Trouble in Nirvana (19 page)

“We’ll do some Chi Kung when you’re ready.” Fern patted her shoulder in passing. “You need some inner cleansing.”

“Thanks.” Just like her clothes. Stain removal. Her soul would be a dirty grey colour.

Primrose dragged a chair out and sat down opposite Nirupam. “How’s Danny?”

“He’s calmed down.”

“Good. He ignored me just now when he went with Tom to get his bike.”

“We had a flood in here after you left. It’s a good thing Danny had your car to get home.”

“I was worried he mightn’t have made it when Tom and I saw the bridge was underwater. Tom said he wouldn’t have tried to drive across if it was dangerous.”

“He said it was just coming up to the road level. The bathroom roof leaked and it got flooded. So did Kurt’s bedroom.”

“Just Kurt’s?”

Nirupam nodded, eyes twinkling with suppressed delight.

“Oh, dear, and the vegetable garden got flattened by the hail.”

“Must be a sign,” said Nirupam.

“But will he recognise it?” Was that why he’d taken her towel? Because his were soaked in the flood? No. Because one of his was still clean and dry in the laundry basket. She’d have it out with him later and make quite sure he understood her things were hers, communal property, sharing or not. No way was she pussy footing around him the way Danny did.

****

Jason, Fern, and Mojo left on Wednesday morning amidst hugs and one or two tears from Nirupam and Fern.

“I’ll write and give you our address so you can tell us about the baby. It’s a girl.” Fern touched Nirupam’s belly lightly.

Primrose hid a smile. Tarot cards or palm reading? But she’d miss Fern’s quiet strength, her passive resistance to Kurt’s lunacies. There was only Nirupam for back-up now. And her loyalty was always to Danny, which was right. The balance of power would shift. But where?

Primrose went to the house for her shopping list and bag. Nirupam was staying home to rest. With Fern gone the idea of a home birth grew even less appealing. The more she thought about it the worse it got. They wouldn’t be able to call Ellie without going to Tom’s which would take time and if the midwife couldn’t get here, what then? This would need gentle coaxing over the next week. Time was running out.

Primrose strode into the yard in search of Kurt, determined to wrest some grocery money from him. He wasn’t in the vegetable ruins but clanking came from one of the sheds, a derelict one she’d never explored.

“Kurt?” The open door swung gently to and fro in the breeze. She grabbed hold of it and peered into the dark interior. “Kurt?”

“Ja,” came from somewhere behind a pile of old wooden fruit boxes.

Primrose took a step inside. A black snake lay coiled in a patch of sunlight right in the doorway.

“Snake!” She hurled herself backward and slammed the door then hurtled for the orchard screaming for Danny on her headlong flight through the tangle of weeds and grass on the path. A roar of rage emanated from the shed behind her.

Danny emerged running from between the trees. “Is it Nirupam? The baby? Is she all right? What is it?” he yelled.

“Snake.” Primrose leaned over panting in big shuddery breaths. Her legs were shaking so much they barely held her up.

“Where?”

“In the shed with the boxes.”

Another Germanic roar sounded from the shed.

“Where’s Kurt?”

“In the shed.”

“With the snake?”

Her eyes opened wide as she grimaced. “Cripes! I shut him in with it.”

For a moment Danny froze then he started to laugh. “My God, you’re hopeless, Rosie. It’ll be pitch dark in there and there’s no handle on the inside.”

He started running again but this time he was laughing so much he could barely keep on the path. The closer they came to the shed the louder the cursing.

“He’s still alive, then,” Danny said between gasps.

Primrose stopped well back from the door. She wasn’t laughing and neither was Kurt. Best be prepared for a quick getaway from both him and the snake.

Danny was almost hysterical but he managed to control himself enough to ask, “Where was it?”

“Right in the doorway. I couldn’t see Kurt. He was up the back somewhere. It’s not funny!”

“Right. No. Could have been lethal.” Danny heaved in a deep breath and then another. “Kurt, you okay?”

A stream of furious German issued forth in response.

“I’d take that as a yes,” said Primrose softly.

Danny grabbed the door and pulled it open, jumping back as he did so. The snake had disappeared. “It’s not in the doorway,” he called. “I can’t see it.”

