“Pretty much. I’ve been all right with the cows. I’m hoping this is just as easy.” And I seriously did.
There was little question in my mind when I moved back to my hometown a few years back that I wanted a small block of land. Moving away for uni had been good for me and helped me see this was where I wanted to be.
I didn’t want a place the size of my parents’ property, since I had no desire to work the land full-time. But a small hobby farm with a few animals, fruit trees, and veggies was absolutely manageable.
But I’d never been around goats before. I didn’t think they could continue surprising me like this, but I stood corrected.
The sound from above had me shifting my attention.
Seriously. No bloody way.
Benji peered down at me, Dan, and Bessie.
“Unbelievable.” I shook my head, my focus drifting between the two goats while wondering about Benji’s ability to get on the roof. “Get your arse down here.”
Benji bleated.
“Yeah, yeah.” I shooed Bessie off their makeshift “stepping stool”—the metal container—and jumped up. Benji, seeming to recognise he needed to stay put for my help unless he planned to jump the seven feet, stayed in reaching distance.
“You are so going in the pot.” I managed to wrangle the goat to safety and quickly shifted the container so he and Bessie could no longer check out the scenery from up high.
Task done, and no curry on the cards since Benji did have a way with the ladies by getting Bessie knocked up, Dan and I returned to my shed, pausing when his phone rang.
“It’s Frank.”
I nodded, focusing intently as Dan answered the station officer’s call.
He paused, listening to Frank speaking. “Yeah, I’ve been looking at the BOM site a fair bit.”
When I heard his words, I immediately realised they were talking about the possibility of flooding. Dan had read every alert that came through from the Bureau of Meteorology app. Every time it pinged with an update, he’d checked.
With how much rain we’d been having, flooding was expected. I just hoped it was the usual flash flooding on the usual creeks.
We dealt with those all the time.
Even as I tried to convince myself that would be the case, I expected different. With how much rain had pummelled us and those up north, it was a waiting—and monitoring—game to see how high the main river would rise.
“Will do, yeah. No worries. I expect I’ll be seeing you soon.” He said goodbye and glanced over at me. “Frank said the river’s already up by five hundred mil.”
“That’s not great.”
“Nope. You sure you don’t want to head back to town with me?”
This had been a bone of contention earlier on too, when we’d headed into town to grab some fuel for my generator and a few more basics, just to cover me as it was probable the roads would be cut off.
If a flood happened, it would likely be in the next forty-eight hours or so, which was awful timing, since school was back in session on Monday.
The protocol for such events and work was if you could get in safely, with no water to cross, and your property was safe, then you were to head in. This was so parents in essential services could do their jobs knowing their kids were being looked after, especially those who had no alternative arrangements.
There was just the one major creek I’d need to cross to get into the north side of town. That creek had risen high about three times since I’d been living here, and even in my truck, I wouldn’t be crossing it. Not when it was on a mission and flowing fast.
So if I were to leave, it would be soon with Dan.
But then there was the pain-in-the-butt goat who I expected to go into labour anytime now.
While I’d been brought up with the animals on the property being absolutely livestock and not pets, I was a sucker since getting my own animals.
“You know I need to be here in case there’s a problem.”
Dan didn’t hold back his frustration, huffing and even adding in a grumble. I snorted. “You know I’m not at risk here. I’m the one who should be doing that growly shit that you’re doing, worrying about you. It’s not like you’ll be tucked in at home, waiting it out.”
The narrowing of his eyes made me take pity on him. “Come on. Let’s finish the work in the shed, then you might get lucky before I send you packing to do your heroic thing.” I had to jest, to constantly make light of what he did, as well as my dad and brother. If not, my brain would make it impossible to settle whenever I knew any of them were out on a call—for fire or flood. And once my thoughts spiralled, my emotions would be quick to follow, and none of us needed that.
“You do make the best offers to get me to shut up and get off your case.” Dan tilted his head and smirked. He couldn’t disguise the worry dancing in the depths of his gaze, though.
I squeezed his hand, not wanting either of us to get into anything. Instead, I hauled him to the shed.
