8 comments/ 17023 views/ 10 favorites Life on the Run By: Cromagnonman I was on the run, legging it, on the toe, whatever way you looked at it I was running for my life. I wasn't fleeing a crime scene, I haven't killed anyone or robbed their bank, I was running from a woman. Mignone was her name and I met her at a party that now I wished that I hadn't gone to, and with each kilometre I put between myself and her I regretted the day that I let my dick do my thinking for me. She was good, believe me she was one of the best. When I first met her butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, she was so nice, and beautiful and sexy, and she came on to me like I was a powerful magnet and she was a poor helpless piece of steel. Once she attached herself to me there was no letting go, not that I wanted her to detach herself from me. When I look back on those early days I couldn't believe my luck, she had the looks of a model, a personality that attracted attention wherever we went, a cordon bleu chef who could whip up a four course feast at a moment's notice, and then there was bed. What she didn't know about making love you could have written on the head of a pin with a paint roller, and what made it better, she told me that she was only good because of me. Me, I inspired her to greater heights of passion, the same me who had that many first dates he'd lost count and enough second dates to count on one finger. Of course it was too good to be true. We had just celebrated our three month anniversary and were discussing, she was discussing and I was agreeing, the possibility of her moving in with me. I had just reached for the phone to call a removalist to collect her things when she dropped the bombshell on me from a great height. "Darling, there is one small problem." "Yes Sweetness, what is it?" I whispered into her ear just before and after I kissed it. "Darling, here's the thing, I have a husband and he's getting out of gaol in a couple of days, and he doesn't know about us. All I can hope for is that he doesn't find me, us." "What was he in gaol for?" I was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. "Murder, he killed my lover." "And you're still married to him? Why didn't you divorce him while he was inside?" "That would have made it worse for me, he would have been angry and that anger would have built and built until there would be no stopping him." "We can always apply for a restraining order." "That wouldn't stop him, he'd ignore it and take out his anger on me and anyone near me." "Do you mean that he'd kill you and me?" "I'm afraid so." "What can we do?" I was really getting scared. "What I thought was, I could go and see him before he gets out and tell him that I've moved on with my life and if he made any attempt to see me when he got out he would end up back in gaol." If I hadn't been scared out of my wits and deafened by the alarm bells that were ringing telling me that she was being very brave doing that for me, for us, I'd probably not been in my present situation. Over the next couple of days I tried hard to keep my mind off my impending demise and focussing on getting Dick Dangler hard enough to make love to her, but to no avail, and then it happened. She had been to see him yesterday and when she got home she told me that he'd been amazingly reasonable, apologising for putting her through all of her troubles, and promising to leave us alone." She looked me in the eye and didn't even blink. "He promised not to contact us for a small consideration, in the form of a contribution to his retirement fund." "Just how small is this contribution supposed to be?" "A hundred thousand dollars." She knew I could afford this amount and then some, but something was telling me that I shouldn't do this. "What's to say that this is all he'd want, I think that he'll just keep returning to the well hoping for more." "But he promised, surely you'll do this for me, us." She added quickly. "I need to think about this." "What's to think about, you do love me don't you? You know that I love you so very much and want to make you the happiest man ever." She kissed me in that way that she knew would have me weak at the knees. "Come on Darling, let's go to bed and I'll show you how much I love you." It took her some fifteen minutes of hard work before Dick Dangler became Dick Dagger and pierced her pulsating pussy for some satisfyingly lustful sex. As I entered her she was urging me on to greater things. "Come on give it to me, fill me with your monster cock, yes, yes, right there, harder, harder, I want more of you, I want all of you, my god how I want you, I just can't get enough of you, yes, yes, I'm coming, I'm coming, oh god, y-e-e-e-s!" When she gathered her breath she kissed me. "My god Darling, you'd better not leave me, because I'll never find a lover as good as you, ever." Under normal circumstances these words would have been music to my ears, but I got the feeling that this was a programmed response and that she was merely going through the motions to remove any doubts that I might have regarding her and her husband. The next morning we went our separate ways to work and I was beginning to calm down and not jump any time there was a loud noise. And then it happened. A loud noise out front announced problems for me. A voice shouting loud enough to be heard a couple of blocks away was screaming at the top of his voice; "Where's that fucking bastard who's been fucking my wife while I've been away? Here I am doing my bit for my country in Afghanistan and while I'm away this bastard's been slipping it to my wife. Where are you Greg or whatever you call yourself, come on out and show yourself or do I have to come in there and drag you out? Come on out you weak cunt! You gutless