Previously

We got home in the wee hours on Sunday morning almost couldn't get undressed we were so tired from dancing the night away , but it was a hot night so both Ricky and I did the old birthday suit thing again and climbed into bed .

We were awoken by the phone ringing at ten a.m. Of course it was Mum wanting to know how the ball went and for me to tell her what the gowns looked like.

I replied, “Mum I will ring you back in an hour when we have all woken up and had a shower and breakfast ok?!!”

“Alright dear, see that you do we have some things to discuss that are important to yours and Ricky's future in the family business.”

“Ok Mum I’ll ring back a little later, bye.”

Ricky asked me, “What’s that all about?”

I replied, “Ricky I think we are about to become part of an air charter company and so is Jenny.”

The next week it was back to uni for me and Ricky and work for the others. Mum and dad turned up on the following Sunday with a bunch of papers to sign.
Legally, we still had to do everything through Mum and Dad but once we all turned eighteen we would be company directors with full legal status.

Authors note :-

''This Chapter takes us to six years later. For me the ''Author'' of the story of Carla and her extended family, it is something I just can't close off, Carla has become part of me.

It is six years hence and it's Christmas Day 1973. Carla's extended family are all in the backyard of the Quilpie home of Bill and Donna Croft and of course the marquee is all set up as well.

Carla has been a qualified vet for over a year now and is in partnership with Ross. Ricky qualified as a teacher but the pull of the open sky was to much for him and he is now in the business and one of the pilots for Croft Air Charter which is based in Quilpie and also at Archerfield in Brisbane.

Oh, and of course they got married just after they graduated. Carla fell pregnant almost immediately and there are two little twin girls eighteen months old and as cute as can be. They are named Jean and Donna and are very hard to tell apart. They are already talking baby talk in unison. ''Scary'''

Jennifer and Billy are also married. Billy has taken over Bill's service station and repair business while Jennifer is the head nurse at the hospital. It's not that she has to work but there is no way she could just sit around, but she is also pregnant and is due in a couple of weeks time. So she will be a full time mum for a while anyway. She has become quite wealthy in her own right with the investments from her father's inheritance and that is how Billy ended up with the service station. Anyway she is having a little boy so the cycle of girls is about to stop.

Christine and Alan are also married and stayed in Brisbane only for a short while because Christine wanted to come home and be there for her parents, so they are also back in Quilpie. Christine is not nursing any more and is now the receptionist at the veterinary clinic owned by Carla and Ross. She is also pregnant but is only two months in. She will have a 'Caesarian section' the same as Carla had. Because of the surgery they both had for their little birth defect, they didn't want to risk having problems giving birth and then losing their babies.

Alan is now doing the aircraft maintenance of the fleet of Croft planes at Quilpie and is quite happy to be back home and can't wait to become a dad like Ricky.

Rita and Peter have been married for four years now and been trying to have offspring but it just hasn't happened. They are quite happy running their restaurant and going on their little camping trips. Maybe if Rita didn't try so hard she would fall pregnant too. She is all over the little twin girls when they visit her and of course she babysits them regularly.

Donna and Bill are well and truly retired now and are looking forward to spoiling their grand kids. Bella and Tony have also retired. Tony has to use a walking stick to get around because of his bad knees.

Ricky's parents are still on their five acre lot and happily retired, and are spoiling the two little twin girls Jean and Donna, running amok in the rows of fruit trees that Barry has planted over the years. These two little munchkins are truly blessed because their spirit Aunty Jean has already communicated with them and it is quite funny to watch when it happens because they think that everyone else can hear and see her as well.

It is a hot Christmas Day and we are all out in the marquee and as usual every one is talking at once. It is time to hand out the presents and seeing that we have littlies now it is appropriate to have a Father Christmas present to do the honours. Of course Jean and Donna are to be the first to get their presents and are jumping up and down while Ricky is trying to control the two little balls of energy. I have them dressed in little angel dresses with wings on their back. Their Spirit Aunty is here alongside her little nieces just as excited as they are and the vibrations that I am feeling are almost painful but I will not intervene in my spirit sister's happiness - she is part of me after all.

Brian is here and in his Santa suit. It must be hot but he insists on doing it, and the twins love it when he calls them over to the bag with the presents. I sometime wish their energy would transfer itself to me. I am still breast feeding them but that has to stop because I am getting far too tired and when I have to fly out to stations to do vet work it is pretty inconvenient to have to use a breast pump because I am leaking milk. So a few more times and that is it and hopefully my breasts wont get too sore when I stop.

Brian is of course not a priest any more and has a partner as well and she is also a lawyer and they handle all our legal matters which is quite a task these days. The family business has grown so much that it is hard to keep track of all that is going on. We employ at least fifty people now so it is quite a responsibility to have so many people depending on us for their livelihood.

Back to Santa and the twins. They both have to get the same things or there is trouble on the horizon so I bought them each a doll and clothes and two little strollers to push them around in. They seem to be natural mothers even at their age. As soon as the paper was off the dolls and strollers they were nursing them like they ere grown ups and asked me and Jenny to give them a hand to put the dolly clothes on them. It wasn't long and they were pushing them around and showing everyone their babies.

