The Liquid of Life

He passed her the canteen and she took it hastily with her gloved hand.

“Just a sip” he told her “We don’t have much left in it.

They were fighting against time and the opponent was winning.

“Are we going to get it done before the dust storm do you think?” she asked him, licking her chaffed and dry lips and then pulling her kerchief up.

“Dunno” was his short reply – “just keep going”.

They had been out in the paddock since early morning fixing up the fences that the wild horses had destroyed. The sheep had been temporarily houses on their neighbour’s property – he had huge tin sheds that the animals could shelter in when the storm was overhead.

This was the same neighbour who had been bringing water over for Jake and Sarah’s animals when they ran out during summer and the terrible drought.

They were in the middle of putting up huge rain water tanks, but really there was no rush -  it hadn’t rained for eighteen months.

That morning before they left the homestead Jake had listened to the weather report and knew it was going to be bad – dust storms always are, but already they were battling hard against the tiredness and the threatening winds that were getting stronger by the minute.

Sarah’s hat had blown off so she tied it underneath her chin with some thin twine. But that was starting to cut into her small neck and hurt her. Her small face was dark brown with the sweat and dust already blowing around and the piece of material over her mouth and nose was unrecognisable as the lemon material it had started out to be.

“I can’t wait to get into a hot shower tonight and wash off all this dirt off” she yelled at her husband but he didn’t hear a thing she had said because the wind had blown the words away.

Come and help me with this one Sarah he motioned with his strong arms so she ran over to where he was. “Let’s get this side finished and then there’s not much left of the other side”.

Their two dark horses began to move around as the wind whistled past their ears, their tails swishing as if there were flies annoying them. One of them whinnied loudly saying “How much longer are you going to be?” Jake as if reading the horses mind yelled to him “It’s ok boy we won’t be too much longer”.

It began to grow darker; the sky was turning a light shade of grey with crimson paint splashed across it. High above puffy clouds were forming, dark grey and foreboding.

“Look at the sky Jake – it’s getting dark too”.

“We haven’t much more to do, we’ll make it don’t worry”.

The intensity of the wind was ferocious – it had picked up speed and particles of sand and small stone blew in the air, weightless but stinging when they hit you. Sarah was finding it a bit difficult to breathe and pulled the cloth further past her nose.

“Let’s hurry Jake, I’m worried” she told her husband.

“Just this small side to do now, grab that wire Sare” he told her.

The clouds seemed to have dropped in the air and if you reached your arms up above your head it looked like you could touch them. It was as if they had banded together and formed a huge blanket over this part of the earth, a thick dirty grey cover.

Now it was both of the horses whinnying and moving around quickly as the stones and dust whipped their legs. The bigger of the horses threw his head back in protest.

“That’s it Sarah, finished… grab the gear and we’ll leave it in the box”. The box being a large, strong metal rectangle container attached to two of the steel fencing posts. “Not even a storm will shift that thing”.

They dragged the tools they had been using and the left over materials and put them in the box, locking it before running against the wind towards the horses.

“It’s ok girl” Jake said to his tall mare as he put his foot in the stirrup and hoisted himself up on to her saddle. Sarah was already on her horse. They grabbed their untethered reins and rode off towards home.

It was as if the wind didn’t know where to go, or which direction to take as one minute it pushed Jake and Sarah on their horse and the next they could hardly force their way through it.

The spinifex was dancing as if it was going crazy – back and forwards in frenzy and the bushes that had been uprooted rolled away along the ground and disappeared into swirls of sand.

Visibility was getting very low and as they rode towards home the horizon was slowly disappearing, and in the distance it looked as if a wall of sand was marching towards them in a straight line.

Sarah’s heart was almost beating out of her chest. She felt scared. This was the worst dust storm she had encountered so far. She was riding as if her life depended on it.

“Finally caught up to you” Jake yelled at her. “You ok?” he asked.

“Yes, let’s just get home”.

