Farm Life - 9. FAR Chapter 9

A few days later, as I returned to the house after the main morning chores, the telephone started ringing just as I entered. “Mull of Galloway Farm, McCulloch Residence, Lewis speaking” I said in a rush, while I was trying to remove my gumboots at the same time. “Lewis, this is Rose speaking, can I speak to Preston please” came the voice on the other end of the line, “I’m sorry Mrs… I mean Rose, Preston went back to University early last week, and Ronnie is back at boarding school, Mal and I are looking after the farm while everyone is away, and everything is going well” I said as positively as possible.

“Ok, I see now why Preston has been calling me from his mobile the last few times, I guess he did it so I wouldn’t worried, and I guess I’m not, knowing you and Mal are still on the farm, I called to let Preston know that his father had a more severe stroke and passed away last night”, Rose announced which was quite a shock, “I am sorry for your loss Rose, is there anything that I can do?” I responded as I tried to stay calm.

“I will telephone Preston on his mobile later, would you and Mal be able to go to Stranraer, and break the news to Ronnie, if he wants to come home, you have my permission to bring him back to the farm, I will be back in a few days, once I have done some arrangements for the funeral” Rose said to me, and I informed her that Mal and I would be on our way to Stranraer, as soon as we have cleaned up and refuelled the Landrover.

I went upstairs and had a quick shower and changed before returning downstairs to prepare a light breakfast, with Mal appearing a short time later and I informed him of the sad news. While Mal went down to his cottage to shower and change, I tidied up the kitchen, before we set off for Stranraer, arriving just before 10.15am, just as the morning break was about to end, and we made our way to the administration building.

“Malcolm McKinney, my word you have hardly changed since you were at this school” a lady said as we approached the front counter, “Hello Ms Donaldson, it’s good to see you again, may I introduce Lewis Grantham, from Western Australia, he is a good friend of my employers oldest son, Preston McCulloch” Mal said to the lady, and I shook her hand, before she turned to Mal to find out the reason for our visit, but it was me that spoke up.

“Ms Donaldson, as you may be aware Preston and Ronnie’s father became ill a few weeks ago, and that was why Ronny was late returning to school. I had a phone call from Rose, that is Mrs McCulloch this morning, and she informed me that Mr McCulloch had another stroke and passed away last night, and that is why we are here now, to break the news to Ronnie, and if need be take Ronnie home” I said to the School staff member, who I was not sure what her position is in the school.

“Excuse me Ms Donaldson, there is a Mrs Rose McCulloch on the phone asking to urgently speak to you” came the voice of a lady further inside the administration area, and slightly out of my view, Ms Donaldson picked up a nearby phone and pressed a button.

“…Yes Mrs McCulloch, they are both here and they have just informed me of the news… yes that is fine, I will have Ronnie brought to the office and let Mr Grantham break the news to him, thank you for letting me know, goodbye” Ms Donaldson said and hung up the telephone, before taking a few steps further away and picking up a microphone.

“Would Ron McCulloch, please report to the administration office with your school books and bag please” she said before returning to the front counter, “Ron should be here shortly, if you would like to sit and wait” Ms Donaldson said with a smile, just as a man entered the admin office.

“Ah, Mike I presume you are here for Ron?” she said to the man before turning back to me, “Gentlemen, this is Deputy Chaplin, Reverend Mike Fenton. Mike, this is a McCulloch family friend from Australia, Lewis Grantham, and their family farm worker, and a former student of this school, Malcolm McKinney” Ms Donaldson said with introductions.

A few moments later Ronnie walked into the office, and on seeing both Mal and me, he dropped his school bag and slowly walked towards me, “Its bad news about Dad, isn’t it?” he said to me, and I pulled him into a hug. “Yes buddy, I’m afraid your dad had another stroke last night and passed away. Your mum asked us to come and let you know, and if you don’t feel up to school, we can take you back to the farm” I said to him quietly, pulling away from me, I saw that he had some tears in his eyes and he nodded, “I would like that” he said.

Rev Fenton took Ronnie back to the boarding house, so he could pack some clothes, and we took a seat and waited for his return, which was a good half an hour later, and we could see that Ronnie had been crying some more. Ronnie was now dressed in casual clothes and carried a weekend bag. Once we said goodbye to Ms Donaldson and Reverend Fenton, we headed back to the Landrover and we made the journey back to the farm.

Mal went to do some farm work, while I remained in the house, in case I was needed, I kept busy with tidying up the kitchen, before going outside to cut some more wood. When I returned, I found Ronnie seated at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in his hand, and once I had stacked all the wood by the fire, I poured myself a cup of tea and sat down. “He was a mean bastard, but I still loved him” Ronnie said eventually, and I just nodded my head in understanding, “I wonder what happens now?” he asked after another long pause of silence.

“I have no idea buddy, your mum will be home in a few days’ time, so I am sure she will let you know what will be happening”, I replied, unsure what else to say. “Can we go for a long walk, I don’t feel like being cooped up in here for the rest of the day” Ronnie asked me, and so with jackets and gumboots on, we set off for a hike.

After some time, we came to a stone wall, which was not far from the bottom end of the property, “Over there where the lighthouse is, that is the furthest point south of the Mull of Galloway” Ronnie announced to me, and I was stunned at how magnificent the view was from here.