Sam ,Sandra and Mary werre also here again like every Christmas this seemed to be the place that we all congregate to, and as the years progress the family and friends will just get bigger. Sam and Sandra are going to foster a couple of young kids that have been abused sexually, one is a transsexual girl like Sam and the other is a genetic girl who has an autism problem but it is not very severe. They are both eight years old and I am looking forward to helping out in any way that I can, probably more financially than anything else.

Ricky has been told by the two little bosses that he is their Daddy and has to help push their strollers around in the back yard. We had to keep the gates closed because they would be off down the road in no time and wanting to show of the Christmas presents to all the neighbours.

Daddy obliged with a sigh and a roll of the eyes and said "Women are all the same, we men are mere servants" but he was smiling pretty big when the two little ones said “Come on DaDa.”

I thought, “Ricky is such a jelly bean, soft and sweet and I hope he never changes.”

Jean was in my mind and said, “Carla that is why we married him isn't it?”

I replied in my mind, “Jean, just as well no one heard that.” All I heard was a fit of giggles from Jean and than she was quiet. She can be quite a pain sometimes but she is half of me so I have to put up with the things she says.

Everyone sat around talking and the little ones were put down to sleep after I fed them in their own bedroom and almost went to sleep myself. It has been a long day and I will be glad to get into my bed tonight and cuddle up to my ever-loving husband. After all this time we still sleep in a cuddle and spoon position, I don’t think that will ever change.

To be continued

Please leave a comment.

Previously

Ricky had been told by the two little bosses that he was their Daddy and had to help push their strollers around in the backyard. We had to keep the gates closed because they would be off down the road in no time and wanting to show off the Christmas presents to all the neighbours. Daddy obliged with a sigh and a roll of the eyes and said “women are all the same. We men are mere servants” but he was smiling pretty big when the two little ones said “Come on DaDa.”

I thought, “Ricky is such a jelly bean, soft and sweet and I hope he never has to change.”

Jean was in my mind and said, “Carla that is why we married him isn't it?”

I replied in my mind, “Jean, just as well no-one heard that.” All I heard was a fit of giggles from Jean and than she was quiet. She can be quite a pain sometimes but she is half of me so I have to put up with the things she says.

Everyone sat around talking and the little ones were put down to sleep after I fed them in their own bedroom, and almost went to sleep myself. It had been a long day and I would be glad to get into my bed that night and cuddle up to my ever loving husband. After all that time we still slept in a cuddle and spoon position, I don’t think that will ever change.

The story continues:

It is a week later and the new year has begun. It is Tuesday, New Years Day 1974.

Everything was almost back to normal except that I had very sore breasts from not feeding the twins, but apparently it would all settle down in the next couple of days. The twins were a bit cranky at first but I supplemented their food with a follow-up bottle and that seemed to work. I had to get back to work at the clinic because Ross was getting too old to handle it all on his own. Thank God that Mum enjoyed looking after the little ones or I would have had to only work part time. I was advertising for a vet to come and live and work for me in Quilpie so maybe I could be with the twins more if we could find someone with outback experience. I guessed it would be too much to hope that they might have a pilot's licence as well, but one never knew what replies we would get. Sometimes people from the UK were interested in coming to Australia to gain experience in the bush so to speak.

Flying was still a large part of my life and of course Ricky flew commercially now and was away most days, but liked to be home at night and put the twins to bed with a bedtime story, He wanted to have some more kids and so did I, so I was not on the pill, and if it happened it wouldn't bother me at all. It really wasn't an unpleasant feeling being pregnant and having a Caesarean Section made it easy as well. I knew that Mum and Dad wouldn't mind having more little ankle biters around to keep them young.

We now owned a helicopter as well and both Ricky and I had a licence to fly it, but it was mainly used when there was no air-strip on the properties that I had to go to to tend to some sick animal, or a cow or horse having a hard time giving birth. The chopper was a fun thing to fly because you could land anywhere you wanted and not have to worry about looking for a landing strip. The twins had taken to flying with me and loved the weekends when Ricky and I took off in the chopper and just went for a picnic somewhere out in the bush. A lot of the kids going to school from the outlying areas that came to school by bus were quite used to flying because a majority of their parents owned planes and used them on a regular basis to run their farming business.

I was at the clinic when Jenny rang me and said her waters had broken and she didn't know whether to call Billy or me, so she called me because she reckoned Billy would start to panic and drive too fast and have an accident on the way to the hospital.

I said, “Jenny hold on, I am coming to get you. Get your things together and I will be there in five minutes ok?”

She replied, “Hurry! The labour pains have started.”

I told Christine to hold the fort and got in the Landrover and drove over to Jenny's house. She didn't go back to work because of the swelling of her feet, otherwise she would have already have been at the hospital and there would have been no need to call me for help.

When I arrived she was waiting at the front gate with the neighbour from across the road supporting her, so I opened up the back door of the Rover and told her to lay down on the back seat. I didn't have to tell her twice, she got in and off we went. When we arrived at the hospital two young nurses were there to help her inside. Chrissie had phoned the hospital to warn them we were coming. I went inside as well and phoned Billy to get cleaned up and get down here so he could be with Jenny when she gave birth to their son.

