Cricket Anyone? The Third Man

A man in bright yellow overalls, hands on hips, was looking at a large tree that had fallen across the road. He turned to look at the intruder with a surprised look on his face. He waved at her to open the window and walked up to the car.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know there's a bushfire back there?" he said in a deep, gravelly voice.

Neha pulled her top down to cover her nearly exposed vagina. She was surprised that the firefighter was an elderly man, probably much older than her father. "I didn't know. I couldn't get anything on the radio and nobody at the last town said anything."

The firefighter pursed his lips and slowly exhaled. "Bloody hell, someone's screwed up. Sorry Miss. The road's blocked ahead. You're going to have to turn around and quickly..."

A younger fireman stuck his head out of the truck and yelled. "Pop... Sorry, Captain! Radio update. Wind's shifted and is about to cut the highway west of us."

The old man raced to the truck and listened intently to the radio. "We're screwed. No going home just yet. Fire's changed direction and heading this way. We leave. Now." he yelled at his crew. He pointed at a very scared Neha and said loudly over the rising wind. "Get in the back of the truck cab. You can't stay here, and I'm not leaving you alone to go God knows where. That could be really bad."

"But... But, I can't leave my Uncle's car here. What if someone steals it? He'll be very upset."

"Captain? We have to go. It's about ten k's behind us and spotting this way," the radio operator anxiously yelled.

The Captain ran back to her car and jerked his thumb at the truck. "Look. Just get in that. I'll lock your car. He might be lucky and not get a burnt out wreck. And his niece will be ok. That's the main thing."

Neha started to say she needed to get her clothes, but the Captain wrenched the door open and grabbed her arm. He blinked in surprise seeing her naked lower body but quickly recovered his composure. "No time. Just your licence and phone. We have to get to a safe place now, otherwise, we're toast."

The Captain quickly locked the car and followed Neha into the rear of the truck cab. He pulled a towel and a water bottle out of his kit bag and tossed them to her. "Here, it's not much but drink this. You'll need it. It could get a bit warm in here. And wrap that towel around you, will you? Is it normal to drive without any undies on where you come from?"

That remark caused the other two firefighters' heads to whip around to look at Neha. She quickly lay the towel over her waist and tried to shrink into the corner of the truck.

"Eyes front you two!" barked the Captain. They reluctantly and slowly turned their heads to look out the front window.

"Where to, Captain?" the driver asked, trying not to turn and stare at Neha's towel clad body. To Neha, the three crew members all looked vaguely the same.

"Jack Welsford's shearing shed. It's fairly close, paddock's bare, and defendable with this shitbox. Sorry miss, shouldn't swear in front of a lady."

"No worries Dad, sorry, Cap." The driver shoved the truck into gear and it lurched off. "Be a bloody sight easier if we hadn't speared that tyre," he grumbled.

"Yeah, I'm going to have words with Bill about that broken culvert. I told him a year ago about it." The Captain turned to Neha. "Ok so now we've got a couple of minutes, do you mind telling me where you were going and how you got here? There was supposed to be a roadblock each side of us."

Neha replied in a small voice, "I was heading to Nowra. I saw the police cars at the last town, but I thought it was an accident. I followed a car around another road, and I came out on the highway again. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to go any further. It's been a really bad day and I'm hot and tired and my friend said I shouldn't go this way and I thought I knew better and I'm sorry!!!" She then burst into tears.

The Captain rubbed his eyes and sighed. He pulled another small towel out of his bag and handed it to her. "Ok, ok. Great. Well, these things happen. That road. Did it go past a motel?"

Neha blew her nose in the towel and nodded.

"Yeah, I know what happened. It should have been blocked off. Not really your fault."

A silence fell in the truck, apart from the crackle of the two-way radio. Neha had a hard time making out the conversation, but by the tone of the voices, people seemed to be worried.

The driver was cursing the broken truck and Bill - whoever Bill was, under his breath as he worked the truck slowly up a gravel track. He turned through an open gate over a bare paddock and up to an old farm shed.

"Well, this is probably the safest spot for the time being," the driver said, looking over his shoulder at the still snuffling Neha. "Old Jack uses this for hunting with his mates as well as his shearing shed, so there's a loo around the back if you need it. He's got water and there should be a store of canned food, so we'll be right for a bit. Don't worry, we'll look after you."

