Stories of Us.

Reclaiming the homestead ch1

"Not scared of a couple of possums are you?" I tease her with a chuckle. "I'd be more worried about whether the roof leaks and if the windows have been broken."

"It wouldn't take long to replace a roof or windows if everyone pitched in," Rosy says as she reaches for the remote control to turn the radio down. Immediately I can hear the sharp, clear calls of birds outside and glance at Rosy. She is leaning forward to look out the front windscreen and up into the trees with delight.

"Bell birds, quite a few of them!" Rosy says happily. "And the bushes are loaded with Blue Fairy Wrens and Finches. I've seen a Kingfisher,"

"I don't think I have ever seen a werecat so tolerant of small noisy birds as you are," I say with a laugh.

"One thing I learnt living by myself," Rosy says and slides me a sideway glance. "Birds are a good early warning system. They always let me know if there was any unusual activity around."

I nod several times as I store this information away. Rosy seldom imparted much of what she had learnt enabling her to live a solitary life until she had been rescued from some strays who had her caged up. But lately, since she had asked me to marry her a month earlier she has been slowly opening up about a lot of ways she had survived.

"And never hunt the animals that live in close proximity to where you sleep. Leave the native animals exist around a den or a shack and they become used to you using it and are a good warning system as well. Especially if another cat comes around," Rosy says as if she is discussing the weather.

"Here's our turn," I say as I slow the car and come to a halt after turning into a driveway.

"Someone has used the road now and then," Rosy says and I glance her way to see her turning her head from side to side as she quickly sweeps the open paddocks either side of the road.

"Probably the farmer who has cattle agisted on the land," I say as I take in the small herd of red beasts feeding at the fence line.

"There's some timber regrowth scattered across these that needs removing," Rosy says waving towards the paddocks.

"Let's move on shall we?" I ask even as I start the car forward. We travel around the side of a small hill and as we come around a clump of lantana we get the first sight of the house and the surrounding buildings.

The homestead is a large sprawling house with a veranda that seems to encircle it. There is a large wooden shed near the house that must have been the garage, and several large multi bay sheds with remnants of machinery in them. What appears to be a crudely build shed with stalls or pens in it stands on the far side of the house and several small sheds are scattered around the nearside.

"That looks like an old hall or old school that has been moved here and converted to living quarters," I say motioning towards the long building that stands off by itself some distance from the other buildings.

"Shearers quarters," Rosy says. "Kitchen in one end, bedrooms the other with access to the bathroom and laundry outside or on a slightly lower level."

"You've been here before?" I ask doubtfully. "Or are you guessing?"

"No, I've seen a lot of similar buildings whenever I went roaming out around Armidale," Rosy says with a shrug. "Out near the University farms,"

"Oh, okay," I murmur quietly as I am reminded of how little I truly know of where she used to live and roam as a solitary cat.

"Next year when Wynn is a bit older do you want to return to your studies?" I ask trying to sound encouraging. I hate the thought of her having to be away from me even just over night.