by Joe Roberts

Created on: May 04, 2008

How long had he been driving up this road? Too long, he thought as he rubbed his eyes. They throbbed with a dull pain from squinting too long into the glaring sun.

"How could I forget my sunglasses, damn it!" he chastised himself for the millionth time. His brain had been going around in circles since the radio had been out of range. Must be in the high 40's out there, he pondered and grimaced at the thought of working in that heat. Especially considering- BABAAAM!

"Geez!" He swung the wheel back straight and slammed on the brake and then looked into the rear vision mirror. There was a large limestone deposit in the middle of the road. He'd been warned to look out for them. "Idiot," he muttered, and then suddenly noticed how hot it felt, about 10 degrees higher almost instantly. He flicked the switch on the air conditioner a couple of times to no avail. It had died at the jolt of hitting that deposit. Winding down the windows, he started moving again, hoping that the homestead wasn't far away now. "Why do I take these sheep station jobs?" he sighed to himself. "I just don't know what's good for me"

Eventually he crossed a cattle-grid with a house emerging from amongst a group of trees that stood out considerably in this harsh land. Scattered behind the house were a number of sheds at various stages of age. He pulled up next to a garden that was looking a bit miserable. Although in that heat he wasn't greatly surprised. As he approached the house, a dust-covered man sat up on his battered old chair and eyed him with suspicion. Several beer cans lay around the man's feet.

"Ah, gudday," he extended his hand to the man, "I'm John Hannick. You must be Bill, er, Mr Bill Weamer?"

The man cautiously accepted his hand looking slightly confused, "Yeah...?"

"I'm here to inspect the sheep. Your wife organised it over the phone with me about a week ago. Is she around perhaps?" he asked.

"Oh, er, right! Well, ah, I'm afraid she and the kids have gone to town for a while but I'll show you the sheep. Um you'll wanna do 'em as soon as possible, 'ey?"

"Well I was told to bring sleeping gear. There's a fair few sheep for me to look at and it would be easier to do them in the mornings and evenings with this heat. I mean, I don't have any other appointments for about a fair few days," he explained, with a touch of hopefulness in his voice.

"Right, right..." Bill nodded in quick agreement, "Well, drive round to the shearers' quarters I guess and set yourself up a room. I'll suppose I'd better

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