Theresa 22, Paul is 20

"All packed darling girl?" Daddy held my shoulder and peered over, looking in my bag full of clothes and a folder of notes. I'd been trembling as my fingers placed everything inside and dad wasn't the best pick me up for my nerves.

He had said nothing negative of course but taking me to town, a round trip of ten hours adding the four days away from the property didn't sit well when there was so much to do around the place.

It was spring, and the weather had blessed us early, good steady rainfall was filling dams, tanks and the river that ran the length of the property. It all gave hope of a good productive summer.

Cows and calves needed mustering and sorting, cutting, tagging and branding to name a few items on a never-ending list of cattle work.

Not to mention the rest of the property's workload. We needed to get the bulldozer up and running to fix the track that ran beside the boundary fence which made it easier to access to repair said fence... Those fences which termites with a voracious appetite ate with a gusto, eating so well they destroyed corner posts, and rails would often be found swinging in the breeze...

"Nearly done.... I promise to do double chores when we get back... and by the way, I changed the oil and filters on the tractor last night"

"You what?! Gee girl what a girl you are. Thank-you luv, I swear you'll be my right-hand man before the year's out.. that is unless the fancy lights of Broadway don't get you first"

"I'm playing at the Weipa town hall dad, I'm not going anywhere"

It was true Weipa town hall was where all the School of the Air kids were meeting to have the annual picnic and graduation from 'school'.

My classroom and many other kids classrooms were actually our parent's offices usually, all alone yet with other kids over the airways. Chatting with other students that lived on other remote stations over the two-way radio was our playground and the teacher was based in Weipa or sometimes Katherine.

Lessons were hard, we had to ask questions over the radio and do spoken oration into a small black mouth piece remembering to say 'over' every time we had finished talking.

It wasn't all bad, my teacher was nice and after marking and listening to a piece or two of my poetry she thought I could sing some. So, mum and I would tinker away and try to pluck something out of the air swirling round our heads as we sat at the piano and make it sound pretty.

Weipa would be scary, wonderful and exciting. Mum, Dad and I only go to town two or three times a year and this trip Miss Marie wants me to sing and play piano on two pieces mum and I created. With the help of Billy from Humpty Doo on a snare drum to keep the beat.

"You'll be world famous and I'll lose my best musterer"

"Is that even a word? I like the poetry but I doubt I want, or could even make a business in it. You know I want to be an animal doc"

"You've definitely got the nouse for it luv; And you don't choke when we have to pull a calf from its mother. I know you'd be a good 'un"

Dad kissed the top of my head and gave me his version of a hug... one arm around my neck near strangling me. "You write back to Jimbo?"

"Yes ...." Dad glanced up from staring vacantly out my bedroom window so I dared ask... "Daddy, will you take me one day ... to visit him?" I dreamed of meeting Jim and the boys... my brothers. They all weren't lost to me, I knew who they were, what Jim was. I wrote to mother Mary and father Jim from the day I could write my name... and that first time was just that. My name in big capital letters in pink crayon and pictures of my horses I drew especially for them.

"One day when we have the funds"

We may live on a huge property but there was, and is, no money. No pounds nor spare shillings for splurging. It was all wrapped up in farm machines and implements, in feed, and in hundreds of hooves plodding the long paddock.

"I'll get you there one day luv even if you take an ocean liner and go alone" he frowned as a father would.. A girl alone travelling so far away was enough to cause a father to fret.

"I wouldn't go, you know I can't leave my darn horses can I! And who would service the machines?!"

"You are a galah, you are.. I love that you think that will have me stop sending you, so to save the money"

***

"Are we there yet!" I teased mother, so she flapped a hand behind herself over her seat trying to swipe at me as I lay prostrate across the backseat of the station wagon.

I was sweating like a pig in a suit, in church... with a head full of sin. "Keep flapping!! It's creating a slight breeze mumma haha"

"Oh, that reminds me... Brazier rang as I was heading out the door said you did good breaking in his colt... wants to send the next starter over when we get back... you up for it?" Dad sat up straighter and looked at me as best he could in the mirror. He then proceeded to light a cigarette and blow a puff of smoke out the window.

"Too right I am. That colt was pretty nutso, it was great fun. Is the new one a nutter too"

"How do you not fall off?" Mum always worried. She didn't like me breaking in the young horses, but they were a challenge and I enjoyed seeing them settled under saddle at the end of the training.

"Mother shushhhh. The first rule is don't talk bout falling and stuff or I will. Anyway, Melvin tied me on the first time- couldn't get off any old how!"

"Melvin has a few cattle short in his own top paddock. Why would you let him tie you on, that's absurd?!" Mum twisted in the seat scowling at me as I attempted to juggle some of her jam drop bickys packed for the trip. I was still laid flat out resting, it was boring that long car ride.... I stopped, dropping two biscuits in my lap and ate the third.

"Are you insinuating Melvin is missing brain cells Mrs Mohin?"

