Lola's Lurching Life Ch. 02

"Or longer?"

"Perhaps."

* * *

The Wallace family came out to greet Lola as she drove up the farm track. Omigod, she thought. It was almost like arriving home while yet, currently, she had no home.

"I will settle in this island," she vowed, flicking the vehicle's headlights at the family.

She jumped from the vehicle and raced into Helena's opening arms. sniffing rapidly.

"Omigod, darling Lola. Whatever is the matter; you are almost weeping?"

"Sorry... it's just... it's just that (sob) this welcome has reminded me of what it was (sob) like when I arrived home from a holiday or from boarding school when (sob, sob) I lived with my family on our farm."

Smart Helena instantly realized that despite her talents and worldliness, the usually almost over-confident, the sobbing young woman in her arms had suddenly hit the wall in realisation that basically she was a waif.

She squeezed the distressed Lola, patting her back and kissing into the long hair held in a pony-tail while murmuring, "There you go, vent your feelings. Let it all out. You have me."

The rest of the family slowly backed off, looking confused and perhaps wondering why the fuss and why was Helena treating Lola like a daughter caught in some crisis.

And then Iona advance slowly toward the two hugging females and then launched herself at them, joining in the huddle and was uttering calming words.

Father and son shuffled. Dougal looking skywards while Calum stared at the vineyard beyond him before muttering, "I'm going in to pour whiskies for everyone dad, you herd them in to the gazebo."

Ten minutes later all was well. All of the glasses containing three finger-widths of whisky had been consumed, with or without added water and Lola cleared the air of uncertainties by laughing and saying she'd never tried neat whisky before and it had tasted great.

"Fuck, I feel every so much better, my old self has returned.

Use of the f-work rather shocked Helena but the rest of the family were clapping the apparent star of the moment and Helena joined in clapping.

"Sorry guys for the emotional tizz that hit me when I spotted your all gathering to welcome my back. I... I just lost it. It reminded me of my home-comings from boarding school when I was a kid, and like then, today I cried at those greetings. What I'm trying to say is that your actions toughed my...soul and..."

"That's sufficient, Lola," Dougal said. "We get the message and if you say anything more, you'll have us all bawling. I think this family should attempt to get your married off."

After a moment of shocked silence, Lola said sweetly, "Thanks everyone for showering me with kindness and please Dougal, don't attempt to fix me up with a stud and I would prefer to sleep long at night and am quite capable of personally managing my social life."

That was greeted with laughter and Dougal said, "Right Lola and Callum, let's get Lola things for her bedroom to the house and assist me to get what's left placed in storage and then after lunch you take her hired vehicle back to the mainland for her."

"Hey, Dougal, the Ford Ranger is mine. I traded in my sports car because I wish to look the part calling on people during my two-week contract with you to collect advice what we should do to improve yields on your vineyard and to find the most economical way to break-through the scoria around your 7000 vines, which means 70 hours of pounding if the scoria can be broken through at say 100 vines an hour."

"Your only hope in terms of economics is that the scoria flow is not too deep and not too thick to allow quick diagonal pounding or perhaps what I believe would be quick diagonal drilling to lessen the impact on vine roots. But first comes soil testing, and tomorrow I begin enquiries to find a highly recommended testing outfit."

"Yeah right, but first things first," Callum said. "You and I still have 570 sheep to dag (crutch), starting at 10.00 this morning."

"No, I will not allow..."

"It's okay, Helena," Lola said. "It's my desire to pull my weight around here as your working guest and until I find fulltime work in a commercial vineyard on this island. Come on guys, let's get my boxed possessions put away. The packs with blue tape go into my bedroom in the house, the remainder go into temporary storage."

As the trio were storing the packages, Callum said to Lola, "How's your back. You were pretty much stuffed by the time you managed to work till dark on dagging the other day."

"It's recovered and I did go to bed immediately after dinner and was asleep I reckon before I hit the mattress and could barely walk next morning before spending half an hour soaking in the spa pool. Today, with that hard re-introduction to shearing behind me, I should finish in much better nick."

"Well, finish at 3.00 to avoid you two younger buggers attempting to shear like hell to finish the lot today."

"Good one dad, you'll save me from being tongue-lashed by the wife for being too tired to perform as her favourite stud."

