“Uncle Mick?” I asked as I shook his hand, his fingers feeling limp and unsure of themselves.
“Harry, wow. You’ve grown so much.”
I hadn’t seen my uncle in well over a decade. I vaguely remember him coming around after my mother had ‘taken her fall’. He’d been asking my father about her, refusing to believe that she’d ‘taken off with another man’ as my father had put it.
They eventually got into a fight, the now visible scar a result of my father’s ring tearing across his face from a severe uppercut that almost missed. It was Royce Packard that had intervened that day, dragging my uncle down to the station and threatening to charge him if he didn’t leave town immediately.
I was too little to remember all the details from that moment in time, but I do remember his sadness, the expression that was written on his face never leaving my mind. He’d been close with my mum, their relationship only separating when my father came between them. It was he that moved her away from her family, taking her to another part of the country where he could control her and keep her segregated for himself.
“What brings you out this way?” I asked, waving him into the house.
9.
“I need your help,” he said as I set a cup of tea before him. He took the mug and cupped it into both hands, peering at me across the rim.
“Help?” I asked, sipping my own and sitting across from him. I remember thinking that he was sitting in the exact spot where my father had been when he “met Loui”.
“Things aren’t good on the farm. Your Aunt Jean is sick and we’re struggling to make ends meet. I’ve had to let 2 of my workers go and without them, can hardly get things done.”
My mother had grown up on a dairy farm on the outskirts of a small town called Korumburra. I’d visited the place on a single occasion, but don’t remember the details. I don’t think it matters much. Once my mum died, there was no contact from that side of the world and I never spared a second thought for them until just then.
“You need my help?” I asked. Weirdly, I actually thought that he was asking for him to move his family into my home. But that wasn’t it.
“Would you consider working for me? Maybe just for a year or two. We have a worker’s cottage; you could live there. It’s far enough away from the main home to offer you some privacy. Plus, we have a few head of sheep that we keep for meat. There’s a large enough vegetable garden which Jean always tends to. Just for a year or two, Harry,” he repeated.
“Are you offering me a job, Uncle Mick?” I asked. He seemed to consider, actually blushed a little and took a long drink of tea.
“I couldn’t offer you a lot of money. We had to take out a mortgage on the farm and the bank is, well-” He paused and I could see he was struggling.
I wasn’t really the spending type and because I’d been working my butt off at the mill, actually had quite a bit of savings to fall back on. The house was mine, so what little bit I had to pay out, didn’t really amount to much.
“But I have a job right here, at the mill.” I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt that I didn’t want to make things too easy for him. I wasn’t expecting him to grovel, but I did want to see just how badly he wanted me to help him.
“It would be great to have you stay with us for a bit, you know. On account of being family and all.”
‘Oh, you’re gonna play the family card,’ I thought to myself. Always easy to pull out the family card and use that to win the hand.
The thing is, I actually wanted to go. I felt excited at seeing where my mum grew up, to spend time with her family. Although having an income was great, it wasn’t my main driver.
“I’ll come,” I said, and just like that the deal was sealed. I held my hand out and Uncle Mick reached out and shook. His fingers felt a little firmer that time, his enthusiasm having grown considerable.
10.
Although I agreed to go, I felt I needed to do the right thing by the mill and thus gave them a couple of weeks’ notice the next day. Darren actually looked sad when I told him as we drove to the mill that day.
“Won’t be forever,” I said. “I’m sure I’ll be back eventually. Hopefully I’ll get my job back then?”
“You betcha, kid. You’re a fine worker, Harry. Just make sure to tell Sadler this morning.”
I did as he asked, the boss taking it on the chin. I worked the final couple of weeks and when my last day came, was taken out to the pub by the lads. It was actually fun, although the drink certainly wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed.
The highlight of the night was Darren sculling several jugs of beer in a row. He certainly lived up to his name, The Keg living it up that night. It was a great time and when the evening eventually ended, was a little sad to be leaving the crew behind.
But I knew that I had no choice. There was a new sense of burning inside, one that I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold for much longer. Not unless I fed the beast that kept calling to me in my dreams.
Changing my environment was hopefully going to dull Loui a little, the inner rampage feeling harder to contain with each passing day. I was hoping that by moving to the farm, I would be distracted with other things, ones that took my mind off the evil inside.
I walked home
