Starting to feel a bit of motion sickness building, she pulled her gaze away, looking out to the horizon. The last thing she wanted to do was to be sick here in the cab and in front of Ben.
The land stretched out in front of her, not entirely flat, but there were some soft, rolling hills, and a scattering of native trees and bushes. The sky was blue and clear of clouds—there wasn’t even a wisp of white. The sun shone down, zapping the last bit of green. Her artistic eye saw the different shades of brown that made up the landscape here. She saw the dryness but also the potential, the life in the magpies that flew occasionally in the sky, and in the far distance, she could see some sheep grazing. Paddocks of golden crops immediately surrounded them. There was beauty here, and it felt like she was seeing it for the first time.
Tree lines marked where the dirt roads divided the paddocks and joined the farms. She could just make out wire fences in the distance marking the boundaries between the paddocks.
“Is this all yours?” she asked.
“Not quite, we’re a small farm.” He pointed to his right. “See the tree line there, that’s where our boundary ends.”
“The one by the dead-looking old tree?”
“No, the next row of trees, look further up, just below the horizon.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t been looking far enough in the distance. “I see now. So, from there up to the farm is all yours?”
“And my sister’s. We share the farm together.”
“And your mom.” She added, trying not to remember how they were caught by her yesterday.
“That’s right. I’ll buy my sister out in good time if I can afford it.”
Raven’s head spun a little. This way of life was so different from what she was used to. She’d never owned her own place, not even a small unit. Here, Ben’s family owned acres of land. But then to have to buy his sister out, that would be such a financial burden. There was no inheritance coming to her from her parents. They owned their house, but that was it. It wasn’t likely to be something she inherited as she figured they would downsize in the future into an apartment and spend the remaining money traveling around the world.
No wonder there were times he’d looked a little stressed, she thought. Plus, this time of year with the Christmas celebrations must be hard since his father passed a year ago.
“It’s just the way it goes,” he added. He glanced back at her. “Are you going along all right?”
Raven nodded. She wasn’t about to tell him that she was feeling a bit nauseous for sitting in this confined space along with the movement, or that her mind was overwhelmed with processing how life was as a farmer.
Could I adjust?She hated how the questions came to mind, pushing the uncertainty to the surface for consideration.
Ben steered the harvester around to the left, keeping the combine full of the crop so as not to miss any and marking the completion of one round of the paddock. Raven slipped a bit on the arm of the chair but managed not to hit Ben.
The paddock was a huge rectangular shape, and they were now going along the longer length. She couldn’t believe how long it took to do one round. They were, after all, going very slowly, so she felt every bump they drove over. Bouncing around with the movement was surprisingly tiring. At least Ben had a somewhat comfortable chair with suspension.
“What about you have a go?”
“What? Now?” She looked at him, wide-eyed. “You’d really trust me to drive this combine, which is worth… how much money?”
There was no way he could trust her this much.
“Sure. I mean you’re not going to try and do any damage, are you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then I’ll finish to the end to this section where it’s easier to stop, and we can swap positions.”
Raven inhaled slowly. This was a huge responsibility. Despite the trepidation of driving something so big and expensive while harvesting the very valuable crop, excitement began to surge through her.
Just wait until I tell my parents this.Raven also figured it would be a good test for her to see if she would be able to adapt to farming life or not. Even though she was pretty sure if there were a long-term future with Ben, it wasn’t likely she was going to be on the combine like this. She wanted to try new things, and more importantly, she wanted to understand what it was like for Ben when he was working alone on the farm.
“Ready?”
“Yes.” She grinned, now eager to get into the driver’s seat.
Ben slowed the machine down so they could swap positions. “Just wait until I stop.”
Raven glanced outside. Something along the horizon caught her attention. A knot formed in her belly.
