Faith

• Anna Lollo, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

Bleary eyes stared straight ahead, eyelids rising and falling in slow, heavy blinks. This was the last hay run of the month; the last of far too many. One last face-contorting yawn, a mouthful of ‘Red Bull’ and finally, the front gate was in view. A tired smile pulled at his mouth. He was home.

“Jack, love, I’ve got a roast on. Over.”
His wife’s voice played through the two-way.
“Thanks, Faith. Over and out.”
Climbing out of the cab, Jack’s sigh of relief was cut off by a kiss.
“Hi, honey.”

As the sun set over their land, husband and wife sat together on the dusty water tank out back.
The day he proposed to her, they had been sitting right here. Him, all sweaty palms and endless stuttering, and her, smiling through tears of joy. A rushed kiss had sent both Akubras sailing into the dirt.
Now here they were thirty years later, three kids been and gone, and still just as much in love.
She fumbled with her hat;
“Jack, … I-I’ve got to tell you something.”
Jack looked into her eyes and could tell it wasn’t good.
“The lab tests came back, and the doctor says its Leukemia.”
He shut his eyes tight.
“Do the kids know?”
His voice came out as more of a whisper.
“Yes, I’ll have to move to the city with Jillian. I’ve got no hope of recovery out here.”
She was leaving him, just like the kids did. He never thought she would go. They were meant to grow old here together, staring out at the red dirt, cuppas in hand.

Breakfast was cold coffee, choked down past the lump of heartache in his throat.
The smell of Faith’s famous pancake breakfast was gone. After three months only a faint scent of lily perfume remained. She was fading from his life.
Out in the paddock, bulldust had replaced grass. One step in the yards and it would cover you head to toe. The faith he had in the arrival of the summer monsoon left with Faith. Without her here beside him, was there any reason to continue? This question swirled in his mind as he shot the starving heifers. He looked into their eyes as they took their last shaky breaths, and felt nothing. He had done this many times before, and each time felt a pang of loss, of empathy and sorrow. Now, his Faith had gone, and he couldn’t feel anything but heartbreak. Jack reached for his belt, a shaky finger resting on the trigger of his shotgun. He sat down, looking out across his land. Death surrounded him. The limp bodies of dead cattle, ribs protruding, eyes dull. The rest of the starving herd, with eyes as dead as their lifeless companions. Meagre patches of grass remained - dead and barely hanging on. A shot rang out, scattering the cattle. His body slumped, the parched soil greedily swallowing the steady stream of blood.