That set the two guys roaring into laughter and Lola joined in, giggling with a hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, Lola," chuckled Dougal as the mirth died. "It's easy to tell you have not forgotten your heritage of being a country girl."

She hugged and kissed Dougal affectionately and Callum pulled them apart and shoving his father aside said, "I'll have just a full-frontal tight hug too, your sweet darling. Providing we don't kiss, Iona will accept we are just two happy workmates enjoying our reunion."

"I really don't think..." Dougal said, but too late, the younger two were already into a tight clinch.

Smiling, Lola pushed Callum away and said, "Don't lay your hands on me again Callum apart from an emergency, or unless we are standing in close view of Iona. If she misinterprets the friendship you and I are developing, she'll probably have your balls for breakfast."

The huge roar of laughter from the two men swept thought the nearby valleys and over the hilltops of south-western Waiheke Island.

* * *

The next day, as Callum trudged over to the shearing shed to finish the last 110 ewes, with his mother beside him to bag the daggy wool to be sent off for scouring, Lola drove off with Dougal seated beside here to a winery on the opposite south-east side of the island.

"This pickup is in excellent condition and the motor sounds sweet," Dougal said. "You know, Helena and I talked long and hard about you last evening before late dinner when you, Callum and Iona were soaking in the spa pool. We believe that with some belt-tightening..."

"No, stop Dougal, that was very kind of you and Helena but even I know you best invest in your vineyard rather than using=cash to employ me. You are sitting fairly pretty comfortably as a small family on your acreage that includes a vineyard that has perceived but as yet untested potential, to really increase its productivity with careful nursing. But that will take a two or more seasons to fully yield the expected benefits. I'll eventually find my spot elsewhere on the island."

"But we wish to help you, especially Helena."

"Dougal, you and your lovely wife have worked hard to develop your family farm and vineyard and so please accept the reality that you would be fools to slice off thousands of dollars of your income to pay wages to me. Please say you agree."

"No, at least not outright, Lola. However, I promise to try hard, as you have persuaded me, to convince Helena to drop the idea of employing you longer term."

"That's the way to go, Dougal. Apply pressure until she yields."

"Thanks, sweet lady. Helena and I agreed last night, exposing our thoughts for the first time to one another, that we wished you'd been the daughter we never had. Iona is lovely but lacks the drive that you have. That's why she merely manager of a lucrative but nevertheless tinpot coffee bar."

"Why did she choose to work in a coffee bar?"

"Iona likes working amongst people, being a city-bred girl, and found it very lonely on the farm here from the time she arrived, and desperately wanted to meet women around her age to develop a social life. Callum has a friend Derek whose mother owned a coffee bar and after couple of months work of Iona working there, the manager left and Iona was appointed to replace her."

"Then why doesn't she seek work in a vineyard that has a restaurant that only serves lunches, as some smaller vineyards offering food service do?"

Dougal rubbed his jowl and said that was a worthwhile thought.

"Lola, will you talk to her about this, too?"

"Yes, but only after you and Helena have first raised the idea with her but without saying it was my suggestion. There is no need to risk ruffling feathers."

"Ha, you clever lady," Dougal laughed and slapped his hand high on Lola's thigh.

"Omigod, I'm sorry I did that, Lola. I was..."

"Would you have done that to your adult daughter, if you had one, under exactly the same circumstances?"

"Yeah, I probably would."

"Then it was okay, Dougal. Now just forget it. Um, actually I consider you as a fatherly figure in my life and Helena tends to mother me at times, and I have no objection to her being like that. You guys have been very kind to me."

They continued onwards in thoughtful silence for a couple of minutes until Dougal said turn into the right side-road coming up.

"This land appears a little easier to farm than where your patch is located, but then grape vines appear to prefer terrain when they have to struggle a bit."

Dougal replied yes indeed, Lola had picked-up wide knowledge about grape growing.

"Oh yeah, I'm principally book-read."

He snorted and recalled that his wise maternal grandmother, a long-retired university lecturer, in her earlier days when she lived in Glasgow, would often remind his father that reading was the fountain of knowledge."

"You act if you have an answer for everything, you armchair philosopher?" she laughed lightly.

"Not quite," he smiled. "I sure have difficulty trying to figure you out."

