Outback Love

"You're Standing On It"

“Hey Doc!” Keith yelled out, pulling up out the front of an old weatherboard building. “DOC!” Keith yelled again, beeping the horn over and over.

“Blast it Keith you bloody drongo, there’s sick people inside!” A man yelled back as he ran out onto the veranda.

Mira had stepped out of the car and was pointing to Blane.

“Hey there Mira, I didn’t know you were in town.” The man smiled. Blane could feel Blazes' fury at another man being so familiar with Mira.

“This ones from the plane crash. Bigwig from the States. Owns a mining company.” Keith said, like the information was distasteful.

“Oh right,” Doc replied.

“Best take good care of this one. Hate for him to miss his opportunity to further screw our country up.” Keith said.

Mira turned to Blane and waved him out of the ute. As he went to step off the back Keith accelerated a little.

“Sorry mate, thought you’d got off.” Keith shrugged.

Blane fell back onto the compacted dirt. Blaze was roaring in his head at the disrespect he was being shown, but Blane was managing to keep him under control.

“When ya ready then.” The man said, walking inside.

Blane stood up and looked at Mira, who was shrugging her shoulders.

“Apparently I’m not too popular around here,” he said. Mira turned and walked inside.

“Well Hiiii!” A woman in her 30’s got up from her chair at reception and walked around to greet Blane. “I’m Allison but you can call me Ali.” She winked.

“Blane Wright.” He said, extending his hand.

“Like Wright Mining?” She asked.

“How does everyone know my company's name?” Blane asked, intrigued.

“Your mine will shut down our town. Of course we know who you are.” Ali smiled, shaking his hand.

“What do you mean shut down your town?” Blane asked.

“Not now Ali, let's get this bloke fixed and on his way.”

“Sure Doc. Right this way.” Ali said, pointing towards one of the closed doors.

Blane followed her and entered the room.

“You’ll need to take your clothes off and lay on the bed.” Allison smiled.

“Uh, right.” Blane smiled, waiting for her to leave. Allison stood there, continuing to stare. He began to unbutton his shirt and still Allison stood there.

He took off his shirt and laid it over the back of a chair.

“Sweet lord in heaven.” Allison said, using her hand to fan her face.

Blane looked past Allison to Mira who was also watching. Mira stepped forward and took Allison by the hand, dragging her out of the room. She smiled shyly as she walked outside.

“Alright Adonis, let’s get this done.” Doc said as he walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. Blane continued to undress.

Blane had never seen a doctor outside of the pack hospital before. He braced himself for the questions he was sure to be asked.

The doctor looked him over, removing the bandage from his head.

“Quick healer I see.” The doctor said, looking at the almost healed wound on Blanes' head.

“I got lucky I guess.” Blane shrugged.

“Right, so the plane crash that left ya two friends dead didn’t even leave you with a scratch? Despite all the blood on your shirt,” Doc said, pointing to Blane's soiled shirt.

“Very lucky.” Blane smiled, nodding his head for emphasis.

“You look fine, free to leave anytime.” Doc said, walking towards the door.

“The surgery?” Blane asked.

“The town,” Doc answered.

Blane got dressed and walked out of the consulting room to the desk.

“Is there a hotel here? I could maybe get a room. I have some phone calls to make, and I need to do a Zoom to tell my shareholders what has happened.” He asked Allison.

Mira walked back through the front door holding a clean tshirt. She held it out to Blane. Blane smiled and took it, holding it out to have a look.

“Welcome to Wallawingi.” was emblazoned across the front with a picture of all the wildlife in the area. Blane took off his shirt and pulled the tshirt over his head. It was a size to small and tightly fitted, but he didn’t care. Mira had gotten it for him.

“Do you have a hotel here?” He asked Allison again.

“Uh, we have a pub.” Allison stuttered.

“Pub?” Blane repeated.

Mira sighed. She held out her hand to Blane and he rushed to take it. That was not an offer he was going to reject.

She walked outside into the blazing heat. He must have been in shock earlier because he hadn’t noticed how hot it was.

He looked around. There was no bitumen road anywhere, just compacted red dirt. Mira led him up the road to another old weatherboard building with a wide verandah. That seemed to be the common theme in this place. All the buildings were old weatherboards.

“This is the pub?” Blane asked as he stepped up onto the verandah.

Mira nodded as she walked through the front door. It was cooler inside but completely dark.

“This the big mining magnate?” Someone called out from behind the bar.

“Umm, I am Blane Wright, yes.” Blane answered.

“Ya not welcome ere.” Someone at the bar hissed. He was clearly drunk.

“I’m sorry, have I done something to the people of this town? Because two of my friends just died in a plane crash and no one seems to care.” Blane spat angrily.

Mira put a calming hand on his chest. It did the job, it took him one breath to calm down.

“You come to look at the new mining sites, yeah?” The man asked.

“Yes, I was on a business trip when my plane went down. I do not have my paperwork and I have no idea where we landed, so I don’t know how far I am from the mining sites though.” Blane replied.

“Ya standing on it, ya flamin galah.” The man behind the bar answered.

Blane's eyes widened in shock. He looked at Mira who nodded sadly.

“That can’t be right, the proposals clearly state that there is no impact to people or wildlife,” Blane argued.

The room erupted into raucous laughter.

“How much you pay em to write that?” The man asked.

“That’s really not how it works. That is the information that’s given to us, we don’t pay anyone for the information.” Blane tried to explain. “We then tender for the contract. Your local or state government has approved the mine. Now it's just a matter of who gets the contract.”

“So, you tossers from other countries all argue over who is going to have the honour of wrecking ours?” The man asked.

“No, we trust that due diligence has been done. The photos in the prospectus show dirt. There were no towns,” Blane argued.

“You trust in their due diligence? Ask Mira here for a tour. There is not a single person out there better to show you the real impact.” The man behind the bar said.

Blane looked at Mira, his heart in his throat. He would do anything for time with her. She smiled at him and nodded her head.

“Righto then, you need a room?” The man behind the bar asked.

“Yes, is there any chance you have a laptop and wifi? I lost everything in the crash.” Blane asked hopefully.

“Gotta phone. It relies on solar to work though. Dead as a doornail now, but should be good ta go by lunchtime tomorrow.”

Blane nodded his head. “I would appreciate a room, thank you. I could use a hot shower.”

“No hot water left either. It’s the quick and the dead around here my friend.” The barman said. Realising his mistake, he lowered his eyes. “No disrespect to ya friends mate.”

Blane nodded.

The barman slid a key across the bar. “On the house.” He nodded.

Mira took Blane by the hand and showed him towards the room. She stopped at his room, pointing to the number. Blane opened the door and walked in. He had never seen such a small, cramped, dusty room before. He turned to Mira and smiled.

She pointed to the bed and mimicked sleeping.

“I think I’ll turn in.” He agreed.

She smiled as she walked away from his room.

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?” Blane called out.

Mira turned and nodded, smiling.

“See you tomorrow.” Blane whispered.