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Outback From Baragula - Book Two

By Mary Hawkins

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The quietness of the cattle station homestead was broken when one of the dogs in the yard near the sheds began to bark. The other one joined in for a moment before both fell silent. Then the barking started up again, this time more urgent. Angry.
The noise broke into Jillian Davidson’s total concentration on the facts and figures of Davidson Downs’ income and expenditure. As for the last couple of years, it was the expenditures exceeding the income that was particularly worrisome. Jillian raised her head and listened. Only then did she hear the increasing roar of the quad as it neared the homestead.
She glanced at her watch and frowned. Surely John hadn’t finished working on the prime mover already? It was only an hour since their early breakfast. And why was he on the quad? She hurried from the office and was on the back veranda by the time her twin brother had shut off the engine of the sturdy little four-wheeled, all terrain vehicle.
Her heart sank at John’s set, tight-lipped face. ‘What’s up?’
John scowled at her as he sprang up the steps. ‘Have to ring Coonamble and see if they can repair the starter motor. It’s beyond me and I strongly suspect beyond any mechanics there also. If so, means a reconditioned one – or preferably a new one but of course we can’t afford that! Should have known this would happen when Bob went on holidays the same time as Dad was still unavailable! I reckon that whole... whole thing is beyond repairing anymore.’
Jillian winced, knowing he was close to swearing a blue streak.
She bit her tongue as John growled, ‘Anyway, reckon the starter will have to be added to the order for the brakes for the car. Would be a minor miracle if they don’t have to order both the brakes and starter from Sydney.’
Jillian knew this was another expense they would somehow have to meet, but latched onto John’s comment about the man who had been employed on the station as long as she remembered. ‘Remember, Bob’s nearly as old as Dad,’ she said abruptly, ‘and he’s been trying to work too hard for a man his age, especially since we’ve had to stop employing full-time station hands without telling Dad we simply can’t afford them right now. Bob needed a holiday even more than Mum and Dad and he’d set his heart on going to his family reunion in Tasmania!’
‘I know that! It’s just right at this time before harvest he...’ John stopped.
His frown deepened and after a moment Jillian sighed and said soothingly, 'I know, mate. Anyway, you’re nearly as good a mechanic now as Bob. I guess what we really need is what Bob suggested last year. The prime mover should have a complete re-conditioned motor. It would be awful if it broke down for the hundredth time right in the middle of hauling the wheat bin during harvest in a few weeks.’
‘Yeah, right! What we really need is a whole new prime mover, but where are we going to get that kind of money, even for a reconditioned one? We need the prime mover right now, not only for that wheat bin but right after harvest to haul the cattle crates to get those animals to market. And we have to sell them just to stay viable this year. There’s certainly no chance of coping with such a huge expense yet. I doubt we can even afford to pay someone else to transport the cattle!’
John stormed past Jillian and she refrained from reminding him they still didn’t have the final bill yet for the helicopter service and repairs. She also refrained from voicing her own fears that perhaps they should have insisted on waiting a couple more years before they had agreed to their father’s suggestions to diversify from just cattle into growing crops. As she’d been finding out all morning, the capital expenditure for that as well as their parent’s new lifestyle had stretched their cash flow far too much.
She followed John to the laundry where he always scrubbed the grease off his hands before entering the house. ‘Where are you off to on the quad?’
‘I’m fed up with trying to put that motor back together again. Decided I need some fresh air and open spaces. Thought I might as well check on that fence along the boundary Bill Reed said he’d fixed while we were away. Would hate to have anymore of our cattle getting out into his newly-acquired Webster station while we’re in the middle of harvesting. Aren’t any fences over there and goodness knows where they’d end up – probably in the Reed’s new wheat paddocks.’
‘Oh, John, you said we could both go round that boundary fence as soon as I’d finished this rotten office work and you’d finished overhauling the truck.’
John glared at her. ‘Well, we can’t! I’m certainly not going to waste my time around the house waiting for you to finish when I can be getting on with something else. You said you had to get that paper work off to the accountant by tomorrow so he can finish our tax returns in time.’
And what about her own longing to get out of the house and away from the paper work John should be helping her with?
Jillian swallowed back her disappointment. It was no good making any further protests. She knew her twin brother as well as she knew herself and understood his stubborn expression. It was more than the need to escape the sheds and check fencing. John wanted time to himself in the wide open spaces.

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