Page 117 of A Home Among the Snow Gums
‘And the other one?’
‘Wants to operate. She stuffs it, I’m a paraplegic.’
‘Risky now or risky later.’
‘Yep.’
‘Your thoughts?’
‘We’re in the risk business, commodore. You know that.’
‘Yes, I do. So, you’re going to push for the operation now?’
Yes. Yes, he was. He was done with waiting.
The commodore sat in the chair by the bed. ‘You want a little company?’
‘Wouldn’t mind. The thoughts in your head’ll be way more interesting than the ones in mine. Any news from the Combined Task Force?’
‘Leadership passes from Turkey to Japan soon. Australia’s role won’t change too much, we expect. Oil tanker piracy seems to be getting more about politics than ransom these days. Iran just seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf and that’s causing a lot of grief.’
‘Yeah, I heard that on the radio.’
‘You have radio out there in the Snowies?’
‘Funny,’ he said. ‘You know, when I was in Bahrain, up to my neck in it, it was all I thought about. But having this time away … it makes you think.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like … I’ve done my bit. Let someone else have their turn defending the oceans. I didn’t think I’d ever say it, but I’m ready to start defending things on a smaller scale.’ Like Benjamin Dorley’s property settlement. Small on the world scale, but important to the bloke whose life it would affect.
‘That’s good. I mean,I’dhate it. If I had to sit in the suburbs and write grocery lists and battle for a carpark space at the newsagent, I’d blow my stack, but I’m pleased you’ve found some contentment, Tom.’
Well, not quite. Contentment was not something he could claim to ever have with this thing lurking in his back.
‘How’s life at Creswell treating you, commodore? Any gossip?’
He let her words fill his head; they helped block out the fear that was dug in like a tick.
CHAPTER
46
Hannah scrambled backwards as the two-hundred kilogram sow lunged for her leg.
‘Jeepers,’ she said, as her heart rate shot into the stratosphere. ‘She always so stroppy?’
‘Marilyn?’ The farmer scratched his nose. ‘Precious girl’s a peach. Usually. That’s why I’ve called you out. Poor lass has been snapping at everyone for near on a week.’
‘Hmm. She off her food?’
‘Nope. She gets a mash cook-up done special, same as always.’
‘She been scratching herself against posts? Frothing at the mouth? Sleeping more than normal?’
‘Not so as I’ve noticed.’
‘Could she be in the family way, Eddie?’
