The Tillerman's Gift Page 5

CHAPTER 4

  Mia jolted upright in the back seat of the car as a loud noise hauled her unkindly out of her peaceful sleep.

  They had pulled into a service station for some fuel and morning tea. Looking out of the right-side window Mia saw a black-clad figure starting up his motorcycle. The rider looked at their car in a way that made Alison and Mia feel uncomfortable. 

  "What's he staring at?" asked Mia rhetorically.

  "Looks like we're in bikie territory. Don't flash your cash, Mum," advised Alison. "And, Mia, don't make eye contact."

  After a minute the rider gave his black Harley Davidson another guttural rev and roared off.

  The day's journey proceeded uneventfully and at 5pm they reached the small town of Banksville and, unanimously deciding that they had gone far enough for one day, started to look for a motel.

  The red No Vacancy sign flashed on and off outside the Highway Hideout. A little farther down the road Rita's Retreat was similarly unaccommodating. Bill and Betty's Bed and Breakfast, on the other hand, was only too happy to accept the three travel-weary guests and offer them a room for the night and full use of their facilities.

  "There's a lovely restaurant about a kilometre down the road," advised Bill helpfully, "and we serve breakfast between 6:30 and 8am.”

  Bill handed Alison the key to the room. "We only have one other guest booked in tonight and he's not here yet so there shouldn't be any arguments over the sauna or pingpong table," he joked.

  Their room was large and had a queen-sized bed and a pull-out sofa bed.

  "The sofa’s mine!" exclaimed Mia diving on the plush cushions. “You two can put up with each other's snoring and morning breath."

  "Mia," admonished Tess, "You can't have first dibs on everything. Maybe I'd like the sofa bed. Or maybe your mother would."

  "Oh, sorry, Nan. Would you like the sofa-bed?"

  "Well, no... but that's not the point..."

  "Great, then I bags the sofa-bed."

  Tess and Alison looked at each other.

  "Can't live with her..," sighed Tess.

  "Can't live without her..," sighed Alison.

  By the time they had showered and changed they were well and truly ready to eat and decided to walk to the restaurant recommended by Bill. It was a cool night and despite a scattering of dark clouds bruising the evening sky the dome above them shone like a billion Christmas lights.

  Mia looked up. "Wow! You don't see that in the city."

  They stood on the footpath outside the B&B marvelling at the celestial display until a loud noise returned them to earth. The bike had turned into the driveway and come to a stop outside the reception. 

  Mia's eyed widened. "Is that the same...?"

  "Yes it is," replied Nan. "1984 Softail. Beautiful machine. There wouldn't be many of them in Australia."

  Her grandmother's knowledge of cars and motorbikes had always fascinated Mia. It didn't seem to go with her career as an English teacher. 

  "Don't worry about the bike," Alison said warily. "He still looks creepy."

  The rider apparently didn't know he was being watched as he dismounted and walked over to Tess's car.

  "Nan, he's going to steal your car!" 

  "And what's he going to do with it? Hide it in his saddle bag?"

  The rider walked around the car, gave one of the tyres a kick, removed his helmet and disappeared into the office.

  A few minutes later he came out and unstrapped his panniers before disappearing back inside. 

  “Nice-looking fellow," observed Tess.

  A minute later a light went on upstairs.

  "Oh no! He’s in the room next to ours!" Alison sounded alarmed.

  "Maybe he's an axe-murderer," gasped Mia. "This could really put a dampener on our holiday."

  "My goodness, girls, get a grip."

  "Well, Nan, don't blame us if we wake up dead in the morning to find your car gone. Good luck having a cup of tea without your head!"

  "Maybe we should leave and go somewhere else," suggested Alison.

  "Ali, don't be silly. We've already paid, and besides, this might be the only vacancy in town. We were lucky to find it."

  "You have an interesting definition of lucky, Nan."

  "I'm starving. Are you two coming?" Tess was already striding towards the centre of Banksville.

  A thin strip of yellow light shone out beneath their neighbour's door as Tess, Alison and Mia tiptoed into their own room after a very filling dinner at an Italian restaurant. They very quietly dressed for bed and before long Tess was snoring her way into a deep sleep.

  It was almost midnight when Mia whispered in the darkness, "Mum?"

  "Yes."

  "Can I come over?"

  "Yes please."

  Mia crept out from beneath her warm blanket and quietly slipped in between her mother and grandmother.

  The black softail had already left by the time they all woke the next morning.

  With a little encouragement from the manual choke the blue station wagon roared to life. Tess turned onto the highway towards Clowder Bay, Tess’s home town, the place she had left when still a teenager and, in the forty or so years since, had never revisited.

  “Too many memories” she would say. So Alison was taken aback when they were talking about places they might go for their holiday and Tess had said, “Maybe it’s time I went home, faced my ghosts. Who knows, I might even find some answers.”

  “Answers to what, Mum?”

  “Answers to what happened to him over there. Answers to why you’ve grown up without a father. Answers to why he stopped writing long before he died …” Her voice trailed off.

  Now, as they headed north, to where they hoped these answers could be found, none of them knew just how much their lives were about to change.