Neha sniffed and gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

The Captain tapped the radio operator, who was staring open-mouthed at Neha, on the shoulder. "Stop catching flies and nip inside and put the billy on, then see if Jack's left any bickies in a tin. I think we all could do with a cuppa. Thanks Tyler."

He jumped into the front of the truck and grabbed the radio mike. "Group comms, Mystic Creek tanker one, over... Yeah Joan, we have taken refuge at Jack Welsford's shearing shed off the highway... Water volume is down to 22%, and no opportunity to fill... Truck's stuffed. Punctured the front left on a broken culvert along Boundary Track... There's a 900 mill tree over the highway just east of it. We were looking for a way around to cut it. Oh, and we picked up a civilian in a white Nissan with Vic plates. She was heading west and unknowingly went around the roadblock... Yeah, ask the ICC to get those nongs in blue to move it east past the motel, where it's always been in the past. Those know-it-all's from Melbourne never learn."

He turned to Neha, "What's your name, love?"

"Neha, Neha Bhatt."

He repeated it over the radio. "No, I don't know how it's spelt. B-u-t-t I guess. I'm sure the police will figure it out. She's an Indian tourist, I'd say. Was heading to Nowra... The car's locked up on the highway shoulder. No, we'll be fairly right here. Send someone with a forklift or a high lift jack when it's safe. Over."

Neha tried to correct him. "It's B-h-a-t-t..." She had heard enough jokes regarding her surname to last a lifetime.

"Fair enough. The cops will probably screw it up anyway." He repeated her spelling to Joan, then hung up the microphone. "So, introductions. I'm Merv and the Captain of the local CFA. That's Bob, my son, and the driver. The bloke looking for the biscuits is Tyler, who's Bob's son. He's the hose guy." Merv looked back the way they had come with a practised eye. Neha looked in the same direction. At first she couldn't see anything besides a darkening haze, then off in the distance a flicker of orange above the trees caught her attention.

"You saw that? Merv asked.

Neha nodded.

"That's a fair dinkum Aussie bushfire, love. And you drove right around the edge of it. Come on, let's get inside. And you can tell us whatcha doing and why you're half-naked. I know it's a hot day, but seriously..."

Neha climbed down and readjusted the towel. It was barely long enough to go around her body and refused to stay tied in place. She looked back to where the fire had licked the tops of the trees. Nothing was visible, but she heard a deep roar that wasn't just the wind blowing. She quickly climbed the steps into the shed.

Merv had made sure his crew was inside so Neha could climb down with her modesty semi-protected. He shook his head as she scampered inside. At least she was probably Indian and he could understand what she was saying. Dealing with a bloody tourist who couldn't speak English would have been a bloody nightmare.

It took a few seconds for Neha's eyes to adjust from the bright outside to the gloom of the shed. The building looked very old and made of sturdy timber framing with iron walls and roof. It was uncomfortably hot, and she wrinkled her nose as it was hit with a strong smell of some animal.

"Sheep. That's what you can smell. They don't smell nice like a woollen jumper. Takes a bit of time for townies to get used to it," Bob said, seeing the look on her face.

"Oh, ok. So what do they do here with them?"

"Seriously? Well, I guess you don't get out into the sticks much. Sheep come in one door, a shearer cuts the wool off, and kicks their naked bum out the other door. The sheep do their business all over the floor and the lanolin in the wool soaks into everything. After probably eighty years, the smell's never going away."

"Not unless the place burns down..." muttered Tyler from a corner of the shed. He was watching a large tin can sitting on a portable gas stove. Neha assumed he was boiling water for the tea.

"Shut up Tyler, you gloomy sod. We'll be fine. There's enough water in the truck to deal with any spotting. We'll take it in turns keeping an eye out." Merv said to his grandson. He looked around and found a wooden chair for Neha. "Here you go, love. Grab a seat. No point standing. We'll be here a while."

Neha carefully sat down and had a close look at the three firefighters. She definitely could see the family resemblance. Merv was quite tall and looked old. He had deep brown skin and short white hair. His eyes were a piercing blue that looked like they had seen the world and nothing new would surprise him.

Bob, his son, was a bit shorter but looked heavier. He was quite pale compared to his dad but had the same blue eyes. Tyler was taller and much leaner than the other two. He had half removed his overalls and tied the arms around his waist. He hadn't been wearing a shirt under them and in spite of the circumstances, Neha's eyes were drawn to his fit, muscled body.

