The Opal Desert (32 page)

‘Is that what you're going to do?'

‘I have to decide. And once I've made up my mind, that's it. I stick to my decision.'

‘Good. If you do decide to come back, you'll have to be dedicated and focused, and you'll have to train like never before. Fair enough?'

‘I appreciate you letting me have this breathing space,' said Anna meekly. ‘And I'll let you know my decision as soon as I've made it.'

‘Good, because I think you have the makings of a champion. But just do me a favour and keep fit, eat properly and don't waste yourself on booze or pot or rubbish food. Okay?'

‘Of course. Anyway, I won't stop running.'

‘I bet this place'll be bloody hot.'

‘Then I'll have to get up early to run,' said Anna. And for the first time in a long time she smiled at the coach.

Craddock shook his head. ‘I'm taking a punt on you, Anna. I'll be disappointed if you toss me over.' He patted her shoulder and turned away, but at the door he said, ‘Be prepared to work bloody hard when you get back. Don't get used to the soft life.'

‘I won't,' replied Anna.

It had been a long trip from Adelaide to Broken Hill, but she'd relished the train ride. When she arrived in Broken Hill, she travelled to Opal Lake on Davo's Best Tours bus. She loved the space and emptiness of the landscape and its colours. It was so much bigger, more expansive, than she'd expected. She was absorbed in the country as Davo's little bus rattled along the dirt road, and scarcely listened to the spiel he was delivering to the small group of fellow travellers.

Davo glanced over to her. ‘Your first time outback?'

Anna nodded.

‘Can seem a bit overwhelming. Where else are you travelling?'

‘I'm not. I've got a job in Opal Lake.'

‘Fair dinkum?' He gave her an interested stare. ‘Opal mining? Nah, you working in the motel?'

‘The hotel.'

‘Jeez. Mick said he had someone new coming. How come you want to work out here?' His quick glance ran up and down her figure. ‘You won't last, love. No offence, but, well, it's a small place. And it's your first time outta the city, right?'

‘I'm from Adelaide.'

‘I'm sure that's a nice place. But, well, you'll find Opal Lake sorta different. Good little community though. Be careful of some of them blokes out on the diggings. Not a lot of single girls out here.'

‘I'm not looking for romance. Just a job.' Anna turned away and looked out the window.

‘I wouldn't say the mining blokes were romantic. Them fellas are all in love with opal. She's the queen that steals the hearts of men.'

‘That's very poetic, Davo!' called the tourist sitting behind him.

The conversation drifted to opals and Anna tuned out. She had no interest in jewellery or gems. She looked at the unfolding landscape and hoped she would get the chance to explore Opal Lake. Davo had said that the actual lake was some distance away from the little town and rarely had water in it, but it sounded intriguing.

She wasn't expecting much of a township, but she was slightly taken aback by the flat wilderness intersected by two hills which were dotted with a few buildings and partially buried roofs. The place looked as if a tornado had swept over Opal Lake and scooped its contents up, depositing them randomly over the hillsides.

There was one main street. Davo parked his minibus outside the pub and everyone stepped from the van, glad to stretch their legs, and filed inside.

Davo swung Anna's bag from the roof rack and deposited it on the ground beside her. ‘There you go. Hope you settle in all right. I'm over here pretty regular like, so if you want to, you know, get outta Dodge, give me a hoy.'

‘Thanks,' said Anna, non-committally.

Mick had insisted on an eight-week trial period, but he'd sounded resigned, as though he knew she'd move on before then. But Anna wasn't going to let Davo know that she might not stay. His familiarity with her had started to irritate her and she hoped that not everyone in this small community would want to know her business. The remoteness of this place had appealed to Anna. She had it in her head that the people who lived here, in the middle of nowhere, and worked down holes in the ground would be self-sufficient, even loners and eccentrics, and pay no attention to her at all. She picked up her bag and headed into the pub.

Two locals were on barstools with schooners of beer in front of them.

‘Is the manager here?' asked Anna.

‘Out the back.'

‘Will I wait?' She put down her bag.

‘Better go and get him, love. He's doing his opals.'

