Bangalore. Roger Crook

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СКАЧАТЬ making too much of it, Princess.”

      “I don’t think I am.”

      “Well, I do.”

      “Why? How?”

      Ali turned and faced Rachael; he was close to being angry. “Just listen, will you? I’ve spent more time with him than either you or Ewen. I think I know the man as well or better than anyone. We spend our lives together. He doesn’t handle family emotions very well. I remember him when you went missing for a few days in Africa when you were chasing gorillas or something…I found him down by the pool one night…I’m sure he’d been having a bit of a cry. He was the same when he and your mother were finally divorced…it had been going on for years but when it was final…he had a few bad days then. He’s lonely, Rach – in spite of all his good humour, he’s lonely, I reckon. You need to remember he spends a lot of time on his own. Now poor old Ewen is injured and I reckon he must be taking it pretty bad.”

      Rachael looked at him; the anger and suspicion had gone out of her voice. “We, no I, forget, don’t I? I’m all wrapped up in my own little world. I just think of him as ‘good old Dad’ doing what he wants to do out here in this beautiful wilderness. I never think of him as being lonely. Are you lonely too, Ali?”

      He didn’t answer her. He looked away to where Angus and Pat had been standing.

      “Oh Ali…what can I do?”

      “Stay close to him, Rach…he can be fragile that giant of a man.”

      “What about you, Ali?”

      “What about me?”

      “You didn’t answer me – are you lonely?”

      “You don’t need to ask.”

      Rachael took her hat off and shook her hair loose. Now Ali could see her eyes and there were tears running down her cheeks as she looked at him. He took an old handkerchief out of his pocket and gently wiped away her tears. “Put your hat on, Rach. Let’s take these nags back and give them a wash and a feed. It’s getting bloody hot.”

      Rachael didn’t move and the tears flowed. “Ali…what can I do?”

      “Later, Princess. We will talk later. You know the answer to your question anyway if you really ask yourself – it’s not for me to tell you. But this is not the time or the place to go into it – for the first time in years we have a bit of time. Let’s have a swim this afternoon. I have a couple of watering points to check in the holding paddocks, so if you spend some time with Angus and Pat, I’ll be back about four. See if you can get away on your own.” He urged his horse forward into a walk and Rachael scrunched her hair under her hat and jammed it onto her head and allowed her horse to follow. She nudged it with her heels, caught up with Ali and they rode together.

      Chapter 9.

       Catharsis.

      Pat parked the Mercedes in the bough shed and remembered not to take the keys out of the ignition. Without looking at Angus she got out and followed him into the cool homestead. Alice was in the kitchen pouring water into a big teapot. “I heard the plane leave, so I put the kettle on. Have you seen Rachael and Ali? You all right, Angus?”

      “I’m fine, Alice. No, we haven’t seen Rach. I would think they won’t be far away. It’s getting a bit hot out there for handling young horses.”

      “You two go out onto the veranda if that’s where you want your tea. I’ve put some cake on the tray as well; nobody seemed to have much of a breakfast this morning except you and Roddy. Go on, I’ll bring the tray through. I see you’re learning fast, Pat, no shoes. What’s the point in wearing shoes I always say when God gave us two perfectly good feet?”

      Instead of leading the way, Angus and Pat followed Alice out onto the veranda where she put the tray down on a small table between two cane armchairs. She smiled and reminded them lunch was cold mutton and salad and it was in the fridge. All they had to do was get it out. She was going for a lie-down.

      Angus poured the tea, pushed a mug across the table to Pat, took a piece of cake and looked at her. “Sorry about that bit out at the airstrip, Pat…I, err…”

      She returned his gaze; his eyes seemed darker than ever. “There’s no need for you to say anything Angus…we are all under a lot of pressure…in unchartered waters with a lot of shock and emotion…flying blind or something like that. I’m just glad I’m here, not just for you but for me as well. I’m away from the scrutiny of my colleagues who would all be well intentioned I’m sure – but there would be the inevitable questions. It would also be hard to concentrate on any real job at present and if they sent me home, then all I would have is my own company.”

      “This may sound silly, Pat, but in spite of all we are going through, you seem to have changed. I don’t mean that to embarrass you, but you were very tight and nervous when we first met – now you’re different, somehow.”

      “It must be the majesty of Bangalore, Angus,” she said smiling. “I’ve felt the same myself – I looked out on that landscape when we were seeing the plane off – it was almost as if I could see forever. No people. Listening to the sound of the plane slowly fade into nothing and then silence – just silence. Then a crow cawed somewhere as if to remind us we weren’t alone; then even he was quiet – in reverence to the moment perhaps – don’t know. I haven’t had much silence in my life; certainly not in recent years. There’s always been noise of some kind.”

      “I would have thought a city girl like you might be frightened out here.”

      “I’m not frightened, I’m more in awe than anything. Like everyone I’ve read and been told since I was a girl about the dangers of the outback. I’ve been out here a few times but always with a gang or an air crew of some kind so it’s always been a bit of an adventure and a couple of times a real chore.

      “So to answer your question, yes, I do feel different. Look at me, barefoot, old tatty, frayed, borrowed shorts. A very old and comfortable tee-shirt and nothing else. I have never dressed like this since I was about thirteen on a school camp down at Point Peron where I was away from my mother and her strict rules.”

      “Your mother was strict?”

      “If I had to sum up in one word my mother’s views on clothes it would be ‘appropriate’. I think if she could have had her way she would have dressed me in a long black shapeless dress from the age of about thirteen.”

      “Any more tea in that pot?” It was Rachael; they hadn’t heard her walking through the house. The flywire door banged behind her as she joined them on the veranda. Pat poured her a cup of tea and she sat on the arm of Angus’ chair and playfully, gently, ruffled his hair. “How ya goin’, Angus?”

      “So this is what Sydney teaches, is it, lack of respect for your elders?”

      “Absolutely – none of these petty bourgeois manners for us. From now on I’ve decided it’s going to be Angus.”

      “And Dad, when you want something.”

      “Of course! Can’t give everything away at once.”

      “So your mother will now become Michelle? I’d like СКАЧАТЬ