Stuart is eighteen, but more boy than man. When his uncle offers him a job rousabouting in the shearing shed during his mid-year break from university, he has no idea what to expect. He’s always been more of an indoors kind of guy. He knows he’ll be working with some pretty rough men. Men who work the shearing circuit, going from farm to farm shearing sheep until there are no more sheep left to shear. His only hope is to try and fit in. As it turns out, he has no choice. His uncle has arranged for him to share a room in the shearer’s quarters with one of the shearers. The very idea makes Stuart, who has always been unsure of himself and insecure, want to back out of the whole deal and return to town, to the comfort of home. But he doesn’t. He is determined to bite the proverbial bullet. The work is hard and Stuart does his best. The shearing shed is a place where a man has to prove himself; to show what he’s made of. Does Stuart have what it takes? What will he learn about himself in the process? About life? About shearers?

Shearers

He had a point, but it didn’t make me feel any better about what he’d done.


The incident with the snake was big news at the dinner table. My eight-year old cousin, Patricia, was especially spellbound.


“Were you scared?” she asked with a mouth full of food.


“He almost laid an egg,” said Baz before I could reply.


Everyone laughed and I think I smiled, too.


On Thursday evening, after dinner, we all returned to the shearers’ quarters, but instead of falling into bed, Baz handed out some cans of beer and we lit a small fire. It was nearly the weekend and everyone, including me, would be going back home. Knowing that seemed to give everyone more energy. Even I was feeling more awake than I usually was at that time of evening. It was good to sit around, gulping down beer and chatting. I was beginning to feel as though I’d known these guys all my life. I was also beginning to feel like one of them, as though the difference in age and experience had melted away.


Chapter 5