Chapter Twenty Four – The New Normal

“What do ya reckon?” called Gary with a beaming smile.

“Has potential,” replied Matt.

Gary laughed. “You’re quite right. She’s all potential and no delivery at present. Once we get all the rigging off and slap some paint about we’ll see progress.” Gary climbed down from the boat. “Anyway, let’s walk while it’s cool and look at the boat later. First, we’ll go and say hi to the ladies.”

Lola pushed her way through the gate as Gary opened it and rushed around to the kitchen door. Matt heard muffled sounds of Sandra calling to Lola, then the sound of the sliding door opening. “Morning, gorgeous doggies, how are you?”

Matt rounded the corner to see Sandra sitting cross-legged on the patio with both dogs trying to sit in her lap. She was holding a dog with each hand and tickling them with her fingertips.

“Hello, Matt, all set for your walk? I used to do walks with Dad all the time. You’ll love it.”

Gary reappeared with two backpacks. “You can use this to put your things in, Matt. How are those shoes going?”

“They’re great,” said Matt as he looked down at his walking shoes. “Thanks for these.”

“No problem, buddy. Good shoes make walking a lot more enjoyable. Now head inside and have a big drink and do anything that you need to do before we head off.” As Gary put on his boots, hat and backpack Bess started jumping from side to side in front of him. She knew the routine and that a bushwalk was imminent. Lola jumped back and forth with Bess, playfully biting her on the neck.

Gary walked over to a grapevine and pulled off an armful of vines and leaves. “Hold onto these please, Matt, we’ll give them to Dexter. Hide the grapes in the middle so Heather can’t see them. We’ll take Dexter to the very top of the farm and collect him on the way back.” Bess and Lola ran ahead, bounding and playing. Now and then Bess would stop and wait for Gary and Matt to catch up before bounding off again. Lola stayed very close to Bess, sniffing everything she sniffed. The grapevines made moving Dexter very easy. Matt walked briskly in front doling out the vines one at a time. Dexter obediently followed along behind Matt, he clearly loved all things grape.

At the top of the farm, there was a long wire running along a fence. Gary clipped Dexter to the wire and gave him a big rub. “See you soon, buddy,” he said. Bess skillfully jumped through a gap in the fence while Lola struggled and wriggled. After walking for a few minutes Gary stopped to face Matt. “We’re going to climb up a ridge. It’s about a seven hundred metre climb, so you’ll know about it. We’ll do a big loop to our left, slowly descending into a valley. We’ll follow a stream back, the dogs will be keen for a swim. Ready?”

Matt nodded.

“You go in front. Take your time, it’s not a race, stop whenever you like. I like rests too, you know.”

Matt followed the trail through the scrub. It was easy walking to start with, but there was no mistaking when the climbing started, it was steep. There were parts that Matt could walk up, but a lot of the time he was using his hands as well. Bess and Lola walked carefully up the ridge staying close to Matt and Gary. They panted in the heat and wasted no energy running around. Eventually, Matt needed a rest. Without saying anything he turned and sat down looking back at Gary.

Gary gave Matt a broad smile. “I was hoping you’d need a rest soon. Look how high we have climbed already, must be about halfway.”

Matt nodded, it was indeed higher than he expected. He could see the ocean and nearly all of town.

“Once you have your breath back, head off again and take it slow. We’ll have a really good break at the top where there’s some shade.”

Matt had a drink and put some water in his hand for Lola. Lola lapped this up and climbed into Matt’s lap. Gary reached over and gave Lola a rub. “I think she’s trying to stop you from getting up,” he joked.

Matt gave Lola a big rub and was surprised at how hot she felt. “Okay,” he said, “ready to go.” To Matt’s delight, the remainder of the climb was not as steep and there was more frequent shade. Bess and Lola started to run ahead again with Bess leading the way and busily sniffing everything. When they got to the top Gary pointed to a patch of dense bush.

“Let’s get in here out of the sun,” he said. Gary turned and smiled at Matt, “Well look at this, someone has made a seat!”

