Wisps of Cloud (5 page)

"Yes," Ryan replied when Karla asked about his family. "I am the fifth generation owner of the farm." He grinned. "The family did change though. Dad inherited the farm from his mother whose family owned it. I guess it was lucky for Grandma was the only child of Great Grandpa. In those days the girls usually inherited nothing if there was a brother to carry on the family name."

"How awful," Karla whispered.

"Yes, Dad was more liberal. That was why he divided the property up between Trish, Mum and myself, A generation earlier, I would have inherited everything and Mum given the right to run the farm until she remarried or died."

"He could have left it all to your mother," Karla replied.

Ryan grinned. "I said more liberal. Dad was still pretty conservative as are many farmers who live in this area today. Rural people are still often a generation behind city dwellers like yourself."

"And you," Karla whispered.

"Yeah. That's the reason I didn't take over managing the farm way back when Dad got ill and couldn't manage it own his own. He was a bit of a bossy old sod and still treated me like a teenager when I was in my twenties. I worked in Wellington for several years before I decided to go onto varsity."

"So why are you at Tui Park now?"

"Money," Ryan replied. "Oh I could be rich by selling my part of the farm but I refused to come under Mum's control and didn't have the heart to sell to anybody else. Anyway, I've got almost all my electronics degree but decided to take two years off, hence the job at Tui Park. I only have two papers to go."

"That's great. I struggled with mine but got there in the end"

"I heard you got a BA as well as your BEd."

Karla shrugged. "Got my B
A first and had credits from it help me get my teacher's degree.." She changed the topic away from herself. "How much further?"

"About twenty kilometres. We turn off the road to Riversdale Beach soon."

The FM stations broadcasting from Masterton faded behind the hills and Karla turned off the radio. She was quite content to relax and gaze around. Traffic was light with the season being too early for the summer crowds that would visit holiday homes in Riversdale or Castlepoint further north. Every driver who drove past waved and Ryan returned a reciprocal reply.

"They're locals," he said. "In summer it's different. That's when the teenagers invade."

They turned off the road and up a narrow winding road to a level plateau where the road headed straight towards distant hills with cultivated and grass paddocks on each side. When they drove past a high hedge Karla gave a tiny gasp. There in almost parklike surroundings, sat a tiny school. The single classroom building would be a hundred years old if it was a day but was well maintained with an older style tennis court covered in colourful playground markings and two gigantic oak trees almost hugging the building on each side. The sign above the high front windows read
Top Plateau School.

"Stop!" Karla said. "Can I have a peep?"

"Sure," Ryan replied. "My old school. Went here right through to Year Eight."

"Did you?" Karla gasped. "You never told me."

Ryan shrugged. "Guess the topic never came up. There were about twenty kids most of the time I went here. Hear its much lower now and the school will probably be closed."

By now they were both outside their parked car and Karla walked in through the gate built in a wooden fence. She stepped across the playground and around the building. Everything was so neat and tidy, except when she looked in the window. Inside there were a dozen or so desks and several other bits of furniture. Some children's chairs were on the desks while others were shoved under or lying on the carpeted floor The blackboard, an old fashioned one that was written on using chalk, was covered in adult and children's printing including several scribbles while a table beside the teacher's desk was piled high with reading and exercise books and bits of math equipment that hadn't been put away. The only tidy part was the far corner where two computer monitors sat on a long table. The classroom walls were quite attractive with children's projects and art displayed. These ranged from work done by junior children to a delightful mural of native forest and birds, probably done by senior pupils.

Karla screwed her nose up and walked around to another window and looked in at a small porch. Children's coats, clothes and gumboots were strewn everywhere and three lunch boxes littered the floor.

"Don't think he's done the cleaning yet," Ryan said from behind her.

Karla nodded. "A dear little school from the outside but a bit of a mess in there." She nodded at the window.

"Old Ted Wilton's been here about fifteen years. Heard he's a bit casual. Used to live in a schoolhouse next door but now travels up from Riversdale village where he has a home. They sold the schoolhouse and it was taken away. The government let the Board of Trustees have half the money from the sale that they used for the new computers and ground improvements. Didn't have them in my day."

They walked back to the car and Ryan drove off. "Needs your tender care, I'd say."

Karla grinned. "Well, it would be more peaceful than at Tui Park," she admitted.

*

They drove on past a small hall painted a faded blue and a few hundred metres later Ryan turned into a long driveway with paddocks filled with ewes and lambs on each side.  At the end behind a grove of slightly overgrown shrubs and several larger trees stood a 1930s vintage house and several outbuildings. It looked spruce and fresh with a new grey roof and lighter grey wooden walls. The surrounding section consisted of mown lawns but the gardens were unkempt with a mere hint at their formal glory.

Ryan pulled in beside a corrugated iron car shed and grinned at her. "Good, the roof is on and the painters have finished," he muttered. "I decided the place needed a patch up but haven't done anything inside yet. Don't expect anything flash."

He led her across to a side veranda, unlocked a door and pushed it open. Karla sniffed the slightly musty smell of a closed up dwelling but was pleasantly surprised when she stepped into a spacious kitchen and living area. The ceiling showed where a wall partition had been removed and the whole room; though shady and quite cold
, gave her the impression of stylishness with comfortable furniture and an older style television in the corner

"When Dad became ill we moved here from the big house so the manager could use it. Clive and Linda had four children but they're all grown up and left.  After Dad died, Mum stayed on a while before shifting to Wellington but left the furniture and other family items behind. Everything is still here so it's really a bit of a museum." He glanced around. "I'll go and turn the electricity on. There should be hot water by this evening."

