The man angrily opened the door and Maggie instantly sensed that he was dangerous. It was the oddest thing because his clothes were neat, clean and tidy but he himself looked quite dishevelled. He was tall and slim with greasy dark hair and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. His eyes were slate grey, cold and sharp. Without saying a word, he looked daggers at Mrs Heppler and hungrily up and down at Maggie, who now knew that Mrs Heppler’s pet name for him was apt.
Mrs Heppler had told Maggie earlier that Emily was becoming a shadow of her former self. “It breaks my heart,” she had said. When Maggie saw the young woman moving furtively to the door she knew what Mrs Heppler meant.
“Emily, get your jacket. Maggie and I are taking you out for the afternoon.” Mrs Heppler looked Slimeball in the eye as if defying him to utter one syllable in protest.
The three women sat in the truck’s cab in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Then as they drove further along the road Emily turned to Maggie.
“Hello Maggie,” she said shyly, “Ma told me about you.”
Maggie thought Emily was beautiful with her long blond hair, but her baby blue eyes looked troubled and sad and her light pink cotton dress seemed to be a couple of sizes too big for her. Maggie was surprised that Emily seemed a good six inches taller than her mother as she had envisioned her to be a younger version of Mrs Heppler.
“It’s lovely to meet you.” They warmly shook hands and Maggie noticed that Mrs Heppler’s knuckles were bone white as she gripped the steering wheel to within a whisker of pulling it out of its casing.
“Your mother tells me that you work in a dress shop, how exciting,” exclaimed Maggie to lighten the mood.
“Yes, it’s four days a week and I like working there,” Emily said brightening up a little. “I get to wear their pretty dresses to show our customers how they look on. We sell many dresses that way and it gets me out of this,” she said highlighting the dress she was wearing. The mood dipped again, and Maggie felt responsible, so she nodded slightly and kept quiet.
They parked at a local beauty spot where Mrs Heppler gathered up the picnic basket and set the food and drinks on the blue and white blanket that Maggie placed underneath a large gum tree, shielding them from the sun. There was an awkwardness in the air, so Maggie made her excuses to stretch her legs for a while, knowing the women had plenty to talk about. Mrs Heppler gave a smile at Maggie’s thoughtfulness, and Emily continued to look down at the grass as if she were in an oblivious dream.
Towards the end of the afternoon they drove Emily back home. Norman was not pleased when Emily invited them in while she went to find a book that she wanted her mother to have. He sat, glaring at them while the frosty atmosphere lingered. Maggie almost laughed out loud from the irony of it. After Mrs Heppler’s description of the intense heat on McKinnley Station, Maggie thought Slimeball should visit as he would be a perfect chill factor.
“Cat gotcha tongue?” asked Mrs Heppler calmly as she looked him in the eye. It was obvious she was simmering, wishing for any excuse to lunge for his throat. Maggie’s heart missed a beat, not believing that anyone could be that brave. He just grunted and continued to stare. Maggie felt very uncomfortable, as her skin began to crawl and she shuddered at the sensation.
“As I was saying earlier, Maggie…” said Mrs Heppler, “Maggie?” Maggie turned to her, grateful to concentrate on something else. “… for this visit I need to get extra provisions, so it will take a while longer to get all the supplies together from here and in Burston. We’ll be leaving in three days. It will be a good opportunity for you to see Burston as well, it’s a good little town.”
“Yes, fine, Mrs Heppler,” said Maggie, still unnerved.
“What are you then?” he leaned in closer, addressing Maggie.
“A friend, that’s all you need to know,” retorted Mrs Heppler before Maggie could reply. “Ah, Emily. We need to make tracks, and start getting supplies together,” she said, as Emily entered the room and handed her the book. “Bye, love and remember I will stop by again when I’m next in for supplies, the usual time. Look after yourself.” She wrapped her arms around Emily and hugged her tightly.
“Bye Ma,” Emily said back and also gave Maggie a hug.
“Bye, Emily. Lovely to meet you,” said Maggie.
“Yes, very touching,” Norman said as he slammed the door shut before they had barely cleared the threshold.
It took all of Mrs Heppler’s strength not to turn around and walk back when they heard him shouting at Emily.
“Come, Mrs Heppler, we’ve plans to arrange,” said Maggie, gently leading the woman by the arm towards the truck.
“Yes, you’re right, love. But, it breaks my heart to leave like this. I could just smash his face in.”
Contrary to the conversation at Slimeball’s house, Mrs Heppler announced there would be a change to their original itinerary. For this time only, they would load up all the Station’s supplies in Fremantle and bypass Burston completely. They would then make their way directly to McKinnley Station via a much deeper route. It would take a while longer, but Mrs Heppler had a plan…
Early the next morning and throughout the day, Maggie assisted Mrs Heppler in gathering supplies from the various outlets and helped load up the truck. It took many hours and Mrs Heppler’s checklist had to be completed before they stopped for dinner. Maggie was surprised to see how much was required and it dawned on her for the first time how remote the Station must be. She knew that they could radio the district plane for emergency supplies or the Royal Flying Doctor Service if needed, but apart from that, it was all down to Mrs Heppler ensuring she had adequate supplies.
The following morning, Emily left the house early, saying she was going to get some groceries. In actual fact, she met Maggie in the truck that was parked a couple of streets away. Later in the morning, Mrs Heppler stopped by Emily’s house and invited Slimeball to join her for lunch.
Norman was guarded and eyed her suspiciously, but he would’ve been a complete goose to turn down an offer of a free lunch. So off to the pub they went. He asked where the truck was, and she explained that it was already laden with supplies in readiness for the journey tomorrow. She didn’t want to leave it outside the pub because there were unscrupulous characters lurking about to which Norman had laughed profusely, too dumb to know that she was insinuating him.
As they approached a booth inside the pub, Mrs Heppler indicated to the barman that they wanted two beers and drew a deep breath as she sat down.
“I owe you an apology,” she said, as she began her stellar performance.
Norman leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and stared at her in question.
“I haven’t been too friendly in the past, but I see that you have Emily’s interest at heart. This lunch is my way of starting afresh and to make amends before I go back to the Station tomorrow. What do you say?” She raised her beer glass and after a few intense moments he gave a small nod and began to drink. He was still suspicious and didn’t trust anyone, particularly a feisty old bird who went out of her way to make it known that he would never be any good for her daughter.
While all this was happening, Maggie had parked the truck outside the house as Emily wasted no time in gathering all the possessions she wanted. She was terrified but also aware that there was no way on earth that he would ever let her leave him. Maggie could see that Emily was a bag of nerves and she prayed she kept herself together. The plan was to get in, get out and get to the meeting point as quickly as possible.
“NO, NOT THAT!” Emily shrieked as Maggie