Chapter 31

With all the all the hustle and bustle of getting the Sundowner up and running plus the weddings on top of that, I had completely forgotten Fred's car. Cheryl had driven it back after her last visit to Fish Creek and had parked it around the back of the house.

"When I picked the car up I had to get the mechanic to tell me how to drive it Tony, it has one of those automatic gearboxes."

"I'm not with you Cheryl, why would you need someone to tell you how to drive it?"

"Well, for a start there's no clutch pedal, when you put it into drive that's all there is to it; it changes gear automatically."

"Yeah? I gotta see that." My mind was working overtime, perhaps Ernie might be able to drive it with his bum leg. Keeping my fingers crossed we went out to look at it. Sure enough there was only the brake and accelerator. Time for a bit of fun, we went back inside and I looked for Ernie, when I found him I asked him if he would drive into Bairnsdale for me.

"I'll see if Jean is free Tony."

"No Ernie I want you to drive in for me."

"If you are being a smart arse Tony I think it's in poor taste. You know I can't drive with my crook leg, so what's the joke?"

"Not being a smarty Ernie, Fred's car has an auto gearbox, you only need your right leg to drive it. Want to give it a go mate?"


"Fair dinkum? You bet your bloody socks I do son, let me at it."

We went out to the car and Ernie got in the driver's seat. "Great Tony! Let's go for a drive and see how I go."

He started the engine and worked out the gear stick positions, selected drive and away we went.

"Jesus Tony! This is the best thing since my accident, I don't have to be a burden on anyone when I want to go anywhere. How much do you want for it, I'll buy it off you son."

"No sale Ernie, it's yours, I'll keep your old bomb and you can have this one. Since we bought the Sundowner you have put in a lion's share of the work. We wouldn't have been any where near to opening if it wasn't for Jean and yourself. Consider it a straight swap."

"Tony, I'm gob smacked, this is a wonderful thing you have done for me, I won't forget it."

"You are overlooking something Ernie, we are family, families look out for each other."

"Wow! it's great to get back behind the wheel Tony, wait til I show Jean."

"Well you could pull a swiftie on her mate, just tell her you want to go into Bairnsdale and then get behind the wheel."

"Jesus! You're a devious bastard aren't you?"

"Yep, sure am but only for good reasons."

Ernie tricked Jean into going to town and when she saw him get into the driver's seat she wondered what was going on. When Ernie explained to her she had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Tony, the one thing that Ernie was bitter about was his being unable to drive. You've given him his freedom again, thank you for being so good hearted."

"You both have worked hard to get the Sundowner up and running Jean, this is just a small token of our appreciation."

...

The Sundowner was doing extra well, we were just about run off our feet. We had a visit from Sister Maria one day, she had someone in the car with her who remained seated while she came into the shop.

"Tony, I have a request to make of you, if you don't want to help I will understand and not hold it against you."

"If I can help Sister, then you know I will. What's the problem?"

"Do you remember little Taffy Housden? Well she's gone and got herself slightly pregnant. To compound the problem she won't tell us who the father is. What I would like you to do is board her out until the birth of the child, then we will consider what to do with it."

"You mean put the kid up for adoption don't you Sister?"

"Unfortunately yes Tony."

"Bring Taffy in please Sister, I'll need to talk to the others about this."

Sister went to the car and spoke to Taffy, soon they both came back in. I called Jess, Dom and Cheryl to come and talk with us.

"This is Taffy folks, Sister tells me she's 'slightly' pregnant and would like us to board her out until it's time to drop."

Typically, Jess and Cheryl took Taffy into their arms and made her welcome.

"There's no way we wouldn't help her Sister, she's in trouble and we'll do the utmost to help her."

"Thankyou Cheryl, I'm sorry to impose on you like this but it wouldn't be in her best interest to stay at the orphanage in her condition. Tony will tell you, some kids can be really cruel at times and I think they would make her life a misery."

Taffy was looking pretty miserable so I suggested we have a cup of tea and something to eat. "I think we can rustle something up to eat."

"Gee you're a dill Tony! everyone knows we sell food here."

Taffy had a bit of a giggle so my ruse had worked. I made a pot of tea and we sat in the kitchen, Dom put some scones, jam and cream on the table and we dug in. I'm going to be careful or I'll be putting on weight. Still the old adage "never trust a skinny cook" must have some substance in it.

"OK Taffy, the girls will set you up with a room, I don't expect you to bust your guts helping us but it would be appreciated. I think it would also take your mind off of your pregnancy."

"Thank you Tony, I'm not scared of work and I think I will enjoy helping out. That's the least I can do."

"I can't thank you folks enough Tony. We brought an overnight bag with the hope you would take Taffy, I'll come back tomorrow with the rest of her stuff if that's OK?"