned comfort of the flat's sitting-room.
It was NOT one of my happiest Christmas Days!
But light at the end of the tunnel wasn't far away. Our friends in Carnarvon rang to say that there was the lease of a guest-house for sale there. Buying it would provide us with accommodation and an income and there was a High School for Jane. Buying the lease would leave us flat broke, but M. grudgingly agreed to give it a try; now all we had to do was get ourselves to the other side of the continent - again!

Phoenixuk2oz

Cmon...cmon..I'm addicted

Great work Crone

whisky

What a great read. I was truly disapointed when I arrived at the last one.
Please don't leave it too long before we can read some more.

Whisky

ohippy

How on earth have I managed to miss this thread. I've been glued all morning - have to go out in 20 mins and am still in my pjs !! Fantastic stuff, so well written too. I would definitely buy the book if you wrote one - please do !

sophia

hooray! welcome back Crone!

Am so loving your story....keep it coming, don't leave it so long before the next instalment!

love sophia xx

TheCrone

My ute was the first thing to be sold, but not the last. The truck was piled high with boxes of all we'd acquired in the previous 4 years and we disposed of all but the essentials. We'd be doing the trip, as M. said, 'on the smell of an oily rag', so we'd have to take the most direct route; through the backblocks of Western NSW to Broken Hill, from there to Port Augusta in SA and then across the Nullabor. We'd only be able to afford to stay in motels on two nights; for the rest, we'd drive day and night, showering and eating at Service stations, with a stop at dusk to cook a meal on a campfire by the roadside, give the young 'un a spongebath, put her in her pyjamas and settle her to sleep across the bench seat of the truck. It was obvious that if we were to keep to this plan, I'd have to take my share of the driving and I was very nervous about this! After all, I'd had my driving licence for less than a year and should, by rights, still have been wearing P plates on a car. There was no way, legally, for me to be driving a truck with a 15ft. tray, nor was I sure that I could. But as he so frequently did, M. refused to listen to my doubts. He'd landed me in some pretty hairy situations over the years; I was never quite sure whether he had more faith in my abilities than I did, or was waiting to find the point at which I'd fall flat on my face. How would I go with this challenge? Only time would tell; I just hoped we and the truck would arrive in WA in one piece!
We left Beerburrum about 5am in the morning. We'd said our farewells the previous night, but Will got up to see us leave. He pushed $200 into M.'s hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know it should be more for all the work you've both done, but I just can't......." There were tears in his eyes and a sob in his voice as he said it. We thanked him and told him we hadn't expected it. That was true. But we didn't refuse it; we both reckoned it was some of the hardest money we'd ever earned.

logan

Waiting with baited breath S! I've read this out loud every night for the last 3 nights to Mr L as he's done the dishes. Fantastic reading!

pioneer

Wow, brilliant thread. Please keep telling us more.
When is the book going to be released!
Sharon