Mack

Ernest Bywater

Mack

Ernest Bywater

Mack

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights are reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified there is no association between the author and any trademark holder, nor are any expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.

Cover Art

The background images are Batlow by Leigh Blackall (top) and Looking East over the Murrumbidgee River near Gumly Gumly by Bidgee (bottom). Both are copyrighted by their creators and their use is allowed by the Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike Licence and terms. The cropping, size adjustment, and text are by Ernest Bywater. All rights to the cover images are reserved by the copyright owners.

23 March 2022 version

Published by Ernest Bywater

E-book ISBN: 978-1-312-88315-4

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The titles in use are a Chapter, a Sub-chapter, and a section.

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Sandy Knoll Village Layout (not to scale) is also available in high resolution at

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0

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Note: Due to the main character and the narrator being Australians UK English is used in this story.

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Chain Reactions

It's a nice sunny Monday morning in early April. Jim Dean calls to his ten year old son, Mack, to get him a cold drink from the cooler in the cab of the logging truck. Mack opens the cooler while Jim is hooking up the last chain to hold the logs in place. In a moment Mack is standing beside his father waiting to hand him the cold drink while his father puts tension on the chain before he ties down this end of it. Both react when a loud twang of snapping metal breaks the quiet of the forest.

Mack's head turns to look where the sound came from. Jim lets go of the tensioner to grab the front of his son's shirt. With a mighty heave he spins around to toss Mack three metres to land by the cab door while the two cans of drink go flying off into the surrounding forest. Jim is staggering and off balance when he dives for the ground under the truck, he's off balance due to the time and effort he used to toss Mack away from the trailer. Jim is only halfway to the ground when the steel chain flies over the stack of logs to whip into the back of his head as it slams him the rest of the way to the ground.

The shocked boy's feet hit the ground and he spins as he falls over, twisting his ankle. He's facing back down the side of the truck when his rear hits the ground, so he sees his father hit by the flying metal. The chain continues to whip about like an evil snake. Mack knows not to go near a whipping chain or cable. Getting up off the ground he climbs into the cab of the truck and he grabs the hand microphone for the citizen band (CB) radio. He pushes the special red button of the emergency alarm on the box added to the side of the radio. He turns up the volume while he waits for a count of four before he speaks into the microphone.

For many kilometres around Mack the wail of the emergency siren rips through the air and the noise of the equipment in use. On hearing the sound they hate the loggers stop work. They turn off the equipment and down tools to wait to hear the message while moving toward their trucks. The voice of a scared boy comes through the radio, loud and clear, “Medical emergency. Sandy Knoll Camp Bravo Two. Medical emergency. Sandy Knoll Camp Bravo Two.” The logging sites here are called camps, a holdover from the very old days of living on-site while logging. They're identified by an area name, grid reference code, and a number. All of the loggers know the codes for the camps in their area.

Marker Hanson and his brother Hammer are walking to Marker's utility truck when the boy starts to talk. They both know the boy's voice so they change to a sprint to pass those who started nearer to the ute. They race down the sides of the ute. They're fast to open the doors and jump into the vehicle. Marker starts the truck and shoves it into gear. Three other men are tumbling into the back of the ute when he stomps on the accelerator and the truck leaps forward. They speed off and are at sixty kilometres per hour (kph) when Marker enters the fire trail to the clearing they're in. At speeds of up to eighty kph Marker flies down a dirt track rated for twenty to twenty-five kph. The men in the back hold on tight while they pray he doesn't lose control of the ute on the tracks.

In a fraction of the time it should take to travel there Marker is hitting the brakes when he nears the truck with his friend lying beside it. While the ute skids to a halt he says, “Hammer, grab my camera and take photos of everything.” He leaves the ute while Hammer reaches behind the driver's seat for the camera Marker keeps there. He's soon exiting the vehicle too. The men are climbing over the side of the ute. They critique Marker's driving style while they wonder how he kept the ute on the rough narrow backwoods dirt tracks at those speeds.

Marker glances at Mack while he races to Jim. Mack is leaning against the cab with the microphone in his hand and tears streaming down his face. Marker kneels beside his lifelong friend to check for a pulse. He finds exactly what he expected when he saw the damage, no pulse. He stands and looks at the chain. He feels the weight of the world when he turns to walk over to Mack. Taking the microphone he activates it and says, “No need to hurry to Sandy Knoll Bravo Two, it's too late.”

Other loggers acknowledge the report while they slow, turnabout, and go back to their work. It's one thing to lose time and money to try to save a fellow logger, but there's no point in doing so when it's too late. Marker drops the microphone and he wraps the boy in his arms. Mack leans into him and sobs. The radio comes alive with a woman saying, “Ginger, collect your lunch at Sandy Knoll Farm. I'll be with Irene.”

Another ute enters the camp and six men climb out of it. Hammer leads a limping Mack to the ute and has him get in as he says, “Jack, take Mack home, please.” The driver nods. “Mack, we can't move anything until after the safety inspector's had a look. I'll bring your dad's gear home.” Mack nods his acknowledgement of what he's told while he climbs into the ute. As the ute drives away Marker turns to the ten men in the camp with him, “Right, the chain gave way. We need to find the broken link. It would've flown away when it snapped. It looks like it went on the far side, so let's go there, form a line about a metre apart, and get looking. Hammer, take photos of everything while we search. I want clear evidence of the search and the find.”

One of the men looks up, “What's wrong, Marker, chains go every now and then? We all know that.”

“Davy, I don't know about you, but I've been in this industry since I was old enough to walk. In all that time I've heard of chains giving way every few months, and in each case it's been a chain that hadn't been inspected for rust or damage for months. I've never heard of a chain going only two days after being inspected and found perfect! Hammer, Jim, and I checked all of these chains on Saturday afternoon. Jim knocked one chain back, painting three links to go. He got one of his spares and we checked that. All four were perfect when we put them into the cab on Saturday. Someone had to have tampered with one of them since then.” The men are shocked and scared. They move to follow Marker's orders because he's their crew leader, plus the implications of what he's said really frighten them.

They move to the back of the truck and form a line abreast to start a close search of the ground while Hammer takes photos of them. Several minutes later one of the men near the truck calls out when they near the cab. Marker moves up from his supervisory position behind them.

Davy points to a fresh looking dent in the back of the mudguard of the tractor's rear passenger side. He asks, “Was that there before?”

Marker stops the line and tells Hammer to take photos while he and Davy look at the ground under the truck where they think the link may have gone. Davy soon points to a broken chain link. It's on the ground near the other side of the truck. So Hammer takes some photos from this side before they move around the truck to have a closer look. Marker gets a torch out of the truck cab before walking around the truck.

Hammer takes photos of the link then he moves under the truck to get some closer ones. Marker shines the torch on the link, and swears. He can see the clean edges where someone cut into the side of the link for about two thirds of its thickness. Hammer gets a lot of photos while the men take turns to examine the cut link. None are happy about this. It's a clear case of murder since the cut link will give way when someone is beside the truck tensioning the chain. Whoever cut it had to want that!

Davy steps back and says, “Hammer, until we know who did this, and why, I'd take things real careful if I were you! Since this is your truck we don't know if the person who did this was after you or Jim! How many people knew he was borrowing your truck today?”

Marker replies, “It wasn't broadcast, nor was it kept quiet. I know of about fifteen or twenty people who definitely know, and another twenty or so who could know. There were a lot of people hanging around on Friday afternoon when Jim asked to borrow the truck for today.”

The men are standing and talking when Jack returns, with Ginger's lunch too. They wait for the ambulance, police, and the local industry safety inspector. It's a half hour before they arrive, then a further hour while they go over it all. The local cop is upset when Marker insists he gets the district detectives and Scene of Crime people involved because it's a murder. Two hours are lost while they come from the city on the plain below the mountains. By the time they're finished and the site is tidied up there's just enough time for the men to get back to their camp to pack up for the day, which they do. Hammer drives the truck home while Marker takes his ute after loading Jim's gear into the back of it.

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Sandy Knoll Farm

It's a beautiful Monday morning while Irene Dean is baking cakes and pies to eat during the week. The local radio station's country music provides a nice background noise for her. The CB radio base-station in the next room is louder than the music when the men talk to each other over the radio; most of it's finding out where someone is. At the start and end of the day the CB is a constant loud chatter of men talking, but during the day it's very quiet. About lunchtime you often hear women confirming where their husbands are while they take them a hot lunch.

Irene goes to the doorway when the emergency siren sounds. While the wail is annoying she's glad one of the locals thought of the idea and put it into practice. With a normal CB radio it's hard to tell if a message is urgent or not unless you listen real close to each of the messages transmitted, and that's something the loggers don't have the time to do. One local lad, the son of a logger, came up with a special box to attach to the side of any CB radio. The unit plugs into the sockets for the external speaker and the microphone, the unit has a red button on the side with a special programmed chip in it. The speaker and microphone then plug into this unit. When the button is pushed it sends a coded pulse recognised by the other units like it where the signal triggers a recorded wail of a siren at full volume. If you don't have a unit attached all you hear are some beeps and pulses. This means the loggers can ignore the radio when not chatting on it, unless they hear the siren wail.

