The chooks are panting. They’re holding out their wings as if they have sweaty armpits – this despite the fact the coop and run have for weeks been covered in an old tent fly. Outside the coop and run the birdbath is a dried-up clay-pan. The large wattle adjacent is yellow, not from flowering but its tiny stressed leaves. The dirt, it’s sandy. The clematis around the front of the house, planted at the end of spring and for much of the time since has been growing vigorously up the verandah post, is now limp, fading. The two standard white roses beside the front gate look like miniature street-trees in autumn – they’re leafless. Inside the house it’s dark, all the curtains and blinds closed even though it’s the middle of the day. When eyes adjust, the cracks in the walls are obvious as the ground shifts and splits. There’s no breeze coming through the hallways and rooms because the doors and windows are shut tight. The skylight’s honeycomb covering is drawn across, making a cave out of the loungeroom. The corrugated-iron roofing creaks like a ship keeling into the ocean (if only). Sometimes the mad and maddening whirr of a trapped-in blowfly. The fridge motor bravely trying to keep up. The Old Lady of the House dragging herself from one place to another, head down and puffing. The coolest place, she knows, is in the writing room, because its only window faces east – the room is protected from the worst of the afternoon. There she finds a writer in grey gym shorts and white t-shirt. Look at the blackened souls of his feet. Beside him is the six-fin bar-heater, dusty, silent, switched off but plugged in. The heater is waiting for cold rain.
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11 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 15, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Agnes
Love this Nigel.
Rained here all day yesterday. All its done really is make it even muggier though I think!
February 18, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Agnes, so glad you enjoyed these words, but I’m really happy that you got some rain. Though the mugginess isn’t too impressive. I do hope you’re well.
February 18, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Agnes
Couldn’t be better actually Nigel!
Thank you
February 15, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Gabrielle Bryden
I feel like I am there – lovely writing! May the cold visit you asap and a tip for overheated chickens (frozen veges or fruit). In Queensland where it is muggy as hell and there’s more moisture in the air than seems possible, we have to open all the doors and windows otherwise it would be unbearable.
February 18, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Gabe, thanks heaps. And thanks heaps for the chook tip. I actually do that frozen vegies/fruit trick – they especially love peas, but totally adore frozen watermelon! Sorry to hear about your mugginess too – heat’s one thing, but humidity is something else. I hope you get some relief soon.
February 17, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Tristan
Lovely piece, Nigel.
February 18, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Nigel Featherstone
Many thanks, Tristan. There might be life still in this steam-driven blog.
February 26, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
whisperinggums
Great post Nigel … What more can I say except, while I hope we get some good rain in the next little while, I am not hankering for MR Heater to have his day just yet.
February 26, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Sue, funnily enough, I wrote this piece earlier that week and published it on the Saturday…by which time it had been raining for 48 hours and had another 24 hours to go…and, yes, some of it was cold rain. Who said there’s no sense in blogging! While I hope my heater is in use within weeks, I hope yours can enjoy its rest for a little while longer.
February 26, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Feb
whisperinggums
Vive la différence eh? Being in Goulburn you just might get your wish.
March 1, 2014 at 9:16+00:00Mar
Nigel Featherstone
I do hope so, Sue!