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Excerpts...
From 'Wild Horses' in Treasures from the Tide
‘I think we’d better head toward Shepparton from here and then cut back.’
‘You’re the navigator, Claire, from here on in!’
‘Yeah, well, it looks like there’s any number of roads we can take.’
Over the next hour, Claire wove them through the countryside, trying not to have to backtrack, at all. They were to meet the others at 7:00pm. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too far off that time.
‘Think of it as a scenic tour!’ she told the others. The country roads were far more interesting than the highway. ‘We’ll probably have to top up supplies, though.’
They headed down a straight road that seemed to touch the distant horizon. Golden light from a dying day created a spectacle out of the open paddocks and twisted old gum trees. The seeded heads of grass and wild wheat danced above the ground in a sunburnt haze with the drifts of dust. Flights of white wings dotted the air, lifting from the tops of trees as ever onward the Falcon pushed.
Suddenly, Claire broke the flaxen silence. ‘Did you see that?’
‘What?’ answered Gary.
‘It was a Pub; just sitting out here, in the middle of the paddocks!’
‘Yeah?’ Gary had little trouble raising an interest. His eyes were getting tired of the strong light, anyway.
‘Yeah. How often do you see that? A Pub in the middle of nowhere. We’ve gotta go back!’
Gary and Damien looked at each other. The idea sounded reasonable to them. Gary pulled the Falcon around. ‘Maybe we can get a bite to eat, too. I’m a bit peckish,’ Damien added.
It was a strange looking pub, on a lonely road. There didn’t seem to be any other dwellings or buildings nearby. A few dusty utes were parked around suggesting that there were people inside. It felt good to stretch their legs as they left the car.
When they walked through the door, it took a while for their eyes to adjust. In that moment, the scattered locals had enough time to register they were strangers without being obvious. A raised eyebrow and a nod of the head signalled agreement around the bar.
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