Free Orphans of the Storm by Katie Flynn Page A

intruders, including several small snakes, during a bad thunderstorm. But Andy, of course, was used to such things. He had been born and bred in Queensland and took it for granted that, during the wet, they would be invaded by every sort of animal and insect that desired to get out of the rain and under a roof. Snakes and scorpions hid themselves in any convenient corner, and great care had to be exercised, since the dark clouds decreased visibility. Nancy had learned to be very cautious when crossing a room or going out to the kitchen to make a meal.
    Andy disentangled himself from the mosquito netting and got out of bed. He picked up the book he had been reading the previous evening, flipped the scorpion on to the floor and disposed of it, then carefully surveyed the room before yawning, stretching and reaching for his clothes, which he shook vigorously before beginning to dress. ‘Might as well get up, I suppose,’ he remarked, tipping his boots upside down and examining them carefully before putting them on. ‘C’mon, old girl, and I’ll help you cook the breakfast.’ As he spoke, he was shaking her clothing and upending her shoes, a task he performed every morning when he was not away mustering cattle.
    ‘Right you are,’ Nancy said, climbing reluctantly out from beneath the thin sheet which was all the covering they ever needed, for even in the wet the sullen heat did not lift and the humidity was worse. Besides, she was pregnant again, and every movement was an effort.
    ‘What are you doing today?’ she asked, as the two of them left the bedroom. ‘I’m going to bake, but once the first batch is in the oven I mean to write some letters. I feel awfully guilty because I’ve barely been in touch with Jess since her wedding and that was more than a year ago. Somehow I’m always too busy.’ She looked down at the mound of her stomach, patting it thoughtfully. ‘I wonder if she’s expecting yet? It would be lovely if Jess and I had a baby at about the same time.’
    ‘Well, you aren’t likely to hear about it even if she is,’ Andy observed. ‘I reckon we’re in for another month of rain and the river will soon be so high and the floods so deep that Bullwhip won’t be able to get through. Which means no mail in either direction, of course,’ he ended.
    Nancy sighed. She hated being cut off from the rest of the world, as they always were in the wet, yet she loved waking up each morning to find Andy beside her. When the finer weather came, he would be away for weeks at a time, mustering the cattle for sale, because when the floods subsided grass, sweet and good, grew up almost overnight and the fattened cattle fetched their best price. During the wet, however, both Andy and Clive slept each night in the homestead and worked at repairing the yards and buildings. Occasionally, they went further afield, but this was the exception rather than the rule, and they nearly always got home at night since sleeping out in the wet was impossible.
    ‘So you’re baking, eh?’ Andy said, opening the door and stepping out on to the duckboard walk which he had constructed between the house and the kitchen. ‘Well, I’m going on an egg hunt, and you aren’t to worry. I’m always careful, particularly in the wet. I’ll take Clive with me and half a dozen of the blacks. I’ll probably be out all day, because finding the nests isn’t always easy, but I’ll be home for dinner.’ He cocked a hopeful eye at her. ‘Are there any spuds left? There’s tinned peas, I know, in the store, and if you’re baking . . . well, how about a steak and kidney pudding, with mashed potatoes and peas? Or a pie, for that matter?’
    ‘I’ll make one or the other, I promise,’ Nancy said, trying to keep her voice steady. Of all the frightening things on the Walleroo, the creatures which scared her most were the great crocodiles. They could grow up to twenty feet in length and they were remorseless and cunning killers. She had seen