Read Online Novels 01 Blue Skies by Fleur McDonald - Free Book Online Page A

forlorn she felt, she enjoyed Mingus’s company – it gave her someone to talk to. Hannah’s phone calls had become few and far between since she’d moved to Sydney and she rarely heard from Jonno other than when he sent her a rude chain email. She missed her friends, and didn’t really have much in common with the few acquaintances she’d met through the local stock firm or knew from primary school. At least Mingus listened and looked interested in what she was saying!
    Riding down the laneway, Amanda decided to shift the shorn ewes from the open paddock on the road to Karru paddock. There was oodles of scrubby bush for them to shelter in and places for them to hide their newborn lambs to keep them warm and away from the cold southerlies. They were due to start lambing any day although the stock check she’d done two days ago had turned up some early lambs.
    Pushing the mob gently together, Amanda watched carefully to make sure none of the lambs were mis-mothered. It was only about a kilometre to the next paddock, but it took her well over three hours to push the heavily pregnant ewes through the gate and head on to the next job: lunch!
    She turned her bike towards the house, enjoying the cool sun on her skin. This autumn, now heading into winter, had been quite mild, making for idyllic lambing conditions, and today was no exception. But the atmosphere was heavy, she noticed, as she pulled up at the house. And there was no sound. Glancing around, Amanda thought the landscape looked different, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Then she realised all the stock were sitting down and there wasn’t any wind. It was almost like nature was waiting for something to happen.
    She walked into the house and yelled to her father that she was back, then set about getting some lunch. Amanda looked up as Brian stumbled into the kitchen, his face flushed from whisky.
    ‘All the stock are camped up. Bit unusual isn’t it?’ she asked, pretending not to notice that he was drunk again.
    ‘Storm comin’ today,’ he muttered thickly.
    Amanda looked at him curiously. ‘How can you tell that? The bureau says it’s not due until late tomorrow or the next day.’
    Brian took her arm, pulled her roughly toward the door and held up his finger. ‘Listen.’ Silence. ‘No noise. No birds or crickets or nothin’.’ He then pointed towards the paddocks. ‘Sheep’ve got their back to where the weather’s gonna come from and the cows are camped as far away from the south as the fences let ’em.’ He let go of her arm, lurched towards the table and sat down. ‘Lunch?’
    Amanda rubbed the spot where his fingers had gripped her arm. She couldn’t decide if she felt resentful or just so sorry for this broken man. She walked over and kneeled beside him, her hand on his arm. ‘Dad, why do you have to drink so much? I could learn so much from you if you wanted to teach me.’ Even as she said the words, realisation dawned. Her mind raced back over the conversations which had turned into arguments. This is what he’s been trying to tell me , she thought. Now I understand what he’s been saying . She needed her dad – but she had pushed him away.
    ‘You know it all already,’ he said, looking at her without anger.‘You told me in the bank. You don’t need a drunken old man like me tellin’ you what to do. Don’t worry about lunch.’ He stood up from the table and weaved towards the door and back down the hall to the safety of his office.
    Amanda lay in bed and tried not to think about her father. He hadn’t left his office since lunch but she’d decided not to let it upset her. She’d made her choice as he had made his and now they would both have to live with the consequences.
    She wondered if she’d done all she could to protect her freshly shorn ewes from the coming storm. Before she’d turned out the light, she’d checked the weather radar on the internet and seen the large band of rain that was crossing