little shit, get your arse out here like a man!" It was around then that the words of wisdom that my Grandfather told me years ago rushed into my mind; "You know son," he said as he patted my head, "it's a cowardly pair of legs that'll let your body get hurt." Now me in retreat was a sight to behold, I was off like a bucket of prawns (we don't call them shrimps in Australia) in the hot sun, I took off like a rat up a drain. I make no apology for my cowardice, when the fight or flight reflex kicked in, the fight side told me that I was on my own if I chose to fight, because he wasn't hanging around for anyone. I've now been on the run for more than a week, stopping at out of the way half star motels and eating at truck stops, avoiding major towns and cities, and slowly getting my head around my problems. This morning I woke up in a cold sweat and realised that I'd been the victim of a ginormous scam, a rather clever one, but a scam nonetheless, but what could I do about it? I heard a noise outside my room and paranoia kicked in, I wrenched the door open to see a frightened woman just straightening up from putting a tray outside the door. I stooped down and took the cover of one of the plates. "What's this?" I asked, trying to recover my composure. "It's the breakfast that you ordered." "No it's not, this crap isn't what I ordered." "Don't look at me mate, I didn't prepare this, I just have to deliver it. If you have a problem with it you'd better take it up with the Manager, although I'd strongly advise against that, he doesn't do complaints very well this early in the morning, you'd better wait until the piss (booze) wears off." "Look, I'm sorry I got upset with you, it's not your fault and I should have realised that, but the way things have been going with me lately, I guess I over-reacted, please accept my apology." "Yeah, okay, are you staying around or moving on?" "I don't know, is there anything exciting around here for me to look at?" "There's heaps of stuff, we have a swimming pool, although this time of the year it's empty, we have an oval and tennis courts, neither of which have been used for years, and over the other side of town is the rubbish dump. Would you like me to give you the guided tour of our wonderful town?" "Would you?" I had got the feeling that she was taking the mickey out of me so I thought that I'd call her bluff. "Sure thing mate, I've got half an hour to spare between tidying up all the rooms in preparation for the next influx of guests, and helping out in the kitchen. I finish in about half an hour, I'll come back and take you around to check us out, who knows you might decide to stay and increase the population by twenty percent." With that she wandered off to do whatever it was that she had to do. I picked up the tray and carried my breakfast inside and put it on the table. Apart from the tea that was almost drinkable I left it untouched and had myself a quick shower and got myself spruced up for my tour. She returned as promised, and this time she was wearing jeans and a top in place of the pale blue coverall with the badge that had told me that her name was Sandy. "Are you ready? We'd better get a move on or else we'll run out of daylight before you've seen it all." She smiled as she said that so I knew that she was joking. I took the time to look at her more closely, She was tall and slim, her face was tanned and she wore no make-up, her blonde hair was pulled back and caught at the nape of her neck by a simple clasp, she wore no jewellery, no wedding ring, and I put her age at not much younger than my own and I'd hit forty a couple of months ago. I remember it because Mignone made a big deal of it and I got some of the best sex I'd ever had in my entire life, although that's not saying much. I was what you'd describe as 'unlucky in love'. "Sure." I grabbed my keys and locked the door behind me. "Let's go." I opened the door for her and she smiled again as she slid in. For some reason I had this thought that modern cars were designed to remove the practise of holding doors for ladies, what with keyless entry and central locking it was no longer necessary to open the passenger's door with a key. I was, for a moment, sad at the thought of not seeing a smile like that when I opened the door. "Where to?" I asked as we left the motel. "Straight down the road to our intersection and chuck a left." I reached the intersection, I was glad to see that there were no traffic lights, and turned left onto Main Street and the shopping metropolis that was Dalley. I noticed that almost all of the shopfronts were boarded up. "Not very thriving is it?" As we drove along the road I began to recite a poem that I'd read: Youth has left this town Their families no longer owned their inheritance, their future. There is nothing left for them here. Youth has left this town. Love has left this town. The endless burden of despair clouding what remained of love, dowsing forever the spark. Love has left this town. Hope has left this town. With the loss of youth and its faith in the future, the loss of the past. Hope has left this town. Life has left this town. without the spark of love, without the vibrance of youth, without hope for the future. Life has left this town. The town has left this town. Skeletons of the past, the homes, the people, only the ghosts remain. This town has left this town. "That's sad, but true. This used to be a thriving town until the railway was closed. It was just a spur line for the grain harvest but the bulk handling company decided to rationalise its operations. They encouraged 'on farm storage' so it could spread its storage capacity over a longer period, and accept grain when they needed it, rather than all in one go like they had in the