There was a very simple seat and a table made from fallen logs. “Simon and Dylan made the first version of this,” said Gary, “they camped up here a few times. All hand cut too.” Gary rummaged around in his bag. “Ah, here we go, ladies. Some doggy doughnuts.” Bess sat up very straight and licked her lips while Gary pulled a piece of meat from a plastic bag. “Here you go, Bess.” Lola shuffled closer to Gary and sat up straight, mimicking Bess. “Very good, Lola, you can have a nibble too.” Lola took the offered meat and lay down facing away from Bess and started chewing. Gary reached back into his bag and pulled out a plastic water bowl and a bottle of water. “And you can wash that down with a bit of this. Now, Matt, let’s see what’s in here for us!” Gary pulled another bag out. “I hope I didn’t give the dogs our food.”

Matt smiled and raised his eyebrows at Gary.

Gary passed a package wrapped in paper to Matt. “Here’s something that Heather made for us, a nice bit of fruit cake. Just the best for walks.” They ate in silence, listening to the birds and the occasional rustling of the trees around them. The dogs carefully sniffed the ground, making sure they had not left any morsel behind before having a drink and lying down.

“Matt,” began Gary, “is there anything you would like to talk about for a change?”

Matt thought for a while before turning to Gary. “Why are some people gay?” he asked.

Gary leaned back, sat up straight and put his hands on his head. “Well, that’s a doozy. First up though, let’s be very clear about a couple of things. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. Secondly, it is entirely natural, lots of animals display homosexual behaviour. It’s not just humans. Did you know that?” Matt shook his head.

“Well, neither did I at your age. It seems sexual orientation and gender orientation for that matter are a bit like height and hair colour, they come in every combination. You can’t choose whether you’re a boy or a girl, or a boy who feels like a girl or vice versa. I didn’t choose to be a boy and I didn’t choose to be attracted to girls. One day girls seemed very interesting and I had no say in this at all. But why are some people gay? That was your question. Fortunately, there’s a very good and simple reason and like many good reasons, it’s not immediately obvious. It’s a bit like Earth being roundish, it’s a simple idea but wasn’t obvious. We thought Earth was flat for a very long time.” Gary leaned slightly closer to Matt and said in a hushed tone, “Some crackpots still do.”

He picked up a stick and rolled it between his fingers. “The why. Imagine a hunter-gatherer woman has a partner and a baby, then her partner dies. Can she look after the baby on her own? Maybe, maybe not. However, raising a baby as a hunter-gatherer without a male around to provide and protect would be hard work and the survival rate of babies without two parents would be much lower. However, what if the mother had a gay brother or sister? They wouldn’t have children to worry about and would be able to help the mother. Having an extra adult about would increase the baby’s survival chances a lot. So nieces and nephews of gay people had a distinct survival advantage. Because they are related, the genes carried by those nieces and nephews would also at times carry the same genes that play a role in sexual orientation. Does that make sense?”

Matt nodded slowly. “The key thing to understand is that gay people don’t need to have babies of their own for the genes to be propagated. They just need to support their families. I think this is the bit that stumps some folks.”

Matt looked down and spoke very softly, “Do you think Simon was gay.”

Gary put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Yes, but I didn’t realise this until after he died.”

“Do you think he killed himself?”

Gary shuffled a bit closer to Matt. “I can never know for sure, Matt. But if I had to guess I would say yes.”

They sat in silence for some time before Gary spoke again. “I’ve seen how miserable people can be to others, particularly those they see as being a bit different. Sandra was given a pretty rough time too. It’s very hard as a parent to witness this. Remember the golden rule, it’s not okay to let your emotions become someone else’s problem?” Matt nodded, still looking down.

“Well, the same thing applies to our beliefs. It’s not okay to let our beliefs become someone else’s problem. We can believe what we want, but none of us has the right to impose our beliefs on others, or poke them with pointy sticks because they don’t behave the way we think they should.” Gary reached out with his foot and gently rubbed Bess. “Simon was one hell of a nice guy, he was a natural protector. You should be very proud of him, I certainly was. If he was here today he would be very proud of you too. If there’s one lesson to learn from this tragedy it’s that we should talk to one another. Share our fears, our concerns and support one another. Will you promise me this, Matt? Will you talk to me if things ever get too much to bear?” Matt nodded.

“Thank you, Matt, it means a lot to me.” Matt nodded again.

“Righto, let’s get walking. If you have any more questions just let me know.”

Bess leapt to her feet as Gary stood up. Lola woke up abruptly and ran to Bess. “What’s next?” she seemed to be asking.

