Brandon has just graduated from university as a primary school teacher. As he travels to his first teaching post, he wonders what he’s got himself into. From the airplane, the tiny town of Gunnanilla looks no bigger than a cattle station. And when he lands, he steps into heat such as he has never encountered before. Sweating and feeling faint from the extreme temperature, he meets his new boss Mark Petersen, the racist principal of the only school for miles around. Then he meets the school’s other teacher, Mark’s wife Trina, and the students, most of whom are Australian Aborigines. Life in the small town is no picnic. In the summer, the heat is unrelenting. In the wet season, the town is cut off from the outside world and all deliveries are brought to a halt. There is only one television channel. To top it all off, there are any number of poisonous creatures around, such as snakes, scorpions, and spiders. How’s a poor city boy like Brandon, who’s interested in fashion, music, and clubbing and none too confident with his sexuality, going to cope? Enter the handsome, rough-around-the-edges miner, Frank. When Mark warns Brandon that Frank is gay, it seems this town might finally have something to keep him entertained. But how can he meet Frank without drawing attention to his own sexuality? How can anything possibly happen between them in such rough, tough, and macho surroundings?

Desert Country

Curious, Brandon tore the envelope open and read the contents, written in a barely legible combination of capitals and lower case letters.


SoRRy I hAvEn’t bEEn in touch. BEEn down to thE big smokE. BAck on thE 15th. WAnt to comE and sEE you. (If yA still tAlking to mE.)


Brandon greeted the news with mixed feelings. He had spent the past six weeks or so trying to get used to the fact he might never see Frank again and suddenly there was a letter. He stopped walking and read it again. Do I even want to see him again?Of course I do.Do I still have feelings for him?He looked up from the letter as if the answer would lie somewhere in the rain-drenched street. Definitely.


He recommenced walking and by the time he got back to his room he realised he’d been humming


The following Sunday Frank turned up, carrying a bottle of wine and wearing a heart-melting smile.


“Hey sexy,” he said as he stepped inside Brandon’s room.


Chapter 21