Well Who’d Have Thought

I bounced out of bed, the sun was shining, and I have no school work today. I’m going to do the one thing I love the most and that is, explore the countryside.

Let me introduce myself and tell you a story that you won’t believe, unless you were able to witness it with your very own eyes.

Hello my name is Cassandra, but I refuse to answer to anything but Cassie. I’m an 8 year old girl. I’m not sure why I mentioned that because seriously, who would call a boy Cassandra? Silly me!

So now you know who I am, let me share some of my life with you. I live in the Outback of the Northern Territory, in a country called Australia. This area is like the true blue wild west that you see in movies. It’s a harsh and unforgiving land.

The nearest town is a twelve hour drive from us and it’s hard travelling on all the corrugated gravel roads. Goes without saying that we don’t travel into town very often.

Mum and Dad own the land we live on, a 5 acre piece of red dirt and we farm pigs for human consumption. It’s how Dad earns enough money for us to survive out here. There are just the three of us as I have no siblings. Gets terribly lonely sometimes, with no one in my age group to play with. Luckily though I do love my own company, so it’s not too often I pine for a friend.

You’re probably thinking that if I want a friend so badly, then why don’t I make friends with our pigs? Well let me tell you how much of a bad idea that is. Could you imagine your friends leaving you, on a regular basis, to go and be slaughtered? You’d be constantly devastated. Not to mention pigs are dirty disgusting creatures. I refuse to even eat pork or bacon now I’ve seen how they live and how gross they are. No thank you, I’d rather be friendless.

So what do I have to do each day? Well, just like you, a large portion of my life is school work. Yes that’s right. The only difference between you and I is that you attend a regular school, whereby I attend the School of the Air. Which means my teachers contact me over a CB radio and they talk to me in the same manner as your teachers talk to you, except I can’t see my teachers.

So there you have it! If I’m not completing my school work, doing my chores or sleeping, then I’m off exploring the countryside.

Our next door neighbours’ are only two kilometres from our house. They own their land too, but they have a far larger parcel of land than we do. Whereas our land is 5 acres, our neighbours is 25,000 acres and they run cattle on their land.

I’m not allowed over the neighbours’ place because Dad doesn’t like them, due to the cruel way they treat their animals. Our family refuses to have anything to do with them.

We don’t need any extra staff to farm our pigs. The three of us can handle all the tasks that need doing. Our neighbours, on the other hand, employ half a dozen stock men to assist them. Sometimes I see them from a distance, perched up high on their horses and to be honest, I’m a little envious. I love horses and it’s my dream to ride one someday. We don’t have any horses as they are not needed to farm filthy pigs.

So back to climbing out of bed and this beautiful day. When I arrive downstairs for breakfast, I notice Dad is on the CB radio. There must be some local news to relay as this is the only way we can get our news. No such thing as telephone lines in the outback and mobile phone towers, they are only something you’ll one day read about, in the week old newspaper, we get delivered with our groceries. All delivered once a fortnight by private plane.

I sniff the air as I wander into the kitchen. I know that smell well as it’s my favourite breakfast, oatmeal with butter, sugar and fresh creamy milk. Mum’s just serving me up a bowl as I take my seat.

“Good morning Mum, thank you for my favourite breakfast. I do hope nothing serious has happened and that’s why Dad’s on the radio”, I chattered away. Dad finished up and come through to sit at the head of the table. Mum served him up a bowl of oatmeal.

Dad started in on the news he’d just received and you could see, from his ashen face that it wasn’t good news. “One of the neighbours’ young bulls’ had escaped the pen and gone on a raging rampage through the sheds and area surrounding the house”, explained Dad. He went on to advise, “unfortunately while trying to catch the raging bull, young Ned, a stock hand, has been run through by the bulls horns and has died”.

Oh no, Ned was only in his mid 20’s. Too young to die. I see a lot of death on the farm so even though I’m only 8 years old, I’m no stranger to death.

I waited until Mum and Dad had stopped talking to ask, “Dad do you know which bull killed Ned”? But Dad didn’t have that information.

