The Truant From Medicine by Ivan Donaldson

Author:Ivan Donaldson [Ivan M. Donaldson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775537366
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

MR JONES HAD THE UNMISTAKABLE VISAGE of a man of the land. There were the crow’s feet wrinkles around the sides of his eyes and the forehead furrows between them, attesting to years of squinting into sunshine that was made piercingly bright by the unpolluted, low-humidity atmosphere of the North Canterbury countryside. His lower face, neck and hands were brick-red and showed the tell-tale hallmarks of skin that had been forced to rebel against chronic sun exposure. In contrast, he was unnaturally pale above his mid-face, the legacy of sensibly wearing a hat when outdoors. He was a generously constructed man, throwing into contrast his wife’s more delicate physique. They were welcoming and helpful and, above all, keen to sell us a piece of what they regarded as their worst land: stony, unfertile and uneconomic, especially in the current agricultural climate. No, they explained, they did not have any sons; only a daughter who had left home, and they did not see a lot of her. Mr Jones wanted to wind down and would be pleased to have less land to farm.

It was a very dull late-winter’s afternoon, and so dark that the invitingly warm fire caused the light in their lounge to waver and flicker. Over afternoon tea our real estate agent presented our proposal to them. I had drawn up a map that clearly outlined the fields that we wished to buy. The Joneses were being offered a sum for all the land within the enclosed area, regardless of how many hectares it contained. Neither they nor we knew the exact area as it had not been surveyed, but I was certain that we would need it all for future development. We would also have to establish a legal right to take water across a part of their land that we were not buying. As spring was just around the corner, we would also need access to one of the fields that we proposed to buy. This was so that we could plant out the young grapevines that we had grown from the cuttings we had planted the year before.

All was agreed and signed. It only remained for our lawyers to enact the necessary paperwork. The settlement date should not be too far off. We warmly shook the vendors’ hands as we left. Both couples were looking forward to having such charming neighbours.

‘What acreage should I put down on the contract?’ my lawyer asked. I had received a message that he wanted to talk to me but I had waited until the end of my clinic before telephoning him.

‘I don’t know what the acreage is but the agreement clearly states that the price is for all of the land that is included within the fences that are outlined in colour on the accompanying map. Why do we have to include an acreage in the contract? The land has not been surveyed yet.’

‘It is usual to put a rough estimate, with the wording “more or less” after the figure, so that it doesn’t have to be precise.

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