past." "Surely they'd still need silos here?" "No, they've built a huge silo complex some fifty kilometres away on the main line and the farmers have to truck their grain there now. The worst part is that they pay no more for the grain, but the transport costs come out of the farmers' pockets. The bulk handlers are laughing all the way to the bank because, on top of their savings, they no longer have the cost of maintaining the spur line and these silos. The pigeons have just about finished what remained of the grain and will soon be moving out." "What keeps you here?" I could see the sadness in her eyes, the loss of hope. "If it wasn't for my parents I would have been long gone. They are hanging on by running a flock of poor sheep in the hope of making money out of wool, but the quality is poor. The sheep are too old and too tough to be of use for anything other than pet food, they've even stopped slaughtering them for their own use. The General Store is closing soon, so a trip to buy food is now going to be a hundred kilometres longer and, with the cost of fuel these days, people are not going to be able to afford even that, so they'll have to move nearer the shops, if they can get enough for their property to buy elsewhere." A minute later we had cleared the thriving metropolis of Dalley and were approaching the river that should have been the lifeblood of the town. Years of over-use of the water had resulted in it being a series of stagnant pools more often than running. The town bore that supplied reticulating water for the residents had broken down years ago and the lack of population made it uneconomic to replace and maintain it, so the residents now had to rely on what little rainwater they could trap in household tanks. The Motel had a bore of its own but the water table had dropped to the point that it could no longer be relied on for a steady supply. Every week, on Friday, an old and dilapidated water truck drove into town to replenish the motel tanks. The motel owner had just reached the decision that there was not enough trade to cover operating costs and was in the process of closing down. Within years the skeletal remains of the buildings will be all that is left of Dalley. I was directed from the road to a small clearing by the dry riverbank. I parked in the shade and we got out. "When I was a girl we used to come here for picnics, Mum and Dad and my brother Bill. We'd have a fire over there," she pointed to a ring of stones on the parched ground, "and Mum would put a billy (a quart sized tin plated container with a handle and lid) of water on it while Dad and us kids would set traps for yabbies. When we had enough we'd toss them in the billy and as soon as they turned red they'd be dumped on the ground and we'd pig out. You'd be lucky to find one yabby in the whole river these days." "This isn't much of a life for a woman like you, is it?" "It's the only life that I know. Oh I went into the city once and it scared me so much I left before the day was out." "I can understand that, but I have often wondered how farmers stand the loneliness and isolation." "We have our families and our thoughts, and then there's the land, to you city blokes it looks like a whole lot of nothing, but if you get close enough to it you realise that it's all a part of nature's never-ending struggle for survival in this harsh country. I never cease to be amazed at the survival instincts of creatures and plants. We're in the middle of a drought right now and everything looks dead, but wait until it rains, plants and animals emerge from nowhere and the place comes alive. Even the deserts further north are ablaze with wildflowers and, in a matter of weeks the place is crawling with rabbits. And with them come the predators, wedge–tailed eagles soaring on thermals looking for the next feed, dingoes and even foxes, all preying on the rabbits, and you have the snakes, where they come from is anyone's guess but with the abundance of young rabbits in burrows the snakes thrive. Some of the most venomous snakes in the world live just up the track in the desert. And then there's this burrowing frog that, as the watertable disappears, burrows deeper and deeper into the moist sand and as soon as there is new surface water it comes to the surface again to breed." "I can see why you couldn't stand the city, down there no-one takes the time to marvel at nature." "What brings you up here?" "If you must know I was getting away from a woman, and a man." "A woman and a man, presumably the man is her husband?" "I believe so, but then I'm not sure, it's all a blur really." "I've got a few minutes to spare, tell me all." We had sat on the river bank and, if there'd been water in it, our feet would have been getting wet. "Where do I start. I met Mignone at a party and we hit it off straight away. If I hadn't been so besotted by her I would have had second thoughts, like what was someone so beautiful doing at a party like that on her own? Why did she choose me? But I didn't think that, I didn't have time to think that, everything moved so quickly and I guess that was part of the strategy, to not give me time to rationalise what was happening to me. Then last week she dropped the bombshell. She was married and her husband, who just happened to be in gaol for murdering her former lover, was due to get out of gaol and she was scared for us. Then she volunteered to go and see him and try to get him to leave us alone. . . ." "Let me guess, he said yes on one condition, and that was for you fork out a large amount of money to guarantee your safety and that of your woman?" "That was the general idea, yes" "And you started to have second ideas?" "Yes, and that was when he lobbed up at my work yelling and screaming abuse in my general