I don't think he even hung up the phone and he was on his way, hopefully getting cleaned up first. He arrived half an hour later and yes, he had gone home to shower before he came to the hospital. Jenny's labour was progressing so they said that Billy would have to put on the hospital garb to go into the delivery room when the time came. In the meantime he could just stay with Jenny in the ward and hold her hand while she suffered the pains of labour. I left them to it and went back to the clinic to neuter a male dog. ''Oh the joy of being a vet.'' There'd be no fatherhood for that little puppy !!!

It was three in the afternoon when the hospital phoned and said Jenny had given birth to a six pound healthy boy and she was asking for me to come down to the hospital. Ross had come back, so Chrissie and I went to the hospital. When we arrived Mum and Dad were already there in the ward. The baby was just brought in by one of the nurses that helped in the delivery. She was also a trained midwife and there was no need to have a doctor present unless there were complications which thankfully there weren’t.

Jenny was given the little bundle of joy and Billy could hardly contain himself. He was a father and had a son.

All he could say was, “Wow, isn't he small?”

They named him Joshua as in the bible, he will be ''Josh'' for short. Mum and Dad had another grandchild. Billy's parents were both dead so Josh would have only one set of grandparents but plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins to love him.

We came back with my twins later to see the little baby. They thought it was another dolly and wanted to take the baby home with us when we were ready to leave. Just as we were leaving Jenny was starting to breast-feed the little one and I had to get my twins out of there or they would want to start being fed again, but they were already weaned, so no way!! We went home and left the new family to get on with it.

Wednesday 2/1/74

I got to work a bit later that morning and there was a message on the answering machine. It was Christine’s day off and Ross never seemed to come in till late those days so nothing got done that morning till I turned up. I turned the machine on to hear the message and it was from a worried station owner that his stud ram had been mauled by a dingo or wild dog overnight. He was a very valuable animal because the stud rams were hired out to service the sheep at a high price, not as much as horses or bulls but still a good money earner to supplement the wool cheque.

I phoned home. We had moved in with Mum and Dad because that is how Mum wanted it and I must admit it was working out better than I thought it would. With built-in baby sitters it was the perfect arrangement and the twins loved running up and down the long verandas that surrounded the house.

Mum answered the phone, “Hello Donna Croft.”

“Mum it's me, is Ricky still there?”

“Yes dear he's outside with the twins. What’s the problem?”

“No problem Mum. If he is not busy I would like him to do the flying today. I’m a bit tired and I have an injured stud ram out at Two Rocks station to look at and they don’t have a strip so we'll have to take the chopper.”

I heard Mum sing out to Ricky, “Ricky, Carla’s on the phone and wants you to fly the chopper for her today, do you want talk to her?”

“Yeah, hang on Mum I’m coming.”

As usual he would have had a twin on each arm. I could hear them squealing and giggling as he put them down to take the phone from Mum.

He said, “What’s up honey, trouble!!!?”

“No Ricky I just need you to fly the chopper today. I'm far too tired to fly safely.”

***************************************
Ricky left the twins to entertain Mum and Dad for the day and as he didn't like me flying the chopper when I was tired. It takes a bit more concentration to fly the helicopter. I guess I got so used to normal fixed wing flying, I would have to do more hours in the chopper. Angel had been relegated to train young kids to fly. I now had a new twin Navajo, and the chopper was a small Bell Jet ranger

Twin engine Navajo

I got all my gear together and waited for Ricky to come and pick me up to go to the hanger where the chopper was housed. He turned up ten minutes later and we drove to the hanger. The chopper was always fuelled up and ready to go at a moment's notice as it was also used as an emergency helicopter for the district. Alan was at the hanger doing maintenance on another Croft aircraft and had the chopper out and ready to go when we arrived, so it was just a matter of climbing aboard and get going to the property about half an hour's flight away.

It was the wet season and it looked like I had better get used to doing more with the chopper because most of the landing strips on stations were not all-weather and a fixed wing would not be able to land, whereas the helicopter didn’t have that restriction. This time though the station hadn't even got a strip, and I thought 'I'm going to have a word with the owner. It only takes a bulldozer to push a strip through the bush and put up a wind sock. It is not rocket science. If we didn't have a helicopter his precious ram would die anyway.'

We asked him to light a flare to show us where it was safe to put the chopper down because the ground was really wet and even with a helicopter you still need some hard ground to set it down. I came prepared and brought my Wellingtons (mud boots) with me and so did Ricky. As we were getting close to the property Ricky was flying at twelve hundred feet. It wasn't raining but it was very cloudy and I was glad he was doing the flying, I think I might have said before I don’t much like flying at night or bad weather. There were swollen rivers and creeks and I think Queensland was in for some fairly bad weather in the next couple of weeks.

When we got closer, Ricky came down a bit more to see just how wet it was on the property and said, “Carla if this bloke doesn't use a flare to show us some dry ground I will not put the chopper down, and stuff his ram.”

I replied through the head phones, “Ricky we can't leave an injured animal to suffer.”

“Honey I’m not putting us at risk for a lousy ram.” We were now close and Ricky was circling the homestead and shearing sheds when we saw a flare being held near the sheds. There was a clearing and a higher mound of ground about fifty yards away from the shed so it was quite safe to put the chopper down. Ricky said through the headset, “He's bloody lucky he did that I was just about to up and away.”

The owner greeted us and said “Sorry to get you out here in this bad weather. I’m having a strip built next month so it will be a lot easier to land here.”

Ricky shut the chopper down and helped me with my gear and said “G'day mate, I’m Ricky Smith, Carla’s husband.”

