Pouring down with rain

by Joy Illguth

It was pouring down with rain.

"Not much I can do today" thought Dorothy, "best leave the dirty washing where it is in the basket for another day."

Deciding to clean out the wardrobe and drawers in her bedroom, Dorothy slowly limped her way to the bedroom and very reluctantly pulled out a drawer from the wardrobe, tipping its contents all over
the bed.

"Oh lor" she said, "where on earth does all this rubbish come from?" Shaking her head and tutting to herself, she pulled a chair closer to the bed and carefully sat down, hoping her rickety old back would remember to bend as she landed her backside on the seat of the chair much quicker than she had anticipated, sending shocks of pain up through her spine. Quickly she straightened her right leg trying to relieve the arthritic pain she felt in her knee.

"I'm getting on, it's plain to see" she moaned to herself. "Funny thing is I never thought of myself as being old." Rummaging through the contents of the drawer she picked up a tiny old black and white photo of an airforce man with his arm in a sling. Dorothy smiled and nodded to herself as she remembered. That's my Charlie, that is, at the end of the war. Real dapper he was and couldn't he make the ladies swoon!
Her mind drifted back to the day they met. It was Moore Park beach. She had had a row with her father over not doing her fair share of the chores, so after feeding the chooks and letting out the geese, she had decided she wanted to be alone. Getting on her bike she pedalled down to the beach. It was a beautiful Spring morning. The air was still damp as she caught sight of a kangaroo that was scavenging late along the beach. Not a soul was around, just the sea, sand, Dorothy and the kangaroo, when a big wave landed a small boat on the beach and out stepped this bronzed figure of a man with wavy blonde hair and exotic blue eyes. She found herself staring straight at him, remembering every small feature of his face. He made her heart beat so fast she wondered what was the matter with her.

"G'day beautiful" he said "do I know you from somewhere?"

Dorothy felt quite awkward as he caught her star and felt herself going red as a beetroot! "Most probably" she answered coyly. "I live at Welcome. G'day I'm Noelle Green."

Oh yes" he said, "I know your family. I'm CharlieO'Brian. I'm running a bit late this morning but I'd sure
like to see you again. I'll be here tomorrow, same time same place if your interested." And he was gone.

Dorothy did of course meet him on the beach the next day and so their romance blossomed. Those were glorious days she thought and didn't I give him a run for his money she thought and smiled to herself. Fancy
him being a pilot and coming home unscathed only to fall down and break his arm playing ball with the kids outside.

Sighing she put down the photo and picked up a little tiny gift box. On opening it her eyes widened. Inside was a lock of golden hair and a little note which read "Peter's first hair cut". Gently Dorothy picked up the lock of hair and touched it lovingly in her hand. He was a gorgeous baby, not much trouble at all. He was almost two before he had his first hair cut, everyone mistook him for a girl. Charlie didn't like that, so he got out the old pudding basin one morning and put in on Peter's head and with a couple of snips his curls were gone. She remembered being very upset and tried not to show it. When Charlie wasn't looking Dorothy quickly picked up a lock of Peter's hair.

Placing the tiny lock of hair back into the box, Dorothy decided she had to keep it and put it to one side with the photo. Turning over a few coins, a threepenny bit, a couple of pennies and a silver sixpence, she gazed at the sixpence and wondered how many times it would have made its way into a Christmas pudding. Too many to think about, she thought. Then she picked up a half a crown. Goodness she thought, that was worth a lot of money in my young days. Turning over a few more old coins and pennies, Dorothy was reminded of the day
Charlie stood in her mother's kitchen with his back to the stove, feeling on top of the world as he had twelve pennies in his pocket, juggling them around feeling really well off until his mother-in-law said, "A man who juggles money around in his pocket is showing the world he ain't got nothing."
Charlie's face dropped and he immediately stopped playing with his money.

Turning a few more things over Dorothy picked up an interesting looking envelope inside which was a gold
edged card which read "We cordially invite you to the marriage of Rita Nicholls and Barry Wallis". Dorothy started to chuckle loudly as she remembered the reception afterwards. Rita's father had been caught in one of the sheds with his pants down messing around with Dora Marsh and his wife gave him a smack on the nose in front of everyone! Dora and her husband Rod were quietly asked to leave. Then there was Albert, drunk
as a lord he was, being chased by the geese. Needless to say he fell into the dam and had to be rescued by half a dozen of the guests. Then there was the fight between Peter and Col. That was a beauty, that was. Never did find out what it was over. All I remember is Col being picked up by Peter
and literally being thrown across one of the long tables covered with food. Glass and plates flew everywhere as the food landed on the floor. It was hilarious watching the four dogs dive for the food and licking away at Col's face as he lay motionless between two chairs. You could hear the roar of the guests' laughter all the way down in Bundaberg! Dorothy slipped the card back into its envelope and said to herself, "They don't have receptions like that anymore" and decided she couldn't part with that card and laid it to one side.