direction." "And you of course went out there and told him to fuck off and leave you alone." "No, that was when I realised that I was a devout coward and got out of there as fast as I could." "You legged it out the back door leaving your workmates to cope with this angry man? Good thinking mate, he had no argument with them and when he realised he was yelling at nothing he would have calmed down. Either that, or they'd managed to call the cops, and he'd been arrested." "Something like that. This morning I decided that I should call my Solicitor and start the ball rolling. I was going to ask him to investigate both of them, she told me that he was in gaol but he told me that he'd been in Afghanistan. It would seem that they were relying heavily on my confusion for the scam to work." "The chances are that, having failed with you they'll cut and run and try it again somewhere else." "I don't know, there seemed to have been an arrogance about the whole episode that could only have come from practice, no, I think that she'll go to another party and meet another man and forget all about this failure. I need to make several calls, not the least of which is to the office to let them know that I'm not dead and that they can expect me back soon, although I might just take a short vacation to recover from this trauma. Then I need to talk to George, he's my Solicitor, and get him to hire someone to check on her hand her husband, if indeed he is her husband, and see if they've pulled this scam before, and while he's at it I'll get him to go around to my place and collect the mail and act on anything that needs my attention." "I hope that you're not going to make those calls from the motel? If you do, be prepared for a hefty phone bill, he charges like a wounded steer for calls made from the motel phones." "No, I'll need to charge the battery on my mobile and then I can use that." "Why don't you take me home and you can use the phone there, we won't charge you." "Are you sure?" "Yeah I'm sure, I needed to get home anyway and this'll save Dad from driving in." I stood and held out my hand for her. She took it and I helped her to her feet. "My you are the gentleman aren't you?" "You could say that, I was taught to respect women, but I'm afraid that I've been taken advantage of on a number of occasions. You'd think that I'd learn, wouldn't you?" "I hope that you don't, I'd hate to think what it would be like if you distrusted everyone just because of a few lousy bastards." Life on the Run We strolled as nonchalantly as possible into the kitchen at around 7:00 in the morning just as Bob was starting his breakfast. Sandra kissed her mother, "Morning Mum." "You enjoyed yourselves last night I hear." Bob commented. "So you did hear, we tried to keep it quiet." Sandra said. "Yeah we heard it, it's a wonder you didn't start the dogs off. What are your plans for today?" "I have to be at work by 10:00 and we thought that we'd get Greg's stuff and he can stay here for as long as he likes." "Sure, that's okay with us. While you're in town can you pick up some stuff for me, I've got a list." "Sure, we'll probably be back soon after lunch, it depends on what needs to be done." "I was going to head back to town this morning but I'm happy to delay that until tomorrow." "If you do, I'd like to go with you, I want to say how you live and what you do." She caught the looks on her parents' faces. "Don't worry we're not going to leap into anything, at least not yet, we're going to take it slow and be sure of ourselves before we make any decisions." Bob had a funny look on his face. "If last night was slow, I'd hate to see you making a hasty decision, it'd be a blur." We finished breakfast and Merle wouldn't let us wash the dishes so we headed back to the motel, and that's where all hell broke loose. I stopped at the reception to let her out and drove into the motel and parked outside my unit. I didn't even have a chance to open the car door before I was pulled from it by a huge hand attached to a huge arm that was itself attached to a huge man. "Thought you could get away from me you cowardly little shit. I invested a lot of time and effort into you and I'm not walking away with no return for my efforts, so you'd better cough up big time." A couple of days ago I would have been scared shitless but not now. "You'll get nothing from me you muscle-bound oaf, I'm not scared of you." It was a bluff of course, I was still a little scared but I didn't want him to know that. His fist was back and just about to begin its journey to my face when a voice cut through the air. "You! Yes you with the bad-arse attitude. I am just about to fire this shotgun at a bird on the fence behind you but you are blocking my line, I would wait for you to move but I'm impatient to get the bird, so I'm going to pull the trigger, if you're still standing where you are right now, I'm afraid that you will be shot. Now let that man go and step over to that wall over there." She indicated the wall with the barrels of the double barrelled twelve gauge shot gun that looked more like an artillery piece than a gun from where I stood. "No, wait, stand facing that veranda post and put your arms around it." She handed me an appliance cord. "Tie his wrists together, nice and tight, don't worry if you cut off the circulation, just make sure that he can't get enough purchase to break it." I tied him up, he wasn't happy with my efforts and he kept looking to his right at a car parked next to the end unit. I recognised the woman seated in it, Mignone. I signalled to Sandra with my eyes that she should look at the car just as Mignone decided to leave her husband to his fate and started the car. As she accelerated towards the entrance Sandra stepped in front of her with