The Sheep-Run

A hot wind blew across the Greys' sheep-run.

It blew riffles of dust around Letty's feet. It blew grit into her mouth, and into baby Victoria's eyes. It blew no good to anyone, Mary said.

In the first days of November, the paddock grass had faded from green to gold. Letty had watched the tussocks sway on the ridgeline, like ladies bowing in a dance. Then the sheep had eaten the grass into clumps of short bristles. The water in the creek got low and soupy. Still it didn't rain. The sheep kept eating, until they'd chewed the land down to its bare bones.

That was when Letty's boss, Clem Grey, had said their time was up.

'I'll sell the flock now,' he told Mary. 'I'd rather not watch them starve, and have them eaten by the flies.'

'Mightn't it rain?' Letty had asked. 'And then the grass would grow?'

'Not enough,' Clem had said. 'The pasture's already thin from last year's drought.'

Mary had sighed, but she hadn't argued. Letty didn't like to see her shoulders slump like the worn hills of the farm.

So a month earlier, Clem, Abner and the kelpie had herded all but the best of the flock onto the road, and set off for Goulburn. Letty was sorry to see the sheep go. She'd got used to their baaing and chomping. She missed watching the lambs skipping around their mothers. They were like part of the family.

Letty was even more sorry that Abner had gone along to help with them. Mary missed Clem too. Harry did not know what to do without the men or the sheep to follow, so he misbehaved. Harry had accepted Letty as part of the household, but they weren't really friends. He often ran away from her.

Letty was looking for him now. It ought to be easy to find him in the empty paddock, Letty thought, but it wasn't.

'Harry? Harry!' Letty wandered along beside the creek until it bent into a patch of reeds and tangly bush. She didn't want to go in there, because she didn't like snakes. Letty went around the bushes, towards the road. She had a feeling he might be there, even though she couldn't see him. The thicket of white-blossomed shrubs was one of his favourite places.

Letty sat down. If Harry didn't think she was looking for him, he might come out to surprise her. He was that sort of boy - Letty could never make him do anything.

Letty took a worn letter from Lavinia out of her pocket. She knew it off by heart, but she liked to look at it when she felt lonely. The graceful, swirly writing reminded her of her sister. Don't come back to Sydney now, it said. Plenty of girls can't find good work here.

I suppose I'm lucky, thought Letty. I have a job that I mostly like. I'd better get on with it.

There was still no sign of Harry, so she tried a different trick.

'What a shame,' she said aloud. 'By the time Harry comes for tea, all the jam and damper will be gone.'

Leaves rustled and dry branches cracked behind Letty. Harry crawled out on his hands and knees. Letty grabbed at him as he tried to squirm past.

'Let me go!' he demanded.

'First you have to tell me what you were doing,' Letty said. 'It's not fair when you hide on me. Your mama gets worried.'

Letty was afraid that Harry might get lost. Harry didn't see the bush as strange. Unlike her, he was born here. The bush was part of his home.

Harry's eyes slid away. 'I was watchin',' he mumbled.

'What is there to watch in a patch of prickly bushes?' said Letty, annoyed.

Harry gave her a sly look. 'Stuff,' he said. Suddenly he pointed at the road. 'Look!'

Letty refused to look. She thought he was trying to get away again. But Harry began to wave and yell. 'Hey!'

Letty looked up. Someone stood on the road with the sun behind him. He was waving his hat, and his hair made a flaming copper halo. Letty knew who that was - her friend Abner. He was back! Clem was beside him on his horse, waving too.

She let go of Harry. He burst up the hill on short, strong legs. Letty hurried after him, wondering what kind of news Clem and Abner might bring from town.

It was too hot to eat in the kitchen. The household ate their damper and jam together on the verandah. Now the sheep were gone there'd be less meat on everyone's plates. And Clem wasn't happy about the price he'd got for his animals.

'Nobody wants livestock,' Clem said. 'I had to sell them all for tallow.'

'Why do sheep want tallow?' Harry asked.

Abner laughed.

Letty wasn't sure what Clem meant either. She only knew that tallow was the smelly brown stuff used for making candles and soap, and Mary had plenty of it already.

The corners of Clem's mouth turned down.

He seemed thinner, and there were lines on his face tracing downwards from his moustache that Letty hadn't noticed before.