When she hears her son's voice declaring a medical emergency Irene drops the cup of flour she's holding as she staggers to a chair. She sits down while she waits, and worries. A couple of minutes later she hears Marker say it's too late. Her whole body shakes when she starts to cry.

A bit later a car stops, a door slams, a knock on the door. Irene sits and cries. The back door opens and a large woman walks in, Mrs Sherri Walker picks up Irene and sits down with Irene in her lap. She cuddles her while she cries. Irene is about the same size as Sherri's thirteen year old daughter so it's no trouble to hold her. A little later Jack arrives with Mack. Sherri moves to the lounge so she can comfort them both at once. Jack leaves, taking the hot lunch for Sherri's husband from her car.

About an hour later Mrs Hanson arrives with her eldest daughter. They set to cleaning the kitchen as the forgotten cooking is a real mess. Once that's done they set about cooking a full meal for those who'll be out at the farm for dinner tonight. Jemma knows Marker will bring Jim's gear here and she's arranged for his brother to bring his family and her family out too. Several other families of loggers will be by to see what they can do to help, so will many of the family's non-logging friends. All will need food and drink. After checking supplies Jemma calls Jedda, her sister in-law, with a list of food and drink to bring out.

Evening

By sunset Irene and Mack have cried themselves out and had some sleep. It's now time to wake them up because lots of people are here. Jemma hadn't seen any need to wake them up when her family arrived or when the Walker family returned, but the trickle of well-wishers is now a flood. They both look like walking dead, but that's to be expected.

A couple of trestle tables have appeared; they and the dinner table are covered with a range of drinks, finger foods, and snacks to eat. About a third of the people who live within fifteen kilometres of town are here to grieve with their friends. Some are here because their children are friends with Mack, some because they know Irene through the church or the Country Women's Association, and many are logging families whose men worked with Jim. The main topics of conversation are how they can help Mack and Irene, along with the murder of Jim. Most people arrive, talk to Irene or Mack, and then go home. Others stay for a little longer while they talk to other visitors about how they can help Mack and Irene.

Hammer is without his truck for a few days while the police go over it for clues. They met him at the sawmill when he dropped the logs off. This murder has top priority and the senior detective is out at the farm to interview their only witness. So at eight o'clock Marker and Hammer take Mack to the den and stay there while the detective investigating the murder takes his statement and asks a few questions. This is a very quiet community and district with little violence, except for drunken fights on Friday and Saturday nights. But the last few months have seen a few violent assaults that may be race crimes. The Police Area Commander is determined to stop any such crimes in the region.

The police ask Mack to tell his story. They write it down. They have him go over a few points and hand him a written copy of what he said. He reads it and signs it. They ask a few more questions. But there's very little he can tell them, apart from watching his father check the chains a few days earlier and telling what he saw today. They're very interested in pinning down what the noise sounded like, and are very concerned about how sharp and loud it was. After about half an hour they leave. Mack sits there and has a drink while trying to collect himself. A bit later he asks, “Mister Hanson, why's the sound the link made so important?”

Marker replies, “If the link had been rusted through and very weak the sound it makes when it snaps is different to that of a good link that's been weakened. We found the link and it showed someone had cut it to make it give way. Your statement on the sound confirms it wasn't an old and rusty link that gave way. That makes this a murder. The police now have a problem. They don't know if your dad was the intended victim or if the person who did this was after Hammer because it was his truck the chains were with.” Mack nods his understanding. “I'm not too happy with the cops over this. Both Hammer and I had told them your dad checked the chains on Saturday and that chain is one he got from his box as a replacement and we all checked it. It seems you saying he checked them Saturday is more acceptable than our saying so. The bastards!”

Mack thinks on this for a moment then he asks, “Mister Hanson, do you think they may have thought you might be lying to cover a possible case of negligence in the care and maintenance of the chains? My confirmation of the checks and replacement means that isn't possible.”

Marker gives him a long look before he slowly nods yes. “You could be right, Mate. I'm just so used to them not accepting our word on things, so I see it as another case of them not believing us due to our skin colour. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I can see how they may think we're covering our own errors, but you give independent verification. Since you're now the man of the house I expect you to call me Marker from now on, and call Hammer by his name too. OK?” The smile Mack gives back is weak, but it's accepted while he nods his agreement.

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Missing Mack

Mid-afternoon a few days after Jim's death Irene calls for Mack to help her with something, but he doesn't answer her. This worries her as he went for a walk that morning and said he'd be back by lunchtime, a couple of hours ago. She goes outside looking for him. She can't see him on the house plateau so she checks the shed - still no Mack. It's so unlike Mack not to do as he says so she's beginning to get worried. She calls his mobile phone, but it doesn't answer, so this is now a very big worry.

In desperation she gets on the CB radio to ask if anyone has seen Mack. One logger at Sandy Knoll Camp Echo One thinks he saw Mack pass by near them just before ten o'clock. That's almost at the far edge of the forest area connected to the farm.

Marker gets worried when he hears the enquiry over the radio. He puts Jack in charge of the crew as they're in 'clean up' mode at the site and Jack can boss that OK. Marker sits in his ute and pulls a map out. He looks at the map while trying to work out where Mack might be headed as he knows all of Mack's usual hunting spots are much nearer the house. He uses a ruler to show a direct line of march from the house to Camp Echo One and extends that line. It hits the junction of the two roads making up the front and side borders of the forest area known as Sandy Knoll Farm. On seeing this he has a good idea of where Mack is.

After picking up his radio Marker says, “Irene, I think he's at Blue Dog. You know how he often visits the truck! I'll go over to check it out.”

“You're probably right! Thanks, Marker.”

Ten minutes later he parks his ute beside the burnt out truck Mack is named after. Walking up to it he can see Mack slumped over the wheel, asleep. Marker reaches in and shakes him. It takes a few hard shakes to wake him up. Mack turns to look at Marker. It's clear he'd cried himself to sleep. Mack looks at the sun. He realises it's afternoon and he meant to be home hours ago. He climbs down and gets into the ute. Twenty minutes later Mack is back at home and is soon asleep again, but in his bed this time. Marker heads back to his work.

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Funeral

The Coroner releases Jim's body on the Thursday after his death since the autopsy was short and simple. But the inquest is still a few weeks away because it's not that simple and the police investigation is still going on. Irene organises the funeral for late morning on the Saturday of the next week, making it nearly a fortnight since Jim died.

Jim was one of those people who planned everything he could, even a prepaid funeral, all organised by him some years earlier when he buried his parents. Irene has one too. Jim's planning makes it a lot easier on Irene and Mack while his life insurance policy helps with the bills.

The memorial service is at the church in the Wood Valley township before going to the crematorium in the city of Rivers. Those who wish to go to the city form a convoy to drive there. The ashes are given to Mack because Jim wants them spread on a flower garden at the farm.

Most of the town turns up at the church. Only Jim's closest friends go to the city. One thing that stands out to many of the locals is the high number of tribal Elders who attend both services, both are a thorough mix of whites and Aboriginals. People are used to seeing mixed groups at Dean and Kelly family activities but they aren't used to seeing so many of the senior tribal members at the activities as a group.

Jim, Irene, and Mack are of typical Celtic stock, about as white as you can get without being an albino, as all of their ancestors are from Ireland and Scotland. Most of Jim's friends are from the Aboriginal community of the area. Thus people from both groups are often at his house. Mack wonders why the whole community doesn't mix so well, except when the Dean family is involved; or, in the past, the Kelly family too.

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The only sour note is when they exit the church at Wood Valley after the service there. Mr Parks, the richest man in the area who owns many businesses and forest leases around town, approaches Irene to offer his condolences. That's OK, but in the next breath he offers to buy the farm and forest they own for two million dollars. Irene doesn't know how to reply but Mack knows how to deal with this, and he's very glad to do it!

Mack glares at Mr Parks as he says, “Hammer, please help Mum to the car.” With surprise at Mack's commanding tone Hammer takes Irene's arm from him and he helps her walk to the car. Mack glances at Marker, signs for him to stay with him, and he turns to Parks while Marker moves up beside him. A small crowd gathers around them when Mack stops. It's clear Mack is angry while saying, “Mister Parks, are you just plain stupid or a very idiotic and insensitive vulture? You offered Dad four million bucks a month ago. Now he's dead you offer Mum half the price hoping she'll take it without thinking. I'll give you the same answer Dad gave you! If you want our forest land you can have it for fifteen million dollars. That's the offer, take it or leave it, and piss off.”

Irene can hear him and she smiles at his answer. Marker's mother is on her other side to Hammer and hears it, so she smiles and says, “I told you at his birth, your son is small, strong, solid, tough, and dependable, like the truck.” Irene glances at her while she remembers Mack's birth.