He showed her through the house. There was a second living room, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The whole area was tidy with made up double beds in two of the bedrooms while the third one looked as if it was used as an office with a computer, desk and several bookcases filled with both books and documents along one wall. Again, it looked quite cared for but a little dated in appearance.

"Linda's been and vacuumed it out," Ryan said. "She's pretty good that way. I'll open the front door and let a breeze through. These older houses were always built the wrong way around with the living area and kitchen at the back where they get no sun until late in the day and the bedrooms getting it all in the morning. The trees around need topping too for they cut out the sun especially in winter when you need it."

"It's wonderful, Ryan," Karla gasped. "Even the pictures reflect you." She gazed up an aerial photograph and recognised the house she was in. "The farm?" she asked.

"That's about it," Ryan said and pointed to a second driveway and larger house further along the road. Beside it was a circular driveway, a woolshed, yards and several other farm buildings. "That's the main house. It is actually older than this being built about 1900 but it has been modernised several times and is recognised as one of the original homesteads in the area. Linda and Clive keep the grounds immaculate and garden club members often visit during weekends."

"Didn't you say he's retiring?"

"Yes. It's sad really. The farm has his stamp all over it but he is just the manager and doesn't even own the animals like some managers of farms like this do. He's been paid well over the years, though and gets a bonus every year if the farm makes a profit. I'm sure he's done well financially and should be able to afford a decent home in Masterton where he intends to retire." He shrugged. "It's the situation I wanted to avoid."

"Spending your life here and in years to come finding you are old and having little to show for it."

"That's about it. Dad turned grouchy and somewhat bitter. Mum seems better away from here, too, Trish has long gone but I've clung on. Sentimental reasons I guess."

Karla nodded and understood a little why Ryan took up the position at Tui Park School and also why he decided to go to university. It would have been so easy to just come back and run the farm. Of course the farm wasn't entirely his and having to really just be another manager like this Clive, could lead to a lonely life.

"You're deep in thought," Ryan interrupted.

"I think I understand your situation," she said.

"Yeah it's different now, though."

"How?"

"Coming back by myself always br
ought a lump to my throat but with you here so I feel alive, somehow." He stood behind and hugged her for a moment before letting her go and stepping back, "I'll go and get our things out of the car."

*

An hour later, Karla was enjoying a guided tour around the lower section of the farm with Ryan as her guide when a man in his sixties rode up on a horse. He looked a typical farmer with tanned face, wide brimmed hat, casual clothes and gumboots. He stopped, dismounted and grinned at Ryan.

"So you persuaded Karla to come out here, did yah, Ryan," he said. "It is Karla, is it not?"

Ryan nodded. "Yes, it's Karla. Karla, meet Clive Windley, our farm manager."

Clive gripped her hand in a tight squeeze and blue eyes fixed on her from under shaggy eyebrows.  "Welcome to Top Plateau, I must say you are every bit as I imagined you, Karla. Ryan's has been saying great things about you for a year now."

"A year?" Karla whispered. She had been dating Ryan for nowhere near that time.

"Yeah well," Ryan stumbled as his cheeks and neck burned red. "It took me a while to persuade myself that one of the school bosses would be interested in the caretaker."

Clive looked bemused. "Did I put my foot in it?" he asked.

"Not at all, Clive," Karla said as she put her arm through Ryan's. "He's told me so many good things about you too and how the farm's flourished under your management." She swung her free arm out. "The place looks super."

The elderly farmer nodded. "The missus and me do our best and we've been lucky with the weather this year with no summer drought and a mild winter." He switched his eyes to Ryan. "Should get a hundred and twenty percent lambing rate if the late ewes are as good as the earlier ones."

"That's great," Ryan replied and explained to Karla. "That means that we have lots of twin lambs. For every hundred ewes we get a hundred and twenty surviving lambs. Sometimes if the spring weather turns bad we get less than a hundred percent."

Clive turned serious. "It'll definitely be my last season this year, Ryan," he said. "Can we have a talk sometime before you go back to Wellington?"

"I'm sorry to hear that Clive," Ryan said. "Karla and I will be here until Thursday so anytime will do."

"Linda said to invite you both over for a meal tomorrow night. We're by ourselves at the moment but grandkids are visiting from next weekend."

Ryan glanced at Karla who nodded. "We'd love to," he said. "Usual time?"

"Yeah," Clive used a thumb to raise his hat to Karla and climbed back into the saddle.  "See you both later."

He gave his horse an affectionate rub on the neck and rode away.

"Sorry about that year ago bit," Ryan whispered, "Clive exaggerated the time a little."

"Did he?" Karla whispered. Thinking back, she realised that Ryan had shown an interest in her well before he had actually asked her out. She smiled. "Why didn't you… well you know?"

"Like I said to Clive, I didn't think you'd be interested and there was Sally. It was only after we broke up that I …" He laughed, "Oh hell, you know what it's like?"

Karla smiled. "Sometimes it's harder when you're older than when you're young and invincible." Her arm was still through his so she let her hand drop, found his and squeezed. "Come on, you were going to show me the little stream down the other side of the plateau."

"Yes. The eels in it are a metre long," Ryan replied. "As kids, Trish and I use to feed them bread scraps. Some got quite friendly."

Hand in hand they walked across the paddock. The sun was on their backs and shadows bounced along ahead of them. Karla had not felt so relaxed and carefree in years. Perhaps Ryan's description earlier of feeling alive was more appropriate.

*