He pointed to turn into the gateway where the property was prominently named Brozovic Winery as they laughed, with Lola having replied that she took his comment as a compliment.

When they left the property almost two hours later, they agreed that talking to Croatians, Hec Brozovic and his wife Marana, had been most useful.

Hec had recalled the days from when he was fifteen of helping his parents developing and planting the vineyard on their two-acre block later increased by purchasing an adjoining 9-acre decease's estate in an auction.

"They faced many of the problems and having to find solutions that your family experienced, Dougal. I found what Hec said about their attempts to find the most satisfactory solutions for dry-season irrigation was most useful, particularly their latest applications of technology."

"And of course, the variables in supplemented nutrition of vines even within individual small blocks with the assistance of regular soil testing were useful info."

"Yes, absolutely and for suggesting that you approaching Nick Orsini, great-grandson of the original settlers from Italy who first leased and then purchased the 5-acre block containing a couple of acres of neglected grape vines that today is the well-known Angelo Orsini Wine Estate now of some twenty acres."

"Yeah, and interestingly, Nick has pulled out his father's mothballed machinery used when his dad retired from off-season post and trellis contracting on vineyard extension work. I suspect the family vineyard is experiencing a financial squeeze or perhaps it's just the payroll cost has become out of synch with grape and restaurant returns and gave him the opportunity to work off-vineyard and keep his profits, if any, for himself."

"How do you figure that out, "Dougal?"

"I've been down that road myself and although the Orsini's operation is many times larger than mine, its enterprise has many more mouths to feed than mine and they tripled the size of their vineyard five years ago and that would have been largely financed by bank loans."

"Do you know Nick well-enough to introduce him to me?"

"That's unnecessary, I've known his father well. Years ago, we played as side-rowers in the scrum of our team in social rugby and I watched Nick and his three sisters grow up...," he paused.

"And?"

"I was just had a sudden thought, Lola. Nick's around your age and he's a real goer and in would..."

"Dougal, cease attempting to push me into some guy's arms," Lola said, gritting her teeth as she fought to control of the heavy vehicle as it slid off the sealed part of the road, dropping both left-hand wheels into deep, loose metal. She calmly gunned the motor briefly and kept the line of the vehicle until it was well on to the narrow width of the seal with no on-coming vehicle approaching and then straightened the pick-up."

"Gosh Lola, is there anything you can't deal with finesse."

"Yes," she snapped. "One example is men. Oh, sorry I shouted at you."

"It's fine," Dougal snickered. "It's what I imagine my daughter that I never had would have handled me in exactly the same position you were in if I attempted to hook her into a guy. But no worries, you probably won't like Nick as a potential err partner anyway. He's widely regarded as being up himself arrogantly, has a short fuse and simply uses girlfriends for you know what."

"What do I know what he does with girlfriends, Dougal?"

"Don't try that innocent caper on me," said Dougal. "And pay attention to driving, there's a hedgehog on the tarmac ahead..."

He stopped that comment, realizing that the driver was already steering wide of the animal to avoid making it an unintentional road-kill.

"Bloody show-off women," he muttered faintly.

Lola heard that but just make do with a smile rippling over her lips.

After lunch at the farm, Lola emptied her boxes of personal things and took the cartons to store beside her boxes and crates of possessions to use again when she moved on.

She decided to go and find the infamous Nick, presumably the expert heart-breaker and fencing contractor.

Helena, who was making late-harvest tomato chutney and didn't want help, suggested that Lola go down to the bottom paddock and assist Dougal moving the rams.

"He'll by fuming mad as he's only taken Kip, who is fairly well trained but tends to misinterpret commands at times and that could be largely Dougal at fault. So be prepared to hear language that would make most females blush."

"I'll be okay. Swearing is just emphatic speech."

"Omigod, I bet men love the way you can be so forgiving."

"Dangerous ground Helena."

"Oh darling, you need a big of pushing..."

"Another word on this theme darling Helena and you might just be wearing that simmering pot of chutney over your head and shoulders."

Helena sighed and said she could not understand why a lovely young woman like Lola be so stubborn.

"It's because I'm not so nice and I take pride in being my own woman. Being rather like me yourself, you must be aware that all young women are not submissive docile wenches."