Seeing her puzzled expression, the other man added, ‘He's rubbing them back, to see what he's got.'

Suddenly Davo was right behind her, calling out loudly, ‘Hey, Mick, here's yer new recruit!'

Immediately interested faces turned to look at her and Anna felt herself blushing.

A red-haired man in his forties came to the bar, wiping his hands on a muddy tea towel that was tucked into his waistband. ‘Well, good on you, Anna. I'm Mick.'

Anna smiled. ‘You look surprised. Didn't you think I'd get here?'

Mick pumped her hand. ‘Wouldn't be the first time someone's chickened out. Pleased to meet you. Come on and I'll show you your room. Simple. Basic. Hope it suits. It's not very girly.'

‘I'm not really the girly type.' Anna glanced at the old framed photographs lining the walls: people, mines and equipment, ramshackle buildings and faded colour prints of opals that seemed to tell the story of the place.

‘Does everybody here dig for opals?' she asked.

‘Pretty much. Those that stay. There've been some decent finds out here over the years. But it's kept quiet so as not to start a rush. You know how it is.'

‘No. I don't know anything about opals.'

Mick walked down the hallway to a door and pushed it open. ‘Is that right? I thought the opal thing might have been what attracted you. What's your interest, then?'

‘This sounded an interesting place. I like being on my own. I read a lot,' she added, seeing his faintly puzzled expression.

‘That's good. Not much in the way of entertainment out here. Sorry, but the bathroom's down the hall.'

Anna glanced at the spartan room, which at least looked clean. There were French doors with frosted glass and she pushed them open to find an old cane table and chair on a small wooden deck that looked out onto the street.

‘It's a bit dusty, no one seems to use them anymore,' apologised Mick. ‘Nice in the morning and the evening. Good view of the sunset,' he added.

‘This is fine. Thank you.'

‘I'll leave you to freshen up. Come in and I'll show you the ropes when you're ready. Thelma, who does the cooking, will be glad to meet you.'

In four days Anna had the pub job down pat. After the busy service of the bustling café in Prospect where she'd worked, the routine of the pub was casual. Customers expected her to linger and chat. It was all pretty laidback.

Outside her working hours, she kept to herself and enjoyed sitting on the little deck, where she could watch the activity, such as it was, in the main street. The early mornings were clear and the evening sunsets that spread across the entire horizon were bold and dramatic. She'd never really watched a sunset before, seeing the colours in the sky change from rose to blue and indigo to greenish black, and the evening star appear. In Adelaide she'd only glimpsed this phenomenon between trees in the park, over rooftops, or behind the stand at the athletics club. It was a backdrop to her activities and the traffic and hectic lifestyle of the city that she'd never had time to admire.

But here the sky, the space, the wavering distant horizon was enveloping. After the night had settled she watched the pale pinpricks of light begin to dot the twin hills and the fluorescent glow from the pub bar shining out onto the road.

Everyone quickly found out her first name and the fact that she was from Adelaide but beyond that no one asked her about herself. Thelma told Anna to keep her business to herself, then asked her if she could cook and looked resigned when the young girl shook her head.

‘Mum's a good cook. Ordinary things, nothing modern. If I have to cook for myself it's generally protein,' said Anna.

‘Barbecue things? That's not cooking, love. But at least you're not one of them vegetable people. Don't know how they keep body and soul together living on greens and salads.'

Anna smiled. ‘Rabbit food, my mother calls it. No, I like to keep my stamina up with meat and good carb food. I like to exercise a lot,' she added.

‘I thought as much, to keep a nice trim figure like yours.' She waved a floury hand at her shapeless bulk. ‘Once you let yourself go, that's it. Make the most of it while you can. I used to wear shorts and skin-tight pedal pushers. Can you believe it?' She chortled.

‘Actually, I want to get back to my fitness routine pretty soon,' said Anna.