As the horses hooves beat on the dusty road, sending up puffs of dust, the line of gum trees that were on either side of their very long driveway came into view – the branches ferociously swaying from side to side and the leaves blowing off and twirling into space. After this storm the branches would be just dry sticks.

It was growing dimmer by the second and the noise of the agitated and blustery wind was now deafening. Sarah felt as if she was in a tunnel, getting pushed and thrown about and it took all her might to point her horse in the direction she needed to go. ‘If only the debris and grit raining down on us was water’ she thought.

We’re home” Jake shouted to her as they rode down their driveway. The trees buffeted by the gusts of wind were bending in towards them as they rode along the path. One of them whipped Sarah on her face but she couldn’t let go of the reigns to feel for blood.

Jumping off their horses they quickly led the startled animals into their stable, and after putting down food and water bolted their door.

As they headed around the back of their house, they could hear the unlocked flywire door  moving back and forwards – squeaking and then banging as it thumped against the door jamb.

“Oh I should have locked the flywire when we left” Jake said as they opened the main door and then locked them both.

By now the light had grown dim  and the only sound Jake and Sarah could hear as they stood in their kitchen were whistling and moaning noises, eerie and slightly unnerving.

“Let’s put the heater on and boil the kettle in case the storm knocks out the electricity like last time”.

Jake turned on the radio to listen for weather updates and further storm warnings. Apparently the worst had almost hit them and it should be over in a couple of hours. There was nothing to do but eat, shower and fall into a very welcome bed. But tired as they were neither of them could sleep.

The noise from outside penetrated through the walls of the house and although they felt that it was a very solid old building, with every loud noise and shake they half expected to feel the roof go. The windows rattled with an intensity that scared Sarah. Jake realised once again that after the storm had been and gone he had a few doors to tighten up and plenty of holes to fill in around the place!

They sat at the big lounge window to watch the debris swirling around outside, branches, papers and tiny pebbles twirled around and around before being lifted up into the dark sky to land goodness knows where.

“I think we got home just in time. I’d hate to be out in this” Sarah said to her husband. ”I feel sorry for any wild animals trying to find shelter”.

They sat for what seemed like ages, and even though they were exhausted from the day, they didn’t feel like sleeping. As the time passed, the winds started to gradually die down. The noises abated, the windows rattled only intermittently and the howling of the wind became less intense.

“I think it’s slowing down. We can go to bed…I’m shattered and we will have to set the alarm early to get all the sheep into the fenced off area. What a day!”

Of course the terrible sand storm had slowed and scurried off in the end but the drought was still alive and well.

Jake and Sarah carried on the next day, tireder but grateful that strong wind wasn’t accompanying the heat they were experiencing.

“I feel so happy today Jake, no sand storm to deal with, the fencing is done and we’ve almost put all the sheep back in” Sarah said as they took the last of their sheep in the back of the trailer to their own grazing land. Not that there was much to graze on, in fact nothing. They had been carting food to the sheep for months, ever since the ground had completely dried out and the grass and other pasture plants had withered too. The rock hard earth resembled a huge mosaic floor, light and dark brown in colour withy deep cracks running crazily all over it.

“When will the drought end?” she asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.

“I wish I knew” Jake said “We can’t really go on for much longer, not financially and sometimes not mentally either.

The temperatures stayed high – each day the searing red and orange ball in the sky scorched everything it touched.

The ground was baked hard and water was at a premium. One quick shower a day for Jake and Sarah and washing was restricted to ‘when the basket was overflowing’ and then everything was thrown in together. The clothes on the washing line dried in a matter of minutes sometimes with the hot winds blowing.

The washing up was all left until the end of the day when the last of the crockery and cutlery were finished with. Water was at a premium and couldn’t be wasted.

They were tired and exhausted from carting water and animal fodder back and forwards to the sheep - kilometres away, in their truck. The wild horse still damaged parts of the enclosures every now and then, but nothing like before the last sand storm.

“I’m going into town this morning if you’d like to come with me” Jake said while eating breakfast. “I have to get more fodder for the sheep and fencing wire”.

“Oh anything to get away from the house for a little while” Sarah replied.