The guy offered Ricky his hand and said. “Terry Whiting, thanks for coming. I hope your wife can save my ram. He's in a bad way.”

I said, “Ok Terry where have you got him?”

“We've had to put him in the back of the ute and haven't been game to shift him in case we'd hurt him more.” The ute was parked under an awning on the side of the shearing shed so the animal would be out of the weather.

Ricky carried my bag and we walked to where the ute and animal were. I was shocked to see what a dingo or wild dog had done to this poor animal. He had bits of wool and hide missing all over him.

If he wasn't such a valuable animal I would just put him to sleep but Terry said, “Carla -- may I call you Carla?”

“Sure Terry of course.”

“Well this guy has been with us for five years and has kept us from going bankrupt, so I would like you to try and save him if at all possible.” The first thing I did was to give the ram some pain relief and then checked all his vitals. For the mess he was in he was doing quite well and I thought he would survive as long as Terry could keep him quiet and dry for a few days. It's surprising just how strong animals are. Their survival instincts are a lot stronger the humans.

I tended to the animal which took me an hour, cleaning up some of the wounds and showed Terry how to keep on cleaning the wounds for a few days so they would dry out and heal. The animal should be ok, but when Terry got my account he might need some help as well. After all I’m not a charity and it cost a lot to fly and maintain aircraft those days.

Terry said, “I'll tell the missus to put the kettle on and we can have a cuppa before you take off in that whirly bird of yours.”

I replied, “That is just what I need at the moment thanks.”

Ricky said. “Yeah me too. Looking at all that blood has made me quite queasy and a cuppa might just do the trick.”

I put all my things in the chopper and we made our way from the shearing shed to the big old homestead where his wife had freshly baked scones and tea ready for us in the large lounge. There were photos of all the prize rams and sheep hanging all around the room. He was a true sheep farmer, but in a way I felt sorry for him because he hadn't diversified into other things and the price of wool had dropped so low that fifty percent of the sheep farms in Australia had had to switch to cattle production to stay afloat.

When we started talking he told me about his daughter who was in England at the moment. She was a vet and wanted to come home and set up a practice in Brisbane.

I thought. “Bloody hell is this a coincidence or what!! Here's my chance to get a vet for my practice.”

I said. “Would she consider working in Quilpie?”

He replied, “Well she looked at that, but your practice has ninety percent of the districts' business so that put a stop to that.”

I replied “Well Ross my partner is wanting to retire and I have put an ad in a UK newspaper for a vet to try out living in the outback. I wonder if she would be interested in a partnership?

Terry's wife Grace said “I think she very well could be. I can ring her tonight and let her know that there is an opening in Quilpie. It would be nice to have Sandy back home after all this time. She lost her husband last year and it has been hard for her raising a child with a problem.

I thought, “Hmmmm where have I heard that before? Oh yes that was me wasn't it!!!”

Ricky looked at me with a silly grin and said, “Well Carla, you might not have to put any ads in more papers after all.”

We got ready to make our way back to Quilpie and started to say goodbye when Grace said “Carla can I have your home phone number so I can give it to Sandy? She might be interested in what you have to offer, so do you mind if she rings you at home? It could be pretty late though.”

I gave Grace all my details and we walked back to the helicopter, but I went to have another look at my patient. He was doing fine, so I gave him another pain- killing injection and we left the property and were on our way home. The weather was closing in, so I was glad that it was only a half hour flight home and my husband was doing the flying. By the time we were back on the ground in front of the hanger it was raining quite heavily and Alan had to bring us a couple of umbrellas which don’t get much use out there, but this year it looked like we were going to cop it.

Ricky drove me back to the clinic and waited in the car because I was only going in to tell Christine what had occurred at the station. When Ricky and I walked into the kitchen, Mum was feeding the the little ones their lunch in the high chairs and they were making one hell of a mess with the mashed potatoes. They insisted on using their own spoons and more went on the floor than in their mouth. When they saw their Daddy was home that was it for food. Mum wiped them clean and Daddy was theirs for the rest of the day. I went into my home office and did some bookwork which I hated but it needed to be done.

It was nine thirty when the phone rang. Mum answered it and said, “Yes she is available, may I ask who is calling?”

Mum said, “Sandy in the UK.” and handed the phone to me. I said, “Hello Sandy, are you ringing about the position?”

She replied, “Am I talking to Carla Smith?”

“Yes this is she.”

To be continued

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Previously

It was nine thirty when the phone rang. Mum answered it and said, “Yes she is available, may I ask who is calling?”

Mum said, “Sandy in the UK.” and handed the phone to me. I said, “Hello Sandy, are you ringing about the position?”

She replied, “Am I talking to Carla Smith?”

“Yes this is she.”

“Well Carla my mother phoned me today and told me about you advertising over here for a vet and I have just located the ad in the Veterinary Bulletin, It's quite an impressive ad, have you had any replies to it?”

I replied, “Well yes Sandy, but as soon as they realise that it is hundreds of miles out in the bush they run a mile!!”

“Well Carla, I’m definitely interested in finding out more about what you are offering.”

I replied, “Sandy if you're interested I can send you all the information about the practice. Ross my partner is wanting to retire so I am looking for a partner not an employee.”

