Beyond the Rimu Grove by Patricia Fenton

Author:Patricia Fenton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: the sixties, rural life, maori culture, 1960s culture, beginning teachers, women teachers
Publisher: Patricia Fenton

The arithmetic books must be marked. They’d be needed in the morning. She marked them all but her tears blurred the faint blue lines on the one that would never be needed again. She didn’t attempt to finish displaying the artwork.

As she arrived back at the cottage, Joan was getting out of her car. She’d brought a shepherd’s pie.

‘Just put it in the oven and heat it through,’ she said. ‘I know you don’t want to talk now, but when you’re ready you know where I am.’

Joan had hardly left when Ellie heard the Land Rover. ‘I’m heading up the hill,’ Daniel said. He went out the back and let Rex off his chain. ‘Come for a walk with us.’

Ignoring her protests, he escorted her out to the track. From the fork, it rose steeply. Putting one foot in front of the other was something to do.

‘Tom comes up here jogging but I won’t make you run just yet. You can work up to that.’

This wasn’t the time to tell him she wouldn’t be around to work up to anything.

Daniel’s rapid walking pace wasn’t far off a run. Ellie panted as they emerged from the bush and followed the sheep tracks on up the hill. Half an hour later, when they reached the peak, she understood his motivation. The view was beyond belief.

‘Closer to God,’ Daniel said. ‘If you still believe there is one.’

‘Do you?’ she asked, looking down on the diminutive cottage.

‘Yes, I do, in spite of everything.’

‘You didn’t bring me here to talk, did you?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t come here to talk.’

The women in her life treated her like an invalid in need of sustenance. The men coerced her into action. All she wanted was to be left alone but that was the last thing that could happen in The Valley.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.