Merv found another chair and sat beside Neha. "So love, what's your story, and more importantly, how do you have your tea? Mind you it will have to be black. We weren't expecting visitors so we didn't bring any milk."

Neha smiled in spite of herself and started telling the family an edited version of where she was from, why she was in Australia, and how she was now sitting semi-nude in a shearing shed in the middle of a bushfire.

She was just starting to talk about her surfing when Tyler handed her a chipped ceramic mug. "Here you go Miss. Tea and three. I added a bit of cold water to make it drinkable." He rattled a tin. "And I found Jack's secret stash of biscuits. Grab a couple."

Neha looked at him and smiled. "Thank you, Tyler. That's really nice. And call me Neha. I don't think I'm much older than you, so you shouldn't call me Miss."

Tyler looked down and turned bright red. He stammered, "I'm twenty. Ok, no worries... Neha." He scuttled back to finish handing the tea around.

Neha glanced at where he looked. The towel on one side had slipped off and her thigh was bare. She quickly hoisted it up and tucked one end over the other. Taking a sip of tea, she continued her story.

When she had finished, Bob laughed as he dunked a biscuit into his tea. "Bloody hell Neha, you've had a fun week. Tyler would give his right arm to go surfing again, wouldn't you?"

Tyler, who was sitting down and leaning against a wall directly opposite Neha, nodded. "Yeah. Wouldn't mind going to Bondi for a bit. Looks good on the telly."

Merv snorted. "Kid, we know why you want to go there and it's not for the surf. You just want to ummm, meet some of the foreign backpackers. Not that I'm casting nasturtiums at foreigners, love." he hurriedly added, looking at Neha.

"Sorry? Throwing flowers?" asked Neha. Just when she thought she had learnt Australian, someone always managed to confuse her.

"Nasturtiums - aspersions. Sorry about that."

"No worries. My mate from Melbourne says similar things." Neha replied, smiling.

All three guys laughed at her attempt. Merv said, "Well, good to see your sense of humour has started to return." He stood up and stretched. "Righto, let's see what's happening outside, then figure out what to do for dinner. Tyler, can you please lay out all the 38 hose? I don't want to be fart arsing around coupling it together if we need it."

"No worries Cap." Tyler slowly got up from his spot against the wall and headed outside. He shot Neha a long, lingering look as he sauntered out.

Merv watched him go and sighed. "Gippsland's God's greatest bit of country, but unfortunately there's not many women around this neck of the woods. Particularly one that's flashing her bits. He's a good kid though." He looked at Neha and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't really have much else you can use unless you want to borrow Bob's shirt. I wouldn't recommend it though. He's had it on three days straight. It's his lucky firefighting clobber. Oh, actually. Hang on."

He wandered around the back of the shed and came back with a roll of thick twine and a very large bag. "Here you go. Use the string as a belt, and I found a half full bale of wool. It'll make a reasonable bed."

He handed Neha a pocket knife and walked outside. "Give us a yell when you're sorted."

"Thank you," Neha replied. She pressed a foot onto the woven plastic bag. The bag was tough, but the wool inside felt really soft. In spite of what was happening outside, sleep was a very tempting idea.

'And I guess I'm in Gippsland. Where does it say that on a map?' she thought, remembering the fire weather warning on her phone. So long ago.

After a bit of trial and error, Neha managed to get her makeshift belt to stay in place. She did a twirl on the timber floor and was happy that the towel mostly stayed down. She wasn't sure about Tyler. He was an ok looking guy, but there was something off with his attitude to her. Merv just seemed to see her as an inconvenience, and Bob... She didn't know what to think of him. He had spent most of the time looking towards the approaching fire.

She went to the shed door and stared, open-mouthed. The sky had turned to night, even though it was only about 4 pm. The smell of burning forest was overpowering, and a light fall of ash was coating everything. The dull roar was getting louder and an orange glow was visible over the tops of the trees.

"Not something you really want to see," said Bob, noticing Neha staring at the fire, her eyes widening as she realised she had come from that direction. "Still a fair way off, luckily. Part of living in the bush, unfortunately. You wait, with our luck we'll have a flood just after this."

He climbed the stairs and gently guided Neha back inside. "Best to stay inside unless you need to go, ok?"

