Chapter 15
Beginning of Don’s Transformation
The police officer drove to the shop on many occasions and never did get
his date with Zoe. Bing was still visiting and courting her stronger than ever,
even though the relationship was made difficult by distance and hard times it
flourished. Bing would always bring with him a rifle or two from camp; ‘.303’,
‘.22’ or others such as a shotgun and sometimes a pistol, he said he borrowed
them from camp, but no one really knew where he got them. He taught Don to hold
and fire a firearm and the importance of gun safety. Bing was not one to kill
animals for the sake of killing so they would shoot set targets such as bottles
or cardboard diagrams. Killing kangaroos was not a sport because there were so
many grazing in open space and in such close proximity to the house; it would
have been an inconsequential slaughter of harmless creatures. Bing introduced
Don to a ‘.303’ rifle, it was as long as he was tall. He rested its barrel on
the porch balcony for support because his strength was incapable of holding it
horizontal long enough and steady enough to hit a barn door. The first shot was
aimed at a branch of a tree not far away into the bush, the recoil was so great
it flung his tiny physique backward through the fly screen door; his father
laughed but his mother was not impressed.
With his parent’s permission Bing gave Don his first rifle, it was a
‘Diana’ single shot, break barrel, spring piston air rifle shooting ‘Wasp’
slugs for projectiles and was of such low power it would not penetrate a sheet
of two ply timber. It was old and the spring weak but it served Don well in fun
and taught him the importance of gun ownership. He was allowed to take it with him
when he went to his friends. Weepy would borrow his brother’s single shot .22
and Sam would borrow Fran’s older brothers’ rifle to stray in the hundreds if
not thousands of acres of bush and many cleared paddocks to hunt. Don’s gun was
incapable of doing any damage to anything larger than a ‘Cicada’ but the others
with their .22’s would shoot to kill anything moving; kangaroos, possums,
koalas, birds, lizards and the main target rabbits.
Don was speaking up more and more now, and his discourse towards his
friend’s scourge of life became a growing variance of opinion which usually
ignited childish and heated dispute. He internally contemplated and reflected
on death by sometimes verbally announcing the ramifications of their cruelty
and articulating it as:
“A sad waste of innocent
life.” They were cavalier about death and ignored his frustrations. Don was not
perturbed about the killing of viral rabbits because they were rampant and
diseased with myxomatosis, they should be put out of their misery; but he was
against killing other animals. Yet the others seemed to thrive on it. Once they
killed a kangaroo or a wombat or something, they would kick it about, or watch
the dogs rip it apart, or shoot it repeatedly after death, or just leave it to
rot. In all facets of life and with little respite they displayed moments of
cruelty, corruptness and decadence of morals. Nothing he said could change the
way they behaved, after all, he and they lived within a different domestic
environment, they had different family values and collaborated in the company
of each other on a daily basis, Don would only see them on weekends or
intermittently at play in school. He was not destined to commingle habitually,
without the same continual social contact to form the same bond meant most
individual traits were kept separate and distinct between him and them. Bing
would never have agreed for Don to fire the rifle for wrongful use and would
have been infuriated by the misuse of guns by Weepy and Sam. He, as Don, had a
soft heart for animals and saw killing as a reprehensible act of butchery.
Bing had been visiting Zoe as much as the army would allow leave, now
weekends and holidays were not enough, he wanted her next to his side evermore.
He finally worked up the courage to ask for her hand in marriage. She was
nearly twenty one and certainly had a strong determination of mind, without
hesitation she gave him the reply he wanted; she said:
‘Yes.” Bing was delighted
she accepted the certainty of a future wedding but he still needed to pursue
the correct social and conventional formality of asking her parents. He was not
a felicitous speaker and approached the obligation with reluctance because as
hard as he tried to ingratiate himself with Ted, he did not think he had yet
won his allegiance. He was sure Ted trusted him now, but still thought it a
scary situation. When he broke the news to Rene she was delighted, it was the
opposite for Ted his expression was one of silent disappointment. Ted still
harboured reservations about Bing, of special concern was his ability to
support his daughter, and he was uncomfortable with the idea of her leaving
home. Eventually he substituted his personal feelings for the happiness and
welfare of their nuptial day and gave his blessing with minimal verbal
conjecture.
The big day was upon them within months. They exchanged vows in a small
‘Church of England’ in the middle of Naretha.
It was quite a lavish affair taking into account the modest financial position
of the Scotsdon’s. Bing’s parents were moderately rich compared to Ted and Rene
but centuries of ritualistic tradition deemed the brides’ parents pay for the
wedding. The bridegrooms’ parents paid for the refreshments; each respected the
other and honoured their duty. There was still a tight fraternity between those
friends who met on the ‘Hostel’ in Sydney,
although most of them moved to different parts of the state and others even
further interstate, just about everyone who received an invitation travelled
the distance to attend. The day was sunny and all went according to plan. Their
honeymoon was short because of the need for Zoe to help in the business, and
from there it did not take long before she came to realize her independence was
important for happy future relations. She wanted for herself and her husband to
move and make their way in the world.