Picking up a few postcards, Dorothy read them and discarded them to the floor. That's a start she thought as she picked up a photo of Trixy the dog. "Oh dear Lord" she said, "didn't she give us a fright." There I was out in the backyard doing some weeding when little Trixy the foxy dived in front of me. The next thing I knew she was shaking a brown snake in her mouth with all her might but the snake was too big for her and poor Trixy dropped it only to be bitten on the ear by the darn thing. Poor old Trixy went four paces and just simply keeled over lying dead still on her side as the snake slipped away. I remember as if it was yesterday how I screamed "the snake has killed my dog". Picking her up carefully and with tears trickling down my face I cried my heart out as I walked into the kitchen to Charlie. He jumped up from his chair when he saw me cradling the dog in my arms. He carefully took her from me as I explained through my tears what had happened. Laying the dog on the table Charlie said,<:S->
"Look, she is still alive."

"You had better get your rifle and shoot her" I said. I can't bare the thought of her lying there and dying a slow death."

Charlie shook his head. "Tell you what" he said, "I have an idea. Let's cut off her ear and see what happens, at least she might have a chance." Before I could protest Charlie had the knife in his hand and zap the ear was off. Charlie looked at me and said, "It might just stop the poison spreading luv, let's keep her warm for a few hours and see what happens."

Towards evening Trixy came too, very sick and very bloody. It took us two days to stop the bleeding from her ear but she lived to tell the tale and for that Dorothy was very thankful, even if the dog looked funny with only one ear!

I'll keep that thought Dorothy as she laid it to one side and continued to rummage and turn things over,
like an old tin whistle and a Players tobacco tin. On opening the tobacco tin she found it full of loose pearls and of course the memories came flooding back to her. Dorothy had received the string of pearls from her mother for her Twenty First birthday which was also the day of her engagement to Charlie. Everyone was busy drinking and chatting so Dorothy and Charlie knew they would not be missed as they snuck away to the back bedroom for a kiss and cuddle and got carried away until they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. In their hurry to adjust their clothing, the pearls got caught on a button on Dorothy's dress without her knowing and as she pulled the bodice of the dress down, the pearls dropped like thunder to the wooden floor.
As the bedroom door opened, the two of them scrambled to the floor trying to pick up the pearls that were scattered everywhere and both feeling much too guilty and afraid to look up and see who was at the door.

A little voice said, "What you doing down there?" Much to Dorothy's relief, it was only her small sister
Vera! The pearls were collected carefully and Charlie offered his baccy tin and that is where they have stayed ever since. "I'll have them re-threaded one day" said Dorothy as she laid them to one side. "I can't throw those out" and she clutched the brooch on her blouse that Charlie had given her one night so long ago at the bob rush at the Olympia open air cinema. She paused for a moment and tried to think what was built in
its place, "Ah, yes" she said "the Moncrief Theatre." Continuing her task she turned over old keys and
wondered where they fitted and then she collected up old pins and screws placing them all together in an envelope as her eyes settled on a ticket. Can't recall what that was for, she thought as she put on her glasses and looked at it closer. Bundaberg/Bargara Return Fare" it read and a date "Tenth April". Whatever did I do that day, but she just couldn't remember.

Picking up a newspaper clipping about the 1942 floods, her mind drifted back to a funny incident that occurred
to a couple living in a Queenslander opposite the now Life Line shop and Buffalo Hall. The couple had recently invested in a new piano and were obviously very proud of it and were in quite a panic not wanting to get it wet. As the water was already up to the first balcony they decided not to put it up on the table. It was better, they thought, if they put it in the boat and took it away to somewhere dry, which they did. The couple and their teenage children and friends struggled to put the piano into the boat, got it safely in and the owner rowed off and whoops - the boat keeled over and the piano sank.

"So much for staying dry" Dorothy muttered to herself as it dawned on her about the Bargara train ticket. Silly me she thought, fancy me forgetting that, our Tenth wedding anniversary. Charlie, Peter and I, we went on a picnic. The Puffin Billy was packed that day. All the children were hanging their heads out of the windows waving to onlookers as the train chugged away. The sky didn't have its usual radiance but she kept
her fingers crossed it wouldn't rain. She looked down at the lovely dress she was wearing, the first she had actually made without any help. Dorothy has purchased the material from John Black and Sons, where Sollys now stands, for nine pence a yard. It was made of Marocain. The train came to a halt, everyone was excited and before too long the races were being run and people were tucking into ice cream. Then came the first clap of thunder and the pouring rain. Unfortunately for Dorothy the more it rained the wetter her dress got and
the shorter and tighter it became. In fact it got so short it started to go above her knees. Out of embarrassment poor old Dorothy had to sit under a tree with a picnic blanket wrapped around her legs and a newspaper over her head until it was time to take the train home - some anniversary she thought as the telephone rang.

Lifting the receiver, the voice on the other end said,"G'day Dot, this is Mary. Look the rains cleared up, how
about a drive down town to the R.S.L. Hall for a game of Bingo?"Dorothy glanced out of the window. The rain had stopped and the sun was out. "Not a bad idea" she said. "Give me ten minutes to get ready." Putting the phone down, which was in the bedroom, Dorothy looked at the mess on the bed and said out loud, "Now what on earth do I do with that lot, I haven't got time to sort it out now."
" I know" she said, leaning over the bed. She picked it all up, slung it back in the drawer and said, "Blow it, I'll leave it for posterity instead."