Neha nodded and sat down on the bale of wool, knees drawn up tight under her chin. The roar of the approaching firestorm was absolutely terrifying to the Indian girl. She fervently wished she had taken Russ's advice and turned left towards Melbourne, not straight into hell.

Merv was listening intently to the truck's two-way radio, trying to catch any snippet of information about the fire's behaviour. He came back inside and exhaled loudly, "Well, we're alone. There's no one else this side of the front. They've got strike teams attacking the edges, and six aircraft will be onsite within the hour. The good news is the wind should shift again in about four hours and drop significantly. Possibly a sprinkle of rain."

Tyler followed him in and gave a harsh laugh, "Is that from the same cunts who reckoned we'd have a mild southerly? Fucking hell, they fucked that report up."

"Oi!" snapped Merv, "there's a lady present. Be polite!" He squatted down beside Neha, who was shivering despite the oppressive heat. "You picked a good time to go on holiday. How you going?"

Neha looked up at his weather beaten face and flung her arms around his neck, then burst into tears, "I'm so scared. I shouldn't be here. My friend told me not to come this way but I thought I knew better."

Merv felt embarrassed by the clutch, but he tried to hug her back. He grunted in pain as he tried to twist his arthritic back, so he instinctively swept Neha off the floor and sat on the bale with her in his lap. He figured she had to be in her mid-twenties, but she was lighter than any of the calves he mustered at his farm.

Neha buried her face in his shoulder and quietly sobbed. Merv sighed. This would be a terrifying situation for the average Aussie city slicker, but for someone who had no concept of how brutal the Australian bush could be, this would be pants wettingly horrifying. If she was wearing pants.

Neha shifted position and started to slip off. Merv reached around to support Neha and grabbed a handful of naked butt. Embarrassed at the touch, he tried to move his hand and say sorry but Neha shook her head in his shoulder and gave a muffled reply that it was fine.

He looked at the other two guys, confused as to what he should do. Bob shrugged, "The lady wants a hug, Dad. Don't disappoint the poor girl. She's had a rough day."

Tyler looked over from the pile of old tins he was sorting through. "Yeah Pop. She's really, uhh, huggable. I reckon you're pretty lucky."

Merv glared at his grandson, but they both were right. He wrapped his left arm around Neha's shoulder and shifted the other to be more comfortable for both of them. Gently rocking back and forth he whispered in her ear that everything was fine, they were safe, and they would protect her. He sensed her starting to relax and he smiled thinking about the absurd situation they were in.

Neha snorted, sniffed and moved slightly as she started to doze off. Merv tensed, as his right hand wasn't just holding a thigh anymore. His little finger was touching some soft skin folds that definitely weren't a bum cheek. He bit his lower lip as something stirred in him that had been asleep for a long time. Well over twelve years, before his wife passed away.

He quickly looked at the other two. Bob had gone back to leaning against the door frame and looking at the glow of the fire. Tyler had wandered off to see what else Jack had stashed away in the shed. Ever so gently, he moved his little finger a bit further sideways. Yep, he nodded to himself, they were definitely Neha's girly bits he was touching. Neha snuggled further into the old man's chest and started snoring. She gave a quick jerk of her hips, and Merv's whole hand was now caressing her fanny.

Merv licked his lips. Waves of conflicting thoughts rolled over him. He was supposed to be protecting this woman, not tickling her bits. But she had deliberately moved so her things were gently rubbing against his hand. Granted, she was asleep. And he was old. Old enough to be her grandfather. But she felt so good. And it had been such a long, long time. And this was not the time or place to be carrying on. Especially in front of family. Definitely not in front of Tyler.

He went to move his hand away but Neha snorted and shifted again. She mumbled "Nahi... hilo mat please..." and pushed herself down on his hand.

Merv slowly moved his middle finger along her crack. Neha sighed and snuggled deeper into his shoulder, and Merv was certain she had started to purr. He took a deep breath and gently pushed his middle finger up. It initially met some resistance, but once past her outer lips, his finger smoothly slid inside. This was now getting into ancient history for him. For the last twenty years of their time together, he regularly had perfectly adequate missionary sex with his wife once a week. Sliding a finger into a moist thingy was a distant memory.

Neha was snoring louder than his old McCulloch chainsaw. Merv couldn't believe that she was still sleeping while his finger was moving around inside her. She was so soft and moist, but her vag still gripped his finger like it didn't want it to go. Struck with a pang of guilt he stretched up and slowly started pulling his finger out.