Page 58 of Stockman's Stormcloud

‘Told you the juice was good. Got that hemp seed in there, said to be good for the ol’ ticker.’ Charlie patted his heart.

‘Witchy woo-woo nonsense.’ He upended his glass, draining it, like a medicine you didn’t want to taste. But he wanted off the couch.

‘Did you bring lunch, Lenny?’

‘In the car. Are we taking the Razorback?’

‘Just for today to get our bearings. Next time, we’ll take the horses for a run, coz the Stoneys get narrow.’ Charlie grabbed his old canvas bag, his hat, thermos, and large water bottle. He then wrote on the cake lid holding the cupcakes.‘Bree, gone fossicking with Lenny. Pop.’

‘Does Bree know you’re doing this, Charlie?’ Dex leaned back against the counter. Only now realising he wasn’t using the oxygen tank, which was still sitting beside the couch on the other side of the room.

‘Bree knows I go fossicking with Lenny all the time.’

‘But you’re not, are you? You’re looking for something more.’

Charlie stood at the open door, with Lenny heading for the car. ‘Look, I don’t want to upset Bree…’

‘You’re hunting for clues.’

Charlie gave a heavy nod. ‘After young Policeman Porter’s visit yesterday, it got me thinking. If they can’t find anything about my brother, or that married woman he ran off with, and with you saying my brother left his car out there as a diversion, maybe, just maybe, my brother left a message for meout in the Stoneys. I’ve gotta try, lad. For sixty years, I’ve always wondered what happened to Harry. You know, if he’d just left me a note, I’d be okay with that.’

‘Maybe the car was the message.’

‘Nah. It’s just not like my brother. You’ve got brothers, would they leave without saying a word?’

At one stage, Dex didn’t speak to his brothers for years. ‘Mum kept us up to date.’

‘But would you leave your brothers without a message if you were in trouble?’ Charlie tapped the brim of his hat and closed the door behind him.

Dex never contacted his brothers, and they never contacted him. Not that he’d made it easy. They’d been scattered across the country, always moving because of their jobs, until their mother called, telling them that their baby brother, Jonathan, had just bought a cattle station and needed their help with his first muster. It was the first time they’d come together after a decade apart.

At first, they were strangers. But as they worked together, helping their baby brother with his first muster, that old familiarity of family kicked in. Nightly, around the camp fire at their stock camp, they’d shared stories of the good times growing up, and of their own adventures, until they looked to the future.

They each had a unique talent to bring to the table, as well-experienced stockmen who’d worked in differing fields. Like his brothers, Dex believed they could make a go of this place—but it was challenging when they had little cattle, and a mine breathing down their neck for their water.

Dex rolled up the new soil map, including his copies of Charlie’s maps, slid on his hat and grabbed his oxygen cart. It was time to get back towork.

Nineteen

The trek from the caretaker’s cottage to the farmhouse stretched on forever. But Dex didn’t quit until he made it to the front steps, breathless, as if he’d run ten clicks. But he’d made it.

‘Dex?’ It was Ash, pouring himself a coffee by the shelves of office gear. ‘What are you doing out here?’

‘I’ll have a coffee, thanks.’ Dex dragged himself up to the large table that commanded the corner of the front verandah and collapsed into his chair. Its where they’d hold their morning meetings and nightly drinks, to then argue over whose turn it was to cook dinner—until Harper and Mia created a cooking roster.

Sarge, the big shepherd, came up for a pat.

‘G’day mate.’ The dog sniffed at the oxygen canister. Bree had done a fine job on the trolley, it handled any terrain while carrying his paperwork.

‘Here you go.’ Ash put down a beautifully glorious, steaming cup of black coffee in front of Dex.

‘Thank you.’ Dex inhaled as deeply as he could, revelling in the rich caffeine aroma that blended perfectly with the sweet outback air of sunrise. This was living.

‘Dex.’ Ryder, with his heavy boot steps, came down the side of the house to join them. ‘You took your sweet time to show up.’

Dex even copped a pat on the shoulder from the big brother before he sat at the head of the table.

‘Have you seen these geological soil maps before?’ Therewas a shuffle of cups and empty beer bottles to spread the map across the table. With Cap soon joining them, Dex explained what Lenny had shared earlier.

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