Riverboat Point by Tricia Stringer

Author:Tricia Stringer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd

CHAPTER

26

Dust hung in the air filled with the noise of bleating sheep. Ethan brushed at the flies that hovered under the brim of his Akubra and adjusted his sunglasses. The mob he’d brought down the track from the nearby paddock lifted their heads at the sound of other sheep and quickened their steps. They gave him no grief going through the gate. When the last one was through he moved his bike forward and stopped next to the opening. Hundreds of sheep packed the holding pens. He closed the gate and rode around to the other side of the shearing shed. It was time for afternoon smoko.

Not that he was in a hurry for it. After their initial job allocation meeting yesterday morning he’d managed to avoid his father. It was for the best. Mal was tetchy at shearing time and Ethan felt as taut as the newly strung fence. Sleep had eluded him for the last two nights. He could function without it but it was the why that bothered him.

He’d been up at five-thirty to take Jasper for a walk, had a quick breakfast and set off to be at his parents’ farm for a seven-thirty start. The shearers were just checking their shears as he’d arrived. His job was to bring in the sheep and return them to their paddocks after they’d been shorn. Luckily Blake’s accident had happened at the end of mustering. The sheep were in the paddocks close to the shearing shed. All Ethan had to do was bring the next mob up as they were needed. It had taken him half the day yesterday to get back into the swing of it. He hadn’t helped with shearing for a long time.

Inside the shed were three shearers, a wool classer, two rouseabouts and Mal who was in charge of packing the wool, weighing it and labelling it. When Ethan wasn’t shifting sheep he was general dogsbody. He could do any of the jobs in the shed except the shearing and classing.

He pulled alongside Jenny’s car. One of his father’s dogs was resting nearby. It lifted its head, eager for a pat. He obliged then climbed over the rail of the yard to where Blake was working alongside Jenny. She was squirting the cuts on the newly shorn sheep to prevent infection and he was administering the lice spray. Then, between the two of them, they painted the station brand on the rump of each sheep. Jenny had got the hang of it very quickly. It was something Blake could do without moving about too much, although Ethan wondered how much longer he would last.

It was a warm day with hardly a cloud in the sky. By the end of it the shearers would be glad of a shower and the hot meal Barb would prepare for them before they tumbled into bed in their quarters a short distance from the shed. The other helpers all lived within driving distance. Ethan could have stayed with Blake or even his parents but he had Jasper back at home.

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