Mrs Hanson is the leader of the local tribe's women and she goes to the birth of all of the tribe's children. She often suggests a name for the child. Mack arrived a week early while Irene was over visiting Jemma, Marker's mother was there too. The birth was quick and both women acted as midwives. The elder Mrs Hanson looked at the baby boy and said, “This boy's like that old blue and white truck your grandfather used to drive - small, tough, strong, and dependable. Name him for the truck. Irene smiled and named her son after the old Mack truck two generations of her family drove until it was killed in a major bushfire. The wreck still sits where it died, as a sort of memorial. It saved the lives of over thirty men by driving through the firewall of the bushfire that trapped them in the forest that day. The truck was badly damaged in the process but it kept going until they were safe from the fire.

Those in the crowd try hard not to smile at the anger on Parks' face when he turns around and stomps away. He had hoped to make the deal cheap, but all he got was a major embarrassment; and from a small boy too. The rest of the day for the Dean family goes as expected.

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Note: The inquest held later finds Jim Dean was murdered by a person or persons unknown. The case is still open.

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Life Goes On

On a Saturday in mid September the year after Jim Dean's death Irene goes outside looking for Mack because he didn't reply when she called him to get his lunch. It doesn't take long to find him. She knows he's not left the house plateau area, which is open to view for most of it. He's not in the house, nor in sight, nor near the dam, so that leaves only the large equipment shed they use as a garage. She walks over to the shed. There he is sitting on a folding chair while sharpening the blades on Jim's big chainsaw. All of the other logging gear is spread out around him and it's obvious he's been giving it all a full check and service.

She wonders what he's up to while she says, “Mack, lunch's on the table. Didn't you hear me calling you?”

He looks up, “Sorry, Mum. I was concentrating on getting this done. We need to cut some trees from the old stand so I'm servicing the gear.” He puts the chainsaw down and follows her out of the shed.

“Why do you think we need to log some trees?”

“You've got our current money budgeted and no new contract with the logging company while Parks causes trouble. So we need to cut a few trees for the money I need to get started on the new houses again.”

She thinks on this while they walk, and she glances over at the partly built new houses Jim and Mack started a few years back. They've done a great deal of work around the plateau over the years. The current house is very old, made of wood, and close to the forest. There used to be another wood house on the plateau, but it burnt down and the shed now occupies the site. The new houses are a bit further away and are to be made of concrete and steel. Jim put in the footings, the 200 mm concrete slabs, plus in-ground pipes and cables before he was killed. All that's now needed is the walls, windows, doors, roof, and interior fit-out of the buildings. Jim had big plans: a large house of eight bedrooms with a triple garage, a second house of five bedrooms with a double garage, a pump-house by the very long rectangular dam, and another building to house a sewerage processing unit. All of the houses to have large water tanks on their sides. These are the first buildings he and Mack were concentrating on. They're just the visible start of the long term housing and development project, but it's enough for the family's immediate future. Completing the construction of the buildings isn't beyond Mack's ability. The bulk of it is making and laying the concrete blocks that look like large sandstone blocks used in buildings of over a hundred years ago. The tint for the concrete makes it look like old sandstone. Those who see the footings think it's the base of an old building. Mack helped his father with the work done so far and he also knows how to do what's left to finish them. He even knows the long term plans and what Jim has already done out in the plateau areas to ready them for the future work on the full project. Irene never did follow what Jim was doing there, but she knows there's a lot more to it than what she's aware of, despite knowing his general intentions for the farm.

They're sitting at the table when she says, “Four good trees. We'll have to use the ute and trailer to get them to the city for sale.” Mack nods yes.

After lunch they both go to the stand of trees on the other plateau. The stand is a few hundred metres down mountain from the house and on the other side of the dam. It's too small to be cut by the companies because the return from the small number of trees wouldn't justify the set up costs unless they cleared them all or the trees were special, but the stand of trees looks like the rest of the wild growth trees in the area.

They spend most of the afternoon looking at and checking every tree in the stand. They end up selecting four trees not too far apart. The rest of the day is spent finishing the gear checking and setting out what they'll need for tomorrow's work before putting it in the back of the ute.

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Logging

On Sunday morning they're both up early and Irene drives the ute over to the work area. They near the first tree they marked yesterday and work out how they'll drop it without knocking down any of the others. They want clean drops to minimise damage to the trees because damage means less money. They soon have the direction chosen. Mack gets out the big chainsaw and he starts cutting on the drop side of the tree. He's eleven, nearly twelve, years old and he's already stronger than his mother so he'll do the hard work. He cuts out a wedge of tree near the base. Next is a cut in the back, followed by placing a wedge in the cut. He moves to the sides, cutting a third of the way through from each side. Mack stops and stands back while Irene checks his work. He's strong and he knows what he's doing, but she's been involved with this work since she was ten and has the industry experience so she's the crew leader who checks it out while they work.

The tree now has a wedge of wood missing from the base on the drop side, the cut goes about a third of the way into the trunk. This will give the tree room to tip in that direction when encouraged to do so. The cuts a third of the way in on the sides and the back are on the same level as the top of the wedge cut. Imagine the tree trunk as being a circle over nine squares set in a three by three grid; the front three are gone, as are three on the left and right, leaving the centre one and the one middle back which is also gone and has a steel wedge in it. The weight of the tree has closed the side cuts but the wedge is holding the back open a little and the front cut is wide open. After her nod of approval they pick up the tools and move them to the ute. Better to do extra carrying of the gear than to have an accident by tripping over the equipment if they have to move away in a hurry if something doesn't go according to plan.

Mack carries a heavy two handed hammer back to the work area. His mother stops about five metres back and she watches while he sets up to strike the wedge. He takes position, she nods to him, and he swings at the wedge. Mack's hitting the wedge into the back cut is tilting the tree in the direction they want it to go. Between hits he stands back to check the fall angle because he can use a second wedge to adjust the angle right up to the point it starts its gravity induced fall. The tree moves a little with each strike of the hammer pushing the wedge into the gap and the top of the tree forward. Following his fifth hit the tree continues to move after the wedge stops, so Mack backs off to the side real quick. Mother and son stand by a nearby tree while they watch the cut tree's top move in the desired direction. They're ready to run away if there's trouble. There's a crack and the fall speeds up when the uncut part of the base breaks. The tree crashes to the ground right where they want it to fall. Mack walks back to pick up the wedge and hammer. They take them to the next tree to drop then head back for the chainsaw and the protective gear. A little later they're working on the next tree. An hour after they start work all four of the trees are down.

Now comes the real risky work. Irene uses the light chainsaw while Mack continues with the big one. They work down the side of the first tree with Mack cutting off the branches right at the trunk. This is where the real danger is at because he has to work at whatever angle he can use to get at the branch. Irene trims the larger branches since they can be sold too. They work down one side and then the other. They clear the work area before going back along the tree to do the branches on top.

They stop for lunch and bring the ute in as they need it near the tree. It's hard work to load the small branches in the ute, the rest to one side, and the rubbish to the other. After bit of digging the chains go around the log. They roll it to the side and trim the fallen side. Nearly all of the branches on this side are useless for selling due to fall damage, but will be good firewood for them. If Jim was alive he'd have been up the tree to cut the branches off first, but Irene won't let Mack do that because it's too risky for a person without a lot more experience than he has. It's almost sunset when they've all four cut trees trimmed. They go home to unload the ute. Mack services the gear while Irene cooks dinner. Then it's an early night as Mack has school tomorrow.

Monday

While Mack is at school Irene takes their tree shredder to set it up beside the first tree they harvested. She cleans up the site by putting the rubbish bits they cut off into the shredder and spraying the resulting wood chips into the back of the empty ute. This is good mulch for the vegetable garden. It's three in the afternoon by the time she's cleaned up around all four trees. She hooks the shredder to the ute and takes it back to the shed before parking the ute near where she wants the mulch.

Mack walks up the drive and sees the ute parked near the vegetable garden. It has a pile of wood chips in the back with a shovel stuck in the top. He laughs at his mother's way of telling him what she wants done.

He walks inside and goes straight to his room. He changes into his work gear before going for a snack and drink. His mother smiles when she sees what he's wearing and he's now ready to do some work. No words are said. He finishes his snack then goes out to the ute. He grabs the shovel and starts tossing the wood chips over the garden area to get them as far as he can throw from this spot. The more area he covers to start with the less he has to move again later. About an hour after he starts he drops the tailgate to shovel chips onto the area nearest the ute. Irene walks out of the house with two rakes and they both use the rakes to spread the wood chips around the garden area. They finish the job by dinnertime. After dinner is school homework time, then bed after a bath.

Tuesday

Irene does some more site tidying work and she loads the branches she can handle into the ute then takes them to the shed. When it's time for Mack to arrive home she meets him at the gate with his work clothes in the ute. He gets changed while they drive back to their work site. After a couple of hours work they have all of the branches that'll go in the ute shifted to the shed. By dinnertime they've used the chains to drag the logs over near the edge of the tree stand. They're now ready to be loaded onto the log trailer, but that's tomorrow's work.