Sandy said, “Interested!! It is exactly what I am looking for Carla! I can be back in Australia within a month. All I have to do is put the house on the market and start packing.”

“Sandy, your Mum said something about you having a problem with your child?”

She sounded a bit nervousness and said, “Well Carla I have a nine year old umm — dau - son and there seems to be some confusion about gender but I really wish my mother hadn't said anything.”

I replied, “Sandy if your child has GID or is inter-sexed it is not something that will just disappear. I should know, I was born inter-sexed and I am now a mother of a set of twin girls eighteen months old, so if you need help you are coming to the right place. I decide a long time ago that I will never hide who I am, where I come from in location, or what my gender status is. I am a woman that had a medical problem at birth - that's it full stop.”

The line went quiet and I said, “Sandy are you still there?”

She replied, “Carla it's just that I'm not used to people being so straight-forward about themselves. It sounds like we could become good friends as well as business partners.”

I replied, “Don't you want to know more about the details of what I'm offering.”

“Carla I realise that there is money involved but I have been left with a very sizable amount of cash and also this house so I can afford to buy into a business without too much trouble, and Mum and Dad will also back me. By the way thanks for saving Dad's stud ram, he is quite a valuable animal.”

I replied, “Maybe I should double my account?”

There was laughter from both of us and we finished the call with her saying that she would be in touch in the next few days to work out what the deal would be with Ross's part of the business. I didn’t think he would haggle about the price too much, he just wanted to put his feet up and retire.

The next couple of weeks went on as normal. I got to see Jenny quite a bit and gave her advice on baby management, if there is such a thing. Mum was in her element and hung around like a busy bee at her nest. (Hmmm, mixed metaphors?) Dad got more and more involved with looking after my little cherubs. They had him wrapped around their sticky little fingers. I seem to remember their mother doing the same thing! Jean seemed to be communicating with them as well and I am sure they could actually see her because even in their baby talk they seemed to be looking in one direction.

It gave me more time at the clinic but I was hoping to ease back once Sandy started to work with me. She also had a pilots licence, how lucky could I get?!”

It kept raining and it was getting to the stage where the weather would not allow any flying to take place apart from using the helicopter as a rescue back up if things got any worse. Well things did get worse because Cyclone Wanda bore down on the Queensland coast and caused a huge flood not only in Brisbane but also throughout the whole state. Queensland was waterlogged and so was Quilpie. The helicopter was used to rescue people from roof tops and drop food supplies to outlying stations that had no hope of getting out for weeks or even months. Even the army were called in to help. As for Brisbane it went under and fourteen people died including ten people who drowned in the suburbs of Yeronga, Newmarket , St Lucia, and the City of Ipswich upriver and to the west.

''Note'' this information can be Googled on ''Wikipedia 1974 Queensland floods '' Quilpie was also inundated see photo below.

In amongst all this happening Sandy arrived with a very distraught looking skinny boy in jeans and T shirt. He had quite long hair and I guessed he was like me when we first arrived in town all those years ago not knowing which way to turn. They turned up in a four wheel drive which took two days to negotiate the flooded roads and rivers, after they landed in Charleville. Our strip was under water. The kid looked lost and frightened. I guessed after living in England this place looked like a different planet. The boy's name was Jamie, and their surname was Jones. Sandy got out first and looked tired and had mud all over her. They got bogged a few times and literally had to dig themselves out, Jamie emerged from the other side of the land cruiser in the same condition as his mother.

I greeted them and said to get back in the Cruiser and follow me in my Jeep to my home. They got back in, mud and all and followed me home. When we arrived Dad was there to help unload the Cruiser. They would not be able to continue on to Sandra's parent's property and it would be weeks before anyone could get through by road, but as soon as her Dad had a dry spot of ground to land the chopper on we would fly mother and son out to the sheep station. Mum came out to welcome the two mud covered people with a twin on each arm. I don't know how she managed it because when I tried it they wriggled and squirmed and I had to put them down and make them walk.

Anyway the two newcomers were shown to the showers and told there were dressing gowns hanging in the bathrooms for them to put on till they could get at their clothes that Dad took to a spare bedroom.

Mum handed the twins over to me to bathe, feed, and put to bed. Ricky would read them a bedtime story and try to understand what they are saying to him. It was a funny thing to watch because Jean had a connection with them. She seemed to be able to get into Ricky's mind and translate what Donna and Little Jean were saying and then Ricky replied to them. The whole thing was like a kid's show on the telly and if we filmed it it would probably make a fortune.

Sandy and Jamie came in after their showers to watch the spectacle and started to laugh when Ricky started speaking what seemed a foreign language and the twins seemed to understand what he was telling them.

Sandy and Jamie phoned Sandy's parents to reassure them that they had arrived at Quilpie safely and would be staying with us until the weather improved. Then they were shown to their room and they disappeared to get dressed for the evening. When they emerged from the room and walked into the lounge where all but Mum was, (she was getting the dinner ready), Sandy was wearing a white summer dress and no shoes and her hair still mostly wet and tied into a loose pony tail. The big surprise was Jamie. No jeans and T-shirt now, but dressed in a summer dress almost the same as his mother, and also no shoes. His hair was dry, and I think Sandy used my hair dryer and and she had combed it into very feminine style with a barrette holding it in place. We all just stood there stunned by what we saw. It could have been me at the same age. ''She'' (I have to say 'she' because the boy that we all saw half an hour earlier was gone was replaced by this very pretty nine year old girl) was holding her mother's hand.

