Chapter Seventeen – Lola Joins the Team

“Good timing, Matt, just about ready. Need a drink or bathroom stop?”

“Nup. All good.”

“Jump in, we’re off.” Gary gave the horn three short toots as they rolled gently down the driveway to let Heather know they were leaving.

“We’re off to help an old friend of mine today. He’s had some tough news. We’d hoped he’d survived a cancer scare, but things have taken a sad turn.” Matt looked briefly at Gary, then turned to stare through the windscreen. Gary was looking rather sombre. They drove in silence, slowly of course. “Here we go,” said Gary as he pulled into a rough gravel drive.

They bounced their way along the driveway, very slowly with the ute rocking sideways as they rolled in and out of potholes. At the end of the drive was a plain farmhouse. The lawn was a little overgrown, the gardens were weedy and dry. The paint on the picket fence around the house was peeling and in places, the fence was overgrown with blackberries. Gary looked around before turning to Matt with his eyebrows raised. “Looks like we’ve got a bit to do! First, come and meet the team.”

Gary knocked then opened the door with the confidence that comes with friendship. “Hello, Mavis, Bo, it’s Gary.”

“Come in, we’re in the lounge,” an elderly female voice called back. Matt followed Gary through the house. It smelled like an old house. Inside was just a little bit cluttered. Not too messy, it was just the way old houses liked to be.

“Thought no one was home. That you two might be out on a run,” said Gary.

“Haha, maybe once I get my other hip done, Gary,” replied the woman.

She stood up very carefully, wobbled to get comfortable and held out her arms for a hug. She was short and stout with a worn floral dress. Gary hugged her, gently and affectionately. “Mavis, Bo, this is Matt.”

“Nice to meet you, Matt,” smiled Mavis, “hope you’re keeping Gary out of trouble.

“What?” asked Gary. “Matt’s job is to find more trouble. I ran out of trouble.”

Bo held out his hand to Matt from his wheelchair. “Gidday, Matt. You’ve got a good friend here in Gary you know.”

Gary knelt and wrapped his arms around Bo. “Not as good as you, buddy, not as good as you.” Gary faced Matt, keeping one arm wrapped around Bo. “When I was your age, Bo taught me to fly fish, whitebait and all sorts. He was my mentor. When Heather and I bought the farm he helped us set it up.”

Bo chuckled. “That was a while ago, Gary.” Bo’s voice was weak and his movements slow. There was a big cylinder sitting next to his wheelchair and a mask on his lap.

Gary leaned forward and kissed Bo on the forehead. “Still grateful though, buddy.”

“Crikey not in front of my wife, Gary!” Mavis chuckled loudly.

 

Gary gently rubbed Bo’s back and stood up. “I’ll get Matt started outside then pop back in.” Gary whistled and sang quietly as Matt followed him back to the ute. “Where to start, Matt? Maybe we should have brought Dexter! First, mow all the lawns, no catcher, trim along the picket fence. Where there’s space cut in under the fence. All good?”

“Yep.”

“Great. Nothing fancy, prefer speed over finesse. When you’re done come and find me.” Gary patted Matt on the back. The mowing went much more quickly than Matt expected, the grass was wispy and dry and without the catcher he could almost run around. In fact, he did run in parts. It was a similar story with the trimmer, the weeds were so dry they were almost dead. Matt decided to pull all the weeds out of the fence and throw them into the paddock. For a short effort, it looked pretty good. Satisfied, Matt headed back to the house to find Gary.

“Walk around the side, honey, they’re out the back,” called Mavis as Matt approached the door.

Gary and Bo were sitting, looking toward some sheds. Matt could hear dogs barking and saw some chickens scratching around in a scruffy fenced area.

 

“Here he is,” said Bo when he saw Matt approaching. “I’ve got another job for you.” Matt walked around and stood in front of Bo’s wheelchair. Gary was smiling. It was a bit of a ‘this should fun’ smile.

 

Bo rubbed his hands together and grinned. “Now what I need you to do is lie down on your back and close your eyes. Anywhere here should be fine.”

Matt looked at Gary. Gary nodded, still smiling. “I think that’s a very good idea, Bo. I wonder what will happen?” asked Gary.

“No idea either,” said Bo, “but I’m itching to find out.”

Gary winked at Matt, a ‘you’ll be fine’ wink. Matt raised his eyebrows to Gary and laid down on the grass. “Okay,” asked Matt slowly, “now what?”

