Chapter 9 #2
‘We got to nominate our cabin buddies for camp today, Mum,’ Harriet said by way of greeting.
‘And there’s going to be a talent show. Do you think I can use the same piece for my camp talent show entry as the play auditions?
But don’t tell the others or they’ll all want to join Penwarra Players too and I won’t have a part.
I got full marks on my spelling test. And it’s Pansy’s birthday party soon.
We need a present. Plus I need you to help me with my stupid homework. ’
It all came out in a breathy, excited sentence with barely a breath in between.
‘What homework, and why is it stupid?’
Harriet ignored the question and skipped ahead, intent on retrieving her rollerblades. Clem could draw her own conclusions, but the likelihood of getting a concrete answer out of Harriet when she was in skater-girl mode were about as slim as the girls’ chance of catching the rogue guinea pig.
‘I’ll think about it Addy, I promise,’ Spencer told his sister.
‘But I only shifted from Narradarra Secondary to Penwarra Area School last year. Technically, it’s fine to move within the public system and they were happy to transfer long service leave, but it looks bad if I’m hopping from school to school. ’
It had been a month since he’d seen Addison, and when she’d called early on Sunday morning, his first thought had been their parents. And while he was grateful that there was no bad news on that front, it felt way too early in the morning for a debrief on his career progression.
‘But this is for a principal’s job,’ Addison said.
He could hear her pottering around her Adelaide townhouse, and the hubbub of her husband, Bryce, chatting to their teenage kids in the background.
Next time he had a free weekend, he really needed to get up there and spend some time with them, before his niece and nephew flew the coop.
‘Last time we spoke, you said you wanted to climb the ladder. I’m doing what big sisters do and exploring your options.
This could be the perfect chance. Don’t rule it out until you’ve had a good look at the job specs, I’ve emailed you the link.
You’d smash it with your senior school leadership experience. ’
He laughed at her enthusiasm. She was like their parents, certain that he could do anything he put his mind to. ‘I’ll keep you posted after I’ve read it. Though I’m not sure the Adelaide Hills is the perfect fit for me right now.’
And how would he broach that subject with Ian and Louisa, he wondered, climbing into the ute and heading in their direction for breakfast.
The smoke was curling from the chimney and the colourful tulips and daisies were bobbing in the gentle breeze when Spencer arrived at their house, Dolly trailing behind him.
He opened the kitchen door. Louisa was at the stovetop, stirring a pot of porridge made with the same combination of oats, polenta, sultanas and lecithin flakes that she’d been making her entire life, all year round.
‘Just in time.’ She smiled, fetching another bowl from the overhead cupboard. Dolly sat outside the French doors, her wet nose making marks on the glass as she watched on. Ian ambled into the room, a slight limp in his gait that made his moccasins scuff against the tiles.
‘Not another golf injury?’ Spencer asked, taking a seat at the table.
‘Pinched something loading the last of the hives onto the trailer. I’ll have to get a hand from the farmer when we unload in the Riverland. Either that or postpone the trip.’
‘You should have sung out, I’d have helped.
’ Spencer touched the teapot and, finding it still warm underneath the crocheted tea cosy, poured himself a mug.
‘Put it off until next weekend, Ian. You know I’ll come with you if it’s an overnighter.
If I had some leave left, I’d string a day or two off mid-week. ’
‘Maybe you could do the next run in the school holidays, mate? I hate to ask, you’ve got enough on your plate, but if you can do the second run, I’ll manage next weekend’s trip,’ Ian said easing into a chair at the table.
‘And it’s the auditions next weekend,’ Louisa added. ‘Neither of you are getting out of those. Loved your script, Spence, I finished reading it yesterday arvo in the sunroom. We’ve had eight new sign-ups on the Penwarra Players website, including little Harriet Crossley, Clem’s girl.’
Spencer had bumped into young Harriet during the week, when the high school drama team were putting on a skit for the junior students.
She’d rushed up to him, telling him all about her audition practice, and her excitement had been a refreshing change from the attitude of his Year 11 drama class that day.