Town was one hundred and fifty kilometres away, so not a ‘short’ drive by any means!

They didn’t come into town often and it was usually only to get supplies of some sort. They came into the Elders Store once a month for groceries but that wasn’t due for another two weeks.

Sarah enjoyed coming in town. Her neighbours were dotted far and wide, so to ‘visit’ them it was a whole day affair really, so coming into town usually ensured you got to meet at least two of your neighbours.

The typical conversation usually began with the weather, moving on to family, children if you had them and then the animals, but it was better than nothing!

“Hi Nola” Sarah called out to a middle aged woman walking into the hardware store at the same time. “How are you?”

“Bloody fed up of this drought” and they both laughed.

“I know, it’s awful and I’m not sure how much longer it will go on for. I heard there was a big cyclone forming up north and would cross over this way on its way down but we’ve heard that before!”

Sarah chatted to another of her friends before she and Jake headed back to their homestead.

When they had been driving for about ten minutes Jake turned to her “Guess what I bought for us?”

“What?” Sarah asked excitedly.

And he reached his arm backwards behind him and pulled out a large paper bag saying “Look in there!”

“Oh Jake” Sarah said excitedly and took out of the bag a bottle of lemonade, a bag of crisps and two different types of chocolate. “How come you bought this?” She asked.

“Well I think we need it! – After all that’s been going on lately! And if the rumours are true, we should have rain in a week and I think that deserves a celebration – even before it gets here!”

Everyone was waiting for the storm and more importantly the rain.

Each weather forecast was listened to intently – it was like waiting for a surprise you had been promised by your parents – you never knew if they really meant it!

But the weather bureau did mean it.

By the fifth day after being told there was rain on its way, there was a definite change in the air. It felt as if something was brewing, like a witch stirring her big pot getting ready to put a spell on someone.

“I can feel it in the air Jake, we will get rain I know it” said Sarah staring out of the window at the clouds gathering on the horizon. The sky was growing dark and silver wisps like soft veils softened the shadows.

The wind was getting stronger, more blustery.

As she stood watching the change in the weather outside, the rumble of thunder could be heard way off in the distance - the sky now had a sepia tinge to it and lightening began to crack through the colour.

As if the light had been dimmed it grew darker and Sarah had to put the light on inside. “Come and watch the storm Jake” she called to her husband as he came inside after securing the outside of the house against the storm.

A mighty drum banged high up in the sky and it made Sarah jump. “Oh that was a big one” she remarked as it was followed not long after by huge blades of lightening, cracking like whips.

Dark clouds began to hang down in the air as if too heavy to float and white bursts of light cut through the darkness.

Then they heard it - the loud sound of ‘drop, drop’ on the tin roof.

“It’s raining Jake” Sarah yelled, even though he was right next to her.

The noise began to pick up pace and depth….as if someone was throwing metal nails on to the tin.

It was coming down in torrents outside, the drops of water as big as golf balls, and as it hit the dry dust dark brown liquid jumped into the air.

“Come on Jake. Let’s go outside” and Sarah grabbed his hand.

“Really?”  He asked. “You mean in on our clothes?”

“Yes!” she called out to him already outside and standing in it.

She was soaked in no time at all. Her hair was plastered to her face and she danced around, the mud splashing her dress and legs.

The thunder was still grumbling and a fork of lightening zigzagged down to the ground but she didn’t care. Her skin felt as if the stinging rain was taking a layer off – it was pelting down. She opened her mouth and it rushed in.

“Let’s go in now Sare” Jake said to her “and we can watch from inside”.

The rain dropped down from the heavens for most of the night. They lay in bed listening to it and knowing that this would change their lives for quite a while.

“The rain water tanks will be full now” Jake said to her “and the dams”.

They checked them the next day and the water looked like liquid silver – valuable.

The rain had stopped now but it had done the job they needed it to do.

The animal would have feed before long. The dams were filled. Crops could be sown. Jake and Sarah could have a long shower once in a while too!

What more could anyone ask for?

 Water really is the gift of life.