1 Chapter 1
Rob peered upwards through the windscreen. The sky looked nasty. Already the fallow fields had been painted white by the first snows. He’d missed the weather report that morning, but some of the guys in town had said something about a blizzard and by golly it looked as if they were right.
He pushed his foot a little harder against the accelerator. Feed and water the horses. Feed the chickens. Collect the eggs. He made a mental list of the chores that would have to get done the minute he got home because once the storm hit, there was no doing anything.Get some wood in.Thankfully he wouldn’t have to chop it. Rooster McGee and his sons did all that, and delivered it, too. It wasn’t cheap, but the crops had been good for the past couple of years and for once the bank account wasn’t as anaemic as it usually was.
He was approaching Reynolds Road, a dirt road that went right past his front gate, when he saw the figure of a man walking towards him along the side of the bitumen. Curious, he pulled off the main road and stopped the car, watching as the man got nearer and nearer.
The stranger had his head down against the growing winds. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to walk right into the SUV. Rob tooted the horn. The man looked up. He was handsome, rugged, and sported a thick moustache. Not too unusual for these parts, though still a sight he never got sick of seeing. He gestured for the man to come around the other side and get in.
“How’s it going, buddy?” he said as the man climbed into the passenger seat and threw his backpack onto the seat behind. “Not a good day to be out taking a stroll.”
“I know. Pretty crazy, huh?” The man held his gloved hand out. “Darren. But call me Duke.”
Rob shook Duke’s hand. “Where you headed?”
“Just into town,” said Duke, opening the top couple of buttons on his jacket. “Was going to drop in and see some family.”
Rob put the car into gear and headed down Reynolds Road.
“You got family in Amberville? Who?”
“The Masterson’s. Ellen’s my mum’s sister.”
“Yeah, Jim and Ellen. Know ‘em well. Good people. Listen, I gotta get back to the house before this storm hits. I can take you into town, but by the looks of things it probably won’t be until tomorrow. You can bunk down at my place, if you want. It’s no problem.”
Duke considered the offer. “I guess there’s no way I’m going to be able to walk it, is there? I mean before all hell breaks loose?”
Rob shook his head. “Definitely not.”
“Well, if you don’t mind.”
“Course not. Glad of the company.”
“I thought I’d be able to make it in time,” said Duke. “I got off the bus at Lawson and thought I could hitch a ride, but you’re the first car I’ve seen since I left.”
“Folks are getting ready for the storm,” said Rob. “You haven’t got a car?”
“I had one, but I sold it. Sold everything so I could get out of the city. Had enough of the rat race and wanted to get away from it all. See what happened. See where life took me.”
Rob laughed. “Man, I admire that. Sometimes wish I could just up and leave. Been in this town my whole life, probably die here, too.”
Fifteen minutes later, they came to a beaten up mail box sticking up through a clump of dead weeds. “This is us.”
Duke was about to say something when his mobile phone rang. He took it out of his jacket pocket.
“It’s Ellen,” he said. “Just a minute.”
While Duke explained the situation to his aunt, Rob drove up the track to his weatherboard house and parked the SUV in the garage next to it.
“Okay, got to go,” he heard Duke tell his aunt. “See you tomorrow.” He put the phone back in his jacket. “Ellen says to say hi.”
“Nice of her. Now, I’ve got some chores to do,” said Rob. “You go on in and get settled.”
Duke hoisted his backpack out from the back seat. “Is there anything I can do? I want to earn my keep.”
They walked out into the wind, which bit at the exposed skin of Rob’s face.
“Put your bag inside and if you wouldn’t mind getting some wood in. It’s around the other side. I’ll show you.”
Forty-five minutes later Rob returned from his chores to a house that was toasty warm, courtesy of the roaring fire Duke had got going.