Mum who came out of the kitchen was the first to speak and said, “Oh my and who is this pretty little girl in a white dress and no shoes on?”

Sandy said, “Meet my daughter Jamie. She has the same name as the boy that was here when we arrived but the name is also a girls name. Jamie say hello to the people we are going to be living with till we can find a place of our own.”

Jamie was the typical shy girl and almost whispered, “It's nice to meet you all.”

Sandy then said, “I thought it best to not let anyone be under any delusions about Jamie. She is a girl with a medical condition called intersexed and hopefully it can be rectified without too much fuss. I wanted her to start her new life as the girl that she is and not what her birth certificate states.”

I went and gave her a hug and said, “Welcome to Quilpie and our home Jamie and I love what your Mum has done with your hair.”

Jamie started to relax and looked at me with her beautiful big brown eyes and it reminded me of myself all those years ago. Mum then announced that dinner was ready to be served and we all went into the dining room, I told everyone the take a seat and I gave Mum a hand to dish up the meal. While this was being done Rita and Peter also turned up so they could welcome the newcomers.

I had phoned Rita and explained about little Jamie being the same as me, so when she arrived she gave Jamie a hug and said, “Welcome to our family little girl, I love your dress.”

Jamie shyly replied “Thank you.”

Sandy just looked at Rita and said “Thank you.” with a warm smile that said 'thanks for excepting my daughter for who she is.'

Once dinner was over and everything was cleared away everyone ventured into the lounge room and the conversation led to what was happening in Queensland and all the damage the floods were doing to roads and a lot of other infrastructure. It was going to cost millions to repair all the damage. While this was going on Ricky took Jamie in to see the twins which were by the way supposed to be asleep by now. I think Daddy might have woken them up on purpose so he could show them off to Jamie and also get to know Jamie a little bit more. The thing is that Jamie probably reminded him so much of when we first met so I could understand where he was coming from. Ricky will make a great uncle for Jamie. The twins took to Jamie straight away as if they had some connection with her. I had my suspicions that my spirit sister had something to do with that!

The night ended on a happy note and everyone either went home in Rita and Peter's case or retired to their bedrooms, Tomorrow was another day and hopefully the weather would clear and let things get back to some normality.

To be continued

Quilpie floods 1974

Brisbane floods 1974

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Previously

The floods did a lot of damage to Queensland and it would cost the state a lot of money to repair roads and bridges that got washed away. As usual the outback country had to wait to have anything done. Most of the politicians live in Brisbane and it got first priority even though most of the state's money is generated in the rest of the state.

The story continues...

Saturday the second of February 1974
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Things were starting to dry out and get back to some normality. It had been a couple of weeks and Jamie had started school as a girl at the Catholic school, because Brian, (remember Brian the ex priest?), well he had still got some pull and was on the school committee, and of course he and his partner Karen were lawyers. Jamie was being treated by the same medical team that I and Christine had. Of course they were much older now and almost ready to retire but were still helping people to become who they were supposed to be.

Jamie had a while to go before she could get all the tests done. She was only nine and that was the same age when I was diagnosed as being inter-sexed and not transgendered, but being either does not make any difference to how one feels in the brain. I just hoped they don't make the same mistake and wait too long, and of course the equipment that was being used now was much more advanced. I was going to fly her and her mother down to Brisbane in the next couple of weeks seeing that her mother Sandy was now a working partner in my practice. Ross would come in and help out if things got really busy while I was away in Brisbane. I would also take the twins with me and let Rose see them for the first time. They were really good on the plane and mostly fell asleep after the first twenty minutes of the flight.

In the meantime the ground had dried out on Sandy's Dad's property enough to fly Jamie and her mother out there so that her grandparents could meet their new grand daughter. That would be interesting to watch because they last saw Jamie in England the previous year when they went to the funeral of Jamie's father. The property was not that far from Quilpie so it would not take very long to fly there. I phoned Ross to see if he would cover for us and he agreed. Chrissie would come in as well, which she didn't normally do on the weekends. Now that she is going to have a baby she want to spend time at home getting the nursery organised.

It was still early so I thought I'd go and see Jenny to see how she was coping with little Josh. He was now a month old and and growing like a weed in the garden. Of course Jenny was breast feeding him so she was pretty tired, but I did it with the twins so I thought she should be able to cope better than I did, and besides Mum is with her most days anyway. I went back home and got Sandy and Jamie who were living with us till they could sort out a home for themselves, to get ready to go for their visit. I got the twins ready to come as well. Ricky offered to do the flying when he realised that I was taking Donna and Jean with me as well, and I didn't say 'no' to that.

Ricky didn't do any weekend flying for the business any more since the twins came along, he let the other two pilots do that, We got ourselves together and went to the hanger which had been extended a couple of times to accommodate more planes and also give Alan the room he needed to work on them. Alan was there and had the chopper all set to go. It is always ready because it is also used as a back up for emergencies. We settled in the kids and got them all strapped into their seats. Jamie had a picture book to show them on the flight. The twins have taken to Jamie and Sandy said she hoped that the tests came back to show Jamie as inter-sexed and a girl internally.

