by Roo

Part Three - Chapter Three

Preparing for Brisbane

Editing by Bronwen

Previously: We had gone to see Sandy's new home just down the road and ended up coming back to pack enough things for them to sleep in their new home that night.

Sunday morning.

It was six a.m., and the twins had climbed out of their cots and were playing on the floor so I nudged Ricky in the ribs and said, “Honey, it's your turn to take the little ones to the shower while I get breakfast ready.”

He complained, “Can't you do it---you're much faster and they listen to you.”

I said, “Ricky, I'm going to have them all next week in Brisbane so, no!! Get out of bed and get moving, we're going to church this morning with Jamie and Sandy and I'm better at making breakfast.”

By this time Donna and Jean were on our bed jumping on their Daddy so he had no choice but to take them to their shower.

When I arrived in the kitchen Mum was already getting breakfast ready while Dad had gone down to get the Sunday Mail newspaper. By the time he got back breakfast was ready and Ricky had the twins under control and in their high chairs feeding them their cereal with bits of chopped up banana. They were both really good eaters, and of course they had their Daddy wrapped right around their sticky little fingers,

I had no more than toast and coffee. These days any food I put in my mouth goes straight to my thighs, while Ricky eats like a horse and stays thin as a greyhound.

Mum asked, “Do you want me and Dad to come to church with you this morning?”

I replied, “Mum, would you and Dad mind the twins this morning? After we've been to church, I want to have a talk with Jamie about what is going to happen when we take her down to Brisbane to be checked out at the Mater hospital.”

Mum replied, “Of course darling, they are no trouble, so you do what you have to do.”

Ricky and I left the girls with Mum and got ready to go to church. When we were ready we hugged the twins and got in the car to go and pick up Sandy and Jamie. We arrived two minutes later because their house is only fifty yards down the road, and they were all dressed and waiting on the wide verandah.

Jamie was dressed in that pretty white summer dress with red sandals and a red ribbon in her long blonde hair. She is such a pretty girl and Sandy fusses over her daughter like Mum and Rita did me when I was her age. Sandy wore a blue skirt and white top with cream coloured sandals; I was in a cream jacket and slacks with red two inch heels. Ricky looked handsome in a light blue shirt and brown slacks, I am still deeply in love with my man, he looks so handsome.

There is a new minister at the Lutheran church, he is quite young and has a pretty wife. They are Robert and Julie Atkins and they have been told about Jamie and have accepted her as just another little nine year old girl. Jamie is bound to make quite a few new friends of her own age which she has already done at the school she attends. We arrived at the church with Ricky taking the lead and introducing himself to Robert, as this is the first time he has come since the new minster took over.

Sandy, myself, and Jamie came to the church a few days ago to make sure Jamie was happy to go to this church because she goes to the Catholic school. She thought she would not be allowed to attend another church. I put her straight on that one and told her God is not in any particular building and you can pray to him anywhere you like. She asked me if Jean was with God and I told her she is in the spirit world and left it at that.

After the service I said to Ricky, “Darling you may as well go home. Sandy, Jamie and I will walk home and discuss what happens next week.”

He gave me a kiss and said, “Ok”. He then gave Jamie a hug and said, “Jamie sweetheart, everything will be ok. Mummy and Aunty Carla will know what to do.” He also gave Sandy a hug and said, “I wish I were going too but someone has to run the business side of things at Croft Air Charter.” and off he went.

Sandy said “Carla, I can see why you love that man so much, he is one in a million.”

I replied, “Sandy, I met him fifteen years ago at the river when he dared me to swim out to the drum in the middle of the the river. It ended up with me saving him from drowning, and we have been soul mates ever since.”

Jean was in our heads and said, 'Don't forget me Sis, I helped you save him, remember?'

We all laughed at that. Jean is never far away, which is why when I fly I know she is there if things go wrong.

We started to slowly walk home, and I explained to Jamie about what I had to go through and reassured her that she won't be unconscious when we arrive at Archerfield airport, and it will not be in the chopper because it is used to do the work at Quilpie. Seeing that Mummy can't yet fly the chopper on her own, it will also mean that having the twins on board we can take turns at the controls.

Jamie said, “Can I have a go at the controls as well?”

Sandy said, “Honey, I think we will have our hands full with the twins don’t you?”

“Yes mummy, I guess I will have to look after them won't I?”

I said, “Now you're thinking girl, you're not just a pretty face after all!”

We stopped at the corner shop to buy some things to put in Sandy's fridge to tide them over for a couple of days till Sandy can fully stock her pantry, and ended up buying a lot more things then we could carry, so had to go back with the car to pick them up. I went with them and helped Sandy put the things away in her own kitchen.

She said, “Carla, as soon as I get settled in I will have a house warming party.”

“I'll help with the cooking,” said a dancing Jamie.

I replied, “That is if we can get you out of the pool long enough!”

“I can cook really well can't I Mummy?”

“Yes sweetheart you certainly can, and you are a great help in the kitchen.”

That put me in my place!! Even Jean had a giggle at my expense.

We went backwards and forwards a few more times through the day with some more things, and by mid afternoon we were exhausted so decided to all get in the pool. Mum brought the twins down and Jamie played with them in the pool. They have been made pool-safe and can float, but we still insist that they wear their little water wings. After a while Ricky got in with them while Sandy and I started to do something about dinner. Mum had already brought some heat up food with her so it wasn't too hard to put on a decent first meal in Sandy's home.

After dinner we left Sandy and Jamie to it and went home to sort out what was to happen the next week while we were in Brisbane. Ricky was busy with the air charter business and Chrissie and Ross would handle the vet surgery, also Amy was in the office. If need be a vet from Charleville would come to give a hand. I packed all the clothes and things needed for myself and the twins, but I also own an apartment at West End that the whole family uses when we are in Brisbane. It is cheaper than staying in hotels. The apartment is always stocked with food and we leave a certain amount of clothes there as well. We do quite a lot of business in Brisbane, so it is a necessity to have somewhere to stay while we are there.