the shotgun raised. When it became apparent that Mignone was not about to stop she fired, first one barrel and then the next. The first shot peppered the windscreen turning it opaques with dozens of small holes that almost penetrated the screen and cracks that radiated out from these holes. The second shot shattered the flimsy plastic grill, and put dozens of holes in the radiator, the car would not last long. It stopped and Mignone got out just as Sandra ejected the shell casings from the gun and re-loaded. "Would you mind joining your friend." "I don't know him and I don't know why you attacked me." "Cut the crap Mignone, I know all about you and the man mountain here, now why don't you be a good girl and join your friend at the post, I'm sure that you're familiar with a pole, having danced around one on more than one occasion. You might even like to put on a show for your friend here while we wait for the police, it should be about half an hour." I took great joy in tying her to the post with him, making sure that neither of them could release the other. Their expressions were completely different, his said that he was embarrassed at finding himself in this situation, while hers was pure hatred towards me and this extended to Sandra. "When I went into the office Rosie warned me about these two, they arrived last night asking questions about you, and spent the night waiting for you to return. I figured it was Mignone and her whatever he is, so I got the shotgun from the cupboard in the office and loaded it, grabbed a couple of extra shells and came to your rescue." We sat on the bonnet (hood) of my car and waited. My phone rang. "Hi, Greg here, speak to me." "Greg, it's George, when are you coming back?" "We thought tomorrow, why?" "For starters you house has been trashed, don't worry we know who it was, one of the neighbours saw them going in and heard the damage happening and called the police who, unfortunately were a little slow in getting there. They got a good description of the culprits, she recognised Mignone as being the woman, but had never seen the man before. They must be really pissed off with you for decamping like that. Then the police want to speak with you, they have several other men who've been stung by these but are reluctant to give evidence because they felt embarrassed at falling for the scam. Are you prepared to give evidence so that they can proceed and look for them?" "They won't have to look far, we found them, or at least they found us and we have captured them. We're just waiting for the police to arrive." "You keep saying 'we', who is the other person that makes a 'we'? "You'll find out tomorrow, we'll see you then. The police are almost here, who were you dealing with back there?" The police car slid into the motel yard and two policemen got out. "What seems to be the problem here?" Mignone was just about to say something but thought better of it when she saw the barrels of the gun moving menacingly towards her. "This lady," (I placed an ironic emphasis on the word 'lady') and this man here are both wanted in Sydney on charges of wilful destruction of property, mine, and in relation to several scams. I will be giving evidence to police tomorrow, in the meantime they should be held in custody until they can be transported to Sydney." "Don't take his word for it, he's lying to you." Mignone wasn't going down without a fight. "Contact Sydney and speak to Superintendant Carson on this number." I handed him my phone on which I had recorded the details in the memo screen. He went off to check on his car radio, those long aerials hanging off each corner were useful for something. When he came back he put handcuffs on both of them before untying them and leading them to his car and driving off. "My, this has been exciting, hasn't it?" Sandra said we headed back to the office to return the shotgun and pay my account. The Manager came out looking exceedingly seedy, he looked from me to Sandra as if trying to work out what was going on. "Hey, ex-boss, I quit this crappy job as of ten minutes ago, work out what you owe me and send it to my place, and don't try to stiff me because, if you do I won't hesitate to make you suffer." She grabbed my hand. "Come on Darling, let's get you gear and get out of this flea-hole." It was good to be back in the cool calm of the station kitchen, Sandra and Merle were working on lunch while Bob and I were sitting at the table while I outlined what I was going to check into when in Sydney tomorrow. "There is a new crop rotation system that seems to be working in marginal areas, instead of the traditional three grain one fallow rotation, what's being trialled is a grain, canola, grain, legume rotation. The legume puts nitrogen nutrients back into the soil and the canola helps by keeping the soil working all the time as well as helping break the weed generation. The other interesting thing that's being trialled is dragging a trailer behind the harvester to trap grass seeds like rye grass that would normally get blown back and spread by the harvester. That reduces the dependence on chemical defoliants, and it's cheaper, you can re-use the trailer year after year." "You're really getting caught up in all of this aren't you?" "I'm exploring possibilities, there are a couple of other things I want to check out before I get caught up in it." "Such as?" "I want to check the long range forecasts that have come out of Crohamhurst over the past twenty years to see how accurate they've been and whether we can rely on them for our forward planning. The other thing I'm looking at is to plant an area in saltbush. Sheep are quite happy grazing on that and there is a growing market for saltbush lamb, we should also look at a meat breed if we're not going back into wool production. I've seen articles on the White Dorper breed as a meat sheep that has the added benefit that it doesn't need shearing, the wool apparently just falls off." "You're putting a lot of effort into this, what's in it for you?" I could see that he was wary of my interest, he still didn't fully trust me. "Apart from making Sandra happy, not a lot, other than see that you and Merle get some return for your efforts, and the hardships that you've gone through over the years." "Okay, I'll go along with what you're doing as long as you keep me informed and, if I still don't think that it's viable, we pull the plug before we get in over our heads. Is that clear?" 