Wednesday

Irene spends the morning catching up on housework before going to the shed to service the log trailer. Some people call it a log or pole jinker. Today they're usually made for use with a heavy truck with a rigid centre bar between the two parts, with one for each end of the logs. This one is an old lightweight unit for use with a ute or light truck. Both parts are twelve hundred centimetres long with two large curves to rest logs in, a removable stake at each corner of it to hold the logs on it, and multiple places for chains to be secured to hold the logs down. It has an axle with a set of double light truck wheels on each unit. The front unit has a long tongue for a tow bar. It carries from one to six logs when the total weight doesn't exceed its set weight limit. The main task here is checking the wheels turn and are well greased. Irene moves the trailer over to near the tree stand before she checks and moves the engine lift frame over there.

The engine lift frame is a solid steel unit two and a half metres in height, and two and a half metres wide, with a base of two and a half metres long for each side. The side is an 'A' frame with a light truck tyre on each end of the side base plates and it's well balanced on four wheels. There's a tow-bar attached to a hinged bar on a pivot at the nominal back of the unit. The bar is lowered and clipped to the other side base to allow the unit to be easily moved by pulling the tow-bar. A hand powered pulley is attached to the top brace, and it's rated for up to four tonnes. Although both the frame and the trailer were bought by Irene's grandfather their proper maintenance over the years keeps them in very good working order.

Irene meets Mack at the gate again and they go straight to work on the logs. They use the ute and chains to drag the shortest log out of the trees then they set up the trailer near the log. This unit is capable of much more than the four logs they have for it. If they put five or six logs on they'd have to check the weights, but four is no trouble for it.

They raise one end of the first log with the engine lift then they slide the front trailer under it. They lower the log then go for the next log. Once it's in place they lift the logs onto the tail unit. The other two logs are brought out and lifted into place in the same way. Followed by bringing out the larger branches to load them on top of the logs. Once they're all loaded they chain it together and chain it to the trailer parts. Mack pulls the engine lift frame back toward the house while his mother drives the ute back. She parks the trailer beside the shed and goes back for Mack and the lift, meeting him about a third of the way to the house. They stop for an early dinner, followed by their normal evening tasks.

Thursday

Irene spends the day moving the other branches out to beside the trailer and removing the chains. They now have to reload the branches for the drive to the city of Rivers because they've more branches than will fit in the ute. After getting the work area ready she leaves it until Mack gets home as she needs his strength to do this job properly.

Another gate meeting and to work. The first task is to set aside the branches that are too long for the ute with its gate down. They start with the longest and stack them on the trailer. These aren't long enough to go from one unit to the other. So they load the front end first, right up to the top of the stakes. Three chains are used to secure them: one at the centre of the stack and one just in from each end of the shortest branch in this stack. The process is repeated at the back half of the trailer. Two sets of chains are set around the middle area of the long logs for added security.

The longest branches to fit in the ute with the gate down make a base layer. They load the ute up to just above the sides and tie it down. They still have about twenty smaller branches left over, but no place to load them up so they put them back in the shed for the next time.

Friday is a normal school day for both of them. It's Irene's usual day for shopping but she's not going to take the ute to town today, so that's for next week. Irene phones their contact and warns him of the load.

Saturday

They both wake up early and have a large breakfast because it's going to be a long day. They lock up and check the load before getting into the ute. The most direct way to the city is through the town, but they wish to avoid that. So they take a less direct route that adds an extra hour to the trip by heading away from town until the road gets to the next major crossroad and they can turn back toward the city.

Halfway to the city of Rivers they reach a government weighbridge and they pull in. Mack takes the papers into the office. The man looks at him and at their load. Mack says, “Excuse me, Sir, this is the first time Mum and I have made a wood delivery since Dad got killed. We're not used to loading up without him being there to tell us when it's enough. Can you please check the weight and let us know if we're within the allowed weight for this rig? I've got the papers here.” He holds out the registration papers for the ute and trailer. The man smiles at him as it's not often they get people wanting to make sure they're correct weight. After telling Irene to leave the vehicle he enters the figures into the system and he measures the weight of the load on the scales. It's well within the tolerances of the vehicles, although he thinks the ute may be over if it was by itself. He voices his concerns while he signs off on the load and hands over the certified weight record. Mack thanks him and leaves. This record has the vehicles' registered weights empty with the listed combined weight along with the total weight of the load.

Irene drives into the yard of the man who buys their logs. He walks over to greet them and Mack hands him the weight record. He reads the date, time, and weight, does a quick calculation, and offers a figure. Irene hands him a printout of current wood prices for him to read; Mack got it off the Internet this morning. It has some calculations Mack did since they left the weighbridge. The man reads the figure.

“You can't blame me for trying to make an extra profit, can you?”

Irene replies, “Not as long as we end up with the right money before we leave. That's what negotiations are about.” They both smile. Waving at a point near an empty shed on the side of the yard he tells them to go over to unload there. Irene moves the load over to the shed before she follows the man inside while Mack starts undoing the chains.

It takes a moment for the man to make an electronic funds transfer to the account of the privately owned company Jim set up years ago. They both go out to help with the unloading. The man uses his fork lift and it's a great help, especially when they get to the logs. However, it still takes them almost two hours to unload it all and stack it in the shed.

Mack secures the two trailer parts together as the back part sits on and chains to the front unit for running empty. They say their goodbyes, and the man adds, “I was about to call my other supplier for some mahogany, now I won't. Yours is always better than what I can get elsewhere, I'm just sorry you don't have more. Jim explained you only have a small stand you harvest with care to keep it viable. I'd appreciate some oak if you can do it because it's getting harder to find quality oak.”

“We'll see what we can do, but it'll be a while. There's just the two of us and we have to fit this in with our other work.” He nods to show he understands their situation. Mack and Irene get into the ute and drive off. They stop for lunch on the way home, and to do some shopping.

While they drive out of the city Irene glances in the mirror at the pile of supplies Mack got at the big hardware supply store in Rivers. With no logs on they go back through town.

When they near the farm Mack asks, “Do you think we should get him some oak soon, or wait until we've almost spent what we got for the mahogany?”

“No need to rush like we did with this. But, yes, I think we should keep him on our side by getting him some oak in the next month so he can have some products on sale for Christmas presents. I can take my time going through the stand to select four trees for you to drop on a weekend. That'll allow you to work on the houses during the week and I can do all of the fine work on week days over a few weeks.”

“Yeah, that'll work.” Mack grins while he thinks about the legacy of his mother's ancestors. There's no record of who planted it, but that stand has a nice little forest of mixed exotic woods in it, and those woods sell well when they harvest a few logs. The management plan allows for a level of harvesting higher than what they do, but leaving it longer only lets them grow more to be worth more when harvested and sold.

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A Taxing Time

In early July of the next year Mr Malcolm, the Dean family legal advisor, leads a small group into the regional office of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for a meeting with a senior member. The group includes Irene, Mack, Mrs Ball and Mr Ball: the accountants who do the books for the Deans, both the business books and their personal tax returns. They're there to get a few things sorted out about their taxes this year. Irene's and both business' tax returns have been lodged and accepted, but they expect trouble with Mack's tax return as it's his first.

At the appointment time of eleven in the morning the group is sitting down with Mr Robert Roberts of the ATO. He and the accountants know each other well from previous meetings and phone calls about clients' tax returns. After the introductions Mr Roberts asks, “Right, how can I help you today? I gather you've an odd personal tax return issue!”

Mrs Diane Ball nods, “Yes. I've had some odd ones in the past, but this one has me well stumped. I think it best to let Mister Malcolm give you some important background information first.” Rob smiles and turns to look at Mr Malcolm of Malcolm, Dunn, Wright & Goode.

Mr Malcolm smiles and says, “This is an odd situation. Jim Dean was murdered two years ago. At that time he was the main income earner for the family. Irene owns a large farm but its income is from logging the trees on it. In the past that income has been from leasing logging rights to individuals and companies as well as by Jim doing some logging by hand. Since Jim's death the owner of the only major logging company in the area has been applying financial pressure to force Irene to sell him the farm for a fraction of its value. He's not offering a realistic value for the logging rights so no contract has been made and he's keeping all of the crews at work on his other sites. Irene and Mack have survived by organising a little logging by individuals on some Saturdays, but the main income for the family companies, and them, has been the hand logging of trees on weekday afternoons and Saturdays. Irene can't do the heavy work so that's done by others. For legal reasons the people doing the heavy work are paid the approved industry hourly rates for their work. We're here to sort out potential issues with their tax return.”

Rob frowns, “Surely their personal tax return is a simple issue?”

Diane smiles, “I would hope so! However, I expect someone to blow their top when they see it. That's why we asked for this meeting so we can explain the situation and give it to you for handling. We'd also like to keep the information confidential. Plus we have to organise the issue of a Tax File Number (TFN) for them as this is their first tax return.”

Rob asks, “What's so hard about all this, as its all standard stuff?”

Mack speaks up, “No, it's not, Sir, because I'm only twelve.”