We have our own hanger at Archerfield, and a car is kept there for our use while in Brisbane, so no more taxies are needed. It helps to save money.

At bed time for the little ones, either myself or Ricky will read them a bed-time story till both of them drop off to sleep. They sleep all the way through till six am in the morning. I think Jean must have something to do with that which is ok by me, she is their aunty after all.

It was ten p.m., and it had been a long day so I made my way to bed after saying good night to Mum and Dad. Ricky was asleep in a lounge chair, and I was almost tempted to leave him there but he would only wake me when he came to bed later.

I said, “Darling, time to come to bed.” he mumbled something and was going back to sleep when I gently sat on his lap and whispered in his ear, “I won't be around for a week, would you like to make love tonight?”

I won't go into what happened next ,but I didn't have to walk to the bedroom. The power we women have over men in his situation is complete!!!!

If I wasn't on the pill I would probably be continuously pregnant. I want more kids and so does Ricky, but we will wait till the twins are at least three years old and what if I have another set of twins? I think waiting is a better option.

All too soon it was morning, and our two legged alarm bells were in good form as always.

Ricky said, “Why do they always jump on me and not you?”

I replied above the noise of two little monsters squealing and giggling, “Because you encourage them sweetheart.” and he does. Donna and Jean can just about do anything with him and he just lets them get away with it. Mean Mummy won't, so all I get is warm hugs and cuddles with sloppy kisses.

It was time to get moving so it was up and at 'em. Ricky took Donna and I took Jean and off to the bathrooms we went. Half an hour later, we were all showered and dressed for the day. Mum and Dad knew it was going to be a rush that morning so Dad gave Mum a hand to get breakfast ready and also fed the twins for me. Ricky had an early start and wanted to head out to the hanger to organise what the other pilots had on for the coming few days.

He had his breakfast and kissed me and the twins and said, “I will ring you every night to get an update on what is happening down there in Brisbane, and I will drop into Sandy's place on the way to work to say goodbye to Jamie and wish my little mate good luck.”

Ricky has a special attachment to Jamie because she is so much like me in many ways, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she didn't also become a vet in the future.

I said my 'goodbyes' to Mum and Dad and gathered up my bags while Mum took the girls by their hands and made them walk out to the car and strapped them in the child seats and we were ready to go. Mum kissed the twins one more time and we were off.

Sandy and Jamie were all ready to go and waiting at their front gate. Both were wearing jeans and tee-shirts to be comfortable for the three hour flight to Archerfield. They climbed aboard my four wheel drive and we were on our way to the air strip and hanger where the Piper was all fuelled up and ready to go.

We arrived to see Alan giving the craft a once-over. He is fastidious about the fleet and mine is even more important to him. I parked the the car in a shed beside the main hanger and started to get all our gear out to load into my plane when Terry one of the maintenance mechanics came and gave us ladies a hand to carry the luggage to the plane. Alan picked up both giggling twins and carried them to the plane and proceeded to strap them into their seats. The plane is a five seater so Jamie was going to sit between the girls to keep them under control.

For some reason she only has to look at them and they behave like little angels. I really think that my twin is in cahoots with Jamie where the twins are concerned, which is fine by me. Who am I to argue with that?

Once everything was put in the cargo hold of the plane and the outside flight checks were done by Sandy we were ready to go. We climbed aboard, closed the doors, gave Alan and Terry the thumbs up and Sandy started the engines. I called flight control and gave them our flight plan and we were cleared for take off.

I let Sandy take the first leg of the flight. It makes it a relaxing trip when two people share the flying. She taxied out onto the runway and turned the plane around ready for take off, did a few more checks and pulled the throttle back. The Piper responded with the familiar growl of the two engines and we were airborne within a few seconds.

She climbed to five thousand feet and levelled out. Our speed was three hundred air knots which is a comfortable speed and easy on the fuel. Jamie was reading the girls a book. The Piper is not a noisy plane inside while in level flight, in fact it is no more noisy than in a car. It's only noisy while climbing with full power on.

Within twenty minutes all three girls were asleep so there wasn't going to be any drama with them. After an hour and a half I took over the controls till we landed at our destination. Archerfield came into sight and I radioed the tower for permission to land and within five minutes we were taxing up to the Croft Air Charter hanger for the plane to be put away for the next week. Barry the head man at our Archerfield end of the business came out to greet us and help load our things into the four wheel drive that we use in Brisbane.

Sandy and I got the three sleeping beauties out of the aircraft and into the car and of course they looked around to see they were on the ground and missed most of the flight which Jamie was not to happy about.

She said, “Mummy why did you let me go to sleep up there?”

Sandy replied “Sweetheart, the last couple of days have worn you out so I let you get some rest before we take you to see Doctor Rose, OK?”

“Yes Mummy,” she said with a girlie pout on her pretty little face.

I said, “That look might work with Uncle Ricky and Uncle Bill but we know about girlie pouts don't we Sandy?” Sandy just winked at me with a knowing smile.

Once in the car and on our way into the city the girls all looked around at the throng of the Brisbane traffic which none of us are used to out at Quilpie.

It was midday madness on the road and took almost an hour to get to the apartment at West End and I think we all needed a nap before we embarked on going into the CBD of inner Brisbane. It was two o'clock in the afternoon so really too late to do anything more than to settle down at the apartment and start again in the morning, so we had a meal and switched on the telly.

To be continued

Next time: at the Mater and doctor Rose San-Lee.

Please leave a comment

Carla Bay