'Certainly, actually I have a proposition that may interest you." "Yes, what is it?" He was wary again. "If I were to make you an offer to buy this property and keep you on to manage it, what sort of numbers would I be looking at?" I was testing him here, I had a reasonable idea what this property would go for in a sale but I wanted to see if he was greedy and ask for more. I would give him a certain amount of wriggle room, but if he went over the top I'd opt out. He came up with the sort of number that was well within my ball-park. "I can live with that, leave it with me while I make a few more of the enquiries I need to make before I can make a decision." "I think I'm beginning to trust you, but let me tell you right now, that if you hurt my daughter you'd better be able to run faster than my shotgun." "If you're anything like Sandra with a shotgun I don't stand a chance, so I'd better do the right thing." "What right thing?" Sandra came over, wiping her hands, and sat on my lap. "What are you two talking about?" "Your father was telling me what would happen if I didn't do the right thing by you." "Do I have anything to worry about?" "Of course you don't." I kissed her just to let Bob know that I was serious. I have never felt this comfortable with a girl and her family in my life, and their acceptance of me was something that I didn't expect given country people's legendary reticence at accepting new people into their lives. In bed with Sandra was better than last night, we were more familiar with each other and what turned us on. Her body's reactions to my caresses and my finger's penetration of her pussy was so intense, she had an orgasm before my cock got anywhere near her pussy, I was still working towards that when she shuddered and clung to me. "How do you know what to do and when to do it, is there a manual for guys that they can read that tells them?" "No, if you must know, I just relax and my instincts tell me what to do." "I love your instincts, I love you." She was working on him, not that he needed it, her efforts consisted more of leading him to the Promised Land of her pussy. He did not resist and soon we were working on instinct and enjoying every moment of our love making, she used her muscles to apply pressure to him as he moved in and out of her and her quivering orgasm coincided with mine. We were so attuned to each other's needs that it just seemed natural that, what was that Beatles song, Come together, right now." We made an early start and were in George's office at 11:00am. "So this is the other half of the 'we' is it?" I had just introduced Sandra to him. "I must say that she's much better than the other one. I have just spoken to the police and they have formally charged the two of them with vandalism over the damage to your house, they want you to go there at your first opportunity and check to see if anything was stolen. When you've done that they want you to see them and make a statement about the scam and the episode yesterday, which I understand, you played a major part in." He looked at Sandra. "I was impressed by what I was told. Where do you fit into the scheme of things?" "I met Greg the other day at the motel where I work and we went out to my family farm and he met my parents. We have plans for the future together that I'll let him explain to you, but I'm working under strict orders not to come home without him." The visit to my house was heartbreaking, everything that could be broken had been broken, my lovely flat-screen TV was a pile of glass fragments in the carpet under at the base of the wall where it hung. There were original oil paintings that were beyond repair and some glass sculptures were smashed against the wall. My collection of crystal wine glasses for all occasions will never hold another drop, even my clothes were slashed to pieces. My insurance company was really going to love me and there goes my no-claim bonus. I brushed glass from the sofa and sat down, I wasn't strong enough to not cry, Sandra sat next to me and hugged me, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Darling, I never thought that anyone could do this to another person. I hate that bitch and what she's done to you." "So do I and I want to see her punished, I know that I'm supposed to forgive others as I would have them forgive me, but right now I think that's so much bullshit. I'll probably get over it in time but right now I want to walk out of this house and never return. I'll get it cleaned up and sell it. Do you think, if I asked them nicely, that your parents will let me stay with them for a little while until I get back on my feet?" She took my face in her hands and kissed me gently on the lips. "My parents will not only let you stay with them for a little while, they'll let you stay forever. I love your Greg Mathwin, and I'm not going to let you go now that I've found you, and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. I'm thinking that your bedroom will be just as much a mess as the rest of the house so I'd be wasting my time suggesting that we make love in