“Close your eyes and wait!” said Bo. “Not sure about you, but I’m going to really enjoy this.” Bo had the most mischievous smile Matt had seen. One that led Matt to suspect that he would have been a colourful character in his youth. Matt closed his eyes. He heard Gary stand up and walk across the lawn. There was a click of a gate latch, some rustling, followed by the rush of little feet. Matt heard a frenetic scramble across the lawn then splat something landed on his face. Something with a furious tongue and scratchy toenails. Then there were two, then too many to count. Matt put his hands up to clear his face and sat up. He was covered in puppies. Bo was laughing and coughing. “Just wanted to know if they would bite,” he said through his laughter.

Matt counted the puppies, there were six of them. They were jumping at his face and pulling on his clothes, competing for attention. They did, Matt noted, have very sharp little teeth. “Your job is to pick one,” said Gary, “we’re taking one back to the farm.” Matt reached out and tried patting the puppies, but they were too interested in play fighting with each other and biting Matt. “I’ll take Bo back inside while you choose, have fun.”

“Okay,” said Matt, “I’ll try.”

Matt heard Bo and Gary chuckling and talking quietly as they left. No doubt reliving the great joke they had just played on him. What had seemed like an impossible task, that of choosing one puppy from six turned out to be quite easy. There was one puppy that looked at Matt in the eyes as it bit his hand and it did not bite so hard. It was a little slower, less frenetic than the others. “This,” thought Matt, “is definitely the right puppy.

Matt picked the puppy up and held it close. It was black with a mottled white patch on its chest and small patches of white on its paws. The puppy had deep brown eyes and ears that folded over. He heard the back door click and Gary’s footsteps. Gary sat down next to Matt and held out his hand to the puppies, he was immediately mobbed. Matt laughed as one puppy undid one of Gary’s bootlaces.

“I hope you didn’t pick this one,” said Gary as he gently teased his bootlace from the puppy’s mouth.

“No, this one,” said Matt as he picked up his chosen puppy and handed it to Gary.

“Ah, a little girl,” said Gary as he rolled the puppy over and expertly ran his hands over it. “Looks good to me, Matt. The ladies are going to go nuts.” Gary stood up and walked back to the puppies’ enclosure. “Keep a hold of that one and follow me.” The puppies swarmed around Gary’s feet as he walked. Gary coaxed the puppies inside and locked the gate. Matt held the puppy to his chest and followed Gary back inside the house.

“Thank you so much for the puppy guys, what a cutie,” said Gary.

“You’re most welcome,” replied Mavis, “thanks so much for helping with the lawns.”

“No problem. I’ll drop by a couple of times a week. We’ll get on top of this in no time.” Gary hugged Mavis before kneeling to hug Bo. A long, gently hug. Just the kind of hug you would give a dying man you loved.

Gary held the puppy in front of his face while Matt put his seat belt on, then passed Matt a towel for his lap and the puppy. Matt held the puppy firmly in his lap and stroked its neck. After a few minutes of silence, Gary spoke. “It’s such a shame for Bo and Mavis. Bo’s not going to be able to stay at home for much longer. Mavis can’t look after him, she can hardly look after herself.” Gary gently tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel as they drove slowly back to the farm.

Indeed the ladies did go nuts over the puppy, so did Bess. Bess and the puppy started running and playing immediately, tearing around the lawn. Now and then the puppy would stop to smell something of interest before racing after Bess again. Bess wanted to be chased and the puppy was very happy to do just that.

“Where will she sleep?” asked Sandra.

“With Bess,” said Gary. “They’ll be the best of friends in thirty minutes.”

“Now, Matt,” said Gary as he tapped the table. “I hear you’re building a deck tomorrow.” Matt nodded, though he could scarcely believe it. “Great, I’ll come and help. Please get someone to let me know the start time.” Gary whistled and Bess came tearing to him with the puppy in hot pursuit. “Give the dogs one last scratch then you’d better get on your way, you’ll need to be rested for tomorrow.”

Matt sat down and first patted Bess as he had been instructed. Bess pushed in closely to Matt as the pup jumped up for attention. Once Bess was settled he reached out to the pup. The pup rolled onto it’s back and bit Matt on the hand. Bess took the chance to yet again sniff the puppy from nose to tail. Sandra sat down and elbowed Matt playfully in the ribs. “Piss off, my turn with the puppy.”

Matt smiled at Sandra. “She bites,” he said as he put the puppy in her lap.

The next morning Matt and Jed sat impatiently at the kitchen table, waiting for Dylan and Bill to return. Jed jumped up and ran outside. “Gary’s here,” he yelled. Gary was reversing down the drive with a trailer full of tools, the most obvious of which was a concrete mixer.

 

“Morning boys, I have something here for you to look after for me.” Gary reached around to the backseat and fiddled around for a few seconds before opening his door and putting the puppy on the ground.

