The sun obscured the view with shimmering mirages and Ed squinted to gaze
hopefully at the horizon. It only the drought would subside, if only the rain
would come and fill the drinking troughs and renew the moisture to the earth.
Renew the moisture and wash away the stale cow bodies that lay where new summer
grass should be. If only. Ed’s anxious eyes measured the cracks in the soil, and
tested the moisture by kicking up the dust with his old workboots. He pulled his
akubra hat down over his freckled ears, protecting his balding head from the
fate of his cattle. Sweat glistened on his forehead and ran down his back. His
dog had collapsed beneath an old resilient gum tree, and he aspired to join him,
but not before he inspected the casualties of the night. A desperate sigh
escaped his lips as he slowly counted the yearlings that lay, covered in ants,
upon the ground. He felt his heart wither as he prepared to farewell his dreams.
The sun climbed the cloudless sky and released the demons of his hardships to
mock him. Ed wet his lips and continued towards the dusty creek. He sat himself
upon a rock and silently endured the stifling heat. A bearded dragon was basking
himself nearby.
He was an offspring of the drought, a product of man’s despair and the sun’s
impartial cruelty. The lizard blinked and darted under a cracked rock. Even the
cold-blooded did not enjoy the completeness of this heat. A dry, hot wind kissed
Ed upon his damp neck. Flies that came to feed off the cattle carcasses buzzed
around his legs. He went back inside and waited for the dusk. The morning
brought a change in the air. For many months Ed had risen to the silence of the
dead farm, and the consuming heat that had destroyed his land. Today the
briskness of a cold, stinging wind radiated pure hope. The sun did not force its
way through Ed’s bedroom window and demand that he wake. The sky did not glisten
with heat. The heat had fled, and in it’s wake followed a carpet of black that
rumbled its way across the sky. Ed’s heart jumped and his fingers nervously
rolled a cigarette in the light of the drowning sun. With a consenting moan from
the towering gums, the first raindrops landed bravely upon the dirt, and turned
into steam. Behind them followed many more, until the steam disappeared. Ed put
on his akubra hat and walked out into the gale winds and blinding rain. He
caught the drops of joy on his tongue and smiled completely. The land began to
cool, and the drought was over.
Words: 1017