Shortly after the decision to move, somewhere around the time of the
historic conspiracy connecting Jack Ruby to the deadly shooting of Lee Harvey
Oswald, they completed a tearful move to Sydney.
It was clear Bing needed to be close to his work at the Ingleburn army camp. Their relocation was very difficult for Rene
because she came to rely on Zoe in the day to day operations of the business
and dearly missed the company of her daughter. This now meant, during the day
Rene would be left alone to cook, serve petrol and cater for customers, an
impossible task for one person and while she was outside serving petrol people
would help themselves to all sorts of merchandise inside. Each evening by dusk
Rene was completely exhausted, her strength drained and legs like jelly. Ted
would try to get home as early as possible from his day job to temporarily free
her from the slavery of exertion. She needed a rest because this job required a
seven day a week appearance and Ted who usually had to travel long distances to
get to work would sometimes not get home until after seven at night, he then
had to serve customers, do minor repairs on vehicles and prepare such things as
the filling of oil bottles and general maintenance in ready for the next day.
Rene was a loveable wife, but at times a tad naive. Her genuine
innocence and belief in people sometimes hindered her common sense. One quite
day she whined to a customer about the accumulation of creepy crawlies in her
cupboards. The customer spun a yarn, he advised her if she wanted to get rid of
such things as ‘cockroaches’ or other crawling insects then she needed to
sprinkle pepper throughout the cupboards, near the walls and around the borders
of the shelves. When she enquired as to the purpose of such a strange
procedure, he answered;
“The insects sniff the
pepper, sneeze and hit their head on the shelf or the wall. They knock
themselves out. This won’t kill them but while they lay out cold and stunned
get your dust pan and brush, pick them up and throw them into the fire.” Rene
believed every word and with prompt execution of his idea she spread ground
pepper everywhere; it was splashed throughout the shop. When Ted got home he
sneezed consistently from the pungent seasoning and queried the liberal
application thinking she must have had an accident with a bulk pepper delivery.
When she told him with such quality of certitude what the customer told her he
could not contain himself, he was in stitches and commented;
“Ya silly cow, he’s ‘aving
you on.” Rene eventually realized the joke and swore she would nobble him when
he came in again.
To make matters even more complicated for Rene in the shop alone, she
suffered illogical phobias; insectophobia, acarophobia, entomophobia,
ornithophobia, mottephobia, and any other phobia pertaining to life with wings.
The truth of the matter is; she had to be fearless to live in Australia in constant fear and endured
those paradoxical challenges until her death. If a moth, beetle or bird etc
came buzzing around, Ted or whoever was in attendance had no choice but to
dispose of it. She was petrified, if there was no one around to help she would
lock herself away or stay well clear until help arrived. This limited the
amount of duties she performed at night due to the large moths and ‘Christmas
Beetles’ attracted to the fluorescent lights, in the shop, and directly over
the petrol pumps. It became increasingly difficult for Ted because, before Zoe
moved she would serve petrol at night and help in the kitchen giving both of
them a break, but now certain jobs went unfinished if he did not fulfil them.
Another example of Rene’s phobic character is; when starting for town one
Saturday morning she attempted to block out the morning sun by folding down the
visor, a moth was attached to the back of the visor, when it was disturbed it
flew straight into her face. She panicked, maybe her heart stopped. The door
opened before the car was stationary and it drove into a ditch on the side of
the road. She fled in screams and tears baring a raddled face and a shaking
nervous wreck. In hindsight she was lucky it happened at such a slow speed and
not doing fifty miles per hour on the highway; it would surely have resulted in
another family tragedy.
Episodes of turbulent and highly emotional drama resulted from
complications in the daily running of the business. It was taking a
debilitating effect on their marriage. Arguments and unbearable emotional,
physical and mental torment intensified and the difficulty in managing without
help for such long hours was taking its toll on their health. They could not
afford to employ labour and had to face up to the facts; it was not working.
Paramount to a successful outcome was unity in communication and an exhibition
of good judgment or the ordeal was going to ruin them; they made the only
logical decision. It was a straightforward agreement from both. There were no
arguments or negative negotiations, the time had come to sell and sell they
did. It was not on the market long before a young couple displayed affirmative
action by calling again and again. A lot of attention was received from many
possible buyers and the interest caught them off guard somewhat, but it was the
young ones who showed the most likelihood of finalizing the deal; they paid
their deposit within weeks of their fourth viewing. From then on, negotiations,
finances, and the sale had been sanctioned by the banks. The dream of a debt
free breather, and the burdens of extreme commitment being relieved was getting
close to happening; with a small profit in hand the reality of the sale was
soon to become credible. After countersigning the contracts and acting as
caretakers until the new owners took over they closed early every night to
relax and convey ideas for future proposals.