your bed, wouldn't I?" "I'd like it if just so that there is at least one good memory of this place that I can hold on to, but no, there can be no good memories for me here." I checked quickly and decided that nothing had been stolen, just broken, except the contents of floor safe that was hidden under the floor of my study, Mignone never knew about it because, for some reason, I never showed it to her. This could explain why the paintings were slashed, they were looking for a wall safe. I lifted the static rug from under my computer desk and twirled the dial of the safe, it was all there, all my papers and personal stuff and a cheque that I'd been holding onto for some time since my parents died and hadn't lodged in my bank account, there was more than enough there to buy the Dalley property and really set it up as a viable farm, that is if everything pans out as I hope. If not, the cheque will stay in the safe, or another, somewhere. Superintendant Carson listened to me as I dictated my statement. "Thank you for that, not too many men would actually admit publicly that they had been duped by a beautiful woman. I've spoken to her and I can understand you falling for her. She almost had me convinced that it was all her husband's idea and she was forced to go along with it because she was scared of him, and yes, he is scary, but not as scary as she is. She may not get violent but what she's able to do to guys like you scares the hell out of me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this whole thing was her idea all along. She had a key for your house so that's how they got in so we've got her on that charge. She'll do time that's for sure." We left the police station feeling a little better. I arranged with George to hire someone to clear the debris out of my house, send the paintings to an Art Restorer on the off chance that they can be salvaged, have the house professionally cleaned and prepared for sale and put it on the market as soon as possible. Sandra and I went to my office, we caused quite a stir because, not two weeks ago they had become accustomed to seeing Mignone striding through the building to my office as if she owned the place. It was assumed that we would soon be married, but now I was here with a new woman. I spoke to Marie, my Secretary. "Sorry I had to leave in a hurry, but that man had threatened me and I wasn't going to hang around and let him. I hope that he wasn't too much of a bother." "Not at all Greg, reception called the police and as soon as her heard the sirens he left. I understand that he called by your house." "Yes he did, and he will be paying for that visit for quite some time, I hope. By the way, this is Sandra Dalley, you will be seeing more of her around here." "I understand Sir, I will pass the word to Reception to let her straight through without having to sign the Visitors book." "Thank you for that, we are going to be in the office working for a while, hold all calls, I'll deal with them later, except for George." "Very good Sir." She smiled a brief smile and went back to her work. I logged on to the Long Range Forecaster's Webpage and called up their predictions for the region around Dalley for the past twenty years and compared it with the Met Bureau records for the same period. His accuracy was somewhere north of 80% and that gave me something to work on. His forecast for the next years sowing season looked bright, soaking rains for the month prior to sowing, and good follow-up rains over the month following. It looked promising if we could organise to get the crop in on time. We would need to tie up the seeding contractors for the optimum time. The drive home would have taken four hours and, rather than arrive late in the evening , it was decided that we would stay in town for the night and head back in the morning. The last place that we wanted to stay was my place so we checked into a hotel. It was a long way from the motel in Dalley. Sandra rang her parents to tell them that we were staying in town. "Yes Mother, everything is fine, better than fine, we'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Love you." After a pleasant meal in a restaurant that I'd never been to before we found ourselves back in our room. She came into my arms and kissed me. "It is going to be okay, isn't it?" "Better than okay, I think this is going to work, I can feel it." "And I can feel this." The 'this' she was referring to was my cock, she had my flies open and her hand inside. "I've never done this before." She said as she pulled him out of my trousers and, dropping to her knees, sucked him into her mouth. For someone who'd never given a blow job she was a natural, it was like everything about our lovemaking, so natural and so good. Not only did she suck my cock, but when I came she swallowed, every last drop of come went down her throat. "While I don't intend doing that often, it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe. Some of my girlfriends say that it tastes good while others say that they have to spit it out and gargle with mouthwash to get rid of the taste, I didn't mind, probably because I was doing it for the man that I love, and I'll do anything you want me to do." Life on the Run "If you feel like it by all means do it but I will not force you to do anything that you don't want to do. I love you and will do anything that you want me to do, even if you ask me to fuck you in the arse, I don't want to do it, but if you want me to. I will." "I don't much like the sound of that." "It's probably like me having a prostate examination only worse, my cock is bigger than my Doctor's finger." "Do you think so?" She saw my expression and laughed. "You don't like criticism do you?" "Not when you compare my cock to a finger, no." The