I heard Mum and Dad discussing whether they should do the neighbourly thing and go and offer assistance but they decided not too. Not because my parents aren’t good people but because there’s nothing they could really help with. The bull had been caught and put back in its’ paddock.

As is normal in the harsh outback, life doesn’t come to a halt just because someone died. No the harsh reality is just that, reality, and death is just another part of life. For one night only, all the stock hands congregated around a huge bonfire and drunk themselves stupid. But once the sun peaked its’ head over the horizon the next morning, it was all hands on decks and life moves on.

Day in and day out I would climb out of bed, head down to breakfast, then spend the day doing school work and discussing the days’ topic with my teacher, over the CB radio. Each day was a little repetitive and truthfully, awfully boring. I lived for my exploring when I could get away from my responsibilities. Too many responsibilities for a young 8 years old if you ask me.

It was a little over a week since we’d heard about Ned’s death, when Dad come flying out of the house, yelling my name. I came running and as he saw me he called, “Cassie get in the car quickly, there’s another raging bull at the neighbours and they need me to help catch it. Mum’s coming to help as another stock hand has been badly injured. He was trampled by the raging bull. You’ll need to come as you can’t stay here alone”.

It was a bumpy ride on the corrugated roads as Dad was going faster than he normally would. Thankful it’s only a ten minute drive at this speed.

We arrived to sheer bedlam. The bull was loose and trying to attack anyone who come near it. It was only a young bull but still extremely dangerous.

Dad told me to go inside but I disobeyed and hid on the neighbours front verandah so I could see what was happening. I was trying to see which bull was causing all the fuss.

The stock hands were chasing it on foot, as they hadn’t had time to bring the horses out of the stable. Every now and again I’d catch just the merest of glimpses of the bull but it wasn’t enough for me to be able to identify which bull it was.

Suddenly, the bull mowed down one of the stock hands. Ran right over the top of him. He wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way. I stood up when I saw the bull running towards the house and the verandah I was standing on.

My father saw me and panicked,. “Cassie move. Get inside immediately“, he screamed.

I ignored my father and in fact did the opposite to his instructions, I moved forward until I had walked down the steps and stood in front of the house. Now I could hear both Mum and Dad screaming. Dad is racing towards me as I’m in the direct line of the raging bull. You can see the sheer terror on my father’s face as he realises that he cannot get to me before the bull does. Mum is still screaming and crying as she too comes to the same conclusion.

Meanwhile, I watch the bull tearing towards me and I wait a little longer. Then I slowly raise one arm and put it out in front of me while calling softly, “Sammy, Sammy it’s all okay, I’m here now”. The bull hears me and starts to slow down. It’s still a little unsure but slows to a walk. He’s looking around to ensure no one’s coming up behind him.

I call again, “Sammy here boy. Come on. I’ve got a treat for you”. Sammy, the bull has settled down and is walking towards me. I look around and everyone is in shock and frozen in place, watching with unbelievable eyes. Dad has stopped in shock also and is staring at me bewildered. Even Mum’s screaming has stopped. Her mouth open like she’s stopped mid sob.

One last time I call, “Sammy it’s okay boy. Come here”, as I pull an apple from my pocket. Sammy trots over and gives me an affectionate head bump. I wrap my arms around his neck. He has lowered his head so I can reach. I hug him tight and then pat him before placing a kiss on his forehead. Another head bump from Sammy, his way of asking for his treat. I bring my hand up and hold it out flat, palm up, with the apple sitting on top of my palm.

Sammy gently nuzzles my hand and palm, while taking the apple out of my hand. Another gentle head bump and once again I throw my little arms around his neck, while whispering calming, loving words in his ear.

There’s no hiding my secret from everyone now. I’m going to have to own up, that I had been sneaking over here, to spend time with my friend, Sammy, on a very regular basis. Like all those times I would tell Mum or Dad that I was going exploring. Plus Mum’s going to know now what has been happening to all the apples that have been mysteriously going missing. She never thought it could be me as she knows I detest apples.

Oh boy I guess I’m going to be in mega trouble with Mum and Dad now. I just hope they realise the danger of stopping me from spending time with Sammy, as a punishment. He’ll only continue to escape and come looking for me if they do!

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