Mother Lode

Mother Lode 
By Paul McCann

She was born in a busy western Sydney hospitalan innocent little girl with no idea of what life was all about. Michelle was working on that night shift as a casual registered nurse in the very understaffed maternity section. She eyed the new born baby with envy , as Michelle had always wanted a child of her own, but her nursing career always came before everything else.

The night shift was very quiet and Michelle allowed herself to dream about being a Mother. 
Her own childhood was void of motherless care due to the fact she was abandoned by her parents and was brought up by foster parents who already had 7 other children. At 16 years of age Michelle began her studies in nursing and graduated as a registered nurse before she was 21. Michelle had faced some hardships in the only relationship she had with a man. After that Michelle became cynical towards men and devoted her life to nursing.  

On this particular shift Michelle was reading through the patient notes and read about Robyn the mother of the new born baby. 
Robyn had a history of mental illness and had used drugs. The more Michelle read the angrier she became. She went in to do a sight check on the patient and baby. The Mother was fast asleep and in a moment of madness Michelle snatched the baby from the mother’s bedside and ran out of the hospital to her car and drove away at speed.

She decided she would be a far better mother that her biological mother and she also wanted to mother someone in the way she had always wanted to be mothered.

Now with another woman’s baby she left her career, her troubled foster family and flat in western Sydney and went bush. She withdrew all her money from her bank and began to make plans for the future.  She called the baby Robyn after her Mother and soon secured a small flat in a rural township far away from inquisitive eyes. For a little while Michelle was able to get by with handouts from one of the remote church charities and lived a secluded life with baby Robyn. She soon was able to secure part time work for a legal secretary typing out information for some high profile firms in Sydney.
Somehow Michelle was able to impress the legal firm with her very intelligent responses during the interview. She worked part time for a few years and then she met Jim. Michelle was desperate to make things work and buried her hatred for men. After six months they were married. Jim, Michelle and Robyn moved to Cairns and set up a little business with Jims savings.
Michelle and Jim took young Robyn out on the fishing boat they purchased and they all spent a lot of time outdoors. They also owned a small sailing boat and went on some wonderful adventures together.  Jim had always wanted them to have a child and Michelle frequently said no she was happy with Robyn and she didn’t want anymore. Jim persisted to the point of threatening to finish their relationship if Michelle wouldn’t agree to them have a child and so and one day as they were out sailing Robyn pushed Jim over the edge of the boat into the deep water and watched him struggle to stay afloat. She saw a shark approach and watched as it circled Jim. In a matter of time Jim disappeared. 

Michelle turned the boat around and returned with Robyn to a small harbour near the Port Douglas where they parked the JEEP.

She took the spare keys from her bag and drove back to the house in Cairns. After loading the car with as much as it could and then drove off with Robyn towards Brisbane. 
Over the next few months Michelle had managed to drain Jim’s savings from ATMs using a key card to their joint account   .
Michelle responded to an advertisement in the paper for rental accommodation and took up tenancy of a small rundown two bedroom house in Brisbane.
The she started home schooling for Robyn who was now ten years of age. Michelle was now Mother and school teacher for Robyn in the home with no windows or doors. Stray cats and dogs often wandered in and out of the house.  Michelle had a notion of finding gold and began to search around some isolated places accessible only by a four wheel drive.  
She was drawn back to Cairns and places like the Atherton Tablelands.  
She took Robyn to places like Palmer and they fossicked for gold around in Maytown. They lived on baked beans and damper bread cooked and toasted on an open fire. 
One day Michelle and Robyn discovered an old opal mine that had been abandoned out there in the sticks. Beside the old mine was a graveyard with some old headstones. Michelle was intrigued but wanted first to have a look inside the old mine. As she and Robyn went deeper into the mine it was then that Michelle met her fate. She could not believe her luck when she found a huge gold nugget lying there inside an old abandoned cart. It was so big that Robyn couldn’t lift it. She tried a number of time to lift it out of the cart but gave up in the end. Suddenly she heard this voice. Having trouble with that, maybe I can I help? Michelle recognised that voice and she froze in fright. She turned around slowly to see her husband Jim holding a large hunting knife in his hand.
Robyn was unaware of his presence and she kept asking Michelle who she was talking to.  Robyn was the first to feel Jim’s wrath as the ghost struck his knife deep into her heart. Michelle screamed over and over in terror as Jim walked towards her holding Robyn’s heart in his hand. The mine shaft started to crumble and in a few moments the walls caved in and after that the mine shaft collapsed. Up above on the surface ghostly shapes could be seen dancing around in the dust that swirled in a strange wind that came from nowhere. 
Many years later some outback tourists who were out visiting some of the old sites from the gold rush days came across this old site with a sign that read, Jims Claim - Abandon Hope All Who Enter Here.
Now everyone knows tourists love outback adventures and this group had decided to ignore the warning outside the mineshaft and one by one they all went down inside the old mine. One of these tourists was Robyn the mother of the child Michelle had stolen many years previous who was researching her ancestry and one of the historical facts she discovered was that her great grandfather was a miner who had been involved with the restoration of many of the old miner’s gravestones. Robyn was on a mission to find her great grandfathers grave. The small group of tourists had descended down into the old mine.  When they reached the bottom of the mine they were met by 2 snakes that came rushing towards them. The tourists turned to run but were stopped in their tracks by Jim who was holding a heart in his hand. He said the sign on my mine said abandon Hope all you who enter here.
It’s time to meet your fate. Up above on the surface the ghostly shapes of men arose from out of their graves. One by one they all went down into the mine. One of those ghosts was the great grandfather of Robyn and he led the way down into the mine where they dragged Jim the graveyard and they all descended down into their graves with Jim screams echoing in a distant silence. 
All the tourists returned to the surface. They all wanted to leave in a hurry but Robyn was drawn to go over to the graveyard where she made her way to a headstone. The headstone was almost in perfect condition as if it were new. The names on the headstone read. At final rest here in this place - Opal Jack and  great great grandchild Robyn . Both buried below. The message meant something to Robyn and she felt a friendly presence and peace came over her. The wind blew some dust from the top of the grave and then Robyn saw something shinning under her feet. She brushed away some of the soil and then she saw the nugget there lying on the ground under her feet.

It was the largest nugget ever found in Australia. When it was discovered the nugget was on the site that belonged to her great grandfather she was allowed to keep the gold nugget. With the money she got from the sale of the gold nugget Robyn restored the old mine and called it Opal Jacks Place and she also built a small gold rush town with a hotel and restaurant. Tourists flocked there often and Robyn welcomed them and told stories about the old times when Opal Jack and his friends drove their carts deep into the ground in search for treasure . 

Robyn lived out the rest of her life with those she loved all around her.

By Paul McCann