"Why yes Miss Mohin, indeed I am"

Mum and I giggled all about Melvin and his odd ways. He'd been her daddy's number one foreman, now he was craggy old and grey but still fast as a nipper... although he often plain forgot where he was heading to and lifted his hat often and scratched his head in question.

A shame really, he was a great teacher and I love him to bits. He first let me load and cock the rifle for him when we went out shooting dingos. I was about seven and a half, then he taught me how to shoot for real. Practicing first by shooting down empty bully beef cans from the yard rails at a good range.

Now I go shooting when daddy does and I'm not the driver, no way. I'm up on the deck of the ute I am, daddy spotting bright eyes with the torch and me bringing down vermin left, right and centre.

"He tied me on so I was on when the blasted colt ran out of steam after chasing over miles of terrain... then I got the winded bugger to behave all the way home and he settled down right as rain after that. Not one bad foot out of place after that first doozy of a ride"

"You need to do something Phillip"

"Like what? Theresa is a capable young lady"

"Pffff. Lady. Daddy please don't say that... "

"Phillip, we need to get her into town permanently. A good school, education... A school of deportment perhaps"

"Ugh! Not on your nelly mother! I'm deported enough! I love the land, the openness, the beauty of it all... I can ride all day without seeing a single solitary soul, I can camp under the stars where the black cockatoos roost or on the Ridge looking down on this glorious earth. Towns are too claustrophobic and way, way too noisy"

"Towns are where you get your education, where you find love..."

"Hang on. None of this love bullshit talk til she's at least thirty" Dad winked at me in the mirror. He hoped I'd be thirty by the time I wanted to entertain some bloke...

I want entertaining all right but settling down... not in this next decade or two.

"You want her to be an old spinster with sixteen cats" Mum retorted back making both daddy and I roll our eyes.

"Better than being married with six brats I say" I sat up wiping my eyes. "Pull over daddy my turn"

Red bull dust swirled as mum ran to a short bush and relieved, dad just stood at the rear peeing like a dog except he didn't raise a hind leg.

Thankfully, I could see nought in the mirrors.

I honked the horn and he jumped, cursed and started wiping the side of his shoe on the roadside gravel. I sat in the drivers' seat, giggling at his face as it contorted into a grumpy scowl then he began smirking at me in the side mirror waggling a gnarly finger, biting back laughter.

****

"Traffic Lights!!!!!!!"

"What the flaming galah! Stop scaring the crap-"Daddy yelped. Mother immediately smacked him over the back of the seat somehow finding mark, clipping his thinning top as he woke and sat up from his sleep with a start and a snort "Stop scaring the stuffing outta me, girly"

"Sorry Pa. It's just they got traffic lights put in!! That's big news. Are we bunking down at the Uni or Cri?"

"Universal hotel or Criterion dear" I'll give her that... my mother tries and tries. And I teased and pushed the envelope back. I could talk all posh but why bother I was in the sticks talking to horses and poddy calves most days no queens coming for tea round 'ere.

"That's what I said! "

"Stop bickering ladies "Daddy bellyached. I snorted and mum grumbled something about finishing schools under her breath. "I elect the Uni- steaks are betta there" Dad rubbed the smarting mark mother had blessed on his noggin.

"Too right dad, nice choice"

"Phillip, I'm the Australian here" Lorraine retorted to her husband about his Aussie lingo.

She was born and raised here and had red dirt between her toes and coursing through her blood, to prove it. Philip had swept her up with his, what she thought at the time, was a 'posh' British accent. He had been working as the drovers cook and went about submersing himself in all things country Australia and my mother too apparently- ugh.

Like a wombat digging his hollow Phil successfully woo'd her, and her own father and mother, countless stockmen, and locals in the area, too. He ingrained himself in the community like he had grown up in it himself.

*************

Billy the drummer is a snot-nosed eight-year-old.

I thought he sounded young but didn't really listen to his work plans on the School of the Air.... if I had of I would have realised he was a kid. He hit the snare with all the grace of a dog wagging its tail, timely yet annoyingly, like it was your leg his tail belted as he did so.

And I'm old, older than all of them- twenty-two now.

Miss Marie warned me it was my last year and I should shift my butt, do my schooling instead of riding all day. But I like riding!

My graduation, my debut, my life needed to start but all I want is here. All I need, yearn for, crave, is animals and wide-open plains and gorges so deep you feel like you're exploring and delving down into another world every time you visit.

"Lorraine, take those for your balmy daughter, I'm sure she will forget" Jasmine Marie, Theresa's School of The Air teacher smiled happily as she passed a square packet into Lorraine through her open window. The graduation over, goodbyes bade. It was time for everyone, including the Mohin's, to head for home.

"Ta Jas. What are they luv?"

"Recordings of our miss Territry singing and her piano skills. She's excelled this year with her writing, hasn't she"? Miss Marie was around Lorraine's age, the two got on well, in person and over the radio. Jasmine never had a bad word about anyone, one of her weaknesses in teaching. Never telling the parent a child was falling behind did no favour, she shone light on strengths however fleeting to a pupil they were.

