Julia's baby, Bk 2 - Oh, Mama.

Chapter 2 - Melina's island and Mandy, the distractor.

"Come in for a cuppa before we go, Robbie. The cows gave some good yields today." The girl was calling cheerfully. Okay. That explained the lack of bags. 

Julia followed down the path, just a track that was more or less worn down by feet with the occasional log or slab of stone for a step, Beth close behind as they made their way down. She slid, almost, except that Levi was quick to grab Julia's arm and heard the girl call just seconds later, "Watch out for the muddy patches."

The house was about fifty metres below the place the airstrip was, near the sea, Julia saw the faded white through the bush further down below. The cottage itself was a two story building, faded natural wood, and sitting on the slope beside stairs that went up to a long grassy field that curved up the slope again. Julia heard cows, saw chickens wandering around in the bush and scrub, even a couple of big goose things. The cottage itself looked pretty old actually. Maybe older than the house further down. Julia stepped over a hen, who barely looked up, apparently so interested in that patch of dirt that it didn't care that something was walking over it.

Wow. Julia was seriously going to be a farmer?

She wasn't sure how to take that.

 "Sorry. Everyone. I'm Amanda. Call me Mandy." Mandy seemed to remember this as she was putting an old looking kettle on. "I've been taking care of the island while I work."

Oliver introduced each of them as he sat at the end of the table on an old chair.

"What do you do?" David sat down. 

Julia gazed around. The cottage kitchen and living room were more or less the same room, a large arch between them, with tired furnature, slightly worn and paint peeled, but all of it cleaned and spotless. One chair rocked a little, she noticed as Robbie sat down, an old hutch kitchen thing shaking a little- the china was gently knocking against each other. 

"It's a little shaky." Mandy must have noticed Julia watching. "I've made a list of repairs. Worked on a few, but mostly, I got that boat serviced for you first."

"Thanks for that." Oliver smiled warmly at her and she returned it. "I met Mandy at college. From the Desert, right? Marine biologist so she came out here to work."

"It was a good arrangement too. I'm working for a University in Melbourne, studying the seals, occasionally would bring a student out here to work with me. I'd like to do that over summer too, if that's all right. But we can talk about that later." Mandy grinned, tucking that orange hair behind one ear, before she tugged a hairtie off her wrist and did it back into a ponytail. "Table's got some wobbly chairs. But there's the couch if it makes you paranoid."

The Desert Pack? Julia almost said it out loud, almost, but she remembered that the pilot Robbie was probably human. Julia moved past the table to stand at the window. The living room's view was of bush and just a fraction of the aqua sea.  

"Sit. I'll make us all a cuppa or something. You can see more from the bedrooms upstairs." Mandy spoke to Julia, her eyes flashing briefly over her belly, before she moved through the kitchen and getting mugs out of the hutch thing. "Coffee or tea, everyone?"

Julia wasn't thirsty, somehow, but she got a water when Beth suggested it softly.

"I don't mind dishes, really. I'm leaving once we're done." Mandy laughed. "Okay. Instant coffee, some tea, and a couple of glasses of water." She got to work, Oliver getting up to help her. "This is the original building so it's got some funny quirks to it. The bedroom doors need to be lifted up a little bit, to shut properly, they need new hinges. The downstairs bathroom has a toilet and a sink. The upstairs bathroom's sink is blocked somehow. Internet works fine in the little office though, I made sure for you Oliver, except it may be harder to connect during a thunderstorm. Impossible."