This time Gary walked in front as the track was a bit hard to follow, or as he pointed out, ‘If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t see it.’ Gary stopped occasionally to identify trees and shrubs to Matt. He also pointed out that in some ways the bush, as beautiful as it seemed, was a slow-motion fight to the death. The walk along the top of the valley was easy compared to the climb up the ridge and perhaps, more importantly, it was in the shade. Bess and Lola ran ahead and back again, occasionally running off the side of the track to sniff about. Mostly they walked in silence. This was fine with Matt, he was starting to feel rather tired and his legs still felt heavy from the long climb up the ridge.

“We’ll cut down here to the stream and follow that back,” said Gary. “It’s a fair bit shorter, but means getting your feet wet. The dogs will love it though.”

“Cool,” replied Matt, shorter seemed like a very good idea right now. The walk down to the stream was steep but easy. There were plenty of trees to hang onto and the ground was soft. Bess and Lola bounded down the hill, sliding and playing in the soft dirt. At the bottom of the hill, there was a flat area covered with ferns. It was delightfully cool and the ground sank beneath their feet. Bess ran ahead to the stream with Lola chasing closely. She walked into the stream, drinking as she went before lying down in the cool water. Lola ran back and forth splashing and drinking before lying next to Bess.

 

Gary put his pack on a rock and sat down. “When I’m doing a long walk, I wear quick-dry shorts so I can do exactly what the dogs are doing.”

Matt nodded. “That sounds like a very good idea.”

“We’ll have a good rest here and head back in one go. Ready for some more cake?”

Matt nodded, he was more than ready for some cake. They sat in silence and ate, listening mostly to cicadas, but now and then a bird could be heard above the din. Bess and Lola lay panting in the water with Lola occasionally snapping at passing insects. The walk back was easy and Matt found walking in the stream to be quite a lot of fun. When they got close to the farm Gary started collecting some snacks for Dexter, who was very pleased to see them as always. Though he made sure Lola knew not to come too close.

Back at the house they took off their wet boots and socks and hosed down their legs. Matt headed into the dojo bathroom to rinse his face and neck.

“Good work,” said Gary, “I think the girls will let us back inside now!” Indeed the girls were keen to see them back.

“Can’t believe Mum made us wait for you guys to get back,” declared Sandra, “I’m starving.”

Heather clapped her hands and pretended to shoo Sandra out of the kitchen. “It’s like having chickens inside,” she said. Then taking a tray from the fridge. “Please put this outside, lunch is ready to go.”

As Sandra sat down at the table she put her arm around Allicia and pulled her close. “Hey, Matt. Allicia and I are going to paint the new boat. We’re going to put a big mural down each side.” Sandra had a big grin and jiggled her eyebrows. “Dad is going to LOOOVE it.”

“Hmmm,” said Gary, “sounds like I might need to start taking the boat out at night!”

Sandra giggled. “Come on, Dad, you always loved my pictures.”

Gary raised his eyebrows and made a silly face. “Really? I must have been a much better dad than I remembered.”

After lunch, Gary and Matt set about removing the rigging from the new boat and with Sandra’s help carried the mast behind the shed. They emptied the boat of everything they could to make it as light as possible. The plan was to push the boat into the shed and hoist it off the trailer, pull the trailer out and set the boat on some stands Gary had made. Firstly, however, Sandra and Allicia would water blast the outside in preparation for painting.

“Let’s head inside, Matt, I’ll show you what we’re going to do,” said Gary as he rubbed his hands together. They sat at the table with some large sheets of paper and Gary hand drew surprisingly accurate outlines of Eldie and the trailer sailer. “If we were just going to convert the trailer sailer to electric I would put an electric outboard on her and change nothing else,” said Gary. “However!” Gary started drawing. “Eldie has a motor here and a shaft with a prop at the end of the skeg.” Gary passed a brochure to Matt with details about the new motor. “We’re going to drop one of these in here, where the prop currently is. We’ll make it so we can lift the drive unit up and down like this.” Gary drew two sketches of the electric motor, one in the up position and one in the down position.

Matt nodded.

“But!” said Gary excitedly, “it’s going to be so much better than the current setup. For starters, the entire system will be a lot lighter than the diesel motor and a tank of diesel. Also, this electric drive unit rotates. So we can turn it sideways and swing the stern from side to side. It will make the boat way easier to dock and control in the marina.” Gary leaned closer to Matt. “Like it?”

“Love it,” replied Matt.

“Let’s go and see how the girls are getting on, then we better let you get on your way. It’s been a long day, Matt, you’ve done well.”