"Surprising really, with the amount of time she spends at the desk to the amount she spends in the saddle. It's a miracle anything gets learnt, no offence to you as her teacher Jasmine"

"I know what you mean. It's hard for these kids, the land is in them. I don't begrudge them the outdoors. Much nicer that four walls Lorraine" Jasmine patted Lorraine's shoulder and stepped back as Theresa swept past with a load of groceries for the trip. "Be good Theresa"

"When am I not Miss? Hmmmm"

"I'll miss you on the airwaves"

"Oh, I'll check in now and again I promise. Thanks for everything miss. Give us a cuddle" With wide open arms Terri collected her teacher into a loving embrace.

It was a long road of schooling and had been mentioned many a time that perhaps Theresa should move to a boarding school but even though Phillip wanted her to have a good education, he couldn't bear to send his and Lorraine's, Jim and Mary's daughter to the big smoke to cope alone. He couldn't protect her thousands of miles away so he let her remain at the family home.

EMI Studios London

Come on (come on), come on (come on)

Come on (come on), come on (come on)

Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you

"Congratulations, gentlemen....."

"You've just made your first number one."

George Martin uttered the words in his posh lilt and the lads erupted. Yelling and bouncing about like a mob of yahoos.

*****

Paul sat his Bass in its case and slumped on the folding chair in the centre of the cavernous studio. John dropped an unlit cigarette in his lap and sank down onto the floor in front of him.

"Do you think he was pulling our chain, with that number one quip?" Richy grabbed the piano stool and dragged it into the makeshift circle for their after recording wrap up. George was off trying to get a date with the temp receptionist on the front desk.

"It's hard yeah?! To hear the song, new in ya 'ead, after all the takes eh" Paul bounced the fag on his knee and brought it back to his lips as Johns foot tapped the beat that had been drilling into the room, and their ears, all afternoon.

"Aye, I hope it is up there... Mimi needs reminding again to stop going on about the guitars alright for a hobby lark she harps every god damn time I telephone. I reckon we could be world famous and she would still say that line." His foot clipped the tea cup and it clattered noisily in the saucer by Pauls chair leg. "Luv me do was alright but we need to get up the top-"

"Toppermost of the poppermost!!!" George cut in happily as he shut the door and waved the girlies phone number "Got it. She thought I was teasing til I said Friday at three. Swooned and everything then. Got a good arse that one"

"Can't you pick one up for her mind mate?"

"Well I could but where's the fun in that. I just want to touch her not ask her questions"

"Fair enough"

"You staying at your da's in Liddypool when we go up?" John sat up and touched his toes like he was exercising but it was just a game to pass the time. No one exercised like that at their age.

"Yeah, he wants me and Mike to wallpaper something or other. Not sure how to do that, but I'm sure I can bodgey it up"

"Wrap our Mike up like an Egyptian mummy perhaps"

"That's an idea..."

"I'm just going to sit at mums dining table and eat her food. God, I miss her pikelets" George tossed some jubes in his mouth and offered them around, no one took him up on the pro-offered treats "Suit yourselves" he pulled the packet back and put it in his coat pocket.

"Six years or more since I've had pikelets me mum made"

"End of October wasn't it?"

"Yeah, fucking hate Halloween or All Saints Day, whatever you like to call it, now. Thirty-first of October......" Paul leaned down and over himself, his body smaller, contracted inward. It was an unconscious movement though. John had noticed from the get go how Paul curved in on himself whenever his mother was mentioned, whether it was an arm across his front or like he sat now. It still hurt. It always would. "Anyhap!" Paul rallied, sitting up quick smart and slapping his legs "Do you think we can go trawling the old pubs while we're back 'ome?"

"God, I do hope so!" Richy breathed out happily.

Glossary :

Colt- a young male horse!

A few cattle short in his own top paddock or a few cattle short in the top paddock - Slang. Basically means whom-ever you are talking about has lost their marbles, lost some brain cells, saying they are a bit dumb but in a jovially way.

Flamin Galah- Aussie Slang again. Pretty much a person who makes a fool of themselves but isn't afraid to laugh at themselves when everyone else starts laughing at them. If you're English and watch Home and Away series you would hear Alf say it often :)

Here is Chris Hemsworth slanging it out (The slanging match starts at the 4 min mark but why not indulge in Chris's piercing blue eyes for 207 seconds til that segment. Cause, you know, it's Chris) 

Humpty Doo- is an actual town in the Northern Territory!

Weipa and Katherine are both small towns too-

Weipa in the Top End of Queensland aka Cape York Peninsula. Population 4000.

Katherine in the Northern Territory, not far from the beautiful Kakadu National Park.

Black Cockatoo- They are a little bigger than a white cockatoo and a lot rarer to see. They have a few red feathers in their under tail.

Wombat!- Short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about 1 m in length with small, stubby tails. (Haha thanks wiki) 20-35kg fully grown.