It took about forty minutes to get to the property and Terry lit a flare for Ricky to land where the ground was hard and dry. Surprisingly the twins were wide awake and talking their own language with Jamie. I seemed to be the only one that didn't understand what they were saying, but I was only their mother. This was going to all get a bit emotional because it had been twelve months since Sandy and Jamie have seen Terry and Grace and the last time it was a sad occasion. We waited till the blades stopped before we opened the doors on the chopper. Terry and Grace were about fifty feet away but you could see the tears in their eyes from where we were. I let Sandy and Jamie get out before the rest of us did so they could have a family reunion.

Sandy was dressed in jeans and a nice top but Jamie went all the way in that white summer dress with shoe lace straps, red belt and red sandals. Her long blond hair was brushed out and loose and fluffy. She looked a real picture - there was no boy to be seen. She ran to be embraced by her grandparents. Mum Sandy had to wait for her hug. Ricky and I both grabbed a twin each and made our way to Sandy, Jamie and grandparents who were all in tears. Donna and Jean were wriggling so much we had to out them down and as soon as we did they ran squealing to Jamie.

My twin the spirit Jean was in my head and said, “Carla, would you like to know what is going to happen with Jamie's tests?”

Ricky said, “I heard that Jean” which made Sandy look around at him.

Sandy and Jamie had been told about my spirit twin but so far haven't seen a lot of what Jean did.

Ricky said, “Sorry, just thinking out loud."

Jamie said, “Uncle Ricky!! that was Jean wasn't it?”

“Yes Jamie sweetheart it was. She can be quite annoying sometimes."

Jamie said “What was she saying?”

I intervened and said, “We will talk about it a bit later sweetheart when you and your Nana and Poppy have had a chance to talk first ok?”

I said to Jean in my mind, “What was that all about sis, couldn't it wait till later?”

She replied, “No Carla it is important.”

“Ok then tell us now before we go inside the house.” Ricky was also tuned in but we didn't let on what was happening between me and Jean and kept quiet and communicated in our minds.

Jean announced that what they would find was pretty much what I thought anyway and she said, “Carla she is the same as you and she will have children at some stage in her life.”

I replied back, “I can't just come out and say that to her and Sandy can I?!!!”

“No sis but at least you know and you might be able to tell her a bit more about yourself and break the ice a bit and I will then try to get into her mind. She is as receptive as you and Ricky.”

I replied, “Sis please be careful she is very young.”

“You know what I mean sis!!”

The communication between me and Jean had to stop till later but it would continue once we were alone. We all walked to the homestead. The ground was still quite soft but not muddy and the grass had already started to grow out of control. It was going to be a good year for the outback in terms of sheep and cattle feed. The twins wouldn't let go of Jamie's hands but she was just as happy as them and let it happen. She would indeed be a great mother some day.

We all ended up in the large homestead kitchen where Grace had a roast in the oven and was going to prepare the vegetables, so and Sandy and I chipped in and helped her in the kitchen while Jamie and the men went out on the large verandah to let two little girls run up and down and keep Jamie well and truly wrapped around their sticky little fingers.

Terry asked Ricky if he could do a bit of an inspection flight of the property to check the damage that all the flood water had done to any fences. All the livestock had been moved to higher ground as soon as Terry realised that it was going to be a serious flood so there were no stock losses on his property.

Jamie was quite happy playing with the twins so the men went on their inspection flight. I went for a walk to where the ram was kept and had a look at how he was healing up. Apart from missing patches of wool he looked fine and would be back out to see to his wives again very soon.

By the time Ricky and Terry had returned in the chopper it was time to set the table and have a traditional Aussie baked meal gravy and all. Desert was an apple pie with fresh cream. There were no high chairs to sit the two little monsters in so Jamie sat on cushions on the floor and fed them, making a hell of a mess for us to clean up but Grace insisted it was ok so we let it happen.

Jamie had to have a towel covering her white dress and to my surprise it was clean when the twins finished the meal. There is no doubt about Jamie being a girl. She moved and talked like girl and even sat like a girl with her legs tucked under her. She was a ''girl'' full stop.

It was time to gather everyone up for the flight home. Terry said that next time we would be able to come in the fixed wing aircraft because the contractors were coming next week to make a start on the landing strip. That meant Sandy who also had a pilot's licence could fly out and bring their granddaughter to see them more often.

It was two in the afternoon, so it was time to go. We all climbed aboard the chopper and buckled up. The twins were almost asleep before Ricky even started to engine. They were worn out and I think so was Jamie after chasing them around most of the day. Once we were air-borne Jamie was asleep as well and it was a pretty sight to look back and see the twins leaning in on a sleeping little girl in a summer dress. She had her arms around the little ones. I took over the controls of the chopper because I wanted to keep my flying hours up with the chopper. It is a requirement to keep your licence.

We landed back home at three thirty and was greeted by Mum and Dad. They were worried about the twins being out so long, so as soon as the doors were open Mum looked in to see three little girls fast asleep in the back seat of the chopper and said. “I wonder if we could use the chopper to get them to sleep all the time?”

I replied, “Are you going to pay for the fuel then?”--- Arr-- perhaps not.

We woke up the sleeping beauties to get them out of their seats and they all looked around bleary-eyed

Jamie said, “Are we home then?”

Sandy said, “Yes sweetheart did you enjoy the flight?”