It was a great weight off their shoulders, now they could plan to share
time together in fun activities rather than in laborious transactions. There
was enough profit to purchase a house of decent quality in Naretha. Many were inspected in a variety of areas. They settled on
a three bedroom brick veneer slab construction on a normal building block in a
quiet street in suburbia. It had bush on two sides and plenty of neighbours
surrounding the other two; lots of houses, a small block of land and no room to
move. It was exactly what Don’s parents wanted but it was the opposite for Don,
he had adapted to life in the bush. When it was near moving time he was going
on twelve and saw the place as it was; alien, he knew no-one there. To be taken
many miles away from his human and animal friends seemed unfair. His childlike
selfishness offered no regard for the needs of others and he complained
bitterly with insinuations it was his welfare everyone should be taking into
account, not their own. When the contracts settled and it was time to occupy
their new home, Don was tearful for days and tenaciously unwilling for months
to yield to the axiomatic truth; they were there to stay whether he liked it or
not. As expected, his parents were upset with his attitude, they understood
leaving the area he spent his childhood with only memories, to go an area in
which he had little knowledge of daily existence would not be an easy
transformation, but they knew time was a great healer. They explained to him
the best they could the emotions for someone still young enough to be
impressionable towards familiarity was normal, and told him those feelings of
sadness would pass and he would find new friends. This pep-talk far from
constituted a winning exhortation, it did not alter the fact he felt his life
should be lived where he learnt to relate to the generous sparse surroundings
of Tongerma and Wirrageen; he enjoyed the solitary lifestyle immensely. To add to
his misery, he was heartbroken over his collection of animals, most of which
remained with the new owners. He left behind; chickens, geese, pigs, sheep,
cows, a horse and a pet kangaroo, this accumulation provided much contentment
for Don and notably a mediocre self sufficient investment for his family from quid
pro quo transactions. Now, without livestock to feed upon and handy crops to
pick and swap, the nurturing into a casual way of life meant, all to be
consumed had to be purchased by his parent’s, and with it came the realization
and cognizance of the enormous amounts of time they were afforded in their
newfound modern milieu.
Another casualty of life’s surmountable betrayals disturbed and
afflicted Don with inconsolable heartache, his dog ‘Sandy’ was diagnosed with
an incurable cancerous tumour. A large lump between her front legs on her chest
was an open bleeding wound. He bravely accompanied his father as they
transported her to the veterinary clinic for what Don believed was to cure her.
She lay still on the table on her side looking at him with such sad sorrowful
droopy eyes, fluid dripping from her tear ducts formed patches of moist fur
around her nose. She seemed to know what was about to happen. Don was told
there was no chance of a miracle cure and his grief could no longer be
contained. Pitiful wails could be heard from outside the clinic doors. His
frame of mind caved into an uncontrollable state of despair while he patted her
gently for the last time. Ted put his arm around Don’s shoulders to comfort and
lead him out of the room; euthanasia was the only option for Sandy. He loved
her the same way he loved his family. Losing his trusted pet taught him a
valuable lesson and gave understanding to his mothers words when he was
younger; ‘nothing lasts forever’. Any living creature is expendable at the will
of their genetic structure, or accidents, incidents or other factors beyond our
comprehension. It took Don time to overcome both, the tragic loss of Sandy and
the move to civilization all at once, but as time prevailed everything began to
fall into place. In retrospect his immaturity served to augment his egotistical
conditioning but his parents knew the move was good for his welfare and took
his downcast response with a grain of salt. He was still allowed to go to Sam’s
place from time to time for weekend sleepovers when one of his family members
took the time to drive him there.
Tim on the other hand, was very pleased with his new surroundings. For
him there were bonuses to living in town; less travel, closer to friends and
work, he could enjoy the night life with the knowledge of sleeping in the next
day and not being dragged out of bed to do extra work in the shop, and it gave
more time to chase girls. He could do his own thing, and now the
responsibilities of helping run a business was just a bad memory. Ted and Rene
had plenty of time to reap the benefits from their tough decisions and could
afford to unwind due to the years of hard work and continuum sacrificed in the
establishment and growth of their ventures.
Don was going onto thirteen and about to register for entry into high
school. Wirrageen Primary was another
milestone he took no pleasure in completing. Because of his age he had to enrol
at Naretha High and was unprepared
for tackling secondary school education. Immaturity, his personal history and
his apprehensive disposition had an intervening negative effect on his
confidence and ability to socialize and consort appositely enough to advance.
His level of scholarly ability was undermined culturally and served as a
supplement to his indomitable abhorrence for school in general. In his mind,
matters were made worse by circumstantial events beyond his control; events
like moving away from the bush. As the months passed he partly accepted his
situation, and although he found it difficult to mingle and exchange dialogue
with other student’s, and had very few friends, he realised there was no choice
but to persist. However, as hard as he tried he could never appreciate the
objective of school and was never encouraged by the teaching faculty or provided
with information explaining what a decent education could offer for his future;
the whole ideological concept of school conditioned his loathing of each
irksome day.
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