Free Drowning in Her Eyes by Patrick Ford

Christmas Day, Denni and Jack woke to find ever y thing very quiet. They walked around on eggshells for a while before they realised their parents were not even in the house. Jack went to the kitchen window. There were two strange cars parked outside. “Bugger, ” yelled Denni, “the bloody neighbours are here for their Christmas drinks a l ready and I look awful. Look after them, Jack, my life d e pends on it! ” She disappeared at a run towards the bathroom.
    Jack decided to cut off the visitors before they got to the house. Perhaps he could keep them on the veranda while Denni made herself beautiful. Shit! That would take more than an hour, two if she washed her hair! He hurriedly put on a tee shirt and shorts and bounded down the steps toward the visitors ’ cars. There was no one in sight! Jack looked around. Nothing stirred. He moved towards the cars. They looked new to him. Whose could they be? One was a Morris Mini, crouched low to the ground, bright red and very sporty. Not much good in the bush , t hought Jack. You would tear the suspension out of it in a week . The other was a Holden utility. This was more like it. He could do with one of these. He would probably need a ca r if he were to go to Armidale.
    I wonder ed if Paddy would come to the party. It was a long way for the old Land Rover. Then the penny dropped. Jack could hardly believe it. Paddy had come to the party, and in a big way. He called, “You can come out now, you pair of crafty old buggers! ” He swung back towards the house. “It ’s all right, Denni, it ’s only the Jacksons. ” When she heard that, Denni screamed again. The Jacksons were neighbours and had a son about Denni ’s age who had taken a fancy to her. She thought he was a bore. “He thinks with his groin, and only talks about the weather and wool prices, ” she would say when teased by her family.
    Denni finally emerged. By then the Jacksons were there, along with several others, so Denni was able to avoid the son ’s attentions. They all trooped out to show her the new car. She gave an excited scream.
    Helen said, “We thought you would need these vehicles when you both go away. The only condition is that you use them to come home frequently. ”
    Christmas at Ballinrobe was a big day. Relatives and friends gathered for Christmas dinner. In the English trad i tion of the time, this consisted of roast turkey, baked ham and all the trimmings, followed by traditional Christmas pudding, complete with a silver sixpenny coin. Finding this in your pudding guaranteed good luck for the year to come. Jack didn ’t find it. Denni did.
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    Soon after New Year, they all travelled to Armidale. It was about a three- hour drive and the last hour or so took them along the top of the New England ranges. They stopped in the small town of Glen Innes, where Paddy revealed that his grandparents had lived here and were buried in the local cemetery. In Armidale, their relatives greeted them warmly. Lillian and her husband Bill had settled here many years b e fore. Paddy and Lil saw each other infrequently, so there was plenty to discuss.
    After supper, the adults retired to the lounge for a long gossip. Jack and Denni gathered with their older cousins Maree, Bernadette, and John. Lil ’s children were attractive and pleasant. Jack found the two girls, both stunning, one dark haired, the other a blonde version of her sister, fascina t ing. He reckoned that such attractive girls would have plenty of friends of the same stature. He was not wrong.
    The next day they toured the University of New England and inspected the colleges, Jack steadily seduced by the promise of an independent life style, the great sporting facil i ties, his beautiful cousins, and the lovely summer weather. It was midsummer but the temperature was about ten degrees cooler than Goondiwindi, and last night he had slept with a blanket. In the distance beyond the