He shook his head, making me think I had a fight on my hands, but then he smiled up at me.
“Shouldn’t let you, but…” A kiss was pressed to my forehead. “It’d be nice to fall into bed at the end of the day and know you’re there.”
“Urggh…” Billy groaned theatrically.
“But you will listen to me. That’s non-negotiable. If things get hairy, I need to know you’ll do as you’re told and evacuate with Charlie.”
“You mean when we all evacuate.”
He stared me down, that same damn mulish expression back, but Bronson cleared his throat, breaking the stalemate.
“She’s got you there, Troy. Generations of Drysdales might’ve lived on this farm, but it doesn’t mean we have to die on it.”
“Fine…” Troy picked me up and set me down on my feet, pressing a kiss to my lips before downing his coffee. “Well, everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing…”
So now we were doing it.
Charlie and I were in the big 4WD ute, bouncing along a bush track as we made our way deeper into the bush.
“Here,” she said, looking up, and sure enough, there were several koalas up high in the treetops.
The woman seemed to know instinctively where they were. I was up and out of the car, a bag of containers and water bottles over my arm. Setting the plastic ice cream container down, I placed a smooth rock in the bottom, then half filled it with water before getting back into the car. Charlie marked it on the map so we’d know where each container was and could come back and clean it, then add more water.
“It’s hard to think of a bushfire coming through here,” I said, scanning the forest. We passed tree after massive eucalyptus tree. The forest floor was covered in a thick layer of dead leaves. The sound of the car, cicadas buzzing, and a few bird calls were all I could hear.
“Has before.” Charlie was uncharacteristically grim as she pointed to the dark ring around several tree trunks. “Will again. A lot of native plants, their seeds don’t germinate without afire going through but… The way the old fellas tell it, the local Aboriginal people used to do a lot more burn offs around this region in the spring when the trees and the soil still have a lot of moisture in them. Cooler burns that reduced fuel load, but didn’t spread far…”
She shook her head sharply.
“Not like that anymore. Less rain.” Charlie eyed the small slices of depressingly blue sky that popped up between the trees. “Hotter days and more of them and not enough burn offs to reduce the fuel load.”
I saw the leaf litter in new light now, easily able to imagining it catching alight. The leaves were a thick carpet, crunching underfoot as I put out another container of water, then another. The release of volatile oils reminded me of home just a little.
“Maybe a fire won’t break out,” I said as I clambered back into the car. “Maybe everything will be fine.”
“We’ll see,” she said, then drove on.
Once we finished our loop, we ended back at the rescue, only for Nugget to join us. He came trotting across the ground, the scab on his head well and truly healed now and the wombat didn’t seem to bear any grudges. Running over to the rescue door, he bunted his head against it until we opened it up.
“Want to be in here when I run the sprinklers, don’t you, ya daft animal,” Charlie said, turning on the irrigation system. Sprinklers sent a fine mist of water through the treetops, helping to cool the place down and keep the trees and ground damp. We both watched the wombat race around in circles, seeming to frolic in the artificial rain.
Which summoned the other animals forward.
“It’s not dinner time yet…” she grumbled, then smiled as the animals drew near before turning to me. “Not that I can argue with this unruly mob. We can feed the critters now, then get a start on dinner.”
I’d already promised to make a big pot of chilli. Filling, hearty, and full of protein, it was good hot or cold and the perfect thing for long, busy days.
“You got it, boss,” I said, opening the fridge to pull out ingredients, so why did my hands shake as I began to cut up pieces of vegetables? Because staring into the big brown eyes of the kangaroos, then hearing the impatient pecks of the magpies, my knife moved faster. When the possums clambered over my shoulders, weighing me down, that made sense. They were reliant on us to care for them, protect them, and right now I understood why Troy wanted me to go to the city for a week. If I could’ve packed all the animals up and taken them with me, I would’ve gone.
Anything to keep them safe.
We’d do whatever it took to protect the animals inside the rescue from any wildfire. That vow had me glancing over at the rescue walls and peering past the mesh. But what would keep the wild animals safe? I couldn’t answer that, so I kept on chopping vegetables.
Chapter 17
Troy
Bloody heat waves…I thought, pushing the old front-end loader forward. The bucket dragged along the ground, scooping up all plant matter, alive or dead, until I was forced to turn away, dumping the collected vegetation down a nearby gully, before going back for more.Bloody fire breaks.
