Over the next few months they worked side by side. Jane got better with her driving and was getting stronger as she could now lift 30 kgs bag of feed off the ground. However Cody still had to lift it all the way into the back of the Hilux.
Jane looked at the calendar and determined she had been on homestead nearly 3 months. She needed to get back to reality, get back to civilisation rather than hiding out. It was time she finish what she was suppose to do.
Cody threw some things she had packed into the Hilux and whistled. Toby came running out and jumped into the Hilux, Jane peered out the door.
“Wow, obedience from both.” joked Cody. “C’mon, I have pumps to replace and a few other things too.”
“Ok, just wait a minute.”
Jane went into her room, grabbed her backpack and put her pistol in it.
Running back outside, she climbed in and shut the door to the Hilux smiling. “Let’s go country girl.”
They got to the first water trough and Cody went to work on replacing the pump. Jane looked at the disgusting state of the water.
“They drink from that? It’s gross. All green and murky.”
Cody with little acknowledgement to Jane’s grumble. “They are cattle, they will drink it.”
Jane sorted through Cody’s tool box and found a scrubbing brush. She scrubbed madly until all the algae was off the side of the trough. All she had to do was unscrew the plug to release the water. It wouldn’t budge. Cody was off at the cemented water tank to check the level of water, so Jane rummaged around until she found a wrench, but she still couldn’t get it loose.
“Bloody hell.” She grumbled loudly.
“Need some help with that?” offered Cody.
“Did I ask? I can do this.” She spat.
“Alright.” Cody grabbed a drink and put some in her hat for Toby.
Jane tried again and spat at Cody when she noticed Cody looking at her wrist watch. “Fuck you.”
Cody shuffled. “Sorry, here let me show you.”
She changed the wrench to the other side. “Now pull it towards you, and watch out for- ”
“Get out the way.” Jane impatiently pulled and it gave way too quickly. The trough emptied out all over the ground and Jane fell backwards into the murky water.
Cody laughed hard. “I tried to warn you, why you don’t listen to me.”
“I’m all fucking wet, look at me.” Jane shouted dripping from top to bottom.
Cody put a hand over her face and the woman’s eyes narrowed. She couldn’t wait for later. With Cody pissing her off, it was going to be easier than she thought.
Cody reached behind the back of her Hilux seat and pulled out some old clothes, throwing them at Jane.
She turned her back on Jane while she changed, but was quite happy to spy on her in the side mirror. She felt a little excited seeing Jane’s naked chest. She put her hat down and got into the Hilux.
Jane hardly spoke a word and Cody became worried. “Hey look, I promise I won’t take the piss out of you. I won’t make fun and I’ll be a little more sensitive towards you.”
Jane shrugged. “I don’t care.”
Cody pulled up at some tall bushes. “You wait here. I have a surprise for you.”
Jane didn’t respond, she knew what she had to do.
Cody poked her head back in. “No peeking either.”
Jane smiled falsely. Cody grabbed some bags and disappeared into the bushes while Jane grabbed her backpack and took out the pistol. She looked at Toby and patted him. “I’m sorry boy.”
Jane quietly got out of the car and she pulled the gun out heading into the bushes. She crept through and put the gun to the back of Cody’s head. Jane looked up and recognised the watering hole from the video-the one where she and Crystal were playing. Jane shook her head of the image and took a deep breath. She lowered her weapon for a moment, then put it back to Cody’s head and tried. She closed her eyes and tried again, her hand shaking obscenely. Her face screwed up in defeat. She put the pistol in the back of her pants, she couldn’t kill Cody. She concluded to herself, it was not going to happen now. She stepped back and a stick under her foot snapped.
Cody jumped up and looked around surprised to see Jane. “Hey, I said no peeking.”
“Well if you are going to say that, what did you expect? I hate surprises.” smiled Jane.
Jane looked at the picnic site Cody had set out. “This really is a nice surprise, Cody.”
“So you wanna go for a swim first?” Cody nodded towards the waterhole.
She stripped down to her underwear and walked out onto the small rock ledge and dived in. She surfaced and called out to Jane who hesitated but followed because it was hot.
She stood on the rock’s edge. “What’s it like in there?”
“Beautiful.” smirked Cody.
Jane jumped in and surfaced screaming and shivering. “It’s fucking freezing.” She splashed around and headed for the smooth rocks where she sat to warm up. “You lied.”
Cody laughed as she paddled around. “Yes I did.”
“You said, you promised that you wouldn’t take the piss out of me any more.” whimpered Jane with a sulky expression
Cody started to leave the water, Jane never seen Cody in anything but pants and shirts. Now she knew the exact reason why she couldn’t kill Cody. She found herself drawn to her, physically, emotionally and now sexually.
Cody sat down next to her. “Ok, I’ll stop it.”
Jane leaned over and pushed some hair away from Cody’s face. “No don’t, don’t change Cody. I like you the way you are.”
Cody felt uncomfortable at the closeness and moved away when she felt Jane was going to kiss her.
“Um… lets have lunch.”
They munched on their sandwiches. Jane went to say something, but caught it. Cody urged her to continue.
“I saw the video, of here with you, Crystal and your girlfriend. It was really nice.”
Cody dropped her head and closed her eyes but said nothing.
“She really is a pretty girl-your daughter. I saw the photos too. I love the one with her asleep on you.”
Cody stood up and walked to the water’s edge. She picked up a rock and threw it hard.
“I’m sorry Cody.” Jane spoke softly, approaching over to her.
Cody sat and pulled her knees up dropping her head. “I was so lost after my parents were killed. I didn’t know what to do and then Gail showed up in town. She had run away from her abusive boyfriend and was working at Lois’s pub. I always found a reason to go to town to see her. I found out she had a little girl who was so adorable and I just fell in love with them both. I suggested she come and live with me, he wouldn’t find her, and if he did I would protect her. I don’t know when it happened, but we became lovers. We raised Crystal together and I was the happiest person in the district. All the sneers and jibes about my sexually didn’t matter anymore. And then...”
Tears started flowing from Cody’s eyes. “There was no warning, no anything. I came home and she had gone with Crystal. Nobody knew where they went, no note she just vanished. I eventually tracked her down after a few years and found her living with some other guy. I just wanted to see my daughter and then Crystal came running out of the house and jumped into my arms. Gail started yelling at me to go, not to come back. She wouldn’t tell me what I did wrong. Then the boyfriend came home, and a fight broke out. I just left. I didn’t want Crystal to see all the fighting and anger. I left and never contacted her since. She probably doesn’t even remember me anymore. She was so young when it all happened.”
Cody was trying to catch her breath. She couldn’t contain her sobs and it all poured out. Her sobs echoed around the waterhole. Jane’s eyes were stinging and she wrapped an arm around Cody and pulled her close letting her cry. She kissed the side of her head. “I’m sorry Cody, I really am. You are such a good person.”
Richard was at the station waiting for Jane’s car to be loaded onto the trailer. The driver of the truck said he wanted to make sure all the contents were out of the vehicle, including the spare wheel. Richard didn’t have the keys to open the boot so he told the driver to break the lock.
“Well I guess I would have had to do that anyway Richard, it’s jammed.”
Richard bent down and noticed that a key had been broken off in the lock.
“That’s interesting. It was fine when Jane last opened it. Break the lock Geoff.”
Richard looked in and pulled out the spare tyre finding nothing. He was about to close it when something caught his eye. He pulled back the carpet from the side of the car and reached in. He withdrew a weapon.
Geoff cursed. “Fucking hell, will you look at that.”
Richard offered no comment about the weapon. “Geoff, you can scrap the car now.” He took the high powered rifle into the station and made a phone call.