Rob's eyes go real wide. He looks at all the adults. They nod. “Hmm, I still don't see a major issue, but let me check a few things.” He turns and grabs one of the many books on the tax laws that are kept in the bookcase of this interview room. For the next several minutes he's busy flicking pages and checking various items in the law books and rules the ATO lives by. “We've always had a number of minors earning some money and the laws permit that. Most don't lodge tax returns as they rarely earn enough to warrant the paying of taxes. But there's nothing I can find putting a limit on what they can earn, as long as they pay the right taxes. In the past there have been issues with people trying to cut tax payments by having part of their income declared as for minors, but most of those laws have been fixed.” He snaps the last book closed. “I guess you also want to limit any gossip about a minor earning an adult income.” They all nod yes. “OK. Got the TFN application with you?”

Diane nods yes and hands it over. Rob logs into the terminal on the desk and he enters the information. In a moment he writes down a number and hands it to Diane. She enters it into her laptop. A moment later she gives Rob the number of Mack's personal tax return application. Rob opens it and processes it while they wait. This isn't normal, but neither is the situation. A few minutes later he leaves the office. He comes back with a printed Tax Notice and hands it over. Diane checks it and hands it to Mack. He opens his laptop and logs into his wireless Internet link, opens his bank's site, and organises an electronic payment of the tax to be paid. He writes the receipt number on the notice. All done. They stand and shake hands then the Dean group leaves, happy that's done and without any big fuss or gossip.

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Interlude

The work on the houses goes as expected, and so do the lives of Mack and Irene. Parks continues to push to get the land or logging rights for next to nothing. Mack continues to work the farm while going to school and building the houses. He often goes rabbit hunting, and he gives the extra rabbits to friends and other visitors. Sometimes organising for Marker or Hammer to come out to collect the extra rabbits, along with some of the excess vegetables grown in the farm's large garden.

One Friday afternoon Mack and Irene are in town. They stop in the street to talk with Ma Hanson and Marker's family. After a few minutes Ma asks, “Mack, can you please go in and see what's keeping the boys? I want to get going as I've got a lot to do.” He has a big smile because she's pointing at one of the town pubs and she never goes into a pub - not for any reason at all.

The nearly fourteen year old Mack goes over and walks into the pub. Kids often go into pubs after their parents so no one cares about a boy walking in, but if he fronted the bar to order a beer they'd be concerned. While walking to the corner where Marker and Hammer are standing talking to a seated man with his back to the door Mack hears Marker say, “Look, Jasper, it won't take but a moment for you to come out to see what Ma wants. Then we can all get on with what we want to do.”

“I'm not going out there just to hear her go off at me again.”

Jasper is reaching for his beer when Mack reaches them. He knows of this man but he's never seen him around town before, an odd item in itself, and Mack doesn't like what he knows of Jasper. It's clear talking is getting nothing done so Mack decides action is needed. Mack is short for his age and his head is just a little higher than that of Jasper's head while he sits in the chair. Mack doesn't look like much, but he's a lot stronger than he looks.

Mack gives an exasperated, “Bugger this!” He reaches out to grab hold of the collar of Jasper's shirt and jacket at the back of his neck. With a quick turn and jerk Mack is heading back out the door as he drags Jasper out of the chair when it falls to the floor. Mack is moving so fast Jasper can't get set to stand up or roll over. The sound of the chair hitting the floor has everyone looking over at them, and many shake their heads at the sight of Mack dragging a kicking and yelling man across the floor.

Ma Hanson, Jemma, Jedda, and Irene start laughing when they see Mack dragging Jasper out of the pub and along the street to them. The man has to be nearly twice Mack's height and more than double his weight, but he's being towed along as if he weighs nothing. People stop to stare at the sight. Mack drops him at Ma's feet while saying, “He didn't want to come!”

Jasper is angry when he gets to his feet. Ma has some strong words with him about how he doesn't treat his wife and kids right, and how she's fed up with hearing about it. She gives him a right telling off, then she demands he changes his ways. He looks everywhere except at Ma, so it's obvious he's ignoring her. He turns to go when she finishes speaking.

Mack is standing between Jasper and the pub. When Jasper turns around he's facing Mack. With a very stern look Mack says, “Marla is my friend. I don't like it when you punch her.” Quick as a whip, Mack's clenched right hand strikes Jasper in the stomach, hard. While Jasper folds up and falls to the ground Mack adds, “If you ever punch her again I'll beat the shit out of you.” Mack turns and steps past Jasper who's busy throwing up on the grass area he's lying on while all of the other adults stare at Mack.

Irene and Mack leave the Hanson families to go on about their shopping. While they walk down the street Hammer says to his mother, “I think Mack's little talk with Jasper may have more of an effect on him than yours, Ma.”

She half grins, “Much as I hate to say it, I think you're right.”

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Note: After that day Jasper never hits a member of his family again. The change is due to him giving up alcohol because he only hit them while drunk. He finally figures out no drinking means no punching, so he changes his ways to be safe from Mack!

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Building

Over the years Mack casts thousands of concrete blocks to make the walls of the four buildings. He uses the custom made window frames stored in the shed to make the gaps for the special windows. He reaches a point where he needs help. The houses look like the wall shells of old houses. The concrete floors are tinted to look like packed earth while the porch floors are tinted and marked to look like flagstones set in the ground. Adding the steel frame trusses and roofs will change their look a lot. It's taken him some years of work to get this far. Now is the time to call on friends. Mack has a word with his mother about the next work.

Fourteen year old Mack always joins his closest friends for lunch at school, most are the Hanson children. It's one of the hottest Novembers on record when Mack walks up to his friends during school lunchtime the next day. He smiles and says, “Jake, Jim, Jess, Ian, Ann, do you think your families would like to come out to the farm on Saturday? I got Mum to agree to a big barbie for lunch and dinner if we get enough people to come out. I want you to come out to help me with doing some tidying up. Do that in the morning then we'll break for a swim for the rest of the day. Mum will love the extra company for a change of pace.”

They all smile. The Wood Valley town pool had a major equipment problem during the winter and the council hasn't fixed it yet, so the town pool is closed. A chance to swim and cool off is a welcome treat, real welcome. Jess is the eldest and she asks, “Mack, can I borrow your cell phone to call Mum?”

Mack pulls his phone out and hands it over, “Sure, speed dial three.”

She grins while she takes the phone as she's not at all surprised he has their house phone on his speed dial. She hits the number and waits for an answer. “Mum, Mack just asked if we want to spend a day out at Sandy Knoll Farm this Saturday. Our whole family and Uncle Hammer's.” She listens for a while, “Yes, he just asked us and we'd like to go. Why don't you ring Missus Dean and coordinate with her.” She hangs up and tells Mack, “Mum will sort things out with your mum.”

Note: Barbie is Aussie slang for a barbecue.

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Saturday

The day starts early. Irene only grins when Mack asks about who's coming. They start to arrive around eight in the morning, and just keep coming. About nine o'clock there's around fifty vehicles parked over near the shed and almost two hundred people at work. It doesn't take long for the place to be cleaned up, then the young kids head off to the dam. Most swim in the dam while some try to catch the crayfish living in the mud in it. Several trestle tables are set up with drinks and snacks on them. Some of the utes are full of wood that needs to be disposed of, and one ute has two long spit rods. They soon fill the pit where they toss the tree offcuts and wood rubbish for burning. The two large spits are set up over the pit, one has two dead sheep while the other has a whole head of beef on it. Mack has a better look around the group, and laughs. He and his mum are the only whites in sight, the whole of the local Aboriginal tribe is here for a massive family day and feed. A little later some of the white loggers and their families turn up with trucks loads of food and cases of soft drink. By noon there's over six hundred people having a great day in their huge front yard. People swimming, a cricket game beside the drive, a game of football on the other plateau, and a bunch of young kids playing some sort of make believe shooting game in and around the new pump-house. This is the biggest party Mack has ever seen, and it's bigger than the town fair held a few months back.

Mack is standing near the dam when a tall man walks by and says, “Great bash, Mate,” while he gives Mack a high five. Mack laughs. He's a cousin of Hammer's wife who lives and works in the city. Jimmy must have spent well over an hour driving to get here for this day out.

Wandering over to where the women are in charge of the house and the cooking Mack finds his mother to ask, “Mum, what happened?”

Ma Hanson answers for her, “It was past time for us to have a party, so we took over yours.” His only answer is to laugh and walk away.

Marker is standing over near the BBQ pit when Mack finds him. “Hi, Marker, got time for a quiet talk?”

“Sure. Is there a place here we can have a quiet talk in?”

They both smile while they look at the activity around them. Mack leads Marker toward the larger new house. They walk through the front doorway, and scare a young couple trying to spend some time alone. With a big laugh they leave via the back door and head to the sewerage building because they figure the other house may be in use too.

Marker says, “I've wanted to ask about these buildings for a long time, so have a lot of others. Since neither of you speak of them we've not said a thing, but a few of us have noticed them growing. While they look as if they're old they're expanding. What's the deal?”

