Chapter 8: Causeway

Marty had no idea if this causeway was crossable as it didn’t have depth markers.

Mary walked over to the bank and up the river a short way before coming back. She checked out the sky and turned to him.

“It is only about a foot over, and there isn’t much rubbish, so it should be safe enough. However, I don’t think we should hang around in town if it starts to rain again, which it will.”

“We’re lucky; Pam stopped further up the coast as we haven’t had the rain those poor bastards have. However, now she is moving again. It’s not the rain, which worries me. A Category Four is a nasty cyclone to have go over the top of you.”

He decided that she knew this road well and how the rains affected it, so he trusted her and got back in the tilly. He had to mentally recalculate, what a foot of water was into metric. He had noticed Mary using feet and inches interchangeably with metric, for measurements, several times.

If she was over eighty, this made sense, as she would have had to convert to the metric system later in life. His grandma had often used the imperial system as well. Although he never could work out ounces, pints and gallons, he had no problems with feet and inches. A lot of old surveys were still in imperial.

Mary dropped the ute into second gear and drove at a constant pace across the floodwaters and out the side. She changed gears and put her foot down. They were soon racing the last twenty klicks into town. It was one smooth ride, and the motor sure did purr.

Mary wasn’t light-footed on the accelerator either. She knew every twist and turn and when to slow down. She didn’t drive like a granny. She pushed the car, and it responded as if it knew what she wanted it to do. Not even the wet surface phased it or her.

The ute hugged the road when required and responded with lightning speed to her actions. Marty found himself holding the handle over the door and gripping the side of the seat when Mary would speed through a dip and let the ute become airborne before it dropped over the other side.

By the time she slowed to enter the town, his heart was racing, and he still had butterflies from jumping the dips. He acknowledged that she was frickin’ amazing behind the wheel. To his surprise, the first place she stopped was a hardware store. She drove down to the tradesman entrance and parked up inside the huge shed.

He looked over at her, wondering what she was here for and did a double-take. Sitting beside him was an eighty-year-old Mary. Her hair was washed with silver. Her exposed skin had taken on the translucent look of the aged and seemed to sag and wrinkle in all the predictable places.

He sat there in shock as she got out of the car chuckling. He finally recovered and got out. He followed her to the counter. She was bent over a little and walked with a slower pace more befitting an elderly woman. She rapped on the counter with her knuckles and called out “Darlene, where are you, girl?”

Marty was shocked by the reedy sound of her voice. Then she winked at him. His eyes were telling him one story, but his brain was telling him another. This was his Mary. She had changed before his very eyes just as she had the night before. She truly did have magical powers.

Darlene appeared and said, “Mary May, what are you doing in town with a cyclone on the way? Don’t tell me you drove that beast into town alone. Do you want one of the boys to come and stay with you?”

Mary cackled. “Nope, I’s got this sweet young thing staying with me for a few days.”

Darlene looked Marty up and down. “Damn Mary, how about I keep the hunk, and you take one of my brothers?”

Marty blushed as the young woman’s eyes flashed up and down his body stripping the clothes off him. She was probably only a couple of years younger than he was. She had natural blonde hair, a curvaceous build and bloody big tits.

He had a feeling Darlene didn’t have trouble finding a male friend if she wanted one. She probably had every tradie that came in here panting after her. She didn’t exactly dress to hide her assets either.

Mary cackled again, “Nope, I think I’ll keep this one for a while. He is kinda nice on these old eyes.”

Darlene giggled. “Mary, you’re a bad old woman. He is lucky you’re not any younger, or he would be in trouble. I’ve got your order ready just in case you did get into town. Tom finished making them shutters for you last night, as he promised. I’ll get the boys to load up the ute for you.”

Marty watched the young woman walk away. He had a feeling he was in a whole lot of trouble. Something very weird was happening here. Darlene obviously believed she was dealing with the real Mary May.