"Wenches? That's an old word that I did not expect to hear from you."

"I read a lot, Helena. If you included romantic novels in your reading preferences, you'd see Dougal depart for the winery or for the paddocks every morning with a big fat smile on his face."

"You know-all young vamp," Helena giggled.

"I never expected to hear you use the word vamp, especially in that context."

"Many of my friends have daughters and I hear them use it occasionally. What romantic novel do you recommend I start with, something with a title like. 'Licentious Women of the Outer Hebrides?"

"Oh, that's encouragingly inventive Helena. I suggest you check the local library for young Irish writer Kit Boyle, 'Mrs O'Neill's Gentleman Callers.' If you really have never quite understood why younger people are so focused on having sex, you'll finish that book aware that you have entered the age of sexual enlightenment."

"Omigod, you can't dump something like that on me."

"It's your choice darling. Buy a paperback copy when you are next over in the city. Do you own a vibrator or dildo?"

"Goodness gracious, that's a big no. Err, do you think I should?"

"It's up to you, dear. It's a personal choice. You may feel the urge to use a female toy when reading Kit's novel. It's so informative and so beautifully written."

"Beautifully written? Then perhaps I should think about purchasing it."

Lola jogged down to were Dougal was supposedly 'working' rams, but what she saw was a mess.

Dougal was very red-faced and waving a shepherd's crook and the gorgeous looking young dog was looking the part of a dismal failure and possibly even suspecting imminent death. Dougal's language was peppered with the b-word, f-word and c-word but Lola winced as he called his dog 'a useless canine turd'.

"Dougal, let me try."

He turned, said hi, and then shouted, "What do you fucking know about working a dog-in-training?"

"I guess I've forgotten much of what I used to know."

"Oh yeah, you grew up on a big sheep and cattle outfit. Well, have a go at getting Bingo the rams up to the open gate beside you."

"Bingo, what a nice name."

"What? Oh yeah. God, Lola. You are making me feel calmer already."

"I don't have to get all of them up here and through the gate in one lot, do I?"

"No, and the ones left behind will feel more inclined to come up the hill to where the others have passed through the gate."

Lola had an idea she could get all of the flock, perhaps just under 150 rams, up in one muster, provided that Bingo responded to her, a total stranger.

She whistled shapely.

Bingo lifted his head to look at her. She stood straight and still. The young dog stood even more alert as if waiting for a command.

Lola whistled one sharp note, shouted 'Way Leg-o' that echoed from the hill behind the dog and she waved an arm to the left and swept it to the right in a sweeping half circle.

Bingo raced down to the bottom of the 6-acre paddock in a sweeping motion roughly as Lola had indicated and she called, "Get out of the fucking way Dougal."

Dougal climbed the slope to her, panting a little.

"Have you ever thought of buying Helena a medium sized dildo, Dougal?"

He clasped his throat, momentarily choking and then croaked, "For god-sake girl, don't you ever lay off?"

Lola was pleased, having expected a snarled rejection. His reply indicated that the old boy may still have fond memories of bedroom romping.

"Dougal, are you aware that that they are classified as sex toys, and not the end of civilisation as we know it. I understand that in most cases after playing with a dildo or a vibrator, the woman will come looking for her sexual partner all soft and with doe-like eyes expecting the only thing fatter than his smile at seeing her wobbling breasts will be a tiny part of him."

He took a deep breath and said, "That's enough Lola. Anything more and you'll have me aroused. Bingo is managing the sheep well. Christ. He's bringing that other lot in to make a complete mob.

"Yes, and do you know why he's doing well?"

"He knows instinctively if he does good, you'll allow him to hump you."

Lola snorted and said the was a disgusting comment, but she was unable to stop herself in joining Dougal's cackling.

When that subsided Lola said carefully, Duggie?"

"Yes, Lindy," he grinned.

"Bingo is doing his best because he's not confused by someone waving his arms about and shouting angrily, sending mixed messages. Bingo comes of a long line of dogs, the Border Collie, that is one of the most intelligent dog breeds on this planet. He has been trained in the basics and now he just needs clearly delivered messages to encourage adjustment in any given situation. He's able to adjust what he's doing via simple shouted commands and hand gestures. If he accepts that his handler is his boss, he'll work for that handler like a devoted servant.