We were standing on a slight hill, with a ruined stone building on one side of the road, and some sheep yards on the other, “this is our southern boundary, and we passed another cottage and shed down in the hollow, which is also part of our land, we lease the cottage out to the business owners of the coffee house near the lighthouse” Ronnie informed me, as we turned and started our long walk back to the main house.

When we arrived back at the house, we were surprised to see Preston’s car parked at the front, and we walked in to see Preston carrying his luggage up the stairs, “Hey there, where have you two been” Preston said dropping his luggage and heading down the stairs to hug his younger brother.

“We went for a long walk to the southern boundary, I needed to clear my head” Ronnie said, and he returned the embrace, and I saw Preston mouth the words “Thank you” to me and I just smiled and headed for the stairs, grabbing Preston’s luggage on the way.

After placing Preston’s luggage in his room, I retreated to my room for a short while to allow Preston and Ronnie to spend some time alone, and when I walked into the kitchen about half an hour later, I could see that they had both been crying.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have some dinner to prepare, unless you want to go hungry” I said, and Preston smiled then laughed, and Ronnie joined in. “How about you two, go and do the afternoon chores, while I get dinner started” I suggested, and grabbing their jackets and gumboots, they both headed outside.

Dinner time was mainly silent, I could see that Preston has some things on his mind and I didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts, so I remained silent. As I began to clear away the dishes, Preston cleared his throat and faced his brother. “I saw Mum and Aunt Maisy before I left this morning, they will be organising the funeral, that will be held in Stranraer in a few days’ time. We discussed the farm, and between the three of us, we decided that we would lease out the farm for a few years.

You will continue with your schooling at Stranraer, and I will continue with my University studies at Aye. We will be living with Aunty Maisy for the time being, until Mum can find some work in Glasgow, then she will rent a house for all three of us to live in.

For the meantime, when not working on the farm, we need to start packing everything up, ready to be put into storage, and next week we must return to our studies” Preston said to his brother, who looked down at his feet and nodded his head in understanding.

For the next few days, I kept busy with keeping the house in order, cooking the meals, cleaning up and doing all the house work, on the third day since Preston and Ronnie have been home, I answered the phone a few minutes after they went out to do some work around the farm.

“McCulloch residence, Lewis speaking” I said on picking up the phone, “Hello Lewis, I want to thank you for everything that you have been doing for our family, not exactly what you had planned for your holiday was it, I presume the boys are out on the farm somewhere” Rose replied, “Yes, you only just missed them by a few minutes” I answered.

“Never mind, I am on my way back, and I have Maisy with me, so can you move into Preston’s room please, and the funeral is tomorrow at 11am in Stranraer, you are welcome to attend if you like, or you can stay at the farm. We will be back just before lunch time, so we will see you when we arrive, bye for now” Rose said, and she ended the call.

I knew that Preston has a bunk bed in his room, so I went and moved all my luggage to his room and made the lower bed, before stripping the sheets from my bed and putting them in the wash, next I gave the whole house a good dusting and vacuum and made sure the lounge room and kitchen dining room were all spotless.

From the front garden I found some nice flowers, and I picked a small bunch and placed them in the guest bedroom, and opened the window to let it air out, before heading back to the kitchen to prepare some lunch for everyone. When I heard the back door open and Preston and Ronnie laughing, I smiled. “Stop, boots and jackets off please, I’ve just cleaned this place top to bottom, so no mess from either of you” I said to them both.

“So, I guess that means Mum is on her way home!” Preston stated, “Yes and your Aunty Maisy, so I have moved my stuff into your room, they should be here any moment now” I added, “I had better cut up some more firewood in that case” Preston said as he turned around and put his boots back on before leaving, “Ronnie, would you mind setting the table for lunch please” I asked nicely, “Sure thing, let me wash my hand first” Ronnie said and he dashed off to wash up.

About ten minutes later, as Preston was stacking the firewood, and Ronnie was trying to pinch a piece of meat off the chopping board, the front door opened, and in walked Rose and a lady who looked so very alike to her. After receiving hugs and kisses from her nephews, she turned towards me, “You must be the young man from Australia, who has been keeping this family alive, while my sister has been away” she said to me with a big smile.

”Aunty Maisy, this is my good friend Lewis Grantham from Western Australia, he is a 6^th generation farmer, and he lives in the cottage that was the first house to be built on the property” Preston said to his Aunty, as I stepped towards her and shock her hand lightly, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms Maisy” I said to her, which made her and Rose to burst out laughing, and it was soon after that I realised what I had said sounded like a movie that was released a decade ago, call Driving Miss Daisy.

After we had finished lunch, I cleaned up while Rose and her sister retreated to the lounge room with a cup of tea, while Preston and Ronnie collected the luggage from the car and took it all upstairs. While there are a few moments of silence between the sister’s conversation, I decided to announce my plans, “I thought that I would remain on the farm tomorrow, and that when Preston returns to university, I will continue with my holidays, before returning home to Australia” I announced to Rose.

“That will be fine dear, just let us know where you want dropping off, and we will see to it, I can’t thank you enough for all that you have done in the past two weeks, I think we would have been battling to cope, if you hadn’t come along when you did” Rose said to me with a smile, and I nodded my head and returned the smile before continuing to clean up the kitchen.