Edward Doherty was sitting in his mother’s garden by the vegetable patch. His mother was busy hanging out the washing not far away. He glanced over his shoulder and saw her pegging out a white sheet, the sunlight almost blinding as it reflected off the material.
The day was hot and the back of his neck was sticky—he’d wanted to go with his brothers to the dam for a swim but their mam was in the middle of being talked out of it. It wasn’t fair that his brothers were always off doing that sort of thing. Was it his fault that he was only six and couldn’t run as fast as Gabe and Samuel? Sometimes they let him tag along, but more often than not they shooed him away like a pest.
‘Aw, Mam, Neddy can’t swim yet. We’d have to watch him like a hawk,’ Samuel had said. ‘Besides, we can only go for a quick dip because I promised Da I’d help him fix the fence in the far paddock.’
Their mother straightened up from the washing trough and placed her damp hands on her hips. ‘Maybe you should have thought of that earlier.’
‘Please, Mam, can’t he stay here? Promise we’ll take him next time,’ Gabe said with an encouraging smile. ‘And Sam’s right—Da will be back from town soon and he’ll expect us to crack on with the fence.’
‘I’ll pull up a bucket of water from the well so Neddy can cool off without getting into trouble,’ Sam bargained as he gave him a fleeting glance. ‘He can water the beans—you’d like to do that wouldn’t you, Neddy?’
Sam didn’t wait for a reply but rather turned around and gave Gabe a nod. As if on cue, Gabe squatted down in front of Neddy.
‘Come on, Neddy, let’s go and get the water,’ Gabe said, holding out his hand as he stood up.
Neddy waited next to his big brothers as they pulled up the water from the well and filled an old metal tub, before carrying it back and placing it near the veggie patch.
‘There you are—now you can water all the beans,’ Sam said with an encouraging smile.
Neddy picked up the cracked willow-pattern teacup and dipped it into the tub, the water cold on his fingers. He smiled up at Sam and let out a giggle.
‘Now, you water them beans well, ’cause I’ll check when we get back,’ Gabe said.
Neddy filled the cup and carefully tipped the contents over the plants. He was so intent on what he was doing that for a moment or two he forgot about swimming in the dam. He repeated the task a couple of times, but when he looked up to get some sort of encouragement from his brothers he realised they had disappeared.
With a sigh he put down the cup and looked towards the gate. Outside the fenced cottage garden, the Dohertys’ farm consisted of a couple of large paddocks that swept gently downhill towards a large dam. Even in the height of summer the water never dried up.
The cottage was just out of Harlington and sat on a dusty track over a rise of a hill. The family owned a few acres between the small creek and the track. Unlike the majority of families in the area, they weren’t farmers. Instead, Neddy’s father, James, was a carpenter who occasionally picked up labouring jobs on the side to make ends meet. They still kept a few animals—a handful of chickens, a couple of goats and a cow—but that was for the family’s needs rather than any commercial pursuit. They didn’t have much, but neither did most of the folk around here.
Grandfather had built the four-room wooden cottage when he’d settled here from Ireland as a young man. Over the years Da had added a laundry with a small copper in the back garden and a sleep-out just outside the back door—that’s where Neddy and his brothers slept. There were more impressive houses in Harlington, but none of them were as nice as the little whitewashed cottage on the hill.
Neddy turned his head towards the open door as the sound of little Rosie crying wafted over on the summer breeze. He stood up and started towards the cottage; he was her big brother, after all, and even if his brothers thought him a nuisance he would never act that way with Rosie. She couldn’t help it if she cried a lot and was close to bald. A frown flicked across his face. He hoped her hair would grow quickly, then maybe she’d be almost pretty.
Neddy was about to step up onto the slate front step when his mother’s voice came from behind.
‘You can keep playing, if you like,’ she said as she carried the empty laundry basket towards the door. ‘Our Rose probably wants feeding anyway. Why don’t you keep watering the garden and watch for Da to come home?’
Neddy nodded, but Mam had already disappeared into the cottage to tend to the baby. He went back to the tub of water and for the next few minutes made a half-hearted attempt to water the plants, although there was a possibility that he managed to drop more water on himself than the beans. After a while he realised that Rosie had stopped crying and there was a peaceful lull over the garden except for the occasional song from a bird in the crab-apple tree and the faint rustle of leaves. The sun was warm on Neddy’s back and made him a little sleepy—that was until a movement by the gate caught his attention.
Neddy looked cautiously over towards the wooden fence, then edged closer until, through the slats, he could see the long ears and the soft brown fur of a rabbit. He glanced over his shoulder to see if his Mam was there—she wasn’t, which was probably just as well, as she was partial to putting rabbits into pies. Neddy would much prefer to play with them. She called them nothing but pests that kept trying to eat her garden, but Neddy thought they looked soft and cute and he had always wanted one for a pet. He took a few steps forwards as quietly as he could. The rabbit didn’t move.
Hopeful, Neddy took another step and then one more. The rabbit nibbled on some half-dry grass and ignored him. The summer had been hot and a lot of the grass had dried up and died, except by the fenced cottage garden. Because they had a well, Mam had made sure that most of her vegetables, fruit trees and even her one rose had enough water to flourish.
Encouraged, Neddy crept all the way to the gate. The rabbit, intent on eating, still disregarded him; perhaps he was too small to be considered a threat. He watched the rabbit and smiled, and after a moment’s hesitation he slowly opened the gate and slipped through. At the soft creak of the gate’s hinges the rabbit took a couple of slow hops towards the dusty track, and Neddy followed.