The teenagers put on a passable performance, but most of the students seemed to have a severe case of term three-it-is, where the end of the year seemed too far away and the pressures of Year 12 seemed way too close.
‘I saw her Thursday, she’s keen to practise her public speaking skills so she can go for class captain, and score a better role in the next school concert.’
Louisa handed out bowls of steaming porridge, moved the vase of spring flowers to the kitchen and sat down with the men.
‘Isn’t that sweet? If I’d known a little website and a few flyers would flush this many new theatre fans out of the woodwork, I’d have made them years ago.’
She turned to gaze out the window, and Spencer wondered if she was thinking about Belle. She’d been the reason they joined the town’s theatre group all those years ago, and the Brealys had breathed new life into the group.
By the time Spencer had come on the scene, they’d built up a cast of amateur theatre enthusiasts, boosted the group’s coffers with regular fundraisers, and alternated tried and true plays with original pieces, written by locals.
Their enthusiasm had petered out after Belle’s death, and while Spencer had suspected their time leading the Penwarra Players was coming to an end, he was still caught offside when Louisa pushed her empty bowl aside and told him this would be their last play.
‘So let’s make it a good one,’ she said, covering Spencer’s hand with her own.
He drank the last of his tea, contemplating the news. ‘Who’s going to run it?’
Ian and Louisa exchanged a look. ‘That depends, I guess. For a while there, we thought maybe you and your new lady friend, Emily, might be keen to tackle it together. And take on this farm together too, working side by side as a team. Have you spoken with her recently? If we’re out of the picture, maybe she’ll feel more comfortable returning. ’
Spencer sat up straight in his chair, making the posy of native flowers jiggle in their vase, littering the table with little blossoms.
He certainly hadn’t expected this when they’d invited him to join them for breakfast.
‘Back up a little, I thought we were talking about the play, and now we’re talking about you leaving the farm? Where’s this come from?’
‘We’ll need to eventually have a chat about the future of South Giddi Giddi. Louisa always had it in her head that we might return to Canada at some stage, and my foot injury earlier this year made us realise we can’t rest on our heels with a decision like that.’
Spencer appreciated the timing was never going to be perfect, but why now?
‘I’m not following. Exactly what are you trying to say? You’re selling?’
‘We’re not selling,’ Ian said softly. ‘You’re like a son to us, Spencer—we’d like to give you the farm.
The bees, the stock, the land and the houses.
It would have gone to Belle eventually, if she was still here.
Our farming days are drawing to a close, but with the right lady by your side, yours could be ramping up. ’
Spencer felt his pulse kick up a notch. This wasn’t what they had discussed. The last time they’d come close to this painful, complicated topic, Ian and Louisa had made it clear that they wanted to run South Giddi Giddi until they were both in their mid-seventies.
He stared at the calendar by the sink. The September page was adorned with a photo of fluffy white lambs wearing bright, knitted jackets, a picture that seemed as bizarre as this conversation.
And while Spencer didn’t underestimate the amazing opportunity Ian was proposing, he’d thought he’d have at least another eight years to work out if that was what he really wanted.
Louisa squeezed his hand. ‘We want you to be happy, son, and we’re not getting any younger. It’d be lovely to know you’ve got someone special in your life.’
‘I know you kept things with Emily pretty close to your chest,’ Ian said, ‘but we don’t have to be brain surgeons to know she needed a little more certainty and a little less interference from us to make things work.
We’ve still got a parcel of land in Canada that needs some attention, and we’re of the age now that we only have a few moves left in us. ’
Spencer pushed away from the table, carrying the dishes to the sink.
‘You’ve got loads of time, don’t think you need to hurry off for my sake.
Things didn’t work out with Emily for a reason, and if she only wants me as a package deal, that says more about her than about you guys.
I’m not going to force you off your farm. Not now, not ever.’
He swiped at the tap, jammed the plug in the sink and squeezed the dishwashing liquid bottle until it spurted into the flowing water.
This wasn’t how he’d wanted things to go.
‘You’re not forcing us, we’re offering. It’ll all be yours one day, but we could bring that forward and hand it over early,’ Louisa said, bringing the cups to the bench.