Calypso's Mast

Chapter 10 - Lockhart Weather

'I sure hope the boss doesn't find out about this' thought Hatfield as he tried to see through the torrential rain while he drove slowly along, picking his way through the boggy patches in the muddy road. The picture in his mind of Moira Shields yelling at him wasn't a pretty one.' That's the trouble with these career women,' he thought. 'They expect too much. And when it doesn't happen, they lose it.'

The windscreen wipers were going as fast as they could go and they couldn't keep up with the volume of water falling from the heavens. He was starting to get tired from the intense concentration.

O'Leary sat quietly in the passenger seat. She had a small bandage around her head. She didn't appear to be too concerned.

Hatfield was feeling uneasy. They had managed to get across the flooded bridge at the Archer River. But now there was no going back. They had to get to Lockhart River or they would be camping out – in the rain. Not a fun plan at all.

"This rain is ridiculous," he said.

O'Leary nodded.

"How's the head?" he asked.

"Sore, but I'm ok."

She squirmed around and drew her legs up onto the seat in effort to try and get comfortable.

"Did you really sit up at the hospital until I woke up?" she asked looking intensely at him.

"I guess so,"   he said simply. "I felt bad about knocking you out." 

He swung the wheel to avoid a deep hole in the road.

"That is one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced," she said. "I have never met anyone who cared that much for me."

There was an awkward silence.

"I don't' understand," she said. "Why are you now giving me a ride to Lockhart and before you wouldn't?"

He ignored the question and kept driving, peering through the thrashing windscreen wipers. The clouds were so low that it was almost dark.

She pressed the point. 

"At the Albatross, there was no way you were going to give me a lift. If you are feeling bad, because you knocked me out, you shouldn't. I didn't know you were there, when I went for a walk. I tripped. It wasn't your fault."

"I don't feel bad," he said, starting to get annoyed.

"So why the change of heart?"

"Because it is what it is," he said simply. "Do we really need to psychoanalyse it to figure out what is happening all of the time?"

"It's important to me."

"Well, let it be one of the great mysteries of the universe and accept it. It's easier that way."

"Easier for you. It's not for me. I need to understand this."

"Amy! You wanted to go to Lockhart and I'm giving you a lift to Lockhart." He was getting angry at having his feelings explored.

O'Leary wisely shut up, realising that he was struggling with his own emotions. After a few minutes of silence, Hatfield felt remorseful.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm not used to this. I don't normally have to explain my feelings to others. I suppose I did feel some responsibility which is why I sat up at the hospital last night and why I'm happy to give you a lift today."

O'Leary half smiled.

"You know, Winston, when I met you, I thought, right away, that you were a decent person."