Drowning in Her Eyes Read Free

it would be a while before they could get to town. Three flooded creeks lay across their path.
    Sheep can be contrary animals, almost suicidal at times. Wool will absorb large quantities of water and wet sheep with long wool can be so heavy they usually drown. Fort u nately, Paddy ’s sheep, shorn of their wool some weeks b e fore, were in little danger from the water; Most had moved to higher ground before the rain. Now they had only to round up the stragglers. “Righto, Ollie, you and I will go for the stragglers. Mick you had better give Helen a hand to check the supply situation, ” said Paddy.
    â€œDaddy ? ” T his was Denni . “Can I come with you, please? ” Denni loved horses and did not want to be denied any excuse for a ride.
    â€œAll right, but be careful. Do you want to come, Jack? ”
    Jack was not a keen horseman, but he was not going to be embarrassed by his sister. “I ’ll come, ” he said. In minutes, the men brought up the saddled horses and the little party was on its way. The stragglers stubbornly refused to cross the many small streams and a leader had to be dragged across before the rest would follow, c hivvied by the relen t less dogs.
    It was after dark by the time they returned to the hom e stead — wet, mud- splattered, and weary. While Paddy and the men downed large glasses of beer, Helen hustled off Denni and Jack to bathe and change. Later that night, Jack confided in his sister. “I like living here, ” he began, “but I don ’t think I want to run the station. What I would really like to do is become a soldier. ”
    â€œDon ’t be a dill, ” said Denni. “ Dad won ’t let that ha p pen. You ’ re destined to come home here, and don ’t forget it. ”
    â€œWhat about you? You ’re the eldest. ”
    â€œRunning the station is a man ’s job. I am going to marry a rich man and live in the city. You can come to visit if you like. ”
    When you are ten years old, you don ’t have much say in anything. Jack kept his own counsel, but his ambition still smouldered away inside.
    * * * *
    Australia is a land of wildly variable climate. As one of her famous poets described it: ‘a sunburnt country …a land of droughts and flooding rains . ’ Old hands say all floods end with the beginning of a drought. Ballinrobe had benefitted from the good season, but wool prices — driven to record heights by the demand for warm clothing during the Korean War — had ebbed away. Paddy had been looking for a long time for another enterprise to increase profit and spread risk. He had noticed that wheat prices were strong, and with the world demand for food increasing as Europe and Japan rose, Phoenix- like from the ashes of the war , they looked set to be high for some considerable time.
    â€œHelen, ” he said one night, “I think we should be clea r ing some of our better land and turning it over to wheat growing. ”
    Helen had discussed this with him before. A naturally cautious woman, still mindful of the Great Depression through which her family had struggled, she had an aversion to risk and especially to borrowing money. “How will you do this , Paddy? I hope we won ’t have to borrow too much money. It will cost a lot to buy tractors and things, and won ’t you have to employ more men? ”
    â€œI think we can handle it with Mick and Ollie. Anyway it won ’t be all that long until Jack is home earning his keep. ” Helen said nothing. She had ambitions for Jack, including a University education. That would add a further three or four years to his absence. She knew her son, as mothers do, and she was not at all certain he would be coming home to take over the management of Ballinrobe .

Chapter 2
Far Horizons
    Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA —1957

    Albuquerque, New Mexico is about two thousand miles from Boston. The Baker family rode the rails.