“Lie down, Jed, lie on your back,” laughed Matt. Jed lay down and the puppy ran full speed at him, jumping on his face. Gary smiled at Matt and shook his head. “Have a good play now, we’ll need to tie her up while we are working. I’ll start unloading.”

Matt ran across the lawn and sat down. “Here girl, here girl.” The puppy ran flat out to him, jumped and landed on his lap. Matt rolled backwards and held the puppy against his chest.

“Get the face, get the face,” yelled Jed as he ran to Matt.

Dylan stood with his hands on his hips, smiling. “Hello, who’s this?” he asked loudly. Matt sat up with the puppy in his lap, holding her tight. The puppy looked at Dylan and gave a little woof.

“Oh no, it’s going to attack me!” said Dylan as he crouched down. The pup woofed again and squirmed in Matt’s hands until he let her go. Then, as puppies do, she raced full speed at Dylan. Dylan expertly caught the puppy as she jumped and put her down on her back. He let the puppy bite him while he rubbed her belly.

“What a cutie. Does this little lady have a name yet?”

“Not yet,” said Gary, “this will be decided soon.”

“Hey, boys,” called Dylan, “come and help unload the trailer. We have to take it back. Stack all the timber alongside the hedge.” Back and forth they went carrying and stacking the timber. The puppy ran back and forth with the boys, barking and jumping. When the timber was stacked Gary called everyone together and talked through the process. Gary would dig the holes with Bill, and Dylan would set up the string lines marking the levels for the piles and edges of the decking. It had been decided not to try and build a semicircular deck as imagined by Art, but to have a split level deck in two rectangular sections. Bill would be in charge of making sure the deck was built to standard and followed the plan. After all, explained Gary, it would be his problem if the deck failed an inspection.

“Are you confident with these pile markings, Dylan? I can wait for your string lines if you want.”

“Very confident,” replied Dylan.

“Okay. Let’s rip into it. You may wish to tie the puppy up, there’s some line in the ute.” Gary set about digging the first hole. The ground was soft and Bill confirmed they hit the desired depth in a short time. “I wish it was this easy on the farm,” said Gary as he passed the post hole shovel to Bill. Gary walked over to the puppy, squatted down and gave her a scratch. “How are you going, Dylan? All under control?”

“Looking good, Gary. I think the boys will be able to finish this off.”

“What do you reckon, boys?” asked Gary. “Could you do the other side?”

“Yep,” replied Jed. Matt looked at Jed then Dylan, he was clearly not so certain.

“Good. Well give it a go, there is no harm in getting it wrong. Dylan, could you please take over from Bill so he and I can have a chat?” Actually, Gary was just a little bit worried that Bill would have a heart attack. “Bill, let’s go over those plans,” said Gary as he kicked off his boots and walked inside. Bill sat down opposite Gary, who promptly folded up the plans and put them to one side. “Two things, Bill. Firstly I would like the boys to have some time to learn on their own without you or I looking over their shoulder. This is a great opportunity for them, thank you for that.”

Bill nodded. “It is good for all of us, Gary.”

“Indeed. The second thing is I got that puppy for Matt. I don’t particularly mind if the puppy lives at the farm or here. It can always come back to the farm if it does not work out, or you are heading away. It wouldn’t take much to knock up a fence and gate on each side of the house. No pressure, just have a think and let me know what works for you.”

Bill sat back in his chair and smiled. “I thought Jane was going to get a big surprise, but now I think it’s me!”

Gary tapped the table with his hand. “No pressure. Matt knows nothing about this. I’ll leave you to think about it.”

 

Gary walked over to Dylan and tapped him on the shoulder. “Pass me that, buddy.” Gary ripped into digging the holes one after the other. The boys stopped to watch, exchanging smiles. No one could dig holes like Gary. Once the first row of holes was dug Gary paused. “Okay, boys. Run a string line through here for the side of the piles furthest from the house. Dylan and I will show you how to get the first pile straight, you can do the rest while the concrete is mixed.”

Matt and Jed took turns hammering pegs into the ground and screwing the braces in. As soon as it was clear they had the process sorted Gary and Dylan started mixing the concrete. They all worked flat out until all the holes were dug and most of the piles set in concrete.

Art set down his chilly bin on the ground. “My, my. You chaps have been busy and lucky for you so have I. Come on, time for lunch. Hey, who’s this? She’s gorgeous! What’s her name?”

“She hasn’t got a name yet,” said Matt as he walked over.

Art held the puppy’s head in his hands and looked carefully at her. “Yes she does,” said Art, “this is Lola. She just told me.”

“LOLA,” yelled Jed, “yes, LOLA.”

“Hello, Lola,” said Matt while holding out his hand. Lola rolled to her feet and walked to Matt.

“Look, she answers to her name,” declared Art, “that’s settled. Come on, time to eat.”