“That's what I want to speak to you about, Mate. Out here we come under the shire council, not the town council. The records show the farm has two houses, a shed, and other outbuildings, but no details of where they sit or what they're made of. Only that they were approved for residence over a hundred years ago and were inspected when electricity was provided back in the sixties. Dad got the idea to build a better house without asking for approval. The idea is to make the new places look like old houses, but with new insides and roofs. So the walls are made of concrete blocks tinted to mimic sandstone blocks of the eighteen eighties. The concrete slabs look like what they did then. New carpets will hide them. In the meantime, anyone looking thinks they're packed earth or sandstone.” Marker smiles at the trick they're playing on the local government people. “Dad had them up to the floors before he died. I've put the walls up since then. But I now need a hand to get the roofs on them as well as do the inside plumbing and electricity too. I want you to help me with the roofing and to suggest tradesmen for the rest.”

“Well, Hammer and I can help do the roofing, no worries. Hammer is licensed and can do the electrical work, but we'll need to get someone else to do the plumbing. You need that done right. Leave it with me. I'll ask around for someone and get back to you.”

“We can afford to pay the normal rates, but we need it to stay off the records. That way the council can't say when it was done.”

“That makes it a lot easier to find someone. I'm sure we can do it.”

“We've got most of what we need to get the places to lock-up stage stored over in the shed. So we can get rolling when you're ready.”

“I'll organise Hammer to come out next weekend. We'll bring the families with us, if you don't mind.”

“Sure, no trouble.” They shake hands on the deal and head back to the cooking. At the house Mack cuts off to change and go swimming.

The day is a great success and fun for all who attend the party. The party is the talk of the town for the next few weeks.

Construction

For the next two months Marker and Hammer bring their families out for the day on the Saturdays. The younger kids go swimming while the women cook and chat as the men and older kids work on the houses.

They put the roof on the sewerage shed first because any learning mistakes won't matter much to it. Then the small house, the main house, and the pump-house is last because they have to first install the new large twin pump unit in it. Mack has already done all of the preliminary work and bolted all of the steel wall top plates into place. So it's a relatively easy job for them to take the steel trusses from the shed to the buildings and put them up. The hard part is lifting that much steel up into place before they lower it to the top plates and their built-in bolts. The nuts go on finger tight at this time as they'll tighten them down when the battens are in place. With the trusses and battens fitted they tighten the nuts down and lock them in place. The powder coated steel eave face-plates are put in place next. These pre-made items slip into grooves in the top plates and have bolts that go into holes in the trusses. These are followed by the hot water tanks, the roof insulation, and the coloured steel roof sheets.

They break for the Christmas and New Year celebrations but spend a lot of time in January working to fit the powder coated plates and frames for the windows and doors, along with the security windows and the steel covered doors. All of the buildings are at the lock-up stage before Mack starts back in school for the new school year.

During this time Mack and Irene log a few more loads by working on them during the week so Irene can take them in on the Friday. This is more money than they need for some time, but it's to keep the buyer happy. It does allow them to donate some money to assist a few people around the area who need some help due to injury or illness.

Almost all of the materials from the shed are installed. For the first time in many years the shed is nearly empty. Mack confirms the size of the house interior dimensions and he writes them down on the plans for the houses. Irene takes them into the city of Rivers to have a company make up the steel wall frames. They're delivered in mid June, the truck drops the frame units on the ground in front of each house. This makes it easier for Irene and Mack to carry the frames inside the buildings for security and weather protection. The items are numbered and the plans showing where they're to go. None are too large or heavy, so it's easy for Mack and Irene to put them in place and bolt them together. They also bolt to the floor after the holes are drilled for the bolts. With the frames installed they put the ceiling battens in place and use metal screws to secure them to the bottom of the trusses and the top of the walls.

Irene makes a trip to the city for a large purchase of electrical items. Hammer's list covers everything they'll need because he wants it all on hand before he starts the work. For a few weekends Hammer visits to do the electrical work. Mack, Jake, Jim, and Ian help him with the work. He directs them while they string the wires in the houses and set out the fittings. In response to his request to be able to secure the panels for the circuit breakers the five garage doors are bought and delivered. It needs the two men and four teenage boys to get them up and into place.

Marker finds a plumber to do the pipes for the taps and drains. But they need to bring in his boss to seat the toilets. Irene pays all of the workers for their time at the rates asked, which is under their usual rate. Since it's not on the books there's no tax to pay so the workers end up with more cash in hand.

It's taken some years, but the houses are almost finished. There's not much more that needs to be done to complete them and live in them.

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More Trouble

The bus drops Mack off on the public road after it turns around at the drive entrance because his home is the last one on the run. Fifteen year old Mack is walking up the drive to his home. It's a nice Wednesday in mid May and he's enjoying the almost kilometre walk to the house. He's looking forward to the snack and drink he'll have when he gets there. After that he has chores to do. His school homework is done on the bus or after sunset as the daylight hours are for working around the farm.

He walks into the house at four-thirty to find his mother sitting in a chair waiting for him. She's been very tired of late and she went to see the doctor today to get the results of some tests done last week. She gives a small smile while she waves him to a chair, so Mack sits down. She says, “Mack, I've spent all day trying to think of an easy way to say this, but I can't come up with a better way. I've got cancer, it's so bad the doctors don't see any point in trying to treat it. They give me only a few more months to live. We need to discuss your future.”

The smile he had coming in the door vanishes. He sits there looking at her for a few minutes then he says, “I need to take a walk.” She nods her approval. He gets up and goes to his room to get changed. A moment later he's back, dressed to go for a walk in the forest. Mack has his shotgun and hunting bag with him. She watches him walk out while loading his grandfather's old double barrelled shotgun, and he snaps it shut after he shuts the door. This is what she thought would happen. Whenever he needs to take time out to think and plan he goes for a walk in the forest to hunt rabbits.

Irene turns to the kitchen bench and starts to prepare vegetables for a rabbit stew. She can't remember the last time Mack went hunting and he did not bring a pile of rabbits back, not since he was eight or nine. About five minutes after he leaves she hears the shotgun go off. After a little time she hears two shots very close together, so he must have found a group of rabbits. Every now and then she hears the shotgun firing while he moves further away from the farm. She's not worried as he knows these lands and the forest better than he knows the lounge room.

She starts to worry when the dusk turns into night, until she hears a car coming toward the house through the forest. There are no camps she's allowed the men to work near the house so there's no reason for any of the loggers to drive along these trails unless they're coming to the farm. So Irene goes out to the front porch and turns the front yard light on to see who it is when she greets them.

A moment later car lights come out of the forest, soon followed by a ute pulling up near her front door. Mack jumps out of the back, reaches in to grab his gear, and swing his bag over his shoulder; it has two dead and dressed rabbits hanging from it. He bangs the side of the ute and calls out, “See you later, Marker.” The ute drives off as Mack walks in.

“Where did you meet Marker?” She asks while he passes her.

“Camp Echo Five.” She follows him into the house while she does the maths. She gives a slow head shake when she works out he walked over ten kilometres to get there the way he left. He adds, “I left eighteen rabbits with Marker because I think we need only two.” She smiles, and they both turn to cutting the meat off the rabbits to place it in the stew.

With the stew cooking they have some fruit because it'll be another hour before the stew is ready for them. They sit at the table to eat. Mack asks, “What have you thought about where I'll live, later?”

She sighs, “I've been thinking on that. The government busybodies won't let you stay here by yourself, nor will they approve you living with Marker or Hammer, despite my will saying that. The best I can come up with is your Dad's cousin in Canberra, and you can go to live there. You met them a couple of times when we went to Canberra and they've been here twice. That leaves the farm and what's to happen to it.”

“I thought about that. I'd like to stay here and invite Marker to bring his family out to live here, but I doubt that'll get past the Child Welfare people. I've no intention of being a logger all of my life. I think we should sell the farm but I'm not going to sell to Parks, no matter what. I still think he was behind what happened to Dad, but I've no proof.”

Irene nods. “I'd like to sell to Marker too. But he hasn't got the cash to buy it and the bank won't fund him enough for the farm.”

“Mum, if we allowed full logging by the company, how much do you think they'd pay per year?”

“Last time they spoke to me with a semi-honest bid they wanted to do the usual fifty percent logging of the up mountain stands and they were prepared to pay a million per year. They figured on eight years before they had to start back over the area to do the other half. They weren't happy with talking to a woman about it, despite this land and forest having been in my family for almost two centuries.”

He smiles, “They never had a look at the down mountain stand?”

She matches his grin, “No, it's too small for them to be interested in it as a commercially sustainable operation. It would seem my grandfather was right about keeping that stand at that size when he started changing that plateau.” They both laugh.

“There's no way I can expect to get a fair deal, or for the company to honour any contracts, if I'm not here to watch them.” She agrees with a nod. “You can bet any government appointed trustee won't give a damn about what I want, either, as Parks has too much pull with the state politicians.” He studies his mother for a moment then says, “OK, what say we sell the farm to Marker and allow him a long time to pay it off. He can pay us from logging contracts with the company. I'm sure he can get an extra twenty percent out of those bums. We carry the loan and he buys it through his company. I think that'll work, don't you?”