“I don't know about the flight but seeing Nana and Poppy was great wasn't it?”

Sandy replied, “Darling once we sort out a house and things settle down a bit, we'll get out to see them more often. Don’t forget I have a pilot's licence as well and I too have to get some flying time in and soon, otherwise I might lose it and that would not be good for Aunty Carla’s and my business.”

Jamie said, “But Mummy you don’t own a plane and neither does Poppy.”

“Well if we're lucky Aunty Carla might just be kind enough to lend us the plane a few times as long as we pay for the fuel.”

Jamie looked at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and long eyelashes with an expectant look.

I felt my heart dissolve and said, “Jamie sweetheart, your Mummy is part of the business and the plane is part of that business, so if she wants to use it she has every right to. Besides she will have to fly out to other properties anyway.”

Jamie looked at her mother and said, “Mummy does that mean I can learn to fly too?”

Sandy replied, “Of course Jamie, you can get a pilot's licence at fifteen years of age in Australia and by the time you turn fifteen I will expect to have trained you well enough to do your first solo flight.”

Jamie was happy with that answer and ran off to play with my little girls and give Mum a break. Mum was still pretty fit but the little ones took a lot of energy to keep up with.

I phoned Chrissie and asked if they needed us down at the surgery but she was ready to go home and close up for the day. Her pregnancy was have an effect on her and I really don’t want to be responsible for a miscarriage. The first three months are supposed to be when it can happen, Alan wanted her to stop work as soon as he found out Chrissie was pregnant. He really is a caring man. Jenny, Chrissie and myself were so lucky to have men that were so gentle and in tune with what we women needed. Jean reckoned she was responsible for that because of her spiritual guidance. She could well be right.

Mum had invited the whole family to Saturday night dinner, so it was all hands on deck with preparing the food. Half an hour later Chrissie and Alan were there followed by Billy, Jenny and little Josh. My little ones still thought that Josh was a doll and wanted him put into their tiny little doll strollers, so we spread out a doona on the floor in the lounge room and let Jamie play Mummy with supervision. She was really good with the little ones. She was a natural at being a girl. It was the same with me at that age. I didn’t know how long it would be before she would receive hormone treatment but I hoped it would be better regulated than when I was given them because it almost killed me when I started to menstruate before they opened me up. I would be keeping a close eye on the whole process to make sure she didn't have to go through what I had to.

There must have been something in the water because when Rita and Peter turned up with Barry and Helen, Rita almost couldn't contain herself.

She said, “Listen everyone, there will be another addition to the clan in seven months time.” Peter was as bad as Alan and insisted that Rita had to sit and do no more work till the baby was born.

There were twelve people to sit at the hundred year old extendable table, plus two high chairs. We brought in some more chairs from the kitchen and were all set to dish up a fairly normal Aussie meal of five veg and steak with ice cream and tinned fruit to finish. The simple meals were always the best and with Mum doing the cooking even the simplest meal was very tasty. She was after all a qualified chef.

Jenny sat on the doona in the lounge and breast fed little Josh with my little ones looking on and Jamie trying to control them. It was a funny sight with them on the floor. Even Chrissie sat down with them. Jamie was in her element as a girl.

We all agreed to go to church the following morning at the Lutheran church. That was our preference now. Even Brian and his partner sometimes attended as well. The only real connection he now had with the Catholic church was the school. He did their legal work and he was the one that made it clear that Jamie was to be enrolled as a girl or he would withdraw his free service as their legal eagle.

Sunday 3/2/74
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It was a hot morning and the church was at ten o'clock so we all had plenty of time to get ourselves ready to go, but when there are two little girls not co-operating with their Mummy it wasted a lot of time. Donna and Jean are already picky about what they would wear. Heaven help me when they got older - it would be bedlam getting them ready to go out. They did look so cute when they were dressed the same and most people couldn't tell them apart. Donna had a tiny little birth mark behind her left ear, so if we couldn't tell which was which we could lift their hair and have a look. I hated to think what would happen when they got to be teenagers.

It must have been funny at church when the Croft clan decided to attend church. It happened once a month, but when it did it was almost like a family reunion and we took up three whole pews in the church. Jamie was excited because she was going to the Catholic school and got to go to a different church which she said was cool. Her friends at school all envied her being able to do it although this was her first time there, and she had made a special effort to look as girly as she could. I didn't know if she realised it but she didn't look anything but girly all the time. It was a hot day and it was also time to start swimming lessons for the twins. Uncle Tony had a pool put in a couple of years back when his legs started giving trouble and he got in the pool to do exercises, but the pool seemed to belong to all of us, and that is the way he wanted it. The river was still flowing too fast to swim in.

All the women except Chrissie were in bikinis. Even the little ones looked really cute in theirs. Jamie was a little bit shy at first but once she realised no-one even thought of her as a boy in any way, she started to enjoy herself in the pool with Ricky and the twins. They of course had flotations on their arms and splashed around. I think Jean must have been holding them up because they were quite high in the water and kept looking in a certain direction. For some reason Jean could make them see her, which was ok by me. She was their spirit aunty after all.

To be continued.

Next time: Sandy finds a house and also takes to the sky.

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Editor's note: Ronnie has to take a break from writing this story for a while, but wants to thank everyone for their support, both with her stories and her own life. We all wish her well.