Bidadisndat
Contributing Member
CHANGES of PACE
Book 1
Quite some distance north of the city Dave (Dai) Morgan stopped at a large town to top-up his Toyota Landcruiser’s long-range fuel tank, despite that it was still two thirds full and could very easily have taken him to the next state’s Capitol city. However as he also wanted something to eat he parked the truck then began looking for a take-away shop where he could get a hamburger, or more likely a couple of sandwiches as they were his favourite fast-food.Book 1
As he walked along the town’s busy main-street footpath he couldn’t help but notice a very attractive girl who came quickly towards and then past him, and after turning to watch her shapely figure as she moved down the street saw her enter a bakery a little further along from where he was standing. That seemed to make up his mind for him and a minute later he found himself also inside the shop where to his surprise he found that the same girl was now behind the counter, serving a little old lady. As she was doing so he was able to study her more closely, which he somehow managed to do without actually staring, and was quite impressed with what he saw.
She looked to be in her mid twenties, stood about five foot six, had a light tan, auburn hair that tumbled down around her shoulders, and slightly almond-shaped eyes hinting at a touch of Asian. However when she spoke it was with a New Zealand accent so it may have been a touch of Polynesian, but either way, he thought, she sure was beautiful. With the little old lady ahead of him served Dave held the door open for her as she exited with a nod and a smile at him and then turned his attention back towards the counter.
The girl behind it also gave him a smile that reached from slightly parted lips, revealing teeth that made him feel that his own white ivories were yellow in comparison, to a pair of lovely warm brown eyes, and asked how could she help him. There were no sandwiches on offer so he ordered a couple of steak and kidney pies and two vanilla slices, then asked her if there was a park nearby where he could sit and have his lunch. She suggested that the big park down by the river was the best place, and in fact as she was due to finish for the day she herself was going to walk down there to have her own lunch and throw some bread to the ducks and geese. He knew he was being a bit bold when he then asked her if it was possible that, when she got off work, she could direct him, and if she agreed he would in the meantime go and fuel up his truck, then come back and give her a lift.
She was about to tell him that the park was only four streets over and two down, and that he could easily find it by himself, however after examining him closely for a bit seemed to make up her mind that he wasn’t dangerous and told him to come back in thirty minutes, by which time she would be finished. He paid for the food he’d ordered, left the shop and having actually fuelled the truck beforehand spent some time browsing through magazines at a nearby newsagency.
When he returned she took his pies from the oven, plus a pastie and a large sausage roll for herself, added his two vanilla slices and a couple of custard tarts, some bread for the ducks, said goodbye to the shop’s owner then directed him as they drove to the park. She seemed quite impressed with his truck and even more so when after parking it and then getting out a small gas burner, billy and two Bakelite mugs to make them both a hot cup of tea he explained how he had set it up for camping.
She had introduced herself simply as Bronwyn, or Bron for short, and it turned out that she was a New Zealander who hailed from the Whakatane area in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty. She’d travelled to Australia to work at fruit picking and when the season finished down south was slowly working her way up the coast headed for Queensland when her car broke down.
Wanting to earn a bit of money rather than dig into her savings to have the car repaired she found work in the bakery where they’d just met, and also worked a few shifts behind the bar of an hotel in a village about forty minutes drive further north. Neither was a full time job and she didn’t earn all that much, but she enjoyed both jobs and having made quite a few friends in the town she wasn’t concerned about having to stay a while longer than planned.
For his part Dave told her how he had spent twelve years at sea in the merchant marine and had come ashore to try life on terra firma for a while. He’d gained employment at a large hardware store and quickly worked his way up to become a department manager, however after developing itchy feet being in the one place for so long had decided to take all the leave he was entitled to. Now he was slowly meandering towards his parent’s property on the northern side of Tenterfield, close to the border with Queensland. At this point he wasn’t too sure that he wanted to return to his job as he found that working indoors all the time made him feel claustrophobic, but as yet hadn’t found a suitable alternative, unless of course he went back to sea.
When Dave had finished his pies she asked him if he’d care to swap one of his vanilla slices for one of the two custard tarts she had brought, and he was happy to do so as he liked both. Together they broke up and threw pieces of the half loaf of bread that she had brought to feed the ducks and geese, many of which had come out of the water to stand around the park table at which they were seated.