Something crashed over and a moment later Kurt came barrelling out of the shed, red-faced and roaring like a furious bull. Danny and Primrose sprang aside as he shot past and headed for the house, legs pounding faster even than the day she’d arrived and he’d charged across to attack Tom.

Danny all but collapsed with laughter again, bent double, gasping and wheezing, arms wrapped around his body, tears streaming down his face.

Primrose stared after the runaway train in amazement, then switched her attention to Danny. She’d never seen him laugh like this. Ever. It was infectious. Tears sprang to her own eyes as she began to laugh too.

“Not a good time to ask him for food money,” she said. “I’d better wait a bit.”

****

To Primrose’s complete and utter astonishment Kurt left in the beaten up old Kombi van two days later, immediately after breakfast.

She’d been too gobsmacked to ask why or how this miracle had occurred. After he’d calmed down about the snake incident and accepted her truly heartfelt apology he’d even forked over twenty dollars for the shopping with barely a grumble when she asked. At least she hadn’t laughed like Danny. That appeared to upset Kurt more than the closed door.

“Did you tell him he had to go?” asked Primrose when she stood with Nirupam and Danny waving as Kurt roared away over the brow of the hill. Sammy the sheep uttered several plaintive bleats as he forlornly watched a kindred spirit depart.

“No.”

“Was it the snake episode? It really was an accident. I didn’t shut him in there with it deliberately.”

“Could’ve been but he said he didn’t feel comfortable here anymore. The vibe had changed and he had to free himself from the bad aura.” Danny turned away, Sammy with him. “He said it was sucking the life essence from him, made it impossible to live here.”

“I’m glad he’s gone,” Nirupam said with a little smile. Then, in a pleasant maternal world of her own, she waddled slowly toward to the house with one hand pressing against her lower back.

Primrose stared from one retreating back to the other. Danny’s implication sank in. Kurt had raved on once about Tom creating bad vibes next door. But Tom hadn’t changed...

“Me? Did he mean I was the bad vibe?” Sammy skittered away as Primrose darted after her brother.

He didn’t slacken his pace as he tossed his reply at her like a hand grenade. “What do you think, Rosie? Is it a coincidence everyone left within a fortnight of you turning up? Tells you something, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t! You’ve had people coming and going the whole time you’ve been here. I’m glad he’s gone and so is Nirupam.”

“Only problem now is we don’t have enough people to work the place. I can’t do everything.”

“I’m here! I want to help.” Primrose glared at him. “What’s the problem anyway? Tom manages all by himself next door.”

He ignored her crack. “Can you handle the vegetable garden?”

“I bet I can do as well as that idiot. After the hailstorm most of his plants have been flattened anyway, so I’ll have to start again.”

“We’ll see.”

Primrose restrained herself from remarking as far as she could judge no-body did anything much in the way of work, Danny included. Compared to Tom.

“We need a plan, Danny. We need to sit down and work out some proper farming strategy to make money on this place. I was talking to Tom,” she began, eager to promote the truffle growing idea but Danny threw his hands in the air and continued walking toward the sheds.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” he hissed furiously. “I didn’t come here to make money. I came to get away from that scene. It’s crippling.”

“But why do you keep selling off land?” Primrose ran after him yelling at his back when he didn’t stop. “You keep going on about not needing money and money being evil and all that crap yet you take what Tom offers you. Where does it go, Danny?” He spun around, fury turning his face to granite. She waved her arm in a wide arc taking in the dilapidated sheds, the land, and the ramshackle house. “What do you spend it on? It’s obviously not around here. I painted my room and I bought the paint for the front door and the windows.” And what a lovely job she’d done on Tuesday with Mojo’s enthusiastic assistance—glossy rich green to cover the ugly graffiti-like peace symbol.

Danny followed the sweep of her gesture but his gaze stopped on his wife painstakingly hanging up washing with her swollen baby belly making every movement awkward and clumsy. He couldn’t have missed the relief and her pleased smile when Kurt made his dramatic declaration last night.

Nirupam took the empty washing basket inside and the back door banged behind her. Primrose lowered her voice. “Tell me, Danny. What’s going on? I’m your sister. I love you. We’re family.”

He started walking again but slower, heading for the tractor shed. Primrose followed, sensing an imminent change of attitude, an acceptance of her presence. For better or worse.

