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The kitchen, as was usual since Noreen had gone, was e and the letters on the scrubbed wooden table and went to the stove, where a steas siuiltily, she reached into the cupboard and added a pinch of salt, some cumin and cornflour, stirred, then replaced the lid
She went to the little liver-spotted mirror by the medicine cupboard and tried to sun to frizz in the moisture-filled air She could barely see all of her face at once; the Donleavy family could never be accused of vanity, that was for sure
She rubbed again at her lips, then turned back to the kitchen, her solitude allowing her to see it with a dispassionate eye She surveyed the linoleuricultural dirt that wouldn’t lift, no matter how many times it was mopped and swept Her sister had planned to replace it, had even shown Letty the design she fancied, in a book sent all the way from Perth She took in the faded paintwork, the calendar that ricultural show, the arrival of vets, buyers or grain saless’ baskets with their filthy old blankets lined up round the range, and the packet of Bluo for the rains on to the bleached work surface The only sign of any feazine, its straplines advertising a new story by Daphne du Maurier, and an article entitled ‘Would You Marry A Foreigner?’ The pages, she noted, had been heavily thulanced at the clock: the men would be in shortly for lunch She walked to the coathooks by the back door and pulled off an old stock that, she kneould linger on her clothes
The rain was now so heavy that in places around the yard it ran in rivers; the drains gurgled a protest, and the chickens huddled in ruffled groups under the shrubs Letty cursed herself for not having brought her gumboots but ran from the back door of the house to the yard and round to the back of the barn There, as she had half expected, she made out what looked like a brown oil-proofed lu the paddock, no face visible under the wide-brimmed hat that fell down to the collar, alaret!’ Letty stood under the eaves of the barn and shouted to be heard over the rain, waving half-heartedly
The horse was plainly fed up: its tail cla sideways round the fence, occasionally cowkicking in frustration while its rider patiently turned it to begin each painstaking ie!’
At one point it bucked Letty’s heart lurched and her hand flew to her mouth But the rider was neither unseated nor concerned, andthat ht not have been an adet over here!’
The bri The horse was steered round and walked towards the gate, its head low ‘Been there long, Letty?’ she called
‘Are you insane, girl? What on earth do you think you’re doing?’ She could see her niece’s broad grin under the bri to ride her and the boys are useless with her, so there’s only irl, isn’t she?’
Letty shook her head, exasperated, and oodness’ sake, child Do you want a hand getting off?’
‘Hah! No, I’m fine Is it lunchtime yet? I put some stew on earlier, but I don’t knohat ti the calves down to Yarrawa Creek, and they can be all day down there’
‘They’ll not be all day in this weather,’ Letty responded, as Margaret claantly from the horse and landed heavily on her feet ‘Unless they’re as insane as you are’
‘Ah, don’t fuss She looks worse than she is’
‘You’re soaked Look at you! I can’t believe you’d even consider riding out in this weather Good gracious, Maggie, I don’t knohat you think you’re doingWhat your dear mother would say, God only knows’
There was a brief pause
‘I know’ Margaret wrinkled her nose as she reached up to undo the girth
Letty wondered if she had said too y that had sprung to her lips ‘I didn’t irl, as she swung the saddle easily under her ar circles to balance her up She’d have put her in a pair of side reins and be done with it’
Thein a thunderous cluster of wet overshoes and dripping hats, shedding their coats at the door Margaret had set the table and was dishing up steaot mud all the way up the back of your heels,’ said Letty, and the young ly kicked off his boots on theto clean them
‘Got any bread with that?’
‘Give us a chance, boys I’’s asleep in Dad’s old hat,’ said Daniel, grinning ‘Dad says if he gets fleas off it he’ll shoot her’
‘I said no such thing, eejit child How are you, Letty? Did you get up to town yesterday?’ Murray Donleavy, a towering, angular ins, sat down at the head of the table and, without coh a hunk of bread that his sister-in-law had sliced for hi it out after you’ve eaten’ Otherwise, the way these ravy and fingered with greasearet had had her lunch already, and was sitting on the easy chair by the larder, her socked feet on a footstool Letty watched the men settle, with private satisfaction, as they lowered their heads to eat Not many families, these days, could boast fivebeen in the services As Murray est, to pass more bread, Letty could still detect a hint of the Irish accent hich he had arrived in the country Her sister had occasionally ood-humouredly ‘That one!’ she’d say, her accent curled round a poor approxiht in hi’
No, this table lacked sohts, as she did countless tihtly, ‘Alf Pettit’s wife has bought one of those new Defender refrigerators It’s got four drawers and an icemaker, and doesn’t make a sound’
‘Unlike Alf Pettit’s wife,’ said Murray He had pulled over the latest copy of the Bulletin, and was deep in ‘The Man on the Land’, its far dirtier because all the wo’
‘They’ve obviously never seen the state of Maggie’s room’
‘You make this?’ Murray lifted his head from his newspaper and jerked a thuie did,’ said Letty
‘Nice Better than the last one’
‘I don’t knohy,’ said Margaret, her hand held out in front of her the better to exa any different’