“Hmm, we take a big risk that he can pay it off in the long term. A big fire could bust him. What then?”

“If we take everything he gets, yes, a fire could be an issue. So we let him keep enough to nest egg. It's not as if we need the money straight away or I can use it for some years. So he just takes longer to pay it off.”

Irene thinks on this for a moment, “OK. Here's what we'll do if he wants to go along. I use our main company and Mister Malcolm. We sell everything and the money goes to the company. That stops Parks from being able to interfere with it. Marker spends the next twenty years paying you via the company. But we do it as two contracts. One's the sale of the land company to his company by me and the other's the loan of the money from our main company to his company. That way there's no direct link between us. Call him up and ask him to come out.”

Mack goes to the phone, he punches in a phone number, it rings, and is answered. He says, “Good evening, Missus Hanson, it's Mack Dean, can I speak to Mister Hanson, please?” A short wait, “Hi, Marker. Mum and I need to speak to you about a few things. It's very important! Can you come back out here later tonight?” A short wait, “Thanks, we'll see you then.” He hangs up and turns to his mother, “He'll be out in about two hours. I better get my homework done.” She nods agreement and they both go to get some work done before their dinner is ready to eat.

Discussions

Marker arrives at ten-fifteen. Irene lets him in and sits him down at the table while Mack carries three cans of cold soft drink over. When all are seated Irene starts the discussion, “Marker, we've got some hard decisions to make and we're hoping you'll help us out.” He gives them both a worried look. “The first thing we need to know is: if we make it possible for you to do so would you like to buy Sandy Knoll Farm?”

He gives them a half grin, “I'd love to buy this place. How will you get the bank to loan me that much money?”

Mack joins in, “We won't. We'll loan you the money. The way we see it is Mum sells it to your company. Our company loans your company the money for the farm. You spend the next twenty years or so paying our company for the farm at a low interest rate. We need to work out and agree on a rate and payment schedule, but we can do that later.”

Marker sits back and thinks. “Yes, that'd work. It also hides who the owner is while we upset Parks. We have to get a proper valuation done and talk to our legal people about the wording of the contracts.”

Irene takes over, “I can go into the city to get one of the better guys there to come and do the valuation. But there's a couple of things you need to be aware of. First, the Parks Company has offered me a million a year to do fifty percent logging of the up mountain stands, they figure on sixteen years work to clear the lot. Eight years for each run.”

Marker interrupts, “I figure it'll cost them one point four million per year for ten years to do a proper fifty percent logging of those stands, twenty for the lot. I'll see they stick to the contracts too.”

They all smile. She adds, “The down mountain stand is too small to be company logged. That was done deliberately as we want that stand to be hand logged by the family. The reason is when you get a few metres or so into the stand you'll find most of the trees are exotics - maple, oak, chestnut, cedar, mahogany, etcetera. It was planted over a hundred years ago and we've been very careful in taking trees from it. There's a mob in Rivers that takes the logs when we cut them.” Marker is stunned. “I figure you can either do that or cut some and turn them into furniture as Hammer is very good at doing that. Whatever you do, that adds an extra income source no one else knows about. It's allowed us to confuse the hell out of people like Parks who think they have us on tight finances.” Marker laughs, hard and long, about how that must be upsetting Parks.

“No wonder your family is always able to manage despite how bad things got. And they're always generous to others, too.”

Irene nods yes, “That, and our large vegetable garden out the back. One other thing. When we sell you the farm one clause will be for us to live here rent free until the end of the year. We won't be here that long, but we just don't know when Mack will be leaving.” Marker gives her a very worried look. “I've got cancer and the doctors don't expect me to last more than a few months. I won't live to Christmas. After I go he'll likely have to go live with cousins in Canberra. We don't see the Child Welfare people letting him live here with you.” He gives a slow nod.

Standing up he says, “OK, get started on the paperwork for your side and I'll get my solicitor started on my side. Once we get a valuation done we can talk amounts.” They nod agreement and he leaves to go home.

Mack and Irene spend a little longer talking then they go to bed.

Hanson Home

It's near midnight when Marker gets home. All of the kids are in bed but his mother and wife are sitting up drinking tea while they wait for him. He walks in and goes to a high cupboard. He gets out a glass and pours a shot of whisky from a hip flask there. Both ladies' eyes go wide at his actions. He doesn't drink as a general rule but there are the odd times when he has a single shot of whisky, now he has two: it's the first time he's done that. He washes the glass, dries it, and he puts it back.

He says nothing while he checks the teapot. Taking the boiling kettle off of the stove he makes a new pot of tea before he gets some biscuits from the cupboard. He rinses the cups they'd been using and he pours them a hot cup of tea each. By now both of the women are very worried by his actions.

He sits down, sips his tea, and says, “If I ever find the bastard who killed Jim Dean I'm going to skin him alive!” The women glance at each other while they sip their tea. He looks up, “Irene has cancer and they give her only a few months to live.”

Both the women in his life say, “Shit,” as they put their cups down.

“They wanted to speak to me about Mack's future. They know the government bums won't let him live with us so they want to protect him and the farm. Mack will likely live with some cousins in Canberra he's met a few times but hardly knows. The big thing is they want me to buy Sandy Knoll Farm.” Both women react to that and start to speak. He adds, “And I'm sure they've found a way to do it while pissing off Parks too.” Both ladies close their mouths. “They don't want the money up front as they want to sell it to our company and carry the loan. So instead of paying off a bank we pay off Mack for twenty years. Irene is getting a valuation done then we'll talk payment amounts and rates.”

His mother smiles, “Yes, that'll work. It has a few other advantages.” Marker and Jemma look at her. “We work hard to finish those two houses then Hammer and you can live on site rent free. That saves on rent, work travel costs, and puts you on hand to supervise the logging of the forest there. The issue will be paying Mack.”

Marker smiles, “That's not a problem. We'll get a company logging contract or use our own teams to log the stands.”

“Can we run our own teams and make enough? Aren't the annual lease fees on those stands high!” This is a statement, not a question.

“Yes, we can self-log at a very good profit. I think I'm the only person outside of their family who knows they own all of that land freehold and it's not leased from the government. Jim told me about it some years back. One of Irene's earliest ancestors in the area was worried about ownership and title. When he got the chance he bought more land and had it merged with his initial grant. No one knows how he did it, but instead of a bigger grant document he got handed a freehold title to the whole lot. When the government converted the grants to leases they had to leave him be because of the freehold title. They pay shire rates at about five percent of the lease fees for such an area. On top of that, I finally have their family's big secret.”

His mother is surprised, “You know how come they survive in the hard times?”

He nods. “Not having to pay lease fees is a big advantage, but the real kicker is the small stand of trees on the other plateau just past the dam. It's too small to justify commercial logging unless you clear it, and that's not allowed. But it's OK for careful hand logging, which they do. Once you get into the stand the trees are all exotics. If they need money they drop a few trees and take them to Rivers. Oak, mahogany, cedar, and heaven only knows what else. The demand for them never goes away and the price always goes up.” Both women smile.

Jemma says, “I'll bet it was Irene and Mack who made the large donation to the tribal help fund a few months back. Her family has always helped people out. I bet they've always done more than we suspected via cash from sales of the exotic woods.”

Marker smiles, “That's not a bet I'll take the other side of.”

They spend another half hour or so discussing this turn of events before they go to bed. Tomorrow Marker and his mother will speak to the other Tribal Elders to get their approval for the tribe's company to buy the Sandy Knoll Farm by having Marker sign the contracts as the Walkers Enterprises chief executive officer. Many Aboriginal tribes have companies to help manage assets within the Australian legal system, but, unlike most others, theirs is not linked to the tribe in any obvious way. This allows them to avoid a lot of unwanted government scrutiny of what business they do. Also, the name looks more like a private person's company and it has its registered office in Sydney. Thus few will know who really owns this private company, which means the company has less hassles with the sort of people who don't like Aboriginal people. This will also help to hide the whole deal from Parks.

__________________________________

Organising Things

On Thursday Irene isn't surprised to have a visit from Marker's wife and his mother with Hammer's wife around ten o'clock. However, the other seven senior women of the tribe weren't expected. They sit down for tea and biscuits while they chat about Irene's circumstances. After half an hour Ma Hanson asks, “Irene, can you show us where you're up to with the new houses, please?” Irene smiles as she nods yes.

They get up and go over to the new houses. While they walk Irene tells them where they're at, “As you can see, the outer structure is done. We even have all of the solar panels on, thanks to Hammer and Marker. The pump-house is done and working, so is the waste system. I'll talk about that in detail later, if you want. All of the waste is recycled and goes on the garden as fertiliser. It has to be watched closely because most of it's biological processing. The toilets are done and work. The plasterboard is in. What's left is the cornices, kick-boards, painting, interior doors, and fit-out of the rest of the wet areas.” She finishes speaking when they reach the main house and go into it after Irene unlocks the front door. She leads the ten ladies through the house then over to the smaller one. They note the status and all of the materials are there to finish everything except the wet areas. They return to the current house for the light picnic lunch the ladies brought, and to discuss the houses and work in detail.

