Justin caught his brother’s eyes. Ben was still obviously trying hard not to laugh.
‘Of course,’ Justin replied, fighting back the urge to bow slightly. ‘One of us would be very happy to do that.’
‘And do you do home visits, too? To inspect the property and tell us what we need to do to be safe against fire?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ The words slipped out before Justin could stop them and from the corner of his eye, he saw Ben cough to hide his laughter.
‘Excellent. Well, as you no doubt saw walking over, the post office is almost next door to what we grandly call the fire station. I’m there all the time. Drop in whenever you want. There’s usually tea and cake to be had.’
‘That’s very kind of you.’
‘And if there’s anything you want to know, just ask. You know I’ve been here for—well—quite a few years. I know everyone. I can remember other bushfires. The stories I could tell …’
Would the woman never stop talking?
‘Justin, there’s a table over there. We probably should order some food.’ At last Ben came to his rescue.
‘Yes. We should. It was nice to meet you, Mrs—’
‘Val. Call me Val, boys. Everyone does.’
Justin made his escape. Both his brother and the policeman were laughing as they sat down. Shane Fraser stopped to say hello as he walked past carrying a tray of empty glasses. The men ordered their dinner and the conversation moved to football.
Justin waited until Ben had gone to the gents before asking the question that had been on his lips all evening.
‘Ken, that red wagon we saw drive past on the way here. Do you know who that was?’
‘Sure. That was Carol. She lives a couple of kilometres outside town. Runs a rescue service for native wildlife.’
‘Carol Turner?’
Ken nodded. ‘Yes, it is, come to think of it. You’ve got the same last name. I guess she’s no relation, though.’
Justin ignored the question. ‘You saw that video of the woman rescuing the koala from the fire, like everyone else? She was the one in the video. With me.’
‘Was she?’ Ken raised his eyebrows. ‘Well, that’s no surprise.’
‘Don’t spread it around,’ Justin added. ‘I wanted to maybe talk to her about not doing that sort of thing any more. Could you direct me to where she lives?’
‘Sure.’ Ken’s directions were clear. The place would be easy to find. ‘But I don’t know how much luck you’ll have talking her out of it. For as long as she’s been here, she’s been rescuing wildlife and taking stupid chances to do it. She means well, of course, but …’ The policeman shrugged, then raised a hand to attract the eye of someone who’d just entered the room. ‘Jake, come over here. This is Justin. Firefighter. Jake is part-time cook, part-time library wrangler, full-time handyman and generally the bloke who gets stuff done around here. He helped get that fire station built. He’s a man you should talk to about recruitment.’
Justin and Jake shook hands and the conversation moved in a different direction. By the time Ben returned, all discussion of Carol was in the past, for which Justin was very glad. Even after a couple of mellowing pints, his brother wasn’t in the right place to talk about their mother—yet. He could only hope that might change.
CHAPTER
9
They got their first call-out twenty-four hours after their arrival.
Both brothers were doing maintenance checks on the truck and equipment when a car pulled up outside. The man who got out came straight into the shed.
‘G’day. You’re the new firefighters?’
‘Yes.’ Ben looked up from the hose couplings he’d been checking. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘Put a fire out.’
‘Where? How big is it?’ They’d been expecting further calls. The weather was brutal. Forty degrees in the shade. A gusty, drying wind. And not a cloud to be seen.
