Page 26 of The Beach Cottage
“No, this is home now. I raised my child here. I buried my husband here. My friends and business are on the island. I have nowhere else to go.”
Bea considered her words. She couldn’t imagine moving to the other side of the world and putting down roots. It must’ve been difficult at first, but Betsy had built a life for herself and seemed happy. Bea had done something similar when she moved to Sydney. She hadn’t known anyone there and it had taken a while to feel at home in the big, bustling city after her quiet, relaxed life on Coral Island. But now she was home again, she wondered how she’d ever managed it, how she’d ever believed herself to belong there. This was her home and she had no plans to leave again.
Twelve
Penny leaned her head towards her chest and squeezed the back of her neck with one hand. It ached from sitting at a desk all day staring at a screen. Paperwork was a necessary part of running the wildlife refuge, but it wasn’t one of her favourite tasks. She preferred being out with the animals. Still, she couldn’t do that unless she paid the bills, and that was getting more and more difficult.
She’d done her best to juggle the minimal resources remaining in her bank account and hoped it was enough to get her through the next thirty days. After that, she’d have to come up with some other kind of plan. She still hadn’t heard back about the government grant she’d applied for, and the refuge was well and truly skint.
With a yawn, she got to her feet and stretched her arms over her head. She stretched her neck to one side, then the other, and wandered out through the door to check on the animals in the outdoor enclosures. It was her favourite time of the day — afternoon, before the sun had begun its descent beyond the mainland. The animals needed to be fed, and many of the creatures who were nocturnal, sleeping through the daylight hours, began to stir and come out of their hiding places. She could talk to them, pat them, spend time watching them frolic and eat.
She fed the kangaroos first, then cut up vegetables for the wombats. She was the only one on duty that afternoon, so she had to undertake the entire afternoon feeding schedule on her own. It wasn’t a large sanctuary, so it was manageable. But she was glad the reptiles had already been taken care of by the morning crew or she might not be able to get it all done.
When she walked into the wombat enclosure with the tray of sliced vegetables, she noticed a shadow against the outer fence. The shadow followed her as she went, then stopped by the wombat burrow when she did. She pushed half of the vegetables into the feeding trough with one finger, then spun around to stare at the shadow against the fence. A small brown eye looked at her through a gap between palings. It blinked.
“Hi,” Penny said.
There was no response. She walked closer. The shadow backed away.
“Do you like wombats? They’re one of my favourites. I love how they curl into a ball to go to sleep. Don’t you?”
The shadow slowly drew close to the fence palings, and the brown eye reappeared. “Yes,” a small voice said.
“Would you like to feed them?”
Penny went to the front gate and found a small girl standing there who looked to be around eight years old.
“I’m Penny.” She smiled.
The girl chewed her lower lip. “I’m Sam.”
“Nice to meet you, Sam. Are your parents okay with you coming into the sanctuary to feed the wombats? Maybe I should call them.”
“They’re not home,” Sam walked through the gate.
“Okay.” Penny shut the gate behind her after checking there was no one else around. Why was this girl standing outside the sanctuary by herself? The closest houses were only a few blocks away. Perhaps she’d wandered over alone. Or maybe someone was nearby. Either way, she hoped the girl knew a phone number to call although these days, few people memorised numbers since everything was on speed dial.
The girl followed her to the wombat enclosure, and Penny helped her feed them the rest of the vegetables. Her hair was tangled, her clothing ratty and stained. She had bare feet, and her knees were covered in half-healed scabs.
“Are you here with someone?”
The girl shrugged. “Dad’s busy.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Do you live near here?”
A nod.
“Does your dad know where you are?”
“He’s at work.”
“Are you hungry?”
Her brown eyes found Penny’s. She nodded again.
“Well, come on, then. I’ve got some cake I was about to cut up for afternoon tea. It’s red velvet with cream cheese icing, my favourite. I’m starving myself. I hope you are too. Someone has to eat the cake. I’d hate for it to go to waste. And since my brother isn’t here, it will have to be the two of us.”
After cake and chocolate milk, coffee for Penny, the little girl wandered back in the direction of home. Penny offered to drive her, but she said she’d rather walk and something about not being allowed to get into a car with strangers.