She said, “I want to invite Tom to dinner. I owe him one.” Then the topic of truffle viability and farm plans could casually be raised in conversation.

“Fine. Invite whoever you like. We have an open house.”

“Tonight?”

“Fine.”

Primrose grinned and received a small, somewhat guarded smile in response but the smile didn’t reach his eyes and was switched off almost immediately. She hurried back to the house to tell Nirupam so they could discuss the menu. With the departure of Kurt an incredible weight had lifted from the communal house. Fancy blaming her for the bad vibe!

Having decided upon a variety of salads, rice, and a vegetable, nut, and tofu curry Nirupam went to lie on the couch reading a baby care book while Primrose prepared to walk across the paddocks to issue the invitation to Tom.

Another shopping trip to Moruya had resulted in a raid on the secondhand bookshop plus a secondhand bassinet from the Salvation Army store. Transforming Mojo’s bedroom had begun with the remaining white paint and a change of curtains.

Nirupam positively glowed. With Kurt on the road the future was considerably brighter for the Pretty household.

Primrose changed into her bikini, dragged on shorts and a tank top, socks and joggers to guard against snakes, and jammed a wide-brimmed straw hat on her head. The river had dropped to its normal level during the week. Knee high he’d said the ford was, so if she wore shorts there’d be no problem. The temperature had soared once more after the brief relief of the storm. A swim in the deep pool sounded inviting. Perhaps on the way back.

“I’m off.” She stood in the doorway.

“See you later.” Nirupam smiled. “I can’t wait to be slim again like you.” She looked down at the bulge. “Come on baby. Get a move on.”

“Do you think it’s a girl?”

“Fern said so.” Nirupam patted her tummy.

“You have to think of names, you know.”

How could they not have discussed baby names? Wasn’t it a natural thing for parents to do? Rupert was Primrose’s preferred name for a boy but she doubted any man would go for it. Martin certainly hadn’t. Would Tom? Dummy—why even think something like that? Nikki for a girl. Almost anything went with Fairbrother.

Nirupam gave her standard answer. “I’ll know when I see her what her name is.”

Chapter Nine

Primrose clambered carefully through the fence into Tom’s land. A footworn track led through dry tussocky grass toward the line of willows which she assumed meant the ford was at the end of the path. Flies buzzed around her face. She swished them away. Heat radiated up from the barren ground baking her feet in the enclosing shoes and socks. The rain had been swallowed up by the parched earth in a few days. Only a tinge of green here and there indicated some plants had benefited from the soaking. They’d be brown and dry again within a week or two.

Tom said they needed steady rain for weeks at a time or at least regular rain over a long period leading into next summer. So much she needed to learn about the land. But she was willing to try. She’d promised Danny and she meant to honour her commitment. This was their land, their family, and their home.

The willows offered sudden release from the pounding of the sun. They had a distinctive smell, not unpleasant but mixed with a dank, muddy odour and they trailed long green fingers in the river which ran smooth and silent before her. Not as clear and pure as she’d envisaged. Branches and storm debris lay strewn along the shoreline or jammed into the bank, damming the brown water and creating eddies and whirlpools.

She stared across to the far bank. Hard to tell how deep but she’d have to scale a metre high bank on the other side. Where was the ford? The river curved out of sight to the left. Tom had pointed in that direction to indicate the swimming hole.

Primrose went right. The bank rose higher above the waterline so she thought she’d gone the wrong way then through a thick cluster of trees it suddenly dropped to a stretch of coarse sandy gravel. The river spread its skirts lazily to become much shallower judging by the busy chattering of water running over rocks and stones.

She unlaced her shoes, stuffed her socks inside, knotted the laces together and slung the lot around her neck. Knee high on the horse? Thigh high on Primrose and getting deeper with a surprisingly strong undertow. Was this the ford? Maybe the bottom had shifted in the flood. Halfway across she stepped in a hole and went in to her waist. Lurched, slipped and slid for two tottery steps. Kept going with the water tugging at her body. Knee high suddenly and shallow to the edge.

Primrose dragged off her sodden shorts and screwed them up to wring out the water, draped them over a convenient branch and sat in the sun to rub her feet dry on tufts of grass. With the straw hat over her face she lay back to let the sun warm her body. The water had been downright cold. Her feet were freezing and her legs had goosebumps.