Few noticed that Anna left her room early each morning. Dressed in shorts and running shoes, her favourite baseball cap pulled low on her head and her hair tied back, she jogged quietly down the dirt road in the dawn light, turning onto the dusty track that led arrow straight towards the north. Three kilometres along the track there was a dead mulga tree, branches outstretched, which she used as a marker. Here she would turn and run as hard as she could back to the hotel. Sometimes she glanced at her watch, noting the time she had taken. Other times she just ran as fast as she could with a sense of exhilaration, and whatever time she took was of little consequence.

Mick sometimes heard the rattling of the hot water pipes and wondered why Anna got up so early when she didn't have to, but he quickly went back to sleep. It wasn't his business what she did, just so long as she was on deck when the pub opened.

After a few days of this, Anna decided to vary her routine, settling on a new route. In the pearly new daylight she turned in the opposite direction, circled the two hills, sprinted up the taller one, and did the circuit at the top past the dugouts and the sleeping machinery awaiting the cooler months and the return of their owners. Then she sped back down the hill, sometimes dislodging a small stone that rattled away, breaking the silence. She assumed that by running so early in the day she was unobserved by people living their strange underground existence.

But she was noticed. Once or twice Shirley, who found she needed less and less sleep these days, was up early and sitting at the side of her dugout entrance with her cup of tea to watch the sunrise. The first time she saw the slim shape dash past she was startled. But she quickly saw that the girl was not troubled or distressed. There was an easy fluidity to her movements, the long strides, the firm arms, and a determined thrust to her head. This must be the new young woman working at the pub whom Davo had mentioned.

It was a slow afternoon. Anna was looking for something to do so she started to tidy the fridge in the kitchen that Thelma had hinted needed a good clean-out.

‘Anna, if you're looking for work, could you do Marg next door a favour and run Shirley's groceries up to her? The old girl wants some cold drinks too, so I'll sling them in with the food,' Mick called to her.

‘I'm happy to help, but when you say run, you don't actually mean carry, do you? Where is this Shirley?'

‘Doncha know Shirley yet? Great old bird. Take Marg's car. Greg's away so she can't leave the store.'

‘What sort of a car is it? I've passed my driving test, but I've never driven a manual.'

Mick stared at her. ‘Cripes, you gotta drive out here, love. I'll see what I can do. Do you want to have a few practice runs in Marg's ute?'

‘I'd rather not. Is there an automatic I could use?'

‘Let me have a think. We need to get those groceries up to Shirley.'

Anna shrugged and went back to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Mick called out to her again. ‘It's okay. Davo's here. He's going up to see Shirley anyway, so he'll take the stuff up. But he has an idea about getting you driving.'

‘Davo? I'm not sure I'm thrilled about that.'

‘I don't mean driving his van. Listen, pop up with him and say hello to Shirley and see what he's got in mind.' Seeing Anna's dubious expression, Mick added, ‘You'll like Shirley. Been here for years. Knows a lot of local history, where the bones are buried, that sort of thing. I know she's an older lady, but she's special and I think she might be able to help you out.'

‘How long have you known Shirley?' asked Anna as Davo's little bus wound up the hill.

‘Few years. She gave me a bit of a hand when I started the business, so I like to pop in to keep an eye on her.'

Shirley recognised Anna straight away.

‘You're new here. Can you stay for a bit? Sit down. Davo, I think a cuppa would do us all good. Can you put the kettle on?'

‘Shirley, how's that old banger of yours doing?'

‘Do you mean my ticker or my wheels?' She smiled.

‘The car. Anna has no wheels. Thought I'd give her a lesson and then if it's okay with you she could take your car out for a bit of a spin.'

‘Really, it's not necessary,' began Anna.

‘I'm sure Anna manages to get around on her own two legs quite well,' said Shirley. ‘But you're welcome to use the car any time you want. It's going fine. Kerrie used it the first time she was here and Doug still checks it for me.'

‘I don't need a car,' said Anna.

‘She's only used to fancy automatics,' said Davo. ‘Got to teach her how to drive a stick.'

‘Actually, that's not true. I've never owned a car, automatic or otherwise,' said Anna. ‘And I don't think I need one while I'm here.'

‘Davo, could you check the car anyway?' said Shirley. ‘Anna, could you help me make the tea?'