Dusty Springs

Dusty Springs –

A short story by Paul McCann.

Life lay limpy all over dusty Derbyvale .
Gone now the grind of tractor and harvester from the once rich soil .
The drought had never left the land since serenity left, which was much to long to remember,
All the families had left dusty Derbyvale except for the Goodman family .
Nothing had grown on the Goodman farm except for the long stranding debt in their bank account .

Mr Goodman never gave up hope though and stood firm on his property .
In a large family of 6 boys and 6 girls it wasn’t easy growing up for Mary, the youngest of the family . At the early age of ten she was a woman in her own right .
She was concerned about her own future . Once a day she went for a long walk around the property ,to her favourite place , the last life on dusty Derbyvale , which was a large Mulberry tree and over the years she had got to learn how to climb up stealthy among the branches where she could be set free, on top of the tree , where she could think and she could talk aloud .
Nobody could hear her and nobody could tell her what to do or how to act .
This was Mary’s special place where the birds could come and sing to her .
The silence surrounded her and spoke to her about the future and many things.
Stray cats from time to time found her and made their way through the branches to the top of the tree where they rested there beside Mary ,
At no time did Mary ever complain about the life she had or how hard it was .
She never complained at all she just got on with life .
She had the courage to accept how things were but what was more , Mary had the wisdom and the vision not only to accept how things were but she had the courage to change the way that things would be for her .

At 16 years of age Mary left her family for Loganville city for that’s where she was bound .. She would take a job in the veterinary hospital .
She had a great love for cats and birds and animals and the like .
She seemed to have a healing power within her for sick animals that she found around the farm .
Indeed she was gifted in many ways .
Every week she would write home to her family .in dusty Derbyville where nothing ever changed . The land was still as dry as ever ..
She used to send home half of her weekly wage to her Mum and her Dad and every Christmas , Mary always made up a parcel of goodies and would send it home to her family .

At 33 years of age Mary fell in love and was married to Paul Logan the primary school teacher . Paul was a clever man and had studied many things in the university ..
They were a very happy couple and lived happily in Loganville .
On the news of their first child they made the decision to go and visit the Goodman’s in dusty Derbyvale .
When Mary returned to her family the first place she visited was the
Mulberry tree . Paul was amazed to watch her scamper up the branches and within seconds there she sat on top of the Mulberry tree,.

Mary asked if she could be alone for a while .
Paul had never refused her yet for anything and wasn’t about to start ,
Paul walked around the property at dusty Derbyvale checking out the place fopr a while .
As if by some strange force that drove him , Paul found himself digging a hole near a rock and to this very day Paul doesn’t know what made him start to dig there but as fate had it Paul found an underground spring and with lots of hard work , the Goodman farm was once again in business .

The land was in abundant in harvest each year thanks to the irrigation system that was built from the underground spring .

The Goodman’s bank account was now very rich and was the envy of every farmer from Derbyvale to Loganville .
Mary and Paul set up their family home on the surrounding property , part of the Goodman empire and they lived a long and a very happy life with their seven beautiful children .

The End