Page 61 of A Home Among the Snow Gums
Let’s talk.
She gave up scrolling through his past messages, shoved the phone back in her pocket and nudged Skipjack out of the holding yard to where Kev was trying to haul a sack of potash.
‘Let me help you with that,’ she said.
‘Girl, the day I can’t take care of my roses is the day I cock my toes up. Go enjoy your ride. You taking the southern track?’
‘I thought I’d let Skippy decide.’
‘We’ll do some yard work when you get back. There’s a couple heifers I’m agisting you haven’t scared witless yet.’
She grinned. ‘I do feel as though I’m starting to get the hang of this cow-herding stuff.’
‘You’ve been wearing me out this last month, and that’s the truth.’ He dragged a plaid hanky from his pocket and blew his nose on it like he was blowing on a trumpet. ‘You’ll be knocking their socks off at the Ironbark draft.’
That dratted campdraft. She’d committed to helping out and that was the one thing shehadlet slide over the past month. It was, what, four months away? Five?
‘Go enjoy your ride, love. Watch out for fallen branches, though, won’t you. Those storms that brought all that early snow would’ve brought some timber down for sure. The creeks’ll be running, too.’
‘Skippy’s not too keen on creek crossings.’
‘All the more reason. You’ll be wanting to work on some quick turns and use your knees, not your voice.’
‘Kev, today’s a play day for us. We’re not thinking about work.’
‘Woah, was that Hannah Cody who just said that? Remind me to buy a lotto ticket when I head into town.’
She grinned. ‘A girl can change, can’t she?’
‘She sure can, love.’
Thin frost covered the ground as she nudged Skip down the narrow track. Browned off eucalypt leaves drifted down over them every time the breeze stirred the trees, and the long grasses gleamed pale and pearly where the sun flooded through the canopy.
Skipjack picked his way along, the rumble of his breath a diesel engine out here in the quiet. She drew in a lungful of air and felt … good. Time really was a balm.
‘Line in the sand, Skipjack,’ she said. Hmm, a line in the snow would be easier here in the Snowy Mountains, but whatever. The metaphor worked no matter where she carved it.
She brought Skip to a halt in a clearing where gum trees bore the scars of fire. He shifted under her, keen to run, but she patted his neck until he settled down. ‘Just give me a sec, my love.’
She pulled the creased paper from her pocket.Long-term Effects of Cyber Bullying, she read.The psyche of the victim can sustain long-term and permanent damage from cyber bullying. Feelings of lack of self-worth can cause the victim to reject opportunities for work, educational or relationship advancement.
Well, yeah. Check. Charlie Homer hadn’t been the person who’d shoved pills down her throat, she’d done that to herself. But if she had her time over, would she still pick medicine over vet science? She wrapped her fingers in the mane on Skipjack’s neck. No way. Animals had become a vocation for her. She’d found her way to work she loved.
Relationships were a different story.
Cyberbullying in the past is a strong indicator for being a victim of dating abuse in the future, particularly where the bullying has been sexual in connotation, and targeted a female victim.
Hannah swallowed. She’d not been a victim in the years since because she’d been cautious. Too cautious, perhaps.
She shoved the leaflet back into her pocket then pulled it out again. She didn’t need it anymore. Tearing it up was a fumble at first because her fingers were cold, but then she got into it. Halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, what came next? Oh, to hell with doing it in an orderly way. She ripped until it was in tiny little shards, then stuffed them all into her pocket. She’d light a fire in the old grate at the vet clinic when she got home, burn the bits into smoke, and that would be it: the shadow of her past would be gone.
The hard line of her phone butted into her fingers and she pulled it out.
To put the whole episode behind her, she needed to clear the air with Tom, but now there was the whole love problem to contend with.
She needed advice. And who better to turn to than the relationship drama queen herself?
Luckily, Kylie must have been between oil changes because she answered on the second ring.
