Wool Away, Boy! by Alan Blunt

Author:Alan Blunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2016-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

12

MARILYN

‘Drop me at the doctor’s, mate,’ Terry said, as he threw a battered leather carry-all onto the back seat. ‘After the doc tells me I drink too much I’m going to have a bet or two.’ He was grinning widely – unusual for him. Like a lot of toilers after a spell of hard yakka in the bush, he was cheerful at the prospect of the itinerant shearer’s day out: a few beers with mates, a few quid on the gee-gees and ‘a punt on the pennies’. He might even get lucky with a ‘likely starter’, an adventurous, itinerant barmaid, or nurse, or a grass widow.

‘If I don’t see you at the Telegraph Hotel around lunch time, Alan, I’ll know you’ve gone to Charleville chasing a bit of skirt. I’ll stay at the pub overnight. I’ve seen enough eagles and heard enough ghost stories for one week.’ Glancing at me, he raised his eyebrows and inquired, ‘Are you going to invest in the Bill Waterhouse retirement fund?’

‘Not any more, mate. I come from a family of mug punters. I quit the gambling caper a couple of years ago, after I dropped twenty quid on King Darius in the Cup. My uncle Gerald explained that there’s thirty-seven mishaps can turn a “sure thing” into an “also ran” between final acceptances and the winning post – and that’s if the jockey is fair dinkum.’

‘An honest hoop, AJ? You’ve got to be joking.’ He laughed.

I phoned Marilyn at the butcher’s shop where she kept the books and worked the till. ‘The girls and Wallace reported Gary,’ she said. ‘No one else fronted – including you.’ She paused to let the insinuation sink in, and I stammered a lie about having to go to Brisbane.

‘Oh yeah! After you dumped poor little me at home and went tomcattin’ out to the river. I missed all the fun! Why didn’t you take me with you?’

‘Gees, darling,’ I said, ‘fair crack ’o the whip! Your mum would have disqualified me for life.’

Having got her bite, Marilyn giggled. ‘Anyway, the story’s all over town,’ she said. ‘And Gary’s new moniker is “Billy the Kid”. They say he’s been sent on sick leave. And Annette reckons you’re a gutless wonder. You promised to front at the cop shop but you dingoed.’

Although I knew she was stirring the possum my hackles were starting to rise. ‘I can explain – if you’ll just dry up for a mo.’

‘Oh yeah, and give you time to think up another porky.’

I let that pass. I was thankful I hadn’t been mentioned; and the fact that a copper had been king-hit wasn’t on the mulga wire meant Wallace and Annette had sealed their lips.

Marilyn continued, ‘Anyway, the sergeant listened to what they had to say, and then he said if they signed a false complaint he would haul them into court.’

‘Did they sign?’

‘’Course not! They’re not silly. You can’t talk, anyway – you’re as weak as water.’

Picturing her playful grin as she worked the mechanical

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