While they eat Jedda asks, “Irene, how come the houses aren't cold?”

She says, “Jim planned them well. The outer walls are two rows of large concrete blocks with foam insulation between. The concrete floors sit on some insulation that looks like bubble wrap on foil and the floors have in-slab heating elements with sensors. They're controlled by zones and are hooked to a panel in the garage. They've been on for months. When we put the solar panels up Hammer finished hooking up all of the internal electrical work. We only turn on the circuit breakers for what we need to have powered. So the floors are kept warm by the solar panels. The roof has more of the bubble insulation under the roof panels and heavy duty insulation bats on the ceiling sheeting. More bats are in every wall. The windows are special jobs that are triple glazed and tinted. Tight fitting doors too. Thus the place is very well insulated, so the small amount of heating is all it needs to stay comfortably warm.”

“Damn, it sounds like it'll survive a fire.”

“It will. Jim designed it to be as fireproof as can be made. Concrete walls seventy centimetres thick, steel roof and eaves, protected steel outer doors. Built in mesh on the gutters so leaves don't get in, and well away from the forest. He had a Melbourne University guy put a mock up through a fire test facility. They'll survive anything that doesn't melt the steel. Even the electrical wires and water pipes are on the inside of the walls and not between the two outer layers, as is usual. All outside wires and pipes are a metre down, and they run through insulated steel pipes. The electricity is only at risk from the pole the sub-generator is on and back to the grid. He wasn't taking any risks with fire here.” All of the visitors are surprised at the extreme lengths taken to make the place safe in a fire. “According to the guy in Melbourne, if a major fire-storm came through here the best place to be is in the house and not the dam. The house protects against the smoke because it's air tight when locked up.” Ma Hanson has a huge grin. She's lost too many relatives and friends to bush fires over the years, but she won't lose any here.

Jemma speaks up, “Do you mind if we let the loggers know this is a safe harbour when there's a fire?”

“That's been the plan all along, but not until we had them finished.”

Ma Hanson helps Irene clean up after lunch while the other ladies change into work gear. The ladies head to the two houses to put the kick-boards and cornices in, some of them have done this before so they'll show the others how to do it. Irene makes a few phone calls before she goes over to help while Ma Hanson stays to watch the phone. She's a bit beyond this sort of work now, so she doesn't try to do it.

When it's time to go home from school Mack is surprised to find so many extras getting on the bus to go to his house. As this isn't the bus they usually get they have to pay for the ride, but it's cheap. The driver smiles when he drops nearly twenty kids at Sandy Knoll Farm. When they reach the house they all go in for a snack and then they spread out in the lounge room to work on their homework. Mack gets changed and he goes over to see what he can do to help. He's soon chased back.

Mack is laughing hard when he walks back into the house, so all of the kids look at him. Jess asks, “What's so funny?”

“I just went over to do the work listed as my current chores and I got chased off by your mothers. Wouldn't you find it funny if the mother of a friend chased you away so she can get on with doing your chores for you?” All of the kids laugh too.

Ma Hanson calls out, “Mack, can you come and talk to me about the bathrooms and kitchens, please? Your mother said to talk to you.”

“Sure, just let me get some papers first, Missus Hanson.” A couple of minutes later he's sitting at the dining table while he shows her the papers and sketches they have. “We've not ordered the shower units or baths yet, but we can order them at any time. Also, we want to have a kitchen designer go over the kitchen plans before committing to them.”

“Right, the phone's there. Order the showers, baths, and sinks for the laundries etcetera. Then I'll call a kitchen designer I know.” Mack knows an order when he hears it, so he does as told and he places the order. A moment after he hangs up he's asked, “Mack, why no taps?”

“We have those already! They're in boxes in the garages. We got them while they were on sale. Like we did with many of the other fittings.”

Mack only gets to work on his homework for about an hour before he's called to the house, as he expected to be. They can't work out the system for installing the pre-built interior door and lintel units. It only takes him twenty minutes to show them how to do it. It's a very simple system and easy to use, once you know how it works.

Note: A sub-generator is a single-phase pole-mount transformer.

Friday

While Mack is at school the ladies visit the farm to finish getting it ready for painting. The ladies have a long lunch with the bathroom and kitchen designer while they discuss designs. The ones Jim did are very good and there's little the professional can do to improve them, but that little is done. She leaves with an order for two kitchens and eight sink areas to be done real quick. A welcome order because business is slow.

Saturday

Hammer, Marker, and a few other men arrive early with some spray painting gear. Marker approaches Mack and says, “Right, Mate, I'm told you've got all of the paint for this job! Where is it?”

Mack smiles as he takes him to the garage for the main house and he opens it up. Along the back wall are several large piles of paint tins. He points at them as he says, “You start at the left. The first pile is a sealant that has to go on all of the woodwork and plasterboard, just go and paint all but the floor. The ladies have wrapped plastic around all of the fittings and covered the windows. Please clean up any spills on the floor. The next pile is the primer; again, paint the lot. Third pile is the light blue ceiling paint followed by the pile of aqua paint for the walls then the pile of dark blue for the kick-boards and wooden frames. The doors get the same paint as the walls. Two coats of everything. If you want to know what it looks like when finished look in the toilets as they're all done.”

Marker turns around and catches the eyes of some men, they all nod to show they understand the decor. These are the ones who'll do the painting while the rest are gophers (as in go for this and that). They all understand what's to be done and the order to do it in.

Mack adds, “You need to wait two hours between coats for all of them. These are special fast drying paints. Have fun.” They smile. It's OK for Mack to be sarcastic since he now doesn't have to do the work.

The group breaks up with some men heading to their trucks to get their gear while others walk forward to grab cans of the sealant. Mack goes and unlocks all of the doors. In twenty minutes the only sounds in the new houses are those of five spray painting outfits at work.

Mack and Hammer spend the morning wandering around while they check all is going well. Marker is busy spraying paint. No one is allowed into the buildings without a breather mask due to the fumes. Men in old clothes and masks are going in and out to keep the paint supplies up to the painters. Those with the spray gear just spray and move to the next room, others prepare, clean up, and bring them more paint as needed.

About ten-thirty Mack is called out to check a load of gear on a truck that's arrived. He's surprised it's already here. He didn't expect this lot until late next week. It's payment on receipt and next week is the end of the month and the financial year so they want the money in the books.

Mack checks the delivery docket, examines the load, and leads the driver to the house where he opens the Internet banking program on his computer and he processes a payment for the delivery of showers, baths, etc. After a short wait he has a receipt number. The driver is surprised the boy has the authority to make the payment, but he doesn't care as long as he gets paid. A quick call to the office and he gets confirmation of the payment, along with the approval to unload the gear.

They go back to the truck and unload the items for each house at its garage. When they do this Mack smiles. He now knows why the work crew is so much bigger than he thought was needed. The extras have been busy making the forms for the access ramps to the garages and porches. These will be concrete made to look like flagstones similar to the porches and garages are. All of the forms are up, but only the ramps for the front porches and the triple garage have the reinforcing rods in them and are ready to pour concrete into them. Twenty minutes later a concrete truck drives in and sets up to pour the garage ramp first. Mack watches Hammer supervise the job, and he notes the concrete is tinted as if it's new sandstone. He smiles at this nice touch to show this known work is new. The crew at work here are good. They soon have all of the concrete poured and being smoothed off. When the truck leaves Hammer is laying the matting for the block shapes. Ten minutes later he has Mack spreading the final covering because he's the only one to have done this before. Many of the men watch and learn how to do it.

When they finish spraying the second coat of sealant the painters take a break for lunch. They have to stop and clean their gear so they have a feed as well. It takes them about an hour to make one pass with the sprayers so each coat is half dry by the time they finish one run. The work goes well. By dinnertime they've the sealant and primer coats on. That leaves only the final colour coats for later.

The delivered wet area gear is moved into the garages and locked up. After dinner with the Deans the men go home for the day.

Sunday

Both Mack and Irene are surprised when they're followed home after church services. Yesterday's work crew are following them. This is very unusual because Sunday is the family rest day in this area. Within minutes of arriving on site the men are getting ready for the next concrete delivery and masking some areas for painting while the ladies prepare lunch. By the time lunch is ready the garages are empty again and the men are ready to paint as soon as they finish eating.

Yesterday they worked in both houses at once with all using the same paint. Today they split between the houses again, but one crew uses the light blue ceiling paint while the other crew uses the aqua for the walls. By the time one group is finished in a house the paint is dry enough for it to be safe for the other group to enter and start painting. By the time both groups have been through both houses it's time for the second coat to be done. Smart thinking by whoever thought it out.

Mack

Ernest Bywater

Mack

Chain Reactions

Sandy Knoll Farm

Missing Mack

Funeral

Life Goes On

Logging

A Taxing Time

Interlude

Building

More Trouble

Organising Things

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