'They don't want it,' he said. 'They get turned into it. Wethers, ewes, rams, lambs - the lot. All slaughtered, then boiled down in iron cauldrons big enough to fit you in.'

'Don't frighten the boy,' said Mary.

'Good thing none of you saw it,' said Clem gloomily. 'The fires burn all day long. Goulburn stinks like death. And some cove is getting rich, on other men's ruin.'

Abner made a face. 'Aye, a stench to reach heaven, it makes.'

'Da da daa,' said Victoria cheerily, waving a squashed piece of damper in her fist.

Letty smiled. But Clem looked at his daughter without really seeing her.

'Mary, we saw blokes there who sold their last sheep,' he went on, 'then they went and blew the money at the pub. But I didn't.' Clem passed the rest of his damper to Harry. Mary looked at her husband with concern.

'I'm going to hang in here, for you and the little ones. I swear it, Mary.' He hugged her to him. 'I've been thinking it through all the way home. This is good land; it's just a bad year. I've decided: I'm going to Sydney with the wool clip, to make sure we get the best price.'

Letty knew the wool from the spring shearing was still in the shed, waiting to be sold. Between the wool bales was another of Harry's favourite hiding places. Letty had a thought: if Clem was going to take the wool to Sydney, perhaps he could take something small for her.

'Would you mind carrying a letter?' Letty asked. 'Actually two - one for my sister Lavinia and one to send to my papa in England?'

Clem gave Letty an unhappy look. She was surprised. She didn't think it was a lot to ask.

'I just want to tell my family I'm fine,' she explained.

Clem shook his head. 'I'm real sorry, Letty. But I'll be taking you and Abner to Sydney with me. I have to lay you off. I can't afford to pay wages anymore.'

'Oh.' Letty was losing her job. She stared at her boots.

Of course, it should be wonderful to see her big sister again. Except that in Sydney Letty would be without a place to belong or a way to make a living. Lavinia would not know what to do with her. Letty thought it would be much better if she stayed with the Greys, even if times were hard. 'We can work for nothing,' she suggested.

Clem rubbed his chin. Mary looked at him hopefully.

'I don't feel right about that,' he said. 'There's less work now the shearing's over and most of the sheep are gone. Less work, less money and less food to go round.'

Mary sighed.

'Sorry,' said Clem.

Letty blinked away tears. She hated the thought of leaving. It made her feel lost and unwanted, all over again. Just when she was happy. It didn't seem fair. Stupid, awful drought, thought Letty.

Abner put down his plate. He didn't ask for seconds like he usually did.

'What will you do?' Letty asked him. If he didn't work on the land, Abner would probably have to go on another ship. He might sail off to China or England. She would lose him, too.

'Don't fret now.' He laid his freckly hand over Letty's. 'I'll find something, right enough.'

Abner smiled at her, but it only hurt all the more, knowing he wouldn't be around much longer.

'If you, Letty and Abner are all going, I'm not staying here on my own,' Mary announced.

'But Mary,' Clem argued, 'we'll be back after Christmas.'

'Exactly.' Mary's eyes flashed. 'I'm tired of being left behind. So's Harry. We'll all go together and have a proper Christmas with George.'

'What's Christmas?' said Harry.

Clem looked down at his son.

'You see?' said Mary. 'Last Christmas - I was sick. The year before that -' she glanced across the paddock to where a little wooden cross leaned into the hill. The year before, Letty knew, Mary had had another baby, who died. That obviously hadn't been much of a Christmas.

'Christmas is a fine time,' said Abner, with a faraway look. Letty wondered if he missed his family.

'I want Christmas,' said Harry, sticking out his bottom lip. 'Or I'll run away.'

Everyone laughed.

Harry crossed his arms, just like his father. 'I will!' he insisted.

'No need to do that,' said Clem. 'I'd be glad of your company on the road. The new convict can look after our last few sheep. But you realise we can't afford coach seats this trip?'

Letty remembered the bouncing, jolting stage-coach that had brought her here. It hadn't exactly been a feather bed. The Greys' cart wouldn't be any worse, she thought. And at least this journey wouldn't be cold.

Letty and Mary nodded.

'I've hired Cabbagetree Bill,' Clem told them.

Letty giggled at the name. So did Harry.

'We've got a couple of days before he comes,' Clem said.

Such a short time, thought Letty sadly.