She loved watching the antics of the ducks when they played in the water and the stately gait of the geese as they strutted around the grounds of the park, and said that if she ever had a property it would have to have a large dam and enough pasture to keep a large flock of each. And chickens too, because her family over in New Zealand kept them, and she’d loved collecting the eggs each morning. Her grandma also kept ducks because she and many of her friends preferred their eggs to those of chickens, and claimed that they had no equal when it came to using them for cakes, pastries and pastas.
“Gran’s right about that, too: I won a couple of prizes for cakes that I made using them, though I have to admit that she sat in the kitchen and guided me through the first few cakes that I baked. Both Mum and Gran are really good cooks and I guess I inherited their love of cooking.”
Dave was somehow pleased to hear her say that she would hate living in a city: She was a country at heart girl and had no desire to adopt the fashions and trappings that seemed to be so important to most of the city girls that she knew. In fact, she added, most of the skirts, blouses and dresses she wore, including the dress she was wearing now, she sewed herself, rather than buy what she considered to be mainly overpriced and quite often shoddily made goods.
Looking at the dress Dave said that as well made as it was, it was her that made it look really nice, but spoiled the compliment somewhat when he asked if the style was the latest fashion in New Zealand as it looked to be from the early sixties. He was rewarded for that not-so-amusing comment by her tossing the last of the loaf of bread at him and telling him with a small pout “I can walk home from here, thank you very much.”
“Hey! I’m sorry. I was only kidding. Well, mostly, but I do think the dress suits you, and it really is beautiful. Honestly it is.”
He managed to stop himself saying that he thought it was her that was beautiful rather than the dress, but as he sounded really sincere she admitted that the style was actually from the late fifties, and that she had found the pattern amongst the many that her mother had. Her mum had taught her how to use patterns, hand stitch and use a sewing machine long before she went to high school, and though she enjoyed dressmaking, cooking was where she excelled.
Emboldened by the fact that she had agreed to accompany him to the park, and having seen it advertised on a sidewalk sandwich board he said he was thinking of going to the B & S country dance and barbeque at the big woolshed outside town that night, and asked her if she would be interested in going with him. That is, he said, if she didn’t already have someone to go with.
She’d only been vaguely aware that there actually was a dance being held that night but now that she’d been asked decided to go with him. And as he was obviously going to be staying overnight she told him that if he was going to stick around for a while there was also a big market at the local showground on the following day if he was interested. He was, although he had to admit to himself that that was probably due more to her wanting to go, and that he was quite attracted to her. They spent the rest of the afternoon together, looking around town, after which he took her to her lodgings to change for the dance.
The jeans he was wearing were OK but he took the opportunity while she was changing to put on a clean shirt that was more suited to the dance than the one he was wearing. He also put on the Western style boots and belt plus the Stetson that he’d bought when in he was in the U.S.
When Bron came out she was dressed in a denim skirt with matching top over a checked shirt and was also wearing a pair of high soft leather boots, but after seeing Dave’s outfit she quickly dashed back inside and reappeared wearing an Akubra cowboy hat. Together, she said, they looked the part, and that all they needed to do now was arrive at the dance in a horse drawn surry with a fringe on the top, just like the one in that old movie Oklahoma!
The dance was a roaring success, as B & S events usually are, and they had a really good time, especially after Dave taught her the basic steps of the Texas Two-Step which he had learned at The Palomino, one of San Diego’s popular night spots that he frequented when he lived there for several months in 1980. Bron was a quick learner and picked up not only the basic steps but a few of the more advanced ones as well.
They soon found themselves demonstrating the steps to several couples who had been watching and wanted to join in, and by the end of the night seemed to have gained a bit of a following. They were asked if they ever went to The Brumby, which was a local steakhouse that had a dance floor and featured a Country and Western band, and Dave had to admit that he was new in town and hadn’t heard of it. By the end of the night they both felt totally exhausted, and after taking Bron home again Dave had no trouble falling asleep, once again on the back of the truck, parked at a truck stop a little out of town.
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