Drovers Empire

by M. M. O'Reilly

It's October of 2020, but the wildfires and worldwide pandemic never happened. We return to Gungellan for a modern reboot of our beloved McLeod's Daughters. The cattle stations of Drovers Run and Killarney are still working farms, and Wilgul has found a new life. Time has passed, but the love flowing around Drovers Run has never faltered.

71. Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Things were not going the way Claire wanted. She had made it over to Killarney and went looking for the boys. She found them in a garage working with Moira. Blake was there with Xander helping with whatever Moira asked them to do.

"G'day everyone. How is the car going?" Claire asked.

"It's still got a long way to go. We are just stripping out most of the interior. All the carpet and upholstery has got to go. We need to completely empty and strip the boot as well," answered Moira.

Blake and Xander were ripping out the interior upholstery in the front of the car. Blake was on the passenger side. Claire walked around to the door of the passenger side where Blake's feet were sticking out. He was trying to unscrew the seat that was there.

"Hi, Blake! I thought I'd come over and see if you boys needed any help," siad Claire.

"Hand me that ratchet wrench, please. The one on the table," requested Blake.

Claire was expecting Blake to be a bit happier to see her. He didn't even say hi to me, she thought. She grabbed the ratchet wrench and leaned into the car. She smiled at him.

Blake didn't notice. He was pulling fibers of carpet out from around where the seat was mounted.

"Here you go, Blake. Do you need anything else?" Claire asked, smiling at him.

"No, this should do it." Blake started using the ratchet wrench to loosen the bolts on the passenger seat.

"Claire, I could use a hand," said Xander.

Xander was trying to pry the panel off of the back door on the driver's side. He had a crowbar in place but he couldn't get enough leverage to pop it off.

"This bugger just doesn't want to come off. I reckon, if we both try together, that might be enough to get it to go," said Xander.

Claire sighed and went to help her cousin. She grabbed onto the crowbar and pulled with Xander. The panel popped off and they both went flying backwards. Claire fell into a pile of old tires.

For three hours, Claire kept trying to help Blake, and he kept ignoring or refusing the help she offered. He barely said more than five words to her at times. She had asked him to show her how to use a crowbar, even though she knew how, hoping that he would have to wrap his arms around her and show her the proper positioning. Instead, all he said was "just stick this end where you want to pry, and pull."