love we made that night was better than we had before because we were still fine tuning our performance. Because everything that we did came from the heart it just kept getting better, and nowhere in our loving did it become mechanical or lose its spontaneity. I loved the way that she moved when I explored her body, the little quiver when I softly ran my fingers over her hills and plains and gullies, especially the gullies while she had found those parts of my body that got me aroused, she enjoyed waking me in the mornings by lightly running her fingers around the base of my scrotum and the along the underside of my cock. The thing that I liked most about our lovemaking was the unhurried manner in which we went about it. We both luxuriated in the slow build up to penetration that continued until we could restrain ourselves no longer and the climactic finish after which we lay in each other's arms. The drive out to Dalley Homestead was a leisurely affair, we were now living in country time, the bustle of the city was receding behind us and I was not missing it one bit. The same welcoming committee met us as we drove up to the homestead, Sandra hugged both her parents and I gave Merle a hug and shook Bob's hand. Over tea and scones with cream and apricot jam, I outlined what I had discovered. "I have looked at the long range forecasts and it looks good for at least the next two years. If you agree, I'll organise for the seeding contractors to get here in time for the operations. We need to get the seed in as soon as the early rains stop. We'll have to work out which paddocks we will sow under cereal crops and which will plant with canola and legumes, probably lupins. Then we should think about other areas where we can diversify, like the saltbush. I have something for you." I took the cheque from my wallet and passed it over to Bob. "My parents will approve of me using my inheritance in this way. I'll shake on it if you're agreeable, we can work out the legal side of it later, but for now your hand will be enough." Bob stood up and walked around to me with his hand out. "Thank you for this Greg." He hugged me. "Merle and I want to take a holiday before we need to get to work, do you mind doing all the organising while we're away?" He was testing me to see if I was up to working with country people. "No, that'll be fine, where are you thinking of going?" "We've always wanted to go on one of them cruises, but have never been able to afford it, so we're going to do it now." They left on their cruise a month later, in the meantime I'd sold up my share of my business to my partner. "My priorities have changed and I don't have the motivation for this job any more. I know that you've wanted to buy me out for some time, so now's your chance." We settled on a price that we could both live with that, combined with what I'd got for my house, gave us enough of a cash buffer to see us through a couple of lean years when they came. Sandra and I made a good team, able to concentrate on the job at hand until it was finished before moving on to the next task. By the time a relaxed Bob and Merle came back from their cruise we had it pretty much under control. We met them when they arrived back and led them to the kitchen where we had prepared tea and scones, scones that I made with my own two hands with no help from Sandra. It was my Grandma's recipe, so I can't take full credit for it, but they did gain Merle's seal of approval. I had settled in pretty well to this lifestyle and was enjoying it immensely. A month later the rains came as forecast and the paddocks got a good soaking, the sub-soil water level was as close to perfect as possible when the contractors arrived with their seed drills to start work. Bob, Sandra and I all worked our butts off helping to load the trucks from the silos. These were driven out to the paddocks to refill the hoppers in the seeders. It was constant work, the seeders worked under lights so they could work non-stop. They were refuelled on the run and their hoppers re-filled while they were still moving. The only time they actually stopped was to change drivers at the end of their four hour shift. Each driver worked four hours on and four hours off, putting in a twelve hour day, so they really earned their money. Three weeks after seeding finished we got follow up rains that boosted growth. Looking out over the paddocks we could see that we would reap a bumper crop. I began negotiations with harvest contractors with an estimated starting time, and the bulk handlers to reserve silo capacity so that our crop, at least most of it, would be trucked directly to the rail-head, meaning a minimising of 'on farm storage' of our crop and a more immediate return. Sandra and I were sitting in the office going over the books when Bob and Merle came in. "Sandra, Greg, we are impressed with what you're doing and how you're doing it. I could never have done this anywhere near as efficiently as you have. As for the two of you we are really happy to see you two happy together. There is one thing that we would like to see, while we are not church people, we would like to see you two married. Let's face it, I've never seen any couple who are more in love than you two, so please, for us, would you at least think about tying the knot?" In reply Sandra reached into the top drawer of the desk and took out a sheet of paper. It was our application for a Marriage Licence, all filled out ready to go. "We decided to do this the day I confirmed that I'm pregnant." Sandra is the first woman that I've ever wanted to marry. With my previous relationships there always came a time when I'd begin wonder when